Discussion Board

My peas are coming up, though I have some bare spots. I noticed radishes too. I think a saw a couple lettuce breaking through, if not it was a weed.

My tomatoes inside are starting to get leggy. I am wishing it was the first of May so I could be getting them out.

Hi Faith--how exciting that your garden is growing! Mine isn't even rototilled yet but will be soon. We are waiting for some decent weather. It has been raining a lot here, today we had a few sunshine peeks, hail, rain and snow. How is that for one days weather report?

My tomatoes are in the sunroom and really growing fast. I've already had to transplant some of them. I've also got rosemary and dill growing and need to plant them outside soon. And of course lots of seeds to plant.

Our two almond trees are absolutely beautiful with huge pink blooms--just covered with them! What a wonderful blessing this is.....

So we wait another month and then we are free to plant our whole garden! Can't wait!!!

LeeAnne, the almond trees sound beautiful.

We've got chard that overwintered; lots of nice small heads of romaine, red leaf, and butterhead; radiccio is just starting to form heads; arugula; parsley; white mint; the kale is on it's way out; and the cilantro is just big enough so I can start clipping some. The broccoli is haggard though .

We overplanted the peas because last year every single one was eaten. This year we have dozens climbing the fence already. The kiwis are bushing out. The fig tree already has tiny figs on it.

We'll put the spinach seeds out today.

Kiki--sounds like you are busy--what is white mint though? I've never heard of it.

Well today finally garden rototilled and we planted two rows of raspberry starts as well as our yukon gold and red pontiac potatoes. We also planted several rows of winter onions. Garlic is looking good after wintering so we will harvest that in a few months.

Faith, my tomatoes are starting to get leggy too and we have to wait an extra week than you--we don't dare put them out until May 10th around here. It isn't likely to frost after May 1 but there is that slight chance. I don't like to use tomato covers (I would forget about them completely) and so I'll just wait.

Also I've heard that it is actually better not to climatize your tomatoes--it has been discovered that even though they look bad for a few days, they actually end up producing more fruit! We will have to see if that works this year.

LeeAnne, peppermint comes in black and a white varieties, sometimes just referred to as black mint and white mint.

You ladies are brave with your tomatoes. Ours have just sprouted. We're always late with those, they seem so sensitive to even minor cold spells.

I live in North Alabama and we usually have our tomatoes planted by now. But, the weatherman is still saying we might have some frost. We had 29 degrees last week and frost. It has been rather chilly several days since. My tomato plants are getting huge and not been planted in the ground yet. I'm hoping by the 1st of May we can plant them or sooner.

Does anyone do companion planting? I read where tomatoes LOVE to be planted next to ROSES. Going to try that this year.

LeeAnn,
What do you mean by "climatize your tomatoes"? I've never heard of that saying.

Hi Chrmann--I was speaking about taking tomatoes out of the greenhouse to plant. I've always been told it is best to set them outside during the day to help them adjust to the outside. Then you bring them in during the night--doing this for only a day or two, then going ahead and planting them outside. But I've learned since that you can go ahead and just take your tomato plants and plant them outside and that it is better not to climatize them...I was told they will yield more fruit this way. So I'm going to try it this year.

With you living in Alabama, you may not have to worry about this at all anyway. I live in the Pacific NW area of the USA and it can get pretty cold here.

I have heard of companion planting but centered mostly on what NOT to plant next to--such as not planting your garden close to a black walnut tree, etc. I try to follow those rules but sometimes mess it up...

Thanks Kiki for explaining about the "black and white" mint. I've never heard of that. We have a lot of spearmint and peppermint that grows here wild. I didn't know they had other names as well. Very interesting!!

Your indoor grown plants need to adjust to the higher light levels (think sunburn for you), wind (a fan in the basement was my solution), uneven temperatures (the basement is much more even). It generally took me about ten days between the time I brought them outside and the time I put them in the ground. I had two cold frames and some green shade cloth to do the job. I could fit four flats in each one.

http://gardening.about.com/od/gettingst ... ng_Off.htm

LeAnne,

Yes, we still have to adjust our plants from the greenhouse or indoors to the outdoors for a few weeks before the plants are planted in the ground. Just because I live in Alabama does not mean I don't have cold weather. Usually, it is too cold to plant until around the 10th of April. For some reason, it was warmer this winter and colder right now. Our weather has been strange the last two years. Almost everything has been blooming early this year. We had 83 degree days in February and March. Usually it is between 25-45 degrees for a high. Now (April), it seams like it has turned colder with an occasional frost. I don't like weather like this!

