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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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#230 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy View Post
Yeah!
: I'd just mulch with compost, but that's just me. Sanity? What's that?

But compost lets things grow. Like I said, I don't wanna weed again (imagine that in a whiny voice). I've had a hard enough time doing it this first time - it ain't gonna happen again this year. Unless anybody wants to borrow some children for a while....
 
#231 ·
I'm just in the starting phase of this year's garden, but that is because I'm in the Pacific Northwest and it is just almost time to start planting stuff. I did plant a bunch of everbearing strawberry plants the other day and my seedlings (tomatoes, onions, squash) are happily growing at a family member's house.

We live in a suburban neighborhood so our gardening space is limited. We just have a small front yard garden with raised beds. We were thrilled with how much we got from such a small space last year and tripled the amount of beds for this year
: I can't wait to have little baby plants actually growing in those new beds!
:

I'm planning on going shopping for blueberry plants soon at a specialty nursery, my kids are blueberry addicts so I'm planning to buy a whole bunch. Not sure which varieties we will go with yet.
 
#232 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by celestialdreamer View Post
We live in a suburban neighborhood so our gardening space is limited. We just have a small front yard garden with raised beds. We were thrilled with how much we got from such a small space last year and tripled the amount of beds for this year
: I can't wait to have little baby plants actually growing in those new beds!
:

I'm planning on going shopping for blueberry plants soon at a specialty nursery, my kids are blueberry addicts so I'm planning to buy a whole bunch. Not sure which varieties we will go with yet.
Isn't it neat? Sometimes people think I'm a farm with all I do, yet it's just my backyard (well, except two apple trees in the side yard).

Which side of the Cascades are you on? There's Raintree I believe over in Morton, and there's various other local nurseries every which way. My grandma got her now-ginormous blueberry bushes from a now-defunct nursery in Chehalis - the bushes were at least 4-5 feet wide and 5-7 feet tall last I saw (unless my cousins yanked them out since then). So for bang-for-your-buck, I still recommend high-bush varieties. Growing vertical and all.
 
#233 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aubergine68 View Post
I do!

I started a thread about them last year.

This year, I'm waiting to see if they come up on their own before planting more. I did save seeds. I hear they self-seed like crazy....
Where would one get Ground Cherry seeds? These sound neat! Would I still have time for starting/planting them? I'm in zone 8-9 I think.
 
#234 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter View Post
But compost lets things grow. Like I said, I don't wanna weed again (imagine that in a whiny voice). I've had a hard enough time doing it this first time - it ain't gonna happen again this year. Unless anybody wants to borrow some children for a while....
Hehe! I don't know what else you could mulch with, but what your thinking sounds good. Leaves are the only other thing I could think of, but its not the right time of year for those. You could probably find a tree co. that will give you wood chips for free.


Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonK View Post
Where would one get Ground Cherry seeds? These sound neat! Would I still have time for starting/planting them? I'm in zone 8-9 I think.
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Garden-Berries
 
#235 ·
Some people mulch with straw, don't they? I have no idea if it's specifically the best thing for asparagus, but...
 
#237 ·
Jumping in...I think I'm in Zone 8....Northern California at about 4000 ft in the Sierras.

Everythings finally thawed out and we are having a tiny little heat wave. I'm tempted to plant...(as if my beds are even built) but it could still freeze here.

Anyone want to encourage me to "man up" and build my raised beds myself? I don't think dh is ever going to do it. He's totally books for weeks! I want to get some food in the ground!!!

We're going to do zucchini, tomatoe, some lettuce and spinach, and we're going to go for peppers again this year, though we didn't get too many last year. (different house...we left the garden behind, sniff, sniff)
 
#240 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonK View Post
Anyone have any extra ground cherry seeds they want to part with? Just a few as I don't have much space left. (I'd pay shipping) A packet is way more seeds than I need and its $7.50!! I really want to try some but not for that much.

$7.50 is the big bag. It's $1.50 for the small packet. Probably still be better to trade somebody though anyway since you'd have to pay shipping on $1.50 which is a minumum of $3.50 I think.
 
#242 ·
Hi, all.
I'm not on MDC much these days, but I had to pop in and say hi to my food-growing peeps.

I'm trying really, really hard to not bite off more than I can chew this year. I know so many people with big gardens and orchards that I should be able to get as much produce as I want, so I'm just planting stuff that I seem to be the only person who grows it:
  • hot peppers--habanero, jalapeno, Long Thin Red Chile, Fish, Tobasco, & Pasilla Bajio
  • tomatillos
  • popcorn
  • salad greens--leaf lettuce mix, beets, spinach
Oh, and we planted 25 raspberry plants last week!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter
I have teeny asparagus shoots!!! So I'm in the midst of weeding and all that. What do you guys use to mulch asparagus? Because all I've got in my little head is throwing down some compost, and getting little (I'm talking little) bark chips/shreds or something. I hate weeds. I hate bermuda grass. I hate them. And I only want to weed once, thankyouverymuch.
I was just thinking about you the other day and your millions of asparagus.
For the mulch, do you have any piles of leaves in corner of the yard from last fall? Or will you have grass clippings soon? I'm with you--I do everything in my power to only weed once because I hate it so much.
 
