Author Topic: Planting and growing your own 2023  (Read 22054 times)

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #150 on: April 30, 2023, 12:09:56 PM »
Today I went to a local clothes, plants and seeds exchange.

I gave away 6 seed packets, but I thought plants were too much fuss, therefore only seeds. I received 6 tickets to choose plants (or seeds). But that wasn't so easy.

There were only 2 other packets of seeds, very unspecified which cultivar and not interesting. For plants, there were lots of house plants that don't mean anything to me. And besides, we already have way to many (edible) plants in our house already and we don't have space for more.

Further, there were lots of tomato plants and a few bell peppers, and sweet pepper. I ended up choosing another bell pepper, still much smaller than the ones I have at home. And my other choice was a very young and tiny garden sorrel that looked interesting. I think it is called Rumex Sanguineum, because the green leaves have red nerves. But again, the name was not specified.

I am familiar with wild sorrel, which I forage, and which grows as a weed in my vegetable garden at our cabin. The leaves taste like lemon. This garden sorrel is also edible.

That was all I took home. I had really hoped that there would have been lots of seeds packages to choose from. In retrospect I should perhaps have taken back 4 of my own seed packs to swap them later. But never mind. 

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #151 on: May 08, 2023, 12:23:47 AM »
In the middle of propagating season, I am going away for a week. For quite some time now I have been putting my plants outside on day time. The hardy species from early in the morning and the rest only after it is above 12˚C.
Since yesterday I have let the hardy plants spend the night outside. Last night it was supposed to have been around 0˚C and I hope the kale, chives, leek and thyme have tolerated that. One of the days before the kale was haning it't leaves after a night outside, but recovered when it become warm again.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2023, 02:48:19 PM by Linea_Norway »

Captain Pierogi

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 32
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #152 on: May 08, 2023, 02:11:47 PM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating. 

LifeHappens

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 12158
  • Location: Tampa-ish
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #153 on: May 09, 2023, 10:39:02 AM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating.
UGH!!! In past we have used a product called Liquid Fence to keep the rabbits away. It is the WORST smelling stuff ever, but it worked pretty well.

slackmax

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1411
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #154 on: May 16, 2023, 06:28:00 AM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating.
UGH!!! In past we have used a product called Liquid Fence to keep the rabbits away. It is the WORST smelling stuff ever, but it worked pretty well.

Liquid Fence. Interesting.  I have voles, I think. Lots of underground tunnels in my lawn. They don't eat my garden roots, but I think they are eating the roots of my echinacea flowers. I am trying pouring  diluted caster oil around my echi plants. Will see what happens. 

Lots of rabbits here. They eat green bean plants. Don't eat tomatoes or peppers.

Have seen a beautiful red fox around here lately. Hope he has some luck !!

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #155 on: May 16, 2023, 08:04:57 AM »
Last night I picked asparagus for supper. This is the fourth time that there was enough for a meal.

Planted out 4 flats of onions/leeks/scallions/shallots plus a flat of celery soil blocks. The garlic looks amazing.  The stems are almost 2cm in diameter.  Super healthy looking. 

I processed a bunch of rhubarb into a syrup and water bath canned 4 half pints.  It makes a beautiful looking addition to soda stream water.

We are inundated with kale, garlic that we missed last year and onions from seed in the walkways.

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1836
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #156 on: May 16, 2023, 01:57:32 PM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating.
Close to a decade ago I had about $1,000 worth of young fruit trees girdled by rabbits one winter. The trunks of the trees were protected with covers, but those cute devils were able to reach over them due to the ample snow pack we received that year. Following that disastrous year, when it comes to rabbits I've taken up the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense. I started using cage traps from December through March and haven't had a problem with rabbits since then.

Rabbit goes well in a slow cooker with carrots, potatoes, and a bit of salt. Tastes like vengeance.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #157 on: May 16, 2023, 03:30:50 PM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating.
Close to a decade ago I had about $1,000 worth of young fruit trees girdled by rabbits one winter. The trunks of the trees were protected with covers, but those cute devils were able to reach over them due to the ample snow pack we received that year. Following that disastrous year, when it comes to rabbits I've taken up the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense. I started using cage traps from December through March and haven't had a problem with rabbits since then.

Rabbit goes well in a slow cooker with carrots, potatoes, and a bit of salt. Tastes like vengeance.

Rabbits accumulate very fast. So catching them might be smart. If you can't beat it, eat it, like with weeds.

At our cabin, the snow is gone from my raised bed in the dog pen, but there is still a pile of snow on my mini hùgel bed. We saw a hare a couple of times, and once even two hares, mating. But luckily, most of my garden is fenced in. Apart from the hügel bed.

In the raised bed, both my rubarb plants from last year have a small stem above the ground. I also saw some chives (Russian type) and mint reappearing. And a couple of other things are growing as well, but I thing they are weeds. I don't really dare to pull everything out yet.

At home, my house, cellar and garden are full of plants of which a part will go to the cabin in a couple of weeks. Today I repotted many small apine strawberries to bigger pots. But when I was finished I found even more pots upstairs. So I might have to do more. I am running out of good pots. I put the strawberries outside definitively. The forecast is low temperatures above 0˚C. As strawberries grow native in Norway, I guess this alpine cultivar will tolerate low temperatures.

This evening the wind is absurtly hard. We can safely call it a storm. I might find all my outside plants back on the neighbours lane tomorrow. Tomorrow is a national holiday and they are getting guests, so I hope this won't happen.

Today I topped my one and a half year old chili Brazilian starfish. It is of the type capsicum baccatum and it was growing very high. It has flower buds in all the "armpits" of each tiny branch. I tried to cut out the parts that might grow another branch. Now I hope it will stop growing and just make fruits.

The chili Cayenne has been extremely productive. Today I harvested my first batch of red chillies. But there are many green ones left on the plant. They are bigger than the ones produced last year.

