May in New England

@NH.....You might want to rethink the composting. I've got both and wouldn't be without either, unless you get into worms bigtime. Just relocate your compost pile or get a tumbler on legs for ease of turning and speedier results.

Huh. Wasn't sure there would be enough to keep both happy.

I too had the expectation that my new SFG garden built last year would allow me to get an early start this year, but I was doing taxes until April 17 and then necessarily needed a week or two to decompress. But I'm back at gardening and installing the final raised beds, two 4x6 boxes made from 8" white cedar for my tomatoes.

I found that with the mild winter, a Georgia collard and four Beedy Camden kale plants survived the winter. They are now going to seed but I have been harvesting leaves while setting out new seedlings between the survivors. The collard is now nestled in the compost bin and the kale will soon follow.



In late April I planted sugar snap and snow peas in half of a 4x4 box. A week later I planted radishes (Cherry Belle and French Breakfast), turnips, and beets (Bull's Blood and Red Ace) in the second half of the bed. Everything is coming up and the beets are nearing time to thin.



I did start a number of plants in March and April plus I bought some transplants. My salad box is coming along nicely, below. The first row has mesclun on the left and Black Seeded Simpson lettuce on the right. The next row has a couple of mizuma but will be planted out with herbs such as cilantro, dill, etc. The third row has red Romaine, mizuma, green Romaine, and a square for basil. The bottom row has flat-leaf Italian parsley, Red Sails lettuce, and Buttercrunch.



Finally, I am working on installing my last two raised beds. They are 4x6 in size and built from 1x8 cedar. Since the community garden where my SFG is located is in a wetland area and subject to frequent flooding, these boxes are going onto cement blocks. For a bottom, I stapled on landscape fabric and then attached 1/4 inch galvanized hardware cloth. The right side of these boxes will accommodate 12 tomato plants trained up a twine trellis, leaving 36 squares for peppers and eggplants.



As soon as it stops raining, the beds will be filled with Mel's Mix and planting will begin. I also have to construct a trellis system for the new beds. I am wondering how tall to make the trellises for the tomatoes, given the boxes are 8 inches deep and 4 inches off the ground. Any suggestions?

Dvelton, you live quite close by, and I haven't noticed you here before! Nice to meet you!

Hi Martha,

Nice to meet you, neighbor. We used to live in Acton. When we moved to Bolton in 1985, we found Acton was 2 weeks ahead of Bolton planting-wise (Forsythia blooming etc.). Just a few miles but the altitude made all the difference. And my house is probably 300 feet higher in elevation than the Bolton community garden.

--Dave

I think my potatoes sprouted today while I watched. I could swear there was nothing there yesterday. So add potatoes sprouting to my list above.

NHGardener wrote:I think my potatoes sprouted today while I watched. I could swear there was nothing there yesterday. So add potatoes sprouting to my list above.

HOORAY! Mine too! How are your bees?

So far so good on the bees, camprn - today I'm going to open up the hives now that it's a nice day. I saw they were building burr comb on the top of the frames last time I checked. I'll be glad when more is blooming and I don't have to feed anymore. Are you feeding yours right now?

Is that your sunflower?

I am feeding the split I made from last years hive but not the established hive because the nectar flow is on and I really want honey this year. I didn't take honey last year as the bees needed it more than I did.. With a new hive the feeding is really needed to stimulate the wax glands so they can build the hive comb. Good luck staying ahead of the burr comb. If you must, check it every 3-5 days. When they get building it's amazing how fast they can move. I'm so excited about your bees.
yes, that is a sunflower, it was a volunteer from the neighbors garden across the street.

A volunteer? Wow! I am trying to grow one as beautiful as that. We'll see.

3-5 days? Wow.

Frost warning for me tonight.

Ok, so this is what I get for putting things out early (side note it's all growing well!!)

They are calling for a low of 38 so I got nervous. I've covered all but a few cucumbers, 2 zuchinni, and a Pumpkin (Milkjug was too small to cover them) I'll just cross my fingers tonight.

Camprn, do I have to cut the seed potatoes? I was considering just throwing the whole thing in the bucket and bag.

well how big are they... let me see if I can find a tutorial... hang on.

camprn wrote:Frost warning for me tonight.

RoOsTeR wrote:

camprn wrote:Frost warning for me tonight.

I Know RIGHT?? expected to go to 33F. Good thing there's no summer plants in the garden yet.

hruten wrote:

Camprn, do I have to cut the seed potatoes? I was considering just throwing the whole thing in the bucket and bag.

