Gardens 2022

[Sniper-T]

Pre-season is fast approaching, who's planning what?

I'm hoping to at least double the amount I had last year, again all in raised gardens

Going to build a couple more of the composting planters, as they do REALLY well

Going to try planting pumpkins, squash and melons in a small bushy area of my property (30' diameter), but killing off the brush and topping most of the trees, for light, but leaving them tall enough for the vines to climb. Just big enough for a couple dozen plants in 5 gallon pails, yet small enough to fence off from the critters.

Lots more tomatoes!!! All varieties! I canned a lot of salsa last year, but not as many tomatoes as I wanted. I'll have to check the name, but I grew some yellow/golden tomatoes that were fantastic tasting.

been struggling with cucumbers for a few years now gotta figure this out, I get some, but not like the first few years. Gonna completely empty a couple of existing planters and start fresh.

I also struggle with onions not sure why.

lettuces and herbs... yep

I had the most bell peppers ever last year, but still only a couple/few on each plant. not sure how to get them growing better. prob not pruning enough suckers

Disappointed in the hot peppers, didn't transplant well. not sure what went wrong.

Tomatillos. can't find seeds for them, so I saved some from last year, and have a local place to buy plants. Mmmm made a pile of salsa verde again last year, want more this year.

Carrots did the best ever, not enough to put up, but will double/triple planting.

Peas, we just eat them damn things as fast as they grow! lol plant more

Going to try something different for corn, as they don't do well containering. working out some ideas, will post more later.


Keeping in mind, last year was the longest, hottest, driest summer that we have had since I tried growing mushrooms! lol

I'll add more later, as I go through my seeds

Going to find that companion planting thread, make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot with some of these problems.

[bacpacker]

I will post here over the weekend. Too damn busy right now

[Gunfixr]

Not sure what to plant this year, still working it out. Last year, our first, failed, but we picked a bad spot, too wet.
Planning chickens this year as well, for both eggs and meat.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Bout getting to the point to do gardens/raised beds this year. Also have to build her green house. Almost done with mudroom and sunroom then punchout list. MAYBE I will be able to get to the shop this year???????? Oh! But my deer garden is increasing as we speak in the front pasture!

[bacpacker]

I started building some raised beds in 2020. Did 2 4x12' beds that year. Changed design some and built 2 3x12' and 1 3x8' bed last year. This year I am working on 4 3x12' and 1 or 2 3x8' beds. I've got 3 built and hope to fill them tomorrow, at least get started.
I put down a layer of cardboard to knock down any grass and weed compitition. Then a layer of chicken wire to keep the moles out. My beds are 2' tall, so I fill the first 1' with old wood, limbs, stumps, whatever is handy. It'll rot out in years to come and become good rich dirt, plus the rotting wood helps hold moisture better. On top of that I load the beds the rest of the way with mushroom compost. They have produced well so far. Just a learning curve since I want to over plant and crowd too much in the beds. I got a little better last year and will space things out even better this year.
I've already planted one bed this year. Couple weeks ago I put out about 4' of bed with carrots, about 3' with parsnips, 2 small areas with peas, and 6' of bed with yukon gold potatos. Also scattered some radishes around. And in December I had lined one side with garlic. Garlis is doing great (also have it growing in 2 other beds along the edges), radishes are coming up and I saw a couple peas poke thru today. I also planted a bed with asparagus last year, today I saw the first 2 nice thick spears pop thru. We'll get to eat 2-3 messes from the bed this year. Next year should be wide open for 6-8 weeks.
I've already got me seed on hand for this year, seed taters just waitin, and first batch of onion slips waiting to go in the ground.

[Gunfixr]

We alrrady have a small greenhouse, to grow seedlings with. We are a registered hemp farm, but they legalised marijuana last year, and that killed the small hemp farm business. Only larger commercial hemp farms exist now, so we are sol on that. Changing to growing food for us, maybe grow something we can sell, make the property pay for itself......

[Sniper-T]

glad to see people are still growing.. I'm starting seed soon.. will post details

[bacpacker]

My early taters and peas were mostly up. Then overnight we had 4+ inches of snow and temps tonight to single digits. Not got a good feeling about their chances.
Weather chick said temp and snowfall was bother records for the past 30 years for March 13th. In 1993 we had the all time record on this date. 24.5" was the total from the NWS.

