2019 Gardens

[bacpacker]

I thought I would put a thread out for this years gardens. What seeds are you ordering? What do you plan to plant this year? Anyone got started yet, or have plants started in a greenhouse or under lights?

Post up what you have going on.

[gm2]

Well I posted a picture of what I currently have going but once I get the beds built I will be adding these.

The left hand ones are my daughter's picks. The right are mine and I'll be getting a lot of others as well. Got 5 acres to play with.

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190203/bb771ee230cbf71bb86d45ec0182be83.jpg

[bacpacker]

5 acres allows for quite a bit of variety. Thats what I have as well. Wish I had more and was middle of no where. But I am happy with what I have.
Tell us a little about your new place when you have a time.

[realist]

Trees that is a priority this year. We are looking at least 5 to 10 apple, 5 cherry, 5 apricots, 5 to 10 almonds. As for the garden we have asparagus which is four years old. Most people say it has a lifespan of about 10 years so I wanted to start some more. We will also be planting more artichokes.

The usual stuff will be string beans, cucumbers, sugar peas, bell peppers, onions, garlic, more strawberries, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, basil, zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkins, broccoli, Brussel sprouts and maybe some okra.

We don't plant corn it takes up too much room.

[helomech]

We pretty much have most trees I want, but will probably still add more. Found some toothache trees on my property and still want a willow for the asprin like qualities. But after helping my neighbor the other day he sent me home with a bunch of equipment and has more he wants to give me. I told him that he didn't need to give me anything, but he insisted. Still has a walk behind mower, a tall diesel tank, and lots of other stuff he wants me to have. Should be able to make some bigger gardens now.

Here is my current little garden, still need to put up the fence to keep the chickens out.

https://i.ibb.co/c88TZ06/50767747-10205566354874464-2579848616889810944-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vY6NFqj/51383441-10205595986575238-8513667049543696384-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/mGT49z5/51357637-10205595986375233-7266313039597535232-n.jpg

[bacpacker]

Those tillers and disc will make tearing ground up a whole lot easier. That disc looks nearly unused. The scallops are still very deep. I also like the adjustment for changing the angle of the disc rows. Mine pivots on the inside end and have a three position pin on the outer ends. Yours go much further.

The trees are what I'm pushing as well, plus bushes such as blueberry and honeyberries. Hopefully more to come. I have my onion order placed, one batch due in about a month, 2nd batch around 1st of May. I plan to plant cabbage by March as well.

[helomech]

We have

Lots of figs
Gala apple
Fugi apples
granny smith apple
loquat
chestnuts
olive tree
hazelnut
pomegranate
crab apple
mulberry
Cherry
Blue berry
Plum
Peach
Goji berry
grapes
black berry
pecans
nanking cherry
almonds
nectarine
and lots of others

I found some toothache trees on my place.

[gm2]

Helo, is this the neighbor you helped out of his truck?

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[helomech]

Helo, is this the neighbor you helped out of his truck?

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Yes sir. Spent most of last week fixing his road. It is muddy as hell. He brought in 3 loads of rocks and I been spreading them out.

Truck got stuck.

https://i.ibb.co/dG946rv/51319436-10205585087342764-7074736431381348352-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4MBSV57/51068972-10205585224146184-5782460027046461440-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BBxqKXQ/51349580-10205585087782775-6027344425015836672-n.jpg

[realist]

Helo I'm the same way with trees. However I have this thing I feel the need to plant more up at our rural property maybe not for me but for my grand kids. That was a score on the equipment. Nothing like getting a truck stuck full of gravel, not good.

[bacpacker]

I had ordered 2 orders of onions the first came in Monday. 2nd batch in early May. Now if I can get a couple rows dried up enough to work I can get them planted. I'm hoping for the weekend of Match 22nd. Moon and signs are both good according to the almanac that entire weekend. Hope to get some cabbage and other stuff out then as well.

Also ordered a couple bunches of seed to stock deeper on those.

[bacpacker]

My first seed order arrived from:
www.totallytomatos.com

Mostly these were heirloom tomato and pepper seed. Still got a couple orders outstanding.

[bacpacker]

Our ground has started drying up a little. I was able to pull the subsoiler thru about75% of my garden tonight. I had it dropped down to the hilt. Then hooked up the cultivator plow and ran about 60% of what I subsoiled. Ground was still damp, but wasn't throwing clods as I plowed. It's suppose to rain overnight and that should bust it up even better. I'm hoping for some dry and windy weather the next few days. If so I should be able to disk and till bu Tuesday or Wednesday and prep some rows for planting next weekend.

I'll be planting onions for sure. Hopefully cabbage, cauliflour, spinach, lettuce. Most any cold weather crops I can.

[gm2]

BP, glad to hear you are starting to dry up.

