The 2019 Gardening Thread.

Norachan

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Has anyone else started gardening yet? I'm itching to get things planted, but it's still too cold. Our forecast is for below freezing at night for another two weeks, so I have to wait a bit longer.

I've started getting things ready though. The deck is cleaned and repainted and all the planters have been emptied out. Yesterday I went to our local stables and got some sacks of horse poop.

They have plenty of it, they keep about 30 horses there. We could only fit 4 sacks in the back of our car, they asked us to take a truck load next time.

:lol:

I'm thinking of making a compost heap so I have a steady supply of fertilizer. The poop we got yesterday had been sitting there for about 6 months, so it was already composted down and could go straight onto the garden.

Anyone else planning a garden this year? Share your tips and pics here.

:clover:
 

di and bob

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I grew tomatoes in straw bales last year, this year I'm going to do half in bales and half not to see how it goes.i grow an extensive garden every year and sell my produce at the Farmer's Market to pay for our expensive water out here.
This winter has been brutal, cold and wet. I just started weeding yesterday, almost everything green is a weed right now, so easy, just have to watch for the tulips and daffodils. I have to start early to keep up with the tremendous amount of weeds on my acre in the city. Perennials are just now starting to come awake, teh grass is starting to green. More rain/snow forcasted for Friday. Late start this year, the only thing I have planted is radishes! My tomatoes are just now sprouting indoors, i plant tehm 6 weeks before time to set them out. I plant them about teh second week in May, but this year I had better be ready to cover them!
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Mia6

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I grew tomatoes in straw bales last year, this year I'm going to do half in bales and half not to see how it goes.i grow an extensive garden every year and sell my produce at the Farmer's Market to pay for our expensive water out here.
This winter has been brutal, cold and wet. I just started weeding yesterday, almost everything green is a weed right now, so easy, just have to watch for the tulips and daffodils. I have to start early to keep up with the tremendous amount of weeds on my acre in the city. Perennials are just now starting to come awake, teh grass is starting to green. More rain/snow forcasted for Friday. Late start this year, the only thing I have planted is radishes! My tomatoes are just now sprouting indoors, i plant tehm 6 weeks before time to set them out. I plant them about teh second week in May, but this year I had better be ready to cover them!
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Do you plant your indoor tomatoes by seed?
 

rubysmama

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I actually went in my backyard for the first time in weeks yesterday, and noticed some green sprouts on a couple perennials, and tiny buds on the lilacs. But everything else is still pretty much hibernating. And the soil won't be warm enough for planting till May. :sigh:
 

Winchester

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Rick insists we will have a garden this year. I'm hoping!

We can't plant much of anything before mid-May, so we have a while to go.
 

weebeasties

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I have some little tomatoes that are about the size of a pea right now and bell pepper plants with flowers. The cucumbers are about 3 inches tall. I have potatoes that have been cut and are ready to go in the ground. I really waited too long to plant them, so we may not have much luck with the summer heat that will be hitting us soon. I'm going to experiment with growing some in pine straw. I wouldn't think it would be much different than in hay, and the pine straw is free!
 

di and bob

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I do grow one dozen plants by seed inside with my grow lights every year. I get brands and kinds you can't at the nursery, like two pound tomatoes. I did notice one thing last year, the tomatoes I started by seed, not one got disease last year, and every one of the ones I bought at two different nirseries get that blight that seems to come every year at the end of growing season. The inside ones may have been a more resistant kind though, i guess I'll see this year. The secret to starting them inside is to not start them too early, at the most six weeks before last frost, they just get weak and spindly. I have mine under grow bulbs and set them poutside as soon as I can and bring them in at night. Cool night time temps, liek in teh 60's and wind makes them strong! PS. straw is teh mulch and growing medium of choice, hay has WAY too many weed seeds, at least with wheat starw you just get nice looking grassy wheat that pulls out easy!
 
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Norachan

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I grew tomatoes in straw bales last year, this year I'm going to do half in bales and half not to see how it goes
Mother Dragon Mother Dragon posted on another thread about growing potatoes is straw.

Question Of The Day. Saturday 16th Of March.

Will this work for tomatoes too? I'd love to grow some veggies, but I don't think we get enough sunlight here. The veg I've tried in the past has started off OK, but then turned to mush in the monsoon.

And the soil won't be warm enough for planting till May.
Our soil has defrosted early this year. It's usually frozen until about mid April.

we may not have much luck with the summer heat that will be hitting us soon
Ah, you people in Florida have it easy! Summer is a log way off for me.

