Gardening Gardening

Ok, I found more seeds. Jalapeno peppers, zucchini, Italian parsley, a couple kinds of green beans, green onions, and probably something else I forgot. I also found the canna Lilly seeds from last year. I scarified them, Canna Lily Seed Harvesting: Can You Plant Canna Lily Seeds
and have those soaking now. I know the lilly's won't flower year 1 from a seed, but the foliage is awesome, and next year will be interesting to see what colors we get as the bees and hummingbirds will cross pollenate, making random colors from the seed cannas. Hummingbirds love canna lillies.

 

I’m going to try and work on that, thanks much! Basil does much better when temps stay higher but it was planted in June I believe. I actually have those in an old cooler I snagged aways back. The weather has been great but temps do drop below 50 at night. Seeing what I can do to help them out with bringing them inside and modifying their spot a bit before it gets dark. The greenhouse thought has come to mind a bit too. Maybe a simple ‘tent’ with painters plastic might suffice?

 

That'll work. Anything to raise the temps a bit.

So, I did an online grocery order last week, and had a basil plant in the order. Well, the dummies put it in the refrigerated section and it is pretty much all but toast. It literally has 1 leaf left. If we can get it to bounce back I'll be shocked. We were going to use a few leaves for a recipe, and then let it grow. Well..... Maybe I just plant a bunch of seeds? Wife was raised Sicilian, so, we love us some basil, and I've already got the Italian parsley seeds going.

 

Thats a lot of garlic!

 

We have a little garlic under snow this morning. Closest box.
(2 new garden boxes top left)

 

Picked up a greenhouse shelf on EBay last week. Works great.

 

Container gardening taken to a new low? I built these, my daughter & I are gonna try some stuff this year. Soil here is terrible, so, a layer of sand for drainage & some compost & topsoil over it. We'll see.

 

Why not? I can't see why that wouldn't work well.

Did you put drainage holes in the bottom?

 

Re-purposed some old split rail fencing. Made this raised bed with all free stuff on hand.

 

Seedlings doing well

 

Free & rustic. Looks good. You could sell it to the yuppies for big $$ !!

 

They look good. My only question is what the containers held before you got them?

 

Well guys, I've dabbled in gardening a little bit here and there some years ago at my old city house in a tiny little plot along the garage. Didn't get too much into it but had success with certain things, just never quite got *into* it like other hobbies. Well this year between all the COVID nonsense happening all around and spending more time at home I finally gave in and built one raised bed, then decided I needed another smaller 4x4...Then this weekend decided I needed the 10x4 to complete the space for this year. If things turn out well and I stick with it then I have plenty of space to expand this area. All the wood was free from work from pallets, most is oak but some of the 4x4's are cherry and I think a couple poplar on the ends of the longest bed. I gotta say driving half inch by 8" long lag bolts into oak is not easy. Next step is to fill the big bed and 4x4 with top soil/compost blend I get about half an hr away at a place that does worm compost. $25 a yard for their worm compost soil blend which is the best deal I've come across in my area.

I may have to jump in here to ask for tips from you experienced gardeners but for now the seedlings are starting off decently, I got a cheaper LED grow light off Amazon and they seem to like that. I didn't have the grow light at first but noticed some of the lettuce was pretty leggy looking, stretching to get the sunlight from my kitchen window where I originally had everything. I had the light closer to the plants until yesterday I raised it up higher because it almost looked like a few leaves were starting to get sun bleached, including some sunflowers which concerned me. The pic of the seedlings is a little more than half of what I have planed right now. The basil in the back was just a store bought plant my wife needed for a recipe, I didn't intend on replanting it (it just came in a bag) but figured I'd see what happened.

 

Also could use some fencing suggestions. I have all the common critters around - deer, rabbits, woodchucks etc. All the big box stores have fencing high enough but it all tends to be wide patterned which rabbits or squirrels could easily get through. Any links or suggestions for a tighter weave fence?

 

Garden Zone Rabbit Guard, 342850DB at Tractor Supply Co.

 

Here at the house I use that rabbit zone type fencing mentioned by Brandon Scott. But during winter they will get through the upper openings or simply walk right over the fence. This means that they naturally prune down my raspberry canes; but there it little other damage they can do as everything else is down.

Up north at our property we have deer, and the rabbit fence solutions will not work for them. In this case for my raised beds I use high chicken wire that I "sew" together at the top, or make a hoop that is covered with the chicken wire so they can't eat down from the top.

 

woody5506 I have experimented with starting plants indoors with grow lights. But I have the best luck direct sowing just about everything outdoors, including basil and lettuce. Lettuce can be planted outdoors now. The first sowing of mine was done a few weeks ago. It has snowed and stayed below freezing for 5 days straight since then. Now it is up and growing in it's bed; same with my cilantro, kale, onions and radishes. I am still waiting for my potatoes, carrots, beets and peas to sprout, but they were planted a week ago, and take longer anyways. Basil will not germinate until the soil gets over 50f so I wait to sow that in late May in my zone (4b). It grows fast once it stays warmer.

I will wait until a bit latter in May to direct sow squash, cucumbers, beans, sunflowers, marigolds, and zinnias.

My tomatoes and pepper plants are bought at my local Ace hardware or Menards garden center. That being said I have also had luck with bountiful harvests by direct sowing those outdoors in May, plus I get some volunteers each season that crop up and do well too if I don't pull them. The key is your soil and it sounds like you have that covered with the worm compost/soil blend you have access to.

 

Thanks for the tips fellas. Yeah I'll consider this my first "real" year of gardening, in the past it was a few different veggies here and there, plant and water and that's it, not much other thought put into anything. I start inside I guess to get a head start with the warmer weather stuff for fun but once the space is prepped better especially fenced in I'll direct sow more next year.

I think I want a 1"x1" grid fence maybe 6' high. Need 80ish ft so a 100ft roll isnt terribly priced online. It's kinda the one thing with this whole project that's been bugging me because I don't want anything too permanent since I may expand the space eventually but also hate putting money into cheap flimsy stuff.

 

As we aren't planning to do any traveling this year, campinspecter rented a de-thatcher for the moss in the lawn. We plan to plant pototoes in the thatch. We have done it before and it produces lots of clean potatoes. My arms and back ache from raking thatch and wheelbarrowing it. And it still isn't done. there is so much thatch that we will have to take some to the yard waste dump. the lawn is going to be in shock this year.

 

For those planting seeds in hills.....

4 seeds per hill per grandma,,,

1 for the bug
1 for the crow
1 to rot
And 1 to grow...