I started repotting a couple of the of microbush tomatoes. Some of them are developing flower buds or even flowers. It's just that I don't really have space in my living room to put the remaining tomatoes in bigger pots. And unfortunately, the outside temperatures are still too cold to leave them outdoors fulltime. All the microbushes are growing pretty big.

My squashes and pumpkin are also growing well. They will soon be way too big for their yoghurt containers. I am still in doubt what to do then. I have large containers for them outside, filled with composted horse manure. I guess that is great stuff. I just think it is too cold to put them there yet. And I drilled holes in the bottoms of those containers, so they can't stand indoors. And DH would protest against the horse manure smell and wurms that will possibly crawl out. It hardly does smell, because it got warm composted last autumn.

All the chives and kales survived the week outdoors when I was away. I put them on the west side of the house. Now they are joined by the strawberries, the sugar peas (bush type) and many Tagetes flowers. And the caraway plants the I repotted yesterday evening. That plants also grows naturally here, even along our road, so It should also be able to cope with these spring temps. I also moved my aspargus outdoors permanently.

One of the types of lettuce upstairs is already bolting and developing flowers. I put it closest to the window now that the aspargus are outside. But now I put it farthest away from the window. Maybe it should stand outside in the shadow. I have been harvesting them for weeks already.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2023, 03:12:33 PM by Linea_Norway »

Captain Pierogi

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 32
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #158 on: May 17, 2023, 04:56:31 AM »
BUNNNNNIIIEEESSS!!!! UGH!  I don't know how they're hopping into my 24" high raised beds, but they are.  I expected to lose some leaves to munching, but this year is out of control.  I've got deer fencing around four of my five beds.  The last one is growing peas which have been untouched to date, but the cosmos I transplanted yesterday are chewed to the ground.  But everything in an unprotected pot is gone - things that haven't been touched by animals ever before.  So frustrating.
Close to a decade ago I had about $1,000 worth of young fruit trees girdled by rabbits one winter. The trunks of the trees were protected with covers, but those cute devils were able to reach over them due to the ample snow pack we received that year. Following that disastrous year, when it comes to rabbits I've taken up the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense. I started using cage traps from December through March and haven't had a problem with rabbits since then.

Rabbit goes well in a slow cooker with carrots, potatoes, and a bit of salt. Tastes like vengeance.

Yep, I set a trap, and we've caught and released far away three so far.  We also figured out where they were living and blocked that off, so they've relocated.  They still come and visit (it's inevitable in our neighborhood), but the damage since I've posted seems to have tapered.  Knock on wood.

At our old house, we had a bad squirrel problem, so after work some nights, my husband would swing open the back french doors, plop a lawn chair at the edge, and have squirrel target practice with his bb gun.  It's not something we shy away from.  We're just too close to others here.  And we're vegetarians - though I can picture what vengeance tastes like!

For the section I had already double fenced, the greens are producing like crazy.  It's wonderful.  And I finally took the time to count, and it appears all 51 cloves of garlic I planted have sprouted.  So many scapes and bulbs to hopefully look forward to!  Tomatoes went into pots this week.  I'm behind on starting green beans, tomatillos, and summer squash, but I know they'll catch up quickly.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #159 on: May 17, 2023, 03:17:59 PM »
Yesterday I repotted the remaing 5 microbush tomatoes to their final pots, together with basil and dill.

I also just repotted 7 more alpine strawberries. That was 2 yoghurt containers plus a plastic cup. Another 5 yoghurt containers with 3 plants each, plus a box with many to go.

The strawberries outside seem to have survived the storm. Only the sugar peas had some knacked parts, as well as a nasturium.

This night it will be +1˚C at the lowest, according to the forecast. We plan to go away for a couple of days again on Friday morning. I consider putting a lot of plants outside tomorrow. After tomorrow, the nights will be warmer, with only an hour of +3˚C.

I am atill in doubt about those squashes. Maybe I will fill a large temporary container with plant soil and put it in the washing room downstairs. That room is reasonably warm, has an east facing high window and is very light in the morning. And it has a drain in the floor. So any bucket with a whole in the bottom or a cloth pot could stand there.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2023, 03:24:22 PM by Linea_Norway »

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #160 on: May 23, 2023, 02:17:51 PM »
The whole family helped me in the big garden on Sunday.
Still an unruly mess of weeds in some places, but other areas - gorgeous

I ended up spending a ridiculous amount on the fancy seeder.  DS helped me figure it out. We planted 80 feet of Dalvay peas and 120 feet of sunflower seeds in an area with poor soil.
It is so easy once the soil surface is prepped. Really only suitable for big gardens. But getting peas spaced every 5 cm at the speed of walking in the garden - simply awesome.

To prevent a weedy mess next spring, I am going to buy a large quantity of seed that I can sow in the fall or after harvesting a crop. The soil surface will be prepped and I can rolled away.

Some parts of the garden were heavily mulched for last summer or after harvesting. I just cut down the popcorn stocks and they kept the soil  free of weeds. DH just broadforked the bed and removed the dandelions along the edges. I am planting the potatoes there next Saturday.

My tomatoes got too ahead of me. They are looking sad out in the unheated greenhouse. Hopefully they don't get stunted with our overnight temperatures. The greenhouse will be 33 during the day but last night dropped to 7C when our low was 5.1C Wednesday night is supposed to be 1C. I am experimenting with double row cover tonight.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #161 on: May 24, 2023, 04:01:02 PM »
I repotted my last big bell peppers in their final pots and pit them outside.

The lettuce upstairs in the west facing room was laying down, stretched out in the direction pf the window. I decided to move it outside, but under a roof, as it is a reservoir pot without drain. I cut down the remaining lettuce leaves and sowed new lettuce, in the hope that they will grow better, without bolting. I also sowed some radish in that box. Today I harvested my first radish from a juice carton. The root was long, thin and twisted. Not like a Cherry belle what it was supposed to be. Therefore the new try.

