Gardening - Vegetables, Fruits, or Flowers

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I am wrapping up the season by digging up the rest of my carrots. It’s going to get cold here in a hurry. My tomato plants were starting to look brown and tired. What a bountiful harvest this year!

Wow, I've never succeeded like that with carrots. I'm about to plant garlic....

[RpR]

18 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I am wrapping up the season by digging up the rest of my carrots. It’s going to get cold here in a hurry. My tomato plants were starting to look brown and tired. What a bountiful harvest this year!

 

Despite extreme drought up here extremely good garden this year.

Cucumber, which I have never had good fortune with just keep producing so many I cannot even give them away any more.

Carrots , despite being an after thought, produced beyond expectation , except where they washed down among corn stalks.

Still picking chiles and tomatoes but as again, too many and the freezer is full.

Potatoes not near what I ususally get but then I always got more than we could eat, so not such a bad thing.

Because Dad always planted marigolds and zinnias I decided to do so this year, beautiful array of both 2ft to 4 ft high along the garden fence.

Good year now I will finally start to pull more stuff up and bury some of the debris.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

Despite extreme drought up here extremely good garden this year.

Cucumber, which I have never had good fortune with just keep producing so many I cannot even give them away any more.

Carrots , despite being an after thought, produced beyond expectation , except where they washed down among corn stalks.

Still picking chiles and tomatoes but as again, too many and the freezer is full.

Potatoes not near what I ususally get but then I always got more than we could eat, so not such a bad thing.

Because Dad always planted marigolds and zinnias I decided to do so this year, beautiful array of both 2ft to 4 ft high along the garden fence.

Good year now I will finally start to pull more stuff up and bury some of the debris.

I was that way with tomatoes… After the 2 volunteer cherry tomato plants blossomed, I could not keep up with picking and eating them. Plus the other 3 tomato plants that I planted myself. I’ve been donating them or giving them away for the last 6 weeks. 

Depending on if we go through all of the stewed tomatoes that we canned earlier this year, I’ll cut back on the tomatoes next year. I wish I planted another row of onions. 

[Vanimal46]

 

I’m getting excited to plant! We’ve had a lot of rain recently but the weather is supposed to be great on Sunday. I’m planning on at least tilling the ground and taking out as many thistle weeds as I can. Those buggers are sprouting like crazy at the moment. 

I’m thinking I’ll do another Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato plant, beefsteak tomato plant (I want a lot more salsa this season), 2 rows of white onion, jalapeno pepper plant, bell pepper plant, and a few rows that will change over the season (romaine, radishes, peas)

What’s on your planting list this year? @Mike Sixel @davidborton @RpR @gunnarthor

[Mike Sixel]

My peas just started to flower, I planted them very early and may so a second planting. I have garlic and onions planted. I have spinach, kale and parsley I need to plant. My poor neighbors and wife have to do some watering, as I'll be in Denver and Minneapolis for much of the month. I'm also expanding the raised beds and will plant tomatoes and potatoes....

[Dave Borton]

I, on the other hand, will have no garden. 🥲

We just bought a condo (very, very happy with purchase) and my gardening will be a 8x9 patio on the 4th Floor. Pots, SE sun.

Someone will inherit the 20x20 garden which I transformed 11 years ago from a petro chemical dependent space into an organic garden teeming with life. Every year I plant winter rye in fall, sickle and turn the rye under in spring. (Last fall I added daikon radish seeding to the charcuterie board). 

Worms live again!

Last fall planted 70 garlic and they look wonderful. Will work with lettuce arrangement of the patio along with some other planters which can bring greenery into the home in fall. Lots of planning to do with it but for now, head is spinning with figures, documents to sign, planning for clearing out home and getting it staged and listed.

Will also check out community gardens in that 4 buds and I have growing competition every year. This year it is pumpkins, which we need to process and then prepare pumpkin pie. Our spouses will be the judges to determine which of us smack talkers walks with the golden trowel this year.

Garden on folks, DB

[Dave Borton]

Folks within community distance driving -- make sure to check out the varieties of peppers and tomatoes at Hugo Feed Mill.

 

400 varieties of peppers: https://www.hugofeedmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024_MasterPepperList.pdf

125 tomato varieties : https://www.hugofeedmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024_MasterPepperList.pdf

https://www.hugofeedmill.com/the-evangelist-of-peppers-hugo-man-puts-premium-on-peppers/

 

[RpR]

In mid-Minn. I thought I might get a garden in early, corn , but hard freeze , single digits, ended that thought.

It did warm up again, and I thought I still might beat the norm by two to three weeks but now it is rain, or peeing, every other day darn near so getting the garden tilled is on hold.

We needed the rain badly, so I am not complaining but I have not yeat uncovered the roses which is usually done in April.  I put the leaves from the roses on top of the planted potatoes for mulch.

This year rather than handling a fairly large amount of leaves twice, I was going to go straight from rose bed to garden bed but I have zero love to plant potatoes in a muddly slop..  Did that once and have zero urge to do it again. -- (I plant potatoes deep 8 to 14 inches so I move a lot of dirt.)

