Garden 2024!

[UrbanHunter]

Just got off work, I hope to plant some okra in starter cups tonight. The outdoor garden is doing well, and I have an abundance of bees! All kinds of bees, I have seen at least 2 types of honey bees, carpenter bees, and an assortment of hornets and wasps. I guess my house has a abundance of flowers and because it's early in the season I think they are all honing in on me. The only problem I see is that some are trying to get in the house, I think they can smell my cucumbers!

The critter that digs up my cabbage seems to be avoiding the have-a-heart trap, that's okay, I have a couple of old, don't-give-a-darn rat traps that are a little less pleasant.

 

[DWinCO]

I am drooling over that greenhouse...wow!

 

[Neb]

That was my last picture of 2000-2500 onions and leaks. They were attacked by some tiny critter. Maybe aphids. Two days after I first noticed an issue 90% are dead and the still alive ones are covered tiny bugs. I moved them outside aling with a few Brussels sprouts.

The good news is I will save a lot of time planting and weeding them this year.

I did order diatomaceous earth that is due tomorrow.

Ben

 

[Pearl]

I am drooling over that greenhouse...wow!

Glad to see you here, stick around

 

[Snowman]

Not much dif in Me yard today but that pic(.006) in Post # 533 Should bee Open in the AM...!!! Gotta a Feeling it's gonna bee grrrrrrrrr8...!! Til then, Good Night All, Wishing a Restful and Safe Sleep for All here...!

 

[Snowman]

Well, the AM just got finished here :

Click #002 to view the whole thing and #3 is it's Neighbor here in the hood...!!!

 

[Snowman]

One Red Raspberry Bush finally has a Bud :

Apples are appearing...

 

[Snowman]

In Me Entrance Way...

 

[Snowman]

Marigolds finally planted by Rose Bushes to deter those pesky aphids...

Lilacs are inside those metal frames..

 

[Snowman]

3 Royal Poincianas... 1 Yellow One(Delonix Regla).. and a Popper Upper.

 

[Snowman]

Update on Post # 546 :

 

[Snowman]

Couple more New Ones :

 

[UrbanHunter]

Questions about gardening and your calendar? I am terrible about starting plants too early. It occurred to me that I should be putting appointments on my e-mail calendar to remind me when I should be starting specific plants indoors or when I can safely move them outdoors, spring and fall plants are my biggest issue, but I can see where getting crops started for the over the winter season could be something to consider too. Does anyone have a good system that works for them?

 

[joel]

Questions about gardening and your calendar? I am terrible about starting plants too early. It occurred to me that I should be putting appointments on my e-mail calendar to remind me when I should be starting specific plants indoors or when I can safely move them outdoors, spring and fall plants are my biggest issue, but I can see where getting crops started for the over the winter season could be something to consider too. Does anyone have a good system that works for them?

Or you could use the two quart peat pots & be the first one to have vegetable from your garden.

 

[Bacpacker]

Questions about gardening and your calendar? I am terrible about starting plants too early. It occurred to me that I should be putting appointments on my e-mail calendar to remind me when I should be starting specific plants indoors or when I can safely move them outdoors, spring and fall plants are my biggest issue, but I can see where getting crops started for the over the winter season could be something to consider too. Does anyone have a good system that works for them?

I use my Blums farmers almanac. It has several sections on dates for various regions, timing for planting, moon and signs. I find them very useful and keep multiple pages tagged for quick reference and use it several times a month.
I use it in conjunction with my garden journal to try and track stuff. I'm gonna try and be more consistent with logging info this year.

 

[Weedygarden]

Those 2 Hibiscus are supposed to

View attachment 128196

Attract 's and View attachment 128197

I thought that was Rose of Sharon? Neighbors have one on our property line and I have to keep cutting it back on my side to allow sunlight for other things.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I use my Blums farmers almanac. It has several sections on dates for various regions, timing for planting, moon and signs. I find them very useful and keep multiple pages tagged for quick reference and use it several times a month.
I use it in conjunction with my garden journal to try and track stuff. I'm gonna try and be more consistent with logging info this year.

That might be worth investing in for next year... little late for this year..

 

[Snowman]

I thought that was Rose of Sharon? Neighbors have one on our property line and I have to keep cutting it back on my side to allow sunlight for other things.

You are Not Alone in that Reasoning, I always Thought it was the Bluish Ones til I got Edumacated...

"Rose of Sharon is easy to grow, even for beginning gardeners. Hardy in USDA zones 5-9, rose of Sharon bushes are tolerant of a wide range of conditions, including poor soil, heat, humidity, drought and air pollution.

Flower colors include white, red, pink, lavender, blue and bicolors, with single or double forms. Plants have a graceful vase-shaped habit, with small attractive green leaves that are toothed, with no significant fall color."

https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/how-plant/rose-sharon

Many Pics :

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=Rose+of+Sharon&atb=v404-1&iax=images&ia=images

Always Thought that Name was reserved for the One in the 3rd pic...?!?

 

[Bacpacker]

That might be worth investing in for next year... little late for this year..

