2012 Garden

[lukem]

Going big this time around. I will have about 2,500 square feet planted to capacity by the end of the week. On the agenda for this year:

Snow peas - planted a 40' row along the fence...gonna have a bunch
Onions - planted and sprouting
Kohlrabi - sprouted and looking good
Spinach - picking it already
Lettuce - will be picking this week
Radishes - picking already
Carrots - they didn't germinate well, but I'll have a few
Broccoli - 42 plants
Green beans - sprouted
Zucchini and summer squash - 8 plants sprouted
Okra - planted but not yet germinated
Taters - red and white planted, no sprouts yet, 50' row
Cucumbers - planted but not yet germinated
Tomatoes - 32 plants, some are blooming already.
Eggplant - 12 plants
Peppers - 24 plants (go in the ground this weekend)
Butternut squash - getting planted this weekend

I may try to create a new plot for sweet corn and melons. Haven't quite decided if I want to bite that off this year or wait until next.

 

[Crane Stoves]

a man after my own heart, ive just completed by 2500 sq' of fenced garden space this week also!
Ole' Mr. Woodchuck's got a big surprise comming this year..., that lil fat bastard :S

I want to know why the hell i cant seem to start things from seed proficiently? I get my green beans NP, but everything else is like pulling teeth. I used storebought trays and made a beautiful custom blend of peat, little dehydrated manure, some potting soil and top soil and filled all the trays, i poked holes in each section with a pencil about halfway down, i watered and covered the trays with their clear plastic tops and i wait 4 week only to find my beans are up =\ im tired of buying plants from home depot every year help!!

Fence was mostly recycled wood posts i obtained from local fence company's for free! I still have to cut the posts down to a reasonable height so dont laugh to much LOL

Garden for Rhubarb, Strawberries, Perennials [/blue]

Larger area garden for corn, tomatoes, beans, squashes, etc.

Simple 2x4 gate to allow for rototill and dumping manure each year

my fail seed starters

 

[lukem]

Looks to me like your seeds may not be germinating because they are drowning. Ease up on the water. Seeds need air (oxygen namely) to germinate...and can't breath if the soil is totally saturated.

Your fence looks a lot like mine.

 

[Crane Stoves]

Looks to me like your seeds may not be germinating because they are drowning. Ease up on the water. Seeds need air (oxygen namely) to germinate...and can't breath if the soil is totally saturated.

Your fence looks a lot like mine.

it just rained here last night and i forgot to take them inside, but i think your right.... ive been keeping them wet all the time and maybe i need to just keep them "damp" as opposed to "wet".... arggggg.... looks like im buying plants again this year

 

[lukem]

Yeah, we just water them right after sowing the seeds and don't need to do it again until they sprout. It doesn't take much.

 

[billb3]

I tend to overwater and rot seeds too.

 

[firebroad]

Great fence--and nice looking outhouse back there.

Lukem--did you really plant beans already? I would think it might be too cool yet. I assume the squash, peppers and tomatoes and such are started indoors.

 

[midwestcoast]

Great fence--and nice looking outhouse back there.

Lukem--did you really plant beans already? I would think it might be too cool yet. I assume the squash, peppers and tomatoes and such are started indoors.

I had the same questions for Luke. I might be being way too conservative here.

Also to Doug, if you have ANY deer in the area I would leave those posts tall. It'd be a shame to cut them off & then find you need a 6' fence after all.

 

[lukem]

I had the same questions for Luke. I might be being way too conservative here.

Also to Doug, if you have ANY deer in the area I would leave those posts tall. It'd be a shame to cut them off & then find you need a 6' fence after all.

The tomatoes and peppers were started indoors in trays...I bought the eggplant because I ran out of trays and got lazy this year. Everything else was started from seed in the garden.

That warm March did wonders for warming up the soil. When I had volunteer pumpkins and sunflowers coming up, I knew I could get anything to germinate outdoors.

 

[PapaDave]

Just got home a while ago and saw this thread. Welcome to the Hearth to Doug.
Nice fences Doug, but like midwest said, the deer will have a feast in your garden if it stays that short.
lukem, that's a very ambitious garden.....I'll get there someday. For now, I'm staying small even though the garden is a pretty good size.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

For sure some of those plants we could not plant yet. Freezes are not done yet. We won't set out even things like tomatoes until mid-May and sometimes even wait for Memorial Weekend. But things freeze more on sandy ground than they do on heavier ground. We haven't even started to plant but will put peas in this week.

 

[bogydave]

Onion sets in the garden & some spinach seeds.
Ground still frozen 2" down, garden is goo, but the raised beds are thawed. Worked of plywood to plant onions & spinach,
Green house has a few tomatoes blooming , cucs sprouted, lots of six-packs of seedlings sprouted & Squash sprouted in 4" pots.
Most of the "done" compost bin is still froze, getting enough to add some to the onion beds & around the tomatoes in the GH. More thaws every day, I just put it in buckets & keep in the GH.
Covered the spinach seeds & some of the onion sets with plastic. (covered soil warmed up to 60 today)
.

 

[Dtunes]

That's an ambitious plan Lukem, do you normally garden on that scale. I'm jealous, fresh veggies are the best. Sounds like everyone is well on their way, looks like I have to get to work soon.

The wife and I are going to try having a garden this year. We bought the house in the fall of 2010, our son was born summer of 2011, so this is our first chance at our new home. I'm pretty worried about critters though, lots of rabbits and ground hogs in my neighborhood. Not to mention the occasional deer.

Doug, did you bury the fence, if so how deep? Also what is that metal fencing called(City boy here)? Some of the stuff I've read online makes it seem depressingly hard to stop unwanted guests in the garden. I'm going to give it a shot regardless.

 

[lukem]

That's an ambitious plan Lukem, do you normally garden on that scale.

This is only my third year gardening, so there is no "normal" for me yet. This is probably 25% bigger than we went last year in overall sq ft and plant density. The first year was a complete disaster....my garbage gut dog ate just about everything...and what he didn't get the deer did. After the fence went up, I've had much better luck.

My garden has been progressively larger each year...but I think we'll level off after next year...I hope.

 

[lukem]

Weather permitting, I'll try to take some pictures tonight and post them.

I got the last of the planting done last night (watermelon, cantaloupe, and sweet corn) in the "addition"...I ran out of room in the fence. Total garden area is about 48'x70'.

I did pretty well this year with getting things out early. The only thing effected by the weather were a few cucumber hills that didn't germinate. I replanted them last night.

We are picking an enormous amount of lettuce, spinach, and radishes. Snow peas are in full bloom and should be producing very soon.