Author Topic: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022  (Read 27813 times)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #150 on: March 30, 2022, 04:54:44 AM »
My beef tomato has finally sprouted, after 2 weeks. I pulled out the other seedlings in the same pot, but kept another pot with a seedling as a backup. I will have to pull it out later, as I don't want 2 such big tomatoes.

Thank carrot that I sowed from very old seed have started to sprout something. Not sure yet that it is not a weed.

Only thing that hasn't sprouted is the Mirasol chili from very old seeds, probably heated as well.

Roots&Wings

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #151 on: April 01, 2022, 05:45:52 AM »
Bumper crop of loquats this year, may have to freeze some. Surinam cherry and pitangatubas are flowering. Four pineapples are starting to fruit.

Harvested another two 24 oz containers of jaboticaba and it's still going strong, love that it staggers production instead of fruiting all at once. Made bananas cake with all the ripe bananas.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #152 on: April 01, 2022, 09:19:31 AM »
Bumper crop of loquats this year, may have to freeze some. Surinam cherry and pitangatubas are flowering. Four pineapples are starting to fruit.

Harvested another two 24 oz containers of jaboticaba and it's still going strong, love that it staggers production instead of fruiting all at once. Made bananas cake with all the ripe bananas.

Some of these are made-up names, right? This is a test?!

Roots&Wings

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #153 on: April 03, 2022, 06:10:17 AM »
Bumper crop of loquats this year, may have to freeze some. Surinam cherry and pitangatubas are flowering. Four pineapples are starting to fruit.

Harvested another two 24 oz containers of jaboticaba and it's still going strong, love that it staggers production instead of fruiting all at once. Made bananas cake with all the ripe bananas.

Some of these are made-up names, right? This is a test?!

Ha! No it wasn't an April fools :) One of the joys of subtropical gardening include the many odd names!
« Last Edit: April 03, 2022, 06:11:54 AM by Roots&Wings »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #154 on: April 08, 2022, 04:18:58 AM »
Yesterday I repotted my young chilies and peppers to their final pots. They seem to thrive. Although 1 bell pepper came out wrong. It was very stuck in it's pot and eventually the stem came out without most of it's roots. To rescue it, I pulled off most of the leaves and hope it will grow new roots. Otherwise I have 3 other bell pepper plants, as well as 4 sweet peppers.

The kale that I repotted is looking good. But the sage I repotted looks miserable. At least half the seedlings is laying flat down and looking dead. I think the problem might be that I put it in soil that was standing outside in almost freezing temperatures, without climatizing it indoors. And maybe I repotted the smallest ones too soon. At least a few of the sage seedlings are looking somewhat okay. I put the remaining ones from a darker room to a window sil in a lighter room, in the hope that light is good for them. I just hope that a few survice. The basil that I repotted to 1 seedling per pot are looking good. But of the remaining pots with 4 seedlings per pot, one pot has died.

The old spinach seeds that I sowed widely with many in a low box are surpricingly sprouting quite many seedlings. I hope I can leave them in that pot. Upstairs I have crop lettuce as well, but sown with only 4 seeds in such a low box. They seem to be doing fine. The upstairs room is not heated at all, but it is reasonably light.

I sowed the winter carrots and peas for our cabin into standing up milk cartons. They are in a plastic crate outside, as people recommended me.

My garic is divided. I planted 4 garlic cloves that are sprouting green shoots and looking well, althouhg 1 has sprouted from both ends. They are from 1 garlic bulb. The other 4 garlic cloves that I planted have grown 2 small buds and the other are just not visible. Those are also from 1 garlic bulb, this is a type of garlic with only 4 cloves per bulb. With one bulb, I made the error to cut off the stem before drying it. I think the cloves from that bulb without stem might be the ones that are functioning so badly. Next week it will get warm outside during daytime, so I hope the remaining garlics will grow green shoots. I guess I will have to save the best garlic for growing new plants next year.

My tomatoes are growing fine, after the smallest one had a stop and started to grow again. The 2 microbush tomatoes are slowly filling their small pot. The beef tomato is still very small and doing well, as are the 2 backup seedlings, that I might need to give away. I bought a dedicated 28 liter tomato pot for the beef tomato, with a water reservoir underneath.

The 3 zucinnies are growing really well. I am making a plan of where to put them next. I just need it to be warm enough outside to plant them out. And if it is warm enough, DH will repot his grapes to a large crate outside and free up many pots which I need for the small tomatoes and the lovage that is in the crate that 2 zucinnines will need to move into. I will put the third zucinni in a bucket.

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #155 on: April 10, 2022, 11:05:18 AM »
Any recommendations for buying plants frugally?  I'm planning to buy a tomato, blackberry and raspberry plant but not sure where.  I did post in the general board but thought I'd ask here as well.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #156 on: April 10, 2022, 11:58:10 AM »
Any recommendations for buying plants frugally?  I'm planning to buy a tomato, blackberry and raspberry plant but not sure where.  I did post in the general board but thought I'd ask here as well.

Tomatoes are easy to sow from seed. You can buy seed, or can ask on a local seedling give-away group if you can get a side stem from a person who grows indeterminate tomatoes. Those sidestems are cut off the whole season. You can put them in water, grow roots and then put in soil. You can also ask for leftover seeds in a seed giveaway group. I bought some seeds from a private person for half the shop price. The official webshops might have sale now on tomato seeds.

You can also grow a tomatoplant by putting a slice of tomato in soil, if you are allowed to do so in your country (I am not). If that doesn't work, you might need to put tomato pulp in a jam jar in the window sill for a few days. Then plant a seed in soil.

For raspberries, and I guess also blackberries, you can ask someone who has a plant for a cut off, or "steal" some from an existing plant somewhere. Then put in water until the startbof a root, an then in soil. My experience is that wild raspberries are much smaller than the commercial berries that we once had in our garden, so it might pay off to get a commercial sort. Maybe you can even grow a plant from a berry from the shop? I didn't try that myself, so I don't know how well that works.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #157 on: April 10, 2022, 05:27:53 PM »
Any recommendations for buying plants frugally?  I'm planning to buy a tomato, blackberry and raspberry plant but not sure where.  I did post in the general board but thought I'd ask here as well.

Tomatoes are easy to sow from seed. You can buy seed, or can ask on a local seedling give-away group if you can get a side stem from a person who grows indeterminate tomatoes. Those sidestems are cut off the whole season. You can put them in water, grow roots and then put in soil. You can also ask for leftover seeds in a seed giveaway group. I bought some seeds from a private person for half the shop price. The official webshops might have sale now on tomato seeds.

You can also grow a tomatoplant by putting a slice of tomato in soil, if you are allowed to do so in your country (I am not). If that doesn't work, you might need to put tomato pulp in a jam jar in the window sill for a few days. Then plant a seed in soil.

For raspberries, and I guess also blackberries, you can ask someone who has a plant for a cut off, or "steal" some from an existing plant somewhere. Then put in water until the startbof a root, an then in soil. My experience is that wild raspberries are much smaller than the commercial berries that we once had in our garden, so it might pay off to get a commercial sort. Maybe you can even grow a plant from a berry from the shop? I didn't try that myself, so I don't know how well that works.

Tomatoes are really easy to grow from seed, so you only need a few seeds. 

