How are the gardens?

Four raised beds are now turned and ready to go.... Peas and lettuce are in and the volunteer strawberries, parsnips and onions are doing great..... Tomatoes will go in in a few more weeks.... Flower gardens are all weeded and mulched..... Trimmed the fruit trees back before bud break and the roses as soon as there was enough bud break to tell what parts died during the winter..... Raspberry hedge was trimmed back in the late fall and is now growing like gangbusters....
 
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For those of you growing rhubarb...mine is going crazy and has 'flowers' or seeds on the tallest stocks. Do these need to be cut or I have they gone too far? Not sure if I should be thinning them out or harvesting the plants now. In the past, I have ended up with a bunch or really skinny stalks. Mine never really turned red either but stay green (I think they are still ok to eat).
 
MA_Shooter said:
For those of you growing rhubarb...mine is going crazy and has 'flowers' or seeds on the tallest stocks. Do these need to be cut or I have they gone too far? Not sure if I should be thinning them out or harvesting the plants now. In the past, I have ended up with a bunch or really skinny stalks. Mine never really turned red either but stay green (I think they are still ok to eat).
Click to expand...

It depend on the variety as to the color. I have always cut the seed stalk off. I was always taught to collect it until you were only getting thin stalks and then stop. I get rhubarbed out quickly and stop gathering it before it gets to that stage. This gives the plant plenty of time to rebuild itself for the next season. My experience has only been what my parents and grandparents did.
 
How and when do you split a rhubarb?

How do you plant garlic? From seeds?

I usually do an herb garden near the back kitchen door, and tomatoes and peppers at least. This year, I might have bigger aspirations for carrots, radishes, beans, peas, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and maybe pumpkins, squash, watermelon.

Right now, nothing is planted, and weeds are starting. I might bust up some sod this afternoon, and spread compost.

Should I spread compost and then rototill, or rototill and then spread compost?

Thanks.
 
Coyote33 said:
How and when do you split a rhubarb?

How do you plant garlic? From seeds?

I usually do an herb garden near the back kitchen door, and tomatoes and peppers at least. This year, I might have bigger aspirations for carrots, radishes, beans, peas, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and maybe pumpkins, squash, watermelon.

Right now, nothing is planted, and weeds are starting. I might bust up some sod this afternoon, and spread compost.

Should I spread compost and then rototill, or rototill and then spread compost?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Rhubarb is usually split in early spring right when it starts coming up. You dig the whole crown up and split it into smaller crowns each with a root and a started leaf. It is probably too late now to dig it up and split. Some people do it in the fall when the plant dies back. I have never done it this way so I cant speak to how successful it is.

Garlic is planted in the fall and left in overwinter. YOu start it from individual cloves. The variety I grow is German Extra Hardy and I bought the first cloves from Johnnys seeds. THis the third year I have grown it and have saved cloves every year and replanted them.

I spread compost then till. I will also add some extra compost when I put in the squash and tomato plants.
 
Coyote33 said:
How and when do you split a rhubarb?

How do you plant garlic? From seeds?

I usually do an herb garden near the back kitchen door, and tomatoes and peppers at least. This year, I might have bigger aspirations for carrots, radishes, beans, peas, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and maybe pumpkins, squash, watermelon.

Right now, nothing is planted, and weeds are starting. I might bust up some sod this afternoon, and spread compost.

Should I spread compost and then rototill, or rototill and then spread compost?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Potatoes should have been planted 2-3 weeks ago. Mine are already 2” tall. They won’t be happy when the heat gets here. So you might want to get going asap.
 
Went out back last night to put the kids bikes away, and my neighbor was out rototilling my garden for me. I didn't even hear it, because it is a quiet old Gravely walk behind tractor. Did a great job. He said we are supposed to get rain for the next week. I took that as my hint, and planted 2 packs of lettuce, 2 packs of carrots, and 2 packs of radishes. I think it came to 10 rows. I planted them a little closer together than it called for because the seeds were a year or two old, even though one hundred year old seeds are still able to grow. We'll see.
 
Coyote33 said:
Went out back last night to put the kids bikes away, and my neighbor was out rototilling my garden for me. I didn't even hear it, because it is a quiet old Gravely walk behind tractor. Did a great job. He said we are supposed to get rain for the next week. I took that as my hint, and planted 2 packs of lettuce, 2 packs of carrots, and 2 packs of radishes. I think it came to 10 rows. I planted them a little closer together than it called for because the seeds were a year or two old, even though one hundred year old seeds are still able to grow. We'll see.
Click to expand...