As for us we just got a rain storm which knocked our snow banks down a foot or two but now it has frozen again. Can someone remind me why I agreed to let my wife move us all the way back up here? I could be on the coast enjoying some fishing right about now instead of getting frostbite while baiting my hook.

[bacpacker]

Thanks GM. I'm glad it is drying up a little bit.

Were you guys near any of the tornados the other night?

[gm2]

Nope, not that I know of. Michigan doesn't get many tornadoes.

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[bacpacker]

I have some in laws south a saginaw and others west of lansing. Both had tornados in their areas. I think Thursday night.

[Sniper-T]

I started some seeds in an indoor seed starter a couple days ago..

6 each of:
Roma
Cherry Tomato
Beef tomato
yellow pepper
red pepper
habenero pepper

more to follow

[bacpacker]

I'm starting the following:
Rutgers
Marglobe
Manitoba
German Johnson
Anna Russian
Nebraska Wedding tomatos

Serrano
Jalapeno
Ozark Giant
California Wonder Peppers

[Sniper-T]

Geez, my Manitoba tomatoes are available down there?
kewl!

[bacpacker]

Got them from totally tomatos. Never tried them before but I have tried a couple of Russian types, they tolerate. Old temps better generally are much faster to bear. So I can plant them early and later. Hope these have a good flavor.
The Anna Russians are one of my favorites now. Very tasty and cans up fairly well to. But a wonderful fresh tomato.

[bacpacker]

Got a lot of stuff planted the last couple days. Friday I planted over 200 onions in the garden and well over 100 more in flower pots to grow for green onions. Saturday I planted cabbage and broccoli in the garden. Also put out lettuce, arugala, and spinach in pots to grow on the deck for easy harvest for supper.

[bacpacker]

Found this article tonight. Planting plants with a match or two in the hole. The matches has multiple micro nutrients that the plants love. It's a short read. I am going to try it this summer and see what the results look like.

[Katrina]

bp, Do you have a link to the article? Sounds like something we can do in the boxes TIA (Thanks in advance)

[bacpacker]

I thought I had added the link. Sorry about that.

https://www.askaprepper.com/why-you-should-place-matches-in-your-plant-pots/

[Katrina]

Got it Thanks.

[bacpacker]

Back in the winter I signed up to participate in seed trails with Baker Creek seeds. A couple weeks ago they sent me 5 packs of seed, radish, sweet onion, tomato, gourd, and cabbage of type I had never heard of or grown before. It included a letter with what reporting information they were looking for and how many of each they wanted. Most seed packs had at least 2-3 times the number needed to meet their needs.
I planted everything today, except for the radishes. They will go straight in the ground. I put the trays I planted on heat mats with covers of the trays and started the heat. By tonight they had reached about 78 degrees (where I set the thermostat at), so I'm off and running.
I also took the opportunity to plants 3 kinds of watermelon, butternut and acorn squash, pumpkin, and parsnips in another tray. I normally plant all this in the ground, but I thought for my first shot at planting seed in trays I might as well give these a shot to. I can still direct seed if they don't work out. But I want to give this some time and learn from it. At least it will expand my options in the future and almost certainly will help with succession planting, for fall crops in particular.

[bacpacker]

I also decided to try and technique I ran across on youtube. I got a couple of 5 gallon buckets, drilled series of hole sin the bottom for drainage, put about 4" of a mix of peatmoss, topsoil, and compost. Then layed a couple of nice Yukon Gold taters with some nice eyes on them. Then cover the taters with more mix to within 3" of the top of the bucket and watered them well.

[ak474u]

Last 2 weeks: had 7000 lbs of milsap 4"x6"x varying lengths from 10-36" chopped stone delivered to my house, put down 3 layers of 20 year high grade weed barrier in a 32 x 16 area. Built a 30'x3'x18" drystacked (mortared on back edge so it looks like it's not mortared) and a 20'x4'x12" raised bed. Installed pvc piping and risers for the distribution manifolds for a micro sprinkler 5 manifolds = up to 40 micro sprinklers, drip lines, or spike bubblers. On Thursday I had 6 yards of really nice certified weed-free garden soil delivered, and filled the beds. Today I sod stapled all the seams on the walkways between beds, and installed landscape timber borders, also built 3 teepee style bean towers out of large tree branches I had been saving. Today we also planted bush beans (3 kinds) lettuce, white and pink celery, yard long Thai purple beans, and white cucumber. This week if the weather holds out, I'm having somewhere around 2000 lbs of washed pea gravel delivered for the walkways, and Wednesday I'm getting a pair of used wine barrels delivered to make them into flower planters at the corners of the garden area. The configuration of the micro sprinklers will be determined when everything is planted, but the plumbing is ready to go. I refreshed the soil in all of my pots, and got a few more ready to plant. Also planted 4 kinds of hot pepper in large pots, and doubled my Pequin peppers which we use a lot of, they're hard to find, and we saw some at a plant sale and snapped them up.

