Gardeners of AW, unite

We have had a couple of extraordinarily nice spring days here, considering our location at 61 degrees north latitude. It allowed me to plant a bunch more seeds in starter pots, to begin to till the raised beds (never been able to do that this early, in 25 years of gardening here), and actually put out some baby plant sprouts for a few hours in natural sunshine for hardening off. Was a good gardeneer's day.

Interesting new plant I found, also: something called Chinese Kailan broccoli, grown for long stalks and leaves. Started those seeds today.

Otherwise, started from seeds snow peas, scallions, gold rush zucchini squash and pots of the herbs borage, chervil and cilantro.

And dug a hell of a lot of dirt.

caw

Hip--that's weird. Zephie is usually fairly thornless. I have one now, the only big rose I grow but I was seduced by Neil Diamond a week ago. I had sworn that I would never buy another rose after losing four, one after the other, the first year I lived here.

Neil was flirty. He called to me across a crowded nursery. He is big, double and stripey. He smells like heaven should smell. I spotted a dozen of them in a garden center week before last. Every single one was marked sold! Fortunately my sister found one in her town. On Saturday I drove home with Neil Diamond in my front seat. He didn't scratch the upholstery but he did wet my seat. My grand daughter who has to ride in the back seat was miffed. I won't even let her bring a cold drink into my car!--s6

Had our first members meeting at my garden yesterday. We did quite a bit of cleanup. On one hand, it was nice to get together with the other gardeners and get to know them better, especially since we have a couple of new members. On the other, there was something going on nearby that I couldn't go to because the meeting was right in the middle of it and parking around that town is a pain on a good day. Throw in a big event on a weekend and forget it. Still, I would've liked to have gone since I don't think I've ever gone to one of these annual events despite living in the area for years.

Anyway, my peas have sprouted and are coming up. The carrots aren't. I also picked a lemon balm plant and put it in a pot to try and keep it from becoming too invasive.

Corn needs a lot of water and weeding. How about carrots or Brussels Sprouts? Carrots are under ground most of the summer. Brussels Sprouts last until frost--s6

Also corn takes a lot of nutrients out of the ground so it would need to be planted in another patch of your garden next year. I found peas and beans to be pretty easy to take care of. I'm not sure about your area. The biggest problem is being there to harvest them.

The funny part is I received some seeds from the living history farm I donated money to. I received corn seeds (which I can't really plant because I don't really have the room), carrots (I already planted some earlier), and ground tomatoes. I'll probably plant the ground tomatoes because I know people who like tomatoes; it's just a matter of where since I want to get some other varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers in as well. I just put in a lot of peas and carrots this year, because I do like the peas (and I can put in beans later once the peas are done) and I want to see if I'll get some carrots with all the seeds I put in this year.

We've experienced a late frost last night. Covered my plants with sheets of plastic. They seem to be doing fine. I'd hate to start over.

shakeysix said:

Corn needs a lot of water and weeding. How about carrots or Brussels Sprouts? Carrots are under ground most of the summer. Brussels Sprouts last until frost--s6

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Sprouts even taste better with a tiny touch of frost. Sweeter and less bitter.

dirtsider said:

Also corn takes a lot of nutrients out of the ground so it would need to be planted in another patch of your garden next year.

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Also corn produces relatively little food per unit area gardened. It takes up a hell of a lot of space.

Peppers are great in warm climates, and plants will produce fruit as long as it stays warm. Likewise tomatoes. if you get indeterminate varieties. Squashes and cucumbers are great for warm climates.

caw

There is an herb called Sweet Annie. I used to grow it for my daughter, Annie. It thrives on neglect, doesn't have a lot of eye appeal, but in the autumn it makes wonderfully fragrant wreaths. You just bend it into a hoop. We used to make the wreaths together and hang them around the house as a winter accent. Google it. You might love it and it will grow all summer without much care. --s6

Late update, but update time! My outside seeds are all showing signs of life, despite going in before the last couple hard frosts (carrots, broccoli, radishes and peas). My indoor starter garden is coming along, too, with both varieties of sunflowers going well, the aforementioned brussels sprouts, tomatoes and green onions all saying hello. One lavender is up, which gives me hope that the rest of the lavender, sage and parsley are all okay. The peppers and passionflowers are still quiet, as is the mystery pot I forgot to label...

harmonyisarine said:

The peppers and passionflowers are still quiet, as is the mystery pot I forgot to label...

