Zone 6, 7, 8 Gardeners, Let's get going! - Page 10

[AllisonK]

Originally Posted by Carley

The growing season in the Pacific Northwest is Schizophrenic with a chance of Manic Depression. I'm not taking any chances.

Enjoy your tomatos *grumbles*

:

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by Carley

Can I just say right now how jealous I am of your heat zones? Yeah, I'm talking to you Florida, Texas and New Jersey.

I've never looked up our *heat* zone before--looks like we're zone 4. Combine that with a heartiness zone of 6a and a sunset zone of 37 -- what do I do with that information? How to put it all together?

We're still having some high 40-degree nights, and 30's are not impossible. So far, I've got some lettuce coming up. All the rest of my seedlings are still indoors. My beds are ready to go though, and I found a volunteer cucumber in the herb bed yesterday--we'll see if he makes it.

[MayBaby2007]

I'm zone 5/6a, St. Louis. Can I share a sweet story?

I have one strawberry plant in a pot outside. There has been one berry with a hint of red, getting a little more red daily. DD (almost 2yo) showed little interest when it was all green. When it started to gain color, I had to "fight" her off of it. Last night, we were admiring our flowers and our one lonely strawberry plant. I showed her how red the berry was getting. She went after it with a huge open mouth. I let her have it, though clearly not ripe yet.

She bend down to the plant and ate the berry right off of it, saying "yummy yummy." She ate it clean off. There were 2 other berries with a hint of red and she was begging to have them....so I let her. Even though they weren't ripe she loved them (almost tasted like kiwi or something...not bad).

I've never planted a food item...and I'm pretty new to planting flowers or doing anything like that. It was such a sweet moment last night....don't really know how to explain it, but it was special. I figured you mama's would konw what I meant and just had to share (I can't stop smiling thinking about last night and had to tell someone!).

She's inspired me to plant a few more strawberry plants...and tomatoes. I think I can handle that okay. Last night was just so sweet and special and it was something so simple but completely warmed my heart. Maybe that's weird, I don't know. Happy gardening to all of you

[HydeParkB]

Originally Posted by MayBaby2007

She's inspired me to plant a few more strawberry plants...and tomatoes.

Can I recommend cherry tomatoes for your DD? My DD loves them - calls them "candy tomatoes." They ripen very quickly - a bonus for an impatient 2-year-old. And our squirrels pretty much leave them alone.

[Chicky2]

Awww,that is sweet. Plant her some yellow pear tomatoes, too. YUM!

I had one planted, but it disappeared! I don't know what happened! I guess I'll go buy another.

I forgot that we also have several bell pepper plants, a sweet banana pepper, jalapenos, and I think a habanero. OH yea, and basil, Italian parsely, oregano, and Japanese eggplant.

Our garden plot is 3,000 sq. ft. I'm releasing my ladybugs tonight, and over the next week.

My main problem is WEEDS. Specifically grass. The kind that shoots out runners so the more you hack at it, the more it shoots out runners..... My plan of attack is to get the rest of my carpet strips put out there, and hope the wind doesn't make them break my plants. I have tons of carpet out there. I need to send the kids out to cut it up for me today so I can get it set up.

[SagMom]

frosted tomatoes

anyone still here?

I put everything in the ground last week, then went away for the weekend only to return to find that we'd had frost.

My tomato plants now have some white on the leaves. We had another frost Monday night, but I was able to cover everything and don't think anything else was damaged.

Question: will the tomato plants be okay, or should I pull them and replant? (Of course, today it was in the 90's! )

[Chicky2]

I'm here!

Um, when we had frost that killed toms, the leaves were black, not white. I'd keep them a week before deciding...

We have been eating kale, kale, kale! Emerald Sesame Kale chips ROCK so hard!!!

We've gone thru all our radishes, almost all the beets are pulled, we have flowers all over our potatoes, and the plants are over a foot tall. We have onions that are almost 2 ft tall! I've never seen such tall onions! I've already started pulling them here and there. My asparagus is almost done for the year. We have toms almost the size of baseballs, and tomatillos are golfball size. Yellow squash and zucchini are a few inches long, and pattypan squash are about 1" in diameter. : Gotta love the long growing season here!

