What's in your Garden?

It's almost time :mrgreen:

What are you going to plant in your garden, flowerbeds, or hanging pots?

Tomatoes are a must for me, but this time instead of Romas, I'll be growing about 90% Beef Masters. They're just so yummy and make much better salsa than the Roma.

Instead of the tomato cages, I'll have them growing up through horizontal twine tied between some iron stakes.

Then I'll have my Sunflowers again. Last year didn't turn out so good, I thinned them out too late, and they didn't take too well to the relocating.

Then my wife's always gotta have squash and cucumbers... :roll:

Down here in Southern Utah the growing season has been underway for over a month!:haha:

-Peas
-Beets
-Onions
-Strawberries
-Blackberries
-Raspberries (doubt they will do great but it was worth a shot)
-Corn (went in last week)
-Tomatoes, Peppers, etc (Doing great in the greenhouse, hope to move them out soon)
-Also in the greenhouse (I work at Pine View Middle who shares a greenhouse with the City of Washington) Lettuce, Chard, and Spinach

This year I hope to stop relying so much on commercial farming with their genetically altered, pesticide plants!!!

Oooo , I love my garden! although, I'm more of a hopeful gardener rather than a good one - we just dont get quite enough sun, but hey, we've yielded some crops. Tomatoes were terrible last year - tomato plight. I also do squashes and cucumbers - love them both! Peppers - green and red, although they grow in minature due to the lack of intense sun. Also do lettuce and spinach with I LOVE having fresh!! Basil and all the herbs. Eggplant, chives, onion. I've had terrible luck with peas.

Peas, green beans, Beef Master Tomatoes, some other Tomatoes, Squash, Cucumbers, Potatoes, Onions, maybe some sunflowers, Tons of Herbs, and some peppers for my salsa needs :)

My peas are in and up already. I will plant green beans, corn, beets, cucumbers, tomatos, peppers, three kinds of squash...no make that four. I have to try butternut squash since I fell in love with butternut soup. I will plant basil and other herbs although my oregano is already producing. I hope to prepare beds for grapes and more berries this year. I already have a bunch of thornless blackberries that are soooo good. I also have 9 fruit trees so I probably won't plant any more this year -- sorta out of space now. I will continue to shred and compost all my garden waste and grass clippings. I have one of those giant green barrel composters. Gardening and yard work is good therapy for me.

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Originally Posted by TreeHugger

Tomatoes were terrible last year - tomato plight.

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We had this same thing last year, the bottoms of the tomato were rotting, right? Luckily we got right on it and bought some spray, I believe it was caused by a calcium deficiency. They turned around in about a week and a half.

Decided to blog our new green thumb skillz. The Swanson Garden Experience. Only a couple of small beds for now - I am going to put in two more of the same size, but not sure if that will be this year or next...

Attachment 33509

http://richardbarron.net/giantmuh/20...28/plantation/

Kev, can I hotlink to your new garden blog from my blog? Can I use the word blog a few more times? Blog?

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What's in your Garden?

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Lots of cold ground. We usually have frost until mid June and sometimes later. Things like raspberries and things that grow under ground (potatoes or carrots) work here as does winter wheat, but you can't grow things like tomatoes.

Peas and beans went in a couple of weeks ago. Peas just peeked through the soil. Strawberries have already turned from blossoms to little berries. Blueberries have bloomed and the blackberries are greened out nicely. Tomatoes in pots and some squash and carrots in some new mini planter boxes I just put together.

Still nothing planted. I hear there's another snowstorm coming. Those Mother's Day tomatoes might have to wait a bit. But I did till it up this weekend.

i dont think the storms are going to end! BLAHH!

Currently I am growing weeds. My ground is still to wet to till and prepare the soil. My peas are up however. I planted them quite a long time ago and they are about 2" tall. I need about 2-3 days of sun and warmth to be able to till then it will all go in.

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Originally Posted by live2ride

i dont think the storms are going to end! BLAHH!

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I hope not. :mrgreen:

We're planting roma's for bruschetta, beef masters for everything else, carrots for the dogs, and I already have raspberries, strawberries, pears, plumbs and a ton of herbs growing. Sage, onion, thyme, oregano, basil, and cinnamon basil. We've actually roto-tilled a spot in the back for a new garden and haven't decided entirely on what to plant.

We like to eat Italian meals with fresh, homegrown herbs and vegetables.

