Planting and growing your own 2024

[Linea_Norway]

Let's make a new thread for 2024!

I already sowed peppers (chili pepper, bell pepper and sweet pepper). Also celeriac, artischoke and leek.

The artischoke has already sprouted. This moning I also noticed 2 somethingies in the pot with leek seeds.

I do not use grow lights and the seeds are standing in front of a south-south-east window. I now live at 63,9˚ north and have short periods of daylight in winter. But the sun turned around at December 21rst, so days are getting longer already. What we need now is just more sunshine. Currently it is very greyish.

[mspym]

It’s the height of summer and we’ve had water restrictions called so it’s all about trying to keep my garden alive. Little yellow squashes are full steam ahead, we’ve got a second handful of beans, and the tomatoes are starting to set. (I should have pruned them earlier or planted fewer).

Making notes and plans for next year - including rainwater tanks and some new beds. We got some old fence posts from my sister’s farm today that will get turned into beds for the front lawn.

[Linea_Norway]

Todo in 2024 in the garden:

- pruning the large and small apple and pear trees.
- removing autumn leaves before spring, to controll a fungus decease on the fruit trees.
- "painting" the raised bed pallet crates with a cooked linseed oil.
- installed the raised beds.
- finding free natural materials to fill the raised beds with.
- installing a water cistern.
- producing vegetables for food.

About installing the raised beds, I painted and installed one in autumn to plant out the garlic.

About filling the raised beds, I collected a few large carbage bags full of autumn leaves. I plan to have that as a layer in the raised beds. I will also use seaweed, which we have right behind the house. I plan to ask farmers or horse owners whether they have some old manure to share, that I can collect with the trailer after installing the crates. I also have twigs and branches from the fruit trees, and soon from the Christmas tree.

We installed 2 large composting bins which are working hard. So I expect I will have a nice pile of compost to use in spring. Although I don't expect it to be enough for the whole garden.

For the water cistern, we found a large plastic container in our boat house, which we are going to use as a water cistern. We plan to install it high up, so that we can use a hose below in the garden from the water pressure.

[NorwegianHomestead]

Hi everyone!
We are on year four of our garden in western Norway, and this year we are expanding. From earlier years we built a 3,5m tall deer fence around a ~30sqm veggie garden, as well as set up a 30sqm greenhouse. This year we are:
- Improving the beds to avoid as much of the weeds as possible
- Fencing off a bigger area
- Finishing our outside chicken coop and run, as well as the duck house
- Set up a wind-shielded  pumpkin patch. Last year we only got one pumpkin in our outdoor patch, and since the plants take up so much space we don’t want them in the greenhouse. Hopefully windproofing the patch will help a bit!
- Year three of pruning the old fruit trees - they were so out of control so we had to space out the pruning as to not kill the trees
- Work on a more permanent composting solution - it’s been a bit random so far. Now that we have chickens it will also help.

Our goal is to eventually be pretty much self sustainable on vegetables and fruit (apart from grains, oils and nuts). I hope this year we can grow even more chilis, peppers and tomatoes, as well as more root vegetables to store for the winter. Last year was a lot of salad and different kinds of cabbage and kale, as well as tomatoes.

[Frugal Lizard]

Happy new year fellow gardeners!

My Dearest has been building me a new seed starting area. We were insulating part of the basement with original concrete walls. I had just watched a youTube video of a dedicated seed starting area. There before pictures in the video looked exactly like our basement area. Presto - DH is making it happen for me. I hope to get it completely set up before I leave for a five week travel / self directed study tour. When I get back (Mar 28) it will be late for starting peppers and onions and sweet potato slips but perfect for tomatoes and eggplants.

I am going to do all the winter sowing I have capacity for before I leave. It should be ready to sprout when I return.

I went through all my seeds and ordered the 8 types I was missing. I have a huge donation of collected seed for the seed library, as well as having a great variety to grow myself.

I started a flat of mesclun mix last night in hopes that it will be ready to eat before I leave on Feb. 20.

I am so excited about my 2024 garden already and the grow lights aren't even plugged in.

[tygertygertyger]

Yay for gardening! We have inches of snow outside, so this is mostly dreaming. But our plans for 2024:

*my partner intends to build a hedge along the back fence. (We're on a suburban lot.) The "hedge" would be huckleberry, hazelnut, and something green to be decided on...

*Clear out more of the "prairie" section of our backyard. I love the idea of a prairie but this is honestly out of control. There's some kind of white flowering vine that grows over the top of everything else that we need to dig out. I had also planted raspberries in one corner that need rescue.

*We want to add a DIY archway with a planter base to create an entry to our driveway garden. Haha... it won't be fancy but hopefully it'll look nice! Our driveway is long and goes along the house to the garage in the backyard. We use the back half of it for pots and planters.

[Linea_Norway]

Today I raked lots of leaves from the fruit trees in the garden. We have a fungus decease on many of the fruit trees. I read that this decease spreads when the autumn leaves dry up in spring. The fungus spores will then leave the leaves and land on the twigs in the trees and the decease will have a new cycle.

Normally it is good to leave the leaves in the garden, as nourishment for the worms. But now I prioritize to fight the fungus decease. I hope it works. I will put the leaves underneath in the pallet crates when these are installed.

The snow has completely disappeared here and it has been mild for a week now. But next week it will be cold again.

All my seeds have now sprouted, except for the celeriac. The Jalapeno chili is very slow compared to some others, as is the Yellow Californian Wonder bell pepper.

The fastest sprouting seeds are Hatch Chili (New Mexico). I got these from a lady who has collected her own seeds for 7 generations and always chosen the fastest and best producing plants.

I think I will soon need to repot the two artischokes that have sprouted.

[aloevera1]

Hi All,

I am excited to find this thread! Was actually thinking to start something like this with goals and challenges.. Yay for fellow garden DIY!

I have a small backyard garden with a variety of plants. I have both annual plants and fruit trees, all of them require tons of attention :)

This year the idea is to have garden on the "easy mode" but... I also said that last year and still did lots of stuff! You know, once it starts it's just tasks after tasks and then some random problems pop out (last year I discovered pear slugs on my cherry tree..).

Anyway.

The first step would be to order seeds. I have some leftover seeds I saved from last couple of years but we do like experimenting with varieties.

Peppers are grown indoors so we can start them any time now. :) I already cleaned our indoor nursery where we start seedlings. Exciting times!