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You need to label it with one of these

I have no fresh plants in the ground. We had two nights below freezing last week. I swear, this is the week. I'm going to risk it... really. Really.

Ha! I definitely need one of those signs.

I only put a few seeds in the ground, ones that could withstand a freeze. I think--but I'm not sure--that we're finally past the worst of it. I mean, it's 80 degrees this week! It can hardly be 80 and also freezing, even here.


My carrots and broccoli are definitely growing, and the asparagus is ferning. For those who grow asparagus: I've read that I can harvest this year, it's old enough, but only a little. However, nothing says what "little" means. A spear, three? Less than a third, no more than a quarter?

One lavender sprouted, and the sage and parsley. I know lavender can take awhile, so I'm giving it some more time. The mystery pot, passionflower and peppers are still quiet. I'm beginning to worry.

Re. asparagus - The rule I've heard is that you should only harvest spears that are as big around as your finger - taking anything smaller than that will weaken the plants. And you're only supposed to harvest for a limited time in the first few harvest years... like, wait the 3-4 years for maturity, then harvest only in the first month of the season for the next couple years.

(My asparagus patch at my old house was well-established, and at my new house is only two years old, so I can't confirm either of these from experience).

At long last, my garden is fully planted.

Many interesting things happened - there are now a few of us on an email list, and we actually communicate. That's an awesome surprise.

The local vo-ag brought us an amazing heap of beautiful seedlings, and then all those people who complained about having to buy seeds didn't take any. Oh well. A few of us planted as many things as we could, in as many empty beds as we could. Fingers crossed, my new garden-friends will keep showing up, and we'll have a real garden.

Also, the fence behind the grapes has been a mess forever. The homeowner asked if we could take the weeds/non grapes off his fence, and I told him we only have hand clippers. He offered to come and weedwhack the fenceline. That would be a big help to both of us...

So, current garden outlook is very green!

Also! re: asparagus - one side of the bed is looking pretty good. It's not crazy active, but there's clear signs of life. The other side of the bed is silent. I'm really concerned the rhubarb has done away with those. I really hadn't anticipated the rhubarb growth...

We'uns here at 61 degrees north latitude have had the most extraordinarily wonderful and early spring I've ever experienced. So the gardening is about three weeks ahead of normal. Two beds of potatoes in, five other raised beds for vegetables all prepared, with about 1/3 of the space planted in lettuce, bok choy, cabbage, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, radishes, mizuna greens, snap peas all in the ground, lots of other starts in small pots ready to go in. And two front-of-the-house flower beds about half planted (should complete those tomorrow).

AND, we even got a little rain today. Daytime temps into the 70s yesterday, which is the most unheard-of-thing i ever heard of at this time of year here.

Also, yesterday, I ran across an on-line list of the 15 most nutrional veggies you can eat, based on nutrionists findings. I'm growing 14 of those, all but collard greens.

Now, if only everything doesn't burn to cinders in a wildfire . . .

caw

While we here at 44 degrees north had a hard frost the night before last.

I ran a sprinkler over one bed and put blankets on a few other tender plants, but a few leaves still got nipped. And two of my tomato plants that didn't transplant well are using the frost as an excuse to get even more rough-looking. I like starting tomatoes from seed so I can have more interesting varieties, but this might be the year I pick a few plants up at the garden centre.

We have a sweet basil plant in a pot we have managed to keep alive for over two months. Before you laugh, that is an accomplishment. Between the assorted birds and ground rodents, we don't usually manage two weeks. We both love fresh, raw, basil in salads and on sandwiches.

MM

I haven't been able to keep basil alive in my yard for years. My boss has to uproot it by the armful, from his garden. Which is good, because then I get to make bruschetta.

I have to keep my basil in an elevated window box attached to the fence, or the slugs will take it all out in a single night. We're trying bok choy this year, which germinated wonderfully quickly, but it's been cool and grey enough that the tomatoes and peppers are just kind of hanging out in seedling sulks. I'm trying rosemary again; I'm hoping that bringing it inside with a sunlamp over the winter will actually keep it alive this year. Coastal winters at 44 north (hiya, Captcha!) aren't kind to Mediterranean perennials.