Garden 2014

I clipped down my old asparagus stalks today. It should be coming in soon.

My raised beds are looking pretty good after a years rest. I have some weeding to do but if I get on it now it shouldn't be too bad.

I've got ten lbs of seed potatoes ready, but aside from that I'm not sure what I'll plant this year. I'd like to do the rest of the garden in heirloom seed just for fun.

Anyone else getting started yet?

The potatoes I planted mid-February are growing like gangbusters. Must be all the rain we've had recently. The garlic I planted last fall should be ready soon. I've cleared, composted, and kept weeded the rest of my garden and was hoping either today or next weekend to get some seedlings from the nursery planted and be underway. I will likely go with my usual hot peppers (I make my own hot sauce) but I still have room for a few 'regular' garden vegetables. I haven't decided what that will be yet.

People who know what they're doing can garden year-round here. I'm still learning. Root vegetables are planted either in fall or mid-Feb, other vegetable are planted typically mid to late March.

Still a bit early for us to break ground up here. In the planning stage still.

Got my seeds early this year, no good. Usually still waiting for snow to melt off, then for the ground to dry out, not this year. Still in the mid 20F's here. Gophers are active though. Think I'll pass on tomatoes at my place, may plant some at my moms.
Duane

I am going to try growing potatoes in a barrel this yr. I prefer small potatoes so growing them this way ought to work.

I planted peas, lettuce, etc. this weekend, finally dry enough and late enough to plant those things. The gophers show some activity already.
Duane

Well, as usual, you're ahead of me. Are you using the soil amendments again this year?

I planted those potatoes a few days and have harvested a few bunches of asparagus already this past week, but we had some frost and freezing this past week too, so we're not good to go quite yet.

I've got two rows tilled and put weed barrier on them, but I have to get out there and knock down the weeds between them soon or they'll be knocking me down when I go out there

Bill, I had some of that manure mix stuff, not pure steer poo from last year that I tilled in. Hoping to catch some on sale again this year to save a few dollars. Easier on the back buying bags then shoveling the real thing. It froze last weekend too at my place in the Sierra, so lettuce and such will be fine when it comes up, will plant spuds in a few more weeks. I need to rig up some baskets to put in the ground where I'm going to plant them though, maybe I can keep the gophers from getting so many.
Duane

so far this is working out great. I have plants from 1" to 8" tall. I added more of the soil mixture (up to the bottom leaves) and will add more when they are another 6" tall

Peas, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, onions, potatoes are in. A few sprouts starting to show. Still have a few weeks before the frost sensitive seeds can be planted.

Hot peppers, peas, and eggplant (first time I'm trying eggplant) are all doing great. Potatoes and garlic should be ready in a month or so. There was one other thing I planted but I can't recall what it is at the moment. Must be old age kicking in but it looked great this morning. Oh, and the two tomato plants in the earth box on the porch are already taller than I am. OK that isn't saying much but still, the tomatoes are doing great too.

I also checked the blackberry bushes I planted a year or so ago. Its coming along. Maybe in a year or two I will finally have blackberries.

So we are still building at the lot and for some odd reason the garden going in didn't get priority over roof and windows

However, I found out recently you can rent plots here at the University campus where I work. So I have gotten the rental rights for two 4*12 feet plots and I get to pick them out on Monday. Things are still pretty frozen, but we are a !month! ahead of where we were last year.

I'm hoping to plant green beans, garlic, horseradish, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, romanesco (neither a broccoli or a cauliflower but a relative), cucumber, kale, leeks, a lot of lettuce, onions, peas, potatoes, zucchini, tomatillo, strawberries, some tomatoes for making tomatoe soup and some medicinal herbs...

I'm not sure how I'm going to fit all that in those two plots.

well in a few days the plants grew another 6" so more soil was added. I will try to take a picture and post it this evening

Heather, I intercrop many of my plants to maximize use of space and time. For example, I have lettuce intercropped with onions. I will plant my peppers and tomatoes into my garlic beds. When the garlic is ready to come out, the tomatoes/peppers are beginning to need the extra space. I also put plants quite close together which minimizes weeds. I use a very bio-intensive system. Still learning too. It's fun.

I googled campanion planting and have a list of dos and don'ts.

I picked out my plots today and while the soil is cold it is dry. I'll put some plastic on it later this week to help warm it up AND the forcast is for 70F by the end of the week, which is rather shocking for this time of year. Of course we'll prob. get a snow storm in June

I also got tube hoops for the plots and so I need to get something to drap over it. Haven't decided if plastic or fabric yet.

I just got in from working in the garden. I finally got some maters in, and some broccoli. Got some more dirt, compost, and mulch on my potatoes again too. I got the dirt out of the swales between the raised beds. The worms have really done their part breaking down the mulch I've been piling up in the them. I really need to re-dig the swales again and put planks on the sides of the raised beds now. I could probably start a couple more bed now with all the good dirt the worms have made for me.