I was supposed to repot the last squash to a large pot. But it looked so lousy that I put in the remaining pumpkin (Hokkaido) that looked much better. I was supposed to guerilla plant it. I sowed som new Patisson squashes in the hope that I get a better looking plant to plant out. All squash and pumpkin are now in a big container with composted (burned?) horse manure, a climbing bean and a tagetes patula. One has a Nasturtium as well.

I sowed some beetroot and more bush beans, as I still have one type of bush bean that hasn't sprouted. I tried to be smart this time by soaking them in water for some hours and then adding to a box with wet paper and a lid. But after the soaking they were suddenly planted out again into soil.

The chives are growing well and I harvest them regularly. Today I repotted 3 of them to a bigger pot to keep at home. The remaining can move to the cabin.

I also put all the tiny seeding potatoes in a pot.

RetiredAt63

  • CMTO 2023 Attendees
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *
  • Posts: 20746
  • Location: Eastern Ontario, Canada
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #162 on: May 24, 2023, 04:08:48 PM »
I want to repot my peppers and put them out, but we have really cold nights coming (3C tonight, 4C tomorrow night).    :-(

tygertygertyger

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 863
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #163 on: May 25, 2023, 09:45:20 AM »
I've been slowly planting out most of my seedlings. I have two locations for them:
    *my house, where everything goes into containers or bags on the driveway (we don't use the driveway)
    *my partner's parents, where there is a nice raised bed garden that is mostly only used by me

I am trying to plan ahead because we will be gone for about 8 days later in the summer. Our driveway container garden will definitely need to be watered during that time, but our usual helper candidates will be gone at the same time. I'm planning to draft a friend into helping (failing that, maybe one of our neighbors... though we barely know any of them).

But! I'm also trying to figure out ways to limit the need for help. We're not leaving for several weeks, so I've got time. My thinking is:

*thoroughly soak everyone before we leave
*plant shade cloth, draped over many of the plants
*move other plants further into the shade
*mulch plants (tomatoes, peppers)... i assume that potatoes and cukes growing in will provide their own shade
*maybe add those ball or reservoir things to some containers?

Any other ideas?

We have a wacky other idea... maybe we'll build a frame (just walls, no floor) to rest on the driveway, and add a lot of woodchips inside it. Then put our bags (potatoes, tomatoes, etc) on top of the woodchips to retain extra moisture. Reasonable? Weird? Not sure we'll be doing this this year...

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #164 on: May 26, 2023, 10:53:55 AM »
I've been slowly planting out most of my seedlings. I have two locations for them:
    *my house, where everything goes into containers or bags on the driveway (we don't use the driveway)
    *my partner's parents, where there is a nice raised bed garden that is mostly only used by me

I am trying to plan ahead because we will be gone for about 8 days later in the summer. Our driveway container garden will definitely need to be watered during that time, but our usual helper candidates will be gone at the same time. I'm planning to draft a friend into helping (failing that, maybe one of our neighbors... though we barely know any of them).

But! I'm also trying to figure out ways to limit the need for help. We're not leaving for several weeks, so I've got time. My thinking is:

*thoroughly soak everyone before we leave
*plant shade cloth, draped over many of the plants
*move other plants further into the shade
*mulch plants (tomatoes, peppers)... i assume that potatoes and cukes growing in will provide their own shade
*maybe add those ball or reservoir things to some containers?

Any other ideas?

We have a wacky other idea... maybe we'll build a frame (just walls, no floor) to rest on the driveway, and add a lot of woodchips inside it. Then put our bags (potatoes, tomatoes, etc) on top of the woodchips to retain extra moisture. Reasonable? Weird? Not sure we'll be doing this this year...

Yes, mulch every plant. Cover the soil in each pot. Maybe you could use a piece of solid plastic? Normally this wouldn't let water through to the roots, but if rain water can get into the roots from the sides of the pot, it might work.
That is something I also should do, I just haven't got the materials to use. I had a little bit of sheep wool that went on one pot. Our neighbour mowes the lane with a mower that cuts the grass and puts in back. That is healthier for the lane. But impossible for me to collect cut grass.

Are the potatoes and tomatoes in cloth bags? I think putting those on soaking wet woodchips would help. Soaking bales of hay or straw also work.

Shade cloth also sounds like a good idea. And moving into the shade as well. That is what I should do during sommer vacation, put plants on the east side of the house.

8 days doesn't sound so very long to me. But it depends on where you live.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2023, 01:52:07 AM by Linea_Norway »

tygertygertyger

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 863
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #165 on: May 27, 2023, 11:24:28 AM »
Thank you!! Yes, 8 days might be no big deal, or I could come back to withered plants. I live near Chicago, so summers have some good rainstorms, but also a lot of steady 80 - 85 Fahrenheit (26 - 29 celsius) sunny days in a row with no rain. If it rains, my friend might not need to come water. But if it doesn't rain, he might need to come a couple of times. I'm trying to minimize the potential risk...

I bought some mulch and started adding it to all the pots. Next, I'm going to find (or borrow) some shade cloth... Also I guess I should ask my friend if he's willing to come!

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #166 on: May 28, 2023, 04:28:18 PM »
Have you thought of some slow drip type watering? I have some jugs with tiny holes that I fill up to the holes. When the plants are dry I tip them over to seep out slowly.  I  have seen it done with pop bottles with a hope drill in the cap. This only works if the plants aren't bursting out of the pot.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #167 on: May 29, 2023, 04:55:10 AM »
My newly sown Pattison squashes are sprouting. The beetroot and the bush bean don't sprout yet. That is of course the downside from putting different types of plant in a little 3x4 sowing tray. When one seed sprouts, you are supposed to get it off the heat and take the lid off the tray. But preferably the other plants still need that heat and greenhouse. Next time, if I remember, I will use 3 different sowing trays. And won't put the beetroot on any tray.

