2023 garden season

[Stonesforbrains]

Pepper patch is doing ok, need it to dry out some. Got an inch and a half of rain in two days, no sun or wind since to help dry it out. Wife’s tomatoes are doing well. Cantaloupe, cucumbers, green beans, beats and radishes all came up so we’re off to a good start. Hope everyone has a great garden season this year!

 

[spuldup]

We're having way under average rainfall here, and decent winds. Been watering the seeds and plants everyday, which is a rare need this time of year. Cilantro and brussel sprouts seem likely to not emerge at this point.

 

[Brushpile]

Went to pull a weed from the raised bed garden that wasn't there when I planted, and it was a black walnut about a foot tall. I guess a squirrel squirreled it away in there a couple weeks ago. Transferred it to a pot on the back porch. Maybe the squirrel won't come back for his walnut.

 

[spuldup]

Went to pull a weed from the raised bed garden that wasn't there when I planted, and it was a black walnut about a foot tall. I guess a squirrel squirreled it away in there a couple weeks ago. Transferred it to a pot on the back porch. Maybe the squirrel won't come back for his walnut.

Should have some decent firewood in 20 years!

 

[jollygreengiant]

Well we got a late frost the other night so I had to improvise and cover the strawberries, because of course they started flowering right before the frost.

Looks like it worked though.

Hopefully the apple tree wasn't too badly hit. It's a little too big to cover.

The fingerling potatoes I planted May 6 are finally poking through!

 

[Gumneck]

@jollygreengiant

Smart on the strawberry covering, I had to do that around end of April first of May here on the MidAtlantic coast a few nights. We're about halfway through harvest here.
That apple tree bloom is amazing....need some more pics of that if you can. Looks extremely healthy. Not critiqueing but it doesn't look pruned to be so thick and have that many flowers.
What variety? How old is it? Does it flower and hold apples every year or does it have a heavy year and no apples the next?
Thanks
Tom

 

[husqvarna257]

We had a frost warning and it got down to *30 over night. Garden is planted, tomatoes and peppers were ok next day. Did not worry about Brussel plants or potato plants. Potato plants are slow but comming up. No green beans yet so I am going to get another batch of seeds, not from the same seed co.

 

[Gumneck]

The house we've been in the last 23 years or so we've always had a garden and I've never got it planted early. Like everything else I'm always behind in it(As late as mid June a few years) and somehow this year I got half planted by April 16th. I've never planted so early.....and this year we actually get a cool spring with cold nights.
With these cold nights I put off planting the rest and put down some silver queen last weekend on the other half and will get my melon starts done next week.

 

[jollygreengiant]

@jollygreengiant

Smart on the strawberry covering, I had to do that around end of April first of May here on the MidAtlantic coast a few nights. We're about halfway through harvest here.
That apple tree bloom is amazing....need some more pics of that if you can. Looks extremely healthy. Not critiqueing but it doesn't look pruned to be so thick and have that many flowers.
What variety? How old is it? Does it flower and hold apples every year or does it have a heavy year and no apples the next?
Thanks
Tom

It is most definitely not pruned. We only bought this property 3 years ago and I don't think the previous owners ever pruned it. I have been doing a bit here and there but I really need to do a good pruning on the whole tree. The problem is I won't be able to reach the whole thing, pretty sure it's 40' tall or more.

I should try and post some more pics of it here, maybe you guys could offer some tips on what to do with it. It has some rot in the base that I would like to address if I could to keep it alive.

We think it's a Corland but not sure. Age is a guess but I would say at least a few decades. Those main trunks are well over 12" wide at the base. Every year we've been here it's produced fruit.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Evenin folks!
New to this particular forum, seen it and figured I might be able to pick up a few tips and have somewhere to ask questions if I run into anything!
New to the gardening and this will be our first year with the greenhouse! Which I finally got all fully wrapped and enclosed in plastic! Just have to build a door tomorrow!
I did work all summer last year at a fully hydroponic lettuce greenhouse and picked up a little experience there!
So looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labour this summer! Still a few odd and ends on the inside and she’ll be good to grow! View attachment 1083185View attachment 1083186

This is the lettuce greenhouse I worked for! Growing Up to 5-7000 head at a time, 2000+ out in the long troughs, and annother 3-5 in the nursery, and of 6-7 different varieties!View attachment 1083188View attachment 1083187

nice operation there, OR!! ~ impressive

thx for pix

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

View attachment 1083495View attachment 1083496View attachment 1083497
Pepper patch is doing ok, need it to dry out some. Got an inch and a half of rain in two days, no sun or wind since to help dry it out. Wife’s tomatoes are doing well. Cantaloupe, cucumbers, green beans, beats and radishes all came up so we’re off to a good start. Hope everyone has a great garden season this year!

awesome! swell pix, too! perfect, ie - no weeds. wish i could say the same....

3" one day
1/2 next
barely 1/4" next up along the county line....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

BL's garden update:

cabbage's heading still nicely!
carrot circles need thinning...
cukes exploding !!
picked first 2023 spring tomato!!
beat patch beating....
tomato vines flowering and setting.
Texas Bluebonnets season over. here and at ranch.
picked all the seeds here, shredded all over up country...


all in all, not bad for a few seeds n sets scatterings....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I ordered 20 Jersey Knight crowns last night. When I first started to look, they had both kinds in stock, but when I went to order, only the one. Might get a 10 pk of the Giants next year to see the difference.

