What have you done for garden prep so far?

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I should go out now, but decided to say screw it and am done for the night. I have apples ripe now, along with more blackberries, blueberries, okra and tomatoes. I will start early in the morning I guess. I am looking forwards to the first fresh apple pie of the season. I still have 3cases of quart jars fillled with last seasons apples, so will just eat them fresh from this load. I canned the first three pints of hot okra with that last batch of pickles the other day, and am looking forward to stocking up on a bunch of them this season. I have enough tomatoes to can a batch of sauce tomorrow too. I'm glad the grapes have a way to go before there ready to pick.
 
grayghost668 said:
I got my first tomato's from the garden today,tried one it was half the size it should be but still pretty good tasting
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There's nothing better than that first vine ripe tomatoe each season. I still eat some right off the vine that don't even make it into the house.
 
I've been focusing on pest control around the garden lately. The chipmunks are digging around the plants and eating the fruit. Set out several traps for them. Another problem with the chipmunks is they attract the rattlesnakes to the area. Last evening while I was sitting outside enjoying a cold one, the dogs alerted me to a rattler about 30 feet away. I took it's head and buried it and added it's rattle to my collection. Later I walked through the garden and heard another one. By then it was too dark to see it so I slowly backed off.
 
Psalm7 said:
Squash and zucchini comming in faster than Ee can deal with it .
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If you like fried, you can slice & put them on a plate, nuke for just about 3 minutes or so then dip them in a flour / cornstarch mixture, lay on cookie sheet s lined with parchment and stick in freezer till set. Then vacuum seal or ziplock. When ready to use, fry up frozen. If you like them with an egg wash you can do that too before the flour mixture. Its an option.
 
Danil54grl said:
If you like fried, you can slice & put them on a plate, nuke for just about 3 minutes or so then dip them in a flour / cornstarch mixture, lay on cookie sheet s lined with parchment and stick in freezer till set. Then vacuum seal or ziplock. When ready to use, fry up frozen. If you like them with an egg wash you can do that too before the flour mixture. Its an option.
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My squash and zucchini i cut in about 3/4" pieces, place on a pan, coat them in olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic. Sprinkle on parmasan cheese and bake in oven for 20 minutes or so. We never have any left over.
 
Rellgar said:
My squash and zucchini i cut in about 3/4" pieces, place on a pan, coat them in olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic. Sprinkle on parmasan cheese and bake in oven for 20 minutes or so. We never have any left over.
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I can never eat as much as I get out of the garden so always looking for ways to preserve. I like mine baked that way too. :) Add in a little garlic eggplant and tomato. Oh yeah. .
 
well so far I have gotten 8 or 9 tomato's 3 banana peppers zero onions but I still have hope for them a handful string beans the potatoes look like crap but still hold possibility's and strawberry's what strawberry's,,,,,first it tried to drown my garden now it is trying to bake the garden,,,,,a bad year for gardens around here,I doubt I will get enough out of it to pay for half what I spent on it,,,,,THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR.....................................
 
grayghost668 said:
well so far I have gotten 8 or 9 tomato's 3 banana peppers zero onions but I still have hope for them a handful string beans the potatoes look like crap but still hold possibility's and strawberry's what strawberry's,,,,,first it tried to drown my garden now it is trying to bake the garden,,,,,a bad year for gardens around here,I doubt I will get enough out of it to pay for half what I spent on it,,,,,THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR.....................................
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There's always this fall.. . I planted Brussels sprouts, broccoli & all season cabbage last evening. Waiting till next month for the greens. How long ago did you plant potatoes? Should be ready to harvest verse n 75-100 days depending on variety.
 
Danil54grl said:
There's always this fall.. . I planted Brussels sprouts, broccoli & all season cabbage last evening. Waiting till next month for the greens. How long ago did you plant potatoes? Should be ready to harvest verse n 75-100 days depending on variety.
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THEY ARE DUE THE END OF AUGUST
 
I am not going to do a fall planting,it is way to hot and dry,,,I keep watering the darn thing but the heat is so bad I am just prolonging most everything from dying ,,,it has been a strange year around here,everything has been backwards when I planted it is usually dry now we should be getting some rain and we are dry as a bone
 
grayghost668 said:
well so far I have gotten 8 or 9 tomato's 3 banana peppers zero onions but I still have hope for them a handful string beans the potatoes look like crap but still hold possibility's and strawberry's what strawberry's,,,,,first it tried to drown my garden now it is trying to bake the garden,,,,,a bad year for gardens around here,I doubt I will get enough out of it to pay for half what I spent on it,,,,,THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR.....................................
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Just keep throwing any compostable material into the garden. The soil will get better and better over time. It sounds about like you did as well as my first attempt too.
 
