Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are planting.

Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

I am happily suprised by my new peanut patch! Our local produce store has raw peanuts on sale, so I bought a bunch and planted them in a bare sandy patch in the back yard (actually, its a bit more than a patch--about 1/6'th of the backyard (: )

Anyhoo, them suckers are sprouting like gang-busters and I only water maybe once a week.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Hey Kristie, Do you like sweet potatoes? I think they should grow well in the AZ heat. I started mine today, bought a couple from the store and put the bottom halves in a glass of water. Hold them there with toothpicks, They will spout tubers and they you guys them off and put the bottom half of the tubers in the water to root. Then you can plant them. My grandma used to do it but this is the first time I have tried it. I put my onions out about a month ago, was a pain so didn't try to do it absolutely right, and they all died. I am gonna put the sweet potatoes where the onion were going to go and see how it goes.

I have never thought about growing peanuts, when you pull them up let me know how hard it was to get them up. I may try that too next year.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

I do like sweet potatoes! have never planted them before...i'll have to try that method! I have some potatoes in now in a potato bag and they seem hard to know when to harvest.

I just got done planting a few watermelons in the garden before the rain came in and put some ammonium sulfate in the soil as well before the rain came in to bring down the alkalinity some...my zucchini's were looking pretty yellow...everything has perked up nicely since our rain. we're going back into the 80's and 90's this week, so we'll see how it goes as we start getting warmer!

So when you started your seedlings, you had them in direct sunlight next to a glass door and they seemed to take better? I'm going to be trying some cilantro, kale and lettuce from seed and although it'll be warm when i plant them outdoors, i want to make sure they'll be strong enough to take the heat....so maybe planting them with direct sunlight will prepare them for that?
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Kristie said:
I do like sweet potatoes! have never planted them before...i'll have to try that method! I have some potatoes in now in a potato bag and they seem hard to know when to harvest.

I just got done planting a few watermelons in the garden before the rain came in and put some ammonium sulfate in the soil as well before the rain came in to bring down the alkalinity some...my zucchini's were looking pretty yellow...everything has perked up nicely since our rain. we're going back into the 80's and 90's this week, so we'll see how it goes as we start getting warmer!




So when you started your seedlings, you had them in direct sunlight next to a glass door and they seemed to take better? I'm going to be trying some cilantro, kale and lettuce from seed and although it'll be warm when i plant them outdoors, i want to make sure they'll be strong enough to take the heat....so maybe planting them with direct sunlight will prepare them for that?
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Yeah I started peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, dill, and basil inside and it all took off. The hardest part is trying to find places to keep the plants you thin. I keep all of them and then come planting time at the end of this month I will starts planting with the strongest until I run out of room, for my tomatoes thats 4 rows about 20 feet across, and then I will probably throw the rest out. The tomatoes needed be thinned first this year so I took old gold fish, soy milk, cottage cheese, and OJ containers, as well as the botoms of some water bottles and planted them in the new containers and cover up to the bottom branches with more soil, root ball at the bottom. (I plucked all the seedling leaves off when the plants have a few top leaves to keep them alive) I still have to find some more containers to finish thinning the tomatoes but when I do I plan to use the empty flat to thin the peppers.

On all of my cilantro seed packets it says to sow them directly outdoors, that being said I think that it to ensure the soil is warm enough when you plant them. Only about half of the rosemary I tried to start inside sprouted, of those that did they are doing gret but I think it was too cool inside and the seeds rotted. Probably won't be a problem in AZ though.


I a couple of weeks when things start going in the ground I will snap some shots for everyone!
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

what is thinning? i'd not heard of that before...
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Does anyone know anything about broccoli? My wife planted some recently (6 weeks - 2 months?), and it grew very well but didn't really produce. Out of 4 plants, only 1 made a small showing of flowers, and they weren't tightly packed together like a nice head of broccoli should be. We live on the Alabama gulf coast, I think zone 7 or 8.

By the way, I never thought of squirrels as a garden pest, but they certainly are. They loved the broccoli, and when it didn't produce we just let them at it. In 1 day they ate all 4 plants all the way down to the ground.

My wife also just harvested some lettuce, and is growing tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, and herbs. I think the broccoli and lettuce is going to be replaced with green beans. We also have 5 blueberries, 1 satsuma, and 2 new figs which I am very excited about.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Kristie said:
what is thinning? i'd not heard of that before...
Click to expand...

When I started all of my plants I put 4 or 5 seeds in each square of the flat, each square is for one plant, of those 4 or 5 usually one or 2 come up but all of my seeds sprouted this year. I have to thin them to help them grow. when the seedlings are an inch or so tall most people just pull the smaller ones out and throw them away, this makes room for the strongest plant to grow leaves and roots with out competition. Thats what thinning is. When I thinned this year I did it early, when the tooe was just one main shoot and didn't have branches off of it. That made it easy to pull up with out damagining the plants or even shocking them for the most part, so I replanted the seedlings I pulled in other pots to let them grow.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

ahh ok, thanks for the explanation!! it makes sense now why they say to put 4-5 seeds in one square.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

plants.JPGHeres a picture of all the plants I started inside from about 3 weeks ago. They are all a lot bigger now, and some in different pots. More pics to come when I get them in the ground.