Commercial raspberry (and strawberry) varieties are clones (no sex), so to get the same fruit use the stem cutting or ask someone if you can dig up a bit of root from one of their plants.  They always need cutting back, so it is not a great sacrifice for the person giving you the root bit.  Berries come from sex(!) so they will not be true to the parent.

The tomato piece in soil just means the seeds haven't had the same treatment as if they are allowed to ferment (the pulp in a jar method), so diseases could be present.  But if the original tomato is a hybrid, the resulting babies may not be what you expected. Better to get a few seeds.  If they are open pollinated they will breed true and you can save seeds for next year.

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #158 on: April 10, 2022, 06:22:28 PM »
I love seeing the different time zones and climates here. It reminds me how wide and far reaching this forum is.  This week I planted about 150 onion seedlings but nothing else. Today I prepared the bed where I'm going to plant sugar snap peas. I'm going to soak them overnight and plant them tomorrow. This year I'm planting sugar snap and trying yellow sugar snaps with seeds from Johnny's Select Seeds. I am always looking to grow something different in my garden. I participate in the local farmers market and having something different to sell is always a money maker.

I've got a ton of tomatoes coming up under my grow lights. I planted 12 different kinds but the ones I really love aren't doing too well. They're Amish Paste and they're from last year but all of the other heirlooms from 2021 are coming up. I have 5 different kinds of peppers - bell, jalapeno, poblanos, aji dulces and some seeds by best friends mom saved for me. I have absolutely no idea what they are but I planted them anyway. It's been windy and cold so I can't get out and do too much.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #159 on: April 11, 2022, 03:30:20 AM »
I love seeing the different time zones and climates here. It reminds me how wide and far reaching this forum is.  This week I planted about 150 onion seedlings but nothing else. Today I prepared the bed where I'm going to plant sugar snap peas. I'm going to soak them overnight and plant them tomorrow. This year I'm planting sugar snap and trying yellow sugar snaps with seeds from Johnny's Select Seeds. I am always looking to grow something different in my garden. I participate in the local farmers market and having something different to sell is always a money maker.

I've got a ton of tomatoes coming up under my grow lights. I planted 12 different kinds but the ones I really love aren't doing too well. They're Amish Paste and they're from last year but all of the other heirlooms from 2021 are coming up. I have 5 different kinds of peppers - bell, jalapeno, poblanos, aji dulces and some seeds by best friends mom saved for me. I have absolutely no idea what they are but I planted them anyway. It's been windy and cold so I can't get out and do too much.

Oops, I forgot to soak my peas. I just put them in watered soil and hope they will still sprout. Norwegian people adviced me to put them outside in a platic crate, so they might need a lot of time to sprout. This is no problem.

I also find it fun to read about people who make a garden in a desert-like environment. So different from my situation.

Today I am going to repot my squashes for the second time, and now to a bucket. I obviously started them too early, because they are getting pretty big already. And it is still a month before it is warm enough for them outside.

Yesterday we had a lot of sun for the first time since a while. This was the first sun since I had repotted my peppers and moved them in front of a window with more sun. They started to hand some leaves during the day. I had to move them to a more tempered light place. This is inside the house! I need to train them up for standing outside as well. So I hope they get used to inside bright sun soon and I can put them out an hour a day during warm weather at first after that.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #160 on: April 11, 2022, 07:23:34 AM »
Relative to other trees like apples, persimmons, and plums, my success rate in grafting pawpaw trees over to improved varieties has been pretty terrible. This year, I'm trying hot-pipe grafting to hopefully get better results. The basic premise is that the joint between the rootstock and scion wood is kept warm while everything else is kept cool. This allows the joint to quickly heal in a controlled location (i.e., no wind, birds, etc.) and by the time the tree is ready to be planted (about a month later) the grafted part is ready to quickly grow.

While there fancier setups that offer precise heating of the joint, mine was just pipe insulation and a strand of old incandescent lights as a heat source. Total cost (not including trees) was about $5.

Captain Pierogi

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #161 on: April 11, 2022, 03:01:16 PM »
I'm three years into vegetable gardening, but this is the first year I've tried colder weather vegetables and using floating row covers.  I love it!  I've got broccoli, romaine, kale, and swiss chard transplanted into the ground and all doing well so far.  Peas direct sowed are starting to sprout.  Garlic planted last fall is doing nicely.  No sign of the fall-planted shallots yet, but I stalk them daily in case they make an appearance :)  So nice to extend the growing season this way.

Seedlings in progress - cherry and plum tomato, bell pepper, fairytale eggplant, a variety of herbs, and a few varieties of annual flowers.  To be started indoors in a few weeks - bush beans, squash, tomatillos, and the super cute (and new foray for me!) sugar cube cantaloupe.

Also propagating a few house plants for outdoor patio pots.  Can't wait!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #162 on: April 12, 2022, 07:09:43 AM »
I sowed my zuccini too early, so they will grow big indoors before they can move out. I repotted them from medium size puts to a bucket each. They are developing their 5th leave and the third leave was already making it big.

I also repotted a few tomatoes to the medium sized zuccini pots.

I also repotted my kaffir lime sprouts that had stagnated for a long time, months. After getting advice from fb, I gave them a new, smaller pot with fresh soil. The soil they were standing in was so wet that it was all muddy. I hope they will recover and restart growing.

dougules

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #163 on: April 14, 2022, 07:47:53 PM »
Wondering about @dougules, how does your garden grow? Hope your FIREmoon is going well!

Sorry it took me so long to get back, but I've been sort of out of it.  Decompression has been rough for me, so I'm torn on whether to plant a garden or just chill and have a nice garden in 2023.   It's mid-April, so now's the time to decide. 

My blueberry bushes are completely covered in tiny little berries, so the potential is definitely there that I will be spending plenty time anyway picking berries this summer.  Fingers crossed!


dougules

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #164 on: April 14, 2022, 07:53:26 PM »
Bumper crop of loquats this year, may have to freeze some. Surinam cherry and pitangatubas are flowering. Four pineapples are starting to fruit.

Harvested another two 24 oz containers of jaboticaba and it's still going strong, love that it staggers production instead of fruiting all at once. Made bananas cake with all the ripe bananas.

Some of these are made-up names, right? This is a test?!

Ha! No it wasn't an April fools :) One of the joys of subtropical gardening include the many odd names!

I'm kind of jealous of your subtropical climate.  It would be so cool to be able to grow all those exotic fruits. 

Roots&Wings

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #165 on: April 15, 2022, 10:11:11 AM »
Tending your blueberries sounds perfectly lovely @dougules :) Am I remembering right that you have paw paws? Figs? They can be a bit hardier. 

Thinking of trying a fig espalier...

dougules

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #166 on: April 16, 2022, 07:34:29 PM »
Tending your blueberries sounds perfectly lovely @dougules :) Am I remembering right that you have paw paws? Figs? They can be a bit hardier.

Thinking of trying a fig espalier...

I wish I had paw paws.  I did actually plant a little tree I bought one time, but I didn't know what I was doing, and it didn't make it. 

My parents have a big fig tree.  I ought to plant one here, although DH doesn't like figs, so it's probably better to grow what DH will eat too. 

I do have a monster of a mulberry tree, too.  It's covered in little mulberries right now, and they ripen really fast.  It should have a few ripe in a couple weeks.  I hope the birds leave me a few.  It's amazing how fast they can completely strip the berries off a tree that's the size of a small house and totally loaded. 

