Gardening: 2013–2015

[Dave W]

Bell, guajillo and burpee "hot mix" peppers. They get another 10 weeks to grow in the greenhouse before planting out or I may just leave em in there all summer.

[Okanagancook]

Nice.  I've got my seeds in the germinator.  So far I'm trying some new tomatoes for us:  Cherokee. Recommended by Vivian from "A Chef's Life".  I also have some other favourites going as well as my peppers.  I think that's a good idea about having some peppers in the green house.  I usually have cucumbers (the lemon cucumbers seem to do well in a well fertilized/watered pot) as well as sweet 100 tomatoes.  Both of which we get early fruit from.  I have also started a tray of micro greens.  Supposed to get something in a week or so.

 

My arugula and other greens are poking out of the ground.  And those garlic plants are really doing well.  The ones that were a little yellow are now all green.  I have a few that have come up from where the garlic was planted last year so I think I will harvest them as 'spring garlic'.

[Smithy]

I think Cherokee tomatoes have excellent flavor. I hope yours do well, Okanagancook.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Hi there..I am jumping in and have been trying to catch up ... my gardening never stops here! We have eaten something from the garden every single day we have been home .. for the past few years and I am so proud of that! It was my goal to have a perpetual garden and now I have one ..I have even nurtured a little crop of tasty nettles (soup today) , thimble berries and salal .. I harvest in the area reserved as a native garden. I love to talk about gardening. 

 

It is such a strange spring I am putting warmer crops in earlier this year figuring there is only the waste of a few seeds if they do not come up. Garlic is amazing strong and growing..Peas are up ..fava beans up …herbs doing beautifully ..rhubarb is showing a HUGE crop already I can see the whole hill bulging …horseradish…oh and my seakale is going to be so big this year. 

 

does anyone else grow sea kale ? what a fantastic plant 

 

I added  a top bar hive,( more for the joy of having bees than the hopes of honey) ..my friend made a great trade with me. I have my bees ordered for next month that and 12 hens now going strong with eggs ..they do most of my weeding the hens…I just have to protect what I want to eat and enjoy then let them "have at" the rest …raccoons murdered my ducks, we have babies coming next week, I missed them so much! The eggs were endless and how fun to watch ducks in a fauxpond in the morning. 

 

we are working on a water collection system, we were given some fantastic rain barrels that have never been used, but then realized how bad the gutters are and and and ..it just never ends..but we are going to use them anyway because water may be a problem with no snow in the mountains. 

 

this weekend for sure..we need to revamp the duck fauxpond so it drains right into a garden ..  hauling the liquid gold it is a pain in the ass! so while we are duckless we need to fix that situation 

 

greenhouse needs cleaning badly! the lemons, limes (HUGE harvest of citrus last year! I could not believe it!) and fragile figs, turmeric, ginger, ect…all  need to be moved out and the tomatoes and other things I grow like tomatoes need starting ...

 

 

it feels good to wake up and see spring ..I love reading this thread and hope it is active ..such a joy to share gardening. I have always, even in tiny apartments with no light,  grown a garden of sorts..not matter where we lived or how from my first place to the now garden of my dreams..gardening is such a labor of love,

 

now the days are longer and so are my dreams of the best garden ever this year! 

 

Happy gardening 

so many things "need" right now I am overwhelmed but enjoying it. 

 

ps I beg excusal of all typos ect I am having age transitional issues with my eyes …they are betraying me and are confused 

Edited March 18, 2015 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[Shelby]

UGH ya'll are making me feel SO FAR behind.  I swear spring sneaks up on me.  I always misjudge the weather.  It seems like more and more it's hot waaaaaay earlier than I remember.  

[Okanagancook]

Hummingbirdkiss.... lovely to read about your gardening endeavours.  You must be in California or somewhere like that.  We are just north of the US/Canada border in one of the mildest climates in Canada (save for Vancouver/Vancouver Island).  The rest of Canada is under snow cover.  Our ground is warming up slowly.  There is wild asparagus around the orchards and we have a little patch that came up by our raspberries.  It is starting to poke out too.