I did something like this...but I just let the cut sides dry and then planted the sprouted chunks in the garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCzHsuamb6s

Wow camprn, can't believe that. No frost warning here on the seacoast.

Wahoo!! at 4:15 am this morning the temperature was 40 degrees!! My uncovered stuff did great. I will wait to remove the cloches until it gets a big warmer though.

Thanks for the video Cmprn! I cut my chits this morning and they are patiently waiting in an egg carton by the window. My 4 taters made 12+ chits! I'll probably cover them on monday with MM.

I plant to put my Jersey knight asparagus crowns in today as well. The agway manager sent me to youtube for instructions and it seems pretty straight forward. I think I will do the 1-2inch covering before filling the trench though. It will calm my anxiousness. I'm going to loosen all the soil first and amend it with some compost and I got some phosphate to put in the bottom of the trench(s) as well.

I don't know about the rest of you, but it's GREAT to be working PLAYING outside again!

Huh. I just sliced and diced my seed potatoes and plunked them in the ground. Many of them are sprouting, but not all - I didn't know there was a rose end and heel end, and maybe that's why they're not all growing. Will have to pick up some more seed potatoes and fill in the gaps. I was planting most of the eyes also, maybe 4-6 per potato. Maybe I should just plant the more bona fide eyes. But I didn't dry them out or do anything, and I also planted them last month.

I think your way is pretty common. I tend to be OCD when it comes to gardening...

I figure if I don't get a good harvest my hubby will cut my garden spending off for good

*laughing* besides, potatoes and asparagus were the 2 veggies he requested.

camprn wrote:

hruten wrote:

Camprn, do I have to cut the seed potatoes? I was considering just throwing the whole thing in the bucket and bag.

I did something like this...but I just let the cut sides dry and then planted the sprouted chunks in the garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCzHsuamb6s

Great video! I'm all focused on the potatoes and then...BAM...the big 'ole knife comes out.
I like the method presented in the video though. I plan on using this in the future.

I jumped the gun a little bit and planted my beans (pole and bush), corn, and summer squash today! Our LFD is technically not until Monday, but I just couldn't wait! I'm so excited about the corn because A) I've never grown corn before, and B) it's a variety called Blue Jade corn which is supposed to only grow to 4 ft tall and be really good for container gardening.

I planted my runner beans yesterday. I was even more anxious to get them started, lol.

Really cool info on the potatoes, guys. I ended up buying my seed potatoes about a month earlier than I needed them and letting them sprout a little, then cut them into pieces, let the pieces callous for a few days, then plunked them into the garden. I've been working on getting them hilled up, and they're just now at the top of the 6 inch garden box. I put a small tophat over them and filled it in with some good quality compost (because I don't have any more MM for the tophat ). I think the tophat is something like 3-4 inches, and that's all the deeper I'm going to do my potatoes this year. I was going to experiment and see how much I could get out of the 6 inches, but decided since I had the material anyway, I may as well go a little taller!

@littlesapphire.....You should be OK with your planting. I'm also in 5a and I jumped the gun, too. Bush Beans are already coming up that were sown on 5/6 and the zucchini have germinated that were sown outdoors on 5/6. I'm just waiting on the corn and cukes because they like soil temps at 70* or higher and mine is still only at 65*F yesterday and with a drop to the mid 30s last nite, I am waiting a little longer before sowing seeds outdoors. Nites now should be warmer. I even put the rest of my peppers out to harden off. I've only transplanted 3 so far but they are doing well outdoors along with the recent tomatoes planted the last 2 days.

The only things I have left indoors under the lights are the eggplants and some late-started tomato seeds I might or might not use.

Let's just cross our fingers that no late frost slides across the horizon.

Yukon Gold, Yellow Banana fingerlings, Kennebec potatoes are all coming up. I had 2 blue ones that just didn't want to get going, but I planted then any way and they are finally getting to root bud formation in the MM. Fingers crossed the blues make it.

I was getting a little nervous about my pole beans, but I saw the first sprout today!!

I also checked on my asparagus crowns I planted last night. Sure enough, the chipmunks like to see freshly cultivated soil. I forgot to put the wire mesh I have been using as a deterent on the crowns. I reburied the 5 that were unearthed this morning and placed the mesh over them. it seems the chipmunks don't like anything impeding their digging so this is working... ummm so far.