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #167 on: April 17, 2022, 09:12:08 AM »
I am now letting my young sprouts getting used to the wind, sun and a bit colder morning temperature. I hope they are hardy enough to stay outside when we go on vacation in a few weeks, the first and second week of May.

E.T.

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #168 on: April 21, 2022, 11:10:23 AM »
My Tiny Garden is starting to show some color. Love how fast everything starts growing in the spring. This is a perennial native / native cultivar garden. The moss phlox are fully flowering and the Virginia bluebells are just starting to flower.  I really like the phlox and how fluffy it looks now that it's flowering.

The empty looking spot in the middle of the closest square is a dogwood bush and I'm very interested to see how it grows out. I chopped it to the ground this spring because the shape was terrible last year, so I'm hoping that helps it have a better shape this year. The nursery I got it from had pruned it to about a foot tall so when new branches grew in last summer they looked very strange. It was like a short little bush in the middle with a ring of long new branches all around the foot of the plant, it was quite bizarre.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #169 on: April 22, 2022, 06:20:07 AM »
@E.T.
Nice colours indeed.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #170 on: April 22, 2022, 06:27:41 AM »
My seedlings survived the period of my DD care while I recovered from surgery.

Spring is coming fast this weekend.   I still can't lift any thing but I can give orders....

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #171 on: April 22, 2022, 06:44:16 AM »
I am sort of preparing for a 2 week vacation in May, with a house full of plants, tiny, small and medium sized. We have for days been carrying everything outside as soon as outside temperatures is around 15Celsius. In the beginning just an hour, then more. Now I carry them out in the morning and collect them in the afternoon. I covered the soil with leca so that it might keep the moist. That is about 16 large pots, 2 plastic crates, a few trays and additional milk cartons, yoghurt pots and other pots. This includes DH's grapes.

This morning I reached over some plants to touch small basil plants in the back and I heard a knacking sound. That was one of Brazilian Starfish chilies that had knacked it's whole upper part. I hope the plant survives. I put the top into a glass of water, after removing kost of the leaves. I'll put it in soil before we leave. Another cutoff that I treated this way is now growing flowers! I have removed the flower, as I think it is a bit early for such a small plant with hardly any leaves. But at least, it works. This was just a testing plant.

I am still hoping someone wants to adopt my 2 tomato plants that I don't want to keep. They look healthy and I do not want to kill them. But I might have to. I don't have the equipment and place to grow 3 adult biff tomatoes.

The whole morning I repotted a lot of the young herbs from their egg carton into bigger pots (paper coffee cups), also separating them into several cups. All those may stay inside today, in front of the window.

I am also growing mint from seed. The biggest one, that sprouted earliest, has grown leaves that look like a melde (weed) I am familiar with, Chenopodium album. It would be weird to grow a weed, but I keep it, because it is edible and tastes mild. And maybe I am wrong and it will become a mint. I looked at a youtube film about growing mint. I think at least one of the plants that I repotted looks like a mint. The remaining ones are just tiny, so they stay in their egg carton.

The lovage that grew in a large crate last year, is starting to make shoots! It looks healthy. The 2 lovages that spent the winter in pots are not showing anything yet. The biggest one I should be able to split at some point in the future.

My garlics are doing well. One (white) pot still has very small shoots. The other 3 pots (dark colour) are growing high green shoots.

The zuccinies seem to thrive in their buckets. They grow fast and grow in exactly the same way.

Fi(re) on the Farm

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #172 on: April 24, 2022, 06:04:22 PM »
I always plant way too many tomatoes but this year I've managed to give away all of the extra plants. I've ended up with 25, 6 Amish Paste, 6 Martini, 2 Pink Brandywine, 1 Paul Robeson, 1 Purple Cherokee, 2 Mortgage Lifters, 2 Thompson's Terracotta, 1 Purple Cherokee, 2 Beefsteak, 1 Cherry Ember and 1 Sunrise Bumble Bee. The only new seeds that I bought this year were the Martini, Mortgage Lifter and Sunrise Bumble Bee. Tomato seeds tend to last a few years if stored right, I never store them right, I throw them in a basket in my barn and still get a 50% germination rate. The Thompson's Terracotta were free seeds from one of my seed suppliers, Baker's Creek, who always give you free seed if you buy a certain amount. They also sent me pumpkin seeds which I'm going to start indoors this week. A squirrel keeps digging up my sugar snap pea seeds but I've set a trap and sprayed them with pepper spray. I'm hoping that works. Lettuce is going in the ground tomorrow and I hope the bunnies stay away!

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #173 on: April 25, 2022, 03:30:59 PM »
So yesterday I stopped by my local farm and garden store to pick up a bag of urea fertilizer. Yikes! Not only had the price of fertilizer more than doubled, but it now had to be special ordered with payment in advance. There's a county compost site less than 10 minute from my house with all the free compost you can stand so I'll be using massive amounts of that instead.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #174 on: April 27, 2022, 12:14:00 AM »
So yesterday I stopped by my local farm and garden store to pick up a bag of urea fertilizer. Yikes! Not only had the price of fertilizer more than doubled, but it now had to be special ordered with payment in advance. There's a county compost site less than 10 minute from my house with all the free compost you can stand so I'll be using massive amounts of that instead.

@ YttriumNitrate
If you want to use ureum, you can consider "liquid gold". That is your own urine, mixed 1:10 with water. From what I have read, urine contains nitrogen and phosfor.

Just the first site i found about it:
https://www.hemfrid.se/en/tips/liquid-gold-urine-as-fertilizer

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #175 on: April 27, 2022, 12:57:37 AM »
I saw my neighbour/landlord with large plant pots outside. I asked if she wanted some leftover tomato plants. And she wants to try it, despite not having green fingers. So I can donate my 2 extra plants. I tried to sell them first (change for seed bags), without any respons.

I obviously have no completely green fingers. They are often black. As yesterday, I did something horrible, according to 4-5 plants who all had a leave totally wet, shrivled and hanging down, which I cut off in the evening. That shriveling happened after leaving them outside for a whole day in weather with little sun and a lot of wind. The plants are standing i a more or less sheltered spot, but I think the wind came over the top of the wall. I have been carrying the plants outside and inside daily for 2 weeks or so now, starting with only and hour, and building up. I am even letting the kale, the carrots and peas and last night half the celeriac spending the night outside, which was just above 0C. The victoms of the apparrent mistreatment were zuccinis and some tomatoes.

In a weeks time, we are going on a vacation and will be away for almost 2 weeks. The plan was to train the plants to be able to stand outside in that time, the first 2 weeks of May. But I read from other people that they consider the second half of May as the safe date in this region. So my plan is now to let kale, carrots, peas (in the same create as the carrots) and celeriac stand outside in a sheltered place with little sun. And the rest of the plants indoors with the heating turned off. Preferable upstairs where it gets less warm by the sunlight. I hope I can the extra tomatoes away before we leave.

I put all tomatoes in their final pots. The Snegirjok is a microbush with cherrie tomatoes. I gave the biggest one a 5 liter pot. The Red Bugai is a climbing beef tomato and has gotten a 28 liter pot, but has to share it with another, small Snegirjok. I planted some basil and a Tagetes flower in both pots. Basil for the taste and Tagetes for plant health. All my peppers (chili and mild) have also gotten a Tagetes in their pot.

