~* April 2011 Food Growing Mamas*~ - Page 4

[RosieL]

Cathy - Would you mind if I started the May thread? I really like checking out the blogs posted up here, but I keep losing the links. I'd like to add people to the first post, and add links to blogs and pictures and maybe a USDA zone.

[lunita1]

I don't know what the yield will be like.  This was my first try with garbanzos, and so far they haven't flowered.  If I grow them again, I'll plant closer together (I think 4" on center, like I plant green beans, should be plenty) and control for slugs better, earlier.  The bed is kind of sparse.  My goal is to eat them green,not dried, because I was fascinated with the idea of green garbanzos, from a Sunset Magazine piece http://oneblockdiet.sunset.com/2009/07/rare-treat-fresh-chickpeas.html  I don't think it would be worth growing my own to dry them (except that they're a good alternative to favas for an overwintering leguminous cover crop and by using dried garbanzos from the store, the seed is extremely cheap.)
 

Originally Posted by RosieL 

Lunita, you're garden looks awesome! I just snuck a peek at your plans. You've got a great amount of space! What is yield like on garbanzos? We love them, but I never thought to grow them because I assumed we wouldn't get more than a meal or a tub of hummos out of a bunch of plants. 

[rhianna813]

I hauled 2 “yards” of soil this weekend…. All by myself *queue a combination of pride and disgruntled exhaustion* DH just had major Chiro work done on his back so he couldn’t help. We need about a half yard more to fill one of the framed beds and for pots, etc…

Speaking of pots – ours are not doing well. Last year many of our potted herbs and blueberries got moved around and ended up under a shady tree. They also ended up not getting watered and now most are dead. So sad. Lesson learned :-(

So yeah the lettuce and spinach I planted still has not sprouted. I will need to replant, along with some peas. One row came up great but the other only has 3 sprouts. I dug around in the dirt and couldn’t even find the pea seeds. I think someone ate them LOL

Rhianna

[SpuglyRoo]

Nearly all the plants I started inside look like they need to be transplanted soon.  Tomorrow we are getting a delivery of soil and we will be hauling it into place this weekend.  Do you think this weekend would be too soon to transplant?  Most gardeners around here say Mother's Day (I'm in 6b) but if I plant this weekend it will only be a week early.  The forecast is calling for nighttime lows of 46°F or above with daytime in the upper 60s/lower 70s.  I don't want to transplant everything to larger pots just for a week and then do it all again into the garden if I don't have to.  But some things have really outgrown their containers and others are threatening to.  I have NO experience, this is my first garden and I've started everything from seed and don't want to lose all my hard work and time.  Help! 

It just occurred to me, I have a tarp (blue and lined, so not a row cover) I could put over the garden at night if the forecast changes after I transplant.  Would that be sufficient to save them?

[Chamomile Girl]

The weather you describe has been the same here, and I planted most stuff outside weeks ago. I think that most plants need to be planted just after the last expected frost, so any time you think there may be another frost you are taking a chance...otherwise you're fine.

Have fun playing in all that nice new dirt!

[RosieL]

Nice work with the two yards Rhianna! Sounds like a great workout, if not 100% pleasant. ;) Sorry your peas got stolen. I think a bunch of mine did as well. I have thick growth of pea vines except in one 10"diameter patch.

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by RosieL 

Cathy - Would you mind if I started the May thread? I really like checking out the blogs posted up here, but I keep losing the links. I'd like to add people to the first post, and add links to blogs and pictures and maybe a USDA zone.

Sure.

[sidandspencersmom]

I have been harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers everyday, and even made pickles yesterday!  Not enough tomatoes for canning, but enough for eating everyday, and sharing with the neighbors.  I also harvested some onions today. Some have gone to flower, which I recently learned, was not a good thing.....

[SuburbanHippie]

Originally Posted by sidandspencersmom 

I have been harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers everyday, and even made pickles yesterday!  Not enough tomatoes for canning, but enough for eating everyday, and sharing with the neighbors.  I also harvested some onions today. Some have gone to flower, which I recently learned, was not a good thing.....