 

I have tried to grow fava beans here but they get black mould/ mildew on them every time.  So I have given up.  

 

The sea kale looks interesting but have not seen any seeds or plants in the garden stores.  With regard to regular kale and swiss chard I always get a worm that nests in the leaves so have given up on that too.  Even my beet tops get that worm.  I plan on buying these from the wonderful farmers' market we have in Penticton.

 

I have also tried to grow okra but I don't think it is hot enough for long enough here.  My husband is going to try a couple of plants in the greenhouse to see how they go.

We have good luck with tomatoes, potatoes, peas, carrot, leafy greens (with a shade cloth over the top), peppers, squash, corn, onions and eggplants.

 

Smithy, looking forward to trying the Cherokees.  From the TV show It's a Chefs Life, they look fantastic.  I was thrilled when I saw the seeds.  I looked for them last year in the stores but they did not have them.  

 

Happy gardening everyone.

[TicTac]

I think I might have answered my own question by reading this, but I got a whack load of heirloom seeds at a seed exchange last week and was wondering when to get them started?

 

I was told by a organic farmer I buy from to start them in a base of peat, plant seed, then top with vermiculite to keep them healthy.

 

I dont have a green house, can I put them in a South facing window (bathroom)?

 

Cheers

[Martin Fisher]

A south-facing window will work.

I recommend a professionally formulated seed starting mix..therer are organic ones available.

 

Craig LeHoullier (the guy who introduced the Cherokee Purple tomato to the public) has a good method of starting a lot of seeds in a very small space.....

 

 

[suzilightning]

sooooo jealous.

 

we are expecting another 2-4 inches of heavy, wet snow on Friday....the first day of spring.

we have almost NO sun in the backyard and am starting to work on reimagining our small yards.   moveable tubs for herbs and tomatoes....morning glories for my soul...tarragon, basil, thyme and maybe some Rutgers tomatoes.......

[haresfur]

 the lemons, limes (HUGE harvest of citrus last year! 

 

Any suggestions for successful citrus? I so want to grow some but have not been doing very well. I have 2 dwarf limes in pots and have finally got a few limes off one of them. I was thinking of putting it in the ground but...

 

Can't blame my gardening for the near demise of the lemon tree I planted a year or so back. It never looked too happy but then the miniature horses chewed most of the bark off and pulled it completely out of the ground. I planted it in a safer location but fear its days are numbered. I just bought another lemon and a grafted 2-variety mandarin. I dug holes for them put down gypsum to bust apart the clay, filled the holes and made a mound with sandy soil and mini-shit. But the trees don't look at all happy. Leaves are curling upward. Maybe too much fertilizer or too wet?  What do I know?

 

Anyway, lovely to hear about your gardening.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Hey, Okanagancook,

 

Yes, okra takes a a very hot climate, like Tennessee or Louisiana where I grew it for years. When other crops wither under the heat and drought, okra thrives.

 

I'll say this, though, I tried to bread my home grown okra and fry it, but it was never as successful as frozen pre-breaded okra. The breading always pretty much fell off my fresh okra. It was completely edible, but just not as good as what I could buy frozen. The breading stuck better. 

 

Even though my paternal grandparents and dad are from Louisiana, I don't care for okra in a stew as as a thickener: it's mucucilaginous. It's just not appealing to me except for fried which I adore.

 

It is absolutely amazing how dry, hot conditions fire up the okra production that fry other plants.

 

Good luck to you in Canada! I hope your successful, but I don't really think you will be.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

sooooo jealous.

 

we are expecting another 2-4 inches of heavy, wet snow on Friday....the first day of spring.

we have almost NO sun in the backyard and am starting to work on reimagining our small yards.   moveable tubs for herbs and tomatoes....morning glories for my soul...tarragon, basil, thyme and maybe some Rutgers tomatoes.......