I planted my tomatoes yesterday and found out the weatherman is now saying we might have frost again. GREAT!!! So, I put some plastic around the cages and will put a sheet over the top if I have to. And, I guess I will re-plant my tomatoes if I have to.

I have been gardening for 50 some odd years and the past 2 years have been strange.

My April turned into the March we didn't have since our March was more like April. It has been chilly with some low temps. We never plant tomatoes until mid May using Mother's day as a guide.

I have never heard not to climatize or as I call it 'hardening up' the plants. I have been bringing my plants out now for a couple weeks. I started hoping that maybe they'd look better. I am not sure what I did wrong this year the leaves are dropping, the leggy look, the leaves are small and the plant isn't thick. I used a fan for making them stronger too.

I think I'm going to transplant the larger plants into larger pots and give it a couple more weeks. If they aren't looking better, I may plant one or two but I'll purchase some.

I'm a bit worried because now the eggplant leaves are turning yellow and the peppers have dropped some leaves too. So whatever it is may be spreading

The cold has pretty well stopped all my progress. Nothing has grown and I'm still trying to get most of it to come up even.

We have now had 2 frosts since I planted my tomatoes. It is warm and then we have a frost. This has never happened before. I put a cage with plastic over them but it did no good. The plants turned "white". We had a frost yesterday and it is 83 degrees today. This is worrying me. All I can think about is "the seasons will be different" at the end of time. Everyone needs to be getting ready!

I bought some new plants to replace those that turned white. I put them in the greenhouse. It is too hot for them to be in the greenhouse and too windy for the plants to be outside. The wind has been horrible this year!

I've got lettuce and tomatoes. Also Collards and Asian Greens. And sugar snap peas. Sadly, my eggplant and peppers didn't come up. I bought cheap seeds for them. Big mistake.

I'm sorry about the frosts Chrmann--and forgive me for assuming Alabama is warm year-around. I lived there for a very short time through a partial winter and was amazed that they could garden with broccoli and other cool weather plants at Christmas time. I live in Washington State and it is too cold to grow anything (except garlic) in winter unless you have a greenhouse and heat it.

Anyway I didn't mean to assume anything about where you live and appreciate you setting me straight.

Faith--how is your garden coming? Have you planted your tomatoes yet? I have little green tomatoes on one of my plants which was exciting to see this morning. But they are still in the warm sunroom. Too cool to plant them outside yet. As weird as our weather has been I'm almost thinking of waiting a few more days before planting my tomatoes outside....like maybe after Mother's Day.

We did plant our potatoes and onions. We also planted a new raspberry row and our garlic is coming along nicely.

Since we have two bunnies at our house, I can't plant my broccoli until I can fence it in where they cannot reach it. Otherwise they will eat it clear down to the ground!! I know from exerience I need to protect it when I plant it. I hope to get to this tomorrow.

Funny with all the bunnies I see in our neighborhood, for some reason they don't attack my broccoli or really much of anything.

Things are moving very slow around here. It's like the whole garden was put on hold for April. My work garden looks great and it was planted later, but it is closer to the sun and surrounded by white marble. We are suppose to plant tomatoes on Mother's day but I think I will get them in this weekend. I'm worried to let them go much longer. The plants I started are not looking well at all. I am not sure why the tomatoes did so poorly but the eggplant and peppers did good.

I have this sinking feeling it isn't going to be the best year. Between the bugs they are predicting for us, and the odd start.

Faith, I'm in the same boat--I'm probably going to plant my tomatoes in the garden tomorrow, the 10th. One plant is so leggy and has quarter sized tomatoes on it. Of course I'll plant it pretty deep....

Ohhh I hope you're wrong about this being a different year--season. Last year was bad enough....

Anyway I did manage to get my carrots planted finally and my broccoli (with a trail of that horrible smelling rabbit stuff you recommended, around the plants) and the rabbits have stayed away thankfully! It might stink but it is worth it.

We've been having some warmer weather and it looks like it is here to stay for a while! Nice! I hope to get the rest of my garden planted. Green beans, zucchini and butternut squashes and corn. Yum!!!