I generally do not want to get potatoes in before May Day as that means they get ripe early which means they end up being stored longer and I end up with a lot of heavily sprouting potatoes in the basement a month before planting time. -- I used to plant carry over potatoes as small as one-half a man's thumb , as I hated tossing potatoes in the compost bin, but now I often toss several dozen.

I have with few exceptions quit cutting potatoes for planting, unless they are bigger than a baseball, I toss the whole potato in the hole.

[RpR]

13 minutes ago, davidborton said:

Folks within community distance driving -- make sure to check out the varieties of peppers and tomatoes at Hugo Feed Mill.

 

400 varieties of peppers: https://www.hugofeedmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024_MasterPepperList.pdf

125 tomato varieties : https://www.hugofeedmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024_MasterPepperList.pdf

https://www.hugofeedmill.com/the-evangelist-of-peppers-hugo-man-puts-premium-on-peppers/

 

Thank you, I have heard of this place often but never think of it till garden is full.   This year I am taking a trip down there and have look see.

[Mike Sixel]

Kale, parsley and spinach in the ground..... Just in time for cool, rainy, weather

[Mike Sixel]

On a non food front, we dug up the weed patch that was part of our front yard, and replaced it with flowers and some empty space. So far, so good, as the tulips were lovely. 

[Dave Borton]

13 hours ago, davidborton said:

I, on the other hand, will have no garden. 🥲

We just bought a condo (very, very happy with purchase) and my gardening will be a 8x9 patio on the 4th Floor. Pots, SE sun.
 

We are moving to St Anthony Village. Did some scrubbing online and they have a community garden. I requested a plot last nite and we will see if they have been all gobbled up. Might get in some later planting in it this year and will just put in some short maturity sweet corn and tight maturity tomatoes.

 

 

[Vanimal46]

Let the fun begin!

- Roma, Cherokee Purple, and San Marzano tomatoes

- Row of carrots

- 3 rows of white onion 

- Green and Red Bell Peppers and Jalapeño 

- 2 romaine, rosemary, basil, and a half row of radishes for my dad  

 

[ashbury]

Eagerly waiting for our crop of sagebrush to sprout.

[gunnarthor]

I splurged this year and bought a little gas powered rototiller. Works like a charm. :-)

[Dave Borton]

On 5/4/2024 at 9:37 AM, davidborton said:

We are moving to St Anthony Village condo, garden gone...

Tears flow. I worked 11 years to transform a 'dead zone' (former owner just poured on the synthetic chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides). I garden organically, adding cover crops in Fall (field beans, winter grains, daikon radishes. Sickled in Spring and turned under).

Community gardens are all booked in St Anthony Village. <Sighs>.

Plan. Each year 5 of us compete for our "Golden Trowel." (Past efforts have been tomatoes, sugar beets, yellow cakes, green peppers, etc).

One bud is on the faculty at the Ag School at the University. He is giving me some space on the grounds at the U (shhhhh!). This years competition is pumpkins (1st phase/without prize). Prize goes to the guy who makes the best pumpkin pie in the Fall, as judged by our spouses.

Fun and a ton of smack talk all year and bragging rights to the gent who delivers that prize winning pie. Wish me luck.
 

[Vanimal46]

All of the rain we’ve been getting has been so good for my garden! The weeds have been sprouting like crazy too. Yesterday I filled a wheelbarrow full of weeds from my plot. 

Romaine lettuce and radishes will be picked in the next couple of weeks!

[Mike Sixel]

Put green beans and tomatoes in the ground today. Have two random potato plants coming. Harvesting peas like crazy. Need some wood to expand the raised beds so I can plant the zucchini.... We also did a lot of flowers this weekend. 

[RpR]

On 5/16/2024 at 12:40 PM, gunnarthor said:

I splurged this year and bought a little gas powered rototiller. Works like a charm. :-)

How little?

Forgive me -  LOL - my neighbor in my home town was breaking ground for a new garden with one of those little roto-tiller designed really for cultivating and not much more and spent as much time scratching at the ground as it took me to do one half of a garden eight times larger than her patch.

Now I considered offering to do it for her, but last winter, for he first time ever, turned my 70 year old garden was hard, very hard, even where I had dug potatoes in he fall.  It took me twice the time to till it from the norm, all most three hours, SO, I just figured the wear and tear on my machine, plus gasoline, was not worth being a good neighbor -- maybe next year.

I took the trip down to Hugo, and was amazed at the huge number of Chile and Tomato plans they had for sale.  For what is left of blood family and friends, I could supply a summer worth of Chiles and Tomatos with four of each but as they had a huge variety I bought a dozen of each -- (any one want some tomatoes or chiles this summer/ fall?)

They look good , at this point, very good .  Oddly corn I planted three weeks ago, new seed from major companies not one single plant came up so now I have to totally replant; I am a bit worried as several years back, I bough new seed from a well known seller and had a similar result even after replanting.🤬

[gunnarthor]

3 hours ago, RpR said:

How little?