I am one of these people having trouble growing radishes. I sowed a bunch in milk cartons. They looked like healthy plants with lots of leaves, but got a very long, thin and bowed root. The root grew partly above the ground. I removed all of the plants and they all looked like that.
Reasons for this are, I think:
* I didn't sow them deep enough. I just got seeds on top of the soil.
* that the soil was not very high up the carton. So the small plant never got much sun until it was much higher.
* I sowed too many and maybe I didn't thin out early enough?? Or I damaged the remaining when I thinned out?
* Maybe the plants got stressed by the weather and hard winds, as well as getting watered a bit irregularly.

I am not sure of any of those. I now put some radish seeds a bit deeper i my lettuce box, where I pulled out all the leggy lettuce. That is a wide and not deep box with water reservoir for indoors use. I put the box outside under a roof. I sowed some more lettuce as well. We ate the leggy leaves and the thin radish. I hope that the radish now will grow in a more normal container.

Some other things that don't even sprout are Hablitzia Tamnoides (caucasian spinach, a climbing plant), Allium victoralis (victory onion, traditional north Norwegian chive-like onion), Meum athamanticum (a dill like plant with aromatic smell and taste). These are all seeds that I sowed in autumn or in early spring, in pots. Maybe they just rotted away. Maybe I should give it a try treating them like normal stuff that I sow. I managed rubarb, caraway, thyme etc. I sowed Allium victoralis again and put the seed tray in the fridge for a week. Now I take it out and put it in front of a window.

Today is the first day in ages that we don't have so very hard winds. Yesterday I even took some pots with beel peppers back inside, because the wind was so hard and blowing right at them. This week it will be nice and warm. I feel sorry for the Norwegians more north in the country who will get snow again in the coming days.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2023, 01:09:02 AM by Linea_Norway »

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #168 on: May 29, 2023, 05:46:46 AM »
Potatoes are in the ground.  Leftover potatoes have been donated to the seed library. I planted three rows of 30 feet. About half of last year.
I will have to check my records but I am thinking I grew two and a half bushels too many.

I didn't plant any purple ones. They are coming up from the ones abandoned in 2021.

My goal is to harvest just before a cold spell. Apparently harvesting late as I have done doesn't help with storage.  The other thing I am going to try is fall planting.  The abandoned ones come up no problem so why not just stick them in the ground in the new spot when I do the garlic? Then it is a full bed done.

sixwings

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 534
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #169 on: May 29, 2023, 09:16:47 AM »
How often do you water? I live in the PNW and the amount of rain we'll get now through the summer is going to be pretty negligible. I'm growing cucumber, squash, beets, carrots, kale, chard and lettuces/spinach.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #170 on: May 30, 2023, 01:15:43 AM »
How often do you water? I live in the PNW and the amount of rain we'll get now through the summer is going to be pretty negligible. I'm growing cucumber, squash, beets, carrots, kale, chard and lettuces/spinach.

I think twice a week is a minimum. On hot days, plants could use some water very day.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2023, 02:20:58 AM by Linea_Norway »

tygertygertyger

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 863
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #171 on: May 30, 2023, 09:16:19 AM »
Have you thought of some slow drip type watering? I have some jugs with tiny holes that I fill up to the holes. When the plants are dry I tip them over to seep out slowly.  I  have seen it done with pop bottles with a hope drill in the cap. This only works if the plants aren't bursting out of the pot.

This is a good idea! I'd known about ollas - those expensive terracotta ones that you bury next to the plant - but it hadn't occurred to me to make them out of plastic. (Doh.) I should be able to do this for (at least) half the plants...

Do you bury the jugs that you have? Or keep them on top of the soil? 

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #172 on: May 30, 2023, 09:27:29 AM »
Have you thought of some slow drip type watering? I have some jugs with tiny holes that I fill up to the holes. When the plants are dry I tip them over to seep out slowly.  I  have seen it done with pop bottles with a hope drill in the cap. This only works if the plants aren't bursting out of the pot.

This is a good idea! I'd known about ollas - those expensive terracotta ones that you bury next to the plant - but it hadn't occurred to me to make them out of plastic. (Doh.) I should be able to do this for (at least) half the plants...

Do you bury the jugs that you have? Or keep them on top of the soil?
I just lay them on the soil.

I will fill them all up at once and empty them over a few days. It would be much easier for your plant sitter to switch out full bottles for the empty ones if you had a bin of them sitting full near the plants.

(If you have large containers of water sitting around, put a branch or stick in it so that thirsty creatures can get back out after)

MaybeBabyMustache

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5353
    • My Wild Ride to FI
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #173 on: May 30, 2023, 12:51:23 PM »
I'm so excited that I've finally manage to grow artichokes! It was a real risk to leave that plant in our garden box, as it threatened to take over the world. But, it's back this season, and we have six artichokes on it. One needs to be picked, but I'd prefer to have a few ripened at once, so we can do grilled artichokes. Drool.

We also harvested a bunch of red & green leaf lettuce, a head of romaine, and a ton of basil this weekend.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #174 on: May 31, 2023, 02:26:59 AM »
I'm so excited that I've finally manage to grow artichokes! It was a real risk to leave that plant in our garden box, as it threatened to take over the world. But, it's back this season, and we have six artichokes on it. One needs to be picked, but I'd prefer to have a few ripened at once, so we can do grilled artichokes. Drool.

We also harvested a bunch of red & green leaf lettuce, a head of romaine, and a ton of basil this weekend.

So interesting that you have let them overwinter at your place. I notice that my peppers that survived the winter (indoor) are much earlier productive than the newly sowed ones. I guess that is the same with artichokes. My artichokes are still pretty tiny. I hope them warm weather the coming week will make them grow fast.

MaybeBabyMustache

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5353
    • My Wild Ride to FI
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #175 on: May 31, 2023, 07:33:58 AM »
I'm so excited that I've finally manage to grow artichokes! It was a real risk to leave that plant in our garden box, as it threatened to take over the world. But, it's back this season, and we have six artichokes on it. One needs to be picked, but I'd prefer to have a few ripened at once, so we can do grilled artichokes. Drool.