Not too late. Its good thru December. Maybe a month or 2 in mext year. I know for sure they cover November and December plus the current year

 

[old tex]

My little container garden update:
I guess that I bought about 20 plants. One death & the rest seem to be thriving. I generally water them in the dark & today I was showing them to my neighbor. Noticed that I have 2 tomato's on one plant & a couple of hot peppers on another. And flowers & buds everywhere. Fingers crossed that I can protect them from the heat when it starts & I might actually have a mini crop!

 

[Peanut]

Trip to town, went by the nursery. I got all the pepper plants i wanted except bell peppers, they were out. But i got tabasco, cayenne and jalapeno. Got some Basil and cilantro plants too. Got dad some roma tomatoes and some kind of purple heirloom tomato plants. Something different, worth a try.

Stopped and got 3lbs of mississippi, pinkeye purple hull pea seed. Got a couple ounces of green okra seed. I have texas red okra seed saved from last year.

 

[joel]

I thought that was Rose of Sharon? Neighbors have one on our property line and I have to keep cutting it back on my side to allow sunlight for other things.

Rose of Sharon is in Hibiscus family

 

[LadyLocust]

@UrbanHunter This is what I do, but I don’t think there is any single system that works for everyone. I do free printable pages the beginning of the year and sit and write the signs and notes (or attach them). This year I put a star by good planting signs. I pull the seeds I want to plant soon and put them next to the calendar. Then when I plant, I put the “map” on the back. I like to see it on paper. This looks messy but it works for me. I’m showing you last year’s because there’s not a lot on this year’s yet.

 

[UrbanHunter]

@UrbanHunter This is what I do, but I don’t think there is any single system that works for everyone. I do free printable pages the beginning of the year and sit and write the signs and notes (or attach them). This year I put a star by good planting signs. I pull the seeds I want to plant soon and put them next to the calendar. Then when I plant, I put the “map” on the back. I like to see it on paper. This looks messy but it works for me. I’m showing you last year’s because there’s not a lot on this year’s yet.
View attachment 128360View attachment 128361

I like your approach, I used to use maps and a spreadsheet to plan things out. With my new growing system I am faced with a new problem, I am using an un-bordered square foot approach and have plants in 3 stages going all the time (just planted seedlings, re-potted plants up to about a 6" pot, and plants maturing in the garden for harvest). As a result I am constantly rotating things. I seldom leave any space unplanted for a week Normally, I harvest, ammend, and replant on the same day. I have 4 growing station shelves, each has 4 starter trays, no more than 36 seedlings per tray. 6 of the starter trays are the final home for indoor tomatoes, cucumbers, laurel bushes, and herbs. The laurel bushes are now about 4 years old, but every year I pull them up, trim them back and repot them. The tomatoes only last about 18 months before they quit producing. The biggest problem with the tomatoes is finding the proper seeds for replacement plants. This is the first year that I have been able to get fruit off indoor cucumbers but I don't know how long the plants will hold up....

I have learned the hard way that some plants are very sensitive to things like nightly lows, or mid-day highs. For example; if I put okra plants outside before the end of May the cool nights here will really set them back. Spinach on the other hand doesn't like the mid-summer heat... We have so many insects that love my squash plants that I can usually only make a few harvests before the plants fail. Last year I did staggered planting of nearly mature plants (grown indoors), by moving the plants around I was able to get continuous harvests until frost killed the plants. I would love to figure out a variety that didn't need a pollinator that I could grow long term in one of the growing stations.

This year I am trying to add a pair of elevated outdoor growing stations (shelves) where I can bring plants in 6" pots to harvest. Each shelf should be able to hold about 18 pots with lettuce and such. With the growing stations, watering becomes an issue, if I start traveling again it can be a week or so before I can check in on the plants, they just can deal with that in the summer....

My San Marzano Tomatoes (for canning) are about a foot high, I hope to have their beds ready by the first weekend in May, until then they are in starter trays sitting on my battery box in the greenhouse (enclosed walk out basement). In the past I have moved them outside too early and they just floundered.

My outdoor garden is very small(postage stamp), less than 300 sq-feet of growing space (not counting walkways). Much of my garden is in raised beds, containers, or tubs (storage containers with broken lids). This year I have 3 tubs and one raised bed with potatoes (these are all the high end plants, you know the ones that just sprout while waiting to be cooked).

Every gardener has unique objectives, my objective is that I want to have a steady supply of salad makings, a few crops for cooking and canning, and a few experimental plants for variety. I don't want to waste anything, so getting consistent small harvests are the key. My goal is to have 9+ months of harvestable growing season every year. This is a relative ambitus goal as the typical time between the last frost and the first frost is 7 months. This means that I need to be able to grow things for at least an extra month on each end of the growing season when frost is an issue...