 

I plan on Rutgers tomatoes this year!  I ordered three plants from Burpee, grafted onto hybrid rootstock.  I suspect they will all be wiped out by early blight.  For the first time I am also trying okra.  Not that I have my hopes up that high.

 

No morning glories, but I am going for moonflowers.

[Wayne]

Re: okra cultivation.

 

I've had good okra results in my area of Canada. I use a short season okra such as Clemson Spineless (54 days).

I've planted them directly in early June and have seeded them indoors to extend the season.

Some of the tricks include creating a warmer microclimate such as along a south facing wall, using black mulch to absorb

more solar radiation and having a windbreak to minimize heat loss through convection.

 

Okanogancook: Envy your garlic. Mine is still underground under snow and the exposed areas are rock hard.

[KennethT]

Any suggestions for successful citrus? I so want to grow some but have not been doing very well. I have 2 dwarf limes in pots and have finally got a few limes off one of them. I was thinking of putting it in the ground but...

 

Can't blame my gardening for the near demise of the lemon tree I planted a year or so back. It never looked too happy but then the miniature horses chewed most of the bark off and pulled it completely out of the ground. I planted it in a safer location but fear its days are numbered. I just bought another lemon and a grafted 2-variety mandarin. I dug holes for them put down gypsum to bust apart the clay, filled the holes and made a mound with sandy soil and mini-shit. But the trees don't look at all happy. Leaves are curling upward. Maybe too much fertilizer or too wet?  What do I know?

 

Anyway, lovely to hear about your gardening.

I have been growing a drawf lime tree in my NYC apartment for about 10 years now. One thing I have found is that they HATE too much moisture (wet feet). In fact, I wound up killing two that were planted in pots with bagged soil and lots of cedar/redwood shavings to help drainage. When I measured with my moisture meter, it always had wet spots, and upon inspection, I would constantly have root rot issues.

About 7 years ago, I started a new one in a hydroponic environment. This tree has been doing great, and I have a constant supply of limes year round. You can tell it's healthy because it's constantly putting out new growth and new leaves. My tree only gets watered once per day, but it is not planted in soil - the roots are suspended in clay pebbles which do not really hold any water. So the roots dry out a bit before the next watering.

[Toliver]

we have almost NO sun in the backyard and am starting to work on reimagining our small yards.   moveable tubs for herbs and tomatoes....

My mom has the same issue...no sun in her backyard and, like you, she has resorted to moveable pots so she can move the plants into what little sun there is. She even tried moving a pot with a tomato plant in it to the front of her home, an area that is always in the sun. It just made it that much easier for the deer and other local varmints to chow down on her fruit. Lesson learned!   

[hummingbirdkiss]

In answer to the a place where i live? I live on the south end of the Puget sound north of Olympia Wa South of Tacoma in a little poclet of "temperate" that...go figure?...gets warmer each year. It a amazes me each year how much I can grow to the pount I am just trying to defy nature now and see how much i can push into harvest here..with out going to extremes ...whatever that means it sounds right? I bought Persian lime trees and a lemon ( no recall of type but not meyer) at Home Crappo and put them in a good mixture from my garden beds and extra pearlyte but i never fed them kind of ignored them except water and wow ..I had to freeze limes but we ate all the lemons... 2 lime trees about 3 ft high each 2 lemons ( same size) on the deck in pots ...equaled enough for us continuously...with a lot frozen as well...i have not purchased a lemon or lime in two years and i use them a lot...the leaves go in recipes as well..the flowers smelll so good

[haresfur]

I have been growing a drawf lime tree in my NYC apartment for about 10 years now. One thing I have found is that they HATE too much moisture (wet feet). In fact, I wound up killing two that were planted in pots with bagged soil and lots of cedar/redwood shavings to help drainage. When I measured with my moisture meter, it always had wet spots, and upon inspection, I would constantly have root rot issues.

