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Today I planted corn, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Then I got to looking for space to plant the tomatoes and peppers I still have in pots on the patio. Yikes! I am out of space.

My wife laughs at me. Every year I say I am going to cut my garden in half. Now its bigger than ever and still not enough room...............

what type of corn did you plant and what type of melons jal?

Today I planted Ambrosia and Incredible corn. Charleston Grey Watermelon.

I also planted Burpee Hybrid Cantaloupe and one called Roadside.

Nathan, where are you in Idaho? Can you grow melons there? If you want to try these Charleston Grey, give me your address in a PM and I will send you some seed.

Are the Charleston Greys awesome? I'm doing Baby Sugar Bush. If you have a few extra Jal, I would be very happy to try them. But I don't want to sound pushy or anything like that.

I hear you, I planted up my tiny front garden, lined my front steps with pots, and now am thinking about trying a few self-watering pots on the roof!

Got some melons in myself. Honeydew Snow mass, from park seed. I just dehydrate the seeds from the melons, and sprout them the next year. These seeds are from last season, and all 10 sprouted.

Oh my garden gets bigger every year also, only I'm not in denial Every year I swear I am going to double it but I only expand by about 1/3. And at this point, if I did double it, I'd be encroaching into my neighbors yards.

When I am done fixing up this house and the market gets better, the plan is to sell and move about 35 minutes west and get a nice 10 acres or so. And I guarantee, at least two of those acres will be MINE ALL MINE for gardening or I suppose at that point it's getting to be a small farm.

My watermelons have been in for about a week now. They're about an inch tall and working on the first true leaves. They are (I think) "sugar babies"?

jal_ut wrote:Today I planted corn, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Then I got to looking for space to plant the tomatoes and peppers I still have in pots on the patio. Yikes! I am out of space.

My wife laughs at me. Every year I say I am going to cut my garden in half. Now its bigger than ever and still not enough room...............

Ain't that the truth I went a bit overboard this year- I just bought a community garden plot to accommodate all the plants I don't have room for lol

I also promised myself a week ago that I finally picked up my last packet of seeds. I swear!

Gardening brings such joy, it's lovely. Can't wait to see photos of your harvests again this year!

I was hurting from all the work I did yesterday. so I went out with two packets of seeds and was just going to sow some seeds -- nice and easy....

Three hours later, I realized I had dragged out the big tools from the garden shed and had been weeding and digging, tending the compost pile, planting some tomatoes and a Tromboncino squash I'd started from seed, mulching, amending soil......

Now I REALLY hurt.

Yup! Last year I added an extra veggie bed in the middle of my front lawn and this year I also took on an extra bed in a community garden...

and I'm always looking for more spaces to put things...

I tell myself, if I had as much room as you do, James, then I would be satisfied and wouldn't keep expanding, but apparently that isn't so!

jal_ut wrote:...I planted Ambrosia...

This year we were able to finally talk my dad into planting some sweet corn at the farm. We did about 150ft and two planter widths (12 rows total) of Ambrosia. Doing the math that's about 3600 ears of corn minus losses (raccoon, poor germination, etc).

Were hoping it turns out as there's a LOT to go around. The Ambrosia must be good if you're growing it!

Very true - it really is addictive!

I have a fairly small garden, but I've packed more stuff into it - and a bunch of new containers - this year than I ever thought I would. I also started branching out from the standard tomato garden that a lot of folks plant (not that there's anything wrong with that!!).

It's gotten to the point that I really want to plant spring, summer, and fall crops, but I just don't have the room, so I've started thinking about how I can get around that problem, and my main solution is to carve out a little extra space in the front/side yard to maybe put in some onions and garlic. This would free up some space in the back - either in-ground or in containers - for some of the things I haven't yet been able to plant.

Quite the dilemma, right?!

Brought in the first spinach, and lettuce. Also gn onions and radish. The spinach was sure good flavored.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/salad_gns.jpg[/img]

Jal- I planted my radishes on April 26th, they look like they should be ready like yours in about a week. If you don't mind my asking, when did you plant yours?

wow! your radishes are huge!!!

If you don't mind my asking, when did you plant yours?

These radishes were planted on March 13. It is unusual for me to plant in March, but we got a warm spell and the ground dried out so I planted.

jal_ut whats the size of your corn patch? do you split the 2 varieties in half in your grow area? or do you plant a little more then the other?

My corn patch is about 80 feet x 45 feet. I actually planted 3 varieties of SE type corn. I planted Incredible and Bodacious earlier and it was up a couple of inches tall when I planted the rest. I planted more Ambrosia than Incredible on the second planting. I am almost wishing I had left a spot for a couple rows about 3 weeks down the road.

About those watermelons. I have been growing them for quite some time now and always select the best melons and save the seed for next year. They actually do quite well in this high elevation, dry, climate with cool nights and brilliant bright daytime sunshine, and short growing season.

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I went fishing this morning. This afternoon I worked at weeding the garden. I never get done, it is on-going. I am feeling like its time to put my feet up. I think I will turn the water on the garden this evening. It is starting to look dry.

Tomorrow the local community garden opens, so I'll be putting the rest of my plants in the ground. Woo hoo!

Sure........ just because I watered last night its raining. Whoopee, I don't have to weed today!

I received the seeds yesterday. Today I looked all day but couldn't decide where to plant them. I'll decide in the morning. Thank you so much Jal-ut.

I met Tom Barrett tonight at Chocolate fest, he is challenging Scott Walker for Gov. of Wisconsin in a recall. BIG mess.

I just planted my tomato and pepper starts out in the garden. I was hard pressed to find enough space. Lettuce and spinach will be coming out soon, but not just yet. Our first farmer's market is on June 6. A lot of spinach and lettuce will go then, along with radishes.

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The radishes did well.

The Romaine is doing great!

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/romaine_lettuce.jpg[/img]

PRETTY lettuce!!!!! mine is super tiny. I waited too long to plant my cool weather stuff I think. Oh well, next year!

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This is my early corn. I have more that is just coming up.

J you must do a lot of canning.

it gets me excited when other are excited about gardening. I am so thrilled when I hear this, makes me feel better about the way I feel. you just keep the pictures coming, never tire of looking at them.

Pic June 6, 2012

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/garden_6_6_2012.jpg[/img]

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/garden_june_4.jpg[/img]

Have a great day!

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/Chey_garden.jpg[/img]

My helper checking out the wimpy tomato plants.

I had a space where I took out some raspberries, so I put in some more corn. It is close to the trees, but on the sunny side. Hope it will do OK. As I take out the early things I have been planting more potatoes, and will make another planting of peas.

How in the heck do you get those onions to stand vertical so well? Mine like to flop.

Gardening like a boss.

How loose do you keep the soil your toms are in? I see she is standing nearby, and not sinking. Wondering if it was the same approximate density, right on top of the toms.

How in the heck do you get those onions to stand vertical so well? Mine like to flop.

I think "Flop" is a function of time. These will flop too. Oh, BTW that row of onions is Egyptian onions. They do tend to stand better than other varieties.

How loose do you keep the soil your toms are in? I see she is standing nearby, and not sinking. Wondering if it was the same approximate density, right on top of the toms.

My soil is a silty loam about 20% clay. It does tend to compact over time and with traffic. The area was tilled a couple of weeks before planting the tomatoes. It will have no more loosening this season. I will do a shallow hoeing to get the weeds. Yes, I do walk on my garden. No, it doesn't hurt the plants nor their roots. Mechanical actions to loosen the soil after planting will do more damage to the roots than anything. Roots have an amazing ability to penetrate dense soils.