Gardeners of AW, unite

Teinz

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I didn't know we had a gardeners-thread. Nice!

Well, uhm, an update then.

Almost all of my potatoes have popped up, as have some beans. Tomorrow, my father and I are planning on building the scaffolding for the, uhm, climbing beans?

No lettuce yet, it has been too cold these last few weeks, no beetroot either.

I think my red-berrie-harvest will be ginormous, that plant is giving everything it's got. The grape-vine is just sprouting it's first leaves.
 

Fenika

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Nice. I planted my bush beans, carrots, squash, etc the other day. No pole beans here but my sugar snap peas are growing like crazy and need a little more support.
 

Yeshanu

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Ugh! I just spent about a half hour in my yard. The weeds are knee high--after years of depression, and only my daughter tending the yard, I don't have much to look at back there. The raspberries and strawberries are taking over wherever there are no weeds. The asparagus is doing all right, and the herbs look healthy. But other than that, I could probably make a couple dozen gallons of dandelion wine... :p

It seems I've got work to do...
 

Fenika

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You are going to have a very sweet season :)

I finally got my hands on a blackberry. It's thornless and I can't wait for all the berries.

I am going to do some transplanting soon. Then plant some merigolds. First, gotta clean the kitchen, urgh.
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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I've been out for days painting my plastic outdoor furniture. Starting to look really nice! I'll post pix when I'm done. :D

I'm so pleased that my thyme and oregano have come back. I wasn't sure if they'd be perennial up here or not. I have buds on my tulips, and one narcissus is blooming!

Several delphiniums are going to town, and I noticed today that I have new shoots on my astilbes and heuchera. Yay! Once Victoria Day hits next weekend, I want to put some strawberries in, and I need to transplant all my seedlings outdoors. I need to till a new bed to put in roses and peonies.

SO glad it's spring! Didn't seem like this winter would ever end.
 

backslashbaby

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I planted my wheel-spoke herb and veggie garden in the last several days :D My thyme evaporated in the heat and didn't act perennial, but my sages are huge, and the all the rosemary is coming back after a cold spell zapped it.

I have peppers, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes. And various herbs. I don't try the cool weather plants as our springs can turn too toasty too fast.

I buy transplants because we have the best little hardware store that sells planting packs to all the home-farmers out here! The only thing they were out of this year was the yellow pear tomato. They sell a mix of heirloom varieties and some new ones :)

We'll see what 'little fingers' eggplant is like! My eggplants get so big here, and I'd rather have more than bigger.
 

blacbird

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Finally was able to put stuff in the first of my five raised veggie garden beds today. Swiss chard transplants and a bunch of seeds for cool-weather non-lettuce salad greens (mache, cress, arugula, spinach) and some radishes. I have a bunch of seed starts about ready to go, but I need to get the other beds turned and fertilized. Except for the strawberry bed, at whose empty end are going some blueberry plants, probably tomorrow.

I also started a lot of herbs (cilantro, chervil, three varieties of basil, dill) to grow in pots on my deck.

And, owing to my eternal optimism, yesterday I bought some hot pepper and cucumber plants. Tomatoes here are almost out of the question, but I might give some cherry tomatoes a go. They work about one year in three, if we have any real sunshine. The past two summers we've had virtually none of that.

caw
 

Fenika

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I'm out of gardening space already. *sigh*
 

shakeysix

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you are in luck. sundown the cat has been sleeping smack in the middle of my seedling poppies. now i have a big hole in my favorite bed. what do you want me to plant there? i was thinking big orange kitty--s6
 

sunandshadow

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Finally was able to put stuff in the first of my five raised veggie garden beds today. Swiss chard transplants and a bunch of seeds for cool-weather non-lettuce salad greens (mache, cress, arugula, spinach) and some radishes. I have a bunch of seed starts about ready to go, but I need to get the other beds turned and fertilized. Except for the strawberry bed, at whose empty end are going some blueberry plants, probably tomorrow.

I also started a lot of herbs (cilantro, chervil, three varieties of basil, dill) to grow in pots on my deck.

And, owing to my eternal optimism, yesterday I bought some hot pepper and cucumber plants. Tomatoes here are almost out of the question, but I might give some cherry tomatoes a go. They work about one year in three, if we have any real sunshine. The past two summers we've had virtually none of that.

caw
Make sure you have a correct soil mix for the blueberries - I killed some twice by just planting them in the ground. From what I have heard they like a sandy acidic soil, hate clay, and don't like standard potting soil much.

