Gardening Gardening

Yeah, it's real easy to overplant small containers and end up with bonsai versions of plants and brown leaf tips. . I've generally adopted square gardening rules. Or gauging root area needs based on the size of the visible part of the plant. Carrots being somewhat unique.
Small containers can need to be watered twice a day (or more) when it gets hot.

 

I just went out to add the kitchen scrap bucket contents to one of my compost piles, and noticed that both my main piles are still hot.


>140f inside the pile and 7f outside. This pile is covered with compostable yard waste bags from some of my leaf hoarding. There were a lot of composting worms around the edges when I turned it this past Saturday. They will continue to multiply and work their way to the center as it gradually cools. I won’t turn it anymore until spring to keep from disrupting them.

 

Wow! Nice!

 

Hey Steve, what do you do with all your asparagus seeds? Do you replant them or just discard them?
Ours got the red seeds this year, but not last year.
farmer steve

 

Sorry Tim. Just saw this. The red balls (berries)you see have small black seeds in them. Remove them and let them dry a bit and then put in freezer (vernalization). You can plant in pots in the spring then transplant them in late summer. Hope this helps . I don't get many seeds as most of my plants are all male.

 

I’m definitely going to grow these in 2022!

 

Seed starting week has arrived here. I just set up my wire rack and washed out the starter trays.

 

Usually I fill up an entire tray for tomatoes and another one for peppers. This year my plan is to grow a lot more variety in my beds. An entire bed of potatoes, more squash, cucumbers etc. I’m banking on doing a lot more blanching/freezing, and canning. Still, I’ll have no shortage of peppers and tomatoes. 6 plants each of the following:
Tomatoes:
Brandy wine, mortgage lifter, black cherry, Roma, Juliet, Jersey devil, and big boy
Peppers:
Habanero, Tabasco, red bell, orange lunchbox, and a new variety of heirloom bell pepper from Russia called Blot. (I picked that one out well before things went sideways over there…)


By the time I’ll have to transplant these into Dixie cups in 3 weeks or so, I’ll need to use probably 3 shelves to fit everything on the rack.

 

My wife got me a soil block kit for X-Mas. I'm going to try using the soil blocks versus the seed trays this year. Hope to avoid having to transplant the seedlings to Dixie cups.

 

I have had some Jersey corn that a friend of mine brings back when he goes down to visit family , have to say it is probably some of the best corn I have had.
Never heard of the tomatoes. I wouldn't mind trying to grow some myself here. Anyone know if the seeds are available to buy anywhere?

 

We started some seeds last week, I did a few more trays this morning before work, hopefully have it all wrapped up by the weekend.

Couple flats each of Tomatoes & Peppers, then the pumpkins and squash in the 4" pots & paper cups, usually a few cabbage, bustle sprouts, lettuce, etc too.

Wife plants 2-3 flats of flowers too.

No corn for us, way too sandy. Never does well.

 

Nice!

(We followed the planting instructions and it called for the starter plants to be dug in to a furrow 10-12" then covered as they grow to get deep roots.)

We just got 12 more plants at the tsc garden supply. We're going to fill a garden box with asparagus. 5-6 plants just wasn't enough.
We are going to use a piece of the neighbor's property this year to garden. We'll start by fencing it with electric fence (to keep the thieves out. Lol)
One of my wood hoarding buddies cuts on a farm and the owner pulled a bunch of fence out. I can get all the posts i need (free).

 

Thats awesome. How many days did it take to cool?

 

Good stuff right there.

 

My end of the season compost piles usually cool down by Christmas. They are dormant now. I just dug into one that was mostly chopped up leaves to add my accumulation of fish remains from this past winter that had been frozen out in a tub in the shed. I look to things heating up again by mid April. It is still pretty winter-like here.