making progress and gardens year 2

Decided to start a new post for this year's garden.

In another post CindiLou was moaning about being an empty nester and still needing more beds. I'm with you Cindi. Not only am I an empty nester but a single. But after dedicating a bed to strawberries and a bed to garlic, and knowing I wanted real estate hogging squash, watermelon and cantaloupe, the remaining 4 didn't give me the variety and succession I wanted. So 4 more beds are waiting for the weather to clear enough to make up the MM. Pictures at a later date.

The fall garden is still producing kale, chard, lettuce and collards. Replacements for kale and collards are sprouted. Chard is waiting for space. Carrots and Garlic are growing, but the strawberry plants all died. I will try again next week with better plants I hope.

Peas and lettuce are growing in the chairtops gardens. Peas and 1/2 square of radishes are up in one bed.

Up potted kale, collards, and borage today and moved them to the greenhouse to give me enough room for the 18 varieties of tomatos that all the seeds sprouted. Plan was for 1 each for my son and myself. Well, as of now I've got 108 seedlings to pot up. If they live I'll give them to friends and neighbors. Also potted up dill and lemon grass and move it to the greenhouse.

The peppers have not sprouted yet. Hope to get 2 each of 11 varieties of peppers. And waiting for some flower seeds to sprout.

Started a worm bin and have 2 garbage cans of compost cooking and a pile that may be cooking.

Kay

PS the greenhouse has some christmas tree lights in it to keep it above freezing. High winds and cold predicted for tonight.

Man you have been busy too I love your green house!! Do the lights really put off enough heat? Thats amazing. It is so nice to have a place to put seedlings. It has helped me to keep busy during the winter when things weren't supposed to grow. Saves my sanity
I hope to have a fall garden like yours that will produce right though winter this year. I have done enough to get me to that point already. I did buy tulle yesterday for the beds, they were out of white so I bought a baby blue (hoping that doesnt hinder my growth, but we will see ). Bought the whole bolt 40 yards. I plan to use it on all the beds where needed.

Cant wait for pics I have peas for the first time here, they are ready for their beds. I love the chair top beds Always nice to see them.

Cant wait for spring thats for sure!!
Ha-v-v

Got down to 26 and very windy last night. 2 strings of Christmas lights kept it 32 inside. But hopefully the cool weather seedling I put out there yesterday survived. Still keeping the warm weather seedlings inside.

After above normal temps all winter, now we get cold. Although average last frost date is 30 Mar.

Kay

Yesterday I worked on the MM for my 4 new tabletops and needed to make a run to the recycle center. Included in my household trash was the empty compost and peat bags which have a #4 and say recycle. The attendant (who looks to be in his 70s) and I started talking about the nice spring day and getting gardens going. His can't be started because the ground is too wet and he can't get his tiller out. Turns out he was a former local farmer who now has just a family garden and runs 4 head of beef. And he offered me some of his cow manure. Just have to go get it. Will try later this afternoon before we get more rain. If even half of my tomatos live, I'll have enough to share and so I offered some to him in return for POOP.

Kay

4 new beds all filled and the soaker hose laid in place. Bins hold the excess MM from this mass mixing.



The garlic



The strawberries are planted



snap peas and some radish are up. working on getting the soaker hose in place.



sugar snaps and lettuce in the chairtop beds. Planted late Jan.



seedlings in the greenhouse. brassicas on the repurposed changing table and tomatos wrapped in frost blanket on the bakers rack



Kay

update.

Christmas gift orange salad bag and potato bag planted





neighbors moved and left some pots. blue ones just screamed carrot week and blue bin has potatos



garlic is going gang busters



strawberries coming along good



peas, radish, lettuce, bok choy, purple mustard



inside the greenhouse tomatos, kale ,collards, cukes, flowers and key lime trees







need to make more MM because of all the tomatos. Only allowed space for 8 in the bed and with this crazy weather I can put them out before the peas get up and finished. Bought 15 Homer buckets for maters and extra peppers. Guess I'll replace the pea with bean instead.

Very disappointed, most of the really fancy hot peppers did not germinate. Managed to get 1 ghost, 2 red 7 pot, 3 chocolate habenero, and 2 yellow Jamaican (bonus pak from seedco) Also have some jalepeno, yellow cayenne from saved seed and some purple sweet bells. Butch T Scorpian, Morouge, yellow 7 pot, red scorpian and yellow scorpian were no shows. Still have 5 seeds of each left. May try again.

