Garden Time, JINMAN ??????

[hudlow]

I'm getting ready to fire up the tiller and prepare my asparagus bed. The mail lady just delivered my order from Park Seed and I have a load of manure on the back of my pickup to "feed" this asparagus with.

We have just moved, well back in Novemebr, to this new place and left our asparagus bed behind so it's time to get some new crowns in the ground. I love that stuff.

Our peas are coming along fine as are the onions and greens. We also have had a radish or two.

We had two peppers and 3 tomatos in Walls o' Water during the big freeze last week and they are doing fine. The tomatoes are blooming.

I'm looking for some good heirloom tomato plants and it won't be long till time for squash, beans and all that other good stuff.

I can eat radishes OK but melons and cucumbers are what do me in. No uncooked bell peppers or onions after about 6 pm or I won't sleep a wink.

hud

 

[Bird]

love 'em, hate 'em, can't eat 'em

Jim, radishes are just another of those things that we very rarely buy in the grocery store. I guess we just don't think of it. We both ate lots of them when we had a garden, and I eat them when I find them on a salad bar in a restaurant. But I've never had any cooked.

I like radishes, cucumbers, and green bell peppers. But none of them like me.

Bill, my wife and both daughters eat cucumbers like they were candy. And, personally, I think they taste almost as good as watermelon rind. I don't object to some in a salad, but I don't think they help they help the salad any. But the bell peppers are another matter. I like them, of any color, raw or cooked.

 

[Bird]

Aaah, the power of suggestion. Right after I posted my last message, my wife told me we were out of tomatoes for the salad tonight. So when I went after the tomatoes, I also got a bundle of fresh radishes and a big green bell pepper to go in that salad.

 

[jinman]

Aaah, the power of suggestion. Right after I posted my last message, my wife told me we were out of tomatoes for the salad tonight. So when I went after the tomatoes, I also got a bundle of fresh radishes and a big green bell pepper to go in that salad.

Too bad you aren't closer. I'd share what I pulled or gladly let you pull your own. As with everything else in the garden, I planted far too many for us and giving them away is what we love to do.

Yesterday, I planted 36 hills of cantaloupes (if you count 9 hills of Israel melons.) I also tilled up my blackeyed peas and replanted. I don't know why, but my peas were not coming up as they should. If the replant doesn't work, I'll really be mystified.

Hud: I hope you'll take some pictures of your garden. I'm always thrilled to see how other people do things and I learn something new every year. It sounds to me like you have a great garden planned.

 

[hudlow]

Hud: I hope you'll take some pictures of your garden. I'm always thrilled to see how other people do things and I learn something new every year. It sounds to me like you have a great garden planned.

It sounds like you've got more space in 'loupes planted than I'll have in my entire garden!

The wife and I used to plant a large garden but it got to be such a chore to keep it up that we have cut waaaaay back on what we plant now.

It used to be we thought we just absolutely had to plant at least 25 tomatoes but now it's down to 6 or 8 maybe.

Anyway I'll get a picture up when there's something up to take a picture of....we're pretty rustic gardeners.

I am however awfully tickled with the soil here at our new house. I've been a red clay gardener all my life and although the soil is still full of clay it's not near as bad as what we had.

I wanted to be sure I got this asparagus patch done right so I turned in a couple of bales of peat moss to some already good soil and now I have got me some of that "TV" dirt!!! You know the kind where the guy one hands that tiller down the rows and sticks his arm in the soil up to his elbow with no trouble - like they show on those garden shows on TV....?

Anyway I like to garden, I'm sure we'll be comparing notes.

hud

 

[Egon]

Heck, I can even tolerate a little garden soil with fresh pulled radishes.

Perfect in a salad + peppers + garlic + tomatoes + garlic + onion + Lettuce + spinach + carrots + garlic + basil + parsely + celery + brocally + cabbage + garlic + olive oil + wine vinegar + grated cheese + cucumbers + garlic!

 

[jinman]

Egon, I bet garlic would also be good in that salad.

 

[RedRocker]

I don't know, why don't you try some garlic.

 

[txdon]

Jim, only 2% of my beans, cucumbers, and okra came up. None of the melons came up and I replanted them with my back-up plants. I think the very wet cool Spring was the problem. About 10% of the potatoes came up (30 plants) and they are blooming. I replanted the okra yesterday.
Oh, by the way, 100% of the weeds came up and are doing great! It is still too wet to till the quicksand with the baby tiller.

 

[jinman]

Jim, only 2% of my beans, cucumbers, and okra came up. None of the melons came up and I replanted them with my back-up plants. I think the very wet cool Spring was the problem. About 10% of the potatoes came up (30 plants) and they are blooming. I replanted the okra yesterday.
Oh, by the way, 100% of the weeds came up and are doing great! It is still too wet to till the quicksand with the baby tiller.