What I really want is olive oil on tap. Yum.

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Originally Posted by Richard Barron

http://richardbarron.net/giantmuh/20...28/plantation/

Kev, can I hotlink to your new garden blog from my blog? Can I use the word blog a few more times? Blog?

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Sure Richard, that's fine. :ahh:

One thing about living where I do is that, despite not having a lot of heat during the growing season, we have a relatively long season. We haven't had frost since January, and probably won't until mid-November. The rain helps, plus we live in one of the sunniest areas of Vancouver - twice the average sun of the North Shore. The mix of water and sun = good growth.

The day the garden started:
Attachment 33555

Compost only, no fertilizer, 17 days after transplanting/sowing:
Attachment 33556

We're very happy, so far!

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Originally Posted by Sombeech

We had this same thing last year, the bottoms of the tomato were rotting, right? Luckily we got right on it and bought some spray, I believe it was caused by a calcium deficiency. They turned around in about a week and a half.

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IT IS caused by a calcium deficiency, but the deficiency is caused by irregular waterings. In other words, if you don't water for a few days during really hot weather and the soil dries up, the plant can't access the calcium in the soil because the soil has dried up to the point where the roots can't absorb the calcium in the soil. Calcium is only available when it is soluble, and if the soil is dried up it's no longer soluble. Some things that might help this are to plant tomatoes in soil with a higher content of clay (clay holds moisture longer than sandy soil). Another thing you can try is to cover the soil around the base of your tomatoes with something like straw - this prevents the soil around the tomatoes from drying up so quickly.

Good luck. :2thumbs:

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Originally Posted by rockgremlin

Another thing you can try is to cover the soil around the base of your tomatoes with something like straw - this prevents the soil around the tomatoes from drying up so quickly.

Good luck. :2thumbs:

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I use grass clippings. I do keep the clippings a couple of inches from the plants though. I tried straw in my garden once and that stuff was full of seeds of all kinds of weeds.

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Originally Posted by Spooky

and a ton of herbs growing.

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Very nice. :bandit2: :lol8:

I still haven't planted a thing. Like others...too wet. :cold:

I have a full garden at my moms with all the standards in garden food. pumpkins as well. about 60 feet of 6 foot high chain link fence all covered in grapes for the last 10 years or so.
That one anyone that wants anything out of it gets to tend weeds and help me put it in each year.
My own personal smaller one at home I keep tomatoes, getting ready to put in some raspberry bushes next to the fence, more for thorns than for berries. Starting on some asparagus this year, but since it takes 2 years to start producing, its gonna be a while before we find out how well that does. If I had a place to put some potato plants Id be happy. Taters and maters are what I like to keep on hand for easy reach at home, anything else I drive to my moms and get it, its only a 5 minute drive. That leaves most of my yard for flowers and bushes and herbs that I like walking past and smelling, but do nto think I have ever used any for actually eating.
Fresh rosemary and lemon thyme how ever are great to have near the windows that get opened at night.

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Originally Posted by accadacca

Very nice. :bandit2: :lol8:

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Hey now, those herbs grow in the back closet. With the special lights. Y'know.

I'm trying out the Topsy Turvy, got some Bonnie Grape tomatoes in there. I love the small sweet tomatoes, but they're such a pain to pick off of the vine down low, so I'm hoping this will turn out pretty good.

I had that topsy crap 2 years ago. I hated it.
Let me tell you a few things about it.
First and most important, its as ugly as my ex wife in the morning, and only slightly better looking than she fares these days at any given time.
That bag takes in tons of heat, grows the roots, does a good job, but it does it so much so that you can not keep them wet enough. Tomatoes like sun, if you put that in the sun and soak it 3 hours later is dry.
The plants were always wilted and looked like hell and the fruit, less than desirable.

