***What's growing? The official garden thread***

deadendp

northerndragon said:

The Juggler said:

planted 3 types of tomatoes, a few different kinds of peppers and strawberries yesterday. well, my wife did. we don't really know what the hell we're doing though. you guys water twice a day?

Depends on the circumstances. If it is really hot (around 30 degrees-90 for the yanks- or more) and the plants are in a green house than yes. Otherwise once a day while every thing gets established(about a week) and then every other day.
The big thing to check for is moisture content below the soil surface, don't rely on weather the ground looks dry at the surface. Check to about a half inch below if damp your good. Once you find the happy place for your location and growing area it will be easy.

Mulch is helpful in keeping weeds down and moisture in. If you planted tomatoes outside and water twice a day, you may end up with an ugly thing called Blossom End Rot. Take caution with that.

I still have the butterfly gardens in the back to manage, but I have weeded, transplanted and seeded things in the front beds, planted hanging baskets (because those things at the store cost too much), trimmed ivy down to a manageable sum, trimmed the rose bush (it was up to the overhang), transplanted tomato volunteers, planted some purchased pepper plants, weeded the driveway (it's gravel), got the rain barrel up for operation and planted the top of it and my kiddo weeded and planted our little garden plot in some delightfully delicious non-GMO Italian green beans.

I'm tired.

Leezestarr313

Our nighbour lent us his tiller today, and Cav tilled like a maniac. We turned former lawn into a garden bed, and it looks awesome. The garden has triple size now. I planted some of my tomatoes, some cukes, melons and put seeds in fr carrots, chard, beets, radishes and beans. And potatoes! Somehow my fingerling seeders and the seed garlic turned into a moldy mess, I guess I stored them wrong. But thank goodness not all was lost. Now we wait and hope that the critters don't dig everything out. The robins were stoked for their dinner

oftenreading

deadendp said:

northerndragon said:

The Juggler said:

planted 3 types of tomatoes, a few different kinds of peppers and strawberries yesterday. well, my wife did. we don't really know what the hell we're doing though. you guys water twice a day?

Depends on the circumstances. If it is really hot (around 30 degrees-90 for the yanks- or more) and the plants are in a green house than yes. Otherwise once a day while every thing gets established(about a week) and then every other day.
The big thing to check for is moisture content below the soil surface, don't rely on weather the ground looks dry at the surface. Check to about a half inch below if damp your good. Once you find the happy place for your location and growing area it will be easy.

Mulch is helpful in keeping weeds down and moisture in. If you planted tomatoes outside and water twice a day, you may end up with an ugly thing called Blossom End Rot. Take caution with that.

I still have the butterfly gardens in the back to manage, but I have weeded, transplanted and seeded things in the front beds, planted hanging baskets (because those things at the store cost too much), trimmed ivy down to a manageable sum, trimmed the rose bush (it was up to the overhang), transplanted tomato volunteers, planted some purchased pepper plants, weeded the driveway (it's gravel), got the rain barrel up for operation and planted the top of it and my kiddo weeded and planted our little garden plot in some delightfully delicious non-GMO Italian green beans.

I'm tired.

Wait, wait, wait....tomato volunteers? Your tomato plants live through the winter and produce new ones? Where I live, tomato plants die in the fall and you buy new ones the next spring.

Or maybe it's just me - I'm no whiz at gardening.

The Juggler

deadendp said:

northerndragon said:

The Juggler said:

planted 3 types of tomatoes, a few different kinds of peppers and strawberries yesterday. well, my wife did. we don't really know what the hell we're doing though. you guys water twice a day?

Depends on the circumstances. If it is really hot (around 30 degrees-90 for the yanks- or more) and the plants are in a green house than yes. Otherwise once a day while every thing gets established(about a week) and then every other day.
The big thing to check for is moisture content below the soil surface, don't rely on weather the ground looks dry at the surface. Check to about a half inch below if damp your good. Once you find the happy place for your location and growing area it will be easy.

