2024 garden season

[TNTreeHugger]

Don't worry about the weeds, my garden is full of weeds now until I put in tomato's. I cover most of the garden with a black tarp and pull it when it's time to plant.

Is black tarp better than clear? I used clear because I've read the sunlight brings up the weeds, but they get smothered.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Got a TON of plants out of the greenhouse planted. Early Golden Acre cabbage, Snowball Cauliflower, 2 kinds of broc. and Black Beauty eggplant. 2 rows of each 130' long. Got all of the melons, squash, and pumpkins out of there too. Got rained out for several days here.
Onions lovin the weather. Taters just comin up good now. Radishes and turnips doin good. Beets, carrots, parsnips, and spinach did not come up. --- had trouble with them last year!
Had big ole storm last night and got a whoppin .1 inch of rain from it! -- sunset and rainbow after it went over.

Holey moley, what a farm!
I'm curious about your soil - you have quite a variety of veggies growing there, do you work/till/fertilize differently in different areas, or is it all the same?

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Strawberries!
I planted the new plants last year and didn't do anything to them, just let them come up where they wanted to.

Found the Ocoee this morning coming up in and around the garden.
I hope it's not going to be a problem and choke out everything else... if it does, I'll be buying produce since I can't buy butterflies.

 

[husqvarna257]

Got my tomato's out of the basement and in the greenhouse on a cloudy day to harden them. I got 12, 30 gallon grow bags to try on tomato's and the rest go in the dirt. I am only keeping half of the tomato plants and giving away the rest.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Got my tomato's out of the basement and in the greenhouse on a cloudy day to harden them. I got 12, 30 gallon grow bags to try on tomato's and the rest go in the dirt. I am only keeping half of the tomato plants and giving away the rest.

I like your set up there. What do you use for lighting?

 

[husqvarna257]

I hate when my dog starts digging in the yard.
View attachment 1174994

This reminds me that I need to put Irish spring chunks in my wife's planters. Last year something came in and tore up all her planters looking for acorns My oldest dog is a big time digger. His best was him digging a nice hole that he put a chipmunk in and covered with sticks and fresh leaves. He does this all the time in front of me and my Wife.

 

[husqvarna257]

I like your set up there. What do you use for lighting?

They started in the basement under 4' florescent light fixture. Now they are on the deck in a cheap greenhouse my wife got. I'm hardening them up and planting early this year. Thinking next weekend. I used to wait for Memorial Day but it's getting warmer sooner every year

 

[TNTreeHugger]

They started in the basement under 4' florescent light fixture. Now they are on the deck in a cheap greenhouse my wife got. I'm hardening them up and planting early this year. Thinking next weekend. I used to wait for Memorial Day but it's getting warmer sooner every year

Do you use plant lights, or those that reproduce natural sunlight in the fixtures?

 

[husqvarna257]

Do you use plant lights, or those that reproduce natural sunlight in the fixtures?

Actually I used some led bulbs that fit the lights I found on Amazon:

8 Pack of 4Ft 28W T5 LED Tube w Sun 6500K and Over 2.0 PPF/180 Lumen/W, Perfect Replace T5 54W Directly Work w Previous Ballast to get EZ SystemUpgrading and 50% EnergySaving and FastGrowing!

 

[sonny580]

I fertilize the whole 4.5 acres with the same thing and plow/till/cultivate/water it the same. Got 2 rows of tomatoes planted today. More to go!

 

[cookies]

You guys are planting and I'm already picking green beans, squash and zucchini with tomatoes getting close and my red potatoes showing the lowest branches beginning to yellow. I'm hoping in 2 weeks my first watermelon ripens and I hope to get over 100lbs of red and white potatoes then replant with thai and chinese long beans. This year I even planted 3 types of cow peas but they have been really slow to grow and got slowed even more by small bug damage compared to the green beans. The acorn squash and honey nut squash are growing strong too. It's simply amazing what you can grow by simply saving the seeds from the food you buy to eat. I hope by next year if not this year I'll get our first pineapple from a top I cut off then sprouted last year. Our blackberry bushes are covered in fruit this year, last year they were sparse and our 3 little blueberry bushes have about 100 berries on them and have actual branch growth for the first time. Its just been so dry this spring with 2+ weeks between rains and the heat is getting into the 90's already here.

 

[Oletrapper]

You guys are planting and I'm already picking green beans, squash and zucchini with tomatoes getting close and my red potatoes showing the lowest branches beginning to yellow. I'm hoping in 2 weeks my first watermelon ripens and I hope to get over 100lbs of red and white potatoes then replant with thai and chinese long beans. This year I even planted 3 types of cow peas but they have been really slow to grow and got slowed even more by small bug damage compared to the green beans. The acorn squash and honey nut squash are growing strong too. It's simply amazing what you can grow by simply saving the seeds from the food you buy to eat. I hope by next year if not this year I'll get our first pineapple from a top I cut off then sprouted last year. Our blackberry bushes are covered in fruit this year, last year they were sparse and our 3 little blueberry bushes have about 100 berries on them and have actual branch growth for the first time. Its just been so dry this spring with 2+ weeks between rains and the heat is getting into the 90's already here.

I haven't even turned the ground. Probably be late this month if then. Oh well. You got lots of work to do and I sit and watch the grass grow. For now. jmho OT

 

[TNTreeHugger]

You guys are planting and I'm already picking green beans, squash and zucchini with tomatoes getting close and my red potatoes showing the lowest branches beginning to yellow. I'm hoping in 2 weeks my first watermelon ripens and I hope to get over 100lbs of red and white potatoes then replant with thai and chinese long beans. This year I even planted 3 types of cow peas but they have been really slow to grow and got slowed even more by small bug damage compared to the green beans. The acorn squash and honey nut squash are growing strong too. It's simply amazing what you can grow by simply saving the seeds from the food you buy to eat. I hope by next year if not this year I'll get our first pineapple from a top I cut off then sprouted last year. Our blackberry bushes are covered in fruit this year, last year they were sparse and our 3 little blueberry bushes have about 100 berries on them and have actual branch growth for the first time. Its just been so dry this spring with 2+ weeks between rains and the heat is getting into the 90's already here.

That's fantastic. Where are you located?

 

[sonny580]

Stuff here just starting to grow decent, --- weather been cold, then hot up and down, --- got plants out of the mood of growing!!
No peaches this year,-- flower buds got winter killed. Did see some apple, pear, and sour cherries forming. We see how that turns out.

 

[cookies]

Picked this morning, gift card for scale.... North Florida

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Good solid rain last night into this morning. I've been waiting for that so I could dig up and transplant volunteer trees and whatnot.
Still working on that, but I did get my veggie garden planted first thing this morning:
2 Purple Cherokee maters
3 hills yellow beans, three seeds each
2 hills butternut squash, three seeds each
2 hills each of zucchini and yellow squash, three seeds each.

A couple days ago, I got the garden ready, fluffed up the soil, made three rows, not counting the end row with taters, raked out the soil between rows and mounded up on the planting rows and then put down cypress mulch in the walking paths. It looks beautiful.
I'm still having camera issues, but I have a "new" Sony camera coming in the mail sometime this week.

Wow! Had to check when I planted these seeds - one week ago and today I see them poking up through the soil. Squash, zucchini, butternut, and beans.

 

[farmer steve]

Finally dried out enough for some planting festivities yesterday.
Cabbage. About 250.

Peppers. 860. Mostly green to red bell. Some green to yellow and orange. Poblanos and sweet Italian frying peppers.

Tomatoes. 50 slicing and 50 Roma.

 

[Stonesforbrains]

Pulled more beets today!

 

[husqvarna257]

planted the tomatoes, most in 30 gallon grow bags and some in the ground for a comparison. I never had luck with corn but I decided to plant 5 hills of seeds to see. Racoons should thank me.

 

[Stonesforbrains]

Cherokee Purples on the left side and black cherry tomatoes on the right. Green beans and cucumbers are barely coming up in the background on the right.