Gardeners in the Asylum

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

Will entertain suggestions.

Stagger plant some corn every two weeks? That way you can have fresh off the stalk for a long time. I do this because every year we wait too long and miss the best picking time.

[smitty81]

If you like sweet potatoes what about some squash bro? good stuff

How about some eggplant too, awesome breaded and fryed

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by smitty81

If you like sweet potatoes what about some squash bro? good stuff

How about some eggplant too, awesome breaded and fryed

Got squash already planted. I enjoy eggplant, but I'm the only one, so it doesn't pay to grow something that I'm the only one eating! Although, I think I'll look for the japanese variety and plant a plant or two (my elderly mom really likes egg plant, and I found out this morning that she's not going to try gardening this year.

[smitty81]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

Got squash already planted. I enjoy eggplant, but I'm the only one, so it doesn't pay to grow something that I'm the only one eating! Although, I think I'll look for the japanese variety and plant a plant or two (my elderly mom really likes egg plant, and I found out this morning that she's not going to try gardening this year.

good on you for thinking of your mom like that

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by smitty81

good on you for thinking of your mom like that

She really likes to use eggplant in lasagna. She will fry it occasionally, but uses it more in dishes as replacement for pasta. I bet if I bring her the eggplant, she will drop some of it back on me in the form of completed dishes!!!

[smitty81]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

She really likes to use eggplant in lasagna. She will fry it occasionally, but uses it more in dishes as replacement for pasta. I bet if I bring her the eggplant, she will drop some of it back on me in the form of completed dishes!!!

More than likely.
Better drop off some stuff for a pie while your at it and see how that pans out...lol

[SvilleKid]

We don't seem to be getting much action in this thread, despite the fact that planting time is upon us! Should we go back to a "yearly" title thread??

In the mean time, I picked up some Rutgers tomato plants today, plus two types of watermelon seeds and some cantaloupe seeds. We've had rain for the last 20 hours or so, and the garden is too soft to walk into. However, I should be able to get the rest of the purchases planted tomorrow. That will also give me time to look further for eggplant plants. After that, who knows. Depends on the garden space I have left.

I can't wait to get back and start getting my garden together. The compost will be well done and ready to top off the boxes. My wife sprained her back so she has not been gardening. We never need half the stuff we grow, anyway.

[mkarnold1]

I picked up some asparagus seeds, never planted it before. Any tips?

[shilala]

I'm going to put the plant stand together tonight so we can get our seeds started.
If I don't, I risk falling way behind.

Cliff, staggering starting times is best for holding your plants back. Your growing season is longer, but if it gets too hot and dry, you might need some shadecloth or something to keep the melons from scorching.
The only thing I don't stagger is tomatoes and corn. I use different varieties that bear at different times. It seems to work a lot better because we have such a short season. If the corn kernels don't start well, it's all over. No second chances.

I'm with you on the "yearly thread thing", too. I tried talking Lance into it when he was making this thread but I was a second too late.

[Chainsaw13]

Cleaned up the planting beds, got all the weeds out. Now to get some more top spoil and manure and I'll be all set to plant next month. We've had such warm temps here it's tempting to plant now, but we're due for a spring frost at some point. Don't need to kill off the plants.

Redid my rain barrell, moving it to the other end of the garage, closer to the beds. I plan to fashion some type of automated watering system. Just need to start planning it out.

Well, I planted seeds indoor for celery, oregano, basil, three types of tomatoes, jalepenos, habaneros, bellpeppers, tomatillos, and tobacco. After three weeks I have one celery, three tomato, one basil, two oregano, one tomatillo, and three tobacco (one of them is named Shilala). I see no signs of life from any of the chili based plants. I am both overjoyed and concerned over these results simultaneously. Perhaps it's the freak weather?

I'm looking to mends the earth in the backyard, somehow, before planting. After I do that, I will sew some other plants directly into the ground.

