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applestar
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Feeling good about my garden :)

I'm exhausted, but feeling good.
I've been prepping the beds one by one -- I have a lot of small beds scattered round the property instead of one or two large vegetable garden. So far, each one has been fluffy and I could plunge a garden fork all the way down without stepping on it. :D. Beds where tomatoes, corn and okra grew last year, are particularly nice.

Not as many earthworms as I normally see during spring prep work, but it's actually REALLY early still and it went down to 25°F last night, so I'm not that worried.

Today, I cleaned up and prepped my largest bed. This one needed a lot of work because I wanted to fork and fluff it up a little with compost and sand to help dry it out, and there were corn and okra stalks laying around But it turned out that they were brittle and easily broken up by chopping a little with the shovel, then with my hands. I piled them up in a section of the bed with the weeds to use for mulching the paths.

To my surprise, I found a couple of 1/2 filled but intact dried corn still tightly wrapped in their husks. When I opened them, there were very large kernels of perfectly lovely dried seed corn. These were Buhl.

Also unexpected find were three unharvested potatoes. I guess it was REALLY mild this winter. Two are egg sized and perfect for seed potatoes, and third was about baseball sized. That one became my daughter's snack. :wink:

I'm trying to get a jump on things by pre-germinating some seeds. It's still early yet, but I'm hoping this will work.

Shelling peas went in today in another bed, and, tomorrow, I'll be sowing a bunch of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, and beets, as well as some protective companions-- chervil, onions, and cilantro. Cilantro and chervil tend to bolt early so I'm hoping to attract beneficial Garden Patrol with their flowers. I plan on using low screened tunnels to protect them from cabbage whites which are already flying around. I'm thinking arugula/turnips in alternate rows which will be harvested and planted with tomatoes before most of the cabbage family vegs are done. 8)

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gixxerific
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Sounds great Apple hope you have a great season. Bums me out aobut the cabbage whites though. They come through here like super highway. Havn't seen them yet but many other nasties. I killed a mosquito in my house yesterday. :x

It's finally on in my neck of the woods. One bed is ready and I have started to plant.

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SPierce
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Added bonus on the surprise potatoes! Awesome.

Sounds like your garden is coming along really well; I hope you have a lovely season also! I always enjoy reading your posts and your updates.

gumbo2176
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gixxerific wrote: I killed a mosquito in my house yesterday. :x

I got ate up by mosquitoes earlier today while working in my garden. Our mild winter and now warmer temperatures are a recipe for a nasty pest season this year. I've never been much on those repellent sprays, but if this keeps up, I may relent and use them this year when working in the garden.

For some reason I've always been a mosquito magnet. If I have 10 people over for a gathering and we wind up on the back porch in the evening, I'm the one being bitten by swarms of them.

I've read studies where they say a lot depends on carbon monoxide being expelled, what you eat and drink etc. that can cause them to be attracted to you.

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Duh_Vinci
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That a girl, Apple! Bringing the spring closer to you!

Exhausted, but feeling good - somehow that sounds familiar... Hmmm, I think I know why... That is because I spend most of the day doing the same :lol: Let the spring begin! :flower:

Regards,
D

gumbo2176
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Progress in the garden seems to lead to good feelings here too. Kinda cold still if it got down to 25* last night. I don't think we saw more than 3 nights of just below 32 this past winter.

From the way you are planning things, it sounds like you've done this a time or two. :lol: :lol:

I put in some broccoli a few days ago that I started several weeks ago in pots. I just hope to harvest a few nice heads before it gets too hot for them to survive. I doubt seriously I'll get many side shoots this time around before the heat gets to them.

I've got some summer squash in pots to get a bit of a jump. I'll likely use some row cover to help keep the SVB's at bay as long as I can.

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jal_ut
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Sounds great applestar. The snow just left my garden. It is still too wet to do much. I may plant some spinach in the next day or two.

