Western Mountain High Plains What are you doing in your gardens today?

Bummer Rooster, darn fires I know tht feeling all too well! We have been pretty lucky the last couple of years buti have a feeling this year the mountain pine beetles will no longer be an issue because the black hills are going to burn because the NFS isn't removing all the dead trees and I have a feeling it's going to be a dry year . I hope they get it controlled really soo for you, It's got to be bad if they schools are keeping everybody inside!

I got one cattle panel up soo far, I just need to build a little box for the other side and secure it!

It started raining here a day ago. Hopefully it will make its way south to Rooster to help with that fire......
I also have trellis on the mind. The second planting of peas are up and will soon need theirs. I have a hog panel bowed over an 8' bed for cukes and melons. Now to attach a side wall on the west side of a short section of cattle panel. My intention is to throw some clear plastic over that all for at least June. My wind and hail comes from hte west so I am trying to think up protections for this year.

I planted Roma tomatoes (they were being mistreated at the store, all root bound and unhappy, I had to rescue them. ) and the bigger eggplants and peppers. All in the raised cold frame thingy with the roof flaps that do not fit right that cost way too much.

I peeked in the basil wall o water and the plants have doubled in just 4 days

COntender peach is rated to zone 4! I think my mom has one next to the house in Missoula, that is zone 5. So far one peach that a squirrel got when green. It is 4 years old (planted when my neice was born). Good luck with yours.
Gurneys is near you in SoDak, right? I am sort of nostalgic about Gurneys. My dad and I would spend hours going over their catalog picking out seeds and bare root trees to grow. Then I would take my own penny to wrap in the kids seed offer cut out. They would send back a packet of mixed seeds that I would have to sort and then plant in my own area in the garden. My kids did that too. I wonder if they still do that.

If I get my one peach I will guard it with my life and give it to my father in law, lol! I don't know if gurneys still does that, at least I haven't seen anything about it but you have me curious about it now so I will look when I get home from work. I hope so because it would be fun to do with the kids! I agree, lets send the rain to Rooster! I need to go home and build a few boxes, it's just a bit more difficult with the two little ones (hubby and my oldest have been helping some friends with siding, doors, windows, and deck) I want hubby back for my projects, lol.

Rooster do you have an update on the fire?

I just spent the last 4 hours leveling, newspapering and weed clothing about 15 various sized boxes, without hubby. I'm pooped, deffinately got a work out today, those are the best kind Now just waiting for hubby to come home a critique my "leveling" I promise he will...

Tomorrow I am going to fill a few of them, I need more peet and verm., plant my corn, and plant the blueberry bushes!

15 new boxes Wow. I bet you were pooped. So just how big has this SFG become this spring? I hope they all were sufficiently level.

I made one hoop house over the bed that will have melons, cukes and zukes. Now to make a smaller one for the rest the eggplant, peppers and tomatillos. A pineapple tomatillo followed me home from some where. I am not sure it will fit also. The partially composted stable muck is laid out to be winter squash hills.

Here is a mower being very careful and diligent~ you can see the plastic covered hoops to the side. I was surprised she was not spooked by it. You can also see the cold frame thingy over the wall o waters full of eggplant/peppers/roma tomatoes.



And here is a patrol looking for and finding something of such interest they never went into the garden. I hope they were finding baby slugs or something similar.

Hello to all!

I have been busy planting for the last 3 weeks! I have 3 4x4 boxes and 2 2x6 boxes. I have planted red potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, mesculan lettuces, carrots, turnips, beets, spinach, cukes, peas, tomatoes, pole green beans, green onions, swiss chard, broccoli, zuchinni, yellow squash, acorn squash, radishes and unplanned brussel sprouts! Also a few flowers and some herbs in the holes in the cinderblocks that we used to build my raised beds with.

Everything is sprouting now except the last planted veggies-the squashes and cukes. I did use store bought plants for the broccoli, brussel sprouts, tomatoes and swiss chard. Everything else was seeds.

I used pvc pipes and made protective domes over every bed and then covered them all with heavy plastic. This has allowed me to plant at least a month earlier than with my previous row planting!

I also added 4 more sets into my asparagus bed.

I have been watering everything by hand until this weekend when the hubby finished the drip system for all the beds.

Only thing left to do is get my trellises ready and buy some type of mesh to cover the beds to protect from bugs and birds.

Whew!! Busy but well worth it all as I watch each new seedling sprout out.

Will post pixs as able. And thanks to all who answered my many questions as I started my sfg!

