2013 Garden

[bacpacker]

This years garden got off to a good start. i've had cabbage, onions, leeks, cauiliflour, & brussel sprouts in the ground for 5-6 weeks and they are doing well. For some reason I kept on putting off planting the rest of my stuff, then the wife had to have surgery. I guess that's why I kept putting it off. She will be spending all spring a a large part of summer doing therapy and just won't be up to doing our usual routine.
As a result I have drastically changed my plans. I'm going to just do stuff we don't have to preserve (melons, squash, etc) Plus they don't require the hours to keep things worked and tended either. I also intended to start a real nice Herb garden this year, but with everything else, we are gonna postpone that for a year. (Sorry TAZ!) Time is at a premium much more than in years past and we just decided that some things had to be let go for now.
This really wears me out since food prices are so damn high, gardening is a major money saver for us usually. I have been racking my brain trying to put together a plan for starting and keeping a fall/winter garden up this year. I've never had much of a fall garden, but I need to gain expereince with that and this seems to be the year to get going on it.
End of RANT!

[Sniper-T]

Every little bit helps BP. do what you can and be happy with that. don't play the coulda/woulda/shoulda game, you'll just frustrate yourself. be thankful for what you do get, and continue to add to it as you can.

[bacpacker]

Thats really all I can do. Life happens I suppose.

[Sniper-T]

Life is what happens while we are waiting for our dreams to come true.

The closer the two are together, the happier you will be!

[ladyhk13]

Things are going well so far! Pulled up all remaining garlic yesterday and the bulbs look great. Going to keep the biggest ones to replant next month or so and I let some of the scapes grow to experiment to see if they will grow into bulbs as well, might take a couple of years but it might be good for the future crops.
The peppers are all doing great. The ghost peppers are starting to form and I met a gal today at Dollar General who told me to spray Borax and sugar on them to get rid of the ants who are eating the leaves (yes, I invited her to the site...she's a prepper!!! yahoo, found another girl prepper so I hope she stops in) so maybe that will solve the mysterious holes. Tomatoes are coming in and the plants are getting really big for being in pots. Potatoes are getting huge growing in straw, another experiment this year so I'll see how many actually grow at the end of the season. Sweet potatoes coming along too, they take longer but look healthy...keeping my fingers crossed.

[Katrina]

bp,don't get down on yourself, your wife's and your health are important.DH is just now getting some late blooming stuff in the garden due me being laid up and he's been a real wonderful guy taking care of me.Tell the Mrs not to feel guilty either. I was beating myself up over the garden but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully your weather is co operating for you. Ours has been terrible,if it wasn't the humidity,it was the constant rain.No complaint,we needed it ,just made it difficult to plant stuff and not get it washed away ;)
lady, sounds like yours is going gangbusters.. Let us know how the sweet taters come out.DH wants to do them in the garbage bags,he saw on one of the TV shows we watch.

[ladyhk13]

^ heck, I still have sweet tater shoots growing from my original taters that can be cut and thrown in the grown...been trying to give them away...ya want them?????????????????????????

[bacpacker]

Lady, sounds like you all's stuff is kicking butt. glad to hear it.

Katrina, we've been working thru stuff as best we can. Dug part of our onions and all of the garlic last weekend. Picking a few peppers and summer squash. a tomato here and there. Our corn is making and should be ready in the next few weeks. Melons and winter squash are vining and running and getting blooms so they will come in before cold weather. Cabbage is about done. And the leeks don't have long to go. Okra will be bearing soon. The garden while smaller than usual is doing well considering all the rain we've had. Blueberries are doing great and will be bearing for at least another month.

[momabear]

bp,don't get down on yourself, your wife's and your health are important.DH is just now getting some late blooming stuff in the garden due me being laid up and he's been a real wonderful guy taking care of me.Tell the Mrs not to feel guilty either. I was beating myself up over the garden but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully your weather is co operating for you. Ours has been terrible,if it wasn't the humidity,it was the constant rain.No complaint,we needed it ,just made it difficult to plant stuff and not get it washed away ;)
lady, sounds like yours is going gangbusters.. Let us know how the sweet taters come out.DH wants to do them in the garbage bags,he saw on one of the TV shows we watch.dont no alot about taters can you grow them this late in the year?

[momabear]

do you no that alot of them you can eat and are good for you . ive been into this for adout a year some of the info i got from my grandma .

[bacpacker]

dont no alot about taters can you grow them this late in the year?