Don, I think the problem may be ground temperature on your plants. I'm surprised the beans didn't come up. The best stand of bean plants we have is from a regular bag of pinto beans we bought at Wal*Mart. I'm replanting blackeyes with another Wal*Mart off-the-shelf bag and only purple hull peas from regular seed.

It's way, way early to plant okra. Early May is better timing. It's a very warm weather/hot weather plant.

We had several hills of cucumbers come up from seed and several we set out plants. Every one of those died in the cold weather. They just turned brown and died. We've replanted and hope when the next ones come up it will be warm enough to sustain them.

I plan to plant watermelons for the first time this next weekend.

I believe you are sure right about soil temperature being too cool for most seeds to germinate. You have to set out plants to get the best success. I'm a little surprised because you are so far south of me and you've had problems. What depth are you planting? Most seeds I plant about 1-1/2" deep.

Weeds grow all year. If weeds won't grow nothin' else will.

 

[BB_TX]

It's way, way early to plant okra. Early May is better timing. It's a very warm weather/hot weather plant.

Now you tell me. Mine are about 3"-4" tall.

 

[jinman]

Now you tell me. Mine are about 3"-4" tall.

That just means you had a nice warm spell to get the seeds to germinate. I planted last year when it was 100º in April and my seeds popped up. Then the okra kept me busy picking it every other day for the entire summer. Finally about October, I'd had enough and just let it go. We still have so much in the freezer that it's not a priority this year.

Frankly, I'm just repeating what I've heard and my planting guide says May 1st and after in my area.

 

[txdon]

Jim, I planted about 1 to 1.5 inches also. My light color sand along with the cool nights and sleet at Easter are the culprits. My garden is at the base of my large sand hill and gets extra ground water which normally is good but with this wet Spring water has been standing between the rows for up to a week at a time. I'm not complaining after the drought of last year. When the early veggies suffer the wildflowers thrive. I have fields of buds just waiting to pop out.

 

[jinman]

In another thread that BTDT started, I was talking about my potatoes and how they got frostbitten a couple of weeks ago. They are starting to come back, but the ones in the hay straw are very spindly and they got frostbite while the ones planted directly into the soil are very healthy and didn't show any frost damage. Go figure...

Here are a couple of pictures. I think in about two weeks I'll have new potatoes if I dig some of the big plants.

 

[jinman]

Jim, I planted about 1 to 1.5 inches also. My light color sand along with the cool nights and sleet at Easter are the culprits. My garden is at the base of my large sand hill and gets extra ground water which normally is good but with this wet Spring water has been standing between the rows for up to a week at a time. I'm not complaining after the drought of last year. When the early veggies suffer the wildflowers thrive. I have fields of buds just waiting to pop out.

Don, I suspect you've done everything right by all "normal" standards in your area. Here is a link to a home gardening guide that is one of many good ones available through the Texas A&M website.

Home Gardening Guide for Texas

 

[BB_TX]

They are starting to come back, but the ones in the hay straw are very spindly and they got frostbite while the ones planted directly into the soil are very healthy and didn't show any frost damage. Go figure...

Jim - I am guessing the ground absorded some heat during the 2-3 wks of nice warm weather we had and was able to release some of that back to your non-hay potatos during the cold snap. But the hay insulated the other part and kept that heat from getting to those potato plants. Since the temp was right at the freezing mark, that was probably just enough to make the difference.

 

[jinman]

Jim - I am guessing the ground absorded some heat during the 2-3 wks of nice warm weather we had and was able to release some of that back to your non-hay potatos during the cold snap. But the hay insulated the other part and kept that heat from getting to those potato plants. Since the temp was right at the freezing mark, that was probably just enough to make the difference.

That's exactly my wife's theory, and I agree. There's just no other explanation that makes sense.

 

[jinman]

Here are some more photos of the garden from this weekend. I'm astounded at the growth of my purple-top turnips. My rutabagas are doing good, but these purple-tops are really jumping up. I'm already searching for some good turnip greens recipes.

If the weather holds up and we don't get a bad hailstorm, I think my garden is at least 3 weeks ahead of last year. I finally planted watermelons, pumpkins, okra, and more blackeye peas. The okra is early, but I only planted two rows. I'll plant more later.

Here are some more pictures with the titles describing the picture contents.

I know you must be getting tired of looking at my pictures, so let me invite anyone else to post pictures of their gardens in any stage of growth.

 

[Bird]

Jim, if you're still working for a living, who's finding time to keep the weeds out and keep that garden looking that pretty?

 

[txdon]

Jim, you could have at least left a few weeds so the rest of us would not be embarrassed to post. The okra (second planting) is ALL up. This evening I got the mini tiller after the weeds, but it was dark by the time I got about half finished. Maybe I can finish it next weekend. OH, WAIT! I'm retired I can finish it in the morning.