Evelyn from zone 4

Wowzers you have been busy! That is awesome that you got a months head start! Thanks for the update, I too still have some trelises to figure out.

Turan it has grown quite a bit I got this great idea to make a bunch of squares to border the top edge of the yard from a drop off, we live on a giant rock. So instead of a fence this was more fun for me, lol. They all very from 2-4 sqft. each and I have built some tophats for some mostly just because I like the way it looks. It will be mostly flowers and I will though in a few veggies here and there for fun too. As soon as I am done I will tally up the square footage and post some pictures. I want your lawnmower . I should try a cold frame like that with the wall of waters next year. I am still toting all of mine in and out. I did get the blueberry bushes planted though!

On mother's day I went out to my garden. There were plenty of cat paw prints and signs of digging again. It only takes these cats a few hours to know I planted something and they go in and poop and dig. Well I was so frustrated and got out the hammer and nails. My son had nailed one nail in the top of each wood slat on the fence. I hammered in two more, one on each side until my hand was formed into a claw and my arms and shoulders ached. My other son went out and nailed more nails in the slats. We are not totally done yet but it has slowed them way down. I have two dogs but I don't dare let them in my garden. They will run right through the beds and break off any plants. They've don't it before.

I also laid tomato cages on their sides in the beds to try to deter them and had some chicken wire in about foot wide strips I laid over other areas that had seedlings. I am only seeing a little bit of foot prints but I dig just to make sure. I have only found a few poops in the last few days. I should make a blog to show people what I have done because not much slows them down.

Anyway, my broccoli has gotten teeny heads growing. I have added the rest of the soil into the potato beds. They are doing amazing! I lost some chili peppers, tomatoes and cantaloupe when our night temps dipped low a week or so ago. I went back to the nursery and their plants were huge! It worked out even better because I got a better start. My cantaloupe will be going up a trellis.

My first planting of six squares of corn is about 5" and I planted the rest of the bed of corn and after just a few days it is popping up. My beds are 4' x 6'. The wood was very cheep and I didn't want to waste 2' of it. I planted the first bit of corn in just six squares in the northwest area so it won't get shaded and be shorter than the rest. Oh, I am still trying to figure out all the trellising stuff and how to get to things so I planted my beans along the outer east and south edges of my boxes that I am growing corn in. I figured I wouldn't have too much problem with trellises if I did a single row of beans. Any suggestions on what any of you do would be greatly appreciated with regard to trellising.

My peas are doing well. I did start later than I should have for the peas, lettuce and carrots, but I am hoping that by planting them behind something that will grown taller, they will be a bit protected from the heat. My lettuce and carrots are still super tiny still. I lost one cucumber and the rest got a little freeze on the outer edges of the leaves but seem to be surviving so far. My green zucchini and yellow zucchini are doing very well. My purple cauliflower and orange cauliflower are doing very good. I planted marigolds and zinnias also. I will have to post pictures. Just not sure how to do it. My phone takes great pictures but I'm not sure how to upload to here yet.

I usually start plants indoors but I don't know why I never got to it this year! I am usually biting at the bit to get out to my garden.

All of your gardens look and sound so wonderful! It's nice to hear what others in my area are doing! I love the cow and chickens.

All of you have inspired me to no end, I can't even keep straight what all you all have done, walls of water, 15 new beds, protective domes, trellises, etc. It's just amazing and has given me more ideas on what I want.

I have a huge plum tree that looks like it will give me a bumper crop this year. Last year it was too tired. Two years ago I planted a pear tree and a apricot tree. I think bugs got to those or some sort of disease. Last year was spent taking care of my daughter after she and her hubby had a major car accident. But this year is doing great!

Rooster, hope you are getting some fresher air!

Tricia it sounds like you have had a great start! I haven't got to start any summer crops yet so I am a little jealous (even if you lost a few). Have you always successionally started your corn? I was wanting to try but Turan said she has never had luck with that but she will try different varieties that finish at different times and I thought that was brilliant! So just wondering if you always do that or if it's a first year experiment? I am so glad to hear you daughter and son in law a doing better. I couldn't imagine watching my daughter go through something like that (mine is only 3) It would be very hard, I am glad you are up and running again this year and I wish you the best of luck! Oh and to post pics if you go to the home page and click on the how to do things in this forum tab you will find a link on how to post pictures!

Hi Tricia, sounds like your garden is going full sped ahead.
Purple and orange cauliflower, I am intrigued......
It sounds like you have 2 sisters, corn and beans. You can let the beans run up the corn. I grow pole beans 8/sq in a double row with te trellis above, same as i do for pole peas.