Mulch is helpful in keeping weeds down and moisture in. If you planted tomatoes outside and water twice a day, you may end up with an ugly thing called Blossom End Rot. Take caution with that.

I still have the butterfly gardens in the back to manage, but I have weeded, transplanted and seeded things in the front beds, planted hanging baskets (because those things at the store cost too much), trimmed ivy down to a manageable sum, trimmed the rose bush (it was up to the overhang), transplanted tomato volunteers, planted some purchased pepper plants, weeded the driveway (it's gravel), got the rain barrel up for operation and planted the top of it and my kiddo weeded and planted our little garden plot in some delightfully delicious non-GMO Italian green beans.

I'm tired.

thanks guys!

deadendp

oftenreading said:

deadendp said:

northerndragon said:

The Juggler said:

planted 3 types of tomatoes, a few different kinds of peppers and strawberries yesterday. well, my wife did. we don't really know what the hell we're doing though. you guys water twice a day?

Depends on the circumstances. If it is really hot (around 30 degrees-90 for the yanks- or more) and the plants are in a green house than yes. Otherwise once a day while every thing gets established(about a week) and then every other day.
The big thing to check for is moisture content below the soil surface, don't rely on weather the ground looks dry at the surface. Check to about a half inch below if damp your good. Once you find the happy place for your location and growing area it will be easy.

Mulch is helpful in keeping weeds down and moisture in. If you planted tomatoes outside and water twice a day, you may end up with an ugly thing called Blossom End Rot. Take caution with that.

I still have the butterfly gardens in the back to manage, but I have weeded, transplanted and seeded things in the front beds, planted hanging baskets (because those things at the store cost too much), trimmed ivy down to a manageable sum, trimmed the rose bush (it was up to the overhang), transplanted tomato volunteers, planted some purchased pepper plants, weeded the driveway (it's gravel), got the rain barrel up for operation and planted the top of it and my kiddo weeded and planted our little garden plot in some delightfully delicious non-GMO Italian green beans.

I'm tired.

Wait, wait, wait....tomato volunteers? Your tomato plants live through the winter and produce new ones? Where I live, tomato plants die in the fall and you buy new ones the next spring.

Or maybe it's just me - I'm no whiz at gardening.

My tomato volunteers are from the little cherry tomatoes that fell to the ground, were far too squishy for me to pick up (ewww) and I left them for the critters. Sometimes the seed stays viable and sprout new tomatoes for the next year. Since I don't give Monsanto my money and the seed I buy is pure non-GMO, tomatoes will come up the next year. I think that I had maybe 12 volunteers total. I gave my neighbors a handful of volunteers and saved three for us.

I buy seed from Baker Creek Seed. Since you are in Canada, you may not be able to purchase seed from them. I'm also zone 5/6 for planting. (We used to be 5, but it seems like the zone 6 line shifts back and forth right about where I'm at.)

I love volunteers. Currently up to my eyeballs in Rose of Sharon and milkweed volunteers.

shortstack

deadendp said:

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My tomato volunteers are from the little cherry tomatoes that fell to the ground, were far too squishy for me to pick up (ewww) and I left them for the critters. Sometimes the seed stays viable and sprout new tomatoes for the next year. Since I don't give Monsanto my money and the seed I buy is pure non-GMO, tomatoes will come up the next year.

ah....so this is why my cherry tomatoes took over my garden and came back the next year. good to know, thanks.

deadendp

^^ They are the tomato that keeps on giving. And giving. And giving.

RKCNDY

I ate the first pea from my plant today...it was delicious. I need to give them more room next year...they are getting huge.
My Chinese broccoli got too woody, I need to harvest it sooner, but I'm glad they are doing well. I see the baby raspberries and strawberries pushing out.
I bought one of those roll out flower mats (it's the butterfly and hummingbird one), and despite the reviews, it's filled out the planter nicely.
The rest of it looks alright, I hope everything else will catch up. They seem to be just hanging out, not getting any bigger, but at least they didn't die.
Now I need to find a spot for corn and sunflowers...hope the corn will do alright, I'm really late planting it.

