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

cheyannarach wrote:Got a bunch more planted a few days ago (watermelons, canteloupes, cukes, and squash) still witing on hubby getting the cattle panel so I can get the rest of the tomatoes and malibar spinach planted, I am thinking I will just plant them tomorrow and deal with the cattle panel later (even though the way we are set up the panel will go it the bed)!

Today I planted two more beds with more lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, strawberry spinach, radishes, turnips, beets, and brussel spouts. I have three boxes that Are dedicated to cool weather crops all summer as they are in the shade a bunch.

Anybody have any more suggestions for more shade/cool veggies? I still have one 3x3 box for them!

how about bok choy and cauliflower

hugs

rose

+1 on the bok choy.

cheyannarach wrote:I have three boxes that Are dedicated to cool weather crops all summer as they are in the shade a bunch.

Anybody have any more suggestions for more shade/cool veggies? I still have one 3x3 box for them!

I can't believe I am so DUMB! I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do with my compost pile area now that I have my compost tumblers. Because it is in limited sunlight I was thinking I would have to wait until I can talk Hubby into letting me take down the dying tree that blocks the sun for 1/2 the day. BUILD COOL WEATHER CROP BOXES!

I have enough lumber to make at least one 4x4 box, and if I cobble, maybe even 2 more of dubious footage.....!

THANKS CHEYANNE!!!!!

GG

Your welcome GG, that's how I have ended up with so many boxes I keep finding lumber, I cut a few, then I make odd sized boxes with leftovers!

Thanks for the suggestions, I do have cauliflower I must have forgot to mention, bak choy sounds good, I was also thinking about swiss chard too!

I see the Average Late Frost Date has been passed

+2 on the bok choi. We especially like the dwarf varieties. Also swiss chard can take some heat and lasts until fall.

It rained and snowed was cold and miserable here all weekend. But it DID NOT frost! YEAH!

Yay no frost! It has been a bit blah here, hailed again 2 nights ago but nothing looked worse than it already did from the last hail! My lettuce is springing back pretty well! I will be outside taking care of what ever I can think of today, I need to plant a few more seeds, build an enclosure with pallets for a large compost pile. Hubby took me out yesterday on a hunt for leaves from last fall so we got a garbage bag full and added them to the tumbler and now I need to leave it alone and let it finish! I have a few squares that will not reover from the hail that need to be replaced, and I am thinking about starting some indoor seeds for fall transpants like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, I need to check the calendar firt to make sure of the timing! I also had a few extra cukes I need to find a home for outside!

Yay, strawberries! I was out watering today and saw a bunch and bunch of tiny baby strawberries starting to grow. They are first year plants but what can I say... I'm not patient . I thought about it and could not bring myself to pinch off the blooms. One reason I don't have asparagus is because I don't want to wait for it, but I think hubby is going to take that on next year! We have been hailed on 3 times in the last week but I was prepared for it yesterday .

Congrats on the berries and making it through the hail storm

RoOsTeR wrote:Congrats on the berries and making it through the hail storm

+1

How do you prepare for hail?

Well I go out in the yard and grab every bucket, toy, wood, tarp... that I can find and start covering. Tomatoes and peppers are always first then I cover what ever else I can with what I've got and hope for the best for the rest. The first hail storm went down like this.

I am speeding home from work, hubby is behind me in the new truck...

I get home and it's round one (pea sized) of the hail, I throw a box I had in my car over my head and run to everything that can cover something, grab it and cover the tomatoes and most of the peppers.

Then I look for more covers and hubby gets home and screams at me from the deck "Are you *&^$#$& crazy, get in the house!" And I say "Come help me and it won't take so long!" Round One ends..

I continue to cover what ever I can on the lower beds Round two (ping pong sized) I run in the house looking for my tarp for the pyramid bed and hubby put it away and cant remember where! I am about in tears because he can't remember where the %^&&$$^&& tarp is. I run out and cover what I can then hop in the truck soaking wet (the plan was to come home and cover the plants then get the truck out of town)

Round three... Golf ball sized hail, ugh, got stuck in traffic because the tourists don't know how to drive in the rain, if they had only knew what we were driving away from they would have driven too, lol.