Sounds like you have your cat problem worked out now.
I have 2 cats that love to go into the garden. I throw a length of hardware cloth over newly fluffed/seeded areas. Once the plants are up they do not bother them. What they do is catch mice and gophers and voles. The rodents love beets and carrots especially.

Cheyanne thank you for the info on posting pics! I will get my pictures taken and read how to post. I started doing successive planting with corn several years ago because my neighbor's tree shades some of my garden and if we don't cut the branches back early enough, the part that gets some of the shade grows slower and then gets shaded by the rest. Since it is also colder when I plant the first batch, they will take longer to grow so I take that into consideration also. I plant the first part weeks before the rest. When I did regular gardening I did it in three sections. I did the first, waiting a few weeks (maybe even three), then the second, then a few weeks later the third. I did that also so I wouldn't get all of the corn at once. Well I just checked when I planted my first set of corn and it was about five weeks ago. I guess I planted that a bit early and that is why it has been slow. The soil was probably too cold.

My problem is knowing when the corn is ready for picking. I do the fingernail test, the color of the silk, etc. I think I have a mental block or something. The corn is generally good, well it has been tough sometimes, but I still don't know if I am picking it at the right time. If you plant different varieties of corn very close together they will pollinate each other and change them somehow. Like if you planted corn for popcorn in one field and next to it planted a field of regular corn, I read all of it would turn into corn for popcorn.

I have a harder time with the harvesting and processing of the crops. Although two years ago I did can plums from my tree. I am good at making freezer jam of all different fruits and canning peaches and apricots. I even canned two jars of pickled peaches like my grandma used to! Now I need to learn how to can beans and tomatoes. By experiment I washed a cucumber and put it in the jar of pickle juice that we had eaten all the pickles. I think it may have been a week or two before I tried the cucumber. It had turned into a pickle and it was that easy. Since I found you can keep using that juice.

I have frozen some tomatoes in ziplock bags and then used them for spaghetti sauce. It wasn't a lot though. I can't believe I am still up this late! I sure got carried away!

Turan, you are right about cats catching mice. I think we have only had
two mice come it since we have had all these ferrel cats. I like cats,
just not like a swarm invading and taking over my garden. I have had them lay down in my beds probably keeping out of the sun and actually kill some plants. My dogs would probably do the same.

Thank you for the suggestions of growing the beans up the corn! I may try that this year, but will have to see how the corn does. I am probably trying to over think this. It's so nice to have others to get advice from and see how they are growing things. It's fun to share with people who are doing what we like to do.

There have been some discussing of how to grow beans up corn, I think the tip was to let the corn get enough of a head start. But I have not tryed that, just heard it. I worry about the wind here and pole beans. I am just now trying to grow them in this area.

Corn..... welll..... I am on hte outer boundary of where it will mature. When we lived in SoCal I could do succession plantings but that was 20 years ago. I planted in March (I associate planting corn with being 9 months pregnant, some people nest with cute nurserys , I planted corn) and I planted 2 varieties, an early maturing type and Stowells Evergreen. I do not recall them crossing each other or that it would matter as they were both sweet corns. I suspect their pollens were out and about at too different times to cross anyways. Here in Montana my son used to grow colored Indian corn (Mandan Red plus Painted Mountain) that he selected seed to grow the following year and the rest he ground for tortillas. We also grew Fishers Bantam, a sweet corn selected specific for this area (The Fishers are local seed growers). I do not recall the sweet corn and field corn crossing , or not much, but it sure could happen as they are close enough in when they pollinate.
So to cut a long wind short..... it depends on what you care most about. The super sweet corns will have some kernels less sweet if grown around any other type of corn. Does that bother you or not? Personal call there. Succession planting has a long successful history to it, if you have the growing season for it.

I made soil blocks the other day and planted corn in them and the seeds have sprouted this morning. Now I see that we are going to have near frost or frost until next Wednesday. ARGH I better pot up all my peppers/eggplant/tomatillos still in the house. It appears they are not going out till next week. I hope all the stuff planted in wall o waters stays safe...... after all that is what they are for.... I have had good luck with them but still I am worrying .
I might need all those marigolds I got started in here for broccoli and marigold 3.0....

What's broccoli and marigold 3.0 I am leaving town today and my garden is in the hands of my mom I am nervous about leaving all the starts in the house but she won't be able to let them in and out like I can. We are supposed to get a bunch of rain so I am not to worried about the stuff outside. Our dog won't be around to keep the deer away though yikes. I planted some corn and sunflowers last night so I am hoping to come home to some new sprouts.

cheyannarach wrote:What's broccoli and marigold 3.0 I am leaving town today and my garden is in the hands of my mom I am nervous about leaving all the starts in the house but she won't be able to let them in and out like I can. We are supposed to get a bunch of rain so I am not to worried about the stuff outside. Our dog won't be around to keep the deer away though yikes. I planted some corn and sunflowers last night so I am hoping to come home to some new sprouts.

