How's your garden doing?

as the shoots grow
So I continue to cover them as they grow. Yes? But leave some of the tips above the surface... Not all have come up and those that have are very thin sprouts. I'm assuming I should wait for a bit and allow the slow growers to pop out.

hmmm... note to self: need more compost because I'm out of mature compost.

I am actually very excited about the asparagus because I thought they had died. It took so long for them to sprout up.
 
as they grow, continuously (thought it needn't be religiously pursued)

Yea, let a couple of inches above soil...the newer sprouts will find their way.
 
More sprouts this morning. Very thin sprouts but sprouts nonetheless. :clap:

Bad news regarding my half of my squash and 2 of my tomatoes. We had a period of 3 days of heavy winds and they didn't survive it. :( Luckily I still have plenty of seedlings in my South facing window inside. I'll have to transplant them in the late afternoon or early evening so they don't burn from the sun. It's been very sunny over the past week.
 
not yet.
I'm doing web updates today, so I don't know if I'll get to the agri-supply
this evening, or tomorrow.

I'll get something going by this weekend though most likely.

I just opened up a 2 year compost yesterday I'm about to spread.

I haven't checked the links yet. It's been a little busy 'round here with the good weather.
So, I've been trying to get a little physical rehab in, to lose some weight.
I need to drop about 30 lbs.
 
Weight loss recommendation: exercise (which you're doing) and South Beach Diet. I was skeptical myself until I read the first book. It made sense and I tried it. I lost 10 lbs (which was my goal). My dad and step-mother had tried it a few years ago and loved it.

I hope you can get your plants going this weekend. Times a wastin', farmer! :D

If it makes you feel any better about putting off the garden, many of my early plants didn't survive a recent wind storm that blew for about 3 days total. I still have most of them but some didn't make it. Good thing it's warm enough now to put seeds directly in the ground.

Let me know what you think of the links.
 
I have to do a certain type of physical therapy because of my condition,
so it's a little tough to get the heart rate up, but it just takes a little longer.

My diet is just a strict across the board intake cut.
I don't cut out anything completely. That helps on the mental aspect for me.

I just checked out the soil today, and it's still a little too wet anyway,
but have no doubt, I take care of what I need to real soon on the planting. ;)
We're not too far behind the moon yet.
 
I have to do a certain type of physical therapy because of my condition,
so it's a little tough to get the heart rate up, but it just takes a little longer.

My diet is just a strict across the board intake cut.
I don't cut out anything completely. That helps on the mental aspect for me.

I just checked out the soil today, and it's still a little too wet anyway,
but have no doubt, I take care of what I need to real soon on the planting. ;)
We're not too far behind the moon yet.
Wet? That's good for seeds but if you're planning to put out tomato plants ... then you're right to wait.

South Beach diet only flips the "food pyramid" as we have been taught in school. Carbs are the smaller portion and fresh veggies and lean meats are the bigger. Snacks (such as light cheese, nuts, sugar free jello) are encouraged throughout the day. You can still have some carbs but the recommendation is to have whole grains (brown rice instead of white; whole grain wrap instead of white bread). There is the first two weeks on the diet where you cut all carbs but that's just to jump start your weight loss and train your mind from the carb and sugar addiction. You don't really have to do that part but it helped me to break my bad habits.
 
yeah, the supply man said it's still a little early on the 'maders.
He had some bigger plants, but I'm not going to chance it.
I'll wait 'til he gets in the larger quantity of the smaller cheaper ones.
Some are predicting a cold 'blackberry winter'.
I may have to shield my peach trees, if that's the case.

I went ahead and pickup my 10-10-10, and liquid Seven.
This will be the the first I've tried the liquid seven. The powder left
a little to be desired last year, with all the rain.
 
Not sure if I shared this yet but I found a suggestion for shielding small seedlings from early Spring's unpredictable and sometimes harsh weather. I cut the bottoms out of large plant pots. These are plant pots that you get your larger bushes or flower plants in at the garden center. Then I dug a hole where I wanted to put my little tomato plants big enough for the pot and the plant. I sunk the pot with the removed bottom into the hole and planted the tomato seedling into the pot. The pot shields the tomato seedling from heavy winds and you can cover it with plastic if you need to. As the tomato plant grows the roots will grow down because there's no bottom to this pot to bind those roots. The stem will never be restricted either because the pot is rather large.

To be fair, I did lose 2 of the 5 tomato seedlings to harsh weather but the others are still growing strong.

I'll replace the dead tomato seedlings this weekend with 2 of the seedlings still growing in my South facing window.

What is a "cold blackberry winter"? I have never heard of that before.
 
A cold snap after the Blackberries bloom.

My blackberries don't have flower buds on them yet, just the beginnings of new canes. I don't know if this is the norm for my area, though. I've had some bad years since planting the canes a few years ago. Drought has really put a damper on my recent past gardening plans. Damn drought! So I don't know when they are expected to bloom here.

When do yours bloom?
 
soon
They are just a little late so far.
I think that's why the old-timers think it's going to be a close call.
Blackberry winter, if it happens, seems to be around the 2nd-3rd week in April
most of the time, but I have seen it around the first of May, here.
 
The squash vine borers came a little early this year. I hadn't anticipated covering my squash seedlings yet. Well, my mistake! The one plant that I did manage to protect with a home made cover (window sheers I bought at a thrift store) was not infested. All the others had the tell-tale sign: an elongated hole in the stem and a wilted, sickly stem. :(

I yanked them all out (except the one that didn't have squash vine borer holes) and planted new seeds. I'll set the covers up over the areas I planted. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Last year I sprayed. We tend to get both squash vine borers and squash bugs as well. The squash bugs would leave their eggs on the underside of the squash leaves and the immature squash bugs would feed off of the squash. As adults they would fly over to our peach orchard and suck the nectar from the peaches. We had to stop the cycle so I sprayed my squash. We don't like to spray the peaches.

I read someplace that coffee grinds can fool squash vine borers. Has anyone tried this?
 
my lettuce, radish-es, and onions have popped up.
I can't tell on the cabbage yet. This is the first I've grown from seed.
I'm not sure what they look like when the first break ground.
 
my lettuce, radish-es, and onions have popped up.
I can't tell on the cabbage yet. This is the first I've grown from seed.
I'm not sure what they look like when the first break ground.
This is the first year I've planted cabbage and I planted from seed also.

Maybe this will help you ID the little seedlings as they emerge...
http://www.vegetable-garden-guide.com/growing-cabbage.html

I didn't do lettuce or radishes this year. I was on a salad kick last year through winter '09 and burned out on lettuce.

I take it you planted onions from seeds also? I usually do the starters but didn't this year. If my neighbor has any extras I might plant some.

I've run out of room in the raised beds to plant any more veggies. I think I'm going to buy some self watering pots and plant more eggplant, peppers and tomatoes that I started from seeds in those. I also haven't planted any of my 4 artichoke plants either so I'll have to get pots for those as well.
 
ah, that's kinda what I figured...they look almost identicale to kale at first.

nope, no sighting yet on them.
Thanks for the foot work.
 
I just finish planting my Golden Queen corn, okra, and some carrots, ahead of the rain.:glasses:

An old time family friend and neibor came yesterday with his tractor and tiller attachment,
and tilled mt big fiesd for the Silver Queen corn.
That was great. It saved me about 2 days.
 
My tomato seedlings went into the ground Saturday, as did seeds for carrots, radishes, onions, lettuce, and spinach. The radishes are sprouted nearly 1/4" out of the ground already!

Last nights frost nipped our basil seedlings though. Hopefully they'll come back.
 
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