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It snowed last night 😕
I saw the forecast so the tomato, eggplant and zucchini are in the kitchen in a tent made from a bedsheet and weighted down around the edges to keep the cats off. The cages on the tomato and eggplant are keeping the sheet off the plants. My raspberry canes are bent down to the ground, and a tree came down in the back yard. Luckily it didn't hit anything major, and it's one we were planning to take out this year regardless. I hate late spring storms - the snow is so wet and heavy! The next couple of nights are still supposed to be plants-indoors weather but I'm hoping it warms up enough to kick them outside during the day. I'd rather they didn't live in a tent for 3 days. All three have buds on them though, so I'm not letting them die now!5 -
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Wow, @Katmary71 ! Your food bank has a farm? That's awesome. We have a program at our community garden called Produce for People. We have a few designated plots that volunteers tend. We also have individual contributions by doing "Plant a Row" in your own plot. You're getting zucchini already?? I walked to my garden today to check on it, and while everything is growing and happy, it's all quite small, other than the cool weather stuff (cilantro, kale, chard, asparagus). My tomatoes are NOT happy about today's cool weather, but the rain showers are desperately needed, so they're going to have to just put up with it.
This is one of my favorite threads on this site!2 -
Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I do use black plastic, but only in the beginning of the season, to warm up the soil for warm annuals. I have some over where I'm going to plant pole beans. When I stuck a marigold in the middle of that section last week I noticed the soil was super dry, so I wouldn't use it once the weather warms up unless you plan to water aggressively.
Is your friend using it for mulch? I prefer sterilized chopped straw, and my mom prefers leaves. I think straw is superior for mulching lettuce and strawberries, and anywhere where slugs are a concern. Mom likes leaves because they are free
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I love reading what everyone is doing. My garden is really big, I've been under a lot of stress and it's my happy place but I made it three times bigger than normal so there's a lot to do and that stresses me out! I still need to make trellises for the cucumbers, zucchini, luffa, and squash and I'm already getting my first zucchini. Meanwhile I'm still helping at the food bank farm, I'm watering everything twice a day two days a week and there's two volunteer days but since I'm disabled I can't stick around for too long on those days. Someone let me use her garden stool with handles, in one direction it's for kneeling and the other it's a high stool for sitting, it's real sturdy and I used it cleaning up vegetables for produce boxes and for the food bank. I'm planning to go get one but I need to wear blinders because it's at a nursery!
I'm waiting to hear what the watering restrictions will be, I would prefer to let the lawn and flowers die over food but I don't own the house so I'm stuck. I mulched everything with leftover straw from the feral cat home I made so it's helping keep moisture in the grow bags longer.
Here and at my last place watering restrictions don't apply to edibles, so you could always plant something that is technically edible in with the non-edibles you are concerned about. However, our watering restrictions were generous enough that if followed nothing would die. It was sometimes less convenient following their schedule than one I would prefer, but it also got me out of some things (I have to leave - today is my watering day )
Mulching is indeed wonderful for keeping in moisture 1 -
Life cycle of a strawberry:
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kshama2001 wrote: »Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I do use black plastic, but only in the beginning of the season, to warm up the soil for warm annuals. I have some over where I'm going to plant pole beans. When I stuck a marigold in the middle of that section last week I noticed the soil was super dry, so I wouldn't use it once the weather warms up unless you plan to water aggressively.
Is your friend using it for mulch? I prefer sterilized chopped straw, and my mom prefers leaves. I think straw is superior for mulching lettuce and strawberries, and anywhere where slugs are a concern. Mom likes leaves because they are free
I use leaves too, pretty good results. There's plenty of them during my garden season and they are chemical and pesticide free, as they're from my mango tree. So win-win. And free, of course 😂1 -
Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I'm trying out black plastic this year for the eggplant. It's recommended to keep the soil warmer since we're so much colder than it prefers. Only a week in and no basis of comparison since I've never grown one before, but so far it seems pretty happy.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I do use black plastic, but only in the beginning of the season, to warm up the soil for warm annuals. I have some over where I'm going to plant pole beans. When I stuck a marigold in the middle of that section last week I noticed the soil was super dry, so I wouldn't use it once the weather warms up unless you plan to water aggressively.
Is your friend using it for mulch? I prefer sterilized chopped straw, and my mom prefers leaves. I think straw is superior for mulching lettuce and strawberries, and anywhere where slugs are a concern. Mom likes leaves because they are free
I'm not sure if they used it for mulching purposes or not but they did their whole garden that way. I'll try it on a couple of my veggies, such as sweet potatoes(IF I can ever get them to sprout enough to replant
)
I did use straw in my strawberry beds and they're growing like crazy, flowering and look really healthy.
I'm planting other stuff today. Usually Memorial Day weekend is the big planting time here due to a surprise late frost some years but we've had consistently warmish weather for the past 2-3 weeks. And same predicted weather for the next 10 days so here's hoping. 0 -
@kshama2001 , did you create that strawberry life cycle picture? That's beautiful! We remodeled our kitchen last spring and I'm going to get some pictures of my flowers and veggies framed to hang. That is a really neat idea
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kshama2001 wrote: »Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I do use black plastic, but only in the beginning of the season, to warm up the soil for warm annuals. I have some over where I'm going to plant pole beans. When I stuck a marigold in the middle of that section last week I noticed the soil was super dry, so I wouldn't use it once the weather warms up unless you plan to water aggressively.
