Discussion Board

What is everyone planting in the gardens now?

I'm going to be planting potatoes this next week as well as onions and broccoli. Tomatoes go out in May as well as my winter squash.

I bought organic small pumpkin (the kind you use for pumpkin pie) seeds and noticed I can't plant them until the soil is pretty warm--70 degrees! So that will be waiting until June.

What do you already have in your gardens?

We've had a below average temperatures this spring. I did manage to get in some peas but it's late. I also have onions (walla walla sets and spring onions), radishes, lettuce and pac choi, broccoli and broccoli rabe. I put out yellow and red beet seeds and carrots and chard but not having luck with them sprouting. I am hoping this week maybe.

I started coleus, violas, lavender, basil, italian and curly parsley and stuck them out too. I have cilantro seeds down but no action yet.

Tomatoes go out mid May here too. I started this morning carrying them out to spend the day in the sun. They are tall and dropping leaves so I was afraid they may be root bound or not liking the light any more. So hoping maybe they'll survive an early planting.

Wow Faith--you are going to have a big garden this year. I have nothing planted in my actual garden yet except the garlic that has been there all winter.

Everything else is planted in the sunroom where they get the southern sunshine through glass windows. I even planted my squash which I usually don't do ahead of time like this.

But we've had a very cool Spring too. I'm SO anxious for some nice hot weather--and to get out in the dirt and play in my garden--can hardly wait!!

I hate it when seed doesn't come up--I've had this happen with planting stringbeans--patience is a virtue I've had to learn with gardening--stringbeans don't like to be planted too early.

We have farmers who commercially grow peas here. I'm not sure they've planted their fields yet--the peas grow so fast--but the weather has to be right...and right now we are getting a lot of rain. When it lets up, I'm sure the peas will be the first thing planted here.

I have some dropping leaves on my tomatoes too but they are the lowest ones. When I plant my tomatoes, they are planted pretty deep. I'll take off the lower leaves anyway.

I have a couple Early Girl's (they are already blooming-I'll have tomatoes as early as the middle of June) but I also have about 4 tomato plants that are heirloom seed--got the seed from a relative. The tomatoes are large, red and more meaty, less juice in them. Thought we'd try them this year for fun. My husband liked the taste of them.

Well I keep researching these poor tomato plants. Two will not be making it.

Finally peas are showing. I purchased a latch hood rug canvas to put over beans and peas so birds don't eat the seeds. What does folks think? I haven't tried it yet. I had memories of the birds eating away at my green beans last year as soon as the seed softened. I know to plant them for summer.

I am not sure my tomatoes will wait to be planted. They really need to get on out and let me see if they will survive.

I started:
corn (sweet corn all came up=40 plants)
orange peppers, green peppers (10 out of 30 came up)
bush beans ( 2 varieties, blue lakes are weak looking 25 plants up)
zucchini, yellow squash (4 out of 20 came up)
cucumbers (10 plants)
tomatoes (10 yellow about 20 other varieties)
zinnias
dwarf and giant sunflowers
I forget what else...I need some contaloupes

Now my challenge is to figure out where in the garden its best to grow these plants together. I don't have enough sun or space.

I'm composting and I was going to use leaves and or hay on the soil and plant the seedlings after mothers day, since that's supposed to be last frost cut off date.

Once I figure out the best planting configuration I can add some soil, put in my soaker hoses then cover the plantlings soil with hay and or leaves composted.

Do you think I need soil fabric if I use leaves or hay to compost the soil and cover it up?

I read about bending metal rods over your row of sprouts and covering with fabric to prevent critters. I'm new to this though and I have to worry about chipmunks and deer (and my dog who ate my prized tomato the size of two fists before I got to it). So I have plastic polls that I'll tie-up that screen material to to keep out deer but I don't have anything stiff to put along the bottom to keep out the chipmunks yet.

SB, when you say started, do you mean in the garden itself or in pots? Assuming you mean pots, I offer a few suggestions........

That which you started inside will need to be hardened off before you plant it in the garden. Do not just take it from inside and plant it outside, that's too much shock. For example, the light inside is nowhere near as strong as the sun, and the plants need to become accustomed to the stronger light.

The corn needs to be planted in a block, as it's wind pollinated. Do not plant in a long row, lest the wind be blowing in the "wrong" direction at pollination time.

Plant the squashes where you can inspect the bases of the plants periodically. Members of the cucurbit family are subject to attack by squash vine borers, and if you catch them promptly and remove the wormy guys from the stems and bury the injured stem with some soil, you can quite often save the plant.

BTW, there are many items on your list that you can direct seed quite easily. Corn, beans, squashes, cucumbers, zinnias and sunflowers all do well that way, you need not start them outside of the garden.

You don't have to plant everything at one time either. Succession planting guarantees continued harvests. Make sure you don't put warm weather crops out before the soil is warm enough.