The potatoes are looking really good this year. Still have to compost and mulch the tomatoes and broccoli though. This week is forecast to be about perfect so I'm going to spend as much time outside working as I can. I need the sun and exercise and really need the time away from the computer. I'll post some photos when I'm done.

Me too! My 'maters were just put in as well. The 'taters are also doing very well, just hilled them up more today. Peas, lettuce, onions are coming in nicely.

I need to consult the almanac, hope to plant corn in a week. Potatoes are just tidbits for now for the gophers, hopefully my tactics his year will work. Beans in two weeks.
Duane

I should have my first cucumber this week. I dug up a few potatoes last weekend and will probably dig a few more this coming weekend along with some garlic. I picked a single pea pod after work today but they need a little more time still. Some of the banana peppers with be ready soon and there are little green tomatoes in the Earthbox on the porch.

I'm midway through planting- beans, peas seeds and such planted. A little bit late on my part, but not too bad. I'll pick up plants tonight hopefully and plant them in and cover them over with a hoop tomorrow.

blackberry on trellis


blackberry close up


cucumber with eggplant on the left


garlic


about 8-9 pounds of potatoes with half left to dig up yet. Counting what I dug up last week the 8 foot square plot produced close to 20 pounds. I have no idea if that's a good yield or not. Maybe someone can tell me.


Earthbox tomatoes on porch. One Earthbox, two tomato plants.

Not shown are the peas and peppers. The peas aren't doing so well though. Banana peppers should be ready soon, jalapeno and Caribbean habanero are growing OK but not producing.

Does anyone know how to save garlic and potatoes for seed? From what I gather its let them dry unwashed for a day or so in the sun, then store in cool dark place. I have several sitting on the front porch railing and then I thought I would put them in individual paper bags (like lunch bags) and store in the crisper in the fridge. Will this work?

According to the Farmers Almanac, I should be able to plant corn and beans this coming weekend, rain and the moon in the wrong phase has set my time table back to late May. Spuds are poking out of the ground, put the first strand of twine up for the peas. A hectic Spring with family stuff and squeezing in a motorcycle trip once a month, then doing some remodeling in my mobile home.
I usually forget that potatoes shouldn't be washed if saving, I put them in the crisper in the fridge, good for months, short sprouts about the time I need to plant. Garlic hang in a cool, dry place as far as I know.
Duane

Wow Perry, that looks great!

I still haven't got as much done on mine as I've wanted, but I will get to it soon

Corn and beans are coming up, very nice stand at the moment. Gophers have only gotten a few potatoes and some of my peas. Sunflowers are a few inches to over a foot high.
Duane

I buy organic potatoes for seed. I store them in the plastic bag in a dark place and after a couple weeks, they are ready to plant. Non-organic potatoes will work, but they take much longer to sprout.

You can also plant potatoes in the late fall and they will come up when they are ready. I have potatoes coming up in my front lawn 4 years after planting them. Unfortunately, the HOA didn't like the idea of a garden in the front lawn.

It looks like you are harvesting your potatoes too early. They don't start to develop well until they have flowers and then berries. I think 20 pounds is a good yield. You can get more by planting as deep as you can and then adding dirt as they grow. Some people put straw on top and they will grow under the straw.

I got my potatoes up and I'm getting some tomatoes now. I planted both late so the potatoes are mostly small, but delicious all the same.

The tomatoes are small too, and they're shelf ripened because if I let them ripen on the vine, or even get too big, the bugs get them. They are delicious though, and some purple heirlooms that I planted are especially tasty.

Got another nice batch of Shittakes again this week, at least 10lbs. On a whim I went down back in the forest to check them and they were just perfect for picking. Can't believe I caught them because it really was a whim.

And I planted some seeds this week for a late crop. I put in some cabbage but I have no idea how that will do, and some radishes and other stuff. We'll see what it does.

Good to hear everyone enjoying the "fruits" of their labor. I was away for a little over two weeks so I came home to a weed -infested garden. Cleanup ensued. Also noticed my beans had been destroyed by the deer. Potatoes were starting to die off right before I left. Plants gone now, dug up some nice looking taters. Like Bill, mostly small, but a few decent sized ones. Carrots are still doing well. My onions and garlic did well. I have a few cabbage plants which are looking ok still. Tomato plants looked good right before I left, I don't know what happened to them as they look really sick now.

Everything has been slow developing, at least by me. Finally got a few tomatoes last week and a couple cucumbers. Only one Zucchini on the vine when there's usually 6 or more at this time of year and the onions look small.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with having snow in the garden until the mid April...


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