The gardening thread

[BoneSnapDeez]

My and opa, spring 2020, colorized:

I planted my carrots today. Will do green beans and radishes later. I need more soil.

[Anapan]

A little late sprouting seeds this year. Got a few veggies and herbs planted. The rest will be planted in about a week when they'll def. be okay. There was a hail storm a couple of days ago.
Here's picture of the biggest from last year's crop - my buddy standing beside it. I didn't think to take any other pictures when it was fully grown and budded.

[samsonlonghair]

Garden 2020: Planted sweet corn, green beans (roma II), and okra today. Still need to plant peppers and have lettuce to transplant.
Anyone else planted their garden yet?

I used to think I had a brown thumb. Turns out I was just living in a chilly climate with long winters and poor soil.

I moved to Newport News last year and started gardening in earnest. The climate here is so much more amenable to gardening than the mountains of WV. I made a lot of mistakes with last year's garden, but I learned a lot too. The number 1 lesson is that the ground here is too swampy, so everything needs to be grown in a raised bed or container. I like container gardening better because I can move different plants to different locations to experiment which plants grow better where. Some of my plants like a little shade while others demand full sun.

This year my garden is really firing on all cylinders. I am growing
-Tomatoes
-Peas
-Zucchini
-Cantaloupe
-Strawberries
-Spinach
-Bell Peppers
-Grapes
-Blueberries
-Raspberries
-Blackberries
-Basil
-Rosemary
-Sage
-Thyme
-lemongrass
-Oregano
-Tarragon
-Mint
-Chamomile
-and Bee balm to attract pollinators

There was already a rose bush here before I moved in. I started reading about how to take care of roses last month. It turns out they need air flow. Who knew? I pruned out all the spotty leaves. I was afraid I was taking it too far, but the rose bush immediately grew much healthier. That bush is covered in rose blossoms now.

I left a potted mum bush on my porch, and a mother wren made her nest there. The eggs just hatched recently. I get to watch the mother wren bring food to her hatchlings. They're too adorable.

[opa]

How's everything going?

I fertilized and plowed some corn this morning before it got too hot. The heat just saps the energy out of you if you stay in it too long.

I've got broccoli and bell peppers in. We were a little late with the corn and beans but it is up and growing like a weed. I am in need of some rain in my area; things are starting to get a bit dusty. However, we have drip irrigation on the tomatoes and watermelon; could set up more if need be. I can't wait for my hawaiian peppers but it'll probably be the end of August or early September before I get any. They grow to about three feet tall from past experience and they're only a few inches right now.

[opa]

Y'all planning your garden yet? I got a new hoe for Christmas. I'm excited.

I may put an order for seeds in this week. It's looking like some seed companies are starting to run out of some varieties. I had some difficulty getting seed last year 'cause of the pandemic.

I'm contemplating getting chickens... however, I've raised many in the past so I know the headaches they can cause. I'm still ruminating on the matter but fresh eggs are really better than anything you get from a store.

[Anapan]

Too early here to start germinating anything. Got some azuki bean (from-scratch taiyaki!), patty-pan squash and licorice seeds I'm looking forward to trying to grow this year in addition to the usual tomatoes and herbs.

I've wanted to build a chicken tractor for a while, but the last time I got a couple chicks, they turned out to be roosters, and shortly after I realized what sex they were, some predator(s) managed to pull both of them through the chicken-wire of their pen. I never know if I'll be called out of town for work for too long to properly take care of livestock now anyway.

[marurun]

My wife built 2 more raised beds in our front yard. We now have 4. It's WAY too early to start planting, naturally, but I expect we'll be loading up on tomatoes as is the norm for us. We've been pretty successful with basil, rosemary, and thyme, and to an extent even parsley. The cilantro always runs way too early, however, so we can't seem to get much useful crop from that. We do OK with chard and collards 'round here, too, so I expect we'll be growing those again as well. Would be nice to have fewer cucumbers in 2021 than we did in 2020, that's for sure!

[Anapan]

I owe a lot of my cooking technique to Auntie Fee, and one thing that I picked up from her is her "seasoning". She kept a ziploc bag in her freezer of previously chopped up herbs in the right ratio. I do the same now to keep my home-grown herbs useful through the winter. It has a bunch of chopped up celery leaves, thyme leaves (lemon & italian), a little bit of chopped basil, some dill weed, chives, lemon zest, and lots of parsley. I freeze it on a cookie sheet so when it's scraped off it's useable from the ziploc bag sprinkled into my cooking.

[opa]

I've seen some chicken tractors before but haven't really looked into it. They seem neat; doesn't look as secure as a chicken house though.

You'll always have more squash/cucumbers than you'll ever know what to do with. lol. Same with okra.

I got my seed order in for the uncommon plant varieties I wanted. Whenever they show up I'll throw 'em in the fridge until I'm ready for them. I was going switch things up this year and give Baker Creek seeds a try, but they shut down ordering for a bit as they catch up on orders. I wound up ordering through Victory Seeds again. I usually have great germination with their seed stock so I'm looking forward to the new stuff I picked (popcorn, red okra, purple broccoli, etc)