What's doin' in May?

May in the Midwest garden.. Hooray, you've made it!! If you haven't cleared your frost date yet, you will this month....or 90% of us will. Spring is here. Sure, there is the irregularity as Old Man Winter retreats north....and this year is an irregularity....but, we are entering the home stretch.

If you are in the south, like me, you have already dropped in your tomoatoes. You have likely planted your annual warm-season flowers like marigolds and impatiens. You are getting worried about whether or not your broccoli and cauliflower will bolt before you get the chance to reap the rewards of 12+ weeks of patience. You are hoping you get a few more harvests from your spinaches and lettuces. You are wondering if your "slow to bolt" crops are going to behave as advertised. You are mentally transitioning to summer thoughts of the pool, air conditioning bills, and hot dogs on the BBQ grill.

If you live in the middle, you are a couple of weeks past your frost date. You are in the heart of your spring season plantings. You may be starting to harvest things if you gambled and got things in early with covers. I hope you enjoy those salads, you've been waiting a long time for them to arrive. You aren't really thinking of summer yet because you are getting the yards tuned up and trees are likely starting to bloom all around you. Grab a beer on a 70F afternoon and enjoy the dogwoods and cherry trees.

If you live up north, though, you are losing winter more and more with every passing day. You guys are still protecting against the patchy frosts...maybe snow flurries, too. But, you are all revved up! If you are a gambler with nature, you may be investigating hoop houses and season extension. Heck, you may be experienced with these things and know exactly what you are doing. Either way, you are getting those cool season veggies going and are probably starting warmer season things indoors. I know snowpack means more to you folks than it does to us down here, so I hope you don't get the spring we are getting with all the rain. You likely can't handle the water. I hope your gardens, and your lives, remain above water.

I will get some pics of my garden up soon. Things are taking off for me. I am getting bean sprouts and the tomatoes and peppers are taking root nicely. My lettuces are exhausted from me harvesting the heck out of them, and so is my spinach. I cleared a square of radishes today, and my peas are all about 2 feet high (I should see something special any day now).

You all have caught me a bit ill-prepared. My rainy season is kicking my (you know), and I am struggling to stay afloat with my lawncare business...moreso than other years because of the number of clients and five consecutive days of rain....we got over 7 inches...along with others east of us. So, bear with me if I don't seem as prepared as I was during early spring and late winter. Things will settle back down in summer and I'll get back to obsessing over SFG and my backyard bird buddies....lol.

Enough about me, though, I am more excited to hear about YOU! I'm from the Show Me State.....so you know what to do!

Here are the pictures I promised. It's flipping raining again today, so these are from Friday-ish...

Yes, there was a sunny day last week. You can tell I planted the right side earlier than the left?


My peas...


My cauliflower and broccoli...getting close


My celery is going strong..


My mater bed with pepper transplants in the front with a couple more broccoli and the tomatoes in the back. Two back left corner squares have the cucumber seeds in them now.


And, my Nantes variety for Carrot Week.....Little Fingers for the "little fingers" that roam my humble abode.


Now, you go!

We are getting tons of rain here in Southwest Ohio too. I am midway between Cincy and Columbus. However I have been able to get most of my first and 2nd plantings done.

In bed one (the closest bed in the picture above) I have Tomato (my starts ), cucumber from seed, Jalapeno (my starts), bell pepper (also starts), dill (seed), and chives (starts)

Bed 2 (middle bed) squash, beans, corn, okra, lettuce, cilantro...I couldn't find zucchini seeds so I will have to buy the plants to finish up this bed.

Bed 3..Cantaloupe, watermelon, basil, eggplant, broccoli, carrot, and onion. Sage and Zucchini plants will also be in this bed.

I also have an old galvanized tub with potatoes; a hanging strawberry planter; mint, lavender, and rosemary in containers; and I planted blackberry and raspberry bushes this year.

My goal is to have a mostly edible landscape.

The cups in the picture are covering seelings that the birds or the wayward neighborhood rabbit kept eating.

Now if the rain would stop and temps would stabilize..I would be a very happy gardener.

Ok, I finally got out and got some pictures taken of my progress so far...

My three 4 x 4 boxes and "auxillary" plantings.


Box #1 - Spinach, Mache (corn salad) and Black Seeded Simpson. Waiting for beans and corn in a couple weeks.

Box #2 - Beets, Peas, Carrots and more spinach. Last beets will go in this weekend and Swiss Chard.


Box #3 - Radishes, onions, collard greens, carrots (nantes), and more lettuce. Waiting for cukes and acorn squash.


My "hoopty house" as I'm calling it - PVC frame with row cover. Underneath are 3 cabbage, 3 broccoli and 3 cauliflower plants - and not a cabbage worm in sight!


New fruit trees planted this year - 2 apple and one sweet cherry. No grid but they are in a raised bed!


Blueberries in buckets so I can control the pH. Elliott and Bluecrop.