Gravelys are great machines. Nice neighbor. In the future you might want to space out your plantings over several weeks. By planting some each week you will ensure a continuous harvest vs a ton of lettuce, radishes etc all at once.
 
Pretty much everything has broken ground now, as well as my indoor stuff. I still have about half of my other veggies to plant. I bought this: http://www.directive21.com/emergencyseedbank.html for this year, and it was a really well put together package for someone like me. I barely made a dent in the seeds planting a 30x20 garden. I'm freezing the rest of them, and going to attempt to use the seeds from this harvest to plant next year. This was Jack's review from thesurvivalpodcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpA2o3vj8qs
 
coastie said:
...you might want to space out your plantings over several weeks. By planting some each week you will ensure a continuous harvest vs a ton of lettuce, radishes etc all at once.
Click to expand...

I have more yet to plant. I figure I'll share some with family and at work.
 
5-0 said:
Pretty much everything has broken ground now, as well as my indoor stuff. I still have about half of my other veggies to plant. I bought this: http://www.directive21.com/emergencyseedbank.html for this year, and it was a really well put together package for someone like me. I barely made a dent in the seeds planting a 30x20 garden. I'm freezing the rest of them, and going to attempt to use the seeds from this harvest to plant next year. This was Jack's review from thesurvivalpodcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpA2o3vj8qs
Click to expand...

Be careful with these emergency seed banks or garden in a can type things. You are paying a steep premium for packaging. Many of the claims for seed longevity are dubious at best. Claims of bury it in the backyard for decades is not an outright lie but you will have very low germination rates. Seeds like onions are only viable for a couple of years even in the best conditions. You can keep a lot of seed in their envelopes and they will be viable for several years if kept cool and dry.

Don’t believe for a minute that this kit will keep your family fed for a year. There is nowhere near enough seed for that. For a family of 4 you are talking pounds of corn and bean seed to store to grow enough dry staples. For that you really need a dry bean and meal corn variety vs green bean and sweet corn. At least this kit isnt super heavy on things like lettuce, cukes and other salad stuff that isn’t easy to store. The squash, carrots, parsnips, beets and cabbage can all be kept in a cold cellar. Some of the other stuff can be canned or dried.

You have to be able to save the seed. For some vegetables that is a real challenge. Carrots, beets, chard for example take 2 years to produce a seed crop. Others like corn and squash cross easily and need to have varieties segregated. Seed to Seed is an excellent book on the subject.

Also make sure that the food grown is what you regularly eat. It does no good to raise mountains of zucchini if you or your family members hate it.
I do think that this one is one of the better kits out there. It has a good selection but is way over packaged. You can save a lot of money buying seeds directly from the good seed companies or even name brand seed from the big box stores.

Be careful when you take your seed out of the freezer. Let the whole package come to room temp before opening so you dont get condensation in the package. Also the repeated freezing/ thawing can have an effect on seeds. You might be better off breaking the seeds up in to garden kits. So many of each seed per kit. That way you take one kit out and use it completely rather than pulling the whole package in and out of the freezer.
 
Pretty psyched. I went out last night and found that my ginseng and goldenseal have both started well. I have tried for a couple of years to get these going without much success and I think I finally found the right spot in the woods.
 
My fruit trees, bushes, and garden are all located in my yard. So, I obviously don't want to be using chemicals for insects, dandelions, etc. What does everybody use for lawn maintenance that's organic and won't get nasty chemicals into my food? Also curious to know what you use on your gardens, fruit trees, and blueberry bushes.
 
Oil spray on the fruit trees, as well as fruit tree spray. For the lawn, I use weed b gone on a spot by spot basis instead of hammering the whole thing with Scott's. I just use compost and manure in the garden.
 
Planted 1 of 2 gardens (10x30) last weekend. This weekend is supposed to be sunny so I hope to get the 2nd one done on Sunday. I grew up having grandparents who gardened and canned, but never have tried myself in my 45 years of life. Hope success runs in the family genes.
 
digitaldon37 said:
Planted 1 of 2 gardens (10x30) last weekend. This weekend is supposed to be sunny so I hope to get the 2nd one done on Sunday. I grew up having grandparents who gardened and canned, but never have tried myself in my 45 years of life. Hope success runs in the family genes.
Click to expand...