My 4 salad crops are standing upstairs already and look healthy. Except for having a thin, feebly stem, hanging towards the window. They are standing in medium sized pots. But I ordered bigger pots which they will get when they arrive.

The garlics are growing well, now 7 out of 8 that I planted. Don't know what happened to the last one.

I also ordered virus free potatoes which will arrive after we come back from vacation. The potato is called Evolution and is supposed to have some resistance against a lots of things. I have not seen that potato in the shops.

I swapped some seeds with another person and received both leek and chicory. I would really like to try the chicory. But it will get awfully crowded at home as it is to stand here, or at the cabin if it will stand there. I asked and got some free black flower pots, bucket size, at the grocery store. I thought I might use those for chicory. And I ordered potato pots with a window for the potatoes.

I guess I will need to buy a lot of new plant soil. I almost finished 5 bags of 40 liters already, just from potting stuff.

Here are some pictures.
Picture 1 are zuccinis with some leaves cut off, bell peppers and the tomatoes that I am going to keep.
Picture 2 is the place where the plants are standing outside normally. The kale and celeriac are on the table. Both to be tranferred to our cabin later.
Picture 3 is the best window to stand in front of. There is young basil, some of DH's grapes and chili plants, the Cayennes full of peppers.

Sorry that they end up side down on the ipad. Now I even edited the picture to be upside down before I choose it and it stills and up side down on the forum. I give up...
« Last Edit: April 27, 2022, 01:02:28 AM by Linea_Norway »

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #176 on: April 28, 2022, 07:21:49 AM »
It snowed yesterday.  Sigh.

The rhubarb is up, the asparagus is up (too short to harvest yet and at this rate it is just going to sit there).  No sign of the garlic yet.  The gooseberry bush is just starting to leaf out.  The tarragon is up and the strawberries are greening up. No sign of the chives and garlic chives.  The grass infiltrating the garden is green and healthy, darn it.

The chives (up first) and garlic chives and tarragon in pots on the balcony are all up.

The soil is at 9oC at the tip of my thermometer, so about 15 cm deep.  Sunday looks like a good day to plant peas, the nights will be a little warmer and there will be showers on Monday.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #177 on: April 28, 2022, 07:55:59 AM »
@ YttriumNitrate
If you want to use ureum, you can consider "liquid gold". That is your own urine, mixed 1:10 with water. From what I have read, urine contains nitrogen and phosfor.
The trees in my yard that are located in the places less visible to my neighbors are already getting an undiluted version of the fertilizer. ;-) The main problem is scale. A 50lb/22kg bag of urea has about the same amount of urea as 400gal/1500l of urine. I'd need the whole town to start peeing on my trees.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #178 on: April 28, 2022, 08:58:16 AM »
@ YttriumNitrate
If you want to use ureum, you can consider "liquid gold". That is your own urine, mixed 1:10 with water. From what I have read, urine contains nitrogen and phosfor.
The trees in my yard that are located in the places less visible to my neighbors are already getting an undiluted version of the fertilizer. ;-) The main problem is scale. A 50lb/22kg bag of urea has about the same amount of urea as 400gal/1500l of urine. I'd need the whole town to start peeing on my trees.

Well, once made aware of a problem, people can be very accommodating!

~

I am watching the magic of my yard happen, since it's my first spring in this house. Lots of little sections of tulips and daffodils and everything greening out. I mean, garlic mustard is also greening out, so I know I'll have some work to do, but mostly I am just loving everything.

My vegetables and annual & perennial flowers are tucked into a grow tent in the basement still and mostly seem to be doing fine. I suspect they're at a stage when they need a little boost from me in the way of nutrients, since I only used coconut coir to get them started. Not sure how far the lights should be either, but I moved them so they've got more distance between themselves and our lights than they used to have. (The packages say to give them even more room, but given the constraints, they are stuck with their current 18 inches. Reading online, lots of people make them closer though.)

And, a project I'm very excited about, we made a bunch of shiitake logs and one large chestnut mushroom log using plug spawn last weekend. Everything says that we might see some mushrooms this fall, but more likely we'll have to wait until next spring. But they're all outside, raised just off the ground, for now. And we've got some more plug spawn, so we can probably make a couple more logs.

It's so luxurious to have a yard after living in an apartment for years - I still am not quite used to it!

Rosy

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #179 on: April 28, 2022, 03:48:24 PM »
Reporting in from the subtropics:)
Wish the rainy season were here already - I have plant babies and water hogs who still need water twice a day! No rain in sight - 20% chance of rain, the rainclouds just smirk at me and drift away:).
OTOH - I'm glad we haven't been hit with the full humidity and heat of summer yet. If I get up by 6:30 - seven I can garden until eleven most days - until one o'clock on good days.

GARDEN FESTIVAL on Earth Day - we had a blast at the local Green Thumb Festival in St. Petersburg - always well worth a trip.
The best part, I found the top two items on my list for my tropical garden area - I'm still in shock. Truth - there was a guy at the festival leaving with his plants and he literally sang to them. I think he was as thrilled as I was with my purchases.

It's an annual plant fair with plenty of growers large and small, garden clubs ..... music, food trucks, exhibitions and a large tent featuring lectures, plus areas for the kiddos. Always fun to see all the doggies and kids in red wagons and cute carts.
 
I bet they had eight booths with Orchids - yes, I bought one, who can resist orchids? but I was almost as happy to find some very cool handmade terra cotta pots for my orchids. These had a Moroccan look to them but were from Thailand. Unglazed terra cotta with carved-out - open designs.
 
Prices were generally higher than in the past, but there were good deals if you looked, lots of specialty nurseries, a surprising amount of rare, very expensive plants in the $800 to $1500 range.

MY SCORES:
#1 on my list - actually more on my 'dream list' due to its price tag for a decent size palm, LIPSTICK PALM!!!
I first saw one many years ago in the Botanical Garden in Miami and fell in love on the spot.
Back then there was no way a mere mortal could acquire such a prize - hello, plant geek here.
Thanks to the Millenials and their fascination with tropical and rare plants - you gotta love that - rare species are becoming available, growers abound and new species are developed - especially variegated varieties are popular.

My lipstick palm is over five feet plus with many trunks but they do grow slow, another reason for the price tag/size. The one I got sells for around $500 but I paid roughly a fifth of that.
The funny thing is it came from a bamboo nursery down the road from me - they decided to branch out into more tropicals.
I couldn't believe my luck and yup, you guessed it, I will be taking a garden walk there to see their display garden!

#2 on my list - PHARAOH MASK Alocasia. There were a lot of vendors with rare Alocasias but I resisted (due to size and price). This last booth I visited was a mother and son backyard nursery - I walked away with a Hilo Beauty Alocasia ($10 - two ft) and the Pharaoh Mask ($40, but already near three feet tall).
I potted the Hilo Beauty this morning and I will plant the Pharaoh Mask in the garden tomorrow, (it can take sun and heat), most Alocasias need shade.

#3 on my list - WHITE BUTTERFLY GINGER - for the fabulous scent and because it doesn't get as huge or tall as many gingers do. I hope it will be easy to propagate since I'm already thinking of two other places where it would be just perfect.