The (in)famous onion grill. 27 onions all growing like gangbusters in their Mels Mix!


Potatoes in totes - these are Yukon Gold (all three potates were planted the same day - interesting, huh?


Potatoes - Norland Red


Potatoes - Kennebec. The last tote will be for sweet potatoes. All planted in Mel's Mix and will be covered with straw.


My always willing helpers in the SFG.

Just awesome stuff, you guys.

Smartchick, how come it is every time I look at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, I think I'm looking at little piglets? I have to focus in to recognize the sweet taters....lol.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:...Smartchick, how come it is every time I look at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, I think I'm looking at little piglets? .....

Me too! And that worries me!

Something about "warped minds think alike?" Yikes!

more like old age an worn out eyes in boffers case not sure bout bbg

Garden is now fully planted. All 64 squares. Here is where everything currently sits...



The 2x8, on bottom, is actually on top and on the north side up against the house. I have two trellises up against the house, too. Tomatoes and cucumbers are intended to climb the trellises. The peppers are hopefully going to get a little slower start than the tomatoes and therefore won't shade the tomatoes as they grow up and up and up.

The 4x12 bed is the main bed. I could have done better with the actual design, but you can see how lettuce-heavy our house is. We love our salads. I am testing two squares of arugula and swiss chard, hoping I incorporate them more for summertime. My family loves radishes so I intend to keep one or two squares going at all times, too. Spinach is fading in production, and it's getting a bit late to plant more. So, I am starting to pull them in favor of bush beans.

In case you are wondering about the dominance of lettuce, I am planting several varieties. Simpson's Elite is my favorite by far. So, I have double the SE over any other variety. But, I am in love with Buttercrunch, too. Buttercrunch is starting to creep into more squares as I plant. I also love Vivian Romaine. Those are the three dominant types. I wish I was having more luck with Red Sails. I have some old seeds and they aren't germinating well. I am using some Salad Bowl, too. But, I just like Simpson's Elite more.

I want to see how this much lettuce takes hold now that I have it in. If I need more, I still have the space as the broccoli and cauliflower get pulled. But, I am wanting to put carrots in there instead.

Now, we just need a touch warmer weather and things will go bananas!

I say it's your garden, so grow what you love and you'll always be happy! Looks great BBG!

I'd love to see your pics, BBG, but for some reason, they don't come through for me.

I've had the frost covers off for a week now, and planted bush beans today. Everything is still growing very slowly. My potatoes got nipped by the frost, but I'm hoping that they will eventually start growing anyway. I'm looking forward to transplanting my tomato, peppers, and cucumber. Waiting for the melons to germinate in the seed trays. Got some inspiration today, and thought of ways to expand next year, taking advantage of every little nook and cranny of my small yard and still leave space for the kids to play.

Never thought I'd enjoy gardening, but I do, in spite of all the frustrations!

I'm with masongarden...plant what you like!

Still can't see them?

If not, my plan is to get an updated set in here soon anyway. I have pea blossoms finally! But, a stinking critter (not the dog) got into the garden last night and destroyed a square or two of freshy planted, unsprouted lettuces. That little bugger!

Sorry no pics, I'm beat! I mixed and filled 2 (out of the 3 boxes left) - 2x8's today and planted 16 squares with 128 pole beans. Re-potted tomatoes/peppers. peas are not doing well with all this rain. Broccoli/cabbage are hanging in there. Strawberries have blooms everywhere.

It started raining so much I'm planning on buying shares in a couple of wellington boot makers. I've more growing than this but here's a couple of pics.

Leeks Musselburgh swimming in a tray and gooseberry Hinnomaki Red in a hoopy




Cut and come again lettuce in pots, the two on the left had a haircut last night





I'm hoping my second sowing of Oregon snap peas which are ready for transplanting into the box when I get it built this week haven't got too wet. It's the first time I have grown these, my first sowing met with disaster.

The first third of May is in the books so to speak. Here is a little upper-dater on the SFG. I ran out to grab some pics today.

The tomaters and peppers are going nicely. However, I am on constant aphid duty with my peppers...




My celery eagerly awaiting it's first harvest. I am likely to grab some of the outer stems soon. You see some lush greenery in the background. My bigger plants like broccoli, cauliflower, maturing carrots, and my Wall-O-Peas are back there somewhere...lol.




Some spinach begging for the other squares to catch up and take some of the harvesting heat off them...




Oops. No peeking. Covered this guy up this afternoon. But, he's looking like a biggun for only being a month or so old. Look out Josh and Boffer. If I have a giant "half-long," does he become a full carrot?




Lettuces (salad bowl in front, vivian romaine in middle, and peas in back) and peas...




Back by popular demand....Radishes!




And, my pea blossoms are really going nuts now..




How 'bout you?

Can't wait till I have some pics to share.

My peas are only about 5 inches high right now.