Wow!  What a difference a couple hundred miles makes!  I haven't even been able to fully till the garden yet and my tomato plants are still in the basement.  LOL.

[rhianna813]

This gorgeous may day weekend I planted 2 lettuce mixes, golden and red beets, carrots, radish, parsley, snap peas and walla walla onion transplants. I replanted a different variety of spinach and added more seeds to my english pea rows. The original pea seeds are doing well!

Finally my spaghetti squash sprouted in the greenhouse, but so far no sprouts from the acorn, delicata or pumpkin :-(

I bought some Knee High sunflower mix seeds too and will plant later this month.

Happy gardening!

Rhianna

[Chamomile Girl]

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

This gorgeous may day weekend I planted 2 lettuce mixes, golden and red beets, carrots, radish, parsley, snap peas and walla walla onion transplants. I replanted a different variety of spinach and added more seeds to my english pea rows. The original pea seeds are doing well!

Finally my spaghetti squash sprouted in the greenhouse, but so far no sprouts from the acorn, delicata or pumpkin :-(

I bought some Knee High sunflower mix seeds too and will plant later this month.

Happy gardening!

Rhianna

Don't you just love this time of year?  There is so much to look forward to and so much promise.

I was doing a garden look-see while DS was sleeping (when he is awake I can't look too closely because I have to keep five eyes on him at all times lol) and saw that a bunch of seeds are starting to come up!  Yay!!  It looks like I will soon have cukes, summer squash, and kentucky wonder beans...with the winter squash, dragon tongue and scarlet runner beans, and a couple of kinds of sunflowers still to come.  It just started getting really warm here so the basil is just taking off.  I planted that way too early for sure.

On that note I think I planted the scarlet runners waaaay to late :(.  Ah well we'll see I guess.

[SpuglyRoo]

Well, we got our load of dirt last Friday and got quite a bit more than we needed, oops!  I knew that I was rounding up a bit but I think that the garden center must have also overestimated their load.  Oh well, our previously existing bed was able to use some and there were places in the yard that needed a bit of leveling so we just distributed it around where it could be used.  I finally got the chance to transplant everything and direct seed some others, we'll see how everything turns out. 

I'm both super excited and terrified, lol.  It's my first attempt at gardening and I keep second guessing everything.  The rational part of me keeps trying to convince the panicking side that people have been gardening, (and did so without books and charts and internet forums) for a loong time, so I probably won't fail utterly.  And if I do, at least I won't starve this winter like they would have.  The forecast was predicting night temps in the 50s for the foreseeable future so I went ahead with planting, now they have changed it to low 40s, ugh.  Hopefully everything survives! 

[Calm]

I didn't find the May thread so I'll just post in here again.  I laid out a weed mat, an organic one that breaks down into the dirt.  It worked amazingly, and I laid out lucern over the top with compost and lots of wonderful things.  I broad cast lettuce and they have all come up, in random spots around the place.  I put in a watermelon (wrong time of year here, but whatever) and a bunch of other things straight onto the grass, as recommended by Jackie French, a gardening expert who advocates the "wilderness garden" (no work, grows wild, self seeding).  

What I'm wondering is, some of the lettuce came up all in one spot, and my mother suggests I pull some out to make room... the book I read said to leave them in, pull out the big ones when they're ready, and then the runts will grow... anyone had success with that method?

My melons have yellow spots on the leaves, so I used seaweed liquid and am thinking of using epsom salts or mag chloride on it.  Is that usually a nitrogen deficiency?  

[rhianna813]

Originally Posted by SpuglyRoo 

Well, we got our load of dirt last Friday and got quite a bit more than we needed, oops!  I knew that I was rounding up a bit but I think that the garden center must have also overestimated their load.  Oh well, our previously existing bed was able to use some and there were places in the yard that needed a bit of leveling so we just distributed it around where it could be used.  I finally got the chance to transplant everything and direct seed some others, we'll see how everything turns out. 

