HelpfulGardener.com

I started my seeds last month for spring. My tomato and lettuce seeds are a few years old so I started twice as many as I wanted hoping at least half would germinate. They all did, so I'll have plenty of salads in a few weeks. I put half a dozen Roma plants into 33-gallon SIPs last weekend and two varieties of head lettuce into tubs. I have Red Robin patio tomatoes and Heatwave varieties still to plant in SIPs. The Red Robins are fine in 5-gallon SIPs, but I'll need more 33-gallon tubs for the Heatwaves. My leaf lettuce and mixed salad greens are in Solo cups waiting to be planted in tubs this weekend. I have three blueberry bushes covered with buds that need to be up-potted into SIPs and a lemon tree, also covered with buds, that I'm wondering how much longer I can leave it in a 5-gallon SIP. My figs are doing fine in 5-gallons for now, so I don't need to up-pot them yet. I also have two dwarf Cavendish banana trees that might be okay this year to stay in 5-gallons.

I didn't have much luck yet this year with peppers. One green pepper sprouted, but I have more on the heat mat and check everyday hoping to see a little green appear. I'm also not having much luck with beans so far and only one honeydew has sprouted. There are a bunch of strawberries plants coming up that I want to put in hanging baskets this year. I need new chains for my baskets and new cocomat inserts. They're on the shopping list for the next trip to Lowes. The feed store I use is supposed to get four-cubic-foot bags of perlite and vermiculite in next week so I'll pick them up the next time I get chicken feed.

It was 80 degrees here today. I love the spring weather here, but it's always a race to get a good harvest before the brutal summer sun broils everything. I'm trying a piece of Aluminet shadecloth this year over the deck where I keep many of the SIPs. It's supposed to, not only provide shade, but also reflect the intense heat of the sun and the sun here definitely needs reflecting.

80° sounds like summer weather to me, or heatwave in spring! It sounds like your garden is well on its way

applestar wrote:80° sounds like summer weather to me, or heatwave in spring! It sounds like your garden is well on its way

Yeah, when I lived up north, 80° was summer weather. Here, it's spring weather. Yuck.

I came home from a trip to Illinois and checked on the garden progress. I have blossoms on blueberries and tomatoes. The buds on the lemon tree are about to burst, as well as buds on the figs and quite a few pups on the banana plants.

Blueberries


Lemon tree



Tomatoes

The plastic and the barricades are to keep the chickens from pecking the young plants. Once the plants get big enough to withstand some abuse on the lower branches, I'll remove it.

It was 80 degrees again today. There's a front moving in that'll bring cooler weather (mid-60s) for the weekend. Woohoo!

That front moved through today and it was a bit lively for a while. We were under a tornado watch all afternoon and now things are cooling off a bit. It's in the mid 50s atm. I took some pictures this afternoon in case my garden wasn't here come nightfall.

The lemon tree is covered with buds and flowers.


That plastic sheeting was removed and I installed some plastic garden fencing to keep the chickens out until the plants get big enough to withstand some abuse.


I have quite a few green tomatoes starting on the patio tomato plants. These are Red Robin.

Looking good!

I expanded my little container garden yesterday with some root pouches. I added 25 strawberry plants. I'm a little envious of some of y'all that have quite an extensive garden and plant oodles of different things, but my little garden is getting a little bit bigger each year, so I'll eventually work up to that.


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I had no luck starting beans earlier this year and I want to take another run at it even though it's getting late to start seeds now. I also want to start corn. I'm zone 8b. How late can I start corn so I get a harvest before the intensely hateful-hot summer starts in June?