I've been starting new seeds every few days. I germinate them in the kitchen on heat mats and transfer them to the lights downstairs. I am trying out a simple kratky auquaponics experiment in the south facing window with duck poop water and baby bok choy. Different strengths of duck poop water in each jug. I wanted to be sure full strength poop water was ok before I go full tilt on a setup outside. I learned the hard way why you paint your jugs. SO much algae already. Here are a few of my starts, more located on a rack above. I put the herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, sage, oregano), hollyhock and coneflowers outside today and it's amazing how much better natural light is. I can tell, even with our cool temps, that the basil grew more in a day vs inside under lights. Tonight, we are birthing and dunking the shrooms. It's almost spring.... A very exciting time of the year for me!
Yeah, I'm thinking that this year is going to be a step back a bit from gardening for me. I'm planning on heading out on a few week long road trip out West for some fishing with some friends, so Mom said she'd plant and tend the garden to start with. I'm not going to burden her with the work of a ton of pre-season seedlings, etc, and just let her do whatever she wants. She's looking at hitting the local suppliers once the season kicks off, and she'll grab seedlings/etc from them. I won't complain, and plan on getting back on target for next year.
Yeah, it's a fun and rewarding hobby but can be tedious depending on how big and DIY you want to be. For the casual participant, buying a handful of easy favorites is the way to go.
Yeah, I'm more than happy to dump a shit-ton of work on myself to get what I want out of it, but I won't do that to others. My philosophy is "if I'm doing it, then I'll do it my way, if you're doing it, you do it your way". Same goes for everything. Cooking? Fine. You're the chef? Do it your way, zero criticism. If I want it done some special way, then I will expect me to do it.
Peppers, eggplant and tomatoes under lights along with herbs and flowers that will go outside when they get a little bigger. These are some herbs and flowers outside, just waiting for a little warmer weather to plant. Soon on some of these. We might eat a lot of greek yogurt.
I've got my herbs plants planted, some various seedling flowers all around the property, plus radishes, beets, a merlot lettuce, kale, and swiss chard out in the garden. The kale are biennial, so I have most of my plants from last year leafing out, plus 3 or 4 new babies planted. I feel like I am getting more into the swing of the seasons here. I started plants later because last year I had monster sized plants too early and was juggling space. It's going at a more natural pace with things started or sowed in waves and put outside as soon as possible. I just listed duck water fertilizer for sale online. I am interested to see if anyone takes me up on that. It's really great stuff but they shit up their water SO fast, this time of year I really have more than the garden needs. Eggs pretty much cover their cost of feed ( I found out the other feed store didn't raise their prices like the one I usually go to did), so if I could defray their water costs a bit, we'll be golden.
I'm jealous. We got tricked and snapped back to cold temps. The snow missed us luckily. The radishes, beets, kale, Swiss chard, and merlot lettuce are all looking great out there but I had to get really creative with placement in the house for all the peppers and tomatoes. It better warm up fast because the squash and cucumbers are coming fast. What all did you plant?
I've been about to lose my mind for a couple weeks because we hadn't seen an 80°F day yet. Until yesterday and today. Anything colder than that in April just pisses me off.
I have that Merlot Lettuce, too. It is certainly beautiful, but I tried it for the first time - just out in the garden - and it was on the slightly bitter side. What all did I plant? Jesus... I am only doing two types of tomatoes this year. I had three, but I first put out a round of tomatoes right before a torrential all-day downpour, complete with tornado warnings and hail, that soaked the garden completely and left about four inches of standing water for a few days. The front also brought in lows in the 30's for two consecutive nights. The tomatoes lasted about five days in the ground, before they just completely wilted and died. No chance. They were the best looking tomato plants that I have done from seed, too. Always tragedies in the garden... But, got in these healthy tomatoes now. Sunrise Bumblebee Dr. Wyche's Yellow I put in four varieties of Summer Squash. Lemon Squash Black Beauty Zucchini Scallop Blend Zapallito del Tronco Doing one Winter Squash. North Georgia Candy Roaster Two types of Peppers. Shishito Cubanelle I have a 30-ish foot row of Peaches and Cream Sweet Corn, and a 30-ish foot row of Kennebec Potatoes. Picked up both from the local Feed and Seed. I have never grown potatoes or corn before. It's just potatoes and corn, but I might just be most excited about having fresh potatoes and corn on a warm night in July. The corn hasn't come up, yet, but if the potato plants are any indication, I ought to have a healthy harvest. These potato plants are just going nuts. One kind of Pickling Cucumber. Homemade Some Lima Beans that'll need trellising. Alabama Black-Eyed Butterbean One Eggplant. Black Beauty Carrots and Beets that I started over the winter. As for Flowers and Herbs? Blue Disc African Daisy Zinnias Red Torch Mexican Sunflower Strawberry Gomphrena Cosmos Fennel that keeps returning and returning. Oregano that keeps returning and returning. Chives Tarragon Our plots here are roughly 30' x 30', and it is truly amazing the variety and how much you can put in and get out.
