Gardening, Greenhouse, Life

So glad to visit the forum and catch up on all the gardening and life activities.
I been so busy, don't know if I'm coming or going but all is great.

I been talking to a doctor and we did some home testing for my skin allergies---cheaper
this way. It seems I am not allergic to tomato plants. Not sure yet what I am allergic to.
It could be the soil I use. One test step at a time. At the moment I am taking Prednisone for
12 days and let me tell ya---at first it made me extremely hungry but that is kinda
slowing down ---thank goodness. But it makes my brain do push ups at night and can barely
sleep---thinking and dreaming---half awake-half asleep.

I sure wish I had figured out that I wasn't allergic to the tomato plants about 4 months ago.
But oh well----just getting a late start on tomato plants. I want a tomato farm. I just can't wait. So excited.
But at the moment I do have some tomato plants growing in 6 inch pots and they are ready for the great outdoors but I am not too sure the great outdoors is ready for them. We are having early warm weather but you just never know when that frost is goin to show up if at all. I am chicken---bok bok.
I have some tomato plants for outdoors and some for greenhouse production. Not as many as I would love to have but it is a start.
Some will be grown the square foot garden way and some will be grown in cages to help give extra yield. Some will be grown at ground level, some in raised grow beds, some in 25 gallon pots.

These are the ones I have in 6inch pots--ready to be planted. Healthy and sturdy.

The greenhouse plant sales have started kinda early. Folks are itching to get tomato plants in the ground.
I been selling tomato plants that look like the ones in previous photo.

Plus I have these tomato plants in 4 gallon pots( 30 of them)----they will be ready in about 2 more weeks.

a glance at what I have been doing in the greenhouse-----working---transplanting--getting plants ready for sales. It's still early yet---another week and things will be extremely busy.

4 inch potted tomato plants

Hey, girl!! Nice to see you. Been missing you lots and wondering how life in the little 'shed' was treating you. Your greenhouse looks fantastic!!! SO jealous.

Gwynn

greenhouse business is the best of both worlds if you love gardening----

eggplants

It's Micro Living in the shed. So glad I don't have to be in there all day everyday.
I'm outdoors most of the time. Started building the column foundation for the house.
Things are kinda slow right now cause I have to get the greenhouse up and running.


Squash, Cukes, Melons

some marigolds---the larger ones are Vanilla.

No blooms yet---but we have bloom buds showing. In another week the greenhouse will
be compact and growing like wild fire.

about 1100 eggplants and peppers in 4 inch pots

the wave petunia baskets started blooming this week. Always nice to finally see some blooms.
These are young hanging baskets---but they will burst into growth in the warm greenhouse quickly.

I have been wondering how you were for the last 3 days, glad to hear from you, I was concerned.

WOW, things look great, I'll take a vanilla marigold please. I would love to come visit, I'd sweep the floor just for some lessons.

Glad to see you back on the forum, great pics, keep us posted.

I won't show everything growing in the greenhouse. That would take a long while.

I am just ready to plant my own garden. and some of everything in the greenhouse goes in my garden.

I have started my different varieties of melons and beans in small cell packs to get a head start.

My snow peas are not doing so well though. Kinda disappointed in them. They are really slow to grow and its been really warm around here. Maybe its too warm? I don't know much about snow peas.

A week ago--I got antsy to play in the garden ---I set my tomato plants where I would like to plant them but I did not put them in the soil.. They only set there for about 3 days and when we got a cold spell-------34 degrees----I took them all back into the greenhouse. Within those three days---their roots started growing out the bottom of the pots into the soil below---------rooooops. Sorry tomato plants, not yet.

In this pic you can see where I had just set them in the block holes at the arched trellis grow beds. things are a little messy right now---got some clean up to do.

Hey Valarie. Nice to be here but sadly --not sure how much i can hang around. I have 6000 tomato seedlings to transplant this weekend and 6000 more next week. I will surely try to visit more. And wish I could share a vanilla marigold with you and everyone else.


I had planted some potatoes. I cut the big potatoes up and let them set out for a couple days before I planted them. I kept the small potatoes whole and planted them. All the potatoes that I had cut - rotted. Assuming I did not let them cure out long enough before I planted them. So this is what my potato plants look like right now. --with a few gaps here and there. Surely I can find something to plant in the gaps. Something compatible. ? Zinnia? maybe--marigolds? maybe

Alyssum is supposed to play nice with taters, and helps with bugs.