Me, I got the first few ripe strawberries this past week. :) My dutch iris are about done, columbines still going strong, alliums in the middle of their bloom, roses and bearded iris just getting started, yarrow and lilies have buds. I'm kind of worried about the bearded iris - I seem to have only 2/3 as many as last year, maybe even less. Also need to motivate myself to thin all the garden veggies - I love the "stir packet of seeds into the top layer of soil with a spade" planting method for small vegetables because it's easy and space-efficient, but the randomness of it requires a lot of thinning compared to planting in rows.
 

shakeysix

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have you tried mixing the fine vegetable seed with sand? carrot seeds do well with radish seeds mixed in. the radishes mature faster and naturally space the carrots. as for the bearded iris, are you sure something hasn't happened to cover the bulbs? they won't bloom well unless they are exposed--s6
 

sunandshadow

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have you tried mixing the fine vegetable seed with sand? carrot seeds do well with radish seeds mixed in. the radishes mature faster and naturally space the carrots. as for the bearded iris, are you sure something hasn't happened to cover the bulbs? they won't bloom well unless they are exposed--s6
Hmm, sand? I would have thought that would make for gritty root veggies as they incorporated a bit into themselves. That's a neat idea for using radishes to space other things, I'll have to try that next year.

The bearded irises seem to be getting invaded by grass, which strikes me as strange because I've definitely seen patches of bearded iris holding their own against grass in others' yards. Of the two beds I have them in, the one in a bit more shade is doing worse.
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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Make sure you have a correct soil mix for the blueberries - I killed some twice by just planting them in the ground. From what I have heard they like a sandy acidic soil, hate clay, and don't like standard potting soil much.

Thanks for this. I haven't tried growing them before.
 

Teinz

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I'm gonna try and grow peppers this year, but I'm not really sure how to.

Right now, I got a few healthy seedlings, each sprouting four to six leaves, one's about to pop two more. The temperature is going to stay above 15 C. I was thinking about putting them on their final spot, but maybe it's still too early?

Anyone got advice?
 

stormie

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Here in NJ it's about 55 F (just under 15 C, it seems) at night, 60-65 F. during the day, and we just planted a row of green peppers, jalepenos, Big Beef tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes. Last year they all did well. Very sunny area of the yard and we have slightly sandy soil which tomatoes love. Our rosemary thrived all winter since it was milder than normal.
 

Xelebes

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Just added another fruit-bearer to go along with the raspberry, black currant, chokecherry, crabapple, mcintosh apple and gooseberry: the saskatoon. Got it for Mother's Day.
 

Fenika

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Peppers and tomatoes prefer it above 50F or about 10C at night. A little less and they only get a little grumpy. Plant those babies, but make sure they are hardened off first so they dont get a transplant and weather shock.

Also, read up on peppers. They arent as fussy as tomatoes but picking their early flowers will give you stronger roots and a longer production season.

I think they dont like heavy nitrogen and will make leaves not 'fruit' if you over do it. They still like balanced fertilizers. Double check I dont have them confused with something though.

Lastly, green peppers are unripe. They have a fraction of the vitamin C and other nutrients. Let your peppers ripen on the plant. The trade off is you will get a bit less total peppers. But green peppers are cheap at the store or you can find ripe ones on sale sometimes. Why grow your own only to harvest too early?
 

Fenika

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I just finger typed that whole msg o_O

I really like the vegetable gardeners bible and look up stuff constantly in it.
 

HistorySleuth

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Well I finally felt safe from the random cold snaps to start something. Just seeds in a couple of those starter flats. Next week we need to get more peat and vermiculite to mix with our dirt, then into the recycle bins it goes. Not sure where to set our pallet tables this year. Some in the driveway, maybe some in the side yard for the root veggies should be OK. If we don't like it we can always move them. :)
 

Fenika

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So what do you folks know about Strawberries? Can I just clip off a section of runner that is barely starting to make roots and stick it in the ground, or does it need to be more established before I can cut and transplant?
 

stormie

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Lastly, green peppers are unripe. They have a fraction of the vitamin C and other nutrients. Let your peppers ripen on the plant. The trade off is you will get a bit less total peppers. But green peppers are cheap at the store or you can find ripe ones on sale sometimes. Why grow your own only to harvest too early?
I should have clarified. If we leave our (green)peppers on the vine they either (a) drop off before they turn red or (b) are nibbled at by some adorable but pesky animal. Any help on those too problems would be appreciated. :)
 

Fenika

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Drop off? Sounds like a nutrient or disease problem. Peppers should not just fall off. What variety are you getting?

For pests, build a simple 2 foot diameter cylindar cage around individual plants or a bigger one around several with simple light framing. Add a roof and some basic spikes to hold it down if needed. Cheap chicken wire is sufficient but rubbing some jalepeno or cayenee will keep the most asshat of squirrels from gnawing the wire (shouldnt need the hot stuff though)
 

Fenika

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Also read up on pepper diseases and watch for them. Are you watering from the top or at night at all? Hows your soil? Raised beds, containers, or flat ground (at least mound up the rows if you can). What spacing are you doing? I'd consider doing the max on the label, which is over 12" to be safe. This gives more air circulation. It means slightly more chicken wire, unless you are planting over 20 plants, then its lots more.
 

Fenika

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Lastly, dont plant in the same spot as last year or use the same soil unless you absolutely cant help it. Otherwise, take out a little soil and mound up fresh and that you mixed with sawdust free composted horse manure (free, but hard to get sawdust free or truely composted in some areas). The fresh soil will reduce the spread of pepper diseases you might have had. Nightshades, like most other plants should be rotated.