N&C Midwest: May 2020

**Scorpio Rising** 5/1/2020, 9:22 am

Happy May, everyone! Dreary and cool here, but a warm-up is promising for the weekend.

Will get some pictures on here today, cold frame looking pretty! Had to re-start some lettuces, had not good germination, went through seeds, some was old.

OhioGardener 5/1/2020, 7:05 pm

Can't believe it is May already! Where is time going, and when will I catch up with it?

All of my beds are now finished with top dressing of compost, and the trellises are back in place for growing the cucumbers, squash, and pole beans. Everything is ready for whenever the weather settles down enough to put the transplants out. Not much to do now until after the last frost date, around the 10th of May.

The beds are topped with compost, and ready for planting. The sections with the small white fence around them are planted with carrots, beets, radishes, lettuce, kale, chard, and spinach.

The cattle panel pieces are back in place for trellises

The Kale, Chard, and Spinach is recovering from the hard freeze it had on April 22nd - the latest we've ever had a freeze below 25°F.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/1/2020, 9:53 pm

Nice!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/1af51c10.jpg

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/c846de10.jpg

My cold frame has radishes, turnips, Bok Choi, Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli and used to have cabbages but a critter ate them....

Then I picked some radishes; French Breakfast, Easter Egg, and one Sora! YUM!

Peas are up, just after being re-planted after being eaten by something...and a couple lettuces in the round bed.

CitizenKate 5/1/2020, 10:54 pm

OhioGardener wrote:Can't believe it is May already! Where is time going, and when will I catch up with it?

All of my beds are now finished with top dressing of compost, and the trellises are back in place for growing the cucumbers, squash, and pole beans. Everything is ready for whenever the weather settles down enough to put the transplants out. Not much to do now until after the last frost date, around the 10th of May.

OG, I admit I'm a little jealous of how much space you have for gardening. Your beds look great.

CitizenKate 5/1/2020, 10:59 pm

Our last frost date here in NE KS is right about now. I was able to get my bushy tomatoes in a little ahead of schedule. They're just kinda sitting there for now, but they should start to take off soon. We've got fabulous spring weather throughout the weekend, so all my indeterminates go into their bed tomorrow morning, with some basil, this time. The aroma from the basil is intoxicating. I'll post photos when they're in.

CitizenKate 5/1/2020, 11:06 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!

... ...

My cold frame has radishes, turnips, Bok Choi, Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli and used to have cabbages but a critter ate them....

Then I picked some radishes; French Breakfast, Easter Egg, and one Sora! YUM!

Peas are up, just after being re-planted after being eaten by something...and a couple lettuces in the round bed.

Your early crops look awesome, SR! Beautiful radishes.

What do you think ate your cabbages?

OhioGardener 5/2/2020, 8:18 am

CitizenKate wrote:OG, I admit I'm a little jealous of how much space you have for gardening. Your beds look great.

Thanks! Yes, we kept 5 acres when we retired from raising cattle, so there is plenty of room to garden and landscape. And, there is more than enough work....

**Scorpio Rising** 5/2/2020, 10:13 am

CitizenKate wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!

... ...

My cold frame has radishes, turnips, Bok Choi, Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli and used to have cabbages but a critter ate them....

Then I picked some radishes; French Breakfast, Easter Egg, and one Sora! YUM!

Peas are up, just after being re-planted after being eaten by something...and a couple lettuces in the round bed.
Your early crops look awesome, SR! Beautiful radishes.

What do you think ate your cabbages?

I think it was squirrels...something had dug in there and apparently didn’t like the radishes or turnips! The cabbages had literally not grown, just tiny things. I’m gonna buy some plants today if I can find some. I like cabbage (unlike it’s cousin, kale...)

CitizenKate 5/2/2020, 10:31 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I think it was squirrels...something had dug in there and apparently didn’t like the radishes or turnips! The cabbages had literally not grown, just tiny things. I’m gonna buy some plants today if I can find some. I like cabbage (unlike it’s cousin, kale...)

Definitely sounds like something rodent-sized. I had no idea squirrels liked cabbage, though.

I like cabbage all kinds of ways. Raw, fermented, shredded into some ramen noodles... I never tried eating kale until I tried growing some. I know, kinda risky, huh? (I remembered afterwards wondering why I would grow something I don't normally eat.) I definitely don't care for it raw (like, chopped up into a salad), but I love it steamed or sautéed. Not growing any of either this year, though. Couldn't get the [expletive deleted] seeds to germinate. But I ended up with a lot of broccoli this year, and they're doing really well so far, so that'll be a treat.

Another big weekend out in the gardening this week. Got the rest of the tomatoes planted. Got a couple more squares in bed 3 to fill and that's 3 full houses.

