Vegetable/Fruit Gardening 2020

[Soliloquy]

Hey Northern Hemispere! How does your garden grow?

[2sunshines]

I'm so excited for gardening season!!! This spring dh and I revamped my raised beds -- we took down the old ones, and made two new higher ones. Brought in gardening soil and fertilizer and now they're all filled up and ready to plant!

I won't be planting until after Memorial Day (I'm in Michigan, and that's pretty much the earliest I can safely plant without risk of freeze), but I'm excited the beds are ready!

[twoplustwo]

I am excited. I have garden failed twice now due to the my large population of trees over my entire property.

I am doing spinach and snow peas this year based on gcm advice. They are already planted and I have 7 spinach and 4 snow pea plants coming up.

Normally I wouldn't plant until after Mother's Day (Central Indiana) but since they are spinach and peas already in the ground. We have them in boxes surrounded by wire and watching the sun all day and I think we have moved them to the sunniest square of the back yard.

My dd did all the planting and helped make the chicken wire cages with dh and waters most days, though I do occasionally as well.

If this is successful I may expand.

QUESTION - at some point it'll be too warm for the spinach and peas. What should I plant in the boxes next for the summer (ie only tomatoes and a variety of peppers but the lack of sun I didn't get a lot). I used to avoid plants rabbits want to eat but now I have the boxes and wire so it's all ready to go. TIA!

[Soliloquy]

Do you have room for other things now? In shade, your can usually have decent success with plants where you don't need the fruit. Potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, celery, carrots etc but you'd want to start them soon. Your could try broccoli and cauliflower, too. Also herbs.

---------- Post added at 08:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------

Should add that I've never tried to grow potatoes or onions in shade. I'm thinking they might turn out ok, though.

Also, if you have a spot for rhubarb, that should do ok in shade. Rabbits don't eat it so it could go anywhere.

Do you have sun in your front yard?

Also, not sure how interested you are in growing vegetables but some heavy pruning of a few trees would help.

[twoplustwo]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

Do you have room for other things now? In shade, your can usually have decent success with plants where you don't need the fruit. Potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, celery, carrots etc but you'd want to start them soon. Your could try broccoli and cauliflower, too. Also herbs.

---------- Post added at 08:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------

Should add that I've never tried to grow potatoes or onions in shade. I'm thinking they might turn out ok, though.

Also, if you have a spot for rhubarb, that should do ok in shade. Rabbits don't eat it so it could go anywhere.

Do you have sun in your front yard?

Also, not sure how interested you are in growing vegetables but some heavy pruning of a few trees would help.

I don't have room. I mean I could make more room in the very tiny corner of my yard I am using now . . .but right now I am waiting to see if spinach/peas successful. I was thinking something over the summer when the boxes r empty for spinach and peas. Both broccoli and cauliflower is good.
We do have chives going in a pot as well. I could do more herbs.
We don't eat rhubarb.
We do not have ANY sun in the front yard. Right by the mailbox at the street gets some. And I have another small patch on the side of the garage. I have my raspberries bushes there though.

Heavy pruning of trees would be fruitless - 1. these are HUGE TALL TREES so the cost would be outrageous I assume. We would have to remove most of our trees and we have very low summer cost in terms of running the AC. We did remove 7 trees.The 7 Trees because of the Ash Borer and I thought - oh look at all the sunny spots in the yard but the remaining trees (15 in the back yard alone) just filled out and no more sunny spots. And when those were removed they had to come in with a bucket truck to lop off the tops. I mean TALL - the branches don't even start for 30-40 feet up.

[Soliloquy]

You could try planting more greens all summer long since they'll be kept relatively cool. Also, many stores get rid of their vegetable seeds toward late summer. I always buy extra now for fall planting.

[HomeWithMyBabies]

We put a rabbit fence around our garden area and made a cold frame with some wood and old windows. The lettuces are already in there, but the other plants I bought are waiting until after mother's day to go in the ground around the garden. I went a little overboard buying plants because it didn't look like my seeds were going to germinate, and I was worried the nurseries would run out. The garden centers are closed. Most of the seeds are years old and I haven't taken care to store them properly, but they've started coming up! Mostly organic or heirloom varieties I can't buy as plants.

I have about four kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, two kinds of cauliflower, bush beans, two or three kinds of peppers and three types of lettuce. We also have a well established strawberry patch. I actually had to pull some because they were taking over. I covered the blueberry bushes with bird netting in the hopes to get some berries this year, and I have some asparagus to plant as well. That will be a long term plant, I won't see a harvest for years from now but we enjoy asparagus so it should be worth it. The only spot left for them is where the feral cat colony tends to use as their litterbox, so right now I have some chicken wire and coffee grounds down in the hopes they'll start to avoid it.

[derdsgirl]

Our garden is really kicking off! It is going to be a big one. I'm really, really excited.

DH just finished making me my first permanent raised bed today. I had put in some "well these will do for now" beds several years ago, and then a tree fell on the whole garden two years ago and I gave up gardening. I'm back at it now and bigger, better than ever.

The permanent beds are 4'x12' cedar, 22 inches tall so it is easier to work with, and a wide top edge to sit on. We are planning on making 5 this year, and 2 more next year, plus there is room for one more 4x4 too, we will see if we get that one built this year or next or put something else there. And I'm so excited for proper trellises for everything. Woohoo!

