How's your garden doing?

[valkyrie]

It got so hot here (110 F) that I had to string up old sheets to shade the veg garden. The plants went into a sort of heat dormancy and I got nothing out of it for about 6 weeks! Some stuff is coming back now.

Okra - love it pickled, love it in gumbo, jambalaya as well as fried... will not eat it boiled to save my life. Yuk.

We picked and ate our corn in June. We're early planters down here. It was tasty sweet.

This is my first year to do Asparagus Beans (foot long bean pods on climbing plants). I'm only now just beginning to see flowers. I'm not sure if I will do them again next year, since I feel I wasted some of the space I would have used for Blue Lakes or Kentucky Wonders.

Summer squash is done. I need to plant my winter squash and another set of bush beans.

 

[catocom]

Mmm.... fresh corn on the cob with lots of melting butter.... *drool*

 

[catocom]

yeah, it was a decent first haul.

 

[valkyrie]

Hey, Cat... you ever pickle your green beans?

 

[catocom]

never heard of it
you?


btw final count this haul 288

 

[valkyrie]

never heard of it
you?


btw final count this haul 288

Nice haul!

I've never pickled them myself but I've had them. Two thumbs up! These were thin and maybe the length of my finger. I imagine they wouldn't be as good if they were too big.

 

[catocom]

i'm goin' straight away, and tell momma we're gonna try it.
Thanks!

 

[Leslie]

That sounds SO good! Let us know how it goes, cat!

 

[valkyrie]

If you find a good recipe, send it my way. I'd be grateful.

 

[catocom]

my aunt says she has a recipe, but I'm gonna research first.
I'll fetch it for ya.
may have more beans coming off tomorrow.

 

[catocom]

--------------------old thread new post alert------------------------

well, I just got my big garden spot first-deep-turned.

My tractor/backhoe quit 5 times.
I think it's got some water in it, or might need a new filter.
I've got a filter on order, and I'll get some conditioner soon.
Thank goodness for starting fluid spray. I got muddled through it.

 

[Gonz]

I hate you

 

[catocom]

I may hate Myself, in the morning when the arthritis kicks in.

 

[valkyrie]

You guys must live up north. I already have plants in the ground that I started from seeds.
Kale
Collards
turnips
asparagus
kohlrabi
red carrots
parsley root
nantes

The Swiss chard is a perennial here, as well as some of my herbs.
chives
rosemary
oregano

I started all of my inside seeds a month ago in my south facing windows in the dining room and most of them have been transplanted to the garden already...
tomatoes (Roma)
tomatoes (Juliet)
pepper (green bell)
pepper (jalapeno)
eggplant (black beauty)
okra
artichoke
squash (zucchini)
squash (yellow summer)
squash (butternut, this is my test plant for this year)
cabbage

I also started my herbs outside in pots.
basil
mint
Thai basil
parsley
dill (which I plant mostly for the swallowtail butterflies because I never get any)
lemon basil

I planted my beans (pole and bush) two weeks ago in the garden.
cow peas (bush)
blue lake (pole)
burgundy beans (bush)
yellow wax beans (bush)

I started cucumber last weekend inside from seed. They'll be planted this weekend outside in cloches.

 

[catocom]

no, I'm not...I'm deep south US.
We just had a big snow though not too long ago, and the ground just tody got dry enough to work.

I'm probably already late on lettuce, but I'm gonna try to get it planted as
soon as the ground dries enough from this rain coming on now.
I'll probably try some carrots again too then.

I'm not doing turnips or greens until late this year.

The moon will be right for some stuff at the end of the month.
I might try to gat some crowder peas out then.
I'm probably going to wait until April on my corn, but I'm not sure on that yet.

 

[MrBishop]

My bulbs are breaking ground closest to the house...that is all.

 

[valkyrie]

no, I'm not...I'm deep south US.
We just had a big snow though not too long ago, and the ground just tody got dry enough to work.

I'm probably already late on lettuce, but I'm gonna try to get it planted as
soon as the ground dries enough from this rain coming on now.
I'll probably try some carrots again too then.

I'm not doing turnips or greens until late this year.

The moon will be right for some stuff at the end of the month.
I might try to gat some crowder peas out then.
I'm probably going to wait until April on my corn, but I'm not sure on that yet.

Snow still? How "deep" are you in the South? I'm in the Hill Country in Texas.

Have you ever used cold frames or cloches to start outside early? I have not but I'm very interested in doing so. I'm going to cut the bottoms off of glass jars (so there is a vent at the top for excess heat on sunny days) to use in early Spring to protect little seedlings from breaking in the wind. I've been looking online for instructions for cold frames but I don't need them right now. This may be a summer project. I'm interested in doing a break down cold frame so I can store it easily when not in use.

I've never planted with the moon but I read an article recently about it. No scientific reasoning for doing it so I never put much stock in it. I suppose I could do an experiment and see if it makes a difference (next year!).

I'm not going to do corn this year. The second (big) garden has been designated a dog pen all winter and now we plan to move the chickens into it. This would be a good year for corn, though. If you like huitlacoche (black corn fungus) this won't be a good year for it. Too wet.

 

[valkyrie]

My bulbs are breaking ground closest to the house...that is all.

SUCKER! That's what you get for living where it's too cold! HA!

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Val, you know asparagus takes a few years to produce right? Mine went in the box last year, it usually take 3 years for it produce veg.

Grapes and berry's are beginning to come back, and we hope to get started over the next few weeks. In the past we tried the postage stamp garden because of the little space we have to work with, it just didn't produce as much as we had hoped for.

I think we're going with traditional rows and some, like 'maters, up against fences

 

[valkyrie]

Val, you know asparagus takes a few years to produce right? Mine went in the box last year, it usually take 3 years for it produce veg.

Grapes and berry's are beginning to come back, and we hope to get started over the next few weeks. In the past we tried the postage stamp garden because of the little space we have to work with, it just didn't produce as much as we had hoped for.

I think we're going with traditional rows and some, like 'maters, up against fences

I bought 2 year old crowns, but I don't plan to harvest them until next year (or the following year, depending on how they do next Spring).

I've got blackberries (a.k.a., brambles) growing in the garden. Last year the drought here was so bad that the berries turned brown and hard almost right away after the flower dropped off. I love blackberries.

What kind of grapes are you growing? I've been very interested in growing a few vines but I'm so uncertain about getting started. What advice can you give me?