Gardening, 2012

[Woodcarver]

The tomatoes should be fine if they get adequate moisture.  My mother-in-law who lived in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin never started tomatoe plants; she sowed her tomatoes directly in the garden.  I wish we could do that here.  It would be a less work.

[Okrafarmer]

I probably could do that, but it's frowned upon.  :( Come to think of it, when has that ever stopped me from doing something?  ???

[Woodcarver]

Down in the 20's again last night and tonight. The neighbors pear trees were in bloom.  No pears for them this year.  I'm not sure what the cold has done to our apple trees. They were budding out before the weather turned colder.

Not much planting going on.  I did see a farmer planting potatoes today. I would think soil temperatures would be a little cold, even for potatoes. The farmer must be anticipating a warm up.

[Okrafarmer]

Sure enough, now they're putting us on a freeze watch for the next few nights.  :-[ Even the old timers would have planted corn on Good Friday around here-- maybe their corn will still be underground for the next few days-- mine on the other hand is just poking through today.  :-\ They would tell me--- you should have listened to us.  >:(

[WildDog]

We got our 1st frost for the season 2 days ago. Only have silver beat and kale in to feed the chickens through winter.

[Okrafarmer]

You must be at fairly high altitude to be getting frost so early, Wild Dog?

[Norm]

The corn's growing point should still be underground so it will be fine if it's just poking through the soil. It will knock it back hard though.

[fishpharmer]

You must be at fairly high altitude to be getting frost so early, Wild Dog?

WildDog may also have a very southern lattitude.

[Okrafarmer]

I'm sure he is at a rather southerly latitude, but I spent 4 months in Victoria, which is (generally) farther south yet, and I didn't think it would be normal to get frost there for another month or so.

[WDH]

I have a very fine stand of nutgrass in my garden  .  It is almost impossible to get rid of because of all the little nutlets on the roots.  Do y'all get nutgrass in the Frozen North?

[SwampDonkey]

Nope, we get what we call cooch grass that you can never get all the roots of. One little strand of root will grow 100 fold. ;D

[WDH]

We are all plagued in some manner  .

[Okrafarmer]

My garden is plagued with maple seeds, some of which are becoming maple seedlings.  :-\ :-\

[WildDog]

You must be at fairly high altitude to be getting frost so early, Wild Dog?

Okrafarmer our farm is at 1120m (appologies for the metric) At times Glen Innes can be one of the coldest towns in the country, it sits on top of the great Dividing Range. We normally get our 1st frost by ANZAC day April the 25th. I have had a farm adjoining the Western Tiers World Heritage Area in Tasmania which had a lot more snow but not the frosts we receive here. I like the cold, its dark here and I am rugged up sitting on the verandah typing this, having a beer to finnish the day and listenening to a rutting stag just below me on the creek and a Water Hen that just fell prey to a fox. 

[Okrafarmer]

Sounds like a beautiful place, Wild Dog. I remember going on the train from Melbourne up to Shepparton in Victoria and seeing that part of the GDR, it was beautiful. Sounds like yours is too, and you have one of the coldest parts of Oz, there. It's no wonder they named it Glenn Innes, isn't that a place in Scotland?

[Dodgy Loner]

I finally finished planting my garden yesterday. I am neck-deep in a bathroom remodel that has a fast-approaching deadline (my wife has a friend coming to stay the last week of April), so free time has been hard to come by lately. Sometime in the beginning of March, I planted red potatoes, then on April 1 I planted peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, and green beens. Yesterday, I finished the garden off with buttercream peas, black-eyed peas, wax beans, acorn squash, and sweet corn.

It will be very interesting to see what my tomatoes and peppers do this year. I started all of them from seed, and wrote the varieties on a little wooden stick that I put in each pot. Unfortunately, the pots stayed outside for about a month before I got them in the ground, and the sun and rain bleached the ink out, so there was no way to tell what variety was what :. So there was no rhyme or reason to order of the varieties, and I won't know what's what until the fruit starts to mature :D.

From what I remember, my pepper varieties are red bells, colored bells, bananas, cubanelles, jalapenos, Jamaican yellows (similar to Scotch bonnets), Kung Pao (similar to cayenne), and some others that I know I'm forgetting.

My tomatoes include sweet grape, Better Boy, romas, and probably something others that I can't remember.

[sandhills]

Dodgy don't feel bad, I did the exact same thing 3 years ago, what's worse is I had my 2 young girls helping and this was for a 4-H project of theirs, my ink didn't even last long enough for the plants to emerge  :D.  Doesn't matter though, it all still tasted good in the end.

[Dodgy Loner]

Glad I'm not the only one. Maybe a Sharpie will hold up to the elements better than a pen? Guess I'll find out next year. I don't anticipate that the peppers will taste any different, so it's all good :D

[SwampDonkey]

My biggest crops are peppers, onions, beans, spinach, beats, carrots. And I inter-plant cukes and tomatoes. I like to grow a wide variety of peppers. I can't grow romaine lettuce because the earwigs come by the hundreds to invade it.  It won't be until about June before I plant anything. ;D

[Okrafarmer]

You Canadians pull the combine behind the planter to save time, don't you?  ;D

[trapper]

Helped my friend today.  He is putting up a 30X70 hoophouse to grow vegtables in. 

[WildDog]

The Kale has failed to take hold, down to only silver beat.

Glenn Innes, isn't that a place in Scotland?

Yes mate, It is, a lot of the farms and locations around here are named after Scottish places, our town is known as the Celtic capital of Aus, we have a Celtic Festival each year and have a replica of the "Standing Stones."  My surname is Munro, the family originates from the Isle of Skye, our youngest fits the theme well he having red hair and named Angus.  Okraf... if your ever back down under head up this way and i'll give you a tour.

From what I remember, my pepper varieties are red bells, colored bells, bananas, cubanelles, jalapenos, Jamaican yellows (similar to Scotch bonnets), Kung Pao (similar to cayenne), and some others that I know I'm forgetting.

Dodgy thats a swag of peppers, I'm envious we can't seem to grow them here out in the open, my dad can but he's 5hrs away.

[SwampDonkey]

Okra, with the younger generation farmer these days I see all kinds of things I scratch my head about. Corn being cut in December in snow storms, and weedy grains that when my father grew grain had to be rogued out or no one would buy it.  To me, it indicates an underground economy or the farm would be lost. ;) ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Okra, with the younger generation farmer these days I see all kinds of things I scratch my head about. Corn being cut in December in snow storms, and weedy grains that when my father grew grain had to be rogued out or no one would buy it.  To me, it indicates an underground economy or the farm would be lost. ;) ;D

Ha, well, I was just making reference to your short growing season.  ;)

I guess, like my pop always told me, "If you have to explain it, then it isn't funny"  :-[

In Maine, our growing season was about mid May to mid September, some years a little longer than that.

And about the weedy grain, that could be grain that is being grown organically with no herbicides, and / or it could be being raised for local animal consumption, and / or cover crop, in which case some weeds in it would not be the end of the world.

[Okrafarmer]

My corn and tomatoes passed the frost scare. No frost.  8)  A few beans are popping up and I think I saw a watermelon.