About 7 years ago, I started a new one in a hydroponic environment. This tree has been doing great, and I have a constant supply of limes year round. You can tell it's healthy because it's constantly putting out new growth and new leaves. My tree only gets watered once per day, but it is not planted in soil - the roots are suspended in clay pebbles which do not really hold any water. So the roots dry out a bit before the next watering.

 

I knew they didn't like wet feet but I had been following the water schedule suggested for getting them established and probably overdid it since there is pretty solid clay about 30 cm below the surface. I'll cut back on water and hope I don't dry them out too much. I think I'll keep the limes in pots until I figure out if the others survive. The seem to live in the pots, just don't get much in the way of fruit.  Thanks.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

JoNorvelleWalker,

 

I wish you much success in your gardening endeavors. I'm crossing my fingers for no tomato blight.

 

I grew moonflowers a for a few years in Memphis, and trained them up the support posts of our front porch. They are huge (over five inches across), smell heavenly, and open at dusk each night and close at dawn. We had giant pink and brown moths that would come at night for the nectar. If I recall, they dislike being transplanted, but germinate readily directly in the ground.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

JoNorvelleWalker,

 

I wish you much success in your gardening endeavors. I'm crossing my fingers for no tomato blight.

 

I grew moonflowers a for a few years in Memphis, and trained them up the support posts of our front porch. They are huge (over five inches across), smell heavenly, and open at dusk each night and close at dawn. We had giant pink and brown moths that would come at night for the nectar. If I recall, they dislike being transplanted, but germinate readily directly in the ground.

 

For the last three years I successfully grew Mountain Magic, which is one of the few tomato varieties resistant to early blight (as well as to late blight).  I'm afraid I'm going to be back to Magic Mountain next year.

 

I've grown moonflowers once before, some years ago.  I don't remember any problems with them.  Last year I put up a lattice on my balcony and grew climbing petunias.  Lattice and petunias shown here.

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148589-kitchen-photos/?p=1972002

 

Unfortunately the petunias were wiped out by some bugs.  And before the bugs got them I spent half my free time deadheading petunias.  I am looking forward to the moonflowers.

[suzilightning]

My mom has the same issue...no sun in her backyard and, like you, she has resorted to moveable pots so she can move the plants into what little sun there is. She even tried moving a pot with a tomato plant in it to the front of her home, an area that is always in the sun. It just made it that much easier for the deer and other local varmints to chow down on her fruit. Lesson learned!   

 

not many deer in our neck of the woods....it's the bear we have to watch out for!!

 

ONE of these days I want a small, all white moon garden......

[hummingbirdkiss]

I hit the moon and moon garden lotto one time ..everything lined up perfectly and it was spectacular! 

 

I hope yours is beautiful please post pics if you can get some 

 

my chickens  took out the last of the coin plants last year 

 

but the other plants are still glistening in the moonlight it is just not as spectacular as when I paid close attention 

 

 

they are so overlooked as gardens and even in the winter some things you let dry make spectular moon gardens. 

 

There are a lot of seed exchanges online (especially right now because everyone is so excited about planting) they are great if you have never tried one I have never been ripped off and always ended up with great trade deals

 

 I never pay for seed I just trade seeds and snipping or divisions

 

my dirty little secret?  I do plant things from grocery stores but only organic things if possibile ..but not always

 

 lemongrass for instance I just root that in a glass of water and plant it I figure the generations out are fine and the plants get huge here in the summer they will take up a whole bed!  My fava beans always come from an Eastern European mkt as does my dill seed

 

and turmeric fresh from the Korean mkt.. ginseing  or ginger ..fresh root in and voila" I have a plant last year I dumped the pot and found 2lbs of fresh tumeric in it SCORE! I have not harvested my ginseing yet but there is a lot under that dirt ..ginger i keep potted and harvest as I need it ..but none were organic to start ..generations later they are clean at least and free ..so ?? 

