2023 gardening thread

[S&W Fan]

I picked up a yard of 1/2” grind compost from our local site on Saturday afternoon and since God saw fit to give us a gorgeous sunny Easter Sunday I spent the day amending All eight of my garden boxes. I like to do it by hand verses using a tiller so as not to trash the micro organisms in the soil. Later that day Mrs. S&W Fan and I put some seeds in the ground. Radishes, three kinds of lettuce ( for starters) , beets, sugar snap peas, spaghetti squash and much much more to come. I had to finish up the day building a new upgraded box for my blueberry bushes. The old box just fell apart .

 

[Saltwater60]

I picked up a yard of 1/2” grind compost from our local site on Saturday afternoon and since God saw fit to give us a gorgeous sunny Easter Sunday I spent the day amending All eight of my garden boxes. I like to do it by hand verses using a tiller so as not to trash the micro organisms in the soil. Later that day Mrs. S&W Fan and I put some seeds in the ground. Radishes, three kinds of lettuce ( for starters) , beets, sugar snap peas, spaghetti squash and much much more to come. I had to finish up the day building a new upgraded box for my blueberry bushes. The old box just fell apart .
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Glad I’m not the only one that out seeds in the ground. I was worried I was a bit too early even though I know I’m not.
All my beds were amended in the fall and I will stop using a tiller after I get things settled out and get the soil worked up deep enough. I used home made compost and rabbit manure. I tossed in some coffee grounds as well. I also added a bunch of peat moss, sand and perlite last fall as well to keep everything aerated. I covered it with leaves for the winter, tilled that in with some more compost, peat moss and perlite.

 

[S&W Fan]

Yeah I won’t be putting any tomatoes in the ground for a few more weeks yet. I’m currently putting up a trellis over my tomato box to give that a try with a few tomato plants this year.

 

[Saltwater60]

Yeah I won’t be putting any tomatoes in the ground for a few more weeks yet. I’m currently putting up a trellis over my tomato box to give that a try with a few tomato plants this year.

Some of my seed potatoes were so big I tossed them in the ground today. I’ll cover them if it gets cold.

 

[phatfarmerbob]

First planting of corn is in , some potatoes planted (about 3800# of seed potato) that’s half. Waiting on Yukon and Red seed. Ran irrigation on a half acre of garlic that’s on gravelly ground because it’s dryer than a popcorn fart right now. ( the rest is on low heavy ground and should be fine), had to chisel plough before the mauldboard plough because it’s so dry. Oats are in. Made beds for first planting of kale and zucchini. Kale, cabbage, tomatoe, pepper, eggplant are up in the greenhouse, should be ready for transplant to the field by May 10. …. We need rain. …. Guess I’m farming again this year lol

 

[Saltwater60]

First planting of corn is in , some potatoes planted (about 3800# of seed potato) that’s half. Waiting on Yukon and Red seed. Ran irrigation on a half acre of garlic that’s on gravelly ground because it’s dryer than a popcorn fart right now. ( the rest is on low heavy ground and should be fine), had to chisel plough before the mauldboard plough because it’s so dry. Oats are in. Made beds for first planting of kale and zucchini. Kale, cabbage, tomatoe, pepper, eggplant are up in the greenhouse, should be ready for transplant to the field by May 10. …. We need rain. …. Guess I’m farming again this year lol

Glad to hear your taters are in because mine were sprouting like crazy so I tossed mine in. Yes I have had to water to keep the 1/4” sown seeds wet. I’m watering 2-3 times a day right now for that. Clear skies, wind, and 70-75 are perfect for desiccation.

 

[masterswimmer]

It was the year to mulch. My landscaper initially tried to get me to order it bulk through him. It would have saved me a little cash doing it that way. But I have a heart. I needed 26-28 yards of mulch.

That would be a bit more than two dumptruck loads dumped on my driveway. He would have had to pitchfork it all into wheelbarrows and hump up a slope from my driveway, around the back of the house and up the slopes to my retaining walls. Only two guys.

I couldn't let him do that. He'd never come work for me again after that backbreaking job.

I took advantage of the Lowes 5 bags for $10 sale. I had five, yes 5 pallets (350 bags) of mulch delivered. This way he could wheelbarrow 4-5 bags at a time up to the walls, without 'shoveling' it first. Huge labor saver.

Well he was close to done when we realized that 5 pallets was short. We needed another pallet (70 more bags). I bought the additional pallet full. He picked it up and did the whole wheelbarrow and schlep routine for another 70 bags. That's 420 bags total.