:lol:

Does anyone else have a compost heap? I'm wondering where is the best place to build mine. Are they better in the shade or in the sun?
 

di and bob

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I do what they call lasagna composting, mainly because it is easy and quick. You just dig a shallow trench where ever you need more nutrients and shallowly bury any kitch waste, etc. what ever you have. I also just lay it on the dirt and then cover it with grass clippings. You can do it in layers, like potatoe peelings first then a thin layer of clippings then another layer of whatever you have, manure, old veggies, whatever. I mulch my whole garden with grass clippings about a foot thick which then forms a mat and prevents weeds. Used a lot of straw last year that I had left over. I feel sad when I drive by and see people's gardens just completely over run with three foot high weeds, if they had just taken a few minutes to mulch, no weeding at all! I get pleasure out of pulling weeds and then covering then covering them with grass to make it look nice, REVENGE!
 

susanm9006

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Still in the slushy and spongy ground but I made it up to my tulip beds in the back yard yesterday. No sign of them yet but as soon as they pop up I need to fence them so they don’t become rabbit snacks.
 

Mother Dragon

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I grew tomatoes in straw bales last year, this year I'm going to do half in bales and half not to see how it goes.i grow an extensive garden every year and sell my produce at the Farmer's Market to pay for our expensive water out here.
This winter has been brutal, cold and wet. I just started weeding yesterday, almost everything green is a weed right now, so easy, just have to watch for the tulips and daffodils. I have to start early to keep up with the tremendous amount of weeds on my acre in the city. Perennials are just now starting to come awake, teh grass is starting to green. More rain/snow forcasted for Friday. Late start this year, the only thing I have planted is radishes! My tomatoes are just now sprouting indoors, i plant tehm 6 weeks before time to set them out. I plant them about teh second week in May, but this year I had better be ready to cover them!
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Your place is gorgeous!I can tell you put in a lot of work to make it look so good. Kudos!
 

Mother Dragon

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Our garden is now pretty much completed. We're late in getting it in because the weather has fluctuated so much. We put in 55 plants to supplement the ones that wintered over, for a total of 85 plants. It's a container garden with everything up on 4" x 4"s sitting on upturned cinder blocks. The jalapeños have made all year and have lots of peppers on them, especially the mariachis. A lot of the herbs made it, too, including the catnip, lemongrass (Darwin's favorite), oregano, garlic chives, parsley, sage (gone insane!), and some mints. The tomatoes are full of blooms even though I pinched all the blooms off when we planted them last week. They've shot up about 8". Robert replaced the leaky drip controller so now we should be watering only the plants. Now we sit back , feed the bugs, and wait for the huge production of the world's most expensive dead sticks.
 
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Norachan

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I get pleasure out of pulling weeds and then covering then covering them with grass to make it look nice, REVENGE!
That's a good idea. I've seen gardeners here cover the ground in old carpet, wait until all the weeds have died off and then just rake up what's left.

I'm thinking of making a proper compost heap so I can get bags of horse manure every time I go riding, then leave it to all compost down and dig it back into the flower beds in the spring.

I noticed a lot of deer prints in my front garden after I put the first lot of manure down. Funny, because I see deer almost every day but they've never shown any interest in the garden before. maybe they came to check out who the new ponies were.

Now we sit back , feed the bugs, and wait for the huge production of the world's most expensive dead sticks.
Yeah, a lot of my efforts end up that way too.

:lol:
 

rubysmama

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Mother Dragon Mother Dragon : Here, with our short season, tomatoes don't get planted till late May/early June, so don't ripen till late August/early September.

With your long growing season, do you plant a second batch of tomatoes, peppers, etc. for fall harvesting?
 

weebeasties

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Years ago I was very into gardening. My interest was more of the flowers/ornamental variety. While my partner appreciated my efforts, she always felt that it wasn't "real gardening" unless you were growing vegetables.

We haven't grown much over the past few years but she wanted a garden so badly this year and her health prevented her from growing one so I have taken over the "farmer" duties and I'm growing vegetables this year.

It may be our climate, but I am really surprised over how different it is trying to grow veggies rather than ornamentals. Vegetable plants are wimps! The amount of diseases and fungus they are subject to, the light, soil, and fertilizer requirements must be pretty strictly adhered to...I have to admit, flower gardening is so much easier and more fun.

