What is your 2013 garden looking like?

[hendi_alex]

Here is an overview of my three main gardening areas:

Three double beds with six planting spaces each about 4 foot by 4 foot. Also nursery area. Morning sun only.


Three single beds. Also has a nursery area to the right. Each bed about 4 x 4.


Main garden area. Last year decided to try landscape fabric and gravel for the walk areas. Part of the area is on an old car port slab and beside that eight beds have a concrete skirt that was poured.



view 2:


View 3:


View 4:


View 5:

[hendi_alex]

Closer view of individual planting areas:
So far have about a dozen tomato plants in large pots, set in various areas. Over the next few weeks will have about two dozen in large pots, plus another 1-2 dozen in the ground.


One of two growing circles. This one holds squash and sweet peas. The other holds cucumbers and green beans.


Three of about ten beds that have combinations of lettuce, young okra in the middle, cilantro, parsley, spinach, radishes, onions, garlic, arugula, Swiss Chard. We have harvested three small batches of salad greens in the past week.







One of two beds that contain garlic, onion, and green beans. Green beans are planted in several other beds plus will be succession planted.


One of three beds with egg plant in the center and strawberries around the perimeter. We also have two 33 gallon drums with egg plant and strawberry plants.


Only significant in ground area, about 20 feet by 25 feet, with corn and garlic. A line of tomato plants will go in ground along the garlic area.


Largest single raised bed, about 4 feet by ten feet. Contains day lily, iris, radish, sweet peas, arugula, Swiss Chard, onion, marigold.

[IndyGerdener]

My garden looks like a 15'X35' patch of tilled dirt. fresh till this weekend

[hendi_alex]

We southerners win the early bird contest, but in the heat of the summer when disease, drought, pests, and weeds are overwhelming our garden, yours is continuing to thrive.

[jal_ut]

Looking good. Impressive gardens. Seems weird to see such growth when it is still too cold to even plant here. The only thing I have going is garlic planted last fall and some early onions. Nothing is growing. Today 45 degrees and cloudy.
Likely two weeks till planting time.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[drh146]

Here's mine


With room in the front for all these

[hendi_alex]

Coming along! What is your last frost date. My brother lives near Greenville, SC and he has to wait a month or month and a half longer than our mid April planting date here in central SC. I think that the difference is mostly related to elevation. I visited my daughter in Greensboro this past week-end and it seemed a good ten degrees cooler than here at home, yet is only 125-150 miles north of here. Her planting date is probably 3-4 weeks behind ours.

[drh146]

March 22ND is the average. It frosted all the way into April this year though. I'm only 40 miles from the coast so probably in the same zone as you.
We are having a cold spell this past weekend and this week. Highs only in the low 60s.. Its just over 50 now brrrrrrr

[hendi_alex]

The long range forecast looked good around April 10th, so I started putting a few tender annuals in at that time. Our usual last frost date is around April 20th. Our winter time lows often look more like zone 7 and summer time highs look more like zone 9. Sounds like you are close enough to the coast to get the moderating affect from the ocean air.

Maybe you are running a little behind schedule, but better that than jumping the gun and planting too early.

[estorms]

I'm jealous. Our frost free day is May 31. My garden is cold and wet.

[digitS']

That's great, Alex!

I've got some onions that look like that -- in a bed in my new hoop house. I'm running heat in the little hoop house but not for the onions. There are quite a few tomatoes and peppers in there. The onions must think it is summer!

The onion sets & shallots that I planted out weeks ago, are making an appearance above ground. That's about it . . . I'm even a long way from having my garden completely cultivated. However! It was a blue sky day with an afternoon high of just over 50°. More and warmer days are in the forecast for this week. Progress is at hand!

Steve

[mscratch]

Very wet, cool Spring in this area. Onions, lettuce, radish, spinach and potatoes are up. Just when ground is almost dry enough to till the rain comes again. The rhubarb did make it up but its all slow going. I was hoping not to have to repot the tomatoes before transplanting but its gonna be real close on that. My first year asparagus did come up but the gully washers we have had has about unearthed them! Just too wet to get in those gardens and fix them. My 2 raised beds are the only healthy looking things going on here and they are fighting cold soil temps.

[IndyGerdener]

Ok, PICTURES!!!

Here is the garden: All tilled up and ready



Here is the Greenhouse:

[hendi_alex]

Nice set up, nice space!

[jal_ut]

Ya, and here it was 23° F this morning on the 23 of April. Go figure.

More nice pics. Thanks.

[ReptileAddiction]

Indy, I like the "Man Cave" sign

[tomf]

Nice gardens guys, love looking at photos of gardens.
I tilled mine up yesterday and killed some moles.

[sepeters]

My garden looks like a jungle already! Got more squash and cukes than I know what to do with. Lucky neighbors!
It is only in the 90sF and this poor Irish girl already has a red neck from gardening. Is it winter yet? LOL.

[IndyGerdener]

Indy, I like the "Man Cave" sign

My cousin got me that for my birthday!! I had to hang it up!!

[mattie g]

My garlic plants are massive right now, as are my shallots, and the onions are growing fairly well on the whole. Peas are liking the cool weather, and my multiple staggered plantings of carrots are taking to it, as well. Dill and cilantro seeds have sprouted and don't seem to mind the chill, either.