HERBS and EDIBLES
I actually only visited about half the booths there, it was so large and so crowded. I usually just budget X for whatever interesting plants I come across. Herbs, some rare, some just hard to find, several new to me - tropical edibles to try, and a couple of interesting medicinal herbs.
Also caved and picked up a Ladies Mantle, which doesn't really grow in our zone, not sure if I can even keep it alive in the summer - ugh!
 
FLOWERS - Frangi Pani (Plumeria - the Hawaiian Lei flower), this was actually on my list because I wanted a cool looking "scented" rainbow color one and they also had a coconut scented one... my neighbor and I got a deal by purchasing six - three each. They become small trees, but I am not particularly fond of them losing all their leaves (I prefer evergreens) and they can be hard to design around - skeleton sticks until the leaves and flowers appear in the spring and bloom into November.
I solved this by giving them their own bed and surrounding them with a sea of blue Plumbago, but I really only have space for one more, yet I got three.
So I think I'll plant two right next to the new Firebush in the Habitat, in the Back Forty, they both like sun, have a tropical look and attract a ton of beneficial insects, both are butterfly magnets.

SCORE:
VANILLA ORCHID - we'll see if we can get it to grow and climb and produce Vanilla Beans. I tried once before, unsuccessfully.
We just got cuttings to try our luck.
MOONFLOWER - already potted - why oh why did I buy only one? It's the tropical, sweetly fragranced night-blooming white moonflower.
Perfect for sitting out in the garden in the late evening.

MOONGARDEN
I don't actually have one but I do like white flowers and lush greenery and have been interspersing white blooming jasmine and gardenia and just got some white lilies. It helps to have walkways that use moonlight-reflecting materials, white pavers, white gravel, silver plants, decor and still water that reflects the moonlight.
I've never been able to grow moonflowers from seed - so let's hope this one likes it in my garden.
Even after all those years, the garden is still a work in progress - I both love and hate that gardens are never-ending projects.
Mother Nature likes to keep us on our toes - no one year is ever the same and our gardens change as our lives change.

OOPS
#1 - I also bought a Sandalwood Tree - on a whim, because I love Sandalwood. Well, it takes ten to twenty years and then you have to cut down the entire tree to harvest for the oil (perfume), there is oil in the trunk and in the roots. So there you go - that was sheer folly, but it is about to bloom (creamy white) and it is a beautiful evergreen tree, so hey, I'm perfectly fine with it - I only need to decide where to plant it - I have four potential locations.

#2 - I was looking for a Lemon Verbena and wasn't paying attention. I brought home a different, medicinal variety from Puerto Rico/Mexico.
Once home, I touched the leaves and I knew immediately this had to be a medicinal plant (besides it has a different leaf shape - I really was not paying attention) - a good one too. So in the garden it goes - it will be a small bush and I have just the spot for it.

FOR YOU TOMATO LOVERS
It will be interesting to see if we will have tomatoes into June.
I have several wild (compost) tomatoes that are fruiting or flowering, my first Everglades tomato which is supposed to bloom and produce all year, they like the heat (they are native cherry tomatoes) and my two Romas which I cut back severely when one of them developed some sort of rot. They surprised me with a nice comeback - so there will be sauce:) after all.
I had a beautiful patio tomato that the wind broke at the stem, I saved all the green tomatoes (twenty!) and they all turned red and had great flavor. YAY!
The tiny tomato plant I picked up at the nursery gave us one very fine harvest and decided it was done - OK then, but now we have tomatoes again without planting new.

PEPPERS
A record harvest this year - is ongoing - and I picked up two new plants at the festival to try.
I'd like to find a couple more sweet peppers with a robust flavor.

PROPAGATION
I need to do better propagating the rarer, tropical herbs we like for tea or cooking. I succeeded with one of the Salvias and the Italian Oregano (the one I have right now is actually very flavorful both fresh or dried - sometimes they lack flavor when harvested fresh).
Next, I will try propagating the two varieties of Pineapple Mint and Pineapple Sage that are both a tropical-tasting, fruity delight.

CURRENT STATUS
Several of the major projects are done including removing the monster Bougainvillea. I'm roughly 70% done which is considerably better than I hoped for thanks to some additional help.
Whatever gets done in the next two weeks is a bonus, spring gardening is about to be over for our region.
I'm pushing the envelope to get as much done as possible and by extending the harvest via gardening in partial shade.

NEXT UP are several privacy trellises, freshening up the gazebo area and adding a small shade gazebo near the tropical garden.
I plan on finishing up a couple of water feature projects, one for the critters and one for us - just DIY and a bit of art.
Still haven't found a new fountain and I'm still in the middle of re-designing and planting several areas of the garden. One thing leads to another and causes more work than I anticipated.
There is progress and the end is in sight - sort of. There are always projects that will have to wait until next season - next fall or spring.
Some days it feels like I'm almost there and other days it feels like I'm nowhere close.
Stopping to play with creative projects is not helping either - but it is fun and soul-satisfying.

Happy gardening everyone! - wouldn't it be fun if we could trade climate for a day or a week?

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #180 on: April 28, 2022, 06:44:23 PM »
@Rosy are you sure? 
Happy gardening everyone! - wouldn't it be fun if we could trade climate for a day or a week?

It snowed here yesterday. 

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #181 on: April 29, 2022, 01:50:24 AM »
@Rosy are you sure? 
Happy gardening everyone! - wouldn't it be fun if we could trade climate for a day or a week?

It snowed here yesterday.

We also had some snowflakes here the day before yesterday, at +5 C, very weird.

About clouds laughing at you and drifting past, that happens here as well, apart from those few snowflakes. We have had cloudy days, but no rain. It has rained only twice this spring. The water reservoirs in the south of Norway are very low and therefore our electricity costs several times what it used to. Climate predictions says the Norway will get a lot drier in the future. In the Oslo region we have been noticing this for years, having had very dry summers and autumns. I like to find mushrooms and have noticed many bad seasons.

Today I plan to buy a soil humidity meter. I hope it works better than lifting up the pots. And it should also work for measuring the ground (not in pots).
« Last Edit: April 29, 2022, 01:51:59 AM by Linea_Norway »

Rosy

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #182 on: April 29, 2022, 10:59:05 AM »
@Rosy are you sure? 
Happy gardening everyone! - wouldn't it be fun if we could trade climate for a day or a week?

It snowed here yesterday.

We also had some snowflakes here the day before yesterday, at +5 C, very weird.

About clouds laughing at you and drifting past, that happens here as well, apart from those few snowflakes. We have had cloudy days, but no rain. It has rained only twice this spring. The water reservoirs in the south of Norway are very low and therefore our electricity costs several times what it used to. Climate predictions says the Norway will get a lot drier in the future. In the Oslo region we have been noticing this for years, having had very dry summers and autumns. I like to find mushrooms and have noticed many bad seasons.

Today I plan to buy a soil humidity meter. I hope it works better than lifting up the pots. And it should also work for measuring the ground (not in pots).

I guess this is living proof that we are experiencing a climate change all over the world. It is a lot hotter and windier here than it used to be.