I will do my best with this year's vegetable garden, but I hope that by next year my partner's health will have improved enough that I can hand the reigns back to her. I can't believe how stressful it is caring for this tiny patch!
 

posiepurrs

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I am working on getting my flower gardens back into shape after being neglected for so long. I have started some seeds (peppers, cauliflower, and some herbs) and planted my potatoes. It may be too early really but I saw a video that you can over winter the tubers for an earlier spring crop so decided to try planting early. I am growing them in a large container. Next week I will start my tomatoes. A week or so later the cukes and squash inside and plant my onion sets and maybe the peas outside. I also have flower seeds to plant - daisies, cleome, poppies, marigolds, and some others. I had replaced my grow light, but now wish I had gotten a much bigger one. I also wish I could source some compost materials. While I have a compost pile, I can't seem to make enough to keep up with the demands. Some of the veggies I will just pop into the flower beds since I am only growing one or two of that type. I am trying to keep it small this year so I can see how much I can handle with my bad knees. I am loving being able to get out there and do things again.
 

MoochNNoodles

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DH is going to get some boards to repair one of my raised beds this weekend. But we have decided to let the garden mostly rest this year. Normally I put my tomatoes in large nursery pots and they do very well (as long as I water a lot). I put my peppers in pots also. But since we are going for a rest year; I'm going to use one bed to put all my tomato plants and leave it at that. I can't see NOT growing tomatoes. I would miss them too much. I'm just tired of cucumbers and summer squash failing every year. I've got other things that need my attention right now too. I'll just have to go to farm stands for my squashes and cukes.

I need to research the best way to let the land rest yet not become nothing but weeds. It's bad enough as it is. I have some landscape fabric made from corn that is biodegradable. I used that last year to cut down on weeds in the beds but stuff still grew under it and through even the tiny holes made from the pins that held it down. I should have covered over it with some kind of straw or mulch. That would have prevented a lot of what grew under it. But still; it was much better than constantly weeding crab grass and what not.

I guess either way I still have to go out and weed the gardens this year. :lol: Since it's almost April; it's about that time! Good thing I've been working out! Every year I tell myself I should work out ahead of time because that garden work leaves me sore! If I gardened like that year round I'd probably have a nice hot body. :p

My rhubarb is starting to sprout and my daffodils and crocus are up. I see Forsythia starting to bloom and some trees. Within a month I should be filling all my potted flowers and things. I'm looking forward to having color around the yard again. :yess:
 

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I'm so excited there is a gardening thread! I live in Canada, in the city, and I have grown all kinds of vegetables in all kinds of tiny spaces. I have my peppers, tomatoes, strawberries and eggplant seedlings under grow lights in my kitchen right now! And I'll be sowing my leafy greens and peas in a week or so, depending on the weather.

I'm also getting my backyard redone right now, with a few large raised beds and new deck/planters. Plus plenty of trellis space for vines. I generally grow all kinds of container/dwarf/space saving/vertical veggies, plus some flowers for bees and beauty. Plus, I do Spring, Summer and Fall gardens.

What is everybody growing this year? Here's my list!
-Alpine Strawberries (yellow and red)
-Beans (Bush and Scarlett Runner)
-Peppers (Little lunchbox snackers)
-Cucumber (two small varieties)
-Zucchini
-Leafy Greens: Kale, Spinach, Chard, Lettuce, Arugula
-Eggplant (Little Fingers and Little Prince)
-Peas (two or three varieties)
-Carrots
-Tomatoes (Black Cherry and Red tumblers)
-Butternut Squash (Little One pound squashes)
-Popcorn
-Flowers: Calendula, Lavender, Nasturtiums, Sweet Peas, Stock, Heliotrope, Dahlias
 
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Norachan

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Good thing I've been working out! Every year I tell myself I should work out ahead of time because that garden work leaves me sore!
Yes, gardening is great exercise, isn't it? Don't forget your sun block!

What is everybody growing this year? Here's my list!
Wow, that's very ambitious! I don't think I'll be able to compete with that. I'm going to try some potatoes, tomatoes and maybe some goya. They didn't like the spot I planted them in last year, so I need to find a better place.

I do better with flowers. Nasturtiums, pansies, petunia, heliotrope and lupines did pretty well last year. I'm hoping the forget-me-nots and hostas come back too.

What do you recommend for cooler places that don't get a lot of direct sunlight?
 
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