2015 SFG in Brooks, Ga

Yolos, everything looks so beautiful.  Your lettuce is exceptional.  Wow!

You successes give me hope for my own garden. 

Looks GREAT, Yolos!

BORAGE 05/08/15

Just to set the record straight, you can easily start Borage seeds inside under lights.  My Borage this year was started inside on  3/6 and transplanted out to the garden on 3/30 and some on 4/15.  They are huge and do not fit one per square.  I planted them one per square but I just trimmed the biggest leaves so they would fit in their squares.  A few of the Borage plants grew upright and have flowered.  The others sprawled and are at leas 24 inches in each direction and have not flowered yet.  Here are some pictures.  The first two pictures are of the shorter but wider plants and the last Borage picture is of one of the taller ones that has already bloomed.





Okay, had to show my tallest sunflower now 52 inches tall and almost at the top of the trellis.


Veggies are all growing fairly well but not as exciting picture wise as the flowers.

Ruh roh. I had no idea borage looked like that and was that big. I seeded the equivalent of 9 per square foot. I hope they transplant well. Yolos, your garden is stunning. That lettuce just makes my mouth water.

Thanks for the info. I'll change things around tomorrow.

CC

I had borage plants in pots last year but they were no where as big as they are this year in the MM beds. I had no idea they could over grow a square.

CapeCoddess wrote:Ruh roh. I had no idea borage looked like that and was that big. I seeded the equivalent of 9 per square foot. I hope they transplant well. Yolos, your garden is stunning. That lettuce just makes my mouth water.

Thanks for the info. I'll change things around tomorrow.

CC

Ruh roh is right, 9 per square foot.  I think you will be doing some transplanting.

yolos wrote:
One whole bed of flowers - Sunflowers, Four Oclock, Borage, Marigolds, Cosmos.  I have been fighting ants in this bed for two years.  I finally dumped some no, no on the bed.  The ants are now gone but I did not want to plant any vegetables in there this year.

I spoke too soon.  The ants are back in this bed. GRRRRRRR  #$%$#!#$

Look at those borage plants!

Yolos, you are scaring me...   I have borage growing all along cinder blocks that separate our lawn from the flowers bed...  I'm gonna have some serious edging to do come summer!

Tried my panoramic function on my I-phone today.  Worked pretty good taking a picture of my whole garden, except I must have giggled it a little because two of the beds look like the frames are broken.  But you still get the sense of the garden.  All beds are fully planted right now except the corn bed and the bean bed because I am doing staggered planting in those two beds (the two beds on the right)

I dug down into the garlic bed with my fingers and the garlic I tested was bulbing up nicely. 

Two tomato plants have spots on the leaves so I will have to get out the clippers and bleach solution to try to stop the spread of whatever disease they have.  I wish the tomatoes would hurry up and ripen. 

I started picking a few sweet peas each day but don't have enough for a meal yet.  Within the next week they will really be coming in strong. One of our favorite crops last year were the sweet peas.  My grandson is snacking on them everyday when he comes out to the garden.  He kept eating them pod and all and wouldn't listen to me about opening the pod and getting the little peas out.  Today he actually listened to me and opened up the pods and showed me the peas inside and said they were as good as candy.

The eggplant is attracting the most pests.  I have been fighting flea beetles but seem to have them mostly under control now.  Then there are big holes in some of the leaves.  Can't figure those out but maybe slugs have arrived in my garden because of all the rain and mulching I have been doing this year.


I am surprised that the lettuce has not bolted yet and is not yet bitter.

The potatoes are looking good.  The flowers have already come and gone so there should be something growing under there.  Hope they hold off until the Rattlesnake beans are ready to pick then I can have some new potatoes and beans cooked with some ham hock.

I will have to get the tulle out soon and cover up the squash to keep the Squash Vine Borers from attacking them.

My first picking of garden peas.  4 hours to make the trellis and prep the bed, 1 hour to plant, 2 months to grow, 20 minutes to pick, 40 minutes to shell, 2 minutes to cook, 2 minutes to eat.  A whole lot of work went into this 2 cups of peas.  But it sure is worth it.  I picked these over a 4 day period as they just started to ripen.  The big harvest will be in the next week or so.

