2017 garden thread
 

Hard to think about the garden while here is still 10" of snow covering a portion of it... but I Started a dozen eggplant ... 6 black beauty and 6 black knights... a dozen San monzano... 4 early girl and 4 big boys...lettuce .. Broccoli ...peppers ( hot and red/green) as well as a bunch of herbs.. grounds going to have to thaw and dry up a little before I can get the peas in.....any one else start from seed?
I found these awesome little green houses at ocean state job lots..$20... they are perfect fro starting seeds with out taking up a lot of space..

bought a broad-fork for this years mega garden

you stand on it and wiggle in the 4 big curved blades

they go in 14 inches then you pull backwards and loosen up
your new ground ....should kick ass on a new field

Started leeks a couple weeks ago. Shallots,cauliflower, and 4 types of heirloom tomatoes were put in last week and all have done well with germination except my brandywine. They are sometimes difficult but they are worth it. I got a warming mat to aid in germination and it really helped
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I use the warm mat on the eggplants..makes a huge difference ..

I bit the bullet last night and ordered a grow light for indoors seed growth. T5 bulbs that are four feet long,and they jam 8 next to each other over 2'. No more leggy tomatoes.🍅
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

We have a serious grow light setup going on Right now with booming tomatos, all sorts of New Mexico peppers, leeks, onions, and god knows what else. Pretty cool to bring life to abundance from one little seed. Mrs Nebe is really into this.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I upgraded all my aquariums a few years back to LED's... I had an abundance of 2 and 4' T5 light set ups... they have worked well the last few years as grow lights... the bulbs for these were heavy on the red and blue light spectrum.. the plants seem to love it....

nebe -> got pic?
 

leggy tomatoes can be de-limbed and burried deep ["20" inches]
for a massive root system

moon's in Taurus today. great "earth" day moon sign
for "new projects"
and planting seeds :cheers:

I can't post a pic on my iphone. Sorry. If you message me your phone # or email address I can send them to you
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

e-mail;
 

countryraven

i live in the country now

i use e-mail

[QUOTE=Rockfish9;any one else start from seed?
[/QUOTE]

having done it commercially or on a very large scale

i found that broccoli in particular likes to be planted in
very loose soil directly and that a transplant will grow
only half as big than a non disturbed planting.

for Broccoli :

i make a hole as big as your arms can make a circle
and then get all my fertilizer well worked into the bottom.
big Basins (cahetta's in spanish) allow for deeper watering's
when the temperature skyrockets.

for pea's:
i wait until i see a week of rain coming in before a full moon
and put/salt inoculant into a bag of pre swelled pea seeds and
shake and bake-em gently ->so they are good and covered.

i make sure the rugged (as can be) fence is already in place.

i sometimes water them 3 or 4 times a day until they start climbing
Always a delight when you see the white flowers appear as you know
next week you can begin harvesting.

i easily grow 50 lbs of peas and i freeze most of them.
then i start crop number 2...

oh forgot to mention
Broccoli seed is prolific at germinating
every seed you plant will SPROUT guaranteed

so if they're planted to close they sense one another
and try to race each other for top spot

i use 24 inch spacing with double 3 foot wide rows
your AIM is to plant so everything is in within
arms reach from either side

I always start my broccoli inside... size or crop never seems to be an issue... if those plants get any bigger ( once in the garden) I'm afraid they will grab me while I'm sleeping!...

I always sow peas directly... question.. I've always ( I grew up a farmer) planted peas in hills ( 4 plants to a hill) with a common center stake... I know some people like rows.. last year the pea crop was the only one that I wasn't pleased with..and for a change I planted rows because I moved some stuff around to rotate the crop a little..I'm going back to hills this year...

cant wait until those first asparagus shoots come up... we've pretty much gone through everything in the freezer... only thing left is tomato sauce and white perch!

yeah hills do have an advantage ...they don't act as a wind break and get folded over by a heavy wind
Before
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...GARDEN2003.jpg
after heavy Wind
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...b1/damage2.jpg

so i'm gonna make shorter runs like ten footers

I'm just glad I can see the ground again!

gettin another 6 inches of the white stuff :doh:

No snow since the weekend... most of that has melted... awe full muddy... looks like we turn the page after the weekend... I'd like to get the peas it's just too wet...more rain coming today..

peas will push thru snow if the ground can be worked
i could start some UP in the green house
but i have no non freezing water line up there (yet)

i am looking into wind generators now
because i was up in the Duck house "enclosure" last fall
and a gust of wind so strong snapped the six mil plastic loose so hard
that it was deafening ...scared me half to death too

We planted a lot of stuff from seed this year.

forgot to spray the perimeter for rodents, crap. the groundhog got my squash leaves , cuke leaves and some of the peas as well :wall:

I sprayed and found his tunnel under the back fence so hopefully he won't be back and hopefully the squash survives.

I should have known better. if it happens again, Melissa is going to sit out there like Granny Clampett she said, I'll get her and air rifle not a shotgun of course.

I started everything from seed this year as well... the yard pig wiped out the peas in a single afternoon.... he now sleeps with fishes... I grow my Zukes and Cukes up the fence in the back..out of harms way.. I had to replant all my eggplant.. .. every one of them withered and died within a week of transplant.... I even lost a few tomato plants..I've never had that happen before...the current bunch looks good ... lots of blossoms and small fruit... everything is loving the hot weather...... except maybe the spinach....Fruit trees look good.. if I can keep the squirrels from getting all the peaches ... I might actually get a few this year... 2 years ago it had so much fruit the tree bent and broke... after a severe pruning it went dormant last season..

Hi Joe, my spinach did not seem to take at all, I think I have one plant in the whole row so going to reseed with lettuce. Yes tomatoes loving the hot weather but the cantalope does not seem to do well, maybe it is because I did not fertilize with manure this year , just soil and peat.
I need to get me some blueberry plants

I made 5 quarts of pickles yesterday. Peas are already done for a couple weeks. Picking beets,carrots,lettuce,zucchini and beans. Every year I plant too close...
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I always plant too close...it just seems like there is so much wasted space when you first plant... Bruce..it took 3 tries for the spinach to grow...I believe it was too wet early on
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Tomatoes are late for me this year but I picked a couple Cherokee purples tonight. First time growing them and they are very tasty.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

everything seems a tad late to me as well....tomatoes started last week.... the vines are loaded but the fruit isn't ripening .. I have about 6 eggplants ready to pick.... I planted some red garlic this spring and they died back last week so I dug them up and braided them....I'm drying them on the screen porch..the larger white garlic will probably grow for another month...My zucchini is bizarre this year... all male flowers.. I haven't seen a single fruit yet...just a big healthy plants with ,male flowers.

We sprayed to keep mr. grounhog away but he hit us Twice in the last week and a half. Same here with flowers on squash only one fruit and the leaves have all been eaten now, he got the cuke and pea ends and flowers also. There is a distinct lack of bees. I'll have to add a fence next year. We got some beans and now tomatoes are beginning to ripe like you guys.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I can't imagine why your squash won't produce....mine are in the fourth quarter
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device