2017 SFG Adventures in Hampstead, NC

Thanks to carrot week, I have built another top hat. The first one was for the two 1/2 squares I had. This one is for two full squares but one corner has part of the 4x4 post.



I went with the "Sow Easy" seeds from Ferry Morse that I picked up at the big blue L. I must say they were super easy to plant and see...that pink just pops out.


The only issue I had was one packet did not have anywhere near 250 seeds...hopefully just a fluke.

I am a bit nervous on how they will turn out because in my haste to plant, I forgot to pick up some vermiculite and peat moss to mix with my compost. So I just added compost to the top hats and mixed it into the existing MM. Because my compost has sat for almost a year, I think all the manure broke down and hopefully will not cause all my carrots to fork and become walking mutants

So, that's what the Sow Easy seeds are about. Nice.

I've never heard of So Easy Seeds. They look simple to see so planting is made easy, Hopefully they will turn out great.

I really liked the Sow Easy seeds for the carrots. I planted some lettuce seeds and even at my young age ( ) struggled to see where they landed.

I did PM the company on FB to let them know I liked their seeds and that one pack only had about 100 seeds...they are supposed to send me a replacement pack. It's only $2.50, but I'm a cheapo.

Ok, so here are a bunch of boring photos of the transplants I have planted this season. The tall tomato plants are from a local shop which grows their own, I think the peppers were too. The eggplant were from the big blue L, as was the rosemary.

2 cukes (still have to add the trellis), a zucchini,
in the top corner is 4 lettuce seeds and the blank square will be romaine...eventually

Rosemary, a nice tall Amelia tomato,
and a poblano pepper (seed) in the back

the perrenial Sage, Greek Oregano, a bell pepper and a German Johnson tomato

Lemon thyme, some lettuce and tromboncino from seed

Cukes, Bell pepper, and a square for Romaine

a big German Johnson tomato next to the pepper

a little Black Beauty Eggplant and last Oct's cabbage (it has a small head and I hope it will grow). Oh and another square fo buttercrunch lettuce

another Amelia tomato, a yellow squash and half of the surviving compost pumpkin seedlings.

on the far left, 2 squares with Rapunzel cherry tomatoes from the youtube guy (praxxus?), garlic from Oct, a sweet 100 cherry tomato,
a Icheban eggplant and another bell pepper


!%@* squirrels


And this is the Onion that is going to flower and seed. I am excited to see what it looks like!

Beautiful update on the garden and the pictures make me happy to know that my garden isn't that far behind.

So, I am not the only one that views Praxxus 55712.

Throw in others like MI Gardener, John Kohler, and most of all Calikim 29, my garden muse.

There are numerous other Youtubers that have SFG presences.

TNG, a lot of us on the Forum like to get the free seeds from Ray.

Ralitaco, those photos are great! Onion flowers are delicious by the way. Sometimes I grab one and chomp on it while out in the garden. But they're really great in salads and on sandwiches.
CC

TNGeezer wrote:So, I am not the only one that views Praxxus 55712.

Throw in others like MI Gardener, John Kohler, and most of all Calikim 29, my garden muse.

There are numerous other Youtubers that have SFG presences.

I also received free seeds from Praxxus.

mschaef wrote:Beautiful update on the garden and the pictures make me happy to know that my garden isn't that far behind.

Don't use me as a barometer...I don't know what I'm doing

TNGeezer wrote:So, I am not the only one that views Praxxus 55712.

Throw in others like MI Gardener, John Kohler, and most of all Calikim 29, my garden muse.

There are numerous other Youtubers that have SFG presences.

I am not an avid follower of anyone on YT, but someone posted here about free seeds and since I'm a cheapskate...

CapeCoddess wrote:Ralitaco, those photos are great!  

Thanks. I just like to have them to document the progress

CapeCoddess wrote:Onion flowers are delicious by the way. Sometimes I grab one and chomp on it while out in the garden. But they're really great in salads and on sandwiches.