We also harvested a bunch of red & green leaf lettuce, a head of romaine, and a ton of basil this weekend.

So interesting that you have let them overwinter at your place. I notice that my peppers that survived the winter (indoor) are much earlier productive than the newly sowed ones. I guess that is the same with artichokes. My artichokes are still pretty tiny. I hope them warm weather the coming week will make them grow fast.

I don't know if it's true of all varieties, but our artichokes take more than one year/growing season to even put on any fruit.

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #176 on: June 05, 2023, 12:21:24 PM »
It was a big weekend out in the gardens.

Tomatoes got planted out Saturday morning in the kitchen garden, along with tomatillos, basil, cosmos, four eggplants, scallions and cilantro starts.

Sowed, three types of beans, snap peas, arugula, lettuce and beets. Lots of onions, parsnips, cilantro, chamomile and kale have self seeded.

Have been harvesting asparagus, bok choi, rhubarb, scallions, green garlic, lettuce, kale, mint, celery*. Put up trellising for early peas. They are up, along with carrots and beets.

*Am shocked that celery, parsnips overwintered. 

Out at the farm late Sunday afternoon, DH helped me prepare the area for tomatoes.  Doing a no / low till garden means that I must find a way to keep ahead of weeds in the fall and spring more effectively. It is taking a lot of effort to get the beds ready for starts. The soil was so dry. We ran the sprinklers on the sections that are already planted while we weeded other areas. Temperatures this week are better but no significant rainfall in the forecast.

The indoor grow stand is empty and lights and mats are turned off.

Peppers are hardened off and starting to find their way into gardens. Have to sort which ones are going into my kitchen garden, the farm pantry garden and to be donated to others.
The eggplants (two flats) have been delivered to a community garden.
I did a sweet potato slip trade: my purple slips for her orange slips. I now have enough purple, white and orange slips for my needs.
All the melons, cukes and squash are hardening off on the front lawn in a little compound DH helped me rig up using the frame from a screen canopy we bought 15 years ago. The screen / shade roof is extremely bleached and fragile, but we have saved it for when we are in a pinch with too many mosquitoes and needing to be outdoors. Now the frame is getting a second life as some protection from squirrels, rabbits and the groundhog. I am going to try some melons, cukes and zukes in pots there. I have less sun but watering is so much easier than at the farm or the kitchen garden.

Sunday morning saw the planting of peppers, tomatoes, herbs, cukes and zukes at the church garden. The earliest plantings from the late April heat wave are doing well. Before sowing beans, spinach, dill and kale were harvested. The kale was particularly prolific. All the beds with dense plantings from early spring were nearly weed free. This is going to be the strategy going forward. More food and earlier food. ----->for a community food pantry.

92 people attended the food pantry last week and the organization ran out of food. Any thing I can do to put a dent in food insecurity in my community is a big motivation for me. And I find gardening so therapeutic.

tygertygertyger

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 863
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #177 on: June 05, 2023, 02:01:14 PM »
I am so impressed by how much you grow. And I absolutely love your commitment to giving lots away! Community food pantry (and fresh foods!) sounds amazing.


Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #178 on: June 11, 2023, 01:35:06 PM »
On 4, 5 and 6 juli I planted out all tha plants that were meant for our cabin. We drove her with a car full of plants, plus a box with setting potatoes. Here, a local farmer wrote on fb that he set his potatoes and had setting potatoes left for whoever wanted the. I visited, took 2 of each type, and gabe him some strawberries and tiny thyme plants as a thanks.

I planted out 5 types x 2 new potatoes from this farmer, plus more own 10 or so. I planted them in the same heap of sand/soil that I had potatoes in last year. I added som stinging nettle leaves in each hole, plus some leftover soil from the pots from home, plus some local well composted cow manure that I dug up into a wheel barrel. I planted some sugar peas in the same bed, to add nitrogen.

I also planted new rubarb plants in a new bed, just somewhere between the blueberry bushes. Then aspargues, bush beans, carrots in milk packs, lots of chives, kale, leek and some strawberries into the large bed. I also sowed some lettuce there.

We have a bed of currants in front of our terrace. I made a sort of fence around it, with sticks and rope, so that you don't walk over it. And I planted out my many, many alpine strawberries there, alternated by thyme plants. That is a thyme that should grow well on sandy ground.

And I planted a few additional flowers into the flower bed where some of last years flowers are making a remake.

Today (the 11th) I am back. The beans are hanging with their leaves. The strawberries look pretty goid, but some leaves are hanging. Tomorrow and the new few days I will water them really well. Unfortunately the rain barrel is empty, so I need to walk to the river. But I will do it. We need to be home on thursday.

We just saw that is was -3,8˚C since I planted out. That is freezing temp, which at least some plants don't like at all.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2023, 02:31:06 PM by Linea_Norway »

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #179 on: June 11, 2023, 07:56:43 PM »
We are getting a long and gentle rain tonight. So needed. I was planting out peppers squash cucumbers, melons, pumpkins sweet potato slips at my big garden Saturday. The soil was dry down 2.5 inches where I had not watered with the hose.

Today I was back out planting paste tomatoes. The rain in the morning barely wet the soil.

Nothing like a long gentle rain.  Rain barrels will be full again.

I didn't do the best job on the tomato seedlings this year. Hopefully they will get stronger and produce well.  Next year I will start them much later and no heating after they germinate.  I will also get a timer for a fan so they get sturdier. 


Hopefully all the seeds will germinate with this deep soaking. I have planted everything and the soil is still bare...hardly any weeds even. With this glorious rain, that will change.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #180 on: June 12, 2023, 06:56:41 AM »
I just walked to the river 12 times to get water for my plants. That is only the first time. Another load tomorrow. We have a lot of clouds, but no rain. Indeed, a friendly summer rain would be great for the plants.