Main garden projects include:

- Prune lilac (2) - this is not mandatory but I like my nice flowers... was too busy last year to do it in the fall.
- Prune fruit trees - this is mandatory. I like the trees that feed me
- Dig out a bunch of sod to extend the potato patch
- Build a structure for peas to climb over. I have birds really eager to eat the whole pea plant so I need both trellis and cover from the birds. Some sort of box shaped thing? Last year I just used the mesh but it was a horrible mess.
- Buy more mulch and replace mulch from the fall (I don't like it much)
- Clean the shed.
- Introduce more Berry bushes? I really want the red currant... I already have gooseberry and raspberry. I love berries, it's just a constant struggle to find space for them.
- Plant peony bush!! This is really high on my list. I want beautiful peonies and have a perfect spot for them already.
- Stretch goal - make a third garden bed and fix the fence around it.
- Start seedlings for tomato/cucumber

Some of these projects depend on my partner as he is the primary DIY builder around here. I participate too but I mostly take care of the plants rather than build structures.

Anyway, this is enough for now. I am sure more stuff will pop up later.

Excited to start planning in the middle of January! Here is to successful season!

Cheers.

[Rosy]

Hi fellow gardeners - what are you up to this year?

YAY! It's that time again, I'm about to start spring gardening - more like the first week in February but I've started on a few mini projects here and there.
My outdoor furniture lives outside year-round so I started evaluating, fixing up and re-painting.

Annoyingly, Lowes stopped carrying my favorite color plastic furniture spray which forced me to change my color scheme. But OK, in the end, I do like change and the new colors do look great - so now there is acid green/yellowish and a deep teal color reigning in the garden this year. Fun colors for the tropics to give it a fresh cool feeling in the summer!
Only one chair and a couple of stencils to go:)!

UGH
Except for the big, cool, damn designer swing chair that has stayed white. I can't believe it already showed signs of rust again since we painted it only last summer. The seat and back only are a thin mesh (the rest of it is sturdy and thick metal and has never needed painting yet, but I give it a coat anyway when I do the mesh, ugh) so I've been vigilant about sanding, coating and painting that damn mesh - but the thing is so cool and truly comfortable!
It is already re-painted and for the first time, I stuck it in the shed for protection until Feb when we hang out in the garden a lot more.

The gazebo chair and dining table stay black and ugh, yes I will need to tend to some rust spots on a couple of chairs and repaint probably most of them this year. Not my favorite thing - I'm hoping I can rope Mr. R. into helping while I do the color stuff - way more fun.

I've been playing with stencils so now there will be several tropical accents, think palm leaves on the back of the chairs. My first try was a bit frustrating and a learning experience but turned out stunning. A black iron drum table which now has a mandala top (because I can:)!

I'm in the middle of clearing out what was once a she-shed and do all the things to it to make it 'pretty and artsy' finishing up all those ideas that I never got around to doing the last time.
It houses a shelf with garden books and my seed collection aside from my other ever-changing interests and the necessary storage if you live in a small house with no basement or attic and also need emergency food and supplies for the hurricane season.
It's big and airy and roomy - or rather it will be once I cleared out all the accumulated junk.

We already replaced the window rattler aka AC and I'm now working on what is left of my jewelry, art, and other project supplies. I have donated some already, I'm down to finding efficient storage solutions and some really old stuff that I have no idea anymore what it might be.

Oh, and the big Kahuna - I have a gazebo in there ready to be built and set up once I find all the parts.:)

Had help for a few hours yesterday - so today I'm looking for organization/storage and hopefully finish sorting all the jewelry-making tools and random stuff left on a tall and wide shelf. I'm debating whether I should just let it all go.

Anyway, the next step is sorting the garden, mosaic and craft and decor books, sorting the seed collection plus an old tile project and a half-finished mosaic ball for garden decor.... wondering whether I should spend an afternoon finishing it up?

GARDEN
Seed Savers Exchange catalog is sitting next to me as I write and I've already selected what I want - HA HA - slashing that by at least half:).

BANANAS-OH MY - oh my:)
My neighbor gifted us with a third of her harvest - from the banana pups I gave her last year. Delicious!
They are small Ice Cream Bananas, so exciting whenever one of us gets the next harvest.
Mr. R. will have to move one or two of the new pups this weekend.

HEADSTART - MAYBE
I'm planning a trip to the nursery next week for veggies, Roma tomatoes, Savoy Cabbage, Kale and Celery if I can find it.
I still have plenty of seeds for tomatoes I want to try and I'm looking forward to seeding my own pepper collection this year.

HERBS
I plan to seed some, like Chamomile and pick up a few favorites by the first week of March.

Happy Gardening everyone!   

[Frugal Lizard]

Garden envy.  It is snowing and blowing here.

[RetiredAt63]

Garden envy.  It is snowing and blowing here.

And here.  But it is mid-January, it is supposed* to snow now.  We need the snow to insulate plants.

*You can take the girl out of Montreal, but you can't take the expectation of proper (i.e. cold and snowy) winters out of the girl.    ;-)

[RetiredAt63]

- Prune lilac (2) - this is not mandatory but I like my nice flowers... was too busy last year to do it in the fall.

At this point all your flower buds are made - if you prune before the lilac flowers you will prune flower buds.  Be glad you didn't prune last fall.  You would have pruned the flower buds then.  Prune right after flowering.

[aloevera1]

At this point all your flower buds are made - if you prune before the lilac flowers you will prune flower buds.  Be glad you didn't prune last fall.  You would have pruned the flower buds then.  Prune right after flowering.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yea.. The lilac is currently scheduled after flowering. Last year I ended up pruning in the spring before the leaves came out and had MAGNIFICENT blooms. However, it's probably because of my very conservative pruning (mostly cutting off old fruit, no major structural changes). The bush is a little wild as it is both old and has not been maintained for a few years.

Trying to get it back on track now. :)

[mspym]

Pretty confident I caused one of the scallopini plants to fall over by pruning back some of the enormous leaves that were counterbalancing the OTHER enormous leaves on the other side. It’s got a week to see if it’s still producing, otherwise I’ll compost it and let the peppers it’s shading get some light. Also think I have managed to snip the growing tips on our tomatoes because that is an absolute jungle.

In succession planting news, the wee bush beans have put out the prettiest lilac flowers and I’ve planted three more beans for later. The next two sets of beets are sending out leaves and the parsley is finally showing signs of propagating. Fingers crossed that the chives ever sprout.

[RetiredAt63]

At this point all your flower buds are made - if you prune before the lilac flowers you will prune flower buds.  Be glad you didn't prune last fall.  You would have pruned the flower buds then.  Prune right after flowering.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yea.. The lilac is currently scheduled after flowering. Last year I ended up pruning in the spring before the leaves came out and had MAGNIFICENT blooms. However, it's probably because of my very conservative pruning (mostly cutting off old fruit, no major structural changes). The bush is a little wild as it is both old and has not been maintained for a few years.