Is your friend using it for mulch? I prefer sterilized chopped straw, and my mom prefers leaves. I think straw is superior for mulching lettuce and strawberries, and anywhere where slugs are a concern. Mom likes leaves because they are free
I'm not sure if they used it for mulching purposes or not but they did their whole garden that way. I'll try it on a couple of my veggies, such as sweet potatoes(IF I can ever get them to sprout enough to replant)
I did use straw in my strawberry beds and they're growing like crazy, flowering and look really healthy.
I'm planting other stuff today. Usually Memorial Day weekend is the big planting time here due to a surprise late frost some years but we've had consistently warmish weather for the past 2-3 weeks. And same predicted weather for the next 10 days so here's hoping.
A local farm down the road has plastic row covers with small holes for the plants, I think he has irrigation lines running through or over them? Last year it came up in conversation, but he said they use insane amounts of water through their irrigation lines during growing season!0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Life cycle of a strawberry:
One thing it's missing is the strawberry shortcake picture.
Very nice though.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Does anyone use black plastic in their gardens? I was looking up growing sweet potatoes and it recommended using black plastic to keep the warmth in. Someone I used to know used it in their whole garden and he said it turned out to be the best garden yield he ever had. I'd most likely just do the potatoes but was curious if others have done it.
I do use black plastic, but only in the beginning of the season, to warm up the soil for warm annuals. I have some over where I'm going to plant pole beans. When I stuck a marigold in the middle of that section last week I noticed the soil was super dry, so I wouldn't use it once the weather warms up unless you plan to water aggressively.
Is your friend using it for mulch? I prefer sterilized chopped straw, and my mom prefers leaves. I think straw is superior for mulching lettuce and strawberries, and anywhere where slugs are a concern. Mom likes leaves because they are free
I'm not sure if they used it for mulching purposes or not but they did their whole garden that way. I'll try it on a couple of my veggies, such as sweet potatoes(IF I can ever get them to sprout enough to replant)
I did use straw in my strawberry beds and they're growing like crazy, flowering and look really healthy.
I'm planting other stuff today. Usually Memorial Day weekend is the big planting time here due to a surprise late frost some years but we've had consistently warmish weather for the past 2-3 weeks. And same predicted weather for the next 10 days so here's hoping.
I really think you'll have better results buying sweet potato slips of varieties that were designed for New England rather than trying to sprout a store bought potato that was likely a southern variety...
Local availability is very short, so this is something that needs to be planned. Or you can order from a company like Burpees anytime early spring and they will ship when the time is right to plant in your zone.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Life cycle of a strawberry:
One thing it's missing is the strawberry shortcake picture.
Very nice though.
HAHAHA, my friend said "It just misses the last part where I eat it."0 -
girlwithcurls2 wrote: »@kshama2001 , did you create that strawberry life cycle picture? That's beautiful! We remodeled our kitchen last spring and I'm going to get some pictures of my flowers and veggies framed to hang. That is a really neat idea
I did not create it, no - all the artistic images or memes come from my gardening group on Facebook, which was my Safe Space during the pandemic 1 -
@girlwithcurls2 I'm zone 9B outside of Sacramento so it's warm! It's a little town but the food bank farm is awesome, there's 3 large fields then beds a volunteer plants in around the food bank with edibles and flowers. You grow what I've always wanted to, asparagus!
@kshama2001 I'll have to investigate the restrictions, I think the grass should go but I'm renting so it's not my decision. I had leftover straw as I bought a couple bags to build shelter for the feral cat I feed and mulched with it but I've noticed the birds are taking it for their nests!0 -
I have two halves of a sprouted potato in the ground. I suspect there might be a layer of gravel at some unknown depth underneath so we'll see if they do anything.
The potted vegetables are still in their tent in my kitchen. It's supposed to warm up for a few hours today, but they'll have to come back in for the night.0 -
I started two kinds of basil seeds this year. They look identical at this early stage. However, I transplanted the whole lot into the raised bed (along with other warm weather things) and we got some cold rain this week. One of the varieties of basil looks terrible. It must be much more temperamental than the other There are barely any little green bits on the starts. I'm going over there to give it a little pep talk today and to let it know that warmer days are coming. The strange thing is how much warmer the starts that haven't been transplanted must be. They're all fine in their pot...
@Katmary71 , I wish I could give you some of my asparagus. I'm eating it every day at this point. No complaints, since it is just amazing straight from the ground, but mercy, so much!1 -
For the people growing zucchinis, my daughter uses a tomato cage over them & says it makes them easier to pick.1
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I started my vegetable garden last week and added 16 cucumbers to it this morning. I have 6 tomatoe plants I bought this morning that I have to make room for. So far I have dill, onion, strawberries, cantaloupe, zuchinni, hot peppers, green peppers and cucumber. This is our third summer here. We have 1 acre to work with. We have a gooseberry, blueberry, and raspberry bush that have berries on them this year. We put in a hibiscus tree last week and I’m excited to see what it does. The mosquitos have been bad in the mornings and evenings and those are the coolest times a day. So to do gardening we have a choice between the mosquitos or the hot sun.0
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Would you....
Plant tomato starts that you inherited that have no label on them?
I have two San Marzano plants in the soil plus another I may leave in a big pot. I have a little Sungold my neighbor gave me because she knows they are favorites. Then I have these two four-inch pots.... My planting space is fairly limited because of all the perennial plants (blueberries, raspberries, artichokes, grapes) plus the big bed of garlic. I'd like to add a slicing tomato, but maybe the San Marzanos will have to pull that duty.
I'm thinking of planting those random pots out in the orchard and seeing if maybe they survive.
I don't even know whether or not they are determinate plants or would prefer to be staked.1
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