LifeHappens

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 12158
  • Location: Tampa-ish
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #181 on: June 12, 2023, 09:06:08 AM »
I continue to get deeper down the tropical/semi-tropical plan rabbit hole.

In the past month I have planted Chaya, Katuk and Okinawa Spinach. I also have Chinese Red Noodle Beans and Malabar Spinach producing well now. My single Everglades Tomato plant (in a pot!) will soon need it's own ZIP code. Those plants can seriously sprawl. My next generation of Pigeon Peas has sprouted and should grow rapidly in the heat. I have Sweet Potato slips in the ground. I received them a little late, but they should catch up. The Seminole Pumpkin vines are growing, but no flowers yet so I don't know what their yield might be.

It hasn't all been a universal success of course. I fear Nematodes are killing my cucumber and zucchini vines. Something has been chewing on the Amaranth (Callaloo) and all the neem oil in the world doesn't deter it. I've gotten very few edible leaves from those. Culantro has been a disappointment. It is supposed to grow well in heat, but seems to be too delicate for full sun.

This is a year for experiments, so I'm trying to remain unattached to results and just learn from the data.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #182 on: June 12, 2023, 11:39:46 AM »
<snip>

It hasn't all been a universal success of course. I fear Nematodes are killing my cucumber and zucchini vines. Something has been chewing on the Amaranth (Callaloo) and all the neem oil in the world doesn't deter it. I've gotten very few edible leaves from those. Culantro has been a disappointment. It is supposed to grow well in heat, but seems to be too delicate for full sun.

This is a year for experiments, so I'm trying to remain unattached to results and just learn from the data.

@LifeHappens
Tagetes flowers are supposed to help against nematodes. And they look pretty enough.

LifeHappens

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 12158
  • Location: Tampa-ish
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #183 on: June 12, 2023, 01:33:03 PM »
Tagetes flowers are supposed to help against nematodes. And they look pretty enough.
I have heard that. I'll have to plant some at the end of the summer season. (American gardeners, Tagetes = Marigolds)

StarBright

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3270
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #184 on: June 14, 2023, 05:56:05 AM »
Late to the thread this year, but I just picked my first round of snow peas!

Every year I think I don't really want to garden anymore. Or at least by September, I'm thinking "Why do I keep doing this?!"

And then my first tomato or pea the next season fills me with joy - like a new puppy!

My new thing I'm growing this year is ground cherries. I've always had luck with tomatillos in my garden, so I think ground cherries should do well too.

I'm skipping squashes and bell peppers this year because they've been lackluster the last few seasons.

RetiredAt63

  • CMTO 2023 Attendees
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *
  • Posts: 20746
  • Location: Eastern Ontario, Canada
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #185 on: June 14, 2023, 08:43:47 AM »
Late to the thread this year, but I just picked my first round of snow peas!

Every year I think I don't really want to garden anymore. Or at least by September, I'm thinking "Why do I keep doing this?!"

And then my first tomato or pea the next season fills me with joy - like a new puppy!


I've always appreciated winter, because by September/October I am just gardened out.  By spring the enthusiasm is back.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #186 on: June 14, 2023, 01:50:36 PM »
Late to the thread this year, but I just picked my first round of snow peas!

Every year I think I don't really want to garden anymore. Or at least by September, I'm thinking "Why do I keep doing this?!"

And then my first tomato or pea the next season fills me with joy - like a new puppy!


I've always appreciated winter, because by September/October I am just gardened out.  By spring the enthusiasm is back.

I also harvested my first 3 snow peas today.

I am back from a 10 day trip. Temperatures were and still are are tropical at home. Our neighbour watered my plants 3 times and they look great.

This evening I didn't feel like watering with the can, but DH encouraged me that with the hose, it isn't that much work. It is just not as easy to add some fluid fertilizer at the same time.

The potatoes are growing well, some that were planted earlier are much bigger than others. I put more soil in the pots.

My cayenne chili had a load of red chilies, plus some green ones still hanging there. The Brazilian Starfish chili also has a nice number of chilies.

Some of the flowers are flowering.

The thyme has grown bigger and bushy.

Six of my eleven microbush tomatoes have tomatoes already. All plants have flowers.

The squash plants have flowers in buds. I will be away from home on Saturday and Sunday, so I hope I can help fertilizing before or after that.

After my trip to the cabin to plant out what I sowed, I still have many, many alpine strawberry plants. Not sure what to do with those.

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1836
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #187 on: June 19, 2023, 08:30:51 AM »
Two weekends ago I picked up a new-to-me toy, an original DR Field and Brush Mower from the late 80s or early 90s. This weekend I got to try it out at my new property where I'll be planting fruit trees next year. I figure I cleared somewhere between 1 and 2 acres in about four hours focusing on some of the most overgrown areas of the property.

Several reviews/videos I saw previously about this mower indicated that it would be quite a workout using it, and those videos weren't wrong. It didn't help that there was an issue with the differential and mower kept wanting to turn left (should be pretty easy fix).

Overall, I'm quite pleased with how much I was able to get done with a 30+ year old machine that I bought for less than the price of renting one for a weekend. It chewed through seedlings up to about an inch in diameter and made short work of weeds that were taller than me.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #188 on: June 19, 2023, 09:36:44 AM »
We finally bought a house with a large south-east facing garden, about 1000 m2 (0,25 acre). We are moving in in August or September. The garden currently is mostly a grass lane, sloping down towards the shore.
Close to the house there are fruit trees: one enormous apple tree, probably 70 years old, like the house. One or two pear trees, also enormous. And additional plum and cherry trees. During a little walk I as shown a rubarb bush and I discoverd aspargus stems. The climate is quite mild for Norwegian standards, categori 4 out of 8, where 8 is the toughest and 1 the mildest, the opposite of the American categories. The fruit trees bloom early there. The house is at almost 64˚ degrees north and at the shore in an inland fjord, a bit protected against the wind.