Trying to get it back on track now. :)

If it is really huge you may do best by cutting a few of the oldest (thickest) stems off right at the base.  That will open up the centre of the bush.

[aloevera1]

At this point all your flower buds are made - if you prune before the lilac flowers you will prune flower buds.  Be glad you didn't prune last fall.  You would have pruned the flower buds then.  Prune right after flowering.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yea.. The lilac is currently scheduled after flowering. Last year I ended up pruning in the spring before the leaves came out and had MAGNIFICENT blooms. However, it's probably because of my very conservative pruning (mostly cutting off old fruit, no major structural changes). The bush is a little wild as it is both old and has not been maintained for a few years.

Trying to get it back on track now. :)

If it is really huge you may do best by cutting a few of the oldest (thickest) stems off right at the base.  That will open up the centre of the bush.

Do you have any idea how quickly the bush will fill up? Are we talking 2-3 years or 10+? These are my first lilacs :D

[aloevera1]

By the way, the garden season 2024 is OFFICIALLY ON.

I cleaned my indoor nursery last week and yesterday we planted pepper seeds. Yes, I know it's middle of January and last frost is (hahaha) 5 months away probably.

Yet, these peppers are going to be grown indoors. This is our second try to have a year round little pepper farm. The first one did well for one season but then dryness and mites got to it. Back then I also unfortunately got quite sick and was not able to care for them for 2-3 weeks. So yea. It was sad.

This time it's going to be different!! I am pretty comfortable with seed -> seedling -> first transplant stage.

After that I will need to watch for humidity level and leaf burns from the lights. I found that peppers don't really like the lamps I have that much. Will also need probably to set up something for humidity...

Still, it's a problem for a me couple of months away from now.



Aaaaaalso.

Looked at the seed catalogue and ordered some more catalogues. It's too early to get seeds, especially with frigid temps. I don't know how mail controls temperatures so seeds don't freeze en route.

I am excited though. Will try a new variety of cucumbers for this season. I love growing cucumbers but I found not all varieties grow well here. I have been saving seeds from producing varieties so right now I have 2 successful types. Still, I want more! All the cucumbers!!!

[RetiredAt63]

At this point all your flower buds are made - if you prune before the lilac flowers you will prune flower buds.  Be glad you didn't prune last fall.  You would have pruned the flower buds then.  Prune right after flowering.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yea.. The lilac is currently scheduled after flowering. Last year I ended up pruning in the spring before the leaves came out and had MAGNIFICENT blooms. However, it's probably because of my very conservative pruning (mostly cutting off old fruit, no major structural changes). The bush is a little wild as it is both old and has not been maintained for a few years.

Trying to get it back on track now. :)

If it is really huge you may do best by cutting a few of the oldest (thickest) stems off right at the base.  That will open up the centre of the bush.

Do you have any idea how quickly the bush will fill up? Are we talking 2-3 years or 10+? These are my first lilacs :D

Haw old are the bushes?  How full are they?  Can you post a picture?  And the maximum height?

[mspym]

I pulled the potatoes out this morning, mostly because I wanted the bed space for beets and beans. Got 2.7kg of new potatoes ranging in size from a fist to a broadbean. This also let me get in at that end of the tomato forest and prune some of the lower leaves out.

The runner beans and scallopini are giving us a decent crop for two people most days and there’s silverbeet on tap for when we want a green. Hopefully the cucumber plant will rampage away to have with the tomatoes and peppers. The jalapeño plants are fruiting awaiting and I’m encouraged to see what other chillies we can grown next season.

Planning - the Italian parsley seeds finally seem to be germinating but the chives might be a lost cause. I don’t know why they are being so troublesome. Beets are nearly ready to transplant and I’ve got the next batch in seed pots.

The other thing is the wild blackberry canes down by the airstrip are fruiting. We went on Monday and got a couple of kilos of berries and I think we are going again tomorrow, as there was heaps that weren’t ripe but the weather has been perfect since then so there should be another few containers full ready.

[Linea_Norway]

By the way, the garden season 2024 is OFFICIALLY ON.

I cleaned my indoor nursery last week and yesterday we planted pepper seeds. Yes, I know it's middle of January and last frost is (hahaha) 5 months away probably.

Yet, these peppers are going to be grown indoors. This is our second try to have a year round little pepper farm. The first one did well for one season but then dryness and mites got to it. Back then I also unfortunately got quite sick and was not able to care for them for 2-3 weeks. So yea. It was sad.

This time it's going to be different!! I am pretty comfortable with seed -> seedling -> first transplant stage.

After that I will need to watch for humidity level and leaf burns from the lights. I found that peppers don't really like the lamps I have that much. Will also need probably to set up something for humidity...

Still, it's a problem for a me couple of months away from now.



Aaaaaalso.

Looked at the seed catalogue and ordered some more catalogues. It's too early to get seeds, especially with frigid temps. I don't know how mail controls temperatures so seeds don't freeze en route.

I am excited though. Will try a new variety of cucumbers for this season. I love growing cucumbers but I found not all varieties grow well here. I have been saving seeds from producing varieties so right now I have 2 successful types. Still, I want more! All the cucumbers!!!

@aloevera1
Seeds tolerate freezing. That is what they do at seed banks, like on Svalbard.
Order your seeds early, so that you have choice. Later in the season there will be varieties sold out.

You can also safely store your seeds cold, just make sure they won't get condensation. I keep my seeds in a refridgerator, inside a plastic box, sorted in different ziplock bags.

Peppers like ait circulation. At the end of the summer you can cut them down a lot and set them cooler and darker. They will sprout new twigs, leaves and flowers when you put them warm and light again. This cutting down is a way of getting rid of lice in the winter. People who don't do that, put a ventilator beside the plants for the ait circulation.

[Linea_Norway]

Garden envy.  It is snowing and blowing here.

Here we have -13˚C outside and 17˚C inside.
We just got installed a heat pump. But I am still learning how to program it correctly.

I hope we will get som sunlight today. My peppers seedlings are in front of a window without grow lights. Luckily spindly peppers get be put deeper when I repot them.

I moved the artichokes and the leeks upstairs to an unheated bedroom, in the window. The celeriac should also be moved there, but I was so dumb to sow heat loving plants and cold loving plants in the same seed tray. So I'll need to wait until either the pepper or the celeriac is big enough to be transplanted.

My 2 year old, but still small kaffir lime is still alive and looking fine, in the living room in front of a window.

I became a member of the local (and national) gardening club. It is a bit of a pricy membership. And it might have focus on nice looking gardens, more than a fruit/vegetable garden. But I am going to try and see for a year. I need to get to know some more local people in this new place. They will also send a free gardening book.
From this membership, I received a discount card for a seed shop, so despite having lots of seeds, I placed a new order for some delicious sounding pumpkins and a supersweet tomato that I had on my list, as well as a different thyme veriety. I hope DH doesn't notice the arrival of the seed package. He is often commenting that I have so many seeds, I really don't need any more. But what about variety...

