Gardens/plots for 2018

Sonny580 · Apr 23, 2018

Today I found some of the first planting of peas just breaking the surface.--the second planting is sprouting, so maybe stuff is about to happen!--Fruit trees still holding back, so never know!! LOL!!!! thanks; sonny580

Billy Bee · Apr 28, 2018

A few peas and a few radishes peaking out, could get frost tonite, hope they survive. Next week looks to be much warmer, time to set out cabbage and brussels sprouts that I started in the house. Got to get the gardens worked up this weekend, probably direct seed some cool weather crops this coming week also. Can't trust the weather for corn, beans, peppers or tomatoes yet.
Billy

City kid playin in dirt · May 3, 2018

I worked the garden plot yesterday and planted some corn and bush beans. We had nice rain today. Still a little cold for tomatoes in Central Illinois, but I had to put at least one "Early Girl" in today when the rain stopped. I'm new to this and will have to keep my ears open here to get my timing right.

Sonny580 · May 11, 2018

Got the 500+ sweet potato plants in today and ready to attack the RR sweet corn next.Squash and a few melons will go in soon as will a few cucumbers. The first radishes froze off as did the first up white potato plants.---Weather here has been a real bear this year, but we still hangin in there for the long haul!

The spuds are coming back from freeze and the onions look good, so do the peas.

How are the rest of you guys coming with your gardens????
Welcome to all new members, and if you need suggestions, just ask!! LOL!!!!
thanks; sonny580

Billy Bee · May 13, 2018

Peas, radishes,and green onions looking good. Transplanted brussels sprouts,tomatoes, and romaine lettuce last week,also planted green beans,beets and cukes. Supposed to be warm this week,had 3 days of rain,when it dries a little I will be able to set out more tomatoes and peppers and plant sweet corn. Then that garden will be done and I will be on to planting my "sacrificial garden"
Billy

Sonny580 · May 17, 2018

Did get the sweet corn in and some of the first planting is just coming up! Right now real busy with trying to weed and carry water to the VERY dry garden! ---No rain here for weeks, just hot, high winds that suck the moisture right out of the ground! thanks; sonny580

Sonny580 · May 21, 2018

Still no rain, but here are a few pix. of so far.

Don't know how long this water hauling is going to last!!!---last year it went clear to harvest! LOL!!!! how you guys doing???? thanks; sonny580

Gunny · May 22, 2018

I could use some of that dry weather. It finally dried up enough to get the garden in, but since then, it's rained just about every day, ground is waaaay to wet to even walk through.

Billy Bee · May 23, 2018

Could use some dry weather here too. Have about half the garden planted,cukes and beans are up,sweet corn planted last Friday,rained every day since then. Need 2 or 3 dry days to get the rest planted. Been a wet cold spring,very few short windows to get things planted. I am ready for summer, my furnace is running as I type this,Sheesh!
Billy

oldballs · May 23, 2018

Went from cold and wet in April to dry and hot in May so far. ... Got tomatoes and peppers transplanted in a window, but had to water every other day. Potatoes looking very good along with onions.

I have several questions;
Why are there blank spaces between corn planting sprouts...some blank 3 feet in the row??. I hand plant each kernel
. the same way..about 1 1/2 inch deep....i.e. a knuckle and a half deep.
Same with Sugar Snap Peas and even my cukes?...about 1/2 inch deep
I've been hoeing triple 10 into the soil before planting the seeds if that makes any difference.

Will post some pics another day.

Cheers,
Mike

Sonny580 · May 23, 2018

Need to factor in the germination %.--- most seed claims 85% BUT,--- I have had some that not one plant came up from the whole packet!Also what I find here is soil insects and dry soil rot of some of the seeds.---I know it sounds far out, but I have dug up seeds with the bugs/worms still eating away.
Wire worms in corn are killers big time and its hard to catch them in the act because they work at night.
I apply triple 12,---sometimes triple 10, but I also use pre-emerge chems. on part of the garden.
I have better emergence in finer soil as opposed to cloddy type.---had a small area in my corn this year that the ground turned up a bit wet and got some hard clods before I was able to get them beat down and some of the corn was slow coming and a few spots did not come.
There are a lot of possible causes for seed failure! thanks; sonny

bcjmmac · May 24, 2018

Light front this morning! Should be last one as the “normal last date is 20 May”. Cold weather stuff Isco all up (kale, lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, etc). Going to transplant some seedlings into the new herb garden this afternoon. Beans, pumpkins, cups were planted (seeds) couple of days ago. Tomato’s & peppers don’t go into ground until second week of June. Bees are all over the haskap bushes & strawberries are blooming well.
Regarding germination - I presoak a lot of seeds before planting to improve germination. For instance, soaking sweet corn seeds overnight improves germination to almost 100% & they come up quicker, but I only do a small bed.