[Blak Smyth]

I greww mint and lavendar last year. Going to try my hand at a little tobacco this year.
Working on planting some Forsythia today.

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by mkarnold1

I picked up some asparagus seeds, never planted it before. Any tips?

I'd be interested in hearing how these do (seed form). I've only dealt with "crowns" when I've planted in the past. I'd assume the seeds would have a two year harvest restriction. With one year old crowns, you don't harvest the first year crop, and harvest only about half the second year spears. You can buy 2nd year crowns that are supposed to be harvest ready the first year. But I've heard, over a long time, 2nd year crowns yield less than planting first year crowns.

For seeds, I'd think you'd have a two,
probably three year wait for a good harvest.

Originally Posted by Blak Smyth

I greww mint and lavendar last year. Going to try my hand at a little tobacco this year.
Working on planting some Forsythia today.

Then you will have mint again this year. Mint sends shoots off everywhere and comes back like the living dead. It's a fitting plant for ZOTL's...

[SvilleKid]

Scott, I'm going to try a two week stagger on the melons. My main concern isn't the heat, it stem boring wasps that attack the squash and zucchini later in summer. I'm not sure how the melon vines will hold up. And with the lack of an extended hard freeze this past winter, we already are swamped with gnats, skeeters and other flying pests. I'm afraid I'm I'm for a much heavier workload this garden, just keeping the pests at bay!

Regardless, I planted the Rutgers tomatoes, squash, sweet taters, cantaloupes and watermelon this morning. I left room to plans 3-4 mounds of watermelons in two weeks. I'm still planning on eggplant if I find a flat of starter plants.

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by mariogolbee

Then you will have mint again this year. Mint sends shoots off everywhere and comes back like the living dead. It's a fitting plant for ZOTL's...

You got that right!!!!!! Not as bad as ivy or kudzu, but it will survive even a shot to the head

[Chainsaw13]

Oh god don't remind me about mint. Made that mistake. I think I finally got the last bit killed last summer.

[jjirons69]

Just got to grow mint the correct way - in it's own raised bed.

We've had such a mild winter here in the South, I figured to go ahead and start my garden. I usually wait until my birthday, which is 4/9. That and the fact Lowe's had all veggie plants 50% this weekend (ready to go for $16). That was a deal hard to pass up. It was overcast all day and even drizzled on me for a hour or more during my prep and planting. I got 4 Celebrity tomatoes, 4 Big Boy tomatoes, 4 cups of bush cucumber (which I've never grown - not messing with the trellis this year), 45 sets of lettuce, 4 bells, 4 jalapenos, and a pack of radishes for the kids. Still using the shredded leaf mulch from this winter as a ground cover. It works well. I also still have 50-70 large green onions from this winter. We've been eating them pretty steadily and they should be gone soon. Plus, my mojito mint garden is back in full production, They're choking out the chives.

5 rows of 9 plants of red sails, butter bibb, and romaine lettuce.



Cukes and tomatoes near onions.



Peppers planted in second onion patch. Radishes are planted in the square in the middle of the garden



Mint and chives bed

[thebayratt]

I got two types of Cucmbers up. A bush type for pickling and a vine type for the gf to eat in salads and such.
Then some bush style green beens. I find them easier to grow, needing no poles or lines to set for them to grow up.
Also I have some yellow onions comming up along with some Yukon Gold Potatoes.
I have a few feet of carrots comming up as well. I don't care for them much, but the 1yr old loves them for some reason!
Then I have a line of asparagus. I haven't quite figured out how or when to harvest them. So right now they are nothing but an ornamental plant.

And last but not least, I have three different strains of Tobacco in seedling form. I may have over watered them some, because a few are dying off. I have replanted a few to see if I can recoop my losses on them.

All of the plants, I have staggered the planting of the seeds. Then, I don't have one big run of harvesting to do. So I have a run of one row of plants producing, then after I pick them, the next row will be producing a few weeks afterwards.