[Linea_Norway]

Hi everyone!
We are on year four of our garden in western Norway, and this year we are expanding. From earlier years we built a 3,5m tall deer fence around a ~30sqm veggie garden, as well as set up a 30sqm greenhouse. This year we are:
- Improving the beds to avoid as much of the weeds as possible
- Fencing off a bigger area
- Finishing our outside chicken coop and run, as well as the duck house
- Set up a wind-shielded  pumpkin patch. Last year we only got one pumpkin in our outdoor patch, and since the plants take up so much space we don’t want them in the greenhouse. Hopefully windproofing the patch will help a bit!
- Year three of pruning the old fruit trees - they were so out of control so we had to space out the pruning as to not kill the trees
- Work on a more permanent composting solution - it’s been a bit random so far. Now that we have chickens it will also help.

Our goal is to eventually be pretty much self sustainable on vegetables and fruit (apart from grains, oils and nuts). I hope this year we can grow even more chilis, peppers and tomatoes, as well as more root vegetables to store for the winter. Last year was a lot of salad and different kinds of cabbage and kale, as well as tomatoes.

@NorwegianHomestead

About weeds in your beds. Do you use mulching between your vegetables and at the end of the season?

I also intend to grow pumpkins as well as squash. We have learned to fear eastern wind, which can be very strong. Unfortunately that is also partly where the sun comes from. So I don't see how I will be able to make a wind shield in the veg garden. Apart from growing them on the first floor terrace (altan i 2. etasje) with a glass fence. That is where I intend to grow all but one type tomatoes and all pepper plants in pots, as well as a bunch of herbs and some lettuce, close to the kitchen. Maybe I should have one squash there as well... Let's just hope that eastern winds won't be as bad in summer as there are in autumn and winter.

[Thrallama]

I'll join! Been gardening since I could walk, but I'm going to be on year 3 of my current community garden plots.

Plan is remaining roughly the same as previous years - I don't have enough space to grow all my produce, so I grow my favorites.

Tomatoes - Sungold, Sweet 100, and Early Girl varieties
Peas - as long as the rabbits/grouse/squirrels don't eat them first 🙄
Squash - zucchini and butternut
Carrots - Danvers are my favorite
Herbs - cilantro, basil, oregano, rosemary, mint, lavender (more for the bees than for me)
Garlic - planted for the first time last fall, we'll see how it does!
Strawberries - one of my beds already had some plants in it, I haven't given them much focused attention but I enjoy eating the occasional berry that the birds miss.

Last year I ended up with several good sized sweet potatoes that grew in a pot where I had an ornamental sweet potato vine. They were white, not orange like the grocery store varieties, but still tasted good!

I did have one bed where my tomatoes just didn't thrive last season, so this winter I'm sending off soil samples for testing to see if/what I need to supplement. Luckily I have a partner who is a soil scientist to help me interpret the results.

[10dollarsatatime]

Yay! We're fuzzy planning on coast FIREing this year and moving into a bus, but that's probably not until late summer, which means I still get to garden! I'm in Utah, last frost someone around the end of April, beginning of May.  I have a massive vegetable garden and am putting flower beds in the front yard this year to minimize grass.

It's about time to start the onions, which means I need to clean off the seed starting shelves.  I should probably clean out the greenhouse soon, as well. 

I've never really grown flowers, beyond the marigolds and nasturtiums that I scatter throughout the garden. I need to do some reading and decide what to plant.  Chances are pretty good that I already have all of the seeds I need.  I participate in a couple of bulk swaps throughout the year and have a ridiculous number of varieties of seeds.  My promise to myself is that I won't buy another seed packet until my hubs and I have finished the coastFIRE wander and settled down on a new property.

[mspym]

This morning we started laying out logs to see where the new beds will go. I think we have a good plan now - side of the house will have garden all the way down it. We’ll put up leftover wire fencing all along the wooden fencing so that’s where all the climbing things grow, saving me this year’s mad scramble to add support structures as needed. That should give us sufficient produce for two people and the front yard becomes shrubs and maybe some fruit trees.

[Linea_Norway]

Today I trimmed a Tuja hedge row that grows in front of the first floor balcony. It was sticking out above floor level and we wanted to insure the view. I started hanging over the side with a branch cutter. But I didn't have long enough arms. Then I tried out the branche cutter on a stick that came with the house. After some practice, I managed to remove quite a lot of the hedge.

In the future I would like to replace that hedge with something edible, but not sure what, yet. Like DH said, let's first set up all these raised beds in spring and see how that goes before we change so many other things in the garden.

Yesterday I want to a meeting from the local gardening club. A nice group of people, all interested in gardening. One of them owns a horse, so I made an appointment to collect a trailer full of horse manure there in early spring.

[Frugal Lizard]

Started sweet potato slip growing.

I bought a good sized organic orange fleshed sweet potato and but it in a cup. The homegrown pale yellow and creamy purple potatoes have started sprouting in storage. I have been chopping off the end with all the sprouts and putting that in water. I would like to get 5-7 slips from each variety going now.

Last year's potato potato crop is not proving to be great. There is a lot of inside rot - I have to clean them carefully. This coming year should be better because I have the drip irrigation equipment now. (Last season, I could not for the life of me find it. By the time I found it, and got it set up, the drought was over)  I think I am going to start over with completely new seed potatoes and compost the remainder of what I grew last year. I have a whole area of the garden that hasn't had potatoes in the last three years.                       

[Rosy]

UGH - change of plans - surgery/recovery time is throwing a wrench in my garden plans and projects. Really bad timing for my spring gardening.

Tomorrow will be my first day of deep watering in a while, but the veggie/herb/flower garden aka Potager has held up well, much has survived.
Heading out to at least one nursery with a garden friend, possibly two nurseries to officially start planting - spring gardening, yay.
It will be the first nice day in a while - usually our weather is mild and sunny, not so this year, but we got rain so I'm happy.

I just found out I need eye surgery with a long recovery time so I want to be sure to have everything set up because we only get a short window to plant especially cold-weather crops - so I either do it now or not at all.
Tomatoes do better if I start them now and I will be using whatever herb and veggie seed I have left from last year. I don't have time to order from a catalog - bummer. Then again I do have a good selection:).

So all in all, a bit of change in plans as I can't work in the veggie garden like I usually do at this time of year.
Luckily I was successful in propagating and dividing many of my favorites in 2023, so they are already fat and happy along with some self-seeding Salvias that I encouraged that produced some pretty little plantlings - ready for planting now.

