Is anyone working in the garden yet?

[PrincessAnika]

Originally Posted by ViolaMum

Just an FYI: Old Miracle Grow will kill your seedlings, too. If you use it, make sure it's newer.

DH's grandmother always started her seeds in paper milk cartons turned sideways. (We usually got seedlings from her, she had so many.) But were you thinking of keeping them in the plastic box or just starting them that way?

TY - I don’t think we have any miracle gro but I will double check that also.
I was thinking of using the plastic box as a window planter, like people usually put flowers in, only with herbs. No clue if it will work or not I need to research container gardens more.


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[mummy2boys]

I pulled out all the weeds and old plants a few weeks ago, which was good timing as we've had torrential rain and floods here in Sydney and I have one arm in a sling so no chance I could do it now!

Think I might be able to manage digging little holes and putting in seeds with one hand

[heartofjoy]

Originally Posted by PrincessAnika

TY - I don’t think we have any miracle gro but I will double check that also.
I was thinking of using the plastic box as a window planter, like people usually put flowers in, only with herbs. No clue if it will work or not I need to research container gardens more.


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I'm doing herbs in a container. I wish I had a window to put them in but when we built our porch across the back of the house, we blocked the sun from all the convenient windows! I know in my research that many of the herbs I wanted to grow don't do well in the heat, which is a big problem here in Texas. Also containers dry out really fast, so mulch and water a lot even if they are dry loving plants.

Originally Posted by mummy2boys

I pulled out all the weeds and old plants a few weeks ago, which was good timing as we've had torrential rain and floods here in Sydney and I have one arm in a sling so no chance I could do it now!

Think I might be able to manage digging little holes and putting in seeds with one hand

I'm sorry about your arm! That would really deter me! I'm glad you got the old stuff pulled first. What seeds are you planning?

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[arelyn]

We planted lettuces and radish a couple weeks ago here at my sister's house. We're hoping to have enough greens to make a salad before we heard back up North. So far her 18 month old has enjoyed watering them and hasn't done any damage (though I did have to hide the shovel).

[derdsgirl]

Me! s :bounce I almost started a thread last week but I thought maybe it was too early for everyone so didn't.

I've been working in our garden since early Feb. Started with weeding and putting up some more raised beds. Then late-Feb planted a HUGE bed of bare root strawberries and rhubarb with some sorrel lining the front of the bed, borage and chamomile are along the back - with a bit of room back there for lovage. The strawberries are starting to sprout and it is so fun. I can't wait for strawberry rhubarb pie.

I had some volunteer lettuce plants pop up in early Feb. We have had a couple of salads so far picking off the bottom leaves. Snap/sugar peas went in the ground, direct sown, mid-Feb and doing well growing. First round of carrots were intersown with some of the peas and sprouted last week. I also started my brassicas about the same time indoors and repotted those up to 4"pots last week. They are looking great. I started too much broccoli though. I'll give away extras. Last weekend we finished up a 4x10' bed that I got planted with our "salads" (lettuce, chard, beets, second round of carrots, radishes, spinach, napa cabbage) on one half, and a 10' row of kale too with a 10' row left blank for the brussel sprouts once the starts are ready to be planted in a couple of weeks. I finally found some shelling peas, they had been sold out everywhere, and got those in the ground today.

I think the spring garden is officially planted now.

Within the last week I have gotten most of my summer garden starts going. Tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, basil, cucumbers, summer squash, melons, and a bunch of flowers. I was super excited to see hibiscus seeds earlier this year - I never thought to grow it myself before seeing the seeds but I *love* hibiscus tea. So I planted a whole packet and every single seed germinated. I am definitely going to have extras for friends around here.

I still have some more herbs, beans, and one other thing that I'm not remembering to get going. Oh, and I ordered my seed potatoes, but those ship sometime this week or next for proper planting in our area, so those aren't started yet either, but I have a big bed already cleared and waiting for them.

Most of April will be babysitting seedlings and transplanting them to bigger pots plus building out a few more raised boxes. Last year I didn't get all the boxes built that I wanted but , having had more time to plan since then I've expanded my whole garden plan which is great - now I have room for an avocado tree and blueberry bushes which I'd love to do NOW but there is a wood pile in that area at the moment because we removed some trees to make better garden space. I might need to get the avocado tree now and put it in a big pot for this year, and transplant it next. They take so long to mature I really want to get that going. DH is also getting invested more in the garden and is wanting to help me build proper compost piles which hopefully can get started in April.

Then May all the things (minus a few of the hotter loving plants) get planted!

[heartofjoy]

Originally Posted by derdsgirl

Me! s :bounce I almost started a thread last week but I thought maybe it was too early for everyone so didn't.



I've been working in our garden since early Feb. Started with weeding and putting up some more raised beds. Then late-Feb planted a HUGE bed of bare root strawberries and rhubarb with some sorrel lining the front of the bed, borage and chamomile are along the back - with a bit of room back there for lovage. The strawberries are starting to sprout and it is so fun. I can't wait for strawberry rhubarb pie.