CitizenKate 5/2/2020, 10:39 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
CitizenKate wrote:OG, I admit I'm a little jealous of how much space you have for gardening. Your beds look great.

Thanks! Yes, we kept 5 acres when we retired from raising cattle, so there is plenty of room to garden and landscape. And, there is more than enough work....

Good for you! I'm hoping the next place we move to will have a huge, shadeless back yard. We would have a lot more space for growing in the backyard if our neighbor to the south didn't have a wall of 50-foot trees along our south border. Mad

**Scorpio Rising** 5/3/2020, 3:25 pm

Wow! Lots of good stuff happening here in the MW!

Here, hurt my back getting the grass out of the strawberry bed—my fault. Sort-of done. Looks a lot better though!

Planted 2 red cabbages I bought at the nursery, and 6 Romaines. My lettuces disappointed this year—last year, rolling in it? Also direct seeded some lettuce. We will see; I have never done that!

Brought my baby maters/peppers/eggplant/marigold/nasturtiums to have a bit in real sun. Now inside.

Celery looking good!

Getting ready to put in a bunch of sunflowers! Love them!

nrstooge 5/5/2020, 8:01 am

I had to replant the peas, only 2 of 16 came up.. pesky squirrel in my patio planter. Radishes, turnips, lettuce, kale, pak choy and tat soi are all up and growing. Tomato, egglplant, peppers, herbs and flowers aren't out yet as our last frost is May 11.. supposed to be close tomorrow/next night. Most of those I'll way till near end of May before putting in the large pots. Itching to get out on the patio and plant though. MUST BE PATIENT..

Happy planting everyone!

**Scorpio Rising** 5/5/2020, 8:27 am

We are predicted to have freezing temps this weekend, so my babies will have to wait another week to stretch their legs! This spring has been wet and cold here!

OhioGardener 5/5/2020, 8:53 am

They are predicting a low of 28°F Friday night, and a low of 32°F for Saturday night. We never put our tender plants out until after Mother's Day, but we may wait another week this year. I like to see the nighttime temperature at 50°F before transplanting the tomatoes and peppers. Of course, the cool weather crops of Kale, Chard, Lettuce, Radishes, Beets, Carrots, and onions are doing great in the beds with the cool, wet spring we've been having.

CitizenKate 5/5/2020, 8:02 pm

Woo-hoo! It's May 5, and I've already got tomatoes setting.

Got all the pepper plants in the beds now. 4 Tabasco, 4 Jalapeño, and a couple of bell peppers. Next morning after planting, I found one with almost all its leaves eaten off by something. Sprayed them all with neem oil, and so far no more problems.

Meanwhile, I also had a major breakthrough to get my harvested Tabasco pepper seeds to sprout, and I've now got a six-pack of my own seedlings! They're late, but I'll plant them anyway, and they might start producing later in the season. Hoping to get enough of those little peppers to fill a quart jar with pepper mash.

Finally cleaned all the weeds out of my last box, and found (on YouTube) a method for growing squashes in one square foot by tying it up to a stake as it grows. So I'm going to try it. Last time I grew squashes, I just let them grow along the ground and what a mess that turned into! One plant took up way too much of the bed. With the stake method, I'll easily have room for a couple of yellow squash plants and a couple of zucchini. And fill the rest of the bed with bush beans.

And, we're getting Buttercrunch lettuce out of the garden now, and the spring onions are almost ready to start harvesting. Life is good!

OhioGardener 5/5/2020, 8:22 pm

CitizenKate wrote:And, we're getting Buttercrunch lettuce out of the garden now, and the spring onions are almost ready to start harvesting. Life is good!

**Scorpio Rising** 5/7/2020, 8:23 pm

That all sounds good, except for our coming weather this weekend! COLD! But you’re right, OG, the radish harvest has been great, and some lettuces as well! Spinach is on it’s way, as well as turnips, etc.

Some of my asparagus is alive sending up spindly stalks! Hope!

One more week before tomatoes go in, peppers and eggplant might be another week.

CitizenKate 5/7/2020, 8:32 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:That all sounds good, except for our coming weather this weekend! COLD! But you’re right, OG, the radish harvest has been great, and some lettuces as well! Spinach is on it’s way, as well as turnips, etc.

Some of my asparagus is alive sending up spindly stalks! Hope!

One more week before tomatoes go in, peppers and eggplant might be another week.

I've been watching the forecast and biting my nails. So far, we don't have a frost warning for this weekend here, but tomorrow night, it's looking like it'll dip down into the upper-30's. A little too close for comfort. I may at least have to cover the basil I already have out, since it's even more sensitive to the cold than the tomatoes.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/7/2020, 8:43 pm

CitizenKate wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:That all sounds good, except for our coming weather this weekend! COLD! But you’re right, OG, the radish harvest has been great, and some lettuces as well! Spinach is on it’s way, as well as turnips, etc.