Currently the lane is mowed by a robot owned by a neighbour. It mowes three connected lanes, of which we will be the middle. We are going to change the grass into something else, but as long as we have some grass left, we can leave a path for the machine open to visit both neighbours and cut our pieces of grass.

We are planning to at least put DH's wine grapes into the ground as soon as we move in, with some sort of rim around them against the robot mower. Later we will make a number of (raised) beds for next year. No ambitions gardenwise for this year at this moment, apart from picking the fruits.

For the move, we are planning to only take along perannials that aren't easy to reproduce. So I will not move the chillies and peppers, which are super easy to grow, as well as the alpine strawberries. I am saving seed from each chili to sow the again next year. Most of the chillies and peppers are flowering now, so I think they will give a harvest before we will move. The same for the squashes. I put the strawberries and a tall Yucca palm on a local plant facebook group.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2023, 09:49:52 AM by Linea_Norway »

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #189 on: June 19, 2023, 10:02:30 AM »
@Linea_Norway - You are going to have a lot of fun building a garden at the new place.
@YttriumNitrate - that is a cool looking machine!

I had a great weekend of gardening. The cooler temperature and breeze made it really pleasant. I was able to take off my bug hat at noon. In the mornings the mosquitoes and black flies were taunting me by landing on the outside of bug screen in front of my eyes. Fortunately I had a sunhat on underneath to hold the screen away from skin.

This spring has been really challenging for getting a bounty of greens. The gardens seem to be in a pause mode - the early cold hardy crops burned up in the heat. The next planned crop - directly sown, didn't germinate or at least did very very slowly. There was a rabbit family in the garden for about two weeks, until I figured out where. By then, spinach, kale, arugla, chard and many lettuce crops were done with next to no yield. Following the heat wave, we had really low overnight temperatures and three weeks of next to no rain.

I am hoping that things can just start growing now. I keep re-sowing seeds over the same patch. Something has got to germinate soon!

At my large farm garden, legged pest pressures have been low. There were a massive number of weeds though. DH has helped me get out ahead of them and I must figure out a system of mulching or over winter sowing to not leave such a mess next spring.

The whole no to low till thing is working out beautifully were we mulched or had crops overwintering. Bare soil - a mess. Overall the soil is less compacted and easy to work with. I was able to hoe most of it within three hours. If I can keep up, and get ahead even with mulching, next spring should be way easier.

The raspberries are flowering up a storm. Plum trees are dropping a lot of tiny fruit (likely the drought is to blame) but still are covered with purple damson plums.  Volunteer and planted potatoes and the garlic are very healthy. Long rows of early peas, and tall sunflowers are up. Onions are doing well. I could hand weed them in a few minutes.

I have been using the pricey seeder for popcorn, beans, sunflowers. It is amazingly fast.  I think I will try direct sowing onions next year - possibly in the fall,  if my seed collecting turns out. The Jang is easier to use with two people to keep the rows straight while walking to the side on the aisle. DD and I planted blue jay, bause de comte, great Canadian and yellow beans. I hand seeded a bunch of beet seed.

The tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, melons and cucumbers are settling in from transplanting. The garden is officially full. As soon as the garlic is ready, I will fill that space with carrots, turnip, beets, yellow and orca beans and hopefully some snow and snap peas. I have a large stash of broadbeans that I am going to use as something to overwinter under some mulch. They don't seem to love our climate but do add some green manure and weed control even if they don't make it through our winter. We don't really have enough days of spring temperature for a meaningful harvest.

gaja

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1681
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #190 on: June 20, 2023, 01:01:38 PM »
Every year I sow loads of seeds and plan for a lot I want to do in the garden, and every year in June, my pollen allergies hit. I do not know why I get so surprised every time. And the grass pollen season comes at the same time that all the weeds start their growth spurt. I've never seen weeds like in this garden; our stinging nettles are easily >2 m high. Hopefully there will be a bit of rain tomorrow so I can do some gardening without suffering too badly.

Got most things planted and sowed before the grass started flowering. Due to the unusual heat, the tomatoes are thriving, and all the beans and lentils have sprouted. DH just moved the area I want to plant squash in, I will have to strongarm the kids to help me prep it so I can get the plants in the ground before the weekend.

My kiwiberry plants are also growing like weeds, but haven't flowered yet. I think they might be getting a bit too much nutrition, but since that comes from the soil and the free ranging chickens, there isn't much I can do to limit it. Maybe it would help if I pruned them a bit more?

Tomorrow, I'm getting a truckload of seabuckthorn plants. Looking forward to getting those berries.

hayesb26

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Age: 34
  • Location: NYC
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #191 on: June 20, 2023, 02:41:34 PM »
Collected my first yellow squash today from my NYC fire escape garden! Heirloom and cherry tomatoes are starting to come in a bit, but these lower temperatures seem to be slowing everyone down!

Any perennial berries that do well in containers the group would recommend? Looking for small(ish) sized and can handle northern winters.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #192 on: June 21, 2023, 03:24:49 AM »
@gaja I also would like to plant sea buckthorn in the future. They grow naturally in Mustache country (Trøndelag).

Today I harvested more kale leaves. I also cut short a lot of leek that I co-planted with chili peppers. I harvested more red Cayenne chillies (all from one plant). I still have a lot of green chillies growing, Cayenne and Brazilian Starfish. I plan to use the latter for filling them with cheese and storing them in olive oil. Not sure if this is smart withput heating the oil and chillies. The Jalapeno is flowering. These plants were sown this year and the look nice and bushy. My bell peppers are producing peppers.

I moved one large tomato pot with I grew a pumpkin. I replaced the pumpkin with a squash Patisson orange. The pumpkin wasn't looking so strong and healthy, although it had started to recover. But squashes take less time to produce food. And time is a limited resource this summer.

