Gardening check in!!

[rjamz]

How's everyone's garden doing?
My flowers are all in in the back and the front. And my veggies are growing so well!! Even the ones I started from seed.

Gratuitous picture dump
Blueberries

Purple string Beans, Brussels sprouts, strawberries, eggplant

I started these tomatoes from seed!!

Some heirloom tomatoes I bought (purple cherry tomatoes, and striped yellow and red ones)

The rest of my backyard farm - various squashes, lettuces, chard, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, lots of herbs. I just planted nasturtium in some of the containers to help deal with any aphids and squash worms that come along and bought bee balm to attract my pollinating friends (don't tell H)

Some more tomatoes from seed that I transplanted into sunny spots in the flower garden. I'm interested to see if and how the pests are different for the ones in the ground versus the ones in containers

[rubber pants]

Beautiful!

I dont have pictures but we planted last weekend! We have 30 tomato plants (heirlooms, celebrity, 4th of july's, san marzano's, and grapes), 20 cuke plants, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, italian frying peppers, cherry peppers, like 50 pea plants, 3 rows of beets, radishes and 5 rows of silverqueen corn as well as an array of herbs (basil, mint, parsely, cilantro, and dill).

Now we just need rain.

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 11:25:47 GMT -5 rubber pants said:

Beautiful!

I dont have pictures but we planted last weekend! We have 30 tomato plants (heirlooms, celebrity, 4th of july's, san marzano's, and grapes), 20 cuke plants, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, italian frying peppers, cherry peppers, like 50 pea plants, 3 rows of beets, radishes and 5 rows of silverqueen corn as well as an array of herbs (basil, mint, parsely, cilantro, and dill).

Now we just need rain.

So exciting!! I'm so jealous of all the space you have to plant

[rubber pants]

I almost wish we had a smaller space like yours. We plant WAY too much and then its a TON of work to maintain! Ill be making sauce and salsa by the bucket-load this summer.

[artgal84]

We just went to the nursery today and bought some annuals and just a few veggies; grape tomatoes and "monster" yellow tomatoes. I'm so interested to see how big they get. I also found a really pretty white and green pesto basil plant. Now just one more place (for 6 packs) and we can plant this weekend!

Some of my favorite perennials didn't make it over the winter and I've had them for years, I'm sad. I have a huge clump of a rare Japanese iris varietal and I'm going to bring some to my favorite perennial farm to trade for something cool.

[charlielove]

A giant bowl of green beans. They produce like crazy!

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 14:38:53 GMT -5 charlielove said:

A giant bowl of green beans. They produce like crazy!

Ours just started flowering! Jamie is so excited, green beans are his favorite

[artgal84]

Should I pot my tomatoes or plant them in a bed? I can't decide. I don't do veggies often, I mostly do perennials.

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 14:47:30 GMT -5 artgal84 said:

Should I pot my tomatoes or plant them in a bed? I can't decide. I don't do veggies often, I mostly do perennials.

It depends on your soil and sun situation. Is the soil in the beds really good? And does it get full sun? With containers you're able to control those variables more. I have a few in the beds and a bunch in pots. I've never done it in beds before. 

If you do use pots, make sure to get big ones - at least 20 gallons so they have lots of room to grow. 

[artgal84]

May 28, 2015 16:23:30 GMT -5 rjamz said:

May 28, 2015 14:47:30 GMT -5 artgal84 said:

Should I pot my tomatoes or plant them in a bed? I can't decide. I don't do veggies often, I mostly do perennials.

It depends on your soil and sun situation. Is the soil in the beds really good? And does it get full sun? With containers you're able to control those variables more. I have a few in the beds and a bunch in pots. I've never done it in beds before. 

If you do use pots, make sure to get big ones - at least 20 gallons so they have lots of room to grow. 

The soil in the front is good (because I've added peat and topsoil yearly) but in the back there's still a lot of clay and that's where I'd put them. That's a good point, I think I'll stick with pots on my deck. Thanks!

[fusion]

Explodagarden! Planted more seeds yesterday too since my green beans will be done in a couple of weeks.

Teepee was replanted and is now creeping up.

Armenian cucumbers. They are yum and great for pickles.

My sunflower is blooming!

Front gardens

Decorative gourds. Hopefully will start blooming and setting fruit soon.

My pickings from today

[fusion]

I'm going to do a refrigerator pickle recipe and do the green beans, okra, cucumber, some onion, and garlic together.

[rjamz]

Anyone want some chard?

[rjamz]

My arugula just flowered, but I planted a new batch a few days ago. Wouldn't want to run out of greens!!

[The Foozzler]

Everything is in the ground!

About 40 heads of garlic, tons of yellow onions, a few bunches of romaine and kale, a few broccoli, a row of sugar snap peas, cucumbers, 3 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, one grape tomato, one plum tomato, one San Marzano, one sun gold.

On the other end of the yard is our strawberry patch. We also planted more raspberry bushes.

In pots we have basil, oregano, dill, scallion, and chive.

We cut back on tomatoes this year because I don't have the time/desire to make sauce.

[The Foozzler]

I'll take some pics later!