Some of my asparagus is alive sending up spindly stalks! Hope!

One more week before tomatoes go in, peppers and eggplant might be another week.
I've been watching the forecast and biting my nails. So far, we don't have a frost warning for this weekend here, but tomorrow night, it's looking like it'll dip down into the upper-30's. A little too close for comfort. I may at least have to cover the basil I already have out, since it's even more sensitive to the cold than the tomatoes.

I know it, Kate, I can close my cold frame; and throw a sheet over the lettuces. The garlic and onions will be fine, so will the peas. It just slows things down so much!

I don’t have anything ready to go out Year as far as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. It’s just a few inches tall right now. Spending the weekend binge watching with my seedlings, I guess!

They’ve been wrong before, but you hate to make accommodations in case they are right!

CitizenKate 5/7/2020, 8:56 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I know it, Kate, I can close my cold frame; and throw a sheet over the lettuces. The garlic and onions will be fine, so will the peas. It just slows things down so much!

I don’t have anything ready to go out Year as far as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. It’s just a few inches tall right now. Spending the weekend binge watching with my seedlings, I guess!

They’ve been wrong before, but you hate to make accommodations in case they are right!

Binge watching seedlings! cyclops

Yep, that's me, too. Yesterday, I spotted some nematodes in the seed starter with my tabasco seedlings, and can't decide if that's good or bad. So far, I've only seen them muching down on matter in the seed mix, not on any of the plants. But then today, I saw some strange markings on the stem of one of the plants, so I'm wondering if that's normal or if the nematodes are starting to eat the plants. And how on earth would nematodes get into my seed starter?

**Scorpio Rising** 5/8/2020, 9:35 pm

CitizenKate wrote:Binge watching seedlings! Yep, that's me, too. Yesterday, I spotted some nematodes in the seed starter with my tabasco seedlings, and can't decide if that's good or bad. So far, I've only seen them muching down on matter in the seed mix, not on any of the plants. But then today, I saw some strange markings on the stem of one of the plants, so I'm wondering if that's normal or if the nematodes are starting to eat the plants. And how on earth would nematodes get into my seed starter?

So, was it purchased seed starting mix? That is extremely weird if it is! I didn’t know you could actually see nematodes?!!!

Cold here; closed the frame and threw a sheet on the lettuces. Asparagus is on its own? I didn’t know what to do there...

CitizenKate 5/8/2020, 11:00 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:
So, was it purchased seed starting mix? That is extremely weird if it is! I didn’t know you could actually see nematodes?!!!

Cold here; closed the frame and threw a sheet on the lettuces. Asparagus is on its own? I didn’t know what to do there...

Yeah, it's just some Burpee organic seed starting mix. It comes dry, so I don't think nematodes could survive being in the package. I did have the seed tray sitting out in the sun the day before, for about 30 minutes.

Here's what I saw:

Closer:

They're extremely tiny, about 1mm wide by 5-6mm long. I probably wouldn't have noticed them, but I had my magnifiers on while checking out things in the seed tray. (Yep, I was in binge mode.) At this point, I don't think they're harmful. They're just hanging out in the growing mix.

The forecast lows are not quite down to freezing, but I got out and covered everything up this evening, and probably will again for the next couple of nights. I don't think we'll get a killing freeze, but anything below 50 can sure slow things down. Then I think we're finally out of the proverbial woods. I wish I knew what to tell you about the asparagus... don't have much experience with it, but my google search says it can tolerate a light frost.

OhioGardener 5/9/2020, 2:32 pm

Harvested some Spinach, Romaine Lettuce, Saxa 2 Radishes, and Green Onions today. The garden is really growing. The Saxa 2 Radishes are some of the 18-day radishes, and they are so sweet this time of the year that I ended up eating some of them right out of the garden.

Perpetual Spinach

Romaine Lettuce leaves

Saxa 2 Radishes

Green Onion

CitizenKate 5/9/2020, 4:54 pm

They all look fabulous, OH! I've never heard of "Perpetual Spinach" before. Slow-bolting, I gather?

OhioGardener 5/9/2020, 5:12 pm

CitizenKate wrote:They all look fabulous, OH! I've never heard of "Perpetual Spinach" before. Slow-bolting, I gather?

Yes, it doesn't bolt in hot weather, and while it can be started very early in the spring, it grows until the first hard freeze of winter. It is great in salads, and is great sauteed with garlic or onions. But, a lot of it gets eaten in the garden without making it to the house. Smile

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