April Food Growing Mamas - Page 2

[greenmom4]

I'm in NM and we live in a condo that gets lots of shade (in a tiny, side yard). We have an area behind the house that gets full sun all day, but the soil is awful and since we're renting I don't want to put too much time and $$ into fixing it. Sooooo, we are doing container gardening and I'm trying to figure out what I want and where I can put it and how many containers I need. Won't start planting until Mother's day or so. I know we'll do tomatoes and probably some peppers, and I have some salad bowls that I'm going to plant today w/ lettuce mixes. I may even throw some kale into our side yard and keep my fingers crossed that the dog doesn't completely destroy it. We're also going to do the trash can potatoes, the kids have so much fun with that. I want to try strawberries, but we have lots of rabbits around here and don't know if it's worth it to try. I'd like to plant some herbs to tincture or use medicinally, but I just don't think we have enough space/sun.

So jealous of all of those with space to have a "real" garden!

[ms.shell]

greenmom. i am thankful to be blessed with a garden (we rent) and planning and dreaming of having our own piece of land to plant fruit trees to grow and have room for lots and lots of vegetables and flowers, too.

that's why i am posting. i have run out of room in the back gardens, but i still haven't put much in my nice long front brick bed. we are the corner house on our street, and it needs to look nice....so how crazy would it be to use that space to grow more bell peppers? I have 2 different mixes with all beautiful different colored bells (seeds). I would sure love to grow them, but as i said, i am pretty much full in the back yard. I don't see any room for corn either, dp is unhappy about that and i think he would like me to skip the zucchinis for corn...i'm thinking we can plant corn AFTER the zucchini are done. or maybe between them somehow? kinda wondering about that and also putting some corn between bush beans....but i dont want my garden to be messy. it looks so lovely and neat now and i want to keep that trend going
Anyway. Any thoughts on whether my neighbors will think i am a hardcore loon if there are sweet peppers in all colors lined up in my front flower bed? anything i could put low between them in now while they grow...like some flowering annual or something? or what if i put in rainbow swiss chard seeds directly in the bed to grow while the seeds start in pots. i have never grown (or eaten) swiss chard before.

How are ya'll doing? We ate onions from the garden in chicken salad last night, and instead of bread for the sandwiches, i wrapped them in gorgeous huge lettuce leaves, the largest and prettiest we have ever grown by far Same as last year, the lettuce will be so almost done when the first tomatoes finally ripen that we will be lucky to get to eat them together at all. It's like a week at most we can eat them together, but i really want to figure that out better! Maybe in fall.....
I hope ya'll are having as beautiful day as we have been having! and a good evening, too

[Teenytoona]

Hello all! I'm joining in!

We're in zone 5b, but it's been a pretty warm spring. I didn't get around to planting the greens as early as I wanted to (life really got in the way). About a week and a half ago I planted my greens and peas and carrot seeds (funny enough I planted them very early last year and they did great).

I'm trying something experimental this year with tomatoes - I've ordered early season tomatoes and am going to direct sow them after the last frost date. Last year not a one of our seedlings made it. Besides that we took down the set-up because we have two more kids living with us than we did at that time. My hope is that with several shorter season tomatoes, our growing season will be just right to get them in the ground and growing and producing. We usually seem to get a seed from the compost bonus tomato and they always give us some fruit by the end of the season, so I think we will be ok. And besides, if our spring has been any indicator, it might be a doozy of a summer.

I'm excited for this year!

[Alyantavid]

I'm finally going to join in here. Dh's tilled the garden today so I should be planting in the next few weeks. We're in zone 5a and I've never be able to plant before late April/early May. Last year it was late May because of the horrible, cold, wet spring we had.

We have big plans though, the boys have requested watermelon, which I have a feeling won't fare too well but we'll try it and see.

[ms.shell]

glad to see new mamas on the thread!

a mouse (or mice) has been eating my strawberries. We have a nice size plot of very healthy strawberry plants, but last year birds and bugs got at least 50% of them. This year I mulched them, thinking this might help with the bugs, and i have been "hiding" the ripening berries under leaves, thinking this might save some from the birds. We had probably at least a quart of big beautiful berries almost ripe and then i went out there and they were all smooshed and eaten from. I couldn't figure out what happened, but last night i went out and scared a big healthy fat mouse. YUCK!!!!! I am trying to figure out what to do....when dp found out, he suggested i just rip out all the strawberries and use that space for something else. I definitely do not want to do that, but dp is bothered...he says that is premium space being wasted to feed pests and really thinks the strawberries should go. anybody has any ideas for how to save the rest of my strawberries from mice and the plants from being pulled out, PLEASE send them my way.....

[seeing_stars]

I'm searching for a heat tolerant bean or pea to plant this summber, zone 8b- any suggestions?

[lmonter]

I met Miss FarmerCathy and her hubby the other day, she dug in my garden (whoo-hoo, I feel special) and moved some strawberries for me. After they had to leave I got one of my 4'x12' beds weeded and planted, more pots planted, everything watered, and then started attacking my basement. It's been very strange weather here though.

Been busy, so I'll come back and read later rather than do a drive-by.

[ms.shell]

seeing stars, i am 8b, too. I have tried lots and lots of beans, and i haven't had any problems with any bean not being heat tolerant enough. After experimenting with lots of beans last year, this year i decided to skip the bush beans and plant only pole types....well, i did plant some purple sequoias which are classified as bush-type. But on the trellis, this year i planted Kentucky Wonder, Asparagus beans, and.....another pole bean, i am drawing a blank as to the variety right now. I think all beans do just fine in the heat.
Peas, i don't know of any that would grow here in summer. We planted peas I think it was early October and ate them all winter. I recently pulled them out to make room for summer stuff. Peas are definitely a fall/winter crop around here.....oh, i think people do plant black eyed peas in the summer....i haven't grown these myself, tho, so i am not sure.
Good luck!

[lunarlady]

I'm a bit jealous of all you mama's who are eating from your garden already! I'm in CO, so I'm waiting for the last frost date (soon!). But my garden is all tilled and ready, and I've got several trays of starts lined up. Onion sets are going in this weekend, as are a few peas. I'm hoping to get all my trellis built too, and maybe a few more things started indoors if I can find the space. Hooray spring!

Mice in the strawberries? Yuck! We have a cat and what works well for us is to spread a bit of the used kitty litter in a circle around the plant (no poops!). We use the pine based litter, so it is safe for the garden. The smell helps keep the pests away, and I'm not worried about the kitty pee run off. I've heard of putting a solid, slick wall around them, like a plastic bucket with the bottom cut out or metal sheeting, but I think it has to be down into the soil at least 5 inches or so, and about 10 inches high. Too much trouble for me. I suppose an old fashioned snap trap might work too, if you can keep the kids away from it.