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Food Growing MDCer's... it's spring!

16K views 295 replies 50 participants last post by  Fueling Minds 
#1 ·
Food Growing Mamas (and papas!)... Holy moley it's been a long winter! I sure have missed you guys


I set up my seed starting "room" and planted my tomato & pepper seeds yesterday (May 15th last hard frost date here). The rest will wait until next week. I will be planting squash (not pumpkin) this year for the first time! How about you guys? What are you growing? What are your goals for this year? Did you learn anything from last season that you can share with us all?

The cupboards are pretty much bare of any homegrown produce. I can see why in the past people have referred to early spring as "the hungry season". Since we ran out of canned tomatoes last week, I guess I either need to step up my production or eat less next winter
. I figure I have got to put up at least 50 quarts. *sigh*. We still have some jams & jellies, pear honey, one jar of pickles, a bag of sun dried tomatoes and some frozen bell peppers... that's it!

I learned that I need to make & can applesauce and pickles even if I think I am too busy and no one will eat them anyway. This is untrue; the minute we run out someone will ask for it, including neighbors, and family members will pout if there is not sauce or pickles in their holiday gift baskets. I learned not to make more than one batch of hot pepper jelly per year and to put it in 4 oz. jars. I learned pear honey is divine on pancakes. I learned that a sandwich baggie of sun dried tomatoes is the *perfect* size for us and they freeze really well. Also, tomatillo salsa freezes very well and takes up way less room than whole frozen tomatillos
Speaking of tomatillos, I learned last year that once I plant the darn things I can be pretty much assured of a bumper crop the next year too


Looking forward to hearing how you all are doing!!!!
 
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#278 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter View Post

Last year I was planting up until the day before I delivered. Tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, potatoes, beans, peas, everything. Only thing I didn't get in the ground were zucchini and more cucumbers. And my little girl didn't come out until 41w6d. My best friend was the little $8 stool from Walmart. Nice and low to the ground so I could sit with my giant belly and keep planting/weeding/whatever since my hips and pelvis were shot. I still use it, actually.
Makes it easier to weed when the beds are as infested with weeds and evil Bermuda grass like mine are.
Ditto to all that. DS was born in early June and due late May. June 1, the day before I started my 3-day marathon labor
, I was sitting on a kneeling pad, weeding. Sit, weed, scoot, repeat.
 
#279 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter View Post
Nice! You guys are lucky.
Depends on your definition of biking... biking in 2-6 feet of snow with a trailer... my bike trailer rocks, but it's not magic.
(
Yeah, I can't say as how uphill in the snow sounds like fun! I like your idea of an urban farmstand though - in my town, that would be a big success. I hope things settle down some at your DH's job.
 
#280 ·
The snow is almost gone!!!! I can see my raised beds and maybe soon, but i'm not holding my breath, the earth will warm up enough to put in onions and maybe cold crop veggies. eek I can't wait.

Our LFD is June 8th or so, so i will wait until the wkend after to sow my plants.

I have planned my garden on paper and can't wait to actually do something than just stare at the paper, like working in the soil to get ready to sow.
 
#283 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by smeisnotapirate View Post
Ditto to all that. DS was born in early June and due late May. June 1, the day before I started my 3-day marathon labor
, I was sitting on a kneeling pad, weeding. Sit, weed, scoot, repeat.

Yeah, I kept trying to garden the girl out of me, and would get 4-5 hours of contractions that would peter out. But the good news? My labor was a fast and furious 1.5 hours when she did decide to come because I'd been contracting on and off for 5+ weeks before that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamafish9 View Post
Yeah, I can't say as how uphill in the snow sounds like fun! I like your idea of an urban farmstand though - in my town, that would be a big success. I hope things settle down some at your DH's job.
Eh, not so much of a farmstand quite yet as much as a sign saying knock on the door for asparagus at $1-$1.50lb or whatever it is I've got. Like I tell people, you know what kind of damage I could do with even an acre (my entire house lot is .28 acre).
As for the job... heehee, the hits just keep coming. One of hubby's coworkers quit tonight at 9:30pm. Via email. Not sure whether he's completely done (what hubby thinks) or he might actually put in 2 weeks. Hah. Serves 'em right.
 
#284 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ferra View Post
Hey, how far apart should I thin out my radishes? They are still kinda small, maybe only 1" high.
An inch or two apart, depending on how big you want your radishes to grow. I think.
 
#286 ·
Weird I quoted but its all gone and I of course don't remember it all.

Thanks for the book recs!

Deb Hi


My Grandma lives in Ryderwood and I used to go to her house every summer. We would grocery shop in Winlock usually. Longview if she decided but usually Winlock as it was closer.
Its so weird but the longer I am on MDC the more people I meet who have ties or know of this little area. Most people I know are like huh what? Like they think nothing exists between Olympia and Vancouver or something.
 
#287 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonK View Post
My Grandma lives in Ryderwood and I used to go to her house every summer. We would grocery shop in Winlock usually. Longview if she decided but usually Winlock as it was closer.
Its so weird but the longer I am on MDC the more people I meet who have ties or know of this little area. Most people I know are like huh what? Like they think nothing exists between Olympia and Vancouver or something.

Yeah, Longview was the "big" city that took an entire day. Gosh, I loved going to Dick's for new shoes. Good prices and decent variety, at least last time I was there.
Winlock was it's own little world... my grandma knew this guy that started out as a bagger at the IGA there in his teenage years. He's now the very middle-aged produce guy at the Safeway in Centralia. My parents rented a trailer from the then-owners of Shakertown. And my grandparents even got their milk fresh from a dairy a few miles away (between Avery Rd. and Winlock on the highway there), the still-there one-room (or maybe it's 3-room now) schoolhouse my dad and uncles and cousins went to that my second cousins are now attending, and there was a little egg farm right there on the highway near the grange at one point. The dairy and chicken farms are long gone, but the memories of going there every Saturday aren't.

If you want an even more fun little trip, my mom worked in Toledo for years. Most people who know Winlock don't even have a clue about Toledo.
 
#288 ·
I'm sorry I haven't kept up with this thread
.

I'm getting so
: at this cold, wet spring. I had wonderful success growing tomato and other plants from seed and now I'm fighting to keep my 60+ tomato plants alive because the weather sucks.

They are getting too big for their paper pots and we've moved so I don't have a good light setup at this place. We had 70 and 80 degree weather last week and now we're back to 50 and cloudy/rain. Blah, blah, blah. I'm just whining.


DH tilled 2 beautiful garden plots on the last nice day last week (thank goodness!!) and I'm so itching to get stuff in there!
 
#290 ·
I just need a weekend with no rain.

One.

Weekend.

We haven't been able to rent the roto-tiller because it's rain in the forecast for this weekend and it rained last weekend. So we have HUMONGO peas that are starting to climb up each other and whatever they can attach to and NO GARDEN!!!!!!!



</rant>

Rain again this weekend. Probably no garden work. I need herbs, though. All we have is basil.
 
#291 ·
Our peas are popping up in the garden. Less than a month until the last expected frost date. Yay! I asked my family for flowers seeds for mother's day. We have lots of flower beds which have some good perennials, but I would like to fill them in more, and have lots of beautiful colourful flowers.

Our tomato plants are doing great under the light in the basement. We have some cantaloupes, pumpkin, and a few different kinds of peppers started as well. Makes me hungry
 
#292 ·
I left my pumpkins out on the porch (covered) last night. I've been leaving them out during the day for about 6 days now as they are HUGE! The kids planted them in pots as the front porch gets really hot and sunny all summer so we are going to put them out there. One of them is at least 2-3 feet long already. Do you think they are okay to just leave out now? Honestly I am not expecting much from them as they are in pots and I have never had luck with either here cause of the rain and cooler temps. But one small pumpkin or watermelon would sure make the kids happy.
 
#295 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter View Post
Yup, down in Morton. Most people don't know Morton though, Chehalis is easier to remember. My grandma lived between Winlock and Napavine for most of her adult life, so I got to visit the area fairly frequently.


I hear you on the anxiously doing nothing. Amen. It'll probably snow another time or two in the next month. Um, you're not due until December. Unless you have major medical issues or are on bedrest or something, you should be fine. Most of your "golden" second trimester is during summer. I could still usually cook and such until 7-8 months along. 9mo is when I start being sluglike. But your pregnancies are probably a little different than mine.

Last year I was planting up until the day before I delivered. Tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, potatoes, beans, peas, everything. Only thing I didn't get in the ground were zucchini and more cucumbers. And my little girl didn't come out until 41w6d. My best friend was the little $8 stool from Walmart. Nice and low to the ground so I could sit with my giant belly and keep planting/weeding/whatever since my hips and pelvis were shot. I still use it, actually.
Makes it easier to weed when the beds are as infested with weeds and evil Bermuda grass like mine are.
You are a determined gardening mama!


Yeah it is my dh that is worried more than me about the garden + pregnancy. I do tend to have irritable uterus issues and therefore I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy and take frequent rests. Also baby #3 is currently only just over a year and not even close to walking yet. I figure if I handled helping plant a garden last year 3 weeks after an emergency c/s, then it will be no big deal this year even with the mentioned issues. I do tend to be pretty useless besides cooking/cleaning for the last couple months though due to the irritable uterus lol
 
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