Get out some good old fashioned graph paper and draw your garden. Then make some copies of it so you can try different plans. Seriously, it is very useful to do so. And, funny as it sounds, remember to leave room to bend over and work in the garden. I didn't the first time and was forever sitting on things, backing into things, creaming them with my shoes, and so forth. Plus it's lots easier on your body not to have to play contortionist to do what you need to do.

Read your seed packages to determine what needs the most sun and what can do with less.

The chipmunks never ate my stuff, they did excel at uprooting plenty of the flowers that I'd transplanted. They are good at burrowing beneath things, which heaves the soil up some. They loved the dill patch. As long as they basically left it alone, I didn't care.

You can buy hoops and row covers. Don't cover things that need pollinators though. The deer I can't address, as they weren't an issue in the suburbs.

Compost that is matured should be incorporated into the soil. If it is not fully decomposed, it may take nitrogen from the soil to complete its decomposition processes, which is not a good thing.

sounds like you are doing good. Just to let you know you are not alone, I find gardening always a learning experience, and so much is by trial and error.

My first year I ran a cheap fence around the perimeter of my garden. I was worried about rabbits. It was a huge paid to work around and pick. I even put some netting over the top thinking I'll bring it back for when I am inside. Only too many plants grew through the netting and made it impossible to pull back. I had to crawl around on the ground in between the row to pick. I missed a lot also.

Last year I left it open and use the deer/rabbit spray. That worked well. We got squirrels and chipmonks too, but they don't seem to bother it.

Thanks plumerias. You gave me a lot to think about.

I did plant them in pots and right now all but a few beans are on my back porch, which is only screened.

It is time to add some soil, turn the soil with fertilizer and then make that graph design of where things will be planted. I have limited sun exposure (7 hours) so I have to think what will get best sun in relation to all the others.

I do see the affects of the chipmunks in pots and the yard, turning the soil and they didn't bother the garden much last year. I think my silly veggy eating dog did the most damage.

I'll spend the money on that deer/critter spray then Faith, thanks

Faith, I didn't realize there was actually a rabbit spray. What company makes it--do you remember? I'm going to need to get some.

We have rabbits running wild around our place. Our dog keeps the deer away but the rabbits are faster than he is and they are quite bold.

Last year the rabbits ate my broccoli clear down to the ground!!! So irritated with those rascals....so this year I've got to do something different.

We have a sunroom so most of my plants are still there including my broccoli. It has been SO cold outside and I've been sick the last two weeks with a bad cold so that I didn't dare go out....but when I'm well and the weather warmer, I plan to get my potatoes in the ground, onions sets and broccoli. Can't plant tomatoes until it warms up more.

My husband and I built some frames (he built, I held whatever he told me to hold) to keep the critters out. I still have the pictures, my what a trip down memory lane, of these frames. If someone can give me idiot proof instructions on how to post them FROM MY COMPUTER FILES, not through flicker or something, I will gladly share the images and the directions. There were many, many frustrated cardinals unable to get to my peas. The rabbits, they never bothered anything in the garden, there was enough clover and stuff in the lawn to keep them happy. The chipmunks chewed through the netting.

I just heard of this stuff called Liquid Fence last year. I'm like 5 miles away from Washington DC and even MY Home Depot had it. Believe me, they don't carry a whole lot for gardens.

http://www.liquidfence.com/deer-repellent.html?gclid=CIjc_KXDzKgCFYjsKgodgEs7vQ

What I like, it's pay back to my neighbor. She has a pit bull and a akita and never scoops, and I suffer when the wind is going my way. This spray stinks so bad. I like to be sure and spray when her windows are open.

Bless you Faith!!

I just ordered 5 pounds of grandular "Liquid Fence" -- tomorrow is my day off from teaching and I'm going to be out in the garden all day!! I can hardly wait. Supposed to get up in the 70's!!!

I've already got green tomatoes on my plants the size of quarters and am itching to get them out in the garden but must wait until after the 10th--its getting close!!

Had to laugh about the pit bull payback....

Well it worked for me. Granted I am not out in the country, but my city deer which were in my garden (hoof prints) did stay away. I saw they came out with the granules. Let me know if it works. Sounds like it would even be better.

I'll let you know if it works or not...we do have rabbits--I've seen them. The granules are on their way--haven't received them yet.

Wouldn't you know it--Thursday the temps got up higher but there was a cold wind--didn't think about the wind chill factor....I managed to plant 25 hills of Yukon Gold potatoes but that is all. I'm getting over a cold and the wind was bothering my ears so thought it best to get back in the house....too bad.

Then today it is raining.

Only one more week of teaching and then I'm free except for two recitals coming up but I'll be SO thankful to be done for the summer. My students are ready for a break too.

Why is "School's Out for Summer" keep running through my head. Darn showing my age again

More planting time for you.

I had weeds up to my knees but got them all cleaned out, and tilled and racked and racked, and picked out weeds for four hours on Saturday. Then took a break, went grocery shopping. After getting back I put all the new manure and top soil in the garden and worked that in. Sunday I started planting, but didn't get much done around other chores.

My body is sore.