But my pepper and tomato transplants are a little unhappy with me. Even with plenty of sunshine for the last five days, the temps have been struggling to get above 65 and are still regularly getting down into the mid-40s. The same cool weather has kept my bean seeds from sprouting, although some cucumbers have poked their heads up recently (including one strong volunteer).

This week looks pretty cloudy, with another cool shot likely after the clouds lift. Aside from one big spike in heat back in the beginning of April, we haven't had a lot of real warmth to speak of. Hopefully we warm up in earnest in the next 10 days or so...

[amylong]

This is my first year trying to grow anything. I am trying to keep it small and simple. I brought tomato, pepper and strawberry seeds. I also brought a few strawberry plant from the local farmer market. I am already learning so much from the discussions and browsing the forum like crazy lol. I hope to develop my patience and perseverance by picking up gardening. This is what my little plants look like now.
https://imgur.com/yONywHS

[IndyGerdener]

They are coming along, you might want to add a fan to your set-up to strengthen them for the outdoors

[amylong]

Thank you! I will dig up my fan and set it with them:) Are they big enough to go into the ground?? I have been trying to slowly harden them off, but these two days of thunderstorm I kept them inside. I was worried the rain will damage them, or drown them-.-; Thank you:)

[Sasha]

Jeepers Alex, that looks fantastic. I wish I had the time/land/climate for that kind of setup. Are you retired, or just very, very keen?

My garden currently consists of containers with soil in them, and a tray of seedlings. Hoping to get some bedding plants over the next week or so.

[CaliforniaGardener]

I planted in April and things are growing pretty quickly. Most things I just plant from seed straight into the soil besides tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

[digitS']

Okay Alex, this thread hung around long enuf that I can show you my expansion of the big veggie garden:


That there is dirt . . . oh, there are also plenty of rocks.

It represents a doubling(!) of the big veggie garden and will have some warm-season things. I am very, very fortunate to be able to share some of it with the neighbor. Otherwise, it would be mostly in cover crops.

Steve

[hendi_alex]

Nice, looks like you have some fine soil. My sandy soil is so sterile, other than bad nematodes and various diseases, that gardening in it is almost like hydroponics where all of the water and nutrients need to be constantly supplied.

[digitS']

Some of the old farmers have told me that their best soil is the rockiest. I have had gardens in several places in this valley and used to work for farmers. I'm still not sure about the claim. I just know that the more rocks, the harder it is to work the soil.

During the last ice age, this was the scene of what the geologists like to call "mega-floods." Water in the mountains would be trapped behind glaciers. After a time, it would break free and massive amounts of water and rock would wash thru the landscape. After happening a number of times, Alex, this glacial till is what we've got.

Steve
gardening in gravel

[IndyGerdener]

Just got my trellis up!! What do you think?

[IndyGerdener]

Thank you! I will dig up my fan and set it with them:) Are they big enough to go into the ground?? I have been trying to slowly harden them off, but these two days of thunderstorm I kept them inside. I was worried the rain will damage them, or drown them-.-; Thank you:)

They are big enough to go in the ground. Make extra sure to harden your plants off and not rush it. The bigger the plant the easier to harden off. Also remember to bury the plants as deep as possible. I always remove the seedling leaves and all other suckers up to the top tuft of growth. I will then bury them up to that tuft. My toms in my greenhouse are about 3' tall. I will bury them 2.5' in the ground. Deeper roots make drought resistant plants!!

[hendi_alex]

Trellis looks great. In my chicken run, I ran boards across the top like you did, the boards that are mounted horizontally and serve to support and attach wire across the top. IMO those boards will sag. I took a second board, oriented it vertically and screwed through the top board and into the bottom board. The vertical board will give support such that little or no sagging will take place. A 2 x 6 would have been better to use, as there is still a little sagging over my 10 foot span, but the 2 x 4 is doing a fair job.

Here is what I'm talking about.

[IndyGerdener]

I like it, if I see any sag starting I will have to do that!!

[vinyl217]

I have an 8x4 bed with garlic planted last Oct. and most of it is doing very well, the Korean Red seems puny compared to the others, though. Also, there's a 3x5 bed with Grey Shallots from last fall. Another 8x4 bed is full of onions (Cortland and Patterson) that I planted out in mid April. Last night I planted an 8x2 bed with Carson bush wax beans and another 8x2 with Jade II bush beans. Also have an 8x2 with Caraflex cabbage that has been out since Easter. Next week I'll fill my remaining beds with my tomatoes and peppers. Growing Fantastic, Buckbee's Abraham Lincoln, Mule Team, and Amish Paste tomatoes; Jalastar Jalapeno, Bhut Jolokia, Red Peter, Cayennes, and Chablis bell peppers this year. Hopefully I'll get some pics up soon.

[hendi_alex]

Sounds great, look forward to the photos.

[AZFarmGirl]

IndyGerdener,

LOVE your greenhouse setup!! I need that...

[vinyl217]

Here's some pics I got this morning.

Garden proper

Garlic. Duganski, Bavarian Red, Korean Red, Deerfield Purple, and Turkish Giant.

Caraflex and Gonzales Cabbage

Planting my Bhut Jolokias today and maybe another bed of bush beans if my back holds up.

[hendi_alex]

Very neat, great looking plants