How does your garden grow?

[Larro Darro]

Interesting set up Larro. I like it. I'm sure you know, but don't forget to vent them so you give them fresh air and don't cook them. Around here we would have to account for rainwater though this time of year.

When I was a kid, the lid on an old homemade septic tank got broken, and Mamma started keeping all her tropical plants in the hole during the winter. It was just covered with a sheet of plywood and we would open it up on nice sunny days. Very few of them ever died. So I figured I would see how it did with garden plants. All I'm wanting to do is keep the frost off them until it's safe to transplant them into the garden. And the rain is testing my engineering tonight. I tried to pile dirt in such a way so the runoff will do just that. But with the sand I have, all that would happen is some erosion. I'll keep them uncovered when it's nice weather.

 

[dragoneggs]

Plywood will not transmit the heat like the shower doors will on sunny days and I am guessing you have far more sun down your way.

 

[Larro Darro]

Plywood will not transmit the heat like the shower doors will on sunny days and I am guessing you have far more sun down your way.

Yep, we are getting some sun already. I have the hole as far north as it will go and still be in the garden. The sun is just clearing the trees to the south, but it's getting higher everyday. I have debated cutting a couple of trees to improve my light. And I will leave a good gap in the glass so the heat can get out. I knew we were going to have thunderstorms tonight, so I added the smoked glass hoping to keep as much of the rain out as possible.

 

[Larro Darro]

The first yellow pear tomato sprouts are up. Nothing yet from any of the recently planted pepper seeds. Today I planted early bantam golden sweet corn, Hungarian wax yellow peppers and have a Pruden's Purple tomato laid out of the freezer to thaw. Will plant those seeds as soon as I can squish it up.

I also topped some of my Jalapeno and Mini Sweet peppers this morning. That is a first for me. Will wait to see if it leads to increased production.

^^^^^inside under the lights^^^^^^



And for the not really garden related section, I planted more of the big acorns and a few palm nuts outside in aluminium baking pans. I think I have some Dogwood and Bald Cypress seeds somewhere in the shed. If I could find them, I would plant a few of them too.

 

[Larro Darro]

I got my Pruden's Purple seeds planted. This is what the seed packet looked like.

 

[KevT]

Everyone may already know about this, or not want it, but I found it very useful
Vegetable Garden Planner | The Old Farmer's Almanac

I like that it tells me what to plant in rotation, and the best times to plant for my area, even sends me email reminders. Piece of cake layout plan.

 

[lakngulf]

I got my Pruden's Purple seeds planted. This is what the seed packet looked like.

Been there, done that. I have saved Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Amos Coli, Believe It or Not, Lush Queen and Indigo Apple.

 

[Larro Darro]

Everyone may already know about this, or not want it, but I found it very useful
Vegetable Garden Planner | The Old Farmer's Almanac

I like that it tells me what to plant in rotation, and the best times to plant for my area, even sends me email reminders. Piece of cake layout plan.

I use the "Best Days" calendar on their site to plan tree pruning, transplanting and planting. It will also tell you the best days to cut hair for growth and when to get married:laughing:

 

[TomSeller]

Everyone may already know about this, or not want it, but I found it very useful
Vegetable Garden Planner | The Old Farmer's Almanac

I like that it tells me what to plant in rotation, and the best times to plant for my area, even sends me email reminders. Piece of cake layout plan.

Thanks. I did not have that

 

[Larro Darro]

My peppers are starting to sprout. As of right now, I have 1 Early Jalapeno, 1 Grand Bell Mix, 1 California Wonder Bell, 3 Cayenne, 5 Serrano, 7 Habanero Peppers and 6 Yellow Pear Tomatoes. But that list is growing by the hour.

The older plants, 5 Jalapeno and 5 Mini Sweet Peppers, are in need of transplanting and going outside. I'm waiting on the next "Best Day" to do that. I saw some folks gardening in the kiddie pools, and I'm leaning toward putting the peppers in one. I have to dump the soil from the grow-bags I used for pepper and tomatoes last fall. Thought I would re-use it, just add more of a fresh mix I made up this morning.

 

[KevT]

Well here is the layout of my garden this year

Garden Plan - 2016: garden

 

[Larro Darro]

Looks like a good plan, Kev.

 

[Larro Darro]

Tonight I planted 3 kinds of carrots. Chantenay, Scarlet Nantes and Danver's Half Long. This is my first time growing carrots, so results may vary. I transplanted the Jalapeno and Mini Sweet Peppers into pots and moved them out to my glass covered hole in the ground. Also put the Yellow Pear Tomatoes into cups. Everything is up except the Pruden's Purple, Hungarian Wax and New Mexico Chili's, so it will be going into cups here shortly. Which means I will be out of space shortly. Looks like we will get a frost Saturday morning. I'm hoping it will be the last, but the odds are we will have one in March. I may be digging my hole bigger

 

[Larro Darro]

Another pretty solid frost this morning. No choice but to put my mobile corn-patch outside though.

Next time I will start them off in separate containers. Getting the roots untangled was a job of work.

Now they are in smaller to-go containers.

 

[Larro Darro]

I got all the tomato and pepper sprouts into cups.

I bought a 6 pack of Beef Steak tomato plants last week. But they are heirloom, so I can save the seeds from them.

I had planned on putting the Acorn squash and Cilantro into cups also, but there was a couple new AS sprouts this morning, so they get another week or so under the lights.

 

[Larro Darro]

Last week when I did the shopping, I bought a little package of those Cherub tomatoes {for $3.00}. Today I sliced what was left of them in half, squeezed the seeds out into soil and ate the tomatoes. Also had the first sprout in the Yellow Hungarian Wax this afternoon. This morning I had gave up on the New Mexico Chili's and dumped the soil. Hope I didn't pull the trigger too soon. But they were a week older than the YHW, so if they were going to do anything, they should have done it by now. And the corn was the only thing I had to put outside. I didn't plant anything other than the Cherub tomatoes today. I'm waiting until the 7th and 8th of March, the next good above ground planting days.

 

[Larro Darro]

Lots of stuff coming up today. The Cherub tomato seeds have only been in the soil a few days, but lots of them popped today. And you can see the Hungarian Wax peppers in the back. 8 of 12 are up so far.

Also a few carrots are up. {I know I'm starting way too late on them, but we will see what happens}

 

[Larro Darro]

I found my {long lost} package of Pruden's Purple seeds last night. I did 7 seeds in peat moss plugs today. Also did 12 more New Mexico Chili seeds in potting soil. Monday and Tuesday are the next good above ground planting days, but I couldn't wait.

 

[Larro Darro]

I spread a few bags of shredded paper in last year's corn patch and cut it in this morning. I'll start planting in the morning.

 

[dragoneggs]

I spread a few bags of shredded paper in last year's corn patch and cut it in this morning. I'll start planting in the morning.

Shredded paper? Please help me understand this Larro.