Leezestarr313

Good luck with the corn! Ours turned out pretty good, we did it twice. Not sure we will have some this year. The patch is bigger, but somehow there is no room. We planted a lot of potatoes and garlic, and I have hardly any room left lol At this point, I am closely watching the baby plants I set out this weekend. Somehow they all seemed to have been shocked by being put outside. I hope it was not too early for them to go into the garden...

deadendp

^^ Did you harden them off or take them straight out from the house and directly to the ground?

Leezestarr313

I "hardened" them off by setting them in the sunroom for a bit and then in the sun. It was actually warmer outside than inside. Never had a problem planting them into the beds before, so I did not do anything different this time around. I guess I should become a bit more meticulous

Leezestarr313

On a wonderful sidenote, I just got to see that our magnolia that we planted a couple of weeks ago has four blooms today! Seems like it feels right at home

deadendp

I've scorched lil plants by transitioning them out too fast. For whatever it is worth, if that is what is going on, they'll probably be okay. Once they get bigger, if you have funked out leaves, just pinch them off.

Leezestarr313

I will closely watch Right now, I am waiting for the rain to come. It's been announced the whole day, the plants are thirsty.

deadendp

We're in the middle of a storm right now. Rain swirled from directions it never does. Plants are watered tonight!

Leezestarr313

It just went over here too. Quite a lot of water!

RKCNDY

My starts are all doing really well, I can probably plant them outside this weekend. I make them spend the days outside, and at night they stay in the garage. The packages said I'd have 70% germination...I got more like 99%, they all look good, so I'm having a hard time deciding which ones to keep, and which ones to kill off, I just don't have enough room to plant them all.

My lemon squash looks so sickly, I'll have to pull it tomorrow. Everything else looks good, a little concerned about the peppers, they haven't gotten any bigger, and are still green.

Had the first strawberry yesterday, it we delicious! Had some romaine, lots of peas too...we've been throwing them in with stir fry, and salads. Those plants are out of control, out grew the tomato cages, so I had to tie on bamboo stakes.

Leezestarr313

Nice! We went to the garden center on Sunday and got ourselves some more plants because my sedd starters are doing so poorly. We went all crazy, I hope I find room for everything This time around I even got some eggplant, a japanese kind. WE'll see how that goes. I am just excited to have something going on in the garden finally. The potatoes look fantastic, they are almost at the stage where we need to put more dirt on. The garlic is coming out, which I find fascinating because I have never worked with seed garlic. Only downside is it pours don here like crazy almost every second day. We did not go for raised beds, so I hope the plants will survive the regular flooding.

lazloblue

I have a small raised bed garden. My Anaheim peppers are going crazy. I have harvested a dozen or so already. My Tomatoes are popping out all over. I should have some of those ready for picking in about two weeks. The rest of my garden is herbs. Rosemary, mint and basil. All of the herbs are growing like weeds. Ive been harvesting and giving to co workers already.

I think it helped that we have had so much rain in Houston this spring.

MayDay10

I got my usual hot pepper extravaganza going. Have some great looking plants going up and some peppers are growing already. I have a bunch of Jalapeno plants, 3 Habanero, some Hot Banana Peppers, some Sweet Banana Peppers, a Hot Portuguese Pepper plant, Serrano Peppers, something else I forgot. Also have a Red Bell Pepper plant, Zucchini, Tomato, and Cherry Tomato. Oh yeah, some basil and chives too.

I had small ones planted, but we had a sudden frost one night in May and wiped out most of what I had. I couldnt get them protected on time. Found a great nursery though who had a great selection of really great plants which were much more mature than the ones ravaged by frost.

Finally getting some rain here too which is good.