I have 3 of my old "good for now" beds full of veggies. Already planted: bush beans, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, arugula, basil, cilantro, cucumbers, peppers, and a few new perennial herbs in my herb beds right outside the front of the garden. Oh, and I have a few zucchini and one pumpkin planted just straight in the ground - hopefully the voles don't get them! Plus our wild blackberries all over the unusable parts of the yard (hillside, under redwood trees) are growing quite a bit this year.

I have two asparagus and one rhubarb starts to get in still. I'm trying to decide where I want them permanently since they are perennial. I am pretty sure I want to plant them with strawberries as well. So maybe one bed will be a perennial bed. Maybe that 4x4?

As soon as we finish filling this new bed with dirt I have a lot of new seeds to get going. The next rounds of leafy greens, some pole beans (I KY blue pole beans), more tomatoes, and a few annual herbs are all definitely going in. I'm going to try a bit of root veggies, but I'm worried it might be too hot. I do have some shade cloth, I might try it over the greens and root crops. But I do know once we get to August/September I can plant a bunch of those root crops and get a good bumper to put in the cellar. We can grow through November here, it frosts in early December. Zone 9, so a very big growing season. We will be able to grow a bunch of the things I missed out on in the early spring later this year. In many ways, if we make a hot house over one bed we can grow year round.

Wishlist: Some more medicinal herbs are on my list and as I see them I'll get them for my cottage garden nearer the house. I also am looking at getting avocado trees and blueberry bushes. I'm not sure I'm ready for them yet - labor wise, plus I'm not 100% on where to put them yet - our lot is so weird. But it takes several years to get them established well enough to get good fruit so I'm antsy to get started. I'm also trying to figure out garlic, turmeric, and ginger planting. I am not sure how/where I want to do it, or if I've missed the window already - I need to research. I live 20 minutes away from the garlic capitol of the world. I should be able to grow garlic!

I'm hoping to move towards having all our fruits/veggies except apples grown here. Maybe eventually I can get apple trees, but I think it is too shady in the flat spots I have left. I've also thought about a kiwi or grape arbor. I love kiwis but I'm the only one. Grapes however are a fave in season.

[Soliloquy]

This year I tried planting my peppers, squash, and cucumbers in pots and then I planted the pots. Last year I lost several plants to pocket gophers and voles. This year they'll bump into plastic.

I have rhubarb stuck in random places. It doesn't need great soil. I started with two plants and now I have 9 from splitting.

I bought half my tomato plants and those are in. I'm hoping to buy the other half at the farmer's market this Saturday. And I'll see what else they have . . .

I cannot find the seeds I know I bought for bush beans. I may just buy starts, instead.

[derdsgirl]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

This year I tried planting my peppers, squash, and cucumbers in pots and then I planted the pots. Last year I lost several plants to pocket gophers and voles. This year they'll bump into plastic.

I have rhubarb stuck in random places. It doesn't need great soil. I started with two plants and now I have 9 from splitting.

I bought half my tomato plants and those are in. I'm hoping to buy the other half at the farmer's market this Saturday. And I'll see what else they have . . .

I cannot find the seeds I know I bought for bush beans. I may just buy starts, instead.

Voles... they are the bane of my existence gardening here. We attach hardware cloth to the bottom of all of our beds to keep them out. I hope your pots work well!

[charla]

I planted carrots, beets, green beans, cucumber, lettuce and spinach from seeds, but they didn't come up so I bought new seeds and replanted lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, and spinach and now they haven't come up! What is up with that? I had one zucchini seedling come up from seed and now it seems to be gone, so I'll try to replant that. The only things doing halfway well in my garden are the plants I bought at the nursery - tomatoes, jalapeno, watermelon plus the onions that I planted that had sprouted from my last grocery order.

[derdsgirl]

That permanent bed is filled and ready to plant. It was a LOT of hard work and digging to get it full, but it's finished and I can plant tomorrow!

[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by charla

I planted carrots, beets, green beans, cucumber, lettuce and spinach from seeds, but they didn't come up so I bought new seeds and replanted lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, and spinach and now they haven't come up! What is up with that? I had one zucchini seedling come up from seed and now it seems to be gone, so I'll try to replant that. The only things doing halfway well in my garden are the plants I bought at the nursery - tomatoes, jalapeno, watermelon plus the onions that I planted that had sprouted from my last grocery order.

My first batch of seeds barely came up either. The heirloom kale seeds I ordered online came up but the Ferry Morse seeds I put in my Walmart order (just because it was easy) barely came up. Just a few out of 4 packets! I've had duds over the years but never this bad! Makes me wonder if there was some kind of seed issue this year.

[twoplustwo]

I have SEVEN spinach plants and FOUR pea plants. DD said she planted the same number of each so some of my sugar snap peas plants didn't make it.
My neighbors garden got eaten so they put wire like we did. She said to me - I think I either need to decide if I am a tree person or a gardening person (she has a treed lot like ours). And our gardens are both near out mutual fence line bc that is our only sunny spot - it crosses our fence. We both had 3 trees taken down near there (actually the previous owner did for them).

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I put my broccoli and cauliflower in yesterday and then had to cover them because there was a frost predicted! I have to wait a bit for the other plants.

The bird netting is going to almost completely cover the strawberries, but I decided not to put that down yet. It seemed to discourage the pollinators. The plastic net I put around the blueberry bushes to keep the birds off was not squirrel proof. One of them ate a section away and a bird went in and trapped himself inside. I've had these bushes for years and have yet to get a single berry