2021 Garden thread

Saw the Burpee seed displays yesterday---first of the season. We do string beans and the second planting of yellow squash from seed. Last year was not fun looking for plants since most farmers here ( MA) did not know what the retail market would be and had little to pick from.

We did not find any BigBoy plants so we settled for a smaller, earlier tomato and were not unhappy with it. Because DH did not have a bowling league in the fall, we had a lot of tomatoes left that he normally would have brought in to give to his bowling buddies. I cooked them up with garlic and red wine, put the sauce in pint containers and totally enjoyed them all fall and winter. I don't think many will be leaving the house this year since what I did with them worked out so well.

 

I don't have a yard anymore. I have a high rise balcony. I'm also getting into indoor fruit/veg gardening. I am setting up 2 greenhouses; 1 is enclosed and has lights, the other is clear and needs sunlight. I think I've grown 1 green pepper and 1 rose bush since adulthood. I don't know what I'm doing but, I'm learning. I'd have to figure out how to post pics without tapaptalk to show you guys.

 

Click upload file
Click photo library
Choose photo. Somewhere is a thread to practice.

Good luck with the horticulture....

 

A bag of produce appeared on my porch last week. Fresh cauliflower (Cauliflower Buffalo Wings) and cabbage rolls were the highlights.

A neighbor gets eggs from my pasture flock and I get produce without gardening...I can’t screw it up!

We will work on a little garden this year...

 

Definitely post some pictures @LolaDoggie. I love to see indoor setups.

 

Ok, yellow pear and red cherry seeds planted to try indoors.

 

From the phone though....I'd have to go back to transferring them to my laptop and whatnot.

 

If you open a browser on a smart phone, it acts the same way as opening this site on a laptop.....I upload photos here this way from my phone all the time.

Here's the photo testing thread - to test, and for more help, please bring this conversation over there ;-)

https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/just-testing-posting-pictures.106948/

 

I will for sure when I get my supplies together and get it set up.

 

So anyone experience this? Remedies? ?

 

Hubs decided to plant some spinach and lettuce seeds indoors too - he had space with the light. The tomato seeds have germinated! No word yet on greens....I think the tomatoes will need to be thinned out. I'm terrible at that -I can't let them die which is why I end up with a messy garden and too many tomato plants to take care of. I think hubs is more strict than I am - he'll probably be able to garden "properly" ;-)

 

I want more paste type tomatoes this year.
Less beefsteak & same amount of cherry tomato plants but more varieties.
Getting seeds is harder this year.

 

I know what you mean. When I see my tomato plants growing so well I can't bring myself to thin them out even though it is necessary.

When the vegetable plants are small, spindly, and weak looking I don't feel too bad thinning them out but when they are growing nicely and beautifully, I get sad when I pull them out.

 

I did really well with cherry tomatoes last season. I harvested tons of ping pong ball sized tomatoes that were awesome!

I plan to grow this variety developed by the University if Hawaii called “Healani”

 

Weather seems springlike this week but then summer as it nears 80 and back to winter next week.....perfect prep garden time.
So, I acquire some composted cow manure— 3 bags, and put one in with some relocated dirt from some project long ago forgotten. And one goes into the compost pile and the last is just “dressing”.
I mixed the long ago discarded soil with one bag and spread evenly across the area and then mixed in about 3-4 “ deep. Used a rake to smooth it out and I then took the last bag and threw it across the area evenly to cover with a layer of good ole’ #2.
watered in lightly so the wind doesn’t blow it all to Dallas and went to see if the soaker hose was still in serviceable condition.
The garden is a ways from the spicket so old hose that has been reclaimed and assembled did the trick. The boards allow driving over the hose to not damage. Saves from daily watering by hand and occasionally a stick probe for “wetness” is all that's needed to regulate. I use plumber’s tape (white and stretchy) to minimize leaking at the connections.
The metal wall blocks the western sun about 3:15-3:30 from the garden and helps the plants survive the heat that keeps a lot of people from relocating. Not enough, but a lot.
Had the weather not shown freezing overnight (I can turn the soil over again and kill off some weed roots/seeds) I’d probably still be sitting and contemplating. Now I’ll just call it pre-planning.

 

I still have stuff arriving and stock is still arriving in stores. Mostly gathering supplies still. Not much to report. Although. I did get one of those oyster mushroom kits. I'll be setting that up on my next day off.

 

I'm going to be limited this year to what I can grow on the deck and not get in trouble with the HOA at our new (not my choice) condo. I'd like to grow something bigger than cherry tomatoes and plan to order some bush tomato seeds. The hot peppers are still on. I'm gonna miss my garden. Sniff...

 

Quite a bit of progress this week. About 2 weeks ago I started seeds in my grow tent. Started Kale, Rutabaga, Turnip, Lettuce, Broccoli, Cauliflower. My Tidy Treats tomato is growing well and has flowered. Still quite small compared to an outside plant but given how stuffed the grow tent is I am not complaining. The Sage has been repotted and took well. The green onion went to seed so I've removed it and will wait for the seed pods to develop a little more and hopefully get my own seeds out of it. The seed starting tray had 72 cells and about 65 took which for me is a great ratio. Not much room in the grow tent left so I am hoping it warms up soon enough. Luckily a few of the seedlings don't mind the cold so they can go out in the backyard soon.

 

My husband thinned the greens last night and had a micro-green micro-salad ;-) Wasn't sure to post in the Garden thread or Dinner thread He reasoned there was no reason to waste the thinnings! I'm just mad he didn't share ;-)

 

Oh, and I bought 4 hydrangeas yesterday at Costco. We're doing a new landscaping bed this spring - we have new neighbors building a house in the field "next door" and when they put in the driveway, they took down a row of cedars we planted when we bought the property 20 yrs ago. [I ok'd the removal - they were technically on the right of way property - which we knew when we planted - and they had grown big & ungainly - I want to plant something prettier now ;-)]

I don't mind the drive but there are some power lines just on the other side that we can see from the front of our house (master bedroom, front porch, office) and I want to block that view. We've found the tall tree we want as the backdrop of the planned bed - Taylor's juniper - and a nursery to our south has them in stock. We just need to figure out how many and what sizes we want to get and drive down to pick up. We're having some ice this weekend so it won't be now! So the bed will be tall skinny junipers, a couple of nut trees (short & fast-growing - probably almond or hazelnut) then hydrangeas, then I'm not positive what I want in the very front of the bed lower to the ground - maybe more peonies (I love and have a ton), salvia, dianthus, drift roses....