Vegetable Gardening

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Updates from everyone?

I planted some seed too early and it didn't come up, so I have had to replant it again. On the other hand, some didn't mind the cold at all, especially the kale, spinach, radishes, and black-seeded simpson lettuce. Another week and we'll be able to have 'baby salads'.

[malkin]

We have made a cat garden for our geriatric Tiger T Cat. Wheat grass, flat leaf parsley (we share) and Walker's Low Catmint. A pair of sunflowers are trying to survive in the center of the grass.

He needed an intervention and a 12 step program after an encounter with Cat Nip so we don't ever have that evil stuff here anymore. The Walker's Low seems to please and calm him without psychotic bursts of agression, and it will have nice purple flowers later.

Growing on the balcony rail are columbine, lavendar, violas, mint, tarragon, basil, sage, and comfrey.

[GLC1968]

We have tons growing! I just did some slug hunting last weekend too (copper around the boxes, beer traps inside them) cause the little jerks were doing a number on our cauliflower plants!

We've got broccoli, cauliflower and kale coming along nicely. Our tomatoes and peppers are doing well in the greenhouse (well, we did lose one type of pepper so we are reseeding those). We've got all our melon seeds started in the basement. The garlic looks fantastic. I harvested all the leftover onions from last year as they bolted and we've been eating them. I need to dice and freeze the rest or they'll spoil before we get through them all.

I've got three types of peas coming up and two types of onion starts planted and looking good. And our strawberries are coming to life again nicely. We also got our sweet potatoe slips a couple of days ago, so those will go in this weekend (along with the other potatoes).

Lastly, the chard, lettuce and spinach are all looking really good. I need to plant more this weekend (particularly spinach).

Oh we also put in 6 trees in the orchard (2 apple, 2 pear, 1 peach, 1 nectarine) and we have a fig and a tea tree bush to plant this weekend. We also need to expand our raspberries and our blueberries...you know...because I like being in over my head.

[tulip]

I have several salads from my garden, and lots of herbs for every meal. The strawberries are turning pink, and I hope I get to them before the critters. I'll try to post some pictures soon. It's pretty. I'm trying several different heirloom tomatoes that I haven't tried before.

I've mostly been focusing on the perennials in my front yard, though.

[bambu101]

I have radishes and peas coming up, and planted carrots and collard greens last weekend. My poor garden is all confused- last Wednesday we had a dusting of snow on the ground, and by Sunday it was close to 90 degrees!

I am going to try Sugar Baby watermelons and an heirloom variety of canteloupes this year that I got from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds. It's always fun to try something new every year!

[OakLeaf]

As always being a snowbird I get a late start, but I have my perennial herbs, most of my red Russian kale overwintered (yay!) and I cut a good bunch of volunteer baby mustard greens before tilling them and all the weeds under.

Got the soil prep done before it rained... now I have to wait for my plot to dry out enough to dig beds and plant!

[OakLeaf]

As I do every year while constructing my dug beds I wonder about building permanent raised beds....

Here's the issue I have though: My sweet corn patch is a different size and shape from my pole bean patch, which is a different size and shape from my basil and cilantro rows, my greens rows, my tomato and pepper rows, etc., etc. Squashes need lots of room to splay out; with carrots, I need to be able to get close in to weed them.

Those of you with raised beds, how do you manage your crop rotation?