Gardening this Spring ?

kskroch

I see a number of people doing gardening as their activity, I'm a long time gardener and farm boy, interested in hearing how your garden grows....

How is your spring going? what kind of plans do you have for the year?

How has your weight situation effected your gardening ?
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We are having an early spring here in south central Wisconsin, everything is about a month ahead of normal.

I am planning a large vegetable garden that is mostly for canning my tomato sauces, salsa, ratatouille, etc... with my diet changes I'm trying to incorporated more salad type vegetables into my garden, like more Kale and Chard.

Thought this would make for a fun topic... Kevin

nickb86

Hi Kevin,

Just getting going on the garden for this year. We had some lovely spring weather, but it's gone again now - cold, wet and rainy! But I am looking forward to having a bit more energy for the garden this year. We haven't ventured into veg growing as yet - a few fruit trees, which we use every year for jams, chutneys, etc (not so good for the diet though!). Might be persuaded to have a go at some veg though, and digging over some space for them would be good exercise too.

Nick

bastokes88

I am starting my first vegetable garden this year, and I'm keeping it pretty simple. Carrots, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, and my favorite herbs.

treetop57

All winter, I've been getting lettuce that grew from self-sowed seeds from the plants I put in 18 months ago. Nothing's better than free food that I didn't even have to plant. I've also go radishes and carrots going.

I planted six tomato plants last night, and I'll put in some corn (maize) once the soil warms up a little more.

treetop57

We've also been getting lemons, navel oranges, and tangerines all winter. Last year, the squirrels got all our apples and Asian pears. We were at the nursery this weekend and my husband asked, "Can you sell us netting to keep the squirrels out of our fruit trees?" The nurseryman said, "Sure, we can sell you netting. But it won't keep the squirrels out. Netting is for birds. Squirrels bite right through it."

He did give us a recipe for squirrel repellant, the main ingredients of which are water and Tabasco sauce. He said to start applying it early so the squirrels learn that the fruit on our trees are too hot to eat! We'll see . . . .

LMMelch123

Hi! I am just getting started, except for garlic planted in the fall. So far I have sweet peas, onions and some lettuce, butter crunch and argula. The herbs I'll start in a hot box but I'm afraid to plant anything else too soon ... I never trust this NE PA weather especially this early. The early spring makes me want to put everything in now ... The old timers from the neighborhood would always say, "Not till after Memorial Day", but I have gotten anxious, planted earlier and just covered them on cold nights.
I love to garden and am out in the yard every chance I get. It serves a multiple of purposes!!
Thanks and Happy Gardening!!!!

kskroch

I've got apples, but it's been tough to keep them from getting too buggy to eat. I'd have to spray a lot more than I'm comfortable. The pears are better. I want to expand my raspberry patch.

Squirrels can be a big problem. My partner feeds the squirrels, they bury the corn all over and it starts growing in the yard and flower beds, they will even bury it in potted plants outside.... but actually they are well fed enough they don't damage/bother anything else....

I started out doing what my older friends were always saying not to go out until Memorial Day too, but in the 18 years we've been here, I'd say I'm planting about two weeks earlier now than I did when I first moved here. So now I'll start putting warm weather stuff out after the first week of May.

I'm looking forward to the season, I wasn't able to garden much at all last year.

Sweet_Potato

I live in a city, so I don't have much space for gardening. Last year I did a container garden on my patio with basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, jalapenos, banana peppers, and tomatoes (unfortunately the squirrels stole all the tomatoes).

I'd love to do it again this year, but I'm traveling for two weeks in May and these things need to be watered twice a day. Would it be ok to wait until June? Or should I set up some kind of sprinkler system while I'm gone?

treetop57

I'm no expert, but I think you'll be fine with the herbs. The peppers and tomatoes may not have time to set if you wait until June. Got a neighbor you trust?

treetop57

High of 53 F last Friday. Expected high today? 97 F. Spring at last!



Here are roses, California poppies, and some of the volunteer lettuce we've been enjoying all winter.



A couple of roses and more of the poppies. The first year we lived in this house, I pulled the poppies up before they bloomed. I kept saying, "What are these wild carrot weeds that are coming up everywhere?" Until I saw them blooming in my neighbor's yard!



One of the tomato plants I put in this week . . . with some of the lettuce going to seed, starting to sow next winter's crop . . . I hope!

LMMelch123

The pics look beautiful!!! We don't have near the color up here yet .... but we'll get there! It's been very dry, but their calling for much needed rain this weekend and for the beginning of next week.
Thanks for the pics

kskroch

Nice pictures, the Poppies are beautiful. I've had mixed results with them there, I had a couple nice big plants for a few years and now last year they didn't come back after the winter. I haven't taken many pictures yet this spring,

Sweet_Potato

I'm no expert, but I think you'll be fine with the herbs. The peppers and tomatoes may not have time to set if you wait until June. Got a neighbor you trust?

Yes (another cute gay couple actually but I wouldn't want to burden them with having to water my plants twice a day. Maybe I'll just stick to herbs this year. The peppers and tomatoes weren't that successful anyway.

kskroch

How did you get the pictures to post? I tried to paste a picture of my garden into this window and nothing happened.

treetop57

The photos have to be on-line some place already, like photobucket or some other picture posting site. Facebook might work.

Then post the following without any spaces:

[ img]url[ /img]

url is the web address of the picture. img must be lowercase for some reason. When I copy the code from photobucket, photobucket puts IMG and I have to change to img.

Good luck!