I had some volunteer lettuce plants pop up in early Feb. We have had a couple of salads so far picking off the bottom leaves. Snap/sugar peas went in the ground, direct sown, mid-Feb and doing well growing. First round of carrots were intersown with some of the peas and sprouted last week. I also started my brassicas about the same time indoors and repotted those up to 4"pots last week. They are looking great. I started too much broccoli though. I'll give away extras. Last weekend we finished up a 4x10' bed that I got planted with our "salads" (lettuce, chard, beets, second round of carrots, radishes, spinach, napa cabbage) on one half, and a 10' row of kale too with a 10' row left blank for the brussel sprouts once the starts are ready to be planted in a couple of weeks. I finally found some shelling peas, they had been sold out everywhere, and got those in the ground today.



I think the spring garden is officially planted now.



Within the last week I have gotten most of my summer garden starts going. Tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, basil, cucumbers, summer squash, melons, and a bunch of flowers. I was super excited to see hibiscus seeds earlier this year - I never thought to grow it myself before seeing the seeds but I *love* hibiscus tea. So I planted a whole packet and every single seed germinated. I am definitely going to have extras for friends around here.



I still have some more herbs, beans, and one other thing that I'm not remembering to get going. Oh, and I ordered my seed potatoes, but those ship sometime this week or next for proper planting in our area, so those aren't started yet either, but I have a big bed already cleared and waiting for them.



Most of April will be babysitting seedlings and transplanting them to bigger pots plus building out a few more raised boxes. Last year I didn't get all the boxes built that I wanted but , having had more time to plan since then I've expanded my whole garden plan which is great - now I have room for an avocado tree and blueberry bushes which I'd love to do NOW but there is a wood pile in that area at the moment because we removed some trees to make better garden space. I might need to get the avocado tree now and put it in a big pot for this year, and transplant it next. They take so long to mature I really want to get that going. DH is also getting invested more in the garden and is wanting to help me build proper compost piles which hopefully can get started in April.



Then May all the things (minus a few of the hotter loving plants) get planted!

Ok this is really impressive! I'm too lazy to grow stuff from seeds! One day maybe I'll have a vegetable garden, but not this year.

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[twoplustwo]

Ok, I've made a lot of progress. I asked ds if he wanted to do a garden this year, he sid no. I asked dd, she said yes.

Next step, TODAY, find the spinach and pea seeds I had leftover from last year.

Maybe see if we can move the raised beds to the back of the yard - maybe I can find a sunnier spot back there. We haven't been successful there in the past because its so far from the water, but maybe now that dd is older and they are just 2 small beds we can haul it back there.

[derdsgirl]

Originally Posted by heartofjoy

Ok this is really impressive! I'm too lazy to grow stuff from seeds! One day maybe I'll have a vegetable garden, but not this year.

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Thanks! I am really excited about it. I've wanted to "homestead" for years and years, but it isn't going to be possible. We likely won't ever get to live on a more farm-land sort of property. So instead I'm going to garden however much I can in this place and be happy with it. And I am happy. It is not enough space to be fully "self-sufficient" or anything like typical homesteader, but I can eventually get to the place of providing at least all of our vegetables, and half the fruit we eat. We love apples and citrus and other tree fruits. I don't have space for more trees, so those we will have to continue to buy those.

This is my first year starting seeds. If all the beds are built like I plan, I'll have over 500sq ft of garden beds total and buying plants already started gets expensive fast! It sort of felt like I had to start using seeds or we would be broke! I've spent quite a bit on just seeds, but at least this way it is $3 for 20 plants instead of $4-5 a piece later on. I had to invest in some lights and a heating mat, and I might still need a pop-up greenhouse, but I think on the whole it will be worth it.

___

This weekend I was able to get the rest of my seeds started for the summer garden, and worked on clearing the space where we will be expanding the garden and moving our deer fencing out. DH built the ends to 3 raised garden beds. He needs a bit more lumbar to finish the long sides of the beds so we got together the list for him to place an order tomorrow with the lumbar mill.

It is really fun to watch things sprout right now! Sooo many seedlings.

[PrincessAnika]

We’ve got a fair bit of rain right now, but I’m hoping that later this week when it starts warming up again I can get the beds cleared out, rototilled, and then get some more dirt to add to the beds and re-till it. Once I get that done, I can start planning and possibly planting some cooler weather stuff.


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[arelyn]

My sister's chickens dug up a big section of the lettuce bed. Any ideas on how to keep them out? They free range around the large fenced yard. There's a little fence around the garden but nothing a chicken can't fly over (its more to discourage the dog).

[PrincessAnika]

Originally Posted by arelyn

My sister's chickens dug up a big section of the lettuce bed. Any ideas on how to keep them out? They free range around the large fenced yard. There's a little fence around the garden but nothing a chicken can't fly over (its more to discourage the dog).

String aluminum (disposable) pie plates and hang across the top?


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[Sundance]

I use poultry netting around the garden to fence the chickens out.
It's electric, but I've never plugged it in.

Having the top floppy is key, because they can't land on top. My fence isn't higher than my inseam.

[charla]

Bought flowers and vegetable plants yesterday and hope to plant them this afternoon in Hope's flower garden and the vegetable garden. Can't think of a better Easter activity!

[heartofjoy]

I've finished planting in both of my large beds. Soaked some morning glory seeds last night and poked them in the dirt by my trellises. I have vines to grow on the trellises but they are small and I don't know how big they'll get this year.

Trimmed my hibiscus. Bought 2 hanging baskets one bougainvillea and one yellow petunia.

Made my little herb bed.

I have 6 large trees or shrubs to plant. I need to get those in asap. But it's so much work to dig the holes.

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[Sundance]

We had a snow storm today!