2020 How does your garden grow

[Marshhawk]

I'm going to try bottle gourds this year. They are much like a squash up to 12". After that they become gourd-like. Also going to plant Carolina Reapers again because the hotsauce I made from them was such a hit. (but fiercely hot!)

 

[Marshhawk]

Just put up several jars of pickled jalepenos. Delicious. Have been reading about wintering over pepper plants. Anybody tried this?

Yeah, I usually overwinter at least one Thai hot, a lemon drop hot, and a Panamanian hot. I just dig up the smallest of each and pot them. Keep them on the glassed-in front porch. Gets cold, but not freezing. But it is very easy to over-water them, so beware.

 

[Marshhawk]

Have you tried Tobacco juice? I know some people are opposed to poisonous plant solutions.

What about Neem oil? Appears to keep aphids off my collards and catapillars (if you catch them small).

 

[Shorthanded]

My garden has about 8" of snow on it right now. I can't plant any thing but peas and carrots until late April. I am a big fan of sheet composting. In the fall I cover with leaves and old hay. In the spring I pull back the hay and leaves where I want to plant. Has really helped my clay soil. I set my tomatoes out on June 1st.

 

[Eutycus]

I'm thinking about mixing up about 7-8 different kinds of heirloom tomato seeds.Then planting them all in containers so I can bring them inside if and when it gets cold.I want to get a jump on the weather when it gets hot in May and June.We have some sunny days here in Texas but the ground is still too cold to plant directly into the gatden. I call the mix of seeds my"cocktail" and would be curious to see what comes up. I may have a mystery plant or two.

 

[Eutycus]

I'm gonna try something differant this year. Okra does not like cold ground but I'm thinking about starting Okra seeds in paper towel/toilet paper centers and potting soil. Okra don't like being transplanted so this way the small containers can be "dropped in" a row,in a month or two,without disturbing the roots. I'm trying to get a few weeks head start before it gets too hot down here. Not so much for the plants,for me too.

 

[Eterry]

40 odd Years ago my dad got some seed corn from an old man from Denton county. The old man said when he married his father gave him a team of mules, 80 acres, and a 50lb bag of seed corn. This was in the 1920. He said the Dent corn was named Preacher Hill corn, had a very small cob and IIRC made 12 rows of corn per cob.

The first year we planted all the seed and kept it all for next years seed. After that Dad planted about 10 acres every year for several years. We ate some but most we ground into feed using a hammer mill. Every year we kept a few gallons of seeds to plant next year.

Dad had a stroke in 96, my brother and I planted corn a couple years then he moved and I gave up.

This fall while cleaning up the farm I found a gallon of seed corn in a sealed gallon glass jar.

Im going to plant some this spring in my back yard garden. If it sprouts i'll try to get fresh seed to re-establish this heirloom seed.

I always enjoyed the "bite" of field or dent corn.

 

[griffiga]

Still snow here, but this is in my garden spot most mornings. In fact, he’s came upon my porch to eat my wife’s decorative pumpkins.

 

[Eutycus]

40 odd Years ago my dad got some seed corn from an old man from Denton county. The old man said when he married his father gave him a team of mules, 80 acres, and a 50lb bag of seed corn. This was in the 1920. He said the Dent corn was named Preacher Hill corn, had a very small cob and IIRC made 12 rows of corn per cob.

The first year we planted all the seed and kept it all for next years seed. After that Dad planted about 10 acres every year for several years. We ate some but most we ground into feed using a hammer mill. Every year we kept a few gallons of seeds to plant next year.

Dad had a stroke in 96, my brother and I planted corn a couple years then he moved and I gave up.

This fall while cleaning up the farm I found a gallon of seed corn in a sealed gallon glass jar.

Im going to plant some this spring in my back yard garden. If it sprouts i'll try to get fresh seed to re-establish this heirloom seed.

I always enjoyed the "bite" of field or dent corn.

I like heirloom seed storys. I hope they are still fertile and you get a decent crop.

 

[Eutycus]

I'm planning on planting some okra seeds in toilet psper center "cups" in the near future. Is there a way to speed up decomposition of the paper?

 

[Buck Conner]

View attachment 60607Still snow here, but this is in my garden spot most mornings. In fact, he’s came upon my porch to eat my wife’s decorative pumpkins.

I have the same problem with visitors here in Utah too, never see them other than their tracks in the snow or mud.

.

 

[Eutycus]

I had intended to put a few things in the ground just after the 10th. I have been using my little sisters birthday as starting date for years and only had a couple of freezes. I heard this "polar express" was comming so I held off planting. I do have a few plants in containers almost ready for transplant but the ground is very cold this week. Pipe busting, plant killing cold. How are the rest of you gardeners faring this week? I can imagine it's cold just about evetywhere at this moment.

 

[Zonie]

As I write this, the outside temperature is 71°F. The low was 48°F lastnight.
They say there's a 50% chance of rain tonight in Phoenix but so far, the only thing that's happening is some snow is falling in Northern Arizona so, my son is getting some snow. That means he's going to have to get the snow shovel out so his Welsh Corgie's can go out back and do their chores.

 

[Eutycus]

We got no snow but its 31 and going to hit 29 tonight, and this is South Texas.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Around zero here and the ground is frozen. We have a small tub in the box window with fresh herbs. That is the extent of the garden right now.

 

[Eutycus]

We're not used to that kind of weather down here.I got some squash and a few tomatos just about ready for transplant on my back porch. Granted the porch is cold but it beats outside in the even colder ground.

 

[Ames]

Hundreds and hundreds of garlic are sleeping under the ice right now. No worries. I start the onions from seed in ten days.
On a happy note I troll websites looking for Ball jar lids for this years canning. I actually found some at Wal-Mart locally and bought them. Only marked up 35 cents above normal pre covid pricing up here at $3.18 a dozen wide mouth, I bought 10 dozen.
Now, along with lead and powder I'm all set for the year.

 

[Eutycus]

I had a dozen squash and a few tomatos plants that I was about to transplant. They didn't make it! It got down right cold and then we lost electricity. What good are heat lamps with no power.. So much for my plan to get a early start and beat the summer heat in a few months. Oh well

 

[Ames]

That sucks! I had it happen once after transplanting.

 

[bore_butter]

got this in an e-mail the other day. i'm going to give this a shot this spring.