N&C Midwest: May 2019

Hello, Midwesterners!  We have weathered our cold and wet thus far Spring; looks like the trend is more seasonal at least in the near future.  My in-ground stuff is pretty stunted, it has just been too cold...I think this weekend I might get my first lettuces for a salad!  Need to thin radishes, spinaches, and plant beets, carrots and kohlrabi.  Also want to get my super hotties started downstairs (zucchini, melons, Delicata, ground cherries, etc.). Also, need to re-start marigolds and nasturtiums.  

Will get some pics this weekend!  What’s going on in your gardens?

I'm so excited, my table top is coming this weekend!  I've got chard, kale, lettuce ready to go out.. he even added and arched trellis to it for me!  So, will have one cucumber, one sq ft of peas/green beans, and one tomato (brandywine).  Seedlings are ready.. peppers (3), eggplant (1).. doing a happy dance!

@nrstooge wrote:I'm so excited, my table top is coming this weekend!  I've got chard, kale, lettuce ready to go out.. he even added and arched trellis to it for me!  So, will have one cucumber, one sq ft of peas/green beans, and one tomato (brandywine).  Seedlings are ready.. peppers (3), eggplant (1).. doing a happy dance!

Yes! Pictures! Pictures! More Pictures! I was right where you are 3 years ago and I remember exactly how it feels.

Got a couple beds mulched with grass clippings yesterday, then the rain came. And, it came, and it came, and it came....still raining, and supposed to rain through the weekend. Mother's Day is usually the safe point when we can plant tender vegetables like tomatoes, but not sure what is going to happen this year.

@countrynaturals wrote:

@nrstooge wrote:I'm so excited, my table top is coming this weekend!  I've got chard, kale, lettuce ready to go out.. he even added and arched trellis to it for me!  So, will have one cucumber, one sq ft of peas/green beans, and one tomato (brandywine).  Seedlings are ready.. peppers (3), eggplant (1).. doing a happy dance!

Yes! Pictures! Pictures! More Pictures! I was right where you are 3 years ago and I remember exactly how it feels.

NICE!  So far, so good, love it.  My radishes, peas, and spinaches are super stunted and way behind schedule due to the wet and freakishly cold spring.  Radishes are ready to thin...normally, I would be eating some by now.  

I will probably get some lettuce leaves this weekend!  

Other than that, just gotta clean out the old legacy boxes so I can get some taters started, and my tomatoes and eggplants out there...and the herbs.  

Herbs are easy;  dump the last year’s planter and start over!  Still no dill 

The April showers sure brought a lot of May flowers!  The Columbine are at their peak right now, as are the Bleeding Heart. And, the Crab Apple trees are really full of blooms, too!

BEAUTIFUL, OG!!!  And nrstooge, I cannot wait to see what you have planned....

Here, zero happened today. Tomorrow (Saturday) is my indoors day...will pot up.  Peppers, mostly. 

Start:  Super hotties:  peat pots...melons, zucchini for the first time, cukes...and ground cherries because I forgot them

Gorgeous, OG! Note to Self: Spend more time cultivating flowers.

WOW, OG....!!!

@countrynaturals wrote:Gorgeous, OG! Note to Self: Spend more time cultivating flowers.

Stop and smell the flowers!

Today, the front yard is filled with the sweet smell of the Lilacs.  Growing in the shade of the trees & shrubs are the native Wild Geraniums.  I love the Wild Geraniums because they are toxic to the Japanese Beetles, but the beetles can't resist trying to eat them! 

This Lilac bush came up from apparently some bird or animal spreading a seed


Wild Geranium that is growing under a recently cut down Birch tree

I love the pics!

I potted up all my peppers, and one unlabeled mater..also started my super hotties:  squashes, melons and cukes.  Also got 32 sunflower squares started, they are so happy!

My crabapple trees busted into flowers today, wow!  

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/85880910.jpg


https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/b45c5a10.jpg

Lovely!  Smell is heaven

That lilac is gorgeous....!

@AtlantaMarie wrote:That lilac is gorgeous....!

Smell is heaven!

Was planning on transplanting the peppers & tomatoes this weekend - usually get them planted right after Mother's Day - but, we had a cold front move in yesterday. For the next week the daytime highs are going to be in the upper-50's to low-60's, and nighttime lows are going to be the low- to mid-40's.  The beds are ready for the plants, and I'm ready to get the planted, but the weather isn't ready.

I may have to up-pot the plants again to hold them, sine the plants are getting too big for their pots!

@OhioGardener wrote:Was planning on transplanting the peppers & tomatoes this weekend - usually get them planted right after Mother's Day - but, we had a cold front move in yesterday. For the next week the daytime highs are going to be in the upper-50's to low-60's, and nighttime lows are going to be the low- to mid-40's.  The beds are ready for the plants, and I'm ready to get the planted, but the weather isn't ready.

