Garden thread
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Since Mr. @mtaratoot has decided to be puckish . . .
Maybe you already know this, but beet seeds are a multi-seed cluster, so they will come in thick and need thinning, even if you seed thinly. I hope that you eat the greens, because they're really tasty (my favorite greens). It may work better to thin by cutting the tops off with scissors, so you don't pull out the conjoined multiples. The tiny/tender leaves are good in salads, as they get big I think better as a cooked green.
Beet seedlings look very much like Swiss chard seedlings, as I learned when I bought them by mistake a few years ago. I did eat the greens, both in smoothies and steamed. I gave the beets to my mother.0 -
I'll be planting peas any day now! We can plant them here as early as St. Patrick's Day. I stagger plantings, and the ones I have planted 3/17 don't pop any earlier than the ones I plant April 1, so my target date for first planting is...today!1
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Out of curiosity does anyone here plant spinach? I eat a lot of it now and am wondering if it's easy enough to grow a bountiful amount?0
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Out of curiosity does anyone here plant spinach? I eat a lot of it now and am wondering if it's easy enough to grow a bountiful amount?
It's very easy to grow here with the caveat that if we get a couple of freakishly hot days early in the season, they like to bolt and get bitter. Some varieties are better about that. This is why most of what you buy in the store is "baby spinach," as the growers can crank out multiple crops even when it's hot.
If you're feeling adventurous, add a little orach to the garden. Tastes sort of like spinach, and it tolerates the heat better. I love spinach and will plant some soon and maybe more for the fall.2 -
Out of curiosity does anyone here plant spinach? I eat a lot of it now and am wondering if it's easy enough to grow a bountiful amount?
I've never had good luck here in Massachusetts - like mtaratoot said, any unusually warm days will ruin it for the season. You could ask your local greenhouse about bolt-resistant varieties.
You may wish to consider Swiss chard instead, which can be used like spinach in many dishes, especially when the leaves are on the smaller side. It's been extremely easy to grow in MA.
I have had fabulous success with Malabar spinach. Unfortunately, I don't like it raw and my partner doesn't like it cooked, so I stopped growing it, but perhaps will give it another go now that we are living with my mother and brother. Mom loves it. It is very slow to get started, but once it takes off, produces like mad until the frost. I've never seen seedlings locally, so buy seeds online.
https://www.burpee.com/malabar-spinach-red-stem-prod500145.html
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I admire these posts so much, love seeing the food people are growing.
I first came here in Spring of 2020 and I had a pot growing "lavender" in it. I kept posting progress pictures of my beautiful lavender and then eventually someone asked me "Are you sure that's lavender" and suggested it could be a tree and yes, it was. It was an oak or a maple or something like that. My "expertise" isn't much better these days and I'm still trying to grow lavender. But anyway, this is my little garden as of Tuesday...it still needs a lot of work.
These are store bought plants, cherry tomatoes and beefsteak (I'll need a better cage for that one, I know), Anaheim peppers and yellow bell peppers. I have some jalapeno seeds that I hope take off and I'd like to put some of those in there if they do.3 -
It seems kind of early, but....
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@mtaratoot What is that?0
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@mtaratoot What is that?
Artichoke1 -
@mtaratoot What is that?
Artichoke
Got it, thank you! I've only ever eaten them from a can and in spinach and artichoke dip. So that's what they really look like whole...
If you go back to pages 57 and 58 you'll see some pictures from last year. I have a full garden bed full of 'chokes. They have become perennial. They also have mutated somewhat. They are quite tasty. I eat a LOT of them for a couple months and then I don't eat them for the other ten months. I don't remember the last time I bought one.1 -
I've been holding off this year...last year...planted too early.. plus I'm starting from seeds this year.
Dining room has become the green house.. 😂
Cleared the garden area last weekend.
Bought grow bags.. planted some potatoes and onions in em..
Didn't take pic. But the onions are sprouting up.9 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Out of curiosity does anyone here plant spinach? I eat a lot of it now and am wondering if it's easy enough to grow a bountiful amount?
I've never had good luck here in Massachusetts - like mtaratoot said, any unusually warm days will ruin it for the season. You could ask your local greenhouse about bolt-resistant varieties.
You may wish to consider Swiss chard instead, which can be used like spinach in many dishes, especially when the leaves are on the smaller side. It's been extremely easy to grow in MA.
I have had fabulous success with Malabar spinach. Unfortunately, I don't like it raw and my partner doesn't like it cooked, so I stopped growing it, but perhaps will give it another go now that we are living with my mother and brother. Mom loves it. It is very slow to get started, but once it takes off, produces like mad until the frost. I've never seen seedlings locally, so buy seeds online.
https://www.burpee.com/malabar-spinach-red-stem-prod500145.html
Despite posting this last month, I could not resist the regular spinach at the garden center yesterday. It's supposed to mature in 40-60 days, so I should get plenty before the first unusually hot days make it bolt and ruin it. I'm going to plant it with violas, and plan to rip both out and replant with warm annuals around July 4.
I do prefer plants like Swiss chard, which I can plant now and keep through a heavy frost, but I was worried my mother would also stop at the garden center while she was out and then we would have way too much chard.3 -
I potted 6 jalapeno seeds and 3 of those have sprouted.
I potted five Bell Pepper seeds yesterday. So I'm hoping those sprout next week.
Two years ago I put a ton of random seeds in my garden. One reason was that I dumped potted soil into my garden that I thought had "duds" of random seeds in it. The second reason was that I put seeds in to grow. Well...
About seven or eight months after I put a line of parsley in my garden, it germinated and sprouted and it was about a four foot bushy line and about two feet high.
What I learnt is that even if you think seeds are "old" and won't germinate, you may be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised.
I have many, many random surprises growing in my garden. Some are weeds; some are not. It will be interesting...4 -
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Our neighbor threw it on the curb for trash pickup and it's going to be ours now. Not perfect but with a few screws and a cleaning, it'll be nice for planting some spearmint and strawberries.
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Pushed son in stroller to the playground and found this trash of another neighbor on the curb. It's in good condition, 10 inches in height, and I like the drainage holes in the bottom and on the sides.
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I'm glad I'm not the only salvager! I asked hubby how he'd feel about me growing acorn squash and it turns out he's never eaten one. Need to fix this immediately (and I'd better do a good job so it becomes something he'll happily eat if there's a bumper crop)! 😅2
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SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »I'm glad I'm not the only salvager! I asked hubby how he'd feel about me growing acorn squash and it turns out he's never eaten one. Need to fix this immediately (and I'd better do a good job so it becomes something he'll happily eat if there's a bumper crop)! 😅
Oh I like that word so much better than "dumpster diver!" I've salvaged many things I've seen in other peoples'trash. Our trash has disappeared before, too, makes me happy to think of someone else using it for a good purpose. I love all squash, spaghetti squash being my favorite and butternut is a close second.2 -
Love the salvager idea! No sense in watching it land in the landfill if you can use it! And you found a couple of treasures.
Wish there was more of that around here.
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That's also how I got my weight bench of all things! It's a super lightweight one, but fine for my 130 lbs. I assume the neighbours' teenaged son got bigger than me....3
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