Yolos.....Your garden looks lovely.  It gives me hope for my northern garden in a couple months time. 
Thanks for the info on borage as well.  Nice to know.

The sweet taste of the fruits of your labor!  Your panorama look is pretty cool.  Nice garden!

Your garden look gorgeous as well as your peas. Mine don't ever seem to make in the house. I don't think I'll let my 8 year old hold the container while I pick anymore.

Second big picking of peas.  Two gallon bags full of unshelled English snap peas.  Statistically, 1 gallon of unshelled peas equals 4 cups of shelled peas.  It takes me 1 hr and 45 minutes to shell 4 cups of peas.  I am getting a little faster with all this practice.  Last year it took me 25 minutes to shell one cup of peas.

Sure is nice to have 4 days off from work and no rain.  I got quite a bit done in the garden the last 3 days.  Planted Henderson Bush Lima Beans (8 squares), Fortex Pole Beans (8 Squares), 22 Silver King Corn (16 squares), 4 more squares of Rattlesnake Beans, Sweet Potatoes (I think this week, maybe last week), Still picking Garden shell peas (11 cups of peas so far).  Cleaned out my bolted lettuce box.

Here is a picture of a trellis I made last year for pole beans.  At the end of the season I just took it apart and now using it this year.  Easy peasy.


Sunflowers are still going strong.  Now 80 inches above the 1/2 whiskey barrel.



I also am experimenting with my Rattlesnake beans.  They have already reached the top of the 7 foot trellis and are starting to tangle up at the top.  Some gardeners say once they reach the top of the trellis they will start growing down.  No way.  So I went to the store today to buy some tiny fishing sinkers.  Wanted to tie twine to the end of the vine and then attach a sinker to the bottom of the twine so it would pull the top of the bean vine down.  Turns out just the weight of the twine was enough to pull the vine down towards the ground.  Will have to see how this works.  Here is a picture of the attempt.

You can see the piece of the twine hanging from the end of the bean vine, pulling it down towards the ground.

It all looks good.  I like your ideas about how you handled the vines that got to the top of your trellises.  Wow, you sure did get a lot of peas!

I love your trellis...now to convince my hubby to build me one. Lol   that's the look I'll get.

I know you are not supposed to harvest Garlic when the ground is wet, but we have had 7 inches or rain this last week and the garlic is nearing full ripeness so I decided it had to come out now.  I pulled a few last night to see what was going on under all that straw and dirt.  Here is the biggest of the bunch (4 inches across) I harvested last night.  I am heading out to harvest the rest of the bed.

It is pretty dirty looking but because it was so damp, I am just leaving it to dry and then brush off the dirt later.  I am so excited.  Three years of trying and finally success. 

yolos wrote:I know you are not supposed to harvest Garlic when the ground is wet, but we have had 7 inches or rain this last week and the garlic is nearing full ripeness so I decided it had to come out now.

 7"?  Yikes    

I am so excited.  Three years of trying and finally success. 

Here it is.  40 bulbs of Garlic.,  Don't know what I am going to do with it all.  Freeze some, dehydrate some, eat some, and give away a lot to friends and coworkers, keep the largest cloves to replant this fall.  I think I will tell anyone who I give the bulbs to that they must give me back the largest clove from each bulb.  Of course, I think once the wrapper has been taken off, the individual cloves will not last too long.

My jaw just hit the floor.  I am so happy for you!!  What an awesome success.  OK... I'm not sure of exactly what I've got going on out there in my own two garlic EarthBoxes.  Those two bulbs we harvested a few days ago made me hopeful though.   It's funny, I just finished planting all but four of my EarthBoxes.  Two of those four are housing my garlic... and that garden real estate is very valuable this time of year.  Looks like I'll very soon be vacating my current tenants!

Here is yesterdays and todays harvest of my tomatoes.  I am getting ready to spray with BT tonight because caterpillars are attaching the tomatoes and corn and I wanted to get the ones that have started to blush off the plants before I spray.  Gilbertie, Goliath, Brandy Boy and Juliet.