Forgive me -  LOL - my neighbor in my home town was breaking ground for a new garden with one of those little roto-tiller designed really for cultivating and not much more and spent as much time scratching at the ground as it took me to do one half of a garden eight times larger than her patch.

Now I considered offering to do it for her, but last winter, for he first time ever, turned my 70 year old garden hard, very hard, even where I had dug potatoes in he fall.  It took me twice the time to till it from the norm, SO, I just figured the wear and tear on my machine, plus gasoline, was not worth being a good neighbor -- maybe next year.

I took the trip down to Hugo, and was amazed at the huge number of Chile and Tomato plans they had for sale.  For what is left of blood family and friends, I could supply a summer worth of Chiles and Tomatos with four of each but as they had a huge variety I bought a dozen of each -- (any one want some tomatoes or chiles this summer/ fall?)

They look good , at this point, very good .  Oddly corn I planted three weeks ago, new seed from major companies not one single plant came up so now I have to totally replant; I am a bit worried as several years back, I bough new seed from a well known seller and had a similar result even after replanting.🤬

This is what I bought. https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/augers-tillers-compactors/tazz-reg-33cc-front-tine-gas-cultivator/35351/p-1642874301245030-c-10106.htm?exp=false

It did a good job and there are some videos on line that show what it can do. I already had a garden space so I didn't need to go crazy but I had some maple tree saplings and tons of green onions plus some other unwanted flowers that had escaped their spot in the garden the the Tazz took care of it all just fine. Not sure if it'd carve up a new garden spot but it certainly can take care of weeds and small roots.

[RpR]

40 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

This is what I bought. https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/augers-tillers-compactors/tazz-reg-33cc-front-tine-gas-cultivator/35351/p-1642874301245030-c-10106.htm?exp=false

It did a good job and there are some videos on line that show what it can do. I already had a garden space so I didn't need to go crazy but I had some maple tree saplings and tons of green onions plus some other unwanted flowers that had escaped their spot in the garden the the Tazz took care of it all just fine. Not sure if it'd carve up a new garden spot but it certainly can take care of weeds and small roots.

That is similar to what she had; mine goes down  eight inches so I truly roto-till the garden.

If it works for you then that is all you need, happy gardening.

[Mike Sixel]

We can't eat the peas fast enough, and I anticipate my grape vine will make more grapes that we and our neighbors can eat. I'm a bit worried my tomatoes have flowers already, might pinch them off, as they aren't that big yet (though they'll be massive in a month or so, so whatever). The onions are starting to get big enough to really use, and we have two random potato plants again this year. The beans and basil look good, the zucchini not so much yet. We are trying to restart our rosemary, as the main plant needs to be dug up, but so far the starts aren't working great.....

[Vanimal46]

Started harvesting the romaine! Radishes still need another week or two to grow. 

[RpR]

Spent the last two week squishing potato beetles and smooshing their eggs.

One thing good about every thing being a month early, the PB showed up when the potatoes were just coming out of the mulch so are easy to see, verses the green jungle the potatoes have become when they show up other  years and finding them and their eggs is a true hemorrhoid.

The seem to be oblivious to insect killer dusting as it has never worked for me.

[Original_JB]

We have a ton of flower gardens and  we started letting the milkweeds that popped up from time to time grow. So about 5 years ago we started growing Monarchs.

[Mike Sixel]

We couldn't pick all our peas "in time"....so they are a bit big and not great (esp the pods), so I'll be picking them tomorrow and shelling them to make soup or somesuch.....

I really should figure out how I'm supposed to grow onions, as most of them are above ground now. Do I cover them like potatoes?

[RpR]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

We couldn't pick all our peas "in time"....so they are a bit big and not great (esp the pods), so I'll be picking them tomorrow and shelling them to make soup or somesuch.....

I really should figure out how I'm supposed to grow onions, as most of them are above ground now. Do I cover them like potatoes?

NO.

Onions do best with as little dirt covering the onion bulb as possible.

They do OK with the bulb mostly covered but you will get larger onion if the bulb is only one-half covered.

They do best with a lot of water and fertilizer but do not do well in weedy or croweded situationl

[Vanimal46]

Onions and carrots are close to 3 feet tall now. Tons of tomatoes on the vine, decent sized jalapenos, and some bell peppers are just starting!

[Vanimal46]

 

RIP Roma tomato plant. 2 weeks ago you were thriving and now you will be lucky to give 15 tomatoes worth eating. The other 2 tomato plants next to it are thriving, but the dead Roma puts a damper in my homemade salsa plans. 

[Mike Sixel]

Ate some green beans from the garden, and kale and onions, parsley, basil. A couple sweet tomatoes.

The beans do not like 100 degree weather.... But the tomatoes and basil look great. 

The random potato plants aren't growing much, but we'll have enough grapes to feed the neighborhood.