Thanks Mel for SFG

Kay

Beautiful ....I can almost smell spring in the garden....the one place where the scent of garlic and strawberries works together.

just realized I had a duplicate pic.

here is what should have been there

Wow! You are amazing! I love the innovation and the way you adapt everything in sight and make it work for you!

Great job!

May try again.

Yes DO try again, you have LOTS of time, the year is still young..

I really enjoy seeing other people's set-up and things they are using to get ideas. A whole bed of garlic? My hubby would LOVE that. I plan to put some in in the fall, but not 16 squares. Maybe someday when I have more space.

Kate, I built a 4x6 just for garlic last fall. Planted 120 bulbs (4 different kinds). They mostly all are growing like mad! My oldest daughter and I love to use garlic so we will share after putting some back for fall planting again!

I'm sharing garlic with my son. He only has 5 gardens and 4 kids to feed. Although, we hope to add 2 more when I visit on the First of the month. He is also the one who likes to grow the hot peppers that I am trying to start.

Kay

Kay, your garden looks so nice and yum! and promising! I love seeing your pictures!

I'm tired. Planted 11 of the 18 tomatos, 2 cukes, some peppers, pole beans, 2 okra, watermelon, cantaloupe, weeded a flower bed and planted marked down primroses.

pics from last Thurs. My new cattle panel trellises for the watermelons and cantaloupe and the canteleverd trellis with peas. These and the chairtop peas are blooming. Another set is not that big yet. Need more trellises for the 2 kinds of pole beans, the maters and the cukes. Maybe tomorrow.







Chilly nights and hot, dry, windy days are playing havoc. The bed with the spinach was dry as dust this afternoon and I watered yesterday.

Carrot week carrots are planted in the square blue planters.

Kay

The greenhouse is down for the summer and I replaced it with this to prevent the rabbits from eating any more of my peppers. View from the deck.

and the yard



added grapes





and raspberries This is the one the rabbit ate all the leaves down the stem, but it is putting out new growth on the top



some of the bucket tomatos indeterminates



and determinates plus a bucket with 3 cukes



Kay

awesome pics of your garden! wow-what a large production of crops you have! amazing amount of produce you have going on.

keep us posted!

Got a good harvest this morning. from top left golden beets, a white asian radish (not daikon) purple and green mustard, broccoli spurs (these secondary shoots are as big as my main crop last year) and ruby red and black seeded simpson lettuce.



And the rabbit got that raspberry again. It is the golden one. Maybe it tastes better than the red ones.

Kay

Nice pickins Kay! Those beets look great. I've tried so hard to like beets, but it's one of the very few foods I just can't get a taste for no matter how I've prepared them but I do love the greens from them. So I usually take the greens and give the beets to grandma
I think I've got those same white radishes and I took a lil peek last night and they're close
Some fine looking broccoli too!

Kay, Lovely growth on those beets!!! I hope this is a good beet year. Rooster have you ever had pickled beets? I know how you feel about not being able to even tolerate a certain food. Mine is anything licorice, like anise, fennel ... bleck.

I would love to love pickled beets so bad I just can't. They look and smell so good! And I can grow beets lol! It's just one of THE very few foods I just can't do sadly enough. Now beet chips, I like. And the greens, but other than that...

camprn wrote:Kay, Lovely growth on those beets!!! I hope this is a good beet year. Rooster have you ever had pickled beets? I know how you feel about not being able to even tolerate a certain food. Mine is anything licorice, like anise, fennel ... bleck.

+1

And Rooster, I don't like beets either, just the greens. But my daughter gave me the seeds for Christmas and I felt honor bound to plant them. Only 2 squares and I'm pulling them fast to put something else in.

Kay

Great thread! Love all the pics. What's the latest news?

My Icicle radishes looked just like yours. They look far larger on the package!

Ava

walshevak wrote:Got a good harvest this morning. from top left golden beets, a white asian radish (not daikon) purple and green mustard, broccoli spurs (these secondary shoots are as big as my main crop last year) and ruby red and black seeded simpson lettuce.



And the rabbit got that raspberry again. It is the golden one. Maybe it tastes better than the red ones.

Kay

beautiful harvest! I LOVE beets! I'm hoping to get some "bottoms" this time. Mine are only seeming to grow the tops, and those are kinda spindly too. We'll see! Congrats again

Here is the garden the day before I left.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=DdYORdEvGlc

Kay

I hope this works. I've never tried to use youtube or picassa movies before. I was told the above didn't work. try this