Sonny580 · Jun 16, 2018

Starting to get a few peas after we got a small bit of rain!--I am still hauling water in hopes of keeping the gardens alive.
spuds are waist high and starting to lay down, so not much more cultivating in there.---Sweet potatoes are starting to vine now, 2 to 3 foot long.---Onions look fair, the early ones kinda got hurt in the snow and 8* temps back then!----RR sweet corn is over knee high and really going strong.--have sprayed it 2 times for grass and weeds. ---Tomatoes are all sizes!--some are starting to bloom and we have cages on the biggest plants.
Will get more pix. tomorrow ! thanks; sonny580

Sonny580 · Jun 21, 2018

Did get a few pix. the other day,--things are much bigger today!
fred beans,--( an 1840 dry bean ,unknown kind)

tomatoes in cages

regular sweet corn, now tasseling

RR sweet corn, now also tasseling

down the 7 onion rows, 225 feet long

sweet potatoes.--today they have almost filled the rows

regular potatoes have today fallen over and filled the rows
this is sorta an idea of what we have.--did get a bit more rain over the last two days! thanks; sonny580
the big tanker for garden water

the tote

oldballs · Jun 22, 2018

Sonny, you must really be in a garden business with the volume that you have. And you must have help with cultivation, picking and harvesting.

Thanks to all for the comments on germination. I beginning to wonder if the whole lot of seeds were defective some way. .. cause I've never seen such poor germination before. The carrots never did sprout.

The weather here was abnormally hot and dry for the past month, such that I had to manually water with a hose every other day. Here's some pic.

Sonny580 · Jun 22, 2018

Sounds like you have our hot/dry weather there too!--Not good for sure,--makes it hard on everything. Hard to be out in it long enough to get much done.
I work mostly by my self in the gardens. Sis helps a lot with the hoeing/weeding/transplanting/etc.
I try to keep the tillers going as much as I can. The ole spine has been slowing me down since the 4 surgeries left me rather weak, so I gotta slow down.
We always over plant to insure that we have plenty. Even then, some stuff just don't grow. had several packages of seed that didn't come up either. Some just a plant or two out of the whole package came up.
I have a good stand of carrots, beets, peanuts, etc. No dill, spinach, parsnips, or sugar beets ever came up this year.
We never sell anything, sometimes give some away to anyone who wants produce.
The RR sweetcorn seed and the roundup chem. is provided by the guy down the road that lets me get water from his 10,000 tanker that he keeps full during the spring thru fall months so he can quickly fill his big sprayer. I have hauled several thousand gallons so far this year. Last year total was 13,000 gallons that I hauled from his tanker.
I make sure that he and his employees get all the produce that they want in exchange for the water and seed.thanks; sonny580

Sonny580 · Jun 30, 2018

More hot muggy weather here again. can't do much very fast and now we got the summer flush of weeds to fight!
Have been harvesting the peas and green beans. also a few nice broc. heads. Have a couple of cabbage heads getting close to harvesting. Did start getting the short season onions pulled and on the drying rack.---they didn't do well this year due to the late freezes we had.
Looks like the red norland spuds have some nice ones under the rows and I did heist a few to eat.-- Probably will dig them in a few weeks.--the pontiacs and kennebecks have a long ways to go. they look good so far, except I gotta keep fighting the potato beetles off them!
Sweet corn: The honey select and jackpot are setting ears and pollen, so it may come in early.
The RR sweet corn is tasseling and doing good so far!--It was planted a couple weeks later than the regular corn so as to spread out the harvest.
That's about it for this weeks report!----How are you guys doing in your gardens????---- PIX.??? LOL!!!!! thanks; sonny580

Sonny580 · Jul 9, 2018

A few corn and spud pix. !

Been harvesting the short season onions.--they had a rough time this year due to the late freeze that we had! The full season ones look a bit better.--This was not the best garden year!!! LOL!!! thanks; sonny580

goeduck · Jul 13, 2018

I live in a cooler climate on the saltwater and this this year put my tomatoes in pots on the deck. Last year did not work out having them adjacent to the beach. Tomatoes ripening in July is good for my location.