N&C Midwest: May 2020

Wow, a spinach that keeps going all summer??? I'm going to have to try some next year.

I planted some perpetual spinach this year at the recommendation of OG, I believe it is a type of Swiss chard that has spinach-like flavor is much less rib.  I am excited to have it!  

Some of my sunflowers are germinating, so into the light they go!  I might put them out if I get a smidge of sun, but hit and miss on this Mother’s Day!  

Today I am going to plant 4 Yukon Gold, so dug out the grid to see where I put them!  

We had 1 night with a freeze, Friday into Saturday.  Last night just cold.  It has to lift it’s grip at some point!

Put up the first level of the tomato cages today to get ready for transplanting the tomatoes the end of this week.

OhioGardener wrote:Put up the first level of the tomato cages today to get ready for transplanting the tomatoes the end of this week.

Living in the south, I put my the 2nd layer of cages up quite a while back and I am now wondering how soon I will have to put the final level.

yolos wrote:

OhioGardener wrote:Put up the first level of the tomato cages today to get ready for transplanting the tomatoes the end of this week.

Living in the south, I put my the 2nd layer of cages up quite a while back and I am now wondering how soon I will have to put the final level.

Yeah, I remember those days when we lived near Atlanta for a number of years. Now, we're just waiting for the last frost date to pass....

Scorpio Rising wrote:I planted some perpetual spinach this year at the recommendation of OG, I believe it is a type of Swiss chard that has spinach-like flavor is much less rib.  I am excited to have it!

I stopped growing spinach because it had such a short growing season. This could be a game changer.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
We had 1 night with a freeze, Friday into Saturday.  Last night just cold.  It has to lift it’s grip at some point!

I don't know about Ohio, but in Kansas, as of last Thursday night, we were expecting cold nights on Friday and Saturday nights (not quite freezing, but close), then starting Sunday night (tonight), a warming trend. On Friday, they forecast another cold night Sunday night, with warming to start Monday night. Now they're forecasting another cold night for Monday night. Put the plastic on, take it off, put it on, take it off, put it on...  sheesh.

CitizenKate wrote:I don't know about Ohio, but in Kansas, as of last Thursday night, we were expecting cold nights on Friday and Saturday nights (not quite freezing, but close), then starting Sunday night (tonight), a warming trend. On Friday, they forecast another cold night Sunday night, with warming to start Monday night. Now they're forecasting another cold night for Monday night. Put the plastic on, take it off, put it on, take it off, put it on...  sheesh.

Here in SW Ohio the lows will be in the mid-30's through Tuesday night, and then we go back into the seasonal temperatures of lows in the mid-50's to 60's. May 10th is our frost free date, but we won't put out any sensitive plants until the 15th.

We are usually 3 days behind you, so if you are warming, it’s on our way! I get sick of carrying things in and out, in and out, repeat!

We're finally starting to warm up here in KS, as of this afternoon. I've left the plants uncovered, except for the basil. We've got thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow, so we'll be warmer and wetter for Wednesday.

Coming your way, Ohio!

CitizenKate wrote:We're finally starting to warm up here in KS, as of this afternoon.  I've left the plants uncovered, except for the basil. We've got thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow, so we'll be warmer and wetter for Wednesday.

Coming your way, Ohio!

I’m ready for warmer, for sure!  Today is my day to mow it sounds like though.  I think I will plant some things out this weekend, a couple of my tomatoes are big enough.  Everything else is too little, but at least I can leave them outside after the deluge?  My trays don’t have drainage holes!  

I left everything open last night, it’s all cold tolerant stuff.

Transplanted the tomatoes into the beds today, and got it all done before the rains came and drove me inside.  Planted 2 each of Sun Gold, Red Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, and Golden Delicious.  Also planted one token Rutgers. The plants were outgrowing their pots, and had to get into the ground.

OhioGardener wrote:Transplanted the tomatoes into the beds today, and got it all done before the rains came and drove me inside.  Planted 2 each of Sun Gold, Red Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, and Golden Delicious.  Also planted one token Rutgers. The plants were outgrowing their pots, and had to get into the ground.

I get that!  I only have a couple that are large enough to put out.  My peppers and most of my tomatoes are only a few inches tall so will wait and let them be outside!  

Will start my super hotties (squash, melons, cukes) this weekend on heating pads under lights.  

Rainy but warmish!

My tomatoes and basil (which I transplanted out 2 weekends ago) kinda shut down during that cold spell. The last two days have been deliciously warm, with just-right amounts of rain, and now the tomatoes are all starting to show new growth and setting fruit. The peppers are still being a little shy, but one of my Jalapenos opened a new blossom today, so I'm optimistic they're about to take off, too.

I've now got squashes and green beans coming up in seed trays. I decided to start the green beans inside this year, because the last time I grew them, pill bugs came out and ate all the tender leaves off the sprouts just as they emerged from the growing mix. I've never seen such carnage in my garden. I know they aren't known for transplanting well, but I don't think I'm going to have green beans any other way.

I haven't grown squash for several years, but I saw a neat way of growing them vertically, and learned some new tricks from the Homegrown Food Summit that ran last week to conquer the pests, so I'm ready to give them another go.

What kind of squash are you growing, CK?

CitizenKate wrote:My tomatoes and basil (which I transplanted out 2 weekends ago) kinda shut down during that cold spell. The last two days have been deliciously warm, with just-right amounts of rain, and now the tomatoes are all starting to show new growth and setting fruit.  The peppers are still being a little shy, but one of my Jalapenos opened a new blossom today, so I'm optimistic they're about to take off, too.

