57 replies to this topic

[GG Mora]

Idiots guide to seed starting.

[mongo_jones]

i think i'm going to expand the garden considerably this year--though i'll need to hire someone with a digger/bobcat to do it. if that ends up happening i'm going to plant a bunch of things i've never planted before: radishes, beets, cauliflower, maybe squash too. stand by to answer my endless questions--it'll be so much fun!

[Daniel]

Well, it's April 30th and it's all in the ground.. We skipped tomatoes this year because our backyard sucks for tomatoes. I can no longer sit and watch these guy grow to 8 feet tall and produce 3 tomatoes which the squirrels will then come by and eat the day before I pick them. I just can't go through that anymore for I fear the ATF will be on the news walking me out of my house after finding my cache of squirrel killing weapons. So, we threw down some strawberries that had jumped out of the planters and gone into my raised bed naturally. Our backyard is great for peppers so we planted a ton of that, rainbow chard, garlic, onions, cauliflower, lettuce, and a shite load of herbs. The flowers we planted a few years ago are kicking but. Not to mention after moving our hydrangeas to another section of the back, they seem to be thriving.

Pretty lush for so early? You can see the hydrangeas along the back side fence after the raised beds. They were really struggling along the back fence. They have perhaps tripled in size after being moved. They had tiny to no flowers last year. We can already see the buds.

You can see right after the broom that big pile of green.. That is celery that did not die from the winter.. Those suckers are huge.. we have been eating celery and the leaves for a couple of weeks now.. Good for juicing too.




Here is a close up: These are Alicia's favorites, well, depending on the day. But, they are in the running fo sho.



We had some Basil from seed in the pots. But, this is the third or second year with those wild lilies my mother grabbed from the woods. They have come back with gusto.. I love these flowers. Miss A, she is not the biggest fan..



A lot of things survived the winter. I had this huge potted sage plant that I transferred to the ground. My dream is to have a huge sage bush.. I don't feel like going shopping today.. No worries, let me go out back and just clip some sage from my huge bush. Pasta with butter and sage coming up. I planted it in the ground 2 weeks ago.. It still looks a little distressed but, it aint dead.



Our tenant planted a pallet garden:



To the left of that are tons of peonies. These are exciting and also Alicia's other favorite flowers.




Still lots of work to do but, we have a wonderful start..

[GG Mora]

Beautiful, Daniel. I sometimes wish I had a contained/limited space for gardening. All this open space gets overwhelming (that's not intended to be 'When Complaining is Really Bragging').

[mongo_jones]

i have a feeling i should have peas in the ground already. am i right? maybe this weekend. the expansion hasn't happened yet, but the peas aren't going in that spot anyway.

in the meantime, the garlic is growing monstrously healthily. the sage, oregano, thyme, mint and tarragon are back. i don't think the lemon verbena made it. and a bunch of loose-leaf lettuce seeded itself all over the garden.

[Rail Paul]

Daniel - if you cut back the branches, and then wrap the sage plant in December, and pile up chopped leaves etc around the base, it should survive the winter in good stead.

The garden looks lovely.

[GG Mora]

i have a feeling i should have peas in the ground already. am i right? maybe this weekend. the expansion hasn't happened yet, but the peas aren't going in that spot anyway.

in the meantime, the garlic is growing monstrously healthily. the sage, oregano, thyme, mint and tarragon are back. i don't think the lemon verbena made it. and a bunch of loose-leaf lettuce seeded itself all over the garden.

More like 'could' have peas in the ground. As I could, too, but don't – am planting them tomorrow.

[Daniel]

Beautiful, Daniel. I sometimes wish I had a contained/limited space for gardening. All this open space gets overwhelming (that's not intended to be 'When Complaining is Really Bragging').

Haha.. That is funny. If you like, you can always tape yourself off a 20x45 foot rectangle to see what i am working with. One of these years, we are going to break through to the roof..

[Daniel]

Daniel - if you cut back the branches, and then wrap the sage plant in December, and pile up chopped leaves etc around the base, it should survive the winter in good stead.

The garden looks lovely.

Thanks, Paul. I told people at my office the work we did over the weekend. they were all very surprised that we were so early. Now I am nervous about the frost.. It's a work in progress. We have such a short amount of time to learn about what grows and what doesn't. I couldn't imagine how cool it would be to be able to garden all year round.

[StephanieL]

N's delivery from the Hudson Valley Seed Library came yesterday. She'll be planting pattypan squash, winter squash, eggplant, and two kinds of pepper, plus calendula. The scarlet runner bean seeds are on back order.

[StephanieL]

Our squash seedlings are beginning to sprout, no thanks to the squirrel and/or stray cat that's been digging up the gardens. N had to do a lot of replanting. The scarlet runner bean seeds came, so those are now in the ground too.

[mongo_jones]

so, the garlic: scapes are ready to be cut. but i'm not sure at what point in the scape i should make the snip--right where it emerges? or higher up?

and carrots: the few seeds i planted have germinated. tiny yet recognizable fringed carrot greens are poking out. how often/deep to water?

[GG Mora]

so, the garlic: scapes are ready to be cut. but i'm not sure at what point in the scape i should make the snip--right where it emerges? or higher up?

Right where it emerges. When you say 'ready to cut'...have they made a complete loop?

and carrots: the few seeds i planted have germinated. tiny yet recognizable fringed carrot greens are poking out. how often/deep to water?

Just enough that the soil doesn't dry out. When my carrots are just starting, I give them a little sprinkle every morning, then check them in the afternoon if it's sunny and hot.

[StephanieL]

Our squash and pepper plants are coming up nicely, and the wild strawberries we planted last year came back and are starting to bear fruit.

[Abbylovi]

This year I scored a raised bed in my apartment building garden and the difference vs last year is stark: consider me won over to raised beds. My garden this year comprises of:

-- Three kinds of tomatoes: a red version of sungolds which are doing incredibly well. I already have tons of little green bunches. Plum is also doing well with half a dozen green fruit and brandywine which is a thriving bush with lots of blossoms but no fruit yet.

-- Kale. This was my big winner last year, basically producing from the summer through to April when it bolted. Last year they got those terrible worms that decimate entire plants and leaves in a single day and the fuckers came back again this year. A single dose of Bt killed them off and the plants have rebounded nicely.

-- Shishito pepper. This was my big surprise plant. I saw a $2 plant at GAP and figured why not try it and to my surpise it is an easy to grow, plentiful pepper. Already I have 3 almost inch long peppers growing (and they grow pretty fast) with tons of buds starting to come in.

-- Red leaf lettuce, arugula. Basil, mustard greens, mexican gherkins and cosmos all planted from seeds.

Someone planted communal raspberry bushes in the garden and they are starting to show a ton of red fruit which means that my favorite summer raspberry buttermilk cake is in my very near future.