Yesterday I sold a bunch of plants, 15 alpine tomato plants, 2 mini squashes and a very high Yucca palm. All not to be moved. There is another local who wants 10 strawberries. So far, the people who bought one thing, looked around and bought other things as well. I just charged a dollar per plant.

My potatoes are looking strong and healthy.

Many microbush tomatoes are growing tomatoes and the rest have some flowers. I shake the plants every day. But when I was away for 10 days, some had managed to get pollinated. Today I noticed a pollinator in the chilly flowers.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2023, 03:40:06 AM by Linea_Norway »

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #193 on: July 08, 2023, 04:11:05 AM »
I am currently at our cabin where I also have a kitchen garden. It has been a month since I last visited. It looks like it rained a lot (good).

The 2 kale plants, as well as the 2 palm kale plants were all under an ikea curtain. They looked great and we have eaten a part of the leaves.

My potatoes have almost all sprouted and some are quite high. One is almost flowering. Some are still tiny. I put straw or wood curls around them to cover the future potatoes. The rain can still get through.

The 2 bush sugar peas are still tiny and I got 4 sugar peas from them to eat. From all the bush beans I planted, there is only one type alive with 3 very small plants. It is called Hanna's Strimiga, a Swedish bean. The Norwegian Brown has perished.

My 2 rubarb plants from last year have grown pretty big with several leaves. I have harvested the first stalks from them. Three thin stalks is not much food, but I managed one portion of rubarb compote. The rubarbs that I sowed this year and planted above where I buried the dry toilet contents seem to grow well. The artischoke that I coplanted with them also looks healthy.

I harvested a lot of chives. The hardneck garlics (Valdres type) that were planted are growing very well. They have not produced curls yet. And they are still very green. I think I can harvest them early in August.

The chard that I planted out in milk packs filled with cow manure compost, have gotten leaves, but are still tiny. They were standing under a pine tree and maybe they didn't get optimal water. On the other hand, there were lots of weeds in the milk carton, that I removed.

The one tiny squash that I planted a month ago is still very tiny. My theory is that it is too cold for a squash.

Last time, I planted out lots and lots of alpine  strawberries between the currant bushes which then had no leaves. The strawberries did manage to grow flowers. But the currants have become green bushes with lots of berries.

Because of our move in August, I brought another couple of perenial plants which are staying in their pots: more thyme, a lovage. And also a potato with long season.

The sage plant from last year has finally become a healthy plant again. That took very long. I also found a surviving thyme from last year.

The asparges are still alive, but haven't grown much.

At home, I still hope to harvest what I have sown before we move in the middle of August.

StarBright

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3270
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #194 on: July 08, 2023, 01:08:03 PM »
I really love reading about the plants that won't grow where I live!

I just went down a kiwiberry internet hole :)

My snow peas are just about done and will probably pull them this week.

Harvested the first of my tomatoes (a better bush and a couple of early girls) and a couple of pounds of green beans today. I just finished the last of my frozen green beans a couple of weeks ago, so here we go again!

My tomatillos are lagging so far this year, but I think a neighboring plant is crowing them out a bit. Ground cherries look good. And for the first time ever my peppers look good.

LifeHappens

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 12158
  • Location: Tampa-ish
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #195 on: July 10, 2023, 02:02:20 PM »
Saturday we finally got some rain (very overdue in my semitropical climate). I took advantage of the wet ground to plant a cover crop of Cow Peas in my raised garden.

We have a dead zone in our front yard where several ornamentals have died over the past two years. I'm trying to improve the soil there by planting a cover crop called Sunn Hemp. It's a great nitrogen fixer and also flowers, so I'm hoping it does the job.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #196 on: July 11, 2023, 12:13:28 PM »
Saturday we finally got some rain (very overdue in my semitropical climate). I took advantage of the wet ground to plant a cover crop of Cow Peas in my raised garden.

We have a dead zone in our front yard where several ornamentals have died over the past two years. I'm trying to improve the soil there by planting a cover crop called Sunn Hemp. It's a great nitrogen fixer and also flowers, so I'm hoping it does the job.

Is there a large tree nearby that drinks all the water by it's roots?

At our next house, there is a sick sone under an apple tree where the grass gets brown if it doesn't rain.

LifeHappens

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 12158
  • Location: Tampa-ish
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #197 on: July 11, 2023, 12:25:34 PM »
Is there a large tree nearby that drinks all the water by it's roots?
No. We think the issue is the dumping of dirt (and possibly debris) when our yard was dug up to put in a swimming pool. The soil there completely lacks nutrients and plants tend to reach a certain size and die - probably because they are getting to the portion that is just sand.

Frugal Lizard

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5582
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Southwest Ontario
  • One foot in front of the other....
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #198 on: July 11, 2023, 08:12:54 PM »
DH and I spent the morning in the country garden.  We harvested 2 quarts of raspberries. 

Peas are starting to be large enough to eat. And I picked my first cherry tomato.  Unfortunately I  dropped it.  Then stepped on it.  There will be more but how clumsy of me.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Planting and growing your own 2023
« Reply #199 on: July 12, 2023, 10:49:15 AM »
One of my two artischokes has gotten a flower bud.
The two bean bushes in small pots have some beans. I picked a few, but they are still very thin. My other beans which are climbing type are still climbing and have a few flowers. No beans there, yet.
The strawberry bushes have gotten strawberries. Only we now have cold weather and rain, so they don't get red yet.
The same for my microbush tomatoes. They are full of tomatoes, some are even topping over by the weight of their fruits. I could pick a few which had started coloring from the yellow and dark tomatoes. But all the red tomatoes are still entirely green. I guess they need sunlight and warmth.
My pumpkin has 1 pumpkin. I don't know whether it has been fertilized by insects or not. Not by me at least. But I doubt whether it will be done by the time we will move, in the middle of August. I read that pumpkins need at least 55 days after fertilization on a plant to become properly ripe.
My squash plants are not functioning. They only have male flowers. I recently ate the only fruit while it was small, before we went on a new trip.