2018 garden thread!

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EatenByLimestone

EatenByLimestone

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Jul 12, 2006
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Schenectady, NY
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On March 1st I finished trimming the peach tree. The next day, 11" of wet snow got dumped on it. But before that happened, I got peas in the ground. Stuff that was peeking above the soil was rhubarb, horseradish, perennial arugula , garlic, egyptian walking onions, and some kale.

I normally can start getting plants in the ground mid April. I want to try to stretch the boundaries of that this year and do some planting under cover.

I started basil, zucchini, good king Henry and Sea Kale in flats today. Anybody else starting to poke and prod the earth?
 
Out little cucumber start is about 8" tall now and has 2 real leaves on it. I was just looking at pictures from this date 2 years ago. We had a much warmer start to spring that year. The pictures showed tomato starts about 3" tall, cukes about 6" tall and peas in the ground at least a foot tall. Not this year, but I am going to start our tomatoes and more cukes today. They may need transplanting into bigger pots in 6 weeks if it stays cold. If not, they will go outside at that time. We'll see.
 
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For some reason I started thinking about making tomato sauce today. I started thinking about a squeezo strainer and on a lark checked craigslist. One was posted 9 days ago! New they are over 200. This one came with an extra strainer for berries and was $55!

Woohoo!
 
Still a little too early for me here in southern Maine. I did go through my leftover seeds and started my list of what I need to buy. In another week or two it'll be time to start my broccoli seeds. Expecting 18 inches of snow tomorrow night through Thursday...
 
ive got my plants started at the local greenhouse. i have to move my garden this year, but we won't put anything in the ground until may.
 
We're predicted to kiss 70º on Monday. I guess I better get working on the beds.
 
begreen said:
We're predicted to kiss 70º on Monday. I guess I better get working on the beds.
Click to expand...

I shoveled more snow today . . . and am seriously thinking about going for a short ride on the sled. The town next to me went out and groomed the trails last night . . . thought Spring was right around the corner . . . I was wrong.
 
18 inches of snow last Thursday and 20 more coming today. My gardening thoughts are still on hold...
 
Chimney Smoke said:
18 inches of snow last Thursday and 20 more coming today. My gardening thoughts are still on hold...
Click to expand...

. . . and I am thinking that the riding this weekend will be excellent!!!
 
Set out some cold frames to start warming the garden. Days are in the upper 30s here. We keep getting hammered by snow, but it keeps melting.
 
New property, new tractor, spring is here, gotta get this place dug up....
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
Only six more beds to go!
 
Very nice! We were spared this last nor'easter, but have plenty of snow left!
 
The snow should be gone by the end of the week. Hopefully I'll be able to get the garden in by the middle of next month, my normal time. I was hoping to start everything early and have it in early April. Only the weather will tell... lots of stuff is ready. Some lettuce is planted in between the walking onions and chives.

I probably can transplant the kale in.
 
Our starts are doing ok in the greenhouse, though I've had to keep a heater in there to keep nighttime temps over 40º. The greenhouse cuke is happy and putting on height quickly. It's over a foot tall.

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread! [Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
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Nice! I put the plants out in the sun each day, and bring them in at night. Were a bit cool still.
 
I need to get the peas in ground soon. Will cover the row with remay and hope for the best.
 
I have around two feet of snow on the ground around my garden still. Luckily I can start seeing the edges of my garden beds so once they get exposed the snow will melt pretty quickly. This week I'll get my brocolli and pepper seeds started inside.
 
We moved to a completely different gardening zone last fall, and everything I planted for fun was eaten by deer (except for the leeks thankfully). This weekend my husband and I moved three fencing panels on our property that weren't actually fencing anything in. Then we moved a gate that was simply secured to the porch of a shed. We grabbed some unused pier blocks but then did make a run to the store for two more pier blocks and some posts. We're hoping the enclosure is sufficiently small to discourage the deer from jumping inside.

The containers have moved with us all the way back from our days when we rented a townhouse in Virginia. Since they have a water reservoir in the bottom and wick moisture up we thought we'd start our attempts at Texas gardening in them. As you can see, we're rather lacking in the soil department around here.

Sprouting in the containers are lima beans, corn, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, basil, and leeks. All of these were old seeds, and we don't hope for much of a harvest, but we figured we'd put the seeds to use, try to keep the deer out, carry water from the rain barrels when they have it, and see how things go. Our frost date passed a couple of weeks ago. It's a different world down here.[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!

The cube inside will either serve for trellis netting to grow the vines vertically, or we'll see if we require bird netting in addition to deer fencing.
 
Soil looks like it needs testing and compost, a lot of it.
 
Peas are in the ground as of yesterday. They're about 4-8" tall. I transplanted cukes and tomatoes (brandy boy) to larger pots today. Greenhouse cuke is 18" tall and setting baby cukes already. I may pick them off so that it concentrates on root development and growth right now.
 
begreen said:
Soil looks like it needs testing and compost, a lot of it.
Click to expand...

Soil?

Sadly the property has been overgrazed, and erosion has taken a big toll. It’s still a beautiful place, and it’s coming back little by little. It’s amazing what can grow out of limestone rock.

That’s why the garden is in pots. The sprouts survived another night without the deer getting them.
 
Feed the soil not the plants. You will be surprised at how well it will respond once the organic and carbon contents are brought up.

Here's a great story of the restoration of Texas soil at one ranch. It also brought back water to the property!
https://bambergerranch.org/our-story
 
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Well the snow has finally melted from all of my garden area and I started my broccolli, sweet pepper and hot pepper seeds last weekend.
 
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