1. The tropical garden
mostly just needs a clean-up, compost and mulch. I will get help a couple of days to weed and move things around, and maybe plant something new - depending on what I find at the local Tropical Nursery.
We have bananas, plantains, papayas, and avocado, as well as Ginger (red pincecone ginger for lotion and shampoo and edible ginger) and Tumeric (edible and medicinal) - all doing fine.
I was happily surprised how well the Turmeric is doing with no attention at all. I even grew an edible ginger (from Peru) from the grocery store

I planted and also seeded some Fennel last year which struggled during our extreme summer and the draught - but now it is looking quite good and filling in. Yay - food for the butterflies and a pretty lacey plant for me - one day I might actually cook one up or roast? one of them:).

The Meyer lemon is getting over its transplant shock - fingers crossed it will produce well.
Our two Limoncito (from Costa Rica) bushes are still small and I will leave them in their pots - hoping they will grow and maybe produce this year.

The pineapple is looking good and I'll try to start one more.
Everything else is ornamental except for the few herbs I grow in the ground (most are in pots) for cooking and tea - different types of salvia and rosemary, African blue basil -my absolute favorite, Indian tree basil (medicinal), garlic chives and society garlic, green onions, plus Tapioca (bushes) and Moringa tree(s).

2. The "Potager" garden area
needs a lot of work to get it looking good and all ready for spring gardening before my surgery. I can maintain it once the real work is done.

3. Everything else in the garden just needs the usual pruning and TLC which will happen eventually.
Projects may or may not happen - we'll see.

4. Overall, I'm actually in better shape than I have been the last three years or more mainly because the 'newer' garden areas are coming into their own and don't require as much tweaking and change.

5. So there will be mad buying and planting and cleaning up happening all over the property the next two weeks. Looking forward to plant shopping tomorrow - I'm hoping they have a good selection of starter plants.
If time allows we may go and check out a nearby native plant nursery too.

First up, this weekend we'll be uprooting about three Elderberry babies and moving them to the Allee along the ditch - which completes my row of elderberries. Finally - yay!
We were all glad, my neighbor and Mr. R and I, to have the homemade Elderberry tinctures and remedies, which really helped in 2023 with bronchitis, flu and Covid between the three of us.

New Plan - do something fun in the garden every day - aka - paint and stencil the last two garden chairs - possibly tomorrow.
Fix the mosaic on the kitchen patio...
Clean up, re-organize the pots, decorate and plant some spring flowers on both the kitchen patio and the entrance porch this week.

New Plan - keep the focus on the Potager and potting areas - do as much as possible whenever possible.

Happy Gardening everyone!

[NorwegianHomestead]

Hi everyone!
We are on year four of our garden in western Norway, and this year we are expanding. From earlier years we built a 3,5m tall deer fence around a ~30sqm veggie garden, as well as set up a 30sqm greenhouse. This year we are:
- Improving the beds to avoid as much of the weeds as possible
- Fencing off a bigger area
- Finishing our outside chicken coop and run, as well as the duck house
- Set up a wind-shielded  pumpkin patch. Last year we only got one pumpkin in our outdoor patch, and since the plants take up so much space we don’t want them in the greenhouse. Hopefully windproofing the patch will help a bit!
- Year three of pruning the old fruit trees - they were so out of control so we had to space out the pruning as to not kill the trees
- Work on a more permanent composting solution - it’s been a bit random so far. Now that we have chickens it will also help.

Our goal is to eventually be pretty much self sustainable on vegetables and fruit (apart from grains, oils and nuts). I hope this year we can grow even more chilis, peppers and tomatoes, as well as more root vegetables to store for the winter. Last year was a lot of salad and different kinds of cabbage and kale, as well as tomatoes.

@NorwegianHomestead

About weeds in your beds. Do you use mulching between your vegetables and at the end of the season?

I also intend to grow pumpkins as well as squash. We have learned to fear eastern wind, which can be very strong. Unfortunately that is also partly where the sun comes from. So I don't see how I will be able to make a wind shield in the veg garden. Apart from growing them on the first floor terrace (altan i 2. etasje) with a glass fence. That is where I intend to grow all but one type tomatoes and all pepper plants in pots, as well as a bunch of herbs and some lettuce, close to the kitchen. Maybe I should have one squash there as well... Let's just hope that eastern winds won't be as bad in summer as there are in autumn and winter.

Yes, I use mulch both in season and between, but I think I need to double down my effort and add a lot more. We did build our beds in a way that made keeping the borders clear of weeds rather difficult, so we’re removing the edges this year and hoping for improvement.
How lucky you were to get some horse maneur for the compost heap!

Regarding wind - that is such an important element to try to control in our part of Norway! We realised that for some of the plants, like squash and pumpkins, we needed to set up a transparent pvc wall to keep the wind out. Tomatoes, chillies etc are all in our greenhouse, and we are putting up another one next year to grow even more vegetables protected from the wind. In the winter we also grow some spinach, pak Choi and kale in the greenhouses as well,really useful!

[Frugal Lizard]

My little seed starting area is coming together.
Last night I worked on setting up the grow lights. Still a little more to do to get them all plugged into the timer.
The bright white walls on two sides really do brighten things up.

[YttriumNitrate]

Here in the Midwest of the USA, it's still about a month before I begin sprouting things indoors. In the meantime, I've been waging war against the rabbits at my new property. Last year, I made some rather large brush piles as I cleaned up my land, and the rabbits decided they were excellent places to live. During these winter months I've been trapping them, and making lots of campfires to clear out the brush piles. Hopefully, by the time I'm ready to move plants outside in a few months, the rabbit population will be low enough that the plants stand a chance.

[Linea_Norway]

We have had some periods of mild weather, between very cold weather. And the sour cherry tree (morell) in our garden has decided to make a lot of buds. A bird, the eurasian bullfinch (dompap) has descovered them as food. I hope it will generate new buds in proper spring.

I found some leftover wooden planks and make myself a gardening stool. That is a U-shaped stool, about a foot high. You can either sit on it normally, or turn it upside down and with with your knees on the underside of the seat. I still need to find a piece of foam mat to glue on that side. If you want to get up from sitting on your knees, the legs of the stool can be used.
I made one earlier, at our cabin, and the became not quite straight. That was made with a blunt saw and very thick beams. It still works fine in use. The new one is straight, made with thinner wood and a sharp saw.

[Rosy]

PLANT SHOPPING at the Willow Tree Nursery down the road -
always such an "expensive:)" treat.
It was a lovely outing with my neighbor and garden buddy.

