I can't believe its April already. Sprouts are coming up in the garden. I planted lots of greens and started some herbs and calendula is coming up already too. They loved all the rain we just got, though I wasn't too keen on all the low temps, but its looking good from here on out.
I will get some pictures here in the next few days.
Hi! Joining the party.
I have a big project which is ongoing but slow and a current project which is moving fast. The big one is our acreage which is growing fruit trees and other things but my current project is my backyard in the 'burbs. I am putting weed mat on the bed that has been self seeding basil and tomatoes for a while because although I love weeds usually (edible, help to shade plants in the heat of subtropics here) it was so neglected, grass had crept in and it's just a mess.
So in an effort not to tamper with the beautiful soil ecology of that bed, I've cut the weeds back, not pulled them. I have my weed mat to smother the lot and will put on top of that a thin line of compost, chook poo, my new seedlings and then mulch like mad with lucern!
The back bed now has sorrel, gotu kola, capsicums, lettuce and silverbeet - and some self-sown melon or squash of some sort. I have seedlings ready for the weedy front bed of spinach, carrots, watermelon, shallots, radish, okra and goodness knows what, I just went crazy - all from organic heritage seed.
I broke my foot three days ago and although I tried to get in the garden, it was an epic fail. It feels better now so tomorrow I'm in there with the weed mat.
My other project is bag compost! I have a collection of kitchen scraps to put in a garbage bag with garden clippings and will sit it in the sun to rot down. Apparently in a few weeks it should stop stinking when I open it and it will be compost.
Out of frustration of not being in the garden, I am here instead to write about it. 
Tag.
I'm in Oz, btw, so it is autumn here, sub tropics so still hot most days. It will cool over April.
can I join in?
My garden isn't really started yet this year; I need to do some prep work still. I've gotta get out and turn my compost pile, spread it on one of my beds, rake back the chunks so I can start this year's pile, dig it in, etc. I wish I had room for several rotating piles but oh well. I also need to finish putting up the more permanent fence and get the gate out.
I have 2 new beds I am digging this year too. One 4x5 and one 3x6. The 4x5 is going to be lettuces and onions so I really need to get on it. Soon.
I am planning to start my tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins here in a couple of weeks after I get back from a trip.
This year I am planning to grow kale, beets, sweet corn and pumpkins for the first time, along with broccoli, bok choi, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, lettuces, spinach, arugula, peas, runner beans, cucumbers, zucchini, basil, marigolds, and nasturtiums.
Blech.
So incredibly behind.
I have asparagus crowns in seed starting mix in the garage because I can't get outside yet (between torrential downpour, barfing and the nasty week-long ick and hubby out of town), but did get some seeds started last week or whenever it was. My Purple Russians came up something fierce, and are trying to get all leggy. Guess it's time to clear off a shelf in the pantry for the timed lights vs. just sitting on a desk in the homeschool room with indirect light. ;)
I need to can up some bacon and finish clearing up the random frozen fruits (I think there's cherries, raspberries and strawberries in there - little bits from end of season/harvests). I think a seedless raspberry/strawberry jam would make me happy... Need to get things ready to go again for the year. Would be nice to be slightly more organized pantry/canning wise this year.
. Our peas all got munched so that was an epic fail...I am bummed about that as they were so good last year. Oh well, I'll try again next year.
Chamomile- I would use a tumbler if there was a rat issue. I don't have any experience with rats and quite frankly I would like to keep it that way. lol.
My expensive heirloom tomato seeds have FINALLY sprouted! It's been almost a month! I thought they were surely goners. I guess not! I have to buy some more pepper seeds today though because none of my peppers came up (I saved seeds from last year). Those probably had the death gene though so it was more of an experiment.
Does anyone have raspberry or blackberry bushes? I bought some plants and it says they "may" be trellised. So I'm wondering if I should have a trellis for them or not. I'm putting them kind of up next to my house on the south side so they can get full sun all day. I wonder how much they will grow this year or if I could just wait until next year to buy trellises...
Time to go give my plants some fake sunlight and fresh water!
It's still too early for me to plant here and I just don't have a place for seeds inside. So we're waiting. My strawberry plants are looking really good though so that makes me very happy!
I think I've figured out everything I want to plant this year so now I just have to wait on the weather.
I need to find some sort of potting soil mixture so that I can start my tomatoes, peppers and melons indoors. We had a good amount of snow on April 1st but it's been raining since noon yesterday. Snow is starting to disappear in the front yard but I'm sure there's still a good foot or two in the garden.