I'm both super excited and terrified, lol.  It's my first attempt at gardening and I keep second guessing everything.  The rational part of me keeps trying to convince the panicking side that people have been gardening, (and did so without books and charts and internet forums) for a loong time, so I probably won't fail utterly.  And if I do, at least I won't starve this winter like they would have.  The forecast was predicting night temps in the 50s for the foreseeable future so I went ahead with planting, now they have changed it to low 40s, ugh.  Hopefully everything survives! 

What zone are you? I think most everything is fine unless the temps get near freezing at night. Low 40's is fine. And you would only need to worry about hot weather plants like peppers, tomatoes and squash...

I've noticed that each year we've been veggie gardening is different from the year before. Some things grow well, while others just never got planted, or the weather was hotter or colder than normal or maybe we got some free transplants from a neighbor. It's exciting and nerve racking at the same time. The old standby's for me at zucchini, tomato, garlic, lettuce and kale in the winter. These seem to work out no matter.

Rhianna

Oregon zone 8
 

[rhianna813]

I am joyfully psyched because most everything I planted from direct seed in my garden has sprouted. The squash inside the house is still iffy and the tomato seeds DH just planted for transplants.... well don't get me started on that slackerness LOL. But spinach, lettuce mixes, radish, peas, chard, cabbage, broc, beets and carrots are coming UP :-)

There's a guy who lives in our neighborhood who is trying to supplement his income growing pepper and tomato plants in his backyard. His whole backyard is greenhouses and plants are everywhere. Last year he advertised all his remaining plants as free on craigslist. We got some and he was really nice. This year I'd like to buy from him if our tom plants dont grow in time, which is likely. He has a lot of heirloom varieties.

Where is the May thread?

Rhianna 

[SpuglyRoo]

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

What zone are you? I think most everything is fine unless the temps get near freezing at night. Low 40's is fine. And you would only need to worry about hot weather plants like peppers, tomatoes and squash...

I've noticed that each year we've been veggie gardening is different from the year before. Some things grow well, while others just never got planted, or the weather was hotter or colder than normal or maybe we got some free transplants from a neighbor. It's exciting and nerve racking at the same time. The old standby's for me at zucchini, tomato, garlic, lettuce and kale in the winter. These seem to work out no matter.

Rhianna

Oregon zone 8
 

Thanks! I'm in 6b.  Everything seemed to make it!  I'm so thrilled! I decided that if I was going to garden than I was going to do it all by seed because otherwise I didn't think it would save us any money having to buy all the started plants.  Everything has survived so far!  We didn't have any serious catastrophes with any of the seedlings and now everything is outside and has been for over a week without any trouble.  Actually, it was a lot easier than I had expected it to be.  Either my thumb is just greener than I thought or I just experienced some serious beginners luck. 

When I bought my melon mix seed packet I didn't realize until after I bought it that there weren't any watermelon seeds included.  I was a little bummed but figured that we'd add them in next year.  The other day DH bought an incredibly delicious watermelon from the farmer's market and I saved one of the seeds (I was really surprised that there were any to begin with!).  After washing it and putting it in a ziploc container on a wet paper towel I was pleased to see that it had sprouted a root!  I've read that melons don't like being moved around much so I moved it right away to the garden outside before the root had a chance to embed into the paper towel.  I'm hoping that I actually get a watermelon plant out of this experiment. 

Right now everything is out in the ground except for the alpine strawberry seeds. I'm waiting for some herbs that I direct seeded to sprout and I'm waiting for the alpines that I have inside to start doing something (it isn't looking good, they've been there for a while) before I move them outside too. I'm not expecting any fruit from the alpines this year but I'm hoping that they become established before winter so that next year they will just all come back.  I'm getting a little twitchy over here now that everything is kind of "done" for the moment but nothing is "ready" yet!  Argh! Patience, where are you??  I guess I should go work over my "flower bed" by which I am referring optimistically to the bed of hard packed dirt below my dining room window.