Got 80% of what I needed and then went a little crazy with the 'wants' - my willpower melted when I saw they had a good looking Pineapple Guava
and a pretty little butterfly bush - it is called heavenly blue and only grows to two to two and a half feet tall and wide.
The butterfly bush - well it sort of jumped into my little red wagon (this nursery has radio flyer red wagons for your plants...:)

I tried a Guava in the past
and loved the pretty scented and edible flowers on the bush, but it wasted away like plants sometimes do. This one is already about three or more feet and looking healthy at $14.95 I'm calling it a good find. Maybe now I'll actually get to taste a real guava fruit.

Sweet Almond bush -
a beneficial insect magnet and a butterfly magnet that smells divine. It isn't edible but it will make a good addition to the habitat area of the garden since it basically takes care of itself and stays green all year. I hadn't planned on getting a second one but somehow got caught up in the moment.

I don't have much time left before my surgery
so I'm only visiting the Tropical Plant nursery and making one trip to Home Depot or Lowes. I'd also like to try some peaches or a Fingerling or Persian Lime, we'll see what I find.
One more fruit, whatever appeals, and two Roma Tomato plantlings, two Fennel and a few rare herbs are all that is left on my wish list.
We'll see how it goes.

Thankfully
they still had Geraniums and Pelargoniums for $4.99 - in another month they will only have the 9.99 kind. I've tried my own propagation with mixed results and my geraniums usually don't give up the ghost until the fifth year. I've branched out from plain red geraniums...:).
But, I'll gladly take the three survivors of my experiment. I need to do more research, maybe ask around the local Garden FB groups.
 
This is my secret garden vice -
every year I allow myself X to buy several of the spring flowers that I remember fondly from my childhood. I know they will only last until about mid-May in our climate, but small scented violas among other favorites are a treat for the eyes and lift my spirits.
They always greet me at my garden table so I can admire them as I have my morning coffee.
(No point in planting them in the ground they'd die even sooner).

YAY - success on the painting front.
I have a metal garden column - decorative, twirly crowned with a round ball at the top. It makes a great center piece in a garden bed but I've always wanted to paint that top ball gold and since I had to yank it out anyway while we are re-doing a garden bed it got sanded, primed and painted white.
Ran out of paint today - it needs a couple more coats and then finally that elusive golden top. Yay!

Finished painting the last chair today, so all that is left to do is stencil both chairs today - if it doesn't rain in the next thirty minutes I'll do that next.

PLANTING
Today I planted my spring garden favs and two tomatoes, a Patio and a Sweet Celebrity 100 hoping to find Romas tomorrow.
I cleaned up the tomato and pepper pots on Wednesday so I was ready. 

Since I have plenty of pots I don't usually buy new pots anymore but I acquired three new pots recently, primarily for ornamental and decorative use.
I planted all three of them today - oh so pretty!
No, I didn't need the pots or the flowers but it made my heart sing.

I'd really like to know
where all those pretty pots end up - I've never once found a pretty flower pot at Goodwill etal.

So all in all a good start for spring gardening - there will be extensive gardening this weekend.
Lots of planting and weeding and cleaning up.
Even my window sill in the kitchen is bare for the first time in forever, no cuttings are rooting - the celery seems to like its new spot in the window box, the carrot and onion cuttings should do fine, the geranium might survive and the Papyrus I propagated looks fantastic as the 'hair' of the mermaid (one of my three new pots).

Off to stencil a garden chair and plant some chamomile, chocolate mint, dill, and oregano - that still leaves a ton of planting for tomorrow morning - it is supposed to be a rainy day - perfect for planting.

Happy gardening everyone!
I'm printing out those overlong garden posts I've bored y'all silly with and creating a garden journal for 2023 and 2024.
It helps to read about my thoughts, successes and failures - so I don't repeat mistakes and plan and choose better. One tends to forget some of the details and insights. 

[mspym]

This morning I finished my latest experiment in tomato forest taming- I put nails in along the top of the fence, strung twine along the nails and then tied up some of the tomatoes branches so the peppers underneath get some light. The scallopini plants just sprawl out and grab as much territory as they like. Next year will be more organised!

This morning we had some lovely gentle rain which the garden really needs - we are restricted to watering twice a week at the moment. Hard to believe I had never really gardened before 4 months ago.

[Linea_Norway]

This morning I finished my latest experiment in tomato forest taming- I put nails in along the top of the fence, strung twine along the nails and then tied up some of the tomatoes branches so the peppers underneath get some light. The scallopini plants just sprawl out and grab as much territory as they like. Next year will be more organised!

This morning we had some lovely gentle rain which the garden really needs - we are restricted to watering twice a week at the moment. Hard to believe I had never really gardened before 4 months ago.

@mspym
Just because you mention you haven't gardened much yet...
You can choose to top indeterminate tomato plants after you have gotten enough tomatoes on them. Then the plant will focus on finishing those tomatoes instead of growing taller and making new fruits that they can't finish for the season.

Are you familar with pruning of indeterminate tomatoes, where you remove suckers? That will help to control the immense growth a bit. Maybe it is not as nessesary in your garden as it is for us who grow tomatoes in pots.

I am not an tomato expert myself. I have only grow microbusk tomatoes for 2 seasons. And one indeterminate tomato in a pot.
This summer I will grow 4 indeterminate tomatoes in large pots, as well as many microbushes in smaller pots. And one determinate tomato in a raised bed. I am so curious about how it is going to work out with those big tomatoes. I selected the seeds on what are supposed to be good tasting and pretty tomatoes (Stripes of Yore, Xanadu Green Goddess, Copperhead, F1 Supersweet 100).

[Linea_Norway]

@Rosy
I hope you will be able to enjoy the scents of your garden when you are recovering from your surgery.

Having a garden planner and diary is supposed to be really useful. I have bought a planner called "A Year in the Garden, planner and journal". I have already filled out lots of the yournal, while waiting for the new year to start.

[10dollarsatatime]

It's a warmer weekend here... A whole 40ish degrees!  I'll be spending some time removing some of the old plants from the garden.  Hopefully, they're dry enough to run through the chipper. I'll use it for either mulch in the pathways or to throw in the chicken run to eventually become compost.

Speaking of compost, the two piles I have going are starting to heat.  I wasn't sure they would, but i dumped warm water in the middle of them every evening for a week.  Got the temp above freezing and gave it enough of a bump to get the natural process going. 

I need to start actually planning garden.  I know that it's time to start onions.  I use seedtime for planning.  I backed it in Kickstarter and absolutely love it.  I'm not supposed to eat them, but I'm tempted to grow some tomatoes and peppers this year.

I have always found it odd that large gardens reduce sales value for homes.  I'm banking on the local shortage of homes to pay through that.  We'll see, I suppose.  I'm not willing to give up the garden this year, knowing it will be at least a couple more before I get another one.