I've now got squashes and green beans coming up in seed trays. I decided to start the green beans inside this year, because the last time I grew them, pill bugs came out and ate all the tender leaves off the sprouts just as they emerged from the growing mix. I've never seen such carnage in my garden. I know they aren't known for transplanting well, but I don't think I'm going to have green beans any other way.

I haven't grown squash for several years, but I saw a neat way of growing them vertically, and learned some new tricks from the Homegrown Food Summit that ran last week to conquer the pests, so I'm ready to give them another go.

I always pinch off the early blooms from transplants for the first several weeks so that the plant spends its energy growing strong roots and plants instead of setting fruit. Peppers don't like temperatures below 50°F, and it will stunt their growth for a while.

I have not had a problem with sowbugs eating the green beans, but last year I had to put wire cages over the beans until they fully developed their true leaves. The birds would go after the bean halves that were still on the first leaves, and picked the top of the plant off getting the beans. I couldn't it when I saw the birds doing that. This year they were eating the beet seedlings, and I had to cover them, too!

I have never done that pinching thing, OG but it makes sense!  I had the same thing happen with the dumb birds and my germinating beans!  

I am going to try Dragon Tongue beans this year, new one for me.  We will see!

Scorpio Rising wrote:What kind of squash are you growing, CK?

This year, I've got 2 each of Black Beauty zucchini and Butter Dish yellow squash. I can't wait to see how it works out growing them on stakes. If they do well, we may have enough squash to store away for the rest of the year. I'm already getting ready for all kinds of preservation projects.

Nice!  I just got in from weeding and enriching my 4x4 to get it ready for planting.  I also planted 7 celery plants out.  

Harvested and ate (yum!) French Breakfast radishes, a few remaining Sora, and the Cooks Mix which are mostly Easter Egg.  Also got my first taste of the Tokyo Cross turnips!  So crunchy and yummo, very radishey.  All with Marzetti Dill Veggie dip—the BEST!  

My maters etc. need a minute...so they are still hardening off....

OhioGardener wrote:
I always pinch off the early blooms from transplants for the first several weeks so that the plant spends its energy growing strong roots and plants instead of setting fruit. Peppers don't like temperatures below 50°F, and it will stunt their growth for a while.

I have not had a problem with sowbugs eating the green beans, but last year I had to put wire cages over the beans until they fully developed their true leaves. The birds would go after the bean halves that were still on the first leaves, and picked the top of the plant off getting the beans. I couldn't it when I saw the birds doing that. This year they were eating the beet seedlings, and I had to cover them, too!

I've done the blossom pinching some years, and some years not. Maybe it just affects something in the plant I can't actually observe, but I didn't notice much advantage of pinching versus not pinching.

Thanks for the heads-up about the birds, that didn't happen when I grew beans before, but it'd just be my luck that they decide to start doing it in my garden this year. I have cages to cover my beds, but since I've got stakes in the same bed where my green beans will be, can't use one of my cages, so I'll have to find some other way to cover them for a while.

I did know that peppers (not to mention tomatoes and basil) don't like temperatures below 50, but at the time I put them in, it was the last week of April (we usually have had our last frost by around then), and there was no cold weather in the forecast for the then-foreseeable future. But that happens, sometimes. They survived, though, and now they're all really starting to take off.

Some photos from the garden today...

Peppers, indeterminate tomatoes, and basil. I made a "non-regulation" grid for my indeterminates. The two years I planted them one to a square foot, there were times when it was just too crowded to get into the plants with treatments or pruning, so I decided to give them just a little more space. Still one to "a square" but having divided the 4'x4' bed into thirds, the squares are a little bigger.

Both beds are still waiting for more plants to put in. I've got 3 more basil plants to go in with the tomatoes, and more Tabasco peppers that aren't quite ready to be transplanted yet.

The black/yellow tubs in the background are my compost bins.


The lettuce, onion, and broccoli bed is the prettiest thing I've got in the garden this week. You can see I've still got some cleaning up to do in the surrounding landscape, and the crab grass and weeds that were allowed to grow are trying to come back, but so far, I'm gaining on them. And I have yet to pick up a load of new wood chips to put down all around the beds.


Today's lettuce harvest - all Buttercrunch - enough to fill a 5.0L tub.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!  I just got in from weeding and enriching my 4x4 to get it ready for planting.  I also planted 7 celery plants out.  

Harvested and ate (yum!) French Breakfast radishes, a few remaining Sora, and the Cooks Mix which are mostly Easter Egg.  Also got my first taste of the Tokyo Cross turnips!  So crunchy and yummo, very radishey.  All with Marzetti Dill Veggie dip—the BEST!  

Tasty!

Transplanted the Basil and Sweet Alyssum into the bed today. It will be another week or two before the peppers will be ready for transplanting.

Great pictures, CK!  I have had the same experience with indeterminate tomatoes; I have old re-purposed window boxes that serve as my original “SFG”.  They are 1 1/2 feet deep, various lengths, and probably 16 inches deep or so.  They are rotting in place but still very functional!  That is where I put my tomatoes, because of the added space.

Everything that’s not in the beds is inside, otherwise they would drown!  Started melons, cukes, ground cherries, squashes Sunday, on the pad under lights as I type!  

My grass will be bale-able!

So I take it you're getting some rain this week?

I've got squashes and green beans almost ready to go out as soon as they have another set of leaves.