[Sniper-T]

Started some seeds March 13, and planned out where each of the gardens will go. Also ordered some plants through a charity company to support a friend.

Ordered, for pickup in mid May
Roma Tomato - 6 plants
Big Beef tomato - 6 plants
cherry tomato - 6 plants.
bell peppers - 6 plants

Planted:
misc coloured bell peppers: 6 plants
Thyme x 2, basil x 2, dill, parsley.

Need a couple things and will start the rest in a couple days (minus the direct sow to ground, of course.)


planted yesterday:

36 Roma tomatoes, 3 varieties.

planted today:
36 hot peppers
jalapeno
Serano
Thai Chili
Poblano
Habenero
Cayanne

6 of each

[bacpacker]

Well my taters got bit Sunday morning at 15 degrees. Snow peas look fine though, as does the garlic. We cut 5 or 6 pieces of asparagus as well Friday night.
Sowed more peas Sunday afternoon.

[Sniper-T]

Well, not sure why, but a lot of my seed plants didn't transplant well, so had to buy some fillers
, but had a good turnout of most things.
filling the freezer with tomatoes for canning, and most peppers just about ready.

Canning season shall commence shortly.

had great feeds of peas and cukes and tomatoes and lettuce all summer

going to transplant some herbs inside for the winter, and be time to dig the taters soon.
Deer snuck through my fence and decimated my carrots last week. disappointed!

How'd y'all do?

[Gunfixr]

Our yellow squash did ok, green beans pretty much failed. Got some okra, the basil experiment did the best, lol. The tomatoes did pretty good, I forget the type, but they took forever to mature, and most split open and the bugs moved in. So, most were picked before ripening. The onions failed. We had maybe a dozen potatoes, the size of peanuts, lol.
It was clear that the roots went down into the mounds, through the shallow topsoil, hit the clay and were done. While I wanted to do boxes all along, our friend, who actually does most of the work, insisted mounds would be fine. We have very limited funds, he didn't want to spend a bunch on materials, I get it. He finally agrees we need boxes. We have all winter to get them done.
We ordered chicks in april, 10 each of two breeds, picked for both eggs and meat. All hens. 3 were DOA on arrival, 3 more died within two hrs. We still have the remaining 14. They started laying several weeks ago, one or two, up to about 10 now, so we're getting 7-10 eggs a day.

[bacpacker]

I built more beds this spring 9 total, with at least 2 more to build. Tomatos did great, peppers are still producing, cucumbers did good too. I planted Yukon Gold taters, some in the ground, some in beds. Harvested 3 bushel total. Kidney beans and great northern beans both did good. Onions and garlic did good, but not storing as well as last year.
Butternut, acorn squash, melons, and cantaloupes were a complete failure as was corn and pumpkins.

[Illini Warrior]

I built more beds this spring 9 total, with at least 2 more to build. Tomatos did great, peppers are still producing, cucumbers did good too. I planted Yukon Gold taters, some in the ground, some in beds. Harvested 3 bushel total. Kidney beans and great northern beans both did good. Onions and garlic did good, but not storing as well as last year.
Butternut, acorn squash, melons, and cantaloupes were a complete failure as was corn and pumpkins.


think you got hit with a vine borer infestation or did the vines wither and die in the summer? >>> I grow an overhead of cucumber vines to give some shade - you could use beans eazy enough on some arching hoops - flowers if you wanted some decorating

[bacpacker]

I don't think the borers ever got started. All the vining crops never got started. Right after I planted and they peaked up we got hit with a several week drought. They never had a chance. That area of the property just don't have access to water to irrigate. Sometimes does great, sometimes nothing. Thats one reason I started building beds.

[Gunfixr]

Still getting 6-7 eggs a day here, we had reached a steady 10, to sometimes 12 a day.
We're going to try and build beds for next year, the mounds really didn't work out. The constant increase of living costs has put us way behind on projects. I was working 4 days a week, went full time, but it hasn't made much of a difference. Was going to dig out an irrigation pond of sorts, but lower down the field, we have an open drainage we were going to close up, but thinking of turning its lower end into the pond. The drainage collects water from a higher area that kept a roadway saturated, so it gets good water as long as it rains. We already have irrigation via the well, but will add a small 12v pump, run it off a solar charged battery.