[mspym]

@Linea_Norway yeah, I've started topping the tomatoes and also removing suckers but that seems to make them more determined to regrow. I'm getting new shoots out of where I have cut. It's still all fun learning.

[Rosy]

@Linea_Norway - I got a day planner for Christmas, but it is way bigger than I'd ever use but it occurred to me that it will work perfectly as a garden planner since there is so much room and it actually has a flower/plant motif.
So I'm printing my posts here and I plan on printing out some garden pics too along with seed packets and a few notes.

Today was a big garden day.
Mr. R. helped with some prep for the huge tomato pots. I found that moisture soil works the best but since it is so pricey I do my best with compost and making my own soil, re-using last or previous year soil after it sat a year and garden mulch and worms have improved it, if it is really bad I just throw it on the compost pile.

I made good headway with planting the ornamentals, mostly geraniums, violas and snapdragons, plus herbs. Tomorrow the lettuce will be planted and I'm doing two window boxes with mixed herbs. I'll try some Dill in the garden again since it is still early.
I'm not crazy about the bouquet Dill I picked up - I like the tall giant Dill better and I know that I ordered a seed packet late last year.
For now I'm concentrating on veggies and herbs. 

The potager is starting to look beautiful and colorful - no shade yet though, since the tall Crepe Myrtle tree doesn't have full leaves until May - which is perfect for our climate. I get sun in the spring and shade in the summer.
Every year I have a better natural shade canopy which protects the plants during our brutal summers. I planned it that way originally but it takes time to mature and of course, few things ever work out exactly as planned, especially in a garden.

Lots of trial and error - I cultivated a second shade canopy
in an adjacent area to the veggie garden about seven years ago where the sun hits only a little while a few times a day for things like cabbage, peas, lettuce, and herbs that prefer it shadier.
I did not really want a second veggie-herb area but it was the only solution. It proved to be an excellent decision in light of the extreme weather conditions we've had lately.
I wanted the new area to look like part of the potager area and it needed to be close enough to the water supply so that I wouldn't neglect it.

In the end, this new garden area acquired a vibe of its own.
The accidental addition of the Blue Sky Vine, a Papaya tree, a palm, and a big Turmeric helped. Functional too since the huge planting table - I garden on top of it like a raised garden bed, provides a practical storage space underneath for my large pots.

Tomorrow
I will have a look at my seed stash and sprinkle a few seeds of herbs and flowers in as many pots and garden beds as I can.
Mr. R. is handling the planting in the ground as well as re-planting several things in a different area.
As it happens, this gives me exactly the space I need for my newest purchases the Sweet Almond and the Pineapple Guava.

Happy gardening everyone!

[Rosy]

Today was another big garden day - I'm beat, exhausted and hurt everywhere - but who cares, the veggie/herb/flower garden aka Potager is 75% done!!!

Mr. R. helped but mostly he was busy planting and working on the Tropical garden, the new Pineapple Guava is in the ground and he added an African Blue Basil bush that I had propagated last year which is blooming and smelling heavenly along with a dwarf red ginger that was an 'oops' buy, it is not the Pinecone ginger I thought it was, but everyone agrees that it is such a pretty plant that I'm planting it anyway (almost a year later).

The garden is buzzing with bees and I saw the first deep yellow butterfly and the oddest ugliest caterpillar.
Different shades of brown to mimic a branch. Now I'm wondering what it was, I saw it last year for the first time on the Tapioca, this time it was on the Papaya.

One of the raccoons came to the kitchen door intent on coming through the cat door to eat the cat food.
Wolfie the resident cat was having none of it - the first cat we've ever had that objected.
So instead it picked up - yes, picked up! the kitchen compost bucket we keep in the carport and carried it off, it managed to get the lid off...
Shush, don't tell - the next night I left some bananas in the garden for it - Mr. R. does not approve.

I have hope now that the Potager will be completely done by the time I go in for surgery. We even made good strides in other parts of the garden and I had a little help with finishing up garden projects I had already started, now those are 95% done too.
Not tackling any other garden projects and I scaled down what I'm planting and doing in the garden this year.

Happy gardening everyone!

[Telecaster]

Mostly just posting to follow...

...Although it is the end of January, it is getting close to spring planting time here in the PNW.  Temperatures have been in the high 50s and bulbs are starting to sprout.  There is an old saying "plant peas by President's Day" which is just two weeks away, but a little soon, IMO.  I like to wait a couple weeks until March.  The real planting season starts in April and things like tomatoes and peppers  I don't plant until late May (from starts I buy).  Although winter is mild, it is very long. 

In the meantime, I'm going to build an outdoor potting table and work on my irrigation system.  I'm going to add at least two raised beds and maybe three.  We'll see how ambitious I am.  While I wait for warmer weather, I think skiing in Wyoming is the thing to do for the next couple weeks.   

[Rosy]

So I went to Lowes yesterday...

They had several plantlings that I needed and/or wanted. So now I'm only missing two Roma (tomatoes) and a peach tree, we'll see, maybe I'll end up with a different tropical fruit instead.
I was happy to find a sweet mint (for drinks) and a sweet peppermint, cabbage and celery plantlings. Found a few flowers that I couldn't resist and new windowboxes since mine are/have been falling apart.
I may return for one of the bird baths I spotted, some quality window boxes (not like the cheap ones I use for lettuce and a mix of herbs) and a gorgeous blue ceramic pot that was on clearance.

Of course that meant that today we spent a lot of time in the garden-planting, potting, setting up new areas and moving stuff around.
It was a lovely day and then I made Shrimp Scampi with garlic chives from the garden and bacon because I had a hankering for bacon.
Sipped some Moscato in the sunshine dining al fresco.

Our bananas are fruiting again - yay!
This is my last weekend before eye surgery and it looks like I will get to where I need to be for spring gardening just in time:).
Happy gardening everyone!

[the lorax]

I bottled around 1.5kg of rhubarb yesterday as the rhubarb has been growing like crazy. It must like long hot summers? The peach are starting to come in now, which is good as the strawberries are pretty much finished and the second flush of raspberries hasn't started yet. First cucmber of the season harvested yesterday and starting to get useable quantities of tomatoes too!
@Rosy  - this season I have been trying using 1/3 old potting mix, 1/3 homemade compost and 1/3 new mix (it's a special fruit and veg mix) and things seem to be happy so far. I did try to make sure that I wasn't growing the same type of plant that grew last year in the old mix. If it works, it'll make things like tomatoes and cucmbers that I always grow in pots much more cost effective

[Rosy]

@the lorax - yes, I have had a good experience with this mix of old and new soil and my compost. The plants are happy and it gives me more wiggle room in my gardening budget.
I wish Rhubarb would grow in my region - strawberry and rhubarb pie is one of my favorites.
Alas, we have bananas and pineapples, avocados and papayas, passionfruit and lots of wonderful herbs for all kinds of uses, and now fig and guava and strawberries so I'm not complaining too loud:).