Just what I think of it, maybe you can do well with it but I suggest you figure out a timer based water system to water it several times a day and atleast once over night after it cools down and several hours before the sun comes up to bake the bag again.
I do have some plans to build 'earth boxes' for about 20 bucks each. You can buy the original for about 100. The original work fantastic! had them for about 4 years now and everything I ever put in it has been fantastic. Always been flowers, but this year I am building a couple of home made ones to try out some veggies in.
instead of twine or cages I am working on a PVC pipe frame stuck over some re-bar pounded in the ground to hold it.
So long as its not glued and just fitted together its easy to take apart and takes up little room to store.
Once I get that far, Ill take some pics to give you a better idea.
The raised beds? ONLY way to go!
Since we moved I have NOTHING, but have been working on it all, beds first then the lawn replacement. At the old house Id fill the beds in spring whit compost, peralite and some vermiculite and mix in some 0-0-1 fertilizer. plant in that and stand back. The next year Id empty half the bed out, and spread it on the lawn or in the flower beds and replace it in the raised beds with new for the veggies.
On the lawn Id mix it half and half with some sand and use that to fill in low spots to get it nice and level.

BTW, with lawns you find alot of problems with dead grass if you have a female dog.
mix 2 cups sugar with 4 cups water and pour it over those areas in the morning and water it in that night after the sun is down when you shoudl be watering your lawn anyways.
Add a teaspoon of brewers yeast to your dogs diet daily and new dead spots from dog pee with stop cropping up.

BTW, if you use compost every year and replace it in the garden, you end up with NO WEEDS in the garden.
In teh fall if your preparing flower beds for the next spring put in 1 inch of compost then a layer of cardboard, then an inch of compost and a layer of newspaper, and a couple more inches of compost.
next spring rake it smooth, and start planting.
The paper breaks down fast in the first 6 inches of tops soil and compost and adds alot to the plants nutrients the next year and encourages worms that provide natural aeration. I sprinkle coffee grounds around the roses and hydrangea and water it in. THe more acid in the soil the better roses do and it changes the hydrangea flowers from pink to blue. If you have blue ones already, you have enough acid in the soil naturally. if you want pink, lower the soil PH.
For all flowers, but not veggies, add about half a cup of epsom salt per Sq yard, and work it in with a spading fork or if its an empty area with a rototiller.
Watch your blooms and see how much they improve.
Utah soil is poor in Iron, you want your lawn green? use fertilizer with iron.
Some companies screw with info on the labels so if you do not see iron listed look for ferrous or FE, it all means the same thing when it comes to this.
I shall tell you one more secret as well.
cal-Ranch sells it, no idea where else you can find it.
LD-400.
its like 30 bucks for a bottle (biggest they sell in Tooele atleast)
Mix it one way and it kills brush, and has even done a number on the nasty Chinese elms I have to fight here.
Mix it another and it wreaks havoc (spring or fall, not so much mid summer) on that bindweed (Morning glory) and lawn weeds. Applied it once 2 years ago in spring, and again in fall, I had very little bind weed in my yard the summer and nearly none the following spring and summer.
Incase anyone doubts this, I once did this for a living and was at that time, licensed through the agricultural department of utah and worked for Lawn Life as ornamental and pest control tech.
The pay sucked, but was better than unemployment, and the stuff I learned I use all the time. I liked the work, but the pay sucketh big time!
Consider this free knowledge I am passing out.
I may not know everything about it, but I do know alot.

I was at Thanksgiving Point several years ago and met a guy named Paul Farber. He did vertical gardening in tires where the side walls were cut out and then the tire flipped inside out. I have several of these in my garden for my tomatoes, peppers and other similar plants purchased from the green house. It really works unless you are in a windy area. Check it out.

http://www.tirecrafting.com/

Some of the stuff is super ugly but I love the tires in the garden for planting. Makes weeding easy and I can control the water in little areas rather than sprinkling the whole garden. It saves me a lot of water and time. Also, I put all my lawn clippings between the tires as weed control and to till into the soil in the fall. I will finally be planting my stuff this weekend. I don't think (knock on wood) that there will be any more snow and the temps are finally going to 70 on a fairly regular basis.

Oh, I got all my tires for free from local tire shops. Most were glad to give me what ever they had since my hunch was they had collected a disposal fee and would not have to pay it for that tire when they themselves had to dispose of the tire.

My wife planted so I forget everything. Here is what I can remember and pictures.

Onions
Tomatos (roma & beefsteak)
Tomatillo
Jalape

Well, it's not my garden, that'll be next year. This year we're raising these. I've got 2 more Rhode Island Reds that aren't quite ready for the coop.Attachment 34313Attachment 34314 Still need to make the nesting boxes and insulate.

I almost forgot about the radishes.

Attachment 35089

The garden is crankin' along here at the acca crib. :cool:

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/a8c6eb9b.jpg

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