Got well-needed rain yesterday, so it's too wet to excavate my trench. I need to get more compost, which I get from the tree guy in 5 gal buckets.

Some vendors recommend 12" spacing, others 18". Does it matter? I was planning on 12" if it doesn't.

if opinions... combined with some exp... are worth anything... an investment in D Raymond's book and his tips on a. crowns would be a good one. still avail online, and low-buc, too. besides crowns take a lot of work to set right. and... that calls for digging. usually by hand. and they are voracious feeders, so pre-preps for the long haul can make a big difference?

what dif is that? spears! lots of thick juicy spears....

i hear-tell, they started this one with 10 crowns...

( i guess the only thing better, would be if Farmer Steve dropped by and dug and set it all up for you.... ! )

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Nope, that's actually the neighbor's winter barley crop. He will likely harvest that the first part of July and then plant sorghum as a forage crop to harvest in the fall.

That's one nice thing about where I live. Wide open farm fields all around. It makes for some windy days at times but the views can't be beat, especially the sunsets.

View attachment 1083119

gardens call for sunsets! sunrises, too!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

BL's garden update:

cabbage's heading still nicely!
carrot circles need thinning...
cukes exploding !!
picked first 2023 spring tomato!!
beat patch beating....
tomato vines flowering and setting.
Texas Bluebonnets season over. here and at ranch.
picked all the seeds here, shredded all over up country...


all in all, not bad for a few seeds n sets scatterings....

proof of concept:

delicious! cut the big end back 3" or so, sliced then again. s/p... and with some hard boiled eggs, 2, cut in wedges... and a dab of mayo... and some ranch!

first pix this year, exceptional flavor!! can't buy stuff like this at the grocers... not even in the farmer's open market. no doubt those great!, but farm to table in 15 mins...

hard to beat! just like a nice, ice cold

 

[Gumneck]

It is most definitely not pruned. We only bought this property 3 years ago and I don't think the previous owners ever pruned it. I have been doing a bit here and there but I really need to do a good pruning on the whole tree. The problem is I won't be able to reach the whole thing, pretty sure it's 40' tall or more.

I should try and post some more pics of it here, maybe you guys could offer some tips on what to do with it. It has some rot in the base that I would like to address if I could to keep it alive.

We think it's a Corland but not sure. Age is a guess but I would say at least a few decades. Those main trunks are well over 12" wide at the base. Every year we've been here it's produced fruit.

Are there any other apple trees nearby? As I understand it, Cortland apples are only partially self-fertile. That means it will bear fruit if none are but fruiting is better if a pollinator apple is close. Down here, Cortland wouldn't be a good apple on the coast so I've never planted them or seen/heard of one around here and what I've encountered most is that we have selfpollinated or not sp. The partal sp is not something I've seen in the trees we can grow here.

Post some pics of that rot. A tree that size is most likely a standard tree(not a dwarfing rootstock). Depending on where the rot is and the severity, you can do a graft to bridge that rot with either a standard rootstock planted right next to it or with a sucker coming up around the base. I have a cherry tree with some base rot that I let that suckers come up from the base that I'll be doing a graft in order to keep the tree going.

Definitely post some pics this growing season along the way if you would. Again, that tree is awesome.

 

[Mad Professor]

Hard frost Wed night. 27 oF below freezing 7 hours. My mother/grandparents said never put out tomatoes/peppers until memorial day.

 

[Orange Ripper]

Evenin’ folks!
Picked up some soil for the new greenhouse this evening, where we are new to the growing, it’s our first time getting stuff for it so was wondering how seafood compost and composted sheep manure was in the mix for our veggies and stuff? And is it good used together? Any help appreciated!!

 

[Stonesforbrains]

Evenin’ folks!
Picked up some soil for the new greenhouse this evening, where we are new to the growing, it’s our first time getting stuff for it so was wondering how seafood compost and composted sheep manure was in the mix for our veggies and stuff? And is it good used together? Any help appreciated!!

View attachment 1084211

Hope it works well for you! I have used a fertilizer with the fish/seafood base only once, four years ago. Mixed as per the instructions, diluted in water. Watered all my plants in the garden and in the pots, raccoons tore everything to pieces trying to get to the fish smell. Caught them on the porch and in the garden and took several shots in the direction of them to scare them off and they didn’t care. Had to replant everything and in some cases start over that year. Good learning experience for me here in the woods. I am curious if in the green house setting how these products work for you. I’m trying to convince the wife we need a green house

 

[farmer steve]

Evenin’ folks!
Picked up some soil for the new greenhouse this evening, where we are new to the growing, it’s our first time getting stuff for it so was wondering how seafood compost and composted sheep manure was in the mix for our veggies and stuff? And is it good used together? Any help appreciated!!

View attachment 1084211

Sheep manure works great. Composted even better. Had sheep here for 25 years and had plenty of it. Used it on pretty muck everything.