[Hazel]

dumb question but what kind of mulch is best to use on gardens?
I need to mulch to keep the moisture in.

[Chicky2]

For mulch, we use the pine shavings full of rabbit poo that we clean out of our rabbitry. Obviously, that serves more than one purpose! Also, straw. NOT hay, unless it's boiled.

[Talula Fairie]

Is there a zone 9 thread or did we get left out?

[Hazel]

Originally Posted by Chicky2

For mulch, we use the pine shavings full of rabbit poo that we clean out of our rabbitry. Obviously, that serves more than one purpose! Also, straw. NOT hay, unless it's boiled.

thanks Chicky! we don't have rabbits so we don't have that option. but as far as straw...where can I get straw-what type of store? and what is the difference between like straw and a hay bale? sorry! I know I really don't know enough about this.

[purplegirl]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

Is there a zone 9 thread or did we get left out?

I'm sure there's one. You'll have to search the forum for it. If not, start one

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by purplegirl

I'm sure there's one. You'll have to search the forum for it. If not, start one

I finally did find it after doing a search Apparently we zone 9ers are all alone in our thread

[urchin_grey]

Hi! I'm kinda new to this... What's good to start right now? We've already got some sweet potato slips in the ground, 3 cherry tomato plants in containers, a jalapeno plant, two regular tomato plants, plus cuke, broc, green onion, and zucchini seedlings. I just hope I chose right. I want regular potatoes too, but I'm not sure what else I could be planting right now! I'm in zone 8b, by the way.

[ms.shell]

I am in 8b too, urchin grey, and I would say beans is the biggest thing now for your list. I dont think broccoli wants to grow now here but good luck with it...it would be very interesting if it did! If you have room, pumpkins would be a good thing to plant now or start more peppers or tomatoes, maybe some okra.

this is my first post on this thread.

[Chicky2]

Hazel, call around to your nearby feed stores for straw. Here it's $6/bale. Straw is going to be thicker, and yellower, and softer. It does not contain seeds like hay does. Straw is normally used for bedding for livestock. Hay is usually used for feed.

urchin_grey, sounds like some of those things won't grow too well at this point. It gets too hot and they will not grow well. Your zone is alot like mine, I believe, and it gets hot early. Onions here have to be planted by Valentine's Day because when it gets hot they stop growing. Same w/brocolli and potatoes. I'm about to start *harvesting* potatoes. Not sure about sweet potatoes, as mine have never grown for some reason. Def. do some tomatoes, okra (soon!), peppers, and zucchini and summer squash. It's too late for greens (you can do them in the Fall, though!), and most root crops like carrots and beets. I'm pulling the rest of my beets today. My kale is about done, too, I think.

ms. shell.....

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by urchin_grey

Hi! I'm kinda new to this... What's good to start right now? We've already got some sweet potato slips in the ground, 3 cherry tomato plants in containers, a jalapeno plant, two regular tomato plants, plus cuke, broc, green onion, and zucchini seedlings. I just hope I chose right. I want regular potatoes too, but I'm not sure what else I could be planting right now! I'm in zone 8b, by the way.

Summer squash or eggplant would probably do pretty well this time of year.

[urchin_grey]

Yeah, I think I was misled by the back of the broc seed package. I think maybe I'll just have to keep them in containers during the hottest part of the season, at least, so that I can bring them inside. A guy I work with also said that I can tie up some of the leaves and cover up the crowns so that they don't get sun scorched.

I was just thinking about doing some green beans and squash. We have very limited space though so I'll have to get creative. We do have some carrot and lettuce seeds too, but I know I have to wait until fall for those. I loooove carrots.

[Hazel]

Originally Posted by Chicky2

Hazel, call around to your nearby feed stores for straw. Here it's $6/bale. Straw is going to be thicker, and yellower, and softer. It does not contain seeds like hay does. Straw is normally used for bedding for livestock. Hay is usually used for feed.
of my beets today. My kale is about done, too, I think.

thanks Chicky!