2026 gardening thread, whatcha got going on in the yard this year? Even house plants are ok.

[Saltwater60]

So far I’ve only got swiss chard, a couple cool hardy varieties of lettuce , spinach and chives in the ground. My Sage bush and Italian Oregano are coming back nicely as well. The strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are leafing out nicely. We won’t put much of anything else in the ground for at least another week or so.

I’m right there with you. I can’t wait to get my tangerine tree out into the yard. I have about 50 little tangerines about half the size of a pea. I’m hoping to get 4-8 of them because the tree is fairly small.
My fig tree is starting to leaf out and I’m hoping my plum tree set some fruit but man it was cold when the flowers were in the tree but they hung on for a week or so, hoping for a few.
Time will tell. I need to start moving some plants so hoping the weather beyond the 10-day forecast I’m seeing looks promising or I’m in trouble. After today I can move them from outside into the garage so I don’t have to keep running them from the basement and outside and back again. That will be a huge time saver because instead of a turkey baster I can water with the hose. 3 squirts from a turkey baster into 154 seedlings sucks if I’m being honest and it’s everyday at this point.

 

[GOPerfect]

A few pictures....

 

[Saltwater60]

A few pictures....

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That looks amazing. Those are some nice looking taters. Don’t forget to mound some dirt on them and keep the edible portion covered with soil. Green potatoes are poisonous.

I started making my garden structure last night. I took some old fence posts from a neighbor getting rid of their chain link fence. I’m making a rectangle structure out of it and I’m going to tie cattle panels to it. No more tomato cages for me for the most part. It will be a permenant trellis so I can just tomato clip everything to it quickly and easily. I had 8’ stakes and tomato cages all over the place. I’m using the other fence posts with galvanized wire for raspberry and blackberry support and some for my grape vine as well.
The long hard winter was tough on my blackberries and I had a good die off. Sad as they were getting to the point where I was getting a lot of berries and exactly the amount needed for an entire year.
I just planted my squash, zucchini, water melons, and cucumbers yesterday inside in degradable pots. I did 8 of each. I’m now at just over 200 seedlings I’m caring for. Yikes!! Friends and family can’t come get them soon enough.

 

[GTN]

This weather sucks a*s. 43 and rain all day today.
nice weekend in the low 70’s then 90 next week. Then back to the 60s and rain

 

[GOPerfect]

That looks amazing. Those are some nice looking taters. Don’t forget to mound some dirt on them and keep the edible portion covered with soil. Green potatoes are poisonous.

I started making my garden structure last night. I took some old fence posts from a neighbor getting rid of their chain link fence. I’m making a rectangle structure out of it and I’m going to tie cattle panels to it. No more tomato cages for me for the most part. It will be a permenant trellis so I can just tomato clip everything to it quickly and easily. I had 8’ stakes and tomato cages all over the place. I’m using the other fence posts with galvanized wire for raspberry and blackberry support and some for my grape vine as well.
The long hard winter was tough on my blackberries and I had a good die off. Sad as they were getting to the point where I was getting a lot of berries and exactly the amount needed for an entire year.
I just planted my squash, zucchini, water melons, and cucumbers yesterday inside in degradable pots. I did 8 of each. I’m now at just over 200 seedlings I’m caring for. Yikes!! Friends and family can’t come get them soon enough.

I may have planted too many..... I am such a newbie....

 

[Saltwater60]

I may have planted too many..... I am such a newbie....

It looks great. Look up how to prune tomatoes. Also water the base and not the leaves. Try to keep soil off the leaves because that spreads disease. Toss some basil in by the tomatoes to keep the hornworms at bay.
Happy to help anytime, just ask.

 

[Saltwater60]

I started my garden structure this week. I’m almost done. I need to finish fast so I can plant. It was way too wet to mess with it earlier. Even my 19 year old was telling me dad that’s not safe. The ground there is very unlevel and the ladder just kept sinking in. I had to pound posts in 2-2.5 feet. 10+ feet in the air.
Of course I ordered the wrong thing so now I have to wait to finish it. I thought I ordered the 8-pack, but only ordered the 4-pack of fence posts from 1-3/8” to 1-5/8” transition. I can do everything I need and just add the last top rail when they arrive but it won’t be until 6/6 so I’m annoyed at myself for that one. Off to tractor supply for cattle panels tomorrow night. Too hot tonight to work out there.

 

[Saltwater60]

First harvest of the season!! Wine capped mushrooms.

 

[Robin]

Alice says they're very , very, something or another.
Robin

 

[Saltwater60]

First tomato today! Not ripe but on the plant.

 

[Saltwater60]

I started planting today. I’ll be done by the end of the week. My garden structure is almost done and will be by the end of the weekend I hope as long as the rest of my supplies come in. Then I’ll plant everything else out. Weather is looking nice!!
I’ve harvested 30-40 mushrooms already and I have about 20 tomatoes on my plants.