I may have to up-pot the plants again to hold them, sine the plants are getting too big for their pots!

Same, OG, dates-wise this would be the weekend, but weather wise, nope!  Cold and rainy!  My beds are ready...all weeds pulled, and just waiting...Picked some leaves for a salad for Mother’s Day tomorrow!  My daughter helped, which was nice!  Also grabbed a few radishes.  Loving the baby Bok Choi!  It is a real stunner!  And very tasty...

No peas yet.  They are about a foot tall.  No flowers or fruits...wah

@Scorpio Rising wrote:
No peas yet.  They are about a foot tall.  No flowers or fruits...wah

Same here. I don't get it.

Still raining...what?

My tomatoes are ready to go out...will need to restart peppers????WHY...this will be #4.  Fresh seed, now I am going to peat pots....

So, my Melons, Cukes, and Squashes are up like gangbusters (they always do)

LOOK!!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/96e2e210.jpg

These babies are just waiting for WARM!!!

Beautiful day today, and NO RAIN! The weather forecast says we won't have any more rain until Thursday or Friday. One of the good things about raised beds is that the soil drains well so that it can be worked just a day or two after heavy rain.  So, today I transplanted the peppers - 6 each of bell, sweet banana, and Jalapeno - and tomatoes - 2 Golden Jubilee, 2 Sun Sugar, 1 Brandywine, and one cherry (from saved seeds, species unknown).  Also, planted 9 squares of Blue Lake Bush Bean seeds.  Planted the squash and cucumber seeds indoors this past week, and they are already up and growing  - they will be ready to transplant outdoors by the 1st of June. Then, all of the beds will be planted except for one 9-square section being held for the 2nd planting of Blue Lake Bush Beans.

Harvested radishes, bunching onions, leaf lettuce, and curly kale.

@OhioGardener wrote:Beautiful day today, and NO RAIN! The weather forecast says we won't have any more rain until Thursday or Friday. One of the good things about raised beds is that the soil drains well so that it can be worked just a day or two after heavy rain.  So, today I transplanted the peppers - 6 each of bell, sweet banana, and Jalapeno - and tomatoes - 2 Golden Jubilee, 2 Sun Sugar, 1 Brandywine, and one cherry (from saved seeds, species unknown).  Also, planted 9 squares of Blue Lake Bush Bean seeds.  Planted the squash and cucumber seeds indoors this past week, and they are already up and growing  - they will be ready to transplant outdoors by the 1st of June. Then, all of the beds will be planted except for one 9-square section being held for the 2nd planting of Blue Lake Bush Beans.

Harvested radishes, bunching onions, leaf lettuce, and curly kale.

Very similar story, here. Doncha love days like this?

@OhioGardener wrote:Beautiful day today, and NO RAIN! The weather forecast says we won't have any more rain until Thursday or Friday. One of the good things about raised beds is that the soil drains well so that it can be worked just a day or two after heavy rain.  So, today I transplanted the peppers - 6 each of bell, sweet banana, and Jalapeno - and tomatoes - 2 Golden Jubilee, 2 Sun Sugar, 1 Brandywine, and one cherry (from saved seeds, species unknown).  Also, planted 9 squares of Blue Lake Bush Bean seeds.  Planted the squash and cucumber seeds indoors this past week, and they are already up and growing  - they will be ready to transplant outdoors by the 1st of June. Then, all of the beds will be planted except for one 9-square section being held for the 2nd planting of Blue Lake Bush Beans.

Harvested radishes, bunching onions, leaf lettuce, and curly kale.

Nice!  OG, no rain here today, either...we are 9” over for the year?

I plan to get my maters out this weekend.  Also eggplants going out....peppers are literally 1” tall...help....

Tons of sunflowers also ready!  So pretty!

The Peonies always bloom just before Memorial Day, but are even earlier this year.

The peppers, tomatoes, kale, and swiss chard are looking good right now, but we are under a sever thunderstorm warning with strong winds and hail. The storm yesterday missed us, and it looks like the current one will go south of us. Hoping we don't have any significant damage to the gardens.

The peppers are looking good. If you look closely, you can seed the Living Mulch of Crimson Clover starting to sprout under and around the pepper plants.


The tomatoes are coming along nicely, and will soon be filling out their Texas Tomato Cages


More of the tomatoes


Rainbow Chard in front (2 per square), and Curly Kale behind them (1 per square). Between the Kale is a row of Romaine Lettuce, and between the Kale and tomatoes is a row of Daikon Radish.

  Fingers crossed you don't get any hail. There's an outside chance here, too, but it's the wind that's driving us nutz right now. I'm worried for our sunflowers and tomatoes.

Nice, OG, you are WAYYYY ahead of us, we are behind for the season here...

I brought my starts in for the night due to the threat os severe weather.