[bacpacker]

Wow AK. Sounds like you've put a ton of work in on all that. I bet you'll see some good results from all of it. In particular when you get everything dialed in to it's top production.

[ak474u]

Wow AK. Sounds like you've put a ton of work in on all that. I bet you'll see some good results from all of it. In particular when you get everything dialed in to it's top production.

I don't expect super good results this year just because we're a little late. Gonna direct sow a few maters and we usually already have some ready by now. Although, planting prior to Easter here is risky, we've had snow the day before Easter before. We will do everything we can this year, and hit it hard next year. Really looking forward to fall garden, which we've never really done before. Put in 800lbs of gravel in the walkways tonite, and didn't even get 1/3 of the walkways covered. Gonna tear down a 4x6 playhouse that the old owner built (it's been converted to mower storage) and build a 2-tiered strawberry bed where I've got some extra space. I have a 1/4 pallet of stone left over, and need more space. I can see doing another area of raised bed next year, but for this year, I'm over it. My goal in this was lower maintenance, as well as aesthetics. Now I can sit on my deck and see what's going on in the garden, and be proud of it. We worked hard and did ok before, but we were faking it as far as quality of installation and easily maintainable garden area. My wife laughed at me this weekend when I told her we spent 3k to save $9 on tomatoes. Yes, we have a rich folk garden now. I still have to level the old garden area out and re-seed grass because we pretty much displaced my kid's nerf battleground. I also have 4 sour bush cherries waiting in large pots that I have to find a spot for, as well as another elderberry and a BIG cherry tree on order for another spot at the top of the hill. So. Very. Tired.

[bacpacker]

Yeah but it's a good tired. Results will shine thru for years. Tired goes away after a while.

[gm2]

I got two of my 4ftx4ft raised beds put together, now I just have to do the rest, lay down the weed fabric and get the dirt delivered.

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[Katrina]

gm2 How much snow did you get up there? Not sure but we're getting another frost here tonight, I'm half expecting to see snow too LOL

[gm2]

Not sure how much we got total but we had more than for the last 40 years. I'm hoping next year is a little more reasonable

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[bacpacker]

Took Thursday off work and spent the day in the garden. Planted over 300 more onion slips, worked out and fertilized my first planting of onions and cabbage as well. Planted 24 tomatos, a row of cukes, a row of okra. Started to plant my peppers, but only put out 2 Jalapenos. All the rest of them are still too small. Gonna repot them to larger pots and give them a little more time to grow.
Finally put out 2 blueberries in the rain. Yeehaw

[bacpacker]

I started some seed on a heat mat and under a light this year. Transplanted some to pots today. I moved Acorn, Butternut squash, and a squasha friend of mine gave me (haven't been able to ID them). Also sugar baby, moon and stars, and Anchient watermelons, Some gourds that look like a luffa type, some tomatos, japaleno, serano, ozark gaint, and california wonder peppers, and 36 cabbage plants.
Still need to transplant the long island cheese pumpkins, Alisha Craig onions, and parsnips.

[Katrina]

Well no maters this year but peppers, woo hoo! They are still producing buds and fruit AND we're getting more salad greens. Can't decide if I should freeze or dehydrate the peppers. IF I freeze do I HAVE to blanch them? I haven't in the past because with the two boys never could keep enough in the freezer to "store" for any length of time LOL. Now it's the two of us not sure what to do. Have read up on this and there seems to be two schools of thought, yes blanch and no blanch. Any body out there got some experience? Thanks in Advance

[bacpacker]

We just bag our excess peppers and freeze them whole. No blanching for us.

Our garden this year has mostly been a failure. I was late getting most everything out, even stuff I started under a grow light was very late. We've had plenty of okra, cukes and jalapenos. Bell pepper, melons, and maters were slim to non existant. Onions all lived, but never got much size. They do taste good. Squash didn't do much other than the butternuts. Picked a dozen or so of them and they lasted maybe a week before they molded and melted down. We have 1 left. Kind of discouraging.
Blue berries did fantastic, my pears got raided again this year, as did my apple and pawpaws. I'm just about over the wildlife. This would have been our first pawpaws and they were large, would have been our largest apple crop. And the pears were loaded down. We didn't get a single one.

[Katrina]

BP, can sympathize with you . The only things that did well were the salad greens and the peppers. Our apples are deer fodder now. None are viable due to the rust spots and the worms. Thanks for the advice on the peppers. I'm going to chop some and slice some then freeze 'em.Depending on how fast what is still left that's ripening I'll probably try to use the oven, it has a dehydrating button on it, so I'm going to try dehydrating in the oven and see how that does.