The last time I saw snow was 15 years ago when I took a trip to Germany in January for an international design trade show in Frankfurt.
Came back with the absolute nastiest flu I've ever had, I thought I was gonna die I was so weak - took six months to get over it and I was weakened for a year.
If I were to bet I'd say that it was some sort of Asian flu, one-third were Asian attendees and another third were from Africa - this was not a normal European or stateside flu. If my flight back had been a day later I wouldn't have been able to get out of bed to go home.

I love snow and a crisp walk in the woods the day after it snowed - it is the dreary months of no sunshine that get to me, you begin to think the sun will never shine again. I think this is why spring is my favorite time of year - new start - new beginnings - clean slate - blue skies, green shoots and the return of color.

What I miss is that we have barely a few moments of fall, you have to take a trip to see the leaves change in Georgia or somewhere. Near 90 degrees in November is simply unnatural:), it seems like even the palm trees droop by the end of 'summer'.

Cranky

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #183 on: May 08, 2022, 05:41:11 AM »
Well, the cat ate most of our seed starts - we do have a safer setup planned for next year, but meanwhile we have to buy tomato and pepper starts. Boo!

However, I’ve planted asparagus and raspberries in half of the new raised beds. Peas are coming up. Leeks look good. Lettuce and bok choi coming up. Planted horseradish but haven’t seen any sign of activity.

The garlic I planted last fall seems like only about half of them made it through the winter. Planted the potato bins yesterday. I either need more bins or the rest will have to go into the ground.

It was a very cold spring so everything seems behind.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #184 on: May 08, 2022, 10:38:43 AM »
@Cranky Stupid cat.

Chili/pepper:
My bell peppers are getting a flower, so far just one out of every 4 plants. But it is a start. The Cayenne chilis are still full of green peppers, but one of them is also producing red pepoers, some really small. Weird action, maybe a stress reaction?

Zuccini:
My zuccinis are growing lots of leaves. I presume they thrive in their buckets. Even the one that cut off a lot of leaves is now growing well.

Tomatoes:
My tomatoes are looking good. The microbushes are really bushy with a wide and sturdy stem. The indeterminate is growing upwards and developing new leaves. I think it is already growing the beginnings of thieves.

Currents:
Our currents are full of currents-to-be. I repotted the ones in small pots to bigger pots. It looked like they needed it, with roots growing all over the outside.

Lettuce:
I repotted also the 4 lettuces. They are growing, but at the same rate as earlier. I have been cutting off leaves regularly for eating, so they don't look great.

Celeriac:
I also repotted some of the celeriacs. They had only tiny bits of root at the outside, so maybe the could have waited. Now 5 of them are in bigger pots, or in a bucket, and the remaining 6 or so, will have to stay in the 1/2 liter yoghurt bin for another month or so until the can be planted into the garden-to-be at the cabin.

Various vegetables:
I have sowed som extra peas, which are not sprouting yet. But I checked my sowing diary and last time it took 17 days to sprout. The beans that I sowed are also taking their time. Even though I did soak them for some hours. Probably still not soaked long enough. The beetroot that I sawed is also taking time. All these seeds are standing outside while waiting to sprout. The leek that I sowed a while ago is growing fine. But they stay very thing, like the chives. I hope they will grow wider as well. I have also sowed chicory, in buckets that are outside. Nothing happening to far.

Herbs:
In addition I have our outside dining table full of yoghurt pots with kale and celeriac, as well as smaller pots with rosemary, thyme, sage, chives, dragon, which I am overpotting to bigger pots regularly. Especially the sage and dragon are fast growing. The biggest kale is also growing pretty big for it's pot.

Mint:
The peppermint from seed is still extremely small and I think I am doing something wrong, or the seeds were bad. Therefore, I bought a not specified by type mint plant in the grocery store. Ate about half of it and made cuttings of the rest. Put them into soil. The first batch started to hang their leaves immediately after putting them into the sun, apart from 1 plant that I removed more leaves from. I cut off more leaves then and put the pot in front of a north facing window, without sun. Now they are doing well.

Citrus:
My 2 tiny kaffir limes might be recovering from minths of overwatering. After repotting them to dry soil, and after putting them in the bright sun outside, they are growing their biggest leave bigger. So there is hope.

Basil:
Otherwise I have a lot of basil plants, growing in number all the time as I split them further. After repotting, they grow well alone in a pot. I still have several that are growing grouped, but the groups are not to big as they used to be. Those will be used for dinner. The single ones can become a bigger plant.

Potatoes:
Now it looks like the potatoes that I ordered will arrive before the potato pots will. If they look nice, without sprouts, I might first lay them in front of the window until they sprout. Then I might be able to plant them at the cabin afterwards. Otherwise, I guess I need to grow them in a bucket at first and repot them into a potato pot later. The potato pot will have a door in the side that can be opened to take out potatoes. I have almost used up the second sack of soil from the 3 I bought recently, thinking of the potatoes. So I might have to buy even more soil. I have less than 1,5 bag left.

Flowers:
We got a lot of sunflowers in the growing crate with the currents. We have a bird feeder that is supposed to be spiked against a tree, but is standing loose. It has been standing on the corner of the plant crate. Every time there was a wild storm, as that has been here often, and we didn't put it somewhere safe fast, it fell upside down into the plant crate. We have picked out about 12 sun flowers so far. They are now growing in a juice pack and might be planted at our cabin.

Lovage:
The lovage that grew from seed last year is now growing several thick shoots and growing lots of leaves. Last year it was a tiny plant and I didn't feel so comfortable cutting off leaves. I think this year it will become quit a big bush. And next year I might need to divide it already. The lovage needs big amount of water.

Garlic:
Three out of four pots are growing really well. The forth is not doing anything. So I now have 7 garlics growing. I might keep 4 for reproduction. I hope they will produce some bulbills, so I have some more to grow next year without using the garlic itself. This type of garlic only has 4 feds, so you don't get many plants for each.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #185 on: May 13, 2022, 08:58:13 AM »
Well @Frugal Lizard had recommended that we wait a full year before making changes to the yard, and we've mostly stuck to that in the backyard. (Fine, we planted 4 bushes and a cherry tree, but mostly we've left it alone!)

But just for fun, I bought a bunch of seeds for native flowers (coneflowers, columbine, butterfly weed) and have been growing them in the basement.

And you know? Despite how many times I parroted to my partner that we don't know if we might already have something that we want, clearly I didn't believe this myself. Just strolled around the backyard and we've got loads of columbine.

Guess we'll see what else comes up! (I have a friend willing to take anything I give her, or some guerilla gardening plans, so nothing will go to waste.)

And I just saw a mention about using invasive garlic mustard to make pesto! Wish I'd remembered that yesterday when I pulled a lot of it. Then again, I'm sure I'll have plenty more opportunities.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #186 on: May 13, 2022, 01:05:58 PM »
Today we created the new vegetable garden at our cabin, inside an unused dog pen. We had some wooden beams laying around which are used for the front. And old planks in the back. Carton underneath. Some recycled sandy soil which we dug up when we built the terrace, some vermaculite, woodcurls, some cow manure soil, some chicken manure pallets and a few sacks of new plant soil.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #187 on: May 24, 2022, 04:21:11 PM »
I planted some of my onion seedlings on Friday.  We had that huge storm - I went to plant the rest today and the ones I had already planted were dead dead dead.  We are going down to 5C tonight but the onion seedlings have been on the balcony for a while so are well acclimated.  The lid to my composter was a few gardens over.  One pea netting pole was upside down but still attached to the netting.  Given the ferocity of the storm, I am happy there was no more damage.  And the rhubarb had sent up huge flower stalks - they were fine.  Rhubarb is tough.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #188 on: May 25, 2022, 10:53:01 AM »
I planted some of my onion seedlings on Friday.  We had that huge storm - I went to plant the rest today and the ones I had already planted were dead dead dead.  We are going down to 5C tonight but the onion seedlings have been on the balcony for a while so are well acclimated.  The lid to my composter was a few gardens over.  One pea netting pole was upside down but still attached to the netting.  Given the ferocity of the storm, I am happy there was no more damage.  And the rhubarb had sent up huge flower stalks - they were fine.  Rhubarb is tough.