Not sure what area of Tn your in, but check into your areas "last frost free date", then count back somewhere around 4 months. Sweet taters usually take somewhere around that long, within a month one way of the other. This is also based on growing from "slips" or small plants. not starting with a raw potato. You can extend the length of the season if you use some type of row cover to keep the frost off the plants. They will not tolerate a freeze at all. But keep frost off the plants and they will keep going.

One last item, if you haven't dug them yet and a freeze is coming tonight, mow the vines off completely and dig them within the next few days.

[Katrina]

Man I wish I were close enough to you. I take a few ,we still have a about 4-5months before we frost over.That is if the weather cooperates. It's Michigan what can I say. Don't like the weather, wait five minutes har har!!
bp sounds like you're doing good. This year we've been hitting the farmers market pretty good., so far prices have been decent. Can't wait till the melons come in here. Won't buy store bought as they have almost no flavor and are 'expensive to boot. Got a friend in Howell, grows the best melons, told me should have good crop just about time we're coming home from GA. He planted a bit late for him.

[ladyhk13]

do you no that alot of them you can eat and are good for you . ive been into this for adout a year some of the info i got from my grandma .

I think we actually have a thread here somewhere that has some of the weeds and pictures of them. Taz is really into that and provided a lot of info. Welcome by the way to the Colony momabear...as you will find our Ants here are more than happy to answer any questions you have and always open to all knowledge you bring to the table as well (I for one would love to see you post your laundry recipe).

As far as the sweet taters go, I have some in the ground and others in a makeshift thing that has a pallet for a bottom, put a small layer of hay, a thin layer of soil, then hay again and then the slips. Then we put posts on the corners and used chicken wire (or hog?) about 4' tall and left them alone. That's all. I actually had some room from regular taters so I just threw the sweet ones in to fill the areas and they are taking off. I just did them about a month ago. Figure we stay pretty warm here since we are south in the state so what have I got to lose? Momabear if you want some slips let me know, I have tons that would only take a couple of days to get roots and plant. We can meet up.

[ladyhk13]

Are any of you growing hot banana peppers? Mine are over 4 inches long, pretty yellow but still very firm. Do I pick them while they are still hard or wait until they start to have sovereign "give" to them?

[Sniper-T]

my cucumbers are doing well...
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/garden/0715131857a_zpsd64ed19e.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/garden/0715131857a_zpsd64ed19e.jpg.html)

[ladyhk13]

Sniper are you growing them in a baby pool?

- - - Updated - - -

Help! My ghost pepper leaves are turning yellow. We have had a lot of rain, could that cause it?

[bacpacker]

T those looks awesome. My wife bout jumped out of her skin. She loves making pickles. Our didn't turn out for crap this year.

[momabear]

yes . put more holes at the base of the pool. hope it helps we put ours in large pots ..

[ladyhk13]

I transplanted them into larger pots but with all of this constant rain I'm not sure what else to do with them. They need sunshine so I can't put them under cover. At least I know it's the rain. Thanks

[Sniper-T]

That's a steel tube that I got from work, 5 foot diameter by two feet high. I put it out into a low sunny area to utilize it without having to haul in truckloads of soil to raise the whole area.

[mitunnelrat]

I've now hand mixed a truckload of soil, and I'm still nowhere near done yet, so I think T had a great idea where he dropped that tube! lol. I can't even begin to give a total yardage count, but even our 5 gallon buckets take way more dirt than I initially thought! I can go through a trailer load just raising their dirt level two inches as the potatoes grow!

Everything seems to be doing pretty well too. I'll get pictures up asap.

Alright, I got a little surprise when the photos I do have actually downloaded to my computer from my new phone. I'd been having some trouble with that. So, without further ado:

A new box I don't think I've shown yet. We were nearing the end of our salvaged wood supply when this was builit, and its almost all short pieces. The boxes themselves were steel tool boxes to a truck. For the record, we line the boxes (these and wood) to prevent soil contamination.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/004_zpsaa171afe.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/004_zpsaa171afe.jpg.html)
The boxes themselves are growing carrots, and the small buckets along the shelf are onion sets. The heat last week killed most of those off. I

Peppers and Broccoli
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/015_zpsb6c919c1.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/015_zpsb6c919c1.jpg.html)

Our tomatoes
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/017_zps8365ccb7.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/017_zps8365ccb7.jpg.html)

Strawberries! We actually had a couple grow, we ate them very quickly, off the vine :D
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/019_zps9a734210.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/019_zps9a734210.jpg.html)

[mitunnelrat]

Potatoes
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/016_zps7bf6bf1d.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/016_zps7bf6bf1d.jpg.html)

And more potatoes!
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/018_zps743b0255.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/018_zps743b0255.jpg.html)

Most everything is doing pretty good. I think I may have killed a watermelon plant though. Too much water maybe? Our musk melons are in a 4x4 box, and are going crazy. I wish I had a pic of that.