Here's a few pix of the before and after:



Before:



After:

 

[Saltwater60]

It was the year to mulch. My landscaper initially tried to get me to order it bulk through him. It would have saved me a little cash doing it that way. But I have a heart. I needed 26-28 yards of mulch.

That would be a bit more than two dumptruck loads dumped on my driveway. He would have had to pitchfork it all into wheelbarrows and hump up a slope from my driveway, around the back of the house and up the slopes to my retaining walls. Only two guys.

I couldn't let him do that. He'd never come work for me again after that backbreaking job.

I took advantage of the Lowes 5 bags for $10 sale. I had five, yes 5 pallets (350 bags) of mulch delivered. This way he could wheelbarrow 4-5 bags at a time up to the walls, without 'shoveling' it first. Huge labor saver.

Well he was close to done when we realized that 5 pallets was short. We needed another pallet (70 more bags). I bought the additional pallet full. He picked it up and did the whole wheelbarrow and schlep routine for another 70 bags. That's 420 bags total.

Here's a few pix of the before and after:

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Before:

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After:

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Looks great and I love the bags. You’re right they save so much time unless you have a truck with a dump bed but no landscapers have that much mulch in a dump bed. You know they do have machines that blow mulch from an 8” tube. Maybe he could rent one or borrow one for a guy he knows but they are few and far between. I’ve actually never seen one in person. Eve the large commercial jobs by me get done with wheel barrows.

 

[masterswimmer]

Wasn't sure where to post this. Figured this thread would be suitable.

I'd never seen the wedge with this kind of hinge. Gotta say, this was beautiful.

It's a YouTube shorts video. So only 1 minute long.

Uphill Tree Felling Technique

 

[Saltwater60]

Peach tree blossoms are about ready to pop open and of course the weather turns to shit. It will be cold, windy, and rainy after tomorrow and I’m wondering if the bees will be out to pollinate. I was hoping the buds would slow their progression with the temps in the 40’s but they have still moved towards opening. I hope the bees are busy tomorrow on my peach tree or I fear I won’t get much fruit again this year. Tree is loaded with blossoms but I need those bees to be out for fruit. Something always seems to happen to my peaches.

 

[Saltwater60]

Broccoli is breaking through the soil and possibly some green onions.

 

[Saltwater60]

Things are looking pretty good. Peach tree has lots of blossoms and I hand pollinated about 80 buds yesterday because it was a bit windy and not too many bees around. Apple trees have lots of buds. Plum tree every nub on the twigs have buds and flowers. I’m super stoked about this. Potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, hardy kiwi, and blueberries look great. I planted three more blueberries bushes that look strong for right now. Strawberries are looking good as well. My Japanese maple tree band aid worked and is all bidding out.
Pond is cleaned and I dig out probably 3-4 five gallon buckets of slop and roots out of my stream. I drained it farther down than I normally do and got out the junk and rocks from the bottom. I also cut out another five gallon bucket full of roots and extra plants after removing a bunch in the fall. It needed a good cleaning and over haul. Frogs back and now some toads croaking for a lady.
Over all I’m very pleased and satisfied with how things are going and looking. I think most of my stuff survived the winter even some smaller plants from the fall.

 

[CaliberPlus]

Hah, all you guys with nice neat gardens. I do GREAT with weeds,everywhere!

Sigh, lots of gardens but sadly to much work to do it all. I do get veggies but the weeds too. I haven't had pigs the last few years to eat the weeds. That was always incentive to weed, good feed for the oinkers.

Gardening is great therapy. With the crap going on in this state I think I need to really concentrate on it.

 

[Saltwater60]

Hah, all you guys with nice neat gardens. I do GREAT with weeds,everywhere!

Sigh, lots of gardens but sadly to much work to do it all. I do get veggies but the weeds too. I haven't had pigs the last few years to eat the weeds. That was always incentive to weed, good feed for the oinkers.

Gardening is great therapy. With the crap going on in this state I think I need to really concentrate on it.

All it is is time and devotion. You have to keep on top of it and a bit of knowledge and you can do it.

 

[Defilade]

I've done the garden thing for years and gave up on it. Farmers markets all over around here that undercut the stores.. It is alot of work for sure.

 

[Saltwater60]

I've done the garden thing for years and gave up on it. Farmers markets all over around here that undercut the stores.. It is alot of work for sure.

I keep it simple and it works great for me. A few raised beds that are about 42” tall so I get no weeds and I’m doing some 5 gallon buckets. Raspberries and fruit trees are easy as well. The blueberries are a bit of a PIA. I do have a small garden in the ground but it’s surrounded by a fence so it doesn’t get much in regard to weeds. I covered it this fall with leaves to reduce weed growth as well. Going forward I’ll use cardboard.