I am so sorry for your onion seedlings. It happened to me once with zuccini.

Where I live it is almost always quite windy, often from the north or the south. Some days ago I put my plants (chilis, tomatoes and zuccini) the southside of the house for optimal early sun, but they stand in the very hard wind when it blows from the south. Alternative is a shielded area to the west where the sun arrives in the afternoon only. That is where all my seedlings stood when acclimatizing. But it is also where we like to sit. And it is very small.

I also put my kale and celeriac outside the shielded area, but on the west side. There they also get quite a bit of wind. I thought they were standing too crowded on the table in the shielded area. Only 1,5 week or so left until planting them out at the cabin. That will be quite a move:
- all kale and celeriac both in yoghurt containers, but a few in cloth pots and plastic buckets
- a few peas, a few beans and carrots in a standing up juice pack
- a few laying flat juice packs with tiny beetroots and another one with tiny leeks (received and seeded too late)
- lots of tiny herb plants mostly in their paper coffe cup
- some of the current plants.
- potatoes that I sproutet inside the kitchen cupboard.
- the sunflowers that seeded themselves, as well as a few tagetes and calendula officinalis, all in standing up milk cartons.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #189 on: May 25, 2022, 04:33:56 PM »
The onions I planted yesterday look fine.  We are getting showers and thunderstorms tomorrow and rain Friday, so they won't dry out - I just hope it isn't too rough for them.

I have 4 rhubarb plants - I harvested a huge amount of rhubarb.  The ground underneath was dry even though we had all that rain, that is how much the leaves shed the rain away from the roots. 

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #190 on: May 26, 2022, 06:32:47 AM »
My DH, DS and DD spent all of Sunday afternoon and Monday morning - also joined by my father in law and got two of the bays in my big garden planted.  Potatoes, onions, bush beans, snow peas, snap peas and freezer peas are planted.  DS ran the weed trimmer around the garlic mustard infested area of the garden.  I pulled twitch grass - I can kneel comfortably and slowly pull on the tuft of twitch and follow the roots through the loose soil - so much removed, so much still to pull. 

I ordered protective gear for the weed trimmer operator - DS says it makes a world of difference. 

I also planted out a tray of onion and leek seedlings.

But at home I am multi sowing soil blocks of seeds and getting them germinated inside.  As soon as they're up, I get DH to carry the flat or salad container outside and I grow them a little longer.  DH and DD help me plant them out into the garden.  This way I can get them through the high needs days with relative ease of my garden hose or spray bottle.  Hopefully I can dig and lift for myself. 

It was so healing for me to be in the garden on the weekend.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #191 on: May 26, 2022, 07:23:27 AM »

It was so healing for me to be in the garden on the weekend.

I'm so glad you have people doing the heavy lifting so you can still have your garden this summer.

Gardens are definitely healing, at least for us gardeners.  I think my community garden kept me sane the first summer of Covid.  It certainly helped my fitness levels.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #192 on: May 26, 2022, 08:57:28 AM »

It was so healing for me to be in the garden on the weekend.

I'm so glad you have people doing the heavy lifting so you can still have your garden this summer.

Gardens are definitely healing, at least for us gardeners.  I think my community garden kept me sane the first summer of Covid.  It certainly helped my fitness levels.
I think if I didn't have a garden this year, I would descend into deep despair.

NaN

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #193 on: May 28, 2022, 09:16:14 PM »
New to this thread. Gardening is my happy place.
Have three 4x8 beds with vegetables
40 ft of raspberries

In 2021 I figured about 50 lbs of raspberries. I am hoping for the same. I planted red, golden, white, and blush varieties. Picture from last year.

The vegetables I mostly buy are seedlings from a local at the farmers market. I love supporting his business.

Have:
4 tomatoes
12 pepper plants
Row of Russian kale
Some lettuce leaf
Broccoli
Spinach
Onions
Eggplant
Squash

Right now my garden bed with the tomatoes seems to be struggling. I am wondering if I over-watered or if it is the soil not having enough nutrients.

I'm going spread out plants this year because my number one mistake has always been planting things too close together.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2022, 08:32:56 PM by NaN »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #194 on: May 31, 2022, 07:32:59 AM »
Welcome, @NaN

Less than a week to go before planting out the vegetables at the cabin. I hope it has rained there, as it has here. Then our new rain barrel will be full. And the new bed will be moist. It might be full of green plants. But as nothing is supposed to grow there yet, it should be easy to take away the lot. I have some gras cuttings to put between the plants afterwards.

My 3 zuccinis are all having flowers. Most (or all?) (female?) flowers are growing at the end of a 5-7 cm long zuccini. I was away for a few days and got pleasantly surpriced when back. Some flowers are a bit stuck behind the side of the bucket. There isn't much to do about it other than breaking off some leaves of the plant.

Our currants from last year are getting berries. We now have 8 currant plants.

I have sown a few pots of a new lettuce, a sort called Blushed buttered Oak. It is supposed to taste well. The lettuce that I already have, called Attractie, tastes almost nothing. I harvest a few leaves each time and it grows new leaves back in a few days. But 4 plants is not that much if you can harvest just a few leaves. I neew to combine a salad with other vegetables, or with wild plants.

One of my chilli and my largest tomato plant are having tiny ants in their pot. Not sure if that is a problem for the plants, but the ants are throwing soil out of the pot. Those same ants we have in our house. I get the impression they sit in the soil that I use. Each time I open a new bag, I get new ants in the kitchen or bathroom. I have set up ant boxes, but they don't help much yet. I put garlic feds into the pots with ents. Maybe I will spray garlic water on the plants tomorrow. Ants are suppose to not like garlic. And both tomato and chili can grow combined with garlic.

I also sowed rubarb seeds to grow at the cabin. This is a type that is hardy and has low oxalic acid, so safer to eat. It could be sown also in June, so I am not too late. It is okay for me if I can first eat it next year. I have sown the large seed buds, not sure if that was the intention. Maybe I should have opened them and sown individual seeds. Maybe I will get a lot of seedlings.

I also potted some more of the potatoes that I have grown inside the cupboard. They had 4 cm long white arms growing out. I purchased a few potato pots where you can harvest potatoes sideways.

Not sure if the beetroot I sowed is doing well. There is something growing, but not a lot. One is sprouting in a group, which is supposed to happen, but it doesn't look like the others. I might sow more next week at the cabin.

There are only 3 beans that sprouted into a plant. And 5 sugar peas. I might sow some more (properly soaked) beans next week.

The sunflowers are growing fast. I hope they won't be too big to transport in a few days. I will plant them at the fence, so they can be bound up if necessary.