Well, it looks like some of my strawberries are going to live! Peas, kohlrabi, purple carrots, onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes, and potatoes are in the ground. Tomorrow is supposed to be our last sunny day until the following Thursday, with up to 3 inches of rain possible by the end of the weekend. I leave for a back-packing trip on Friday and won't be back until the rain is almost over. There better be some green showing in those squares when I get back!

TC

Our Spring garden is doing well. This is our second year doing a SFG but our first year planting something before our frost date. (Didn't know that was possible...lol).

Our snow peas and sugar snap peas with two little broccoli up front...


A closer shot of our cute little peas...


Our overwintered onions...


white radishes


Lettuce in the square on the left and cherry belle radishes


Turnips (seven top)


Spinach (my "helper" decided to pick one of the spinach already...can you tell which one? lol)


A little bitty carrot from my nantes Carrot Week square.



This is our new 3x8 box but it's mainly planted with transplants. In here we have swiss chard, cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and 4 different lettuces (buttercrunch, black seedeed simpson, romaine & red leaf) Also in here started from seed are dwarf carrots, spinach, white radish & red kale.

well last night i transplanted all the tomato, squash,zuccinni,cucumber transplants plus the goards and 2 of the pepper plants. sadly all of them jus got put in the ground w/o anything added due to the fact i'm on layoff an cant afford the ingreants for the mel's mix. theres allways next year i guess. i'll jus have ta see how things do and take pics as they progress. not much going on in the tabletop a few more carrots have sprouted and the arugula has doubled in size the past week. nothing pickable yet.


boog

boog1 wrote:well last night i transplanted all the tomato, squash,zuccinni,cucumber transplants plus the goards and 2 of the pepper plants. sadly all of them jus got put in the ground w/o anything added due to the fact i'm on layoff an cant afford the ingreants for the mel's mix. theres allways next year i guess. i'll jus have ta see how things do and take pics as they progress. not much going on in the tabletop a few more carrots have sprouted and the arugula has doubled in size the past week. nothing pickable yet.


boog

Feed and weed em the best you can this summer and when you get called back to work start buying a bit at a time so that when next year comes you will be ready. Gardens grew before mels mix, just not as well or as easy. This will give you something to look forward to. And stay with the forum.

Kay

boog1 wrote:well last night i transplanted all the tomato, squash,zuccinni,cucumber transplants plus the goards and 2 of the pepper plants. sadly all of them jus got put in the ground w/o anything added due to the fact i'm on layoff an cant afford the ingreants for the mel's mix. theres allways next year i guess. i'll jus have ta see how things do and take pics as they progress. not much going on in the tabletop a few more carrots have sprouted and the arugula has doubled in size the past week. nothing pickable yet.


boog

My question is which are MM beds and which are not? Are all in the ground?

Not a big deal. It just helps me organize my thoughts going forward when we discuss things.

the 2 peppers got put in the tabletop last 2 north end squares everything else is in the ground.

A looooong, but productive day in the garden today! Since I've never gardened before and didn't know a spinach or beet seedling from a weed seeding, I took Camprn's advice (Thanks Camprn!) and waited for everything to get at least two sets of leaves before weeding and thinning out. Great advice! I spent the day pulling out the "bad" stuff out of my six 4x4 boxes, fluffing up the mix in the empty squares, planting more seeds (radishes, lima beans, stringless bush beans, tenderpod bush beans, Jacob's Cattle beans, Yellow Pear tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, Mike's Wild Cherry tomatoes, Evergreen onions, watermelons, more spinach), and a few more transplants (ancho chili peppers, Cherokee Purple tomato, Beefsteak tomato, and Cherry pepper). I gave everything a little treat of worm castings, hoping my little babies will be happy and pay me back with great healthy growth!

Whew!! I know that waiting for the plants to grow a bit ended up creating a big weeding job for me, but now I know what to look for in new seedlings new weeds/grasses don't have a chance! I also know that with MM I won't have another big weeding job again - Yea!!! I did notice though that one of my boxes has quite a few ants, but I'll look on the forum to see what to do about that.

I did take a welcome break this afternoon to meet up at a local Panera with Glendale-Gardener and WolfHeart, a couple of other Cincinnati SFG'ers, for a transplant and seed exchange! I love the camaraderie and spirit of fellow SFG'ers! WolfHeart brought his family along too, and they were very patient with us as we rattled on and on about our plants, our mix, yadda, yadda!

A good days work! Everything in the SFG is looking good! I'm loving this!

I had a productive couple of days as well. We finally had 2 days in a row without rain and not 50 degrees!! I got most of my seedlings planted into my 3 3x6 beds and a couple of herb pots planted. I have a few more seedlings to put into pots and the pumpkin and melon ladders to put in, but I am feeling great to finally have my office free of plants! (my dh says maybe it will stop smelling like dirt in there now). If this weather holds, I hope to get my last 2 trellises installed tomorrow as well as the rest of my plantings.