[bacpacker]

Great looking garden MIT! Looks like you have had much success with those projects.

Our stuff is really starting to come in. We have started picking Blueberries every night. I picked our first mess of corn last night. But it is really spread out, it's looking like we may be picking corn in about a week, thru maybe the 3 weeks after that. Our cabbage is coming in. squash and melons are starting to vine and make small fruit. We get a few peppers here and there. Very few tomatos this year, which is surprising to me. Our okra is starting to get picked, I expect in the next 2 weeks we will be picking it every day for some time to come.

[Evolver]

My hat is off to you and your builds and my poor back like them too (wink)!!! I can see that everything that you do is not just the ordinary ways of growing foods in the ground.

[mitunnelrat]

No, lol. Its really not. And its future planning that put this together. My dad's getting older and ran hard as a carpenter himself, so I'm sure you can relate to that. We're doing the hard work of getting it together now to make and keep it easier for him later.

[Sniper-T]

My ever growing cucumber patch...

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/0821132026a_zps0a36b0c1.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/0821132026a_zps0a36b0c1.jpg.html)

[ladyhk13]

I love growing above ground better as well. My tomatoes are doing great, yellow and red peppers are coming in nicely, all of the hot peppers are wonderful too. Potatoes seem to be huge but I guess I won't really know until I pull away all of the straw...the plants are almost as tall as me so I think I should have taters in there! Now if only I could get BWRR to stop weed whacking my cukes I think all would be awesome in the world.

[bacpacker]

Nice lookin cuke patch T.

[mitunnelrat]

Aiyeee... You just had to bring up aching backs, didn't you E? :D

I'm trying to figure this out now. I think our little trailer holds 10 yards of dirt. Our larger wagon will hold 2.5x as much as the smaller, so... 25 yards x 12 loads... I moved about 300 yards of dirt today.

How does this pertain to gardening, you ask? Simple. I finally got the last of the sand out of the pool "scar", and the dirt I moved was excess from filling that in. I've got a couple a few more loads to do tomorrow, and we can seed that ground, making it ready for more boxes and stands next spring.

Oh yeah, we've also gotten just over 20 pounds of potatoes out of one 4x8 box so far. They were a mid-season breed. Does that sound about right?

[ladyhk13]

One of my potato plants is dying off now so can I harvest them or do I need to wait until after there is a cold snap or just leave them in the straw until I want to take them out? We've had a lot of rain so hopefully they aren't rotten!

[Sniper-T]

good Q lady... some of mine are the same... awaiting answers from the spud-masters!

[mitunnelrat]

I'm curious about that myself. We just pulled ours as they died because most will end up in the stew pot and frozen.

By the way, I think my estimates were way off. I probably didn't move even 30 yards of dirt today, but it did FEEL like 300! lol

I really need to get a better handle on how that stuff's measured.

[Sniper-T]

lol... you had me wondering MTR... Put it this way, I can fit 1 yard into the box of my Tacoma, and it is to the lip all around, and humped up in the middle about 1 foot high. Without the suspension upgrades, it would probably bottom out my suspension.

[bacpacker]

I have answers for you all. Will send tonight when I have a computer instead of the phone.

[ladyhk13]

Well I decided to pull away some of the straw and take a look and all I found was big snails. I guess since we have had so much rain the plants grew great but the potatoes got ate by the little monsters under the straw. Not one potato survived. I'm so mad I could spit enough nails to put Sniper T's shed together in about 2 seconds. The plants look beautiful and healthy and no bugs and all the while them little darn snails were eating my taters!

[Sniper-T]

bummer :(

Sorry to hear LH. I do need another shed though...

[ladyhk13]

Duck, nails are on the way :)

[Katrina]

Got question from dh. Having put in more acorn plants than usual this year.He wants to know how do we tell if they are ready to pick and how do we store them. He kinda went overboard on the planting. We usually only have one or two plants and only had a few squash , so we've never had a lot to contend with. I know I can cut them up and freeze some but he wants to keep some whole. Tried putting some in basement pantry but the rodent (dead now) got to them on the shelf I had 'em on last year.

[bacpacker]

I pick mine once the vine dies off at the neck. I store ours in the basement. Although it is to dry and they dont last but 2-3 months. I would think a root cellar with some humidity would be better.

[Katrina]

Thanks bp, will let dh know. I'm thinking about getting net bags and hanging the squash from the floor joists.