 

[Robin]

Had some green onions from the garden, not as hot as I like but really good all the same. Maybe due to all the rain,dunno.
Robin

 

[Saltwater60]

I did not finish my garden structure. I threw my back out and could barely walk. Not far off. My boys will help me one day this week.

 

[S&W Fan]

Ouch that sucks, I know that feeling all too well. Hopefully you’ll heal up quick.
We got everything that we’re going to plant this year in the ground on Saturday, aside from a few more pollinator flowers.
Good luck with the season All .

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

I have a small garden this year

Multiple types of peppers, some various bell, banana, salsa, Anaheim, poblano

A few types of tomatoes, cherry, beefsteak and early girl.

Snow peas

Pickling cucumbers

Water melon (forgot what type)

Strawberries and raspberries


Nothing too crazy. Just trying to grow things we will eat and use and learn and improve while doing it. My plants usually end up dying or being eaten by pests.

 

[Saltwater60]

I have a small garden this year

Multiple types of peppers, some various bell, banana, salsa, Anaheim, poblano

A few types of tomatoes, cherry, beefsteak and early girl.

Snow peas

Pickling cucumbers

Water melon (forgot what type)

Strawberries and raspberries


Nothing too crazy. Just trying to grow things we will eat and use and learn and improve while doing it. My plants usually end up dying or being eaten by pests.

Do you trellis your watermelons to keep the vines off the ground? I don’t last year and little rodents chewed them up horribly.

 

[Saltwater60]

Ouch that sucks, I know that feeling all too well. Hopefully you’ll heal up quick.
We got everything that we’re going to plant this year in the ground on Saturday, aside from a few more pollinator flowers.
Good luck with the season All .

Getting there, but my boys will have to help me finish my garden structure because I will not be able to do it. The rest of my parts come today I hope. Not much left today. Install two pipes that are bolted on and roll out the roof covering with 4”x4” 12 gauge metal fencing. They can do it. I just need to find a day they aren’t working in the evening. I may need them both so that could be complicated. I need it done asap though because my plants are big and I need to get other things in the ground. My seedlings are sitting on my raised beds where my carrots and radishes go. Tis life. I don’t even know what I did.
I can plant and put my 36” stakes in.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

Do you trellis your watermelons to keep the vines off the ground? I don’t last year and little rodents chewed them up horribly.

No how do you do that?

 

[S&W Fan]

No how do you do that?

You can trellis the Small variety of watermelon and musk melons. The vines will strengthen to hold the melons without breaking off. I don’t think that that is possible with the larger variety of watermelons. We’ve always just grew them on mounded up soil and kept the weeds away with a thick layer of straw.
I trellis 4 varieties of squash and 2 varieties of cucumbers.

 

[Saltwater60]

You can trellis the Small variety of watermelon and musk melons. The vines will strengthen to hold the melons without breaking off. I don’t think that that is possible with the larger variety of watermelons. We’ve always just grew them on mounded up soil and kept the weeds away with a thick layer of straw.
I trellis 4 varieties of squash and 2 varieties of cucumbers.

No how do you do that?

Yes, what he said, however I will tie nets below the melons to support them to be sure. Mine is the mini variety.
My main goal is getting the bones up off the ground. It was bad for me and it was amazing how many chew marks from small rodents I had in my vines.
I figure it cut my production in half and then the raccoons ate 2-3 of them so I was below half.

I’ll be getting my melon plants in the ground this weekend. My back is screwed. It was pretty good yesterday but today I can barely walk again. Hurts worse than the other day and all the way into my eyeballs. The joint where my hip and spine meet is killing me.

 

[S&W Fan]

LoL, yeah you can make hammocks out of netting to support the slightly heavier melon varieties. My Mrs. Did that one year when we trellised the large buttercup squash. ( they grow like small pumpkins) it worked pretty well actually.

 

[fresch]

Just get some of those balls supporting under ware and you can wear them after harvest. Double duty!

 

[Saltwater60]

Just get some of those balls supporting under ware and you can wear them after harvest. Double duty!

You’re not prideful now are you? I mean I get big balls, but melon sized balls, come on now. if the laughing imagoes don’t show up they should, but somehow never do for me. Yes this is a joke. See they disappear when I hit post

 

[fresch]

You’re not prideful now are you? I mean I get big balls, but melon sized balls, come on now. if the laughing imagoes don’t show up they should, but somehow never do for me. Yes this is a joke. See they disappear when I hit post

Haha!
No, but I have seen in an old lab/ turned into throw this stuff here, pictures, pickled worms really long, heads cut in half and in Lucite showing the complete internals of a head, look up elephantiasis , guys had balls they had to carry in a wheelbarrow; how things swear in Africa way back.