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rainbowgardener
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YAY! Isn't it wonderful! I was out in shorts today! Planted chard, chives, snap peas in one half of my new community garden plot. Lots more planting to do, but it's supposed to rain the next couple days and then the ground will be too wet to turn it.

gumbo2176
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rainbowgardener wrote:YAY! Isn't it wonderful! I was out in shorts today! Planted chard, chives, snap peas in one half of my new community garden plot. Lots more planting to do, but it's supposed to rain the next couple days and then the ground will be too wet to turn it.
Wet ground is frustrating when you are getting on a roll. The community garden plot sounds like a winner. How big a plot is it and do you have much help with it? I've seen a few well intentioned folks bail out of similar situations when it gets a bit hot and sweat equity is needed. I hope you have better luck.

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rainbowgardener
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No big deal, it's just a little raised bed, like 4x10. Just one extra raised bed more than I can fit in at home. ... I figure I now have about 700 square feet under cultivation, in that bed and 15 beds at home (some of them are big, 4 of them are 3 x 20' each), plus a ton of containers, my patch of strawberries, raspberries and asparagus, and my hillside native woodland wildflower shade garden. But a lot of the beds are in flowers and herbs and most of them are not full sun. So it really helps to have two extra full sun spots - one a new bed that I put in the middle of our front lawn last fall and the community garden plot.

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applestar
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gumbo2176 wrote:I've got some summer squash in pots to get a bit of a jump. I'll likely use some row cover to help keep the SVB's at bay as long as I can.
I'm trying Trombocino this year, it's a moschata variety that can be eaten as young fruits like zucchini. I've had enough of SVB's. :evil: For winter squash, I have Seminole (another moschata) planned.

Rainbow, I think we're supposed to get some of that rain on Tuesday. My already planted drier beds could use it. I sowed fava beans, lettuce and mustard greens, onion sets, snap peas, parsnips and rutabagas, carrots, ....

Because they are all around the house, all kinds of microclimates provide opportunities for early planting, but taking care of them can get complicated because of their individual needs.

I have more beds to prep and peas to sow... Eggplants just popped up on the heating mat, and another spot opened up on the mat. Now what should I start next? 8)

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rainbowgardener
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Yes, we are into the busy spring season, when there are always more beds to prep and more things to plant! But I love it. Nothing better than being busy in the garden. The rain is here already!

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applestar
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Here's the finished bed designated SFH because it was originally built to be a Sunflower House in 2008. There's thread about that with photos somewhere.
Last year, I grew corn and okra, sweet potatoes, and beans here, and the year before that, some melon, cotton as well as peas and cabbage. I believe the year before that it was almost all tomatoes.

This year:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/a890e35c.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/c3a792ff.jpg[/img]

Tomatoes along the outer edges later, replacing arugula/turnip along one edge. Melons in the central path.
If I planned it right, the crucifers, etc. will be harvested and removed before the tomatoes and melons need the room.

The Haybale Row next to it will be cleaned up in a day or two. I plan to grow fast snap peas along the edges then a row of okra in the middle, with southern peas replacing the snap peas.

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Duh_Vinci
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Very nice work, Apple! Looking great, and nice plan too!

Regards,
D

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applestar
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Discovered during today's stroll around my garden -- First peach blossom to open this spring :)

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/7aeb6047.jpg[/img]

DoubleDogFarm
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applestar wrote:Discovered during today's stroll around my garden -- First peach blossom to open this spring :)

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/7aeb6047.jpg[/img]
Stop that! Don't give my peach trees any ideas. I don't need a late frost kill.

Like always, beautiful work Apple. :D

Eric

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jal_ut
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I love it. Nothing like peach blossoms. Thanks for sharing.

j3707
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DoubleDogFarm wrote:
applestar wrote:Discovered during today's stroll around my garden -- First peach blossom to open this spring :)

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/7aeb6047.jpg[/img]
Stop that! Don't give my peach trees any ideas. I don't need a late frost kill.

Like always, beautiful work Apple. :D

Eric


I just noticed the first pink showing on my peach tree today...and it was snowing this morning.

j3707
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applestar - do you still get good fruit set when blossoms are open and temps get down to 25 F?



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