My kaffir limes are doing well in their tiny pots. I repotted the one in a paper coffee cup into a normal plant pot. I left the soil it was growing in in place, so I hope it won't get upset. The other one is still in it's small pot, as a backup. Both are still indoors infromt of a window.

Seeds for micro bush tomatoes were on sale and I bought 5 new types. Still in doubt whether I will sow them now or next year. If now, they will ripen very late and will have to finish indoors.

Some of the Russian dragon that I repotted looks very bad. Maybe the root got damaged during repotting. I got an awful lot of this plant, so I don't feel too bad about losing some.

The peppermint I sowed from seed is now looking healthy, still small, but not tiny anymore. The mint from cuttings (from a shop plant) is also looking good. I might plant out both (in pots). I will keep a bit at home and the rest at the cabin to scare away wrong insects.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #195 on: May 31, 2022, 08:41:33 AM »
You know you're a farmer at your core when you wake up at 5:25 and think about how your transplants are going to do with a third windy day over 30C out at the family farm garden site. So you get up, make the 20 minute drive and get your irrigation system set up and turned on. Despite a cloud of mosquitos.

Step mom will turn it off at 8:30am.  I was home by 7:10am.  24 paste tomatoes looked pretty good, 10 sweet potatoes looked really happy. Onions and garlic looked dry.  All the potatoes that I left because they were rotting last fall are coming up really really thickly.  The ones planted 10 days ago haven't popped up yet, but the beans and peas are germinating.

Have room for another dozen tomatoes.  This Sunday - the three sisters get planted along with the field peppers.

My seedlings have gotten a little leggy because they were planted a little too early to fit my scheduled surgery and recovery time - not our ideal frost date.  And now I am recovering a lot more slowly than hoped so they are sitting in pots a lot longer than planned and we are having another extreme heat wave.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #196 on: May 31, 2022, 01:28:37 PM »

We also spent a good several hours chopping oriental bittersweet vines after confirming they seem to have been planted on purpose. The vines at ground level were as big as my wrist. Then, pitiless, we burned the vines and watched them cry. (Or we watched their boiling blood drip... whichever makes more sense.) We tried not to disturb their roots, so we'll see what kind of resurgence they make.

And confirmation that we have new 3' vines of bittersweet growing up through the hostas and flowers in the bed. Many of them were stretching for my new sour cherry tree, but they will not survive. I didn't think we'd disturbed the roots when we chopped the thick vines before, but now seems like it'll be a never ending battle. I guess we're up for it, because I won't sacrifice my cherry tree. (It has tiny baby fruits on it! We just planted it last November so I wasn't sure we'd see any this year.)

My partner's mom gave us so many seed potatoes, sweet potato slips, and actual potato seeds this year. We bought an inexpensive 20-pack of grow bags and have lined the driveway with them. You should've heard my mom gasp in horror when I told her that over the phone... she asked if we look like hillbillies, haha. But, we have a detached garage behind our house, and all the bags are toward the rear of the house, so she breathed a bit easier.

It was a magical spring, and we spotted new flowers budding every other week. I kept reminding myself to start a journal tracking it all, but never did. Now things just look wildly overgrown, but I think it'll be a good growing summer.

FL - glad to hear you're back in the garden!

slackmax

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #197 on: June 01, 2022, 08:24:46 AM »
I love seeing the different time zones and climates here. It reminds me how wide and far reaching this forum is.  This week I planted about 150 onion seedlings but nothing else. Today I prepared the bed where I'm going to plant sugar snap peas. I'm going to soak them overnight and plant them tomorrow. This year I'm planting sugar snap and trying yellow sugar snaps with seeds from Johnny's Select Seeds. I am always looking to grow something different in my garden. I participate in the local farmers market and having something different to sell is always a money maker.

I've got a ton of tomatoes coming up under my grow lights. I planted 12 different kinds but the ones I really love aren't doing too well. They're Amish Paste and they're from last year but all of the other heirlooms from 2021 are coming up. I have 5 different kinds of peppers - bell, jalapeno, poblanos, aji dulces and some seeds by best friends mom saved for me. I have absolutely no idea what they are but I planted them anyway. It's been windy and cold so I can't get out and do too much.

Oops, I forgot to soak my peas. I just put them in watered soil and hope they will still sprout. Norwegian people adviced me to put them outside in a platic crate, so they might need a lot of time to sprout. This is no problem.

I also find it fun to read about people who make a garden in a desert-like environment. So different from my situation.

Today I am going to repot my squashes for the second time, and now to a bucket. I obviously started them too early, because they are getting pretty big already. And it is still a month before it is warm enough for them outside.

Yesterday we had a lot of sun for the first time since a while. This was the first sun since I had repotted my peppers and moved them in front of a window with more sun. They started to hand some leaves during the day. I had to move them to a more tempered light place. This is inside the house! I need to train them up for standing outside as well. So I hope they get used to inside bright sun soon and I can put them out an hour a day during warm weather at first after that.

Linea, did your snap peas ever come up?  I am in the northeast U.S.  I planted a row of sugar snap heirloom peas according to directions, and they are supposed to be sprouting by now, sixteen days, but nothing yet.

What about soaking? Are we supposed to soak the seeds? The packet said to just plant right in the soil, nothing about soaking.

I have three tomato plants in now, that I bought as small plants, that are doing well !

Good luck.


P.S.   Answering my own question, ha ha. I read upthread and see that your snap peas took 17 days to germinate. So maybe tomorrow my peas will sprout, ha ha.

Wow, you are planting a lot.

I have 4 stalks of green onion growing now in my garden that I planted from store-bought green onions (scallions), after eating the tops. I just soaked the bottom 4 inches and the roots for a day or two, in a glass, then planted them, and they are growing.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2022, 08:41:03 AM by slackmax »

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #198 on: June 01, 2022, 10:51:23 AM »
Re soaking seeds, it is nice but not necessary.  If your soil is moist the seeds will absorb the water.  Slow germination is due to dry soil (so no water), cool temperatures (metabolism is slow) or old seed - some are dead or really not very vigourous.  If there is a hard crust the seedlings will have trouble poking through.

If you do soak the seeds, just barely cover them (they need some air too), or put them in damp paper towel.  You don't want to drown them.  As soon as they absorb water and swell, and you can see the little bump that will be the root, they should be planted.  You don't want to wait until the root breaks through the seed coat, because then it is super easy to break it off, and then no seedling.  So you should only soak if you know that you will be able to plant them when they are ready.

One extra dvantage of soaking is that any dead seeds will not soak up water and will be really obvious.  Then you know you are only planting seeds that are alive.

This works for beans as well as peas, by the way.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting and Growing Your Own - 2022
« Reply #199 on: June 01, 2022, 11:50:01 AM »
@slackmax My peas sprouted 5 out of 8. But my beans only 3 out of first 8 and later another 6 or so. A pretty bad score. Organic seeds and all, bought new this year.
I will plant some more beans next week in the garden at the cabin.

I read a blog from a biologist who says she always starts with 10 seeds, has them on wet paper in a plastic box, and only uses the one that sprouts first. Many more than 10 seeds if she needs more seeds.
For beans and peas I have heard that you should put them in water for 24 hours before planting. But please double check that before doing so. I will try that next time.

 

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