 

[Saltwater60]

Some good, some bad. Lots and lots of rabbits around me this year. I’m not sure how well my peach tree was pollinated but it looks to be forming fruit so I’m hopefully. My Japanese maple tree showed some signs of die off so I looked at it and the trunk split again. I think just the outside sealed up so it will likely die on 2/3 of the tree and I’m not pleased.
The good things are moving along and I have tomato flowers already and that’s pretty amazing. I think I’ll be overwhelmed with tomatoes this year. I had one plant last year and I planted it a month later, well this year I have 6 plants and they are growing nicely already. The seeds I planted a month ago are progressing slowly because it’s been cold but all sprouted with the exception of the in the ground broccoli seeds. I need to add a few more peas and I’m not happy with the amount of carrot seeds that came in the seed packet so I’ll plant another round of carrots soon.

 

[Saltwater60]

I’ll be moving in this direction for next growing season for my annual vegetable patch. It makes a lot of sense to me and I hate tilling the soils up every year anyway.

I (Basically) Stopped Weeding Thanks to This Game-Changing Gardening Method

'No Dig’ gardening, the ingenious, increasingly popular method pioneered by Englishman Charles Dowding, lets you make the most of your vegetable garden—without spending all your time weeding.

www.saveur.com

 

[Saltwater60]

Some asshole critter ate one of the branches off my plumb tree so it is no longer a perfect vase shaped plants as I wanted it. I’m rather pissed about it.
I got my four new lotus plants and some of my past ones made it through the winter and some won’t. I know I planted them late and some were larger than others. I think the large ones will make it and the small ones won’t. I’m going to see where things are at in 2-3 weeks and if not enough made it I’ll buy another set of seeds and grow them out to sell some locally.
Most things are going well but some of my seeds rotted in the ground because it was so cold and the delayed start. I also have to say the seeds of change that I bought I’m not overly thrilled with because they came with little seeds and the germination rate isn’t great. The germination rate could be the cool weather but I only planted cool weather crops.

How to Make Organic Fertilizer at Home | Wild + Whole

There are a host of elements that are essential for healthy garden crops, but the three that are most limited in our natural environment are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium—commonly referred to by their chemical symbols N, P, and K. Most gardeners know what aisle of the big box store to find...

www.themeateater.com

 

[Depick]

Well I finally decided to plant a garden this year. I’m going to pick up about 8 various tomato plants and a few cucumber plants tomorrow. I might do a few pepper plants in buckets as well.

 

[Saltwater60]

Well I finally decided to plant a garden this year. I’m going to pick up about 8 various tomato plants and a few cucumber plants tomorrow. I might do a few pepper plants in buckets as well.
NT market had some real nice pepper plants today. I bought some Italian red sweet peppers that are supposed to be the best in the world. Here is what I bought. I did some bell peppers as well as these and my usual celebrity tomatoes.

 

[Acer-m14]

 

[Acer-m14]

learning Hydroponics back then ... 2004 lol

Strawberry's and Tomatoes and basket of Lavender

i just had to be the pollinator .. lol

 

[Saltwater60]

Mine all have flowers. My peppers will have open flowers today probably.

 

[S&W Fan]

Most everything that we planed on planting is finally in. ( Last weekend) the only things left that we will be planting this weekend are Rhubarb, some Mexican Gherkins and another apple tree.

 

[S&W Fan]

We’re already eating some nice Swiss Chard that came back from last year !

 

[S&W Fan]

The Garlic and Strawberries are coming along nicely as well.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

I just bought a lemon tree in going to keep in a container.

Next up will be an orange and lime.

My thinking is if shtf long term having available on hand citrus fruit would be next to impossible to have.

 

[S&W Fan]

I just bought a lemon tree in going to keep in a container.

Next up will be an orange and lime.

My thinking is if shtf long term having available on hand citrus fruit would be next to impossible to have.

Citrus can be finicky. Best of luck to you. Out of the three that you’re planning to grow I personally would opt for the lime. They’re a Bit hardier than the other two. I recently ordered a Chicago Hardy fig tree that should be arriving here tomorrow and I can’t wait. Figs have tons of healthy benefits and are very versatile for use and they dry very well for long term storage.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

Citrus can be finicky. Best of luck to you. Out of the three that you’re planning to grow I personally would opt for the lime. They’re a Bit hardier than the other two. I recently ordered a Chicago Hardy fig tree that should be arriving here tomorrow and I can’t wait. Figs have tons of healthy benefits and are very versatile for use and they dry very well for long term storage.

I get it. Lol. I think it will be a fun project to try though