More planting happened today,
I'm trying strawberries this year, they do grow in my area but it is already near harvesting time (in Feb) so I bought slightly bigger plantlings but not the $10 per pot size. I don't have straw but I cut up my dried palm fronds with my garden scissors, easy and quick, they work great for clean and good-looking mulch.

In the back of the garden in my habitat area, I just throw the entire big dried palm fronds in the beds for mulch. It works stellar for keeping weeds out too.
If I add a second layer nothing gets through.

I ended up going back to Lowes for that big blue ceramic pot since it was on clearance and picked up a couple more pots/window boxes and two tomato cages.
This was supposed to be a plant-free trip - but - there was a fig calling my name...:). So the fig and the pineapple guava are this year's addition to the Tropical Garden area.
I resisted even looking at flowers but got a couple of seed packets that were on my wish list.

No time to work in the garden tomorrow but I still have Mo and Tue to finish planting every plant baby. I need to have everything mulched and well-watered and in a spot that they like by Wed.

With any luck, the veggie/herb/flower garden will be all planted and looking pretty.
The other parts of the garden are still in need of attention, although they have all been worked on.
It is what it is - but I'm hopeful that I can maintain the potager and the rest will be done eventually.

Happy Spring Gardening everyone!     

[Thrallama]

Got the results of my soil test back, quite interesting! My SO who is a soil scientist helped me interpret and highlight the results that need attention.

The bed where my tomatoes didn't thrive last year has a pH of 6.3 which is quite acidic for vegetable growing. The mint that goes feral every spring doesn't seem to mind, though.

My second bed has a pH of 6.9, but is quite low in nitrogen (3.5 ppm) and organic matter (9.9%). I was surprised by this one because this bed is the one I've had more success with.

Now to make a plan for how to amend/treat the soil this spring before planting time!

[RetiredAt63]

Got the results of my soil test back, quite interesting! My SO who is a soil scientist helped me interpret and highlight the results that need attention.

The bed where my tomatoes didn't thrive last year has a pH of 6.3 which is quite acidic for vegetable growing. The mint that goes feral every spring doesn't seem to mind, though.

My second bed has a pH of 6.9, but is quite low in nitrogen (3.5 ppm) and organic matter (9.9%). I was surprised by this one because this bed is the one I've had more success with.

Now to make a plan for how to amend/treat the soil this spring before planting time!

9.9% organic material is excellent.

Nitrogen is the most variable nutrient becasue so much is tied up in organic material and released by micro-organisms in the soil.  So when it is cool (spring) there isn't much.

[Frugal Lizard]

Got the results of my soil test back, quite interesting! My SO who is a soil scientist helped me interpret and highlight the results that need attention.

The bed where my tomatoes didn't thrive last year has a pH of 6.3 which is quite acidic for vegetable growing. The mint that goes feral every spring doesn't seem to mind, though.

My second bed has a pH of 6.9, but is quite low in nitrogen (3.5 ppm) and organic matter (9.9%). I was surprised by this one because this bed is the one I've had more success with.

Now to make a plan for how to amend/treat the soil this spring before planting time!

9.9% organic material is excellent.

Nitrogen is the most variable nutrient becasue so much is tied up in organic material and released by micro-organisms in the soil.  So when it is cool (spring) there isn't much.

the organic matter target for lawn/park soil is 4-6% topsoil.

There is likely enough microbiology stuff going on in your growing season for anything to flourish with that organic matter.

[YttriumNitrate]

My SO who is a soil scientist helped me interpret and highlight the results that need attention. The bed where my tomatoes didn't thrive last year has a pH of 6.3 which is quite acidic for vegetable growing. ... My second bed has a pH of 6.9, but is quite low in nitrogen (3.5 ppm) and organic matter (9.9%). I was surprised by this one because this bed is the one I've had more success with.

I thought a pH of 6.3 was just about ideal for vegetable growing.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2011&context=extensionhist

[Linea_Norway]

I thought tomatoes appreciated a bit chalky soil. And potatoes like some acidic soil.

Today I sowed some more yellow bell pepper, because I had one seedling that looked very weak.

Yesterday I sowed aspargus, some microbush tomatoes, baby eggplant (for in a pot), Siberian chives, thyme and Thai basil.

[Rosy]

BOO - turns out that recovery from my eye surgery is way worse than I expected.
I can't do anything yet and this is after one whole week of face-down positioning and a barrage of meds.

Yup - I'm whining because I have spring gardening withdrawal.

Today for the first time
I'll see about doing a few mini-tasks here and there.
More like my usual morning walk through the garden where I assess things, pluck a few weeds, grab some leaves, or cut palm fronds for extra mulch in a pot or straighten things the critters messed with overnight or rescue my poor little violets from a pot full of water and no drainage - oops.

Lucky for the garden,
the weather has been cool/cold unfortunately super windy too but Mr. R. watered everything while I was down and out.
I didn't manage to seed out any of the herbs, veggies or flowers like I wanted, but maybe I can do that tomorrow.

All the plantlings like
celery, cabbage, tomato, peppers, chamomile, mints, different lettuce, strawberries and more herbs like Dill and Lemon Balm et al are already growing and thriving thanks to the cool weather.

Score - found some Kobalt blue ceramic planters that I absolutely love.
I planted the one big one with Calla Lillies and the medium-sized planters have Sun Hostas (fingers crossed they will survive the summer).
I'm planning on a couple more of those beauties (from my birthday gift card stash) to re-pot my Buddha Belly and the only true historic Florida Rose (it is a pink blooming Tea Rose) - both are thriving.

Ye old garlic chives,
Fennel, lots of Rosemary, African blue basil, green onions, carrots (for the first time) all from prior years' plantings are enjoying the cooler weather.
We've been using and harvesting them all year long - even the lemon balm and the Italian oregano made it this time.

Mints - not so much - sometimes I get a survivor or two, but mostly mint doesn't even make it through the early summer - no matter where or how I plant it or what kind it is. They all hate my garden come June.

My beloved Lemon Verbena is struggling and may not make it. I didn't have any success trying to propagate it but maybe I get lucky and find a couple of nice plants at the local plant fair in April or sooner - so I can try one more time.
Not ready to give up yet - but it was disheartening to see a YT video with a thriving bushy Lemon Verbena - mine rarely even get close to looking that full and lush.
Maybe I need to do more research.

Happy gardening everyone!

PS i forgot how to upload pics - help please:).