Don't become discouraged, it is a skill that may take many seasons to carefully hone.

Focus on keeping trace of what you do, and when and build your own how-to that works for what you grow and where.

I have, for years struggled with starting from seed. This year, I think I finally have it right. It has taken a while tho.

Best of luck.
 
Transplanted Golden Cabbage and Waltham Butternut squash to the garden from indoor seedlings. Repotted indoor tomato seedlings today from the egg cartons that I started them in. Radishes are going strong. Spinach broke ground, and so did my indoor watermelons.
 
My eggplants are beginning to develop Oedema. [angry] Cukes are less than happy too. Not sure what to do? Need sun, but I do not think we are going to get much of it during the next few weeks. [sad2]

Potatoes and beets seem happy though. And various lettuces and cabbages are doing ok.
 
I planted 2 grapes this week and have 2 pecans to go in. With this weather I havent even got all the tilling done yet. It is frustrating and I am running out of time to get my sorghum in as it needs a fairly long season. Not sure what effect the weather will have on the pollination of my fruit trees but dont think it will be positive. Good news is we are eating our asparagus and had our first lettuce and spinach.
 
I got everything transplanted outdoors this past weekend. I filled the 10x10 garden bed I have and then filled another 20 pots with tomatoe and pepper plants. I put some 4' high trellises in for the cucumbers and beans to grow up. I also planted all the stuff that needs to be started outdoors. The weather has at least been cooperative this past week (sun and some light rain). Hopefully that will continue.
 
I want to build some raised beds later this year for gardening next spring. The spot I want to use, there used to be a swingset there, and I worry about any chemicals etc from the pressure treated wood or stain that may have gotten into the soil. I would hope 4 years later there shouldnt be anything left.
 
edhead35 said:
I want to build some raised beds later this year for gardening next spring. The spot I want to use, there used to be a swingset there, and I worry about any chemicals etc from the pressure treated wood or stain that may have gotten into the soil. I would hope 4 years later there shouldnt be anything left.
Click to expand...

You probably have nothing to worry about, but if you are, there a few things you can do:

1. Remove 6-8” of topsoil and then refill starting with 1-2” of sand and remainder with the mix from my post #26.

Or

2. Just put together taller box like outlined in #26.

In either case start with 1-2” of sand and if you like follow with 1-2” of loosely packed straw/hay, followed by the mix.

Also, I highly recommend you start composting NOW! It takes awhile to get enough of well aged compost. There are a ton of methods you can use, so how you choose to do it depends on your situation, but start asap. [wink]




I LOVE this weather. [party]
 
OPM said:
You probably have nothing to worry about, but if you are, there a few things you can do:

1. Remove 6-8” of topsoil and then refill starting with 1-2” of sand and remainder with the mix from my post #26.

Or

2. Just put together taller box like outlined in #26.

In either case start with 1-2” of sand and if you like follow with 1-2” of loosely packed straw/hay, followed by the mix.

Also, I highly recommend you start composting NOW! It takes awhile to get enough of well aged compost. There are a ton of methods you can use, so how you choose to do it depends on your situation, but start asap. [wink]




I LOVE this weather. [party]
Click to expand...

+1 Right now is a great time to plan next year's garden. You can dig up the spot and start mixing in grass clippings and in a few months leaves.
And you can learn about the best "harvest" every year in New England...rocks.[thinking]

Just planted all my seedlings, corn, sunflowers and pumpkins and had a bumper crop of rocks to add to the border of my raised beds. And I had built a rock wall four years ago when I was prepping the garden.

Seriously, start now for next year!
 
Just picked four soccer ball sized heads of cabbage(thats after greening them. The largest two weighed in over 5lbs each and the others just slightly under 5.

Also picked collards, kale, cukes, cherry tomatoes, and there's 20 or so semi mature acorn squash on the vines with several others forming and many flowers still blooming.

Cabbage and kielbasa for dinner tonight. Canning some sauerkraut this weekend.
 
I pulled my garlic and multiplier onions this week. We are just starting to get into the cukes and cherry tomatoes. We had an outstanding year with the greens and peas. The corn potatoes and dry beans look great. Just planted the last round of beets, carrots and some green beans. I found a bag of potatoes that had sprouted so I threw them in for the heck of it.
 

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