Gardening Gardening

Im doing an experiment this year with my potatoes. I planted some in a half whiskey barrel that is plastic, and trying the no soil straw technique.

 

Hallelujah, no gypsy moth caterpillar infestation! I guess the majority of them died inside the egg masses. So, progress was made with the raised garden beds yesterday and I got the bulk of the seeds and seedlings planted. Slicing tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, buttercup squash, cabbage, string beans, bell peppers, banana peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. Still have to transplant a few more eggplant and tomato plants, as well as get my beets, green onions, parsley, rosemary, celery, strawberries, and potatoes in. Then I need to get my trellises up (going to try the Florida weave method this year). Also trying something different this year to increase useable space by hanging four railing boxes for vegetables like lettuce (frees up space inside the stock tanks). Considering we had our last frost warning just over a week ago, it's progress. Already harvested a bunch of lettuce and all my radishes. Had so much lettuce I ended up giving a bunch away.

 

Yay!

No sign of them here either. The real cold we had, -11f, and the damp spring, are helpful.

 

Finally got a drenching rain yesterday. It was much needed. I can hear the plants growing.

 

I think that is a great idea but they will probably need more watering than the big tanks.

 

Some random garden pics.
Lettuce ready for cutting #4.


Romain coming along nicely.




Getting some color on that one.
Iceberg is also looking great.


Sweet taters came around nicely.


Peppers looking good.


And that corn.

 

I looked in fridge and saw a bag of store bought broccoli. and I have 2 looking like this in the garden.
Now only 1. Gave the other to my sister.

 

Challenges this year are the moderate drought and some type of bug getting after my bean plants, but all in all things are doing okay.

 

Garden will be in my wife's hands for the next 2 weeks. Taking my sons on an adventure. Hopefully it will rain and she dont have to water it too many times.
I'll be without cell service, so everyone be safe.

 

Think you may be safe. 10 day outlook has a good chance of rain every day. Safe travels.

 

Picked my first two vine ripe maters.



Mint is thriving.




4th sink full of salad greens.

 

We've had rain 17 out of 20 days this month so need to take advantage of what little dry weather we are having to get caught up on some last-minute planting (vegetable garden is almost done so mostly ornamental plants). Except for today through Friday, the extended forecast shows rain every day through July 5th.

 

We never plant until Memorial Day. Strawberries are all we have so far.

 

Added yard waste, kitchen scraps, this morning fish remains, and tree pruning material. It will be up to 150-160f within a few days.

 

Black raspberries recovered from massive rabbit damage this past winter.
Row of tomatoes growing on a single stem

Red Norland flowers

Caged tomatoes are stating to put on fruit.

Along the shed I have cucumbers, peppers, beans, a tomato, arugula, dill, onions, a few garlic, and sunflowers on the end.

 

Do you ever remove the blossoms from your potatoes to increase the yield? Or is the difference not worth the time?

 

No I have never done that. We seem to always get enough to store and winter-over for seed.

 

I've been watching vids on straw bale gardening. I'll interested in how this turns out for you.

 

What is the ground cover you sre using around the plants? We are experimenting with a heavy layer of wood chips this year to help stifle weed growth and hold moisture.We spread them a foot deep before they settled.

 

Same here because we always get frost right up to that weekend. In fact last year we had a 27° morning after we had planted. It caught us by surprise and had to replant many plants.