@binx bolling that is a great variety. We are doing some of the same things, like the BB eggplant. In doing more tomatoes and peppers. Let me know how you like those tomatoes. I like to try something new each year. This year I'm hoping my purple Cherokee do something (poor germination) and also bought Barry's crazy yellow cherry seeds. Yeah, I read that about the merlot lettuce. It was a freebie from Baker creek I believe. I'll be planting Jericho lettuce soon too, it's supposed to handle the heat pretty well whereas this merlot will be done by the summer. You have the perfect amount of space for a household. I struggle to fit everything in my 11.25' x 15' space. I line extra planter bags along one side for herbs and am using the narrow strip along the driveway for okra and beans this year to extend my area. I'm trying out a blue Hubbard winter squash, it'll go outside the garden on an area that's mostly landscaping rocks. They can vine hugely. Hopefully it's close enough, I am trying out the "trap plant" thing. Squash bugs are supposed to prefer it over the summer squashes so you have a plant they congregate on to treat. It can be sacrificed or not.
I have a shitton of dandelions and other weeds in the grass. I feed quite a bit to the ducks but they can't eat everything growing, and I am trying to tidy up the yard. I found out you can soak weeds in water for a period of time to make a tea, or liquid fertilizer. You strain out the solids and dilute the tea to use. I am using rubbermaid bins and I'm making batches as I pull weeds. I have one batch going already, will probably have a new one each week. These weeds with tap roots especially draw up calcium, phosphorus, and a ton of other nutrients. I'll be fertilizing the lawn with it, returning what was taken.
Finally passed all of the snow and frosts and was able to start the garden beds. First two beds on the right are all of the tomatoes. 6 San Marzano plants, and then two golden cherry, two midnight black cherry, and two bushsteak. Last bed on the right is 3 blueberry bushes, lettuce mixture, red leaf and butter, and along the back of the bed is Brussels sprouts, and at the left end are strawberry plants, end of the right not pictured is a clump of nasturtium. First bed on the left is 4 cucumbers on the left, 4 cantaloupes on the right, an amazelbasil plant in the middle. Second bed is 4 zucchini, a snow pea trellis, and 4 eggplants. Last bed is the other berry bed with 2 raspberries and 2 blackberries. It has strawberries at one end and geranium at the other. Also has lettuce and onions. Planted marigolds in the tomato beds and the herbs in the pots will be attached to the barn in the back. Along the barn, there's 3 hop plants and we are putting up some panels for it to grow up. Next to those is a grape vine and then a wild black berry bramble. The empty space behind the beds, in between the two black planters is where the greenhouse goes. We should have that up by next week, maybe the end of this week. The weed cloth is going to be covered with pea gravel and that will be coming on Thursday. The back panel fence I have 8 grapevines which will go in once the guy comes next week and does a final clear out of the wayback yard. The veggie/greenhouse/orchard area is coming together rather nicely. I'll post some photos once everything is complete.
Dayum... that looks like some solid work. Nice! We may be past the frost now, but everything is still just soaking wet... not sure when we can get at it and start planting shit yet.
The lumber my raised beds are built from are starting to show signs of age. One of them is pulling away at the corner and the wood won't take a deeper screw ( giggity ). So I'm looking at other options to replace them with, including stone block or the corrugated metal. Leaning towards block still though.