Broc and mari 1.0 lost the mari to frost a few weeks ago. 2.0 is in the garden right now covered with heavy floating row covers. I planted more marigold in seed blocks in late april, they might be used in 3.0 if needed. I hoped to plant them scattered around hte garden.

Have a fun and safe trip.

Found some wedding veil material to make covers for my raised beds. This should keep the birds and bugs out! Got to keep the plastic on a little longer though, we have 2 fronts coming thru back 2 back with high temps in the 50s-60s and lows into mid 30s. Sure glad I have those plastic covers!

efirvin wrote:Found some wedding veil material to make covers for my raised beds. This should keep the birds and bugs out! Got to keep the plastic on a little longer though, we have 2 fronts coming thru back 2 back with high temps in the 50s-60s and lows into mid 30s. Sure glad I have those plastic covers!

You are getting these storms and cold too, ehh?
I know we are in zone 4 and it is only May. sigh.

What is your hoop/plastic set up? Can you post pics?
I am thinking about how to do such as well. I wonder if netting would be any protection against hail.....

We got some nasty storms last night Lot's of rain and I LOVED every minute of it
I had just transplanted most of my tomatoes on Tuesday. About an hour after I had them in the ground and strung up, the wind started beating the plants like mad Hope they make it...

I loved having a decent rain last night and it was a beautiful morning so before work (at about 6 a.m.) I took some pictures of the tomatoes I got planted so far. Lol, they looked big before I stuck them in the garden And they look much better this evening after they've had some nice warm sun all day.



This trellis is 9' high. I hope I need it all


Some radish's, spinach and lettuce. I trim the spinach and lettuce lot's so it's never very big I can't keep my hands off it's so good!

Turan, that is what I heard about the corn getting established for the beans to grow up the stock. You are probably right about the two corn varieties pollinating at different times, I hadn't thought about that. I have tasted field corn and it isn't that bad, not as sweet as sweet corn, but not bad. Thank you for all your info!

We had some rain last night also. It was so nice. I'm not sure if our
temp here in Utah got down that far and I don't think we got as much
rain. My plants, including corn, did fine. Must not have gotten as
cold as your weather Rooster.

Efervin that's a great idea about using the veil material! I will have to try that!

It's so nice to talk to people interested in gardening. My family just kinda nods and say that's nice, lol. Anyone who will listen when I brag about planting two cantaloupe and understand how exciting it is, is great! So thanks all of you!

I was looking at your plants and saw that your tomato plants are one per square. In the past I hadn't gotten time to get a trellis set up for my tomatoes and I would use tomato cages in my square foot beds, duh! It wasn't until I saw your pics that I remembered that indeterminates can be spaced one per square foot. Well last year was kind of a wash on gardening. But I can't believe I forgot that they can be planted so close. There is always something that I have to refresh my memory on every year. Well, this is one of them!

Your onions and lettuces are so much bigger than mine!

Your boxes and yard are just beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the compliment Tricia A little rain sure does seem to perk things up!

Sigh: we are looking at wind gusts at over 55 mph tomorrow with sustained winds at 20-25 mph... wind drives me CRAZY!!!

Here are some recent pixs of my veggies. The potatoes have really taken off! Plastic covered domes protect my garden from our cold nights and windy days.

Plastic domes have let me plant early and get veggies growing inspite of our cold nights


1/2 inch pvc pipes worked great for the frames!



red potatoes in the front, yukon golds in 3rd row, lettuces and carrots at back row



Spinach and turnips sprouting well!



The beginnings of my green onions! You can see the drip system tucked underneath the wooden dividers



Green peas! Able to move drip lines around to keep all areas watered. May add more lines as plants grow

Those covers look great, but how are you making them and how do you get in and out of them to do daily tending?

RoOsTeR wrote:Thanks for the compliment Tricia A little rain sure does seem to perk things up!

Sigh: we are looking at wind gusts at over 55 mph tomorrow with sustained winds at 20-25 mph... wind drives me CRAZY!!!

Your plants look so happy for the rain

Does your garden have wind protection?

Sometimes I wish I had a walled garden (imagining The Secret Garden, natch). Over time my garden has migrated and concentrated on to the lee side of the house.