That was the first unexpected hail of the season and it wa not good, things are still looking pretty ugly out there. The potatoes and lettuce are bouncing back a bit though! I have some squares needing replacing though... But that's how I prepare, it's not pretty, lol.

I can relate
In my dreams I have covered the whole garden with an open mesh that would not shade too much but would break up or at least slow or deflect hail. Then in hte fall I could cover it with plastic film. Dreams....... all it needs is money and time and convincing DH.

If we had really low deductibles for our car/house insurance it would probably never hail

This sounds like a perfect place to have heavy duty plastic rolled up beside the boxes and PVC hoops over all beds. Then later the plastic would do double duty for light frost protection. Then you can pull and clip a bed at a time. Would give you more time for the trellised crops.

Kay

That's a great idea, I am working on a plan for next year but I sadly have cut myself off for any more materials this year. I have something in mind (if my parents don't beat me to it, they are more concerned about it than me, lol) And if I can find the right stuff I think it's going to look nice too! You sure do know your stuff Kay! Thanks for all the help!

Also fun news, I must be doing something right, I was out planting some more peppers and tomatoes today and..... I have 3 tomatoes on the lemon boy and 1 pepper on a mystery pepper (I think a bell)!!! I have never ever had them on this early in the season before! Wow MM and SFG continue to amaze me!

Lol, the boys had tennis this morning and I found myself with an hour to burn in town. Somehow I ended up in the garden center down the road and came out with an Aneheim pepper plant and walla walla onion transplants...Oh and golden beets and purple bush beans. Guess I should mention the okra as well
All planted except for the okra which I'm on my way to get in now!

Well, we know who the garden junkies are now... Any one building more boxes this weekend?

I think I'm done for the season.

I'm done too, until next year....

Rooster that made me laugh out loud, I had to run out to our local nursery and pay for a hanging basket for the coffee shop and hubby has wanted me to pick him out another fast tomato plant. So I looked around and that darn early girl ended up costing $26.00 , lol, along with the dahlias, zinnias, daisies, and cherry peppers that came with it!

Lol, cheyanne I also ended up planting 4 buckets of tomatoes yesterday


































































just kidding. my wife is very supportive.

Today I am hmmm, where to plant all these tomatos. Last night we got to eat 2 from the patio plant, yum.

Wowzer a ripe tomato in June! Lucky you

I planted in various pots those 9 tomatoes and put a trellis over them draped with plastic. That is going to need a little more work hopefully before a wind storm.

The grocery store has a end of season sale on plants right now. I only came home with lupines, columbine, scabiosa

I think some one here asked what was orach once? Here is a orach level view of the garden. This is the one I am letting go to seed.

Yes Turan, ripe in June but it wasn't my self started tomatoes it was a patio plant I bought at Menards a while back, there was 2 tomatoes on it and I couldn't just leave it sitting there (Now it has 4 more). I bought one more a few weeks ago from a little nursery with really nice plants, it was a gallon tumbler and had about 40 cherry tomatoes on it (it was $7.00 so I feel like we already got the monies worth and the first one is turning red now. With our shorter season we get impatient and pick a few of these up every year to keep us happy until the real tomatoes start to produce!

That is a good pic!

So I planted a bunch of tomatoes today and still had about 5/6 on the porch when I went to town and cough, hmm accidentally stumbled into the greenhouse cough... Well I came home with 2 more tomatoes, a flat of petunias and butternut squash and maybe a few more flowers... yikes. Found homes for almost everybody sooo far but having trouble with the petunias (they were big, beautiful, and ON SALE)

I am on bug patrol today, found several different sets of eggs. Wondering how many leaves I can turn over today, lol. Any of these look familiar to you?

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t13027-eggs-on-pepper-leaves#129287

I also took some pics of my first peas, zukes, first tiny tim tomatoes, and flowering canteloupes!

Have been eating lettuces, spinach and swiss chard out of the garden for several weeks now. Got a few radishes too. Got the last of the trellises up for the cukes and squashes.

My peas are vining nicely and blooming and the green beans are finding their way up the webbing too. My turnips have big leaves but don't seem to have much actual turnips yet. I will leave them to grow longer.

Does anyone know how long it takes potatoes to flower? My potato plants are about 11/2-2 ft tall and I'm sure hoping there is a lot of activity going on below the surface!

Hope everyone else are having great gardening!