#243 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennisee View Post
I was just thinking about you the other day and your millions of asparagus.
For the mulch, do you have any piles of leaves in corner of the yard from last fall? Or will you have grass clippings soon? I'm with you--I do everything in my power to only weed once because I hate it so much.
Not millions.


Success! I weeded the big asparagus bed. Yes, all 96 square feet. Holy moly. Took 3 days in part because of kids, but, success! Even got about 3/4 of it mulched with compost until I ran out of it. Hubby will be off getting a yard or two of compost very soon (like the next day or two?). Then once I get the truck cleared of that, I'm just getting the small, small bark/wood pellet whatever stuff to mulch. Now to figure out what to mulch the strawberries with... I'm planning to transplant one of my 48sf beds of berries to another one so I can clear out the crazy weeds that happened from last year's newborn days. *sigh* I hate weeds.
:

Oh, no, not lots of leaves. We have a lone maple tree. So now we have little tree sprouts everywhere in the yard. Darn spinners. Grass clippings would involve green grass. Got another week or three before hubby needs to haul out the mower. I think.

And a friend of mine came over and dug fruit tree holes for me! She's awesome. So I got 5 of the 6 trees in the ground, and a not-yet-budded peach tree hanging out in a hole waiting for the tree 2 feet away from it to be taken out by hubby and the chainsaw (I don't want the sucky tree taking out my peach tree when it comes down),
 
#244 ·
Not sure where I am going to find room but I am going to order some ground cherries and hope I get them in time to plant.
Not sure what kind to get though anyone have any thoughts on these:

http://www.seedsavers.org/Items.aspx...round%20cherry

http://www.localharvest.org/ground-c...-organic-C3869

http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Garden-Be...ry-Husk-Tomato

Are these different kinds? I am leaning toward the second link as the description makes them sound so yummy. Not sure if I want a tart berry like the third description says. Thoughts? Are these all okay companies I've never ordered seeds online before. Thanks!
 
#245 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonK View Post
Anyone have any extra ground cherry seeds they want to part with? Just a few as I don't have much space left. (I'd pay shipping) A packet is way more seeds than I need and its $7.50!! I really want to try some but not for that much.

What i have are a bunch of dried up ground cherries that dried up on the vines and I stuck them in a yogurt container and put them in our shed. I'd be happy to mail you some if you pm me your address. I don't know for 100% sure that they will sprout, but I assume they will, since from everything I've heard and experienced, they are borderline invasive. (my kinda plant
)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonK View Post
Not sure where I am going to find room but I am going to order some ground cherries and hope I get them in time to plant.
Not sure what kind to get though anyone have any thoughts on these:

http://www.seedsavers.org/Items.aspx...round%20cherry

http://www.localharvest.org/ground-c...-organic-C3869

http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Garden-Be...ry-Husk-Tomato

Are these different kinds? I am leaning toward the second link as the description makes them sound so yummy. Not sure if I want a tart berry like the third description says. Thoughts? Are these all okay companies I've never ordered seeds online before. Thanks!
The ones I have are from a pack of Aunt Molly's (the first link) that I found on a rack in our supermarket. They are pineapply-citrusy and sweet. The second sound similar, maybe the same thing? The third sound different -- maybe they are the same as the ones known as cape gooseberries? I didn't find Aunt Molly's to be tart.
 
#247 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aubergine68 View Post
What i have are a bunch of dried up ground cherries that dried up on the vines and I stuck them in a yogurt container and put them in our shed. I'd be happy to mail you some if you pm me your address. I don't know for 100% sure that they will sprout, but I assume they will, since from everything I've heard and experienced, they are borderline invasive. (my kinda plant
)

The ones I have are from a pack of Aunt Molly's (the first link) that I found on a rack in our supermarket. They are pineapply-citrusy and sweet. The second sound similar, maybe the same thing? The third sound different -- maybe they are the same as the ones known as cape gooseberries? I didn't find Aunt Molly's to be tart.


Quote:

Originally Posted by p1gg1e View Post
My ground cherries are from seed savers.

Thanks!
 
#248 ·
: I have pumpkins, sunflowers, watermelons, corn, beans and cucumbers coming up!
: Will take pics tomorrow and upload them tom. night to my blog.
:

Oh, and tomatoes are going in this week when the wind dies down.
 
#251 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aubergine68 View Post
I don't know for 100% sure that they will sprout, but I assume they will, since from everything I've heard and experienced, they are borderline invasive. (my kinda plant
)
Mine too! I have day lilies that are multiplying like bunnies.


Cathy ~ Are you doing the whole planting thing or just the fish heads? Totally curious now.
 
#252 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmonter View Post
Mine too! I have day lilies that are multiplying like bunnies.


Cathy ~ Are you doing the whole planting thing or just the fish heads? Totally curious now.

I'm doing fish parts (that's all they had
), root stuff (root zone brand or whatever they have at your local nursery, I got the organic stuff today at www.groworganic.com), bone meal (my dad already has some so that's easy), egg shells, organic fertilizer (have that already for the artichokes), and maybe the aspirin if I remember to pick some up. I guess that's all of it. I really need these to grow for Farmers' without BER so I'm biting the bullet and hopefully I will be rewarded with lots of tomatoes.
 
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