WHAAATTT????? I never heard of such a thing. I may have to try it.

Lovely, RT!  And yeh, those onions are entirely edible....love that:albino:

Got some Romaine Lettuce Seeds planted.

Some of my Buttercrunch Lettuce is popping up...I think.



I think this is a weed, but it may be a carrot

The poblano seed was planted in the center, but this is the bed that the squirrels were digging in.

Onion

These may be weeds, but they are in the center of the squares where I planted my Rapunzel tomato seeds.

Looking good! Your plants look much better than mine.

I just noticed the carrot spacing.  Sneaky.    I bought seeds today and that is how I will try it.

sanderson wrote:Looking good!  Your plants look much better than mine.

Well that is no thanks to me. That was bonnie and Pender Pines. Their tomato plants were huge compared to everywhere else.

sanderson wrote:I just noticed the carrot spacing.  Sneaky.    I bought seeds today and that is how I will try it.

That is my super secret ninja carrot spacing.
Actually, after sowing the 16 seeds, I felt like the squares could handle more than that so I got another 9 per square that way. I figured they don't get that big at the top so I'm hoping it will work.

Well, since my onions have all decided to go to seed and tomorrow is taco night, I went ahead and pulled the last 3 onions in the full square. I still have the 3 in the 1/2 square that I am watching to see how the bloom turns out.
They definitely smell like onions

On another note, I am having a bear of a time with weeds popping up from my cold pile compost but thanks to SFG spacing, I am able to easily see them and pull them out...usually.

Also, it appears to be time to look up solutions for squirrel invaders. So far this season they have been worse than the last 2 combined...even in the DW's flower beds up front.

ralitaco wrote:

sanderson wrote:I just noticed the carrot spacing.  Sneaky.    I bought seeds today and that is how I will try it.

That is my super secret ninja carrot spacing.
Actually, after sowing the 16 seeds, I felt like the squares could handle more than that so I got another 9 per square that way. I figured they don't get that big at the top so I'm hoping it will work.

You woke my curiousity so I just checked the carrot seed packet's thin to spacing. It says thin to 2".  If we divide a square into 2"x2" squares we will get 36 squares, with 1 carrot per square.  Your 16+9 is still on the low side.

I am lazy and just sprinkle carrot seed mixed with some radish seed.  It works out good enough. 

I am enjoying your pictures.  You must be a month or more ahead of me.

Turan wrote:You woke my curiousity so I just checked the carrot seed packet's thin to spacing. It says thin to 2".  If we divide a square into 2"x2" squares we will get 36 squares, with 1 carrot per square.  Your 16+9 is still on the low side.

My carrots say thin to 3" so according to Mel's formula, that is 16 per square. So I guess it depends on the variety. Which are you using? I like the idea of 36 per square.

Also, glad you enjoy the pics

I looked on my packet of Bolero, a storage carrot that gets quite thick.  It just has Johnny's generic guideline for carrots which is "If necessary, thin young seedlings to 3/4-2" apart, depending on root size desired."  I went and looked at what does Territorial seeds recommend for the same variety~ 1-3" is their basic guideline.



I just realized that I have been misreading your title~ Hampstead, NC not New Hampshire.  The wonders of dyslexia.  It does explain why your onions are so big and mine not planted yet.

Hello SFG friends.
I know it has been a long while since I have posted, but this was a very poor season and I have been very busy with work. I hope all of you have been doing well. I look forward to catching up. Hopefully, I will do better logging in and keeping up with you guys.

As I said earlier, my season was very poor and I ended up pulling everything out. So what does one do with empty Table Top Beds at Halloween?



Throw a Pirate themed Halloween party of course!

Looks pretty cool.  How about planting garlic ???  FAva Beans ??? or not.

Hi there! Glad to see you again. Some of us had a hard summer. That ship is a work of art. Of course, it has a nice support framework. I second Yolos in planting some garlic and mulching it. Even store bought.