You should all post pics too
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Pilotforhire587 said:
When I started all of my plants I put 4 or 5 seeds in each square of the flat, each square is for one plant, of those 4 or 5 usually one or 2 come up but all of my seeds sprouted this year. I have to thin them to help them grow. when the seedlings are an inch or so tall most people just pull the smaller ones out and throw them away, this makes room for the strongest plant to grow leaves and roots with out competition. Thats what thinning is. When I thinned this year I did it early, when the tooe was just one main shoot and didn't have branches off of it. That made it easy to pull up with out damagining the plants or even shocking them for the most part, so I replanted the seedlings I pulled in other pots to let them grow.
Click to expand...

I never have the heart to just throw away a plant--I always try to give it a chance to live.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Pilotforhire587 said:
View attachment 17075Heres a picture of all the plants I started inside from about 3 weeks ago. They are all a lot bigger now, and some in different pots. More pics to come when I get them in the ground.

You should all post pics too
Click to expand...

I dont have any plants planted yet, but I am well on my way to having the space to do so.

The last picture is when we first walked through the house at the beginning of last summer. The next one is after I cut the rhodos down and re ran some gutter, ive since added mounting brackets and an extension, and the third is when I have all the bushes gone. I have removed many of the stumps and hope to get the rest out this weekend. I've been using an axe and a shovel to pop them out and been pulling the roots out by hand, a few have gone almost half the way across the yard.

I will certainly have to roto-till the ground before planting anything, I think the roots still under the ground now would stifle any new growth. I am not sure how much Ill get planted before it gets too hot, but getting the work done is the goal for this spring.

Edit: pictures uploaded in reverse order.
 

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Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Matt13C said:
I dont have any plants planted yet, but I am well on my way to having the space to do so.

The last picture is when we first walked through the house at the beginning of last summer. The next one is after I cut the rhodos down and re ran some gutter, ive since added mounting brackets and an extension, and the third is when I have all the bushes gone. I have removed many of the stumps and hope to get the rest out this weekend. I've been using an axe and a shovel to pop them out and been pulling the roots out by hand, a few have gone almost half the way across the yard.

I will certainly have to roto-till the ground before planting anything, I think the roots still under the ground now would stifle any new growth. I am not sure how much Ill get planted before it gets too hot, but getting the work done is the goal for this spring.

Edit: pictures uploaded in reverse order.
Click to expand...

Even though you have taken most of the roots out, any left in the soil will take you and the rototiller for a wild ride. Combine that with the compacted soil and it will take several passes with a tiller. You can do it, just take several passes starting with a shallow depth.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Matt13C said:
I dont have any plants planted yet, but I am well on my way to having the space to do so.

The last picture is when we first walked through the house at the beginning of last summer. The next one is after I cut the rhodos down and re ran some gutter, ive since added mounting brackets and an extension, and the third is when I have all the bushes gone. I have removed many of the stumps and hope to get the rest out this weekend. I've been using an axe and a shovel to pop them out and been pulling the roots out by hand, a few have gone almost half the way across the yard.

I will certainly have to roto-till the ground before planting anything, I think the roots still under the ground now would stifle any new growth. I am not sure how much Ill get planted before it gets too hot, but getting the work done is the goal for this spring.

Edit: pictures uploaded in reverse order.
Click to expand...


It takes a real man to go after growth like that!
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

WOW! that must have been some work!!

stupid bunny ate my green bean leaves yesterday...damn bunny...luckily it didn't get down to the nub so hopefully the leaves will grow back. for now, i placed a bird netting around them, the watermelon and cucumber to protect them from damn bunny. I really need to get my fencing up :(
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

put 2 rows of tomato plants into today, I got impatient and put them in the ground around 430, it was still pretty warm so they all went into shock, we shall see how they are in the morning. If they do well the rest will go in the ground tomorrow. Peppers and eggplant will be over the next two weeks. I will plant the corn, squash and cucumbers next week too.
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

Pilotforhire587 said:
It takes a real man to go after growth like that!
Click to expand...

Ha well when buying a complete fixer upper you cant be afraid of a little work. I'll take this over stripping two layers of wallpaper any day.

Good luck to your tomatoes!

A pellet gun works for rabbits, or a cat!
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

This put a smile on my face and I like the idea--got it on my "todo" list.


[video]http://youtu.be/atlZegRslNg[/video]
 
Re: Vegetable Gardens, sharing tips and what you are plantin

I finally got the temporary fence put up...it's not great, still needs some tweeks but it'll do for now unless i see a bunny has eaten everything. I can't imagine how he'll get in except through the front door (door opening i created and can close).

before:
221460_2006350042638_1360265977_2311369_8020257_o.jpg

after:
222630_2005845550026_1360265977_2310198_6144323_n.jpg

trying to dig the fence down 6-8" proved unrealistic...our ground has so many rocks (large and small) that it's really a hard dig...so i'm contemplating raising the bed again or having someone come out to dig out a bed and i'll put a raised bed in ground since ground is always cooler here than anything raised.

pro's of raising keeps away the rabbits (as long as it's 3' above or higher) and would keep me from having to bend down to much...and the roots would be able to plow into the dirt if they needed to get lower for cooler temps (that is, if they can break into it :P)
con's of raising would mean hotter dirt and root temperatures, more water usage to keep the dirt cooler (which could essentially kill the plants in the summer) and of course, it would have to stay fenced in because of the rabbits. :P
 
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