Trying to keep potatoes during summer months has got to be tough! I am having probs with my tomatoes big time. . . with heat and sun, they so need some shade this time of year here. I have none to offer. . . just trying to keep them watered long enough to stay alive until it cools off some in Sept. They have recently been getting new growth where I trimmed off so hopeful. Getting a couple every few days so at least still producing, but my cherry tomatoes are really cherry sized tomatoes and the Roma's are not much bigger. Celebrities are maybe baseball sized. . I had let a couple onions go to seed and they ha e already sprouted and onion sets have been growing. Once they get a little bigger, I'll dig these up, is nice they grow where the seed fell & will replant them to space them out. Had a cantaloupe that fell off the trellis that was ready and still picking beans. Eggplants have started producing pretty good and a couple of the jalapeños. Habeneros a couple a day, but Tabasco are awesowe!
 
grayghost668 said:
going to see the old boy down the road and get some chicken poop
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Be careful! You probably already know that chicken poop is HOT. It doesn't take much to get too much and burn your soil. If you can, pile it up for a few weeks before you use it (if it's very fresh at all) and let it compost itself down a bit, and even then use it sparingly. Better is to compost it in with a bunch of grass/lawn/weed clippings for a while to compost it further. Good luck!
 
Rob Painless said:
Be careful! You probably already know that chicken poop is HOT. It doesn't take much to get too much and burn your soil. If you can, pile it up for a few weeks before you use it (if it's very fresh at all) and let it compost itself down a bit, and even then use it sparingly. Better is to compost it in with a bunch of grass/lawn/weed clippings for a while to compost it further. Good luck!
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well I don't know how much is to much,but I will not put it in the garden until this garden is done and it will have a good 6 months to compost ,maybe that will be enough time to cool down a bit
 
well I just went out and dug up a couple potato mounds,,,some are rotting a few are the size of a small egg many are the size of a marble,,,,,,,,,,,I guess I can put the taters back and use them for seed next year,if the don't rot away
 
Put them in a dark room. Should grow eyes and replant early feb., at least here rule of thumb is by Feb 14th but you may be different.
 
I can usually get two planting here, spring and late summer. I would plant more but have boxes full of them all over the house right now. I only planted red potatoes this spring. They did well but had some blight on the skins on about a third of them. It's a bumpy spot that's not attractive but really doesn't hurt the potatoe, you just peel them. I think I will can some more of these, but still have four cases of canned ones from last year. That sucks that they didn't turn out well for you as they are really easy to grow here.
 
WGregMiller said:
As we all know, gardening is a learned thing. Experience is a great (and hateful as hell) teacher! I wish I'd paid more attention with my Mom and her parents and sisters....
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I never knew anyone that grew things when I was young. One of these days if I ever retire again I will consider taking a part time job at a nursery just for the learning experience. Most of my successes have followed a few failures too. I think my asparagus patch was the fourth try at planting the stuff!
 
Its all about trial and error. . . mom & dad did one garden while I was growing up and the only thing I remember from it was the birds got to eat the strawberries and playing in a hill of sand with my hot wheels and buddy. I was maybe 6. . . experienced is the best teacher in life! What you do in one area one year doesn't make it so for all eternity. Ya have to learn to adapt with whatever is thrown your way unfortunately and in my world that means BEANS to dry right now.
 
well this is not my first attempt at gardening,when I lived in Florida I planted 4 years straight,I had some pretty plants but nothing you could eat,I put it off as very poor soil the heat and 2 brown thumbs,,,this year was great compared to the years in Florida but still a huge disappointment I will do it again next year ,this year it has been to hot to even think about a second planting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,so when I give up on this garden,and it won't be long I will add some composted soil to it,enlarge it add some chicken manure till the piss out of it and when I plant I will test the soil to see where it is at,,,,,maybe next year I will be able to get some veggies out of all the work
 
When I first moved here I planted a small garden and moved the location about three times. I've learned that the soil is probably the most important thing and it takes time to build it up into a good media to grow in. Those first couple years were a bust. I think I've been in the same spot for five years now and it's good, but still needs more organic matter. This Ga. clay likes to compact to brick like consistency! I add to it every year and figure it will be perfect just about when I die.....:)
 
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