[kkfeb04]

I had to harvest all of my broccoli as it went to flowers already. I planted the watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins in the ground and sadly they aren't doing as well anymore. I should've waited. I will go get more seeds for the pumpkins and try to find the watermelon and cantaloupe plants again. I'm not sure what I'm going to replace the broccoli with yet but I need to go get more plants!

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 18:08:02 GMT -5 kkfeb04 said:

I had to harvest all of my broccoli as it went to flowers already. I planted the watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins in the ground and sadly they aren't doing as well anymore. I should've waited. I will go get more seeds for the pumpkins and try to find the watermelon and cantaloupe plants again. I'm not sure what I'm going to replace the broccoli with yet but I need to go get more plants!

They had lots of melon plants at Home Depot! I know it's a totally different area, but you can call them!

[fusion]

May 28, 2015 17:53:56 GMT -5 rjamz said:

My arugula just flowered, but I planted a new batch a few days ago. Wouldn't want to run out of greens!!

I have a Malabar spinach vine that is supposed to be good for hot weather that I just tried out yesterday by sauteeing with the last of the chard. It was delicious! Glad I have a source of greens through the hot weather. 

[kkfeb04]

May 28, 2015 18:08:51 GMT -5 rjamz said:

May 28, 2015 18:08:02 GMT -5 kkfeb04 said:

I had to harvest all of my broccoli as it went to flowers already. I planted the watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins in the ground and sadly they aren't doing as well anymore. I should've waited. I will go get more seeds for the pumpkins and try to find the watermelon and cantaloupe plants again. I'm not sure what I'm going to replace the broccoli with yet but I need to go get more plants!

They had lots of melon plants at Home Depot! I know it's a totally different area, but you can call them!

I will check there if the Amish farm I go to is out. I doubt they are, they still had a ton left last week.  If not I'm sure she will send me to her daughter's farm down the next lane.  

H is going to Lowe's on his way home so I told him to see if they have any plants.  Otherwise, I will go to the farms. 

[joyhart02]

Our garden and the purple flowers just bloomed. 

Attachments:

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 18:10:31 GMT -5 fusion said:

May 28, 2015 17:53:56 GMT -5 rjamz said:

My arugula just flowered, but I planted a new batch a few days ago. Wouldn't want to run out of greens!!

I have a Malabar spinach vine that is supposed to be good for hot weather that I just tried out yesterday by sauteeing with the last of the chard. It was delicious! Glad I have a source of greens through the hot weather. 

Awesome! Luckily it doesn't get toooo crazy hot here usually, so I'm not that worried about bolting. But tell me more about this spinach vine! That sounds cool

[bigapple]

My "garden" is great! I have two tomatoes and one bell pepper plant in an earthbox, and two mint pots and a gazillion pea seedlings that need to be transplanted. We read jack and the beanstalk and planted our own.

[lolaburns]

I was weeding and mulching my front flower beds this afternoon. They look horrible and my neighbors are probably totally judging me.

I loved a landscape rock and a snake was curled up under it. I don't think I've ever screamed that loud. This is my second snake encounter in my front yard. Omg.

On a better note my peonies are blooming.

[monkeybabe]

So, garden oddity. One of my yellow rosebushes, that came with the house, now has hot pink roses on it.

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 18:53:51 GMT -5 lolaburns said:

I was weeding and mulching my front flower beds this afternoon. They look horrible and my neighbors are probably totally judging me.

I loved a landscape rock and a snake was curled up under it. I don't think I've ever screamed that loud. This is my second snake encounter in my front yard. Omg.

On a better note my peonies are blooming.

I was liking the peony, not the snake!!

[monkeybabe]

Okay, so you can see the yellow rose poking through the hydrangeas at the bottom, and some yellow rosebuds at the back, but the rest of the bush is the bright pink.


And here's my lone tomatillo plant. It's little, but already flowering. I just repotted it a few days ago.

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 19:05:34 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

Okay, so you can see the yellow rose poking through the hydrangeas at the bottom, and some yellow rosebuds at the back, but the rest of the bush is the bright pink.


And here's my lone tomatillo plant. It's little, but already flowering. I just repotted it a few days ago.

so weird!! Has your soil changed at all? 

[monkeybabe]

May 28, 2015 19:06:28 GMT -5 rjamz said:

May 28, 2015 19:05:34 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

Okay, so you can see the yellow rose poking through the hydrangeas at the bottom, and some yellow rosebuds at the back, but the rest of the bush is the bright pink.


And here's my lone tomatillo plant. It's little, but already flowering. I just repotted it a few days ago.

so weird!! Has your soil changed at all? 

We planted the Hydrangeas a couple years ago.

ETA: We also moved the bush from one side of the front yard to the other. But it was yellow for a couple years after that.

[rjamz]

May 28, 2015 19:07:25 GMT -5 monkeybabe said:

May 28, 2015 19:06:28 GMT -5 rjamz said:

so weird!! Has your soil changed at all? 

We planted the Hydrangeas a couple years ago.

Hmmmm, I wonder if they're taking up a certain nutrient?