Post what you can when you can, we understand it's busy time for most of us. I'm just glad you are okay and keeping busy.

CarolynPhillips wrote:My snow peas are not doing so well though. Kinda disappointed in them. They are really slow to grow and its been really warm around here. Maybe its too warm? I don't know much about snow peas.

I'm growing Oregon Giant dwarf snow peas that are supposed to get 3' tall. They are just about there now. Planted around Valentines' Day. We've been in the high 80s to low 90s, so I'm surprised they done so well. After this weekend I'll be able to tell you how they did up to 99 degrees

wow, 99, thats hot.
I read not to give the sweet peas much fertilizer until they start blooming. So I made sure I didnt . mine must of had too little plus we had tons and tons of rain. I didn't think it would ever stop raining. It just kept on and on. so maybe or hopefully the problem was=what little nutrients they had just washed away.
I gave them some nutrients a few days ago. see what happens.

We had so much rain that the ground in front of one of out rental homes was like a water bed. we had to shovel a few holes to release the water pressure. Then we had to move the 4 mail boxes to dryer ground because the drive in that area looked like a pond. It was really weird walking on the ground---seriously---it was like walking on a water bed. Life has not been boring around here.
underground wet weather spring.

Carolyn,

I am truly amazed at your greenhouses and green thumb!

You are an inspiration to all of us.

I am green with envy....but in a good way.

Please keep posting pictures whenever you can.

My hat is off to you...

Dunkinjean

I'd sweep the floor just for some lessons

I would be in heaven!

I took time to get out and do something before the Spring Rush this week.
Went to the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens. Sadly they had the greenhouse closed
for repairs. Just my luck. They had a veggie garden too. It was several large raised beds
with organized row planting. I was so wishing I could tell somebody to try the SFG but I guess since it was Sunday---I didn't see any workers. AT the zoo,
All the geese , ducks, swans, and guineas were sitting on nest everywhere. It was a cloudy
cool day but you could feel spring in the air.
When I got home, my new stray mama cat that had wondered up starving and pregnant 5 weeks ago decided it was time to have kittens. So I was up late comforting a cat who ended up only having two Male kittens. Black and a Black Tabby.


Saturday evening I was antsy to plant something in the sfg. I had two tomato plants that were starting to bloom so I planted them. They were Sweet Pea Currant. Started blooming at a young stage and only 6 inches tall at the moment. The Red Currant are also starting to bloom.
It seems the almanac doesn't think we are going to have anymore frost or cold weather but I am chicken. Almanac says we should have cool weather every now and then especially end of March and 1st week in April then warm back up. If the weekly forecast is good by Friday, I may put out more plants this weekend. It's hard to predict Mother Nature but the almanac comes close.

made a 4x4 bed for my first crop of corn.
dont know how it will grow cause I planted young transplants instead of sowing seed.
They were far from being root bound so they should take up root in
the new soil fairly quick. Excited about my corn bed.
They needed to be transplanted so they could get a good dose of nutrients and nitro.

also transplanted my okra.
My books are packed= couldn't remember how far apart to plant the okra or if it is even in the book. Probably not in the book= its a southern veggie.
I planted them about 16 inches apart in a zig zag fashion so I can plant something else in
front of them later.

That sounds about right for the okra, I need someone to show me how to cook that stuff right, I know you fry the snot out of it, that's what the slime is called around here, snot.

Everything looks good, anytime you need something from the book, PM me, I've got mine handy, and BYBG got his back and keeps it close now!

I was planning on putting in a 2x8 bed this weekend - half corn, half okra.. I think Mel said okra was 1xsqft and corn was 4xsqft...

thank you Valarie. I was so frustrated that I went to storage and found my books. I guess I will store them in the greenhouse. AT the register = maybe a customer will get interested in SFG. lol.

How to cook okra===well, hm. I wash and somewhat dry it before I cut it up. then i salt it and coat with dry flour. Then I deep fry it like I would french fries until it is almost crispy. Fried Okra is Southern Popcorn.

I also eat boiled okra. Yes I know= Snot. But I boil small young pods of okra in lots of water because the more water you boil it in the less slime you have. The slime does not bother me. The flavor is excellent. After boiled just tender, I drain them and place on a plate with butter and salt and nice big fat cold sliced tomato on the side. Thats lunch!

huh=====4 corn per square foot????? really??????
I really need to read my book