 

[LadyLocust]

I like your approach, I used to use maps and a spreadsheet to plan things out. With my new growing system I am faced with a new problem, I am using an un-bordered square foot approach and have plants in 3 stages going all the time (just planted seedlings, re-potted plants up to about a 6" pot, and plants maturing in the garden for harvest). As a result I am constantly rotating things. I seldom leave any space unplanted for a week Normally, I harvest, ammend, and replant on the same day. I have 4 growing station shelves, each has 4 starter trays, no more than 36 seedlings per tray. 6 of the starter trays are the final home for indoor tomatoes, cucumbers, laurel bushes, and herbs. The laurel bushes are now about 4 years old, but every year I pull them up, trim them back and repot them. The tomatoes only last about 18 months before they quit producing. The biggest problem with the tomatoes is finding the proper seeds for replacement plants. This is the first year that I have been able to get fruit off indoor cucumbers but I don't know how long the plants will hold up....

I have learned the hard way that some plants are very sensitive to things like nightly lows, or mid-day highs. For example; if I put okra plants outside before the end of May the cool nights here will really set them back. Spinach on the other hand doesn't like the mid-summer heat... We have so many insects that love my squash plants that I can usually only make a few harvests before the plants fail. Last year I did staggered planting of nearly mature plants (grown indoors), by moving the plants around I was able to get continuous harvests until frost killed the plants. I would love to figure out a variety that didn't need a pollinator that I could grow long term in one of the growing stations.

This year I am trying to add a pair of elevated outdoor growing stations (shelves) where I can bring plants in 6" pots to harvest. Each shelf should be able to hold about 18 pots with lettuce and such. With the growing stations, watering becomes an issue, if I start traveling again it can be a week or so before I can check in on the plants, they just can deal with that in the summer....

My San Marzano Tomatoes (for canning) are about a foot high, I hope to have their beds ready by the first weekend in May, until then they are in starter trays sitting on my battery box in the greenhouse (enclosed walk out basement). In the past I have moved them outside too early and they just floundered.

My outdoor garden is very small(postage stamp), less than 300 sq-feet of growing space (not counting walkways). Much of my garden is in raised beds, containers, or tubs (storage containers with broken lids). This year I have 3 tubs and one raised bed with potatoes (these are all the high end plants, you know the ones that just sprout while waiting to be cooked).

Every gardener has unique objectives, my objective is that I want to have a steady supply of salad makings, a few crops for cooking and canning, and a few experimental plants for variety. I don't want to waste anything, so getting consistent small harvests are the key. My goal is to have 9+ months of harvestable growing season every year. This is a relative ambitus goal as the typical time between the last frost and the first frost is 7 months. This means that I need to be able to grow things for at least an extra month on each end of the growing season when frost is an issue...

So fair warning this is how my mind works. I would have to have columns- from the sounds of it quite a few . I would put the name of what is planted at the top (san mar for example). I would probably use a color coding system. In blue ink, under the name in the column, I would write planted and the date, then sprouted and the date then uppotted and the date etc. Once they are of a mature size and you plant them out switch to green ink and you can log that event and harvest amounts as they produce all in green. Once they have peaked, switch to red to continue. This way you will know what phase the plant is in and know you will need to get more going. It would take a few pages and be continuous so continue to fill pages as your garden grows on and on.
Anyhow, that’s what came to my mind as I was reading your post. You might not like it- that’s okay. I hope it might help you think of ideas anyway.

 

[Snowman]

pics .001 + .002 in post #546 has a Twin :

 

[Peanut]

First pic... Yesterday I posted i bought cilantro plants. Today i went down the road for lunch, came home, got out of my truck, took one step and looked down. I have cilantro growing where i park!!! Came up volunteer...

Bottom pic... last year the county did work on this gravel road. Completely reworked the shoulders. There was some big elderberry growing there. Today there are literally 1000's of elderberry sprouts beside the road. As far as i could see in both directions and on both sides of the road! A few years ago i transplanted sprouts in May that i found growing just like these after road work, about 50% lived.

If you need elderberry now is the time to get sprouts!

 

[Snowman]

Elderberries, They Good for the Body...!!!

"There are about 30 types of elder plants and trees around the world. The European version (also known as Sambucus nigra) is the one most closely tied to your health and healing. Its history dates back as far as 400 BC, and Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine,” called the elder tree his “medicine chest.”

In folk medicine today, the elderberry is considered one of the world’s most healing plants."

https://www.webmd.com/diet/elderberry-health-benefits

 

[Peanut]

Elderberries, They Good for the Body...!!!

"There are about 30 types of elder plants and trees around the world. The European version (also known as Sambucus nigra) is the one most closely tied to your health and healing. Its history dates back as far as 400 BC, and Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine,” called the elder tree his “medicine chest.”

In folk medicine today, the elderberry is considered one of the world’s most healing plants."

https://www.webmd.com/diet/elderberry-health-benefits

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/elder.10190/

 

[elkhound]

@Neb look what i seen at dark tonight...it will be a success when its 3 foot long and loses its leaves this fall...yes.i am hard to please ...lol..not really..just lost things when i thought all was well...so no counting chickens till much later.

Ben i still cant do a whip and tongue graft...just cant cut them correctly it seams..my hands are big and all thumbs.

both of these are skillcult apples

Pink Lemonade

Cherry Crush