 

do you guys do things like this? I have been scorned for  this (planting things from the market) because I may spread things? or dilute genes? I have done searchings and really? in general I cleaned my garden then messed it up like I do with my house ..this year is a big clean again ..I keep one sacred space for all things native ..other than that most of what I have has been scrounged or donated or traded for ..very little came from a clean nursery and I do not label things carefully (my goal is to do better and I do each year I Have more order) ..so my garden  genetics are kind of a disaster especially in the rogue tomatoes that come back year after year producing pounds and pounds of who knows what the hell kind of yummy tomatoes…. in the compost bin? If I WANT them to grow in a bed it requires a lot of work, and I do it every year because I adore tomatoes.  But in the heap? it is insane! it is shady has WAYY too much acid and nitrogen and they produce the best fruits! … I have seen it debated like crazy, but honestly? I do not get the reasoning for not taking a perfectly beautiful grocery item that you like and planting it to see if you can reproduce the same thing for yourself in your garden?   My porch was a stunning display of potted garbanzo beans and fennugreek one year  

 

I am probably a terrible unethical gardener. But my harvests are huge and I use no chemicals at all …and now I Have my own supply of dirt constantly in rotation.  But still I have this level of guilt i should be trying harder to be more exclusive in my gardening practice and purpose 

 

oh well 

Edited March 21, 2015 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[ElainaA]

Add me to the "I am so jealous" count. My garden is under 2-3 feet of snow and more is predicted for the next 2 days. But I have cardoons and stem celery seedlings up and plan on starting tomatoes, basil and radicchio tomorrow. Fungal diseases have been a big problem here - both early and late blight as well as bacterial wilt and septoria. Since they are all carried by the wind, we are investing in a hoop house this year. I don't care for Mountain magic but I grow both Defiant (from Johnny's) and Legend (from Territorial) which are blight resistant . And 9 other varieties. 13 kinds of lettuce. In January I am driven wild by seed catalogs, to paraphrase Michael Pollen.   

Many years ago i planted 4 morning glory plants by my garden fence. They reseed like crazy. The pictures show last year's crop.

[cyalexa]

my dirty little secret?  I do plant things from grocery stores but only organic things if possibile ..but not always

 

 lemongrass for instance I just root that in a glass of water

ginseing  or ginger ..fresh root in and voila"

ginger i keep potted and harvest it as

do you guys do things like this? I have been scorned for  this (planting things from the market) because I may spread things? or dilute genes?

rogue tomatoes that come back year after year producing pounds and pounds of who knows what the hell kind of yummy tomatoes…. in the compost bin?

If I WANT them to grow in a bed it requires a lot of work, and I do it every year

I cut the root end off of grocery store (organic because that's what I buy) celery and plant it. Some grow, some rot. The ones that grow are too strong to eat raw but are great for cooking and have lots of leaves.

Do you put the lemongress in soil or keep it in water?

I am interested in trying to grow ginger but all the roots in the stores around here seem quite mature. Do you think they would work?

Late last fall I dug up a little tomato plant from near my composter. It volunteered without ever being watered and recieving very little sun. I dug it up and planted it in a big bucket. I put it in my greenhouse and it is now about 2 feet tall and has 4 or 5 tomatoes and lots of buds. Soon I will get it out of the greenhouse as it is getting pretty hot in there during the day. I also plant a few plants in the garden every year but they do not thrive as it is too hot here. I hope the volunteer has enough of a head start that there will be a decent number ripen before the inferno of July and August.

[Shelby]

Well, I just came in from planting.  

 

Red onions

White onions

Lettuce--3-4 different kinds

Spinach

Collard Greens

Peas

 

We'll see if they grow.  I have a terrible impatience with planting tiny seeds like lettuce.  It infuriates me lol.

 

Next wave of planting will be end of April/first of May.  That's when we will plant a zillion tomatoes

[Naftal]

I put in a cherry tree last year. I checked it recently, and there are buds. So it survived the winter. The walking onion bulbs I planted last year are coming up. If they survive I will have a nice substitute for green onions in my Asian dishes. But, I do not expect them to do well .