Spring Fever Anyone?

Lookin' good, Brian. Are you growing peas now? My sugar snaps are almost ready for snacking.  (Should have planted more, sooner. )

countrynaturals wrote:Lookin' good, Brian. Are you growing peas now? My sugar snaps are almost ready for snacking.  (Should have planted more, sooner. )

Those are looking good.  According to My zone/frost dates and the book I shouldn’t put them out until like 1/25.  That’s 5 weeks before the last frost date.  Can they go out earlier than that?

ThatsMeJenniG wrote:

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

On the other hand - I'm NOT ready for spring yet!  There's still landscape beds to clear, raised beds to top off, more seeds to be ordered, tulle to be purchased and sewn, pots to sort and clean, bumblebee nests to make, and my to-do-calendar document to revise. I start my onions and leeks from seed at the start of February. I won't be starting tomatoes until March.

Beetles,
What sort of shape and size do you sew your tulle into and what all do you use it on?  And, what sort of bumblebee nests do you make and with what do you make them?  

I'm itching to start some seeds and some side projects might help to curb my enthusiasm

Sorry - I missed seeing this! (I've got a program that progressively autodims the blue light coming from my laptop display as the evening wears on. That means mean I'm trying to browse the forum too late at night I can't see the difference between the blue/navy threads I've read and the black ones I haven't.)

I sew two 12ft long by 60" wide rectangles of tulle together to get a bigger 12ft x 10ft rectangle. The width should be listed on the label that's on the top end of the bolt of fabric at the store. 12x10ft is just big enough to go over one of my covered wagon style hoop structures on a 4x4 bed: One hoop at each end, and a third parallel to the others across the middle, plus a 4ft piece going crosswise. I used to attach this with a bolt, but I'm moving towards T-connectors, I just need to figure how to keep them from slipping down. The PVC pieces forming the hoops are 10ft (so once the ends are below the edge of the raised bed I have a few inches of tulle overlapping the bed so I can put binder clips on it to hold it down.) The height of the hoops ends up being about 4ft - so 4ft up, 4ft across the bed, and 4ft down is 12ft. I do end up with extra flaps of fabric that I just sort of fold over. Some people make doors at the ends, but I haven't tried that yet.

Bumblebee nests: I haven't made one before. Until part way through this past growing season I had a neighbor with honey bees. I didn't want to encourage a situation where the bumbles would be competing with the honey bees and possible catching diseases/pests from them. But the neighbor moved, so I can now encourage native bees. (I love hearing those bumbles buzz pollinate my eggplants!) I'm thinking of making pot-type nests like this:
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/how-to-make-a-bumblebee-nest/
Here's more:
http://www.bumblebee.org/nestbox_plans.htm

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

ThatsMeJenniG wrote:

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

On the other hand - I'm NOT ready for spring yet!  There's still landscape beds to clear, raised beds to top off, more seeds to be ordered, tulle to be purchased and sewn, pots to sort and clean, bumblebee nests to make, and my to-do-calendar document to revise. I start my onions and leeks from seed at the start of February. I won't be starting tomatoes until March.

Beetles,
What sort of shape and size do you sew your tulle into and what all do you use it on?  And, what sort of bumblebee nests do you make and with what do you make them?  

I'm itching to start some seeds and some side projects might help to curb my enthusiasm

Sorry - I missed seeing this! (I've got a program that progressively autodims the blue light coming from my laptop display as the evening wears on. That means mean I'm trying to browse the forum too late at night I can't see the difference between the blue/navy threads I've read and the black ones I haven't.)

I sew two 12ft long by 60" wide rectangles of tulle together to get a bigger 12ft x 10ft rectangle. The width should be listed on the label that's on the top end of the bolt of fabric at the store. 12x10ft is just big enough to go over one of my covered wagon style hoop structures on a 4x4 bed: One hoop at each end, and a third parallel to the others across the middle, plus a 4ft piece going crosswise. I used to attach this with a bolt, but I'm moving towards T-connectors, I just need to figure how to keep them from slipping down. The PVC pieces forming the hoops are 10ft (so once the ends are below the edge of the raised bed I have a few inches of tulle overlapping the bed so I can put binder clips on it to hold it down.) The height of the hoops ends up being about 4ft - so 4ft up, 4ft across the bed, and 4ft down is 12ft. I do end up with extra flaps of fabric that I just sort of fold over. Some people make doors at the ends, but I haven't tried that yet.

Bumblebee nests: I haven't made one before. Until part way through this past growing season I had a neighbor with honey bees. I didn't want to encourage a situation where the bumbles would be competing with the honey bees and possible catching diseases/pests from them. But the neighbor moved, so I can now encourage native bees. (I love hearing those bumbles buzz pollinate my eggplants!) I'm thinking of making pot-type nests like this:
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/how-to-make-a-bumblebee-nest/
Here's more:
http://www.bumblebee.org/nestbox_plans.htm

That bumblebee nest is awesome, I was looking at the bamboo type on Amazon.  I might still have to go with the hanging version; I'm pretty confident our pup will think that I've built the bumble nest for her- although I do have some sections of Pex from our last reno project that look like they'd be the perfect length.

Bed # 2 ready for spring. Peas and onions will be the first to go out in a few weeks. 


This bed has a mixture of about 1/3 homemade compost and 2/3 bought ( black kow, black hen, mushroom, cotton burr and natures own chicken.)

Lookin’ good, Brian!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Lookin’ good, Brian!

+1

Got the South bed ready to go today vertical trellis with lines running to the fence are for peas and pole beans.

Horizontal 3 level trellis netting is for silver Queen Corn.
Going to do 3 x 4 (48 plants)

NICE!!!!  Like the set-up!  I grew Silver Queen, delish, but don’t dawdle about getting it eaten, however you can eat it basically raw and it is like sugar!  Yum!  I also grew Country Genteman, shoepeg corn, very sweet but gotta eat it quick!  I was super poor and it was no prob, whatever we grew we were eating!

Yeah.  My wife loves Silver Queen Corn. We have a friend who has a lot of land and grows a bunch of it every year.  They vac seal and freeze it on the cob and it does come out pretty good if used within a few months.  Not as good as fresh obviously, but still very good.  I tried to grow some this spring, but the plants were poorly placed and weren’t all placed beside one another.  I only had 8 in one area and 8 on the opposite side of the bed.  Corn seems to be pretty challenging to grow, but I thought I would give it another shout.  I will have 6 rows of 8 inside 12 adjacent squares (3 x 4).  I read in a thread on here somewhere about planting a row each week and using the younger rows to lean over and tap to fertilize the row next to it that’s a week older.  I guess the pollen tassels are ready a little earlier than the silks that need to be fertilized  or something ????  I am putting the corn near the beans and peas on one side and the other side will be peppers for lack of a better companion on that side.

I got the North bed trellis’ up today. The cucumber ones running to the fence are done.  I got the tomato trellis’ up, but didn’t attach the netting yet.  I figured 6 weeks in the weather for no reason seemed a little silly.  I also still have some work to do with the mix I that bed. 

Love your corn setup!

sanderson wrote:Love your corn setup!

Thank you.  I got a variation of that idea from somewhere on here.  I have lots of trouble remembering where I found stuff or got ideas from.  I can never seem to find the threads again after time.  

I am a little concerned about my tomato trellis'.  They just didn't look that close together when planning.  My concern is that the ones on the farthest (West Side) will get too much shade.  That is why I made the trellis' taller as they go west,  I just hope it enough.

I think Yolos had a similar corn setup.

brianj555 wrote:Yeah.  My wife loves Silver Queen Corn. We have a friend who has a lot of land and grows a bunch of it every year.  They vac seal and freeze it on the cob and it does come out pretty good if used within a few months.  Not as good as fresh obviously, but still very good.  I tried to grow some this spring, but the plants were poorly placed and weren’t all placed beside one another.  I only had 8 in one area and 8 on the opposite side of the bed.  Corn seems to be pretty challenging to grow, but I thought I would give it another shout.  I will have 6 rows of 8 inside 12 adjacent squares (3 x 4).  I read in a thread on here somewhere about planting a row each week and using the younger rows to lean over and tap to fertilize the row next to it that’s a week older.  I guess the pollen tassels are ready a little earlier than the silks that need to be fertilized  or something ????  I am putting the corn near the beans and peas on one side and the other side will be peppers for lack of a better companion on that side.

If everything goes as it should (watering, heat, fertilization) then the silks will appear in time to be receptive when the pollen drops.  Unfortunately a lot of us untrained corn growers do not get every thing as it should be and the tassels drop the pollen before or after the silks are receptive.   So some of us plant staggered planting so we will be able to get some properly pollinated silks because we have pollen dropping at different times.  Also, I stagger my planting a week apart so that I will not have all my corn ready to harvest at the same time.  Last year I did 6 plantings of 3 ft x 4 ft.  Worked out pretty good but by the 6th week, we were quit tired of eating fresh corn on the cob twice a week for 6 weeks.

Does you friend blanch the corn on the cob before he vac seals and freezes it ???????????

I’m not sure yolos.  I will find out their process and report back.  I boil it to cook it but I do know this, my wife wraps it in a wet paper towel and cooks it in the microwave for two minutes.  Maybe it has been blanched.  I will check.

I'm thinking that corn, like many other veggies, would benefit from partially cooking (microwave or boiling) before freezing. ??

sanderson wrote:I'm thinking that corn, like many other veggies, would benefit from partially cooking (microwave or boiling) before freezing.  ??

That is what i did, blanched the corn on the cob for a couple minutes.  But when we reheated it the kernels were  mushy.  We like nice firm corn on the cob that is why I asked if it is blanched or not before freezing.

I go along with sanderson I was always told you had to blanch corn before freezing or it would be mushy.

Rolling along.  Almost time.

Looking good, Brian. I thought I'd be able to play outside this morning, but the rain came in early, so I'll be planting seeds in the house, today. Gotta garden, one way or another.

countrynaturals wrote:Looking good, Brian. I thought I'd be able to play outside this morning, but the rain came in early, so I'll be planting seeds in the house, today. Gotta garden, one way or another.

I understand.  Weather is terrible here as well.  I’m just hoping it means good weather to come.

Nice, Brian. It looks like you raised the front light for the photo shoot, and otherwise have it right down near the seedling.

spring fever is starting..... I've just ordered £ 95  ( $ 125 USD ) of seeds from a reliable big boy seed merchant .
 I've spent the last ten or so years buying  left over seeds from gardening centers at almost half price but this last two years has sen a big drop in quality with no end of packets  having become damp whilst in the shop & stuck together by the dampness .  Got a shock as the the change in prices & the latrest practice of the seed house ony butting 50 to 100 seeds in each packet whn five years ago there woud be 500 to 700 of the small seed.  tomato seeds were 250 in a packet now they're only 10 or less

 So it looks like I won't be storing many seeds in my seed bank racks  from now on unless I grow them myself .

Only 10 tomato seeds per pack!! That's scary because there aren't many seeds for backup starts.