I came to try and summon up some motivation. I'm seriously lagging behind on seed starting and planting this year. I haven't even started tomatoes and I know the farmers are hardening theirs off! My peas were all eaten, even the sweet peas were pecked to death. We've been enjoying beet greens and mache all winter from one of our covered beds. I managed to harvest one.single. head of cabbage which was terrific and made me even more sad the goats got into the garden and got the rest. I have kale (goats keep getting it so we haven't been able to enjoy it as much as they have), broccoli, herbs,carrtos, leeks, onions, various berries, artichokes, and celery in and growing. The garden is a disaster right now with a bunch of stuff to tidy up and a million bits of toys and hand trowels and little holes from kids and gophers throughout. My fava beans are all falling over, perhaps time to pull them out since they've had a great run. My biggest obstacles this year will be protecting everything from migratory birds, chickens, goats, children, and the occasional deer. Sounds exhausting. I need to summon some oomph and start to face this season! Oy.
Does anyone have raspberry or blackberry bushes? I bought some plants and it says they "may" be trellised. So I'm wondering if I should have a trellis for them or not. I'm putting them kind of up next to my house on the south side so they can get full sun all day. I wonder how much they will grow this year or if I could just wait until next year to buy trellises...
I have both and trellis blackberries but not raspberries. I didn't trellis the blackberries the first year. I think mine are a semi upright variety with thorns(Illini), so they needed it.
Does anyone have raspberry or blackberry bushes? I bought some plants and it says they "may" be trellised. So I'm wondering if I should have a trellis for them or not. I'm putting them kind of up next to my house on the south side so they can get full sun all day. I wonder how much they will grow this year or if I could just wait until next year to buy trellises...
We have raspberry bushes here. I don't have a "trellis", but we do give the bushes support. We (and I assume there are better ways) have a T-post on each end of each row. We wind heavy string back and forth between the posts. As the bushes grow, I adjust where the branches are so that they have support. I don't know that they would behave like a vine.
Amy
Does anyone have raspberry or blackberry bushes? I bought some plants and it says they "may" be trellised. So I'm wondering if I should have a trellis for them or not. I'm putting them kind of up next to my house on the south side so they can get full sun all day. I wonder how much they will grow this year or if I could just wait until next year to buy trellises...
Trellising blackberries will make them easier to harvest and keep your vines off the ground which is good to do for several reasons such as keeping the vines from growing roots where ever they touch the ground, keeping them free of disease such as septoria esp since the canes which grow this year are what will fruit next year, and help little feet not get pokied :) It's easier to see which canes to take out (you'd remove the previous year's growth at the end of the current growing season), and they may grow more than you think they will and let me tell ya they are NOT FUN to mess with once all long and rambling all over. I have golden raspberries in addition to the blackberries, but they are upright growing and don't need trellising, just a bit of support.
Thanks for the help! Now I have another project for DH this weekend.
Erin – wow you have some serious critter munching going on! You can buy netting to go over seedlings that protect from birds and other small munchers. And if you have goats I would consider putting some fencing around the garden. Or maybe you already have fencing it just needs some goat proofing….
Our yard looks like a disaster too. We had a large tree come down a year ago and we’re still processing it into fire wood. Somehow this caused us to ignore the rest of our yard. Toys, debris, broken stuff – all over. I’d like to go a yard clean up adventure like they do a beach clean up at the coast. Give everyone in the family a bag and send them to the farthest corner and we all work our way back to the center. Prizes for the most collected?
Rhianna
Oregon zone 8
And so yeah we are behind as well but this year I started the ball rolling earlier so we’re just behind, not completely utterly behind LOL In past years the garden didn’t go in until 4th of July weekend!
We have old wood fencing to build 3 4x6 raised beds this year – giving us 5 total. DH has really put this off and finally promised to make this week so we could haul soil in this weekend. He has been sick all week. I feel bad but it’s hard to not be @%!*# when you suggested he build them in February so they’d be ready in March…
I’ve already planted the original 2 beds and this weekend I am getting some indoor starts for summer veg planted. And dealing with the major grass growth and weeds in 2 row beds we’ll be using for squash. The soil is so wet they should dig up easily.
The mud situation is very annoying in our yard. It seems anywhere we walk there is no grass, just mud to slip on. Especially near the garden beds.
And to keep DH and I on some kind of track with the garden and revamping (ie: cleaning up) our back yard – I am making a grand To Do List. It’s scary. Real scary. Hahahaha
Rhianna
Oregon zone 8
.I started tomatoes, peppers, watermelon (cold climate/short growing season type) and various flowers inside today. I feel like I'm a bit late with it but considering we still have a good foot or so of snow in the garden and our last frost date is June 1st, I'm not that far off. I want to try planting some early crops this year; kale, peas, lettuce etc.
I started tomatoes, peppers, watermelon (cold climate/short growing season type) and various flowers inside today. I feel like I'm a bit late with it but considering we still have a good foot or so of snow in the garden and our last frost date is June 1st, I'm not that far off. I want to try planting some early crops this year; kale, peas, lettuce etc.
I think this was the perfect time for you to start your seeds. It gives you a good 2 months of inside growing, which is optimal.
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