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lakngulf
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lakngulf 2018 Garden

Well, today began the process for my 2018 garden. For a variety of reasons my 2017 garden did not finish strong and I did not take care of the late weeds and grasses. For the first time in years I did not plant purple top turnips, mustard or collards. (I am missing them now).
So I parked the tractor front end loader bucket close to the garden and began filling it up. It felt good clearing it out and turning the soil a bit.

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I plan to cover the garden (and especially the big containers ) with some lime. Also, will top off the containers with fresh top soil from the farm. As I pulled the okra and tomato stalks, I uncovered numerous worms, so I baited a few hooks and kept watch on them while I worked. (Yes, we are having catfish for supper)

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lakngulf
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Well, several days of low 20s predicted for Dixieland. I've always heard that some days of COLD temps were good for something, so here goes. This will be frigid for us.
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thanrose
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Good for you! Those few cold days will take care of some entrenched insects, or at least challenge them to survive. So steamy days of late winter may be mosquito free, and the fleas and ticks take a while to rebuild their ranks.

Unless we have a hard overnight freeze, we run the chance of mosquitoes every day. And for us to stave off most mosquito species for a few weeks, it has to be 2-3 contiguous days.
gumbo2176
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thanrose wrote:Good for you! Those few cold days will take care of some entrenched insects, or at least challenge them to survive. So steamy days of late winter may be mosquito free, and the fleas and ticks take a while to rebuild their ranks.

Unless we have a hard overnight freeze, we run the chance of mosquitoes every day. And for us to stave off most mosquito species for a few weeks, it has to be 2-3 contiguous days.
Same issue here in New Orleans with mosquitoes. They are definitely more prevalent in the warmer months, but until if gets real cold, they are present and like to make it known. I'm one of the unfortunate folk that seem to be a mosquito magnet and if sitting out on my back porch with several others, I'm the one getting hammered by them. Of course, my friends love it that they pick on me and not them.

We are now into our second night of mid to upper 20's and I believe one more is on the way for tonight. It is only 27 right now and it is closing in on 10:30 a.m. with the "feels like" temperature being 20 due to wind and humidity. That should help with the bug control for a while.
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Hillbilly Homer
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LOL ill try to send sum of my -16F and max wind speed of 16 mph down that way...:)
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lakngulf
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Hillbilly Homer wrote:LOL ill try to send sum of my -16F and max wind speed of 16 mph down that way...:)
That should take care of the mosquitos!
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lakngulf
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It's a start! Cherokee Purple and Gary O'Sena tomatoes. White Half Runner green beans

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Hillbilly Homer
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:) ...Sweet... :)
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lakngulf
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Today was "Up Pot the Cherokee Purple Day". The unusual warm weather in our Southland has really fostered some growth and blooming. These little tomato plants have done well
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I was really pleased with the root ball developed on the seedlings:
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Put 'em in some pots, place in the sun and let them do some more growing
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imafan26
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It probably is good to just do a good cleaning once in a while to sanitize before starting a new season. Your new plants look like they will be getting a great start.
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jal_ut
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Very nice. Here this morning its 20 degrees sunny and a foot of snow on the garden plot. At least there are no mosquitoes. Have a great day!
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lakngulf
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imafan26 wrote:It probably is good to just do a good cleaning once in a while to sanitize before starting a new season. Your new plants look like they will be getting a great start.
Gonna have to run the heater two nights this week. temps are predicted to be in low 30s
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lakngulf
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Well, the 15 day forecast says just a couple nights in the low 40s, and I have these
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So I decided to put some plants in the lake side garden. Spots in the garden are getting good early spring sunshine, so that should keep the soil warm enough to make the plants happy.
I like instant garden!
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Here's hoping!
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lakngulf
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We've had some perfect spring weather and the garden is loving it!
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jal_ut
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Nice garden. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
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lakngulf
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jal_ut wrote:Nice garden. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
Here are some updated pictures about 10 days later, and a couple of pics from garden I have at my Mom's house place. This is the first year she has not been around to help in "Her" garden. I love the site of "healthy green"

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Mom's
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lakngulf
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Those early heirloom tomatoes can look weird sometimes....
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But they still make a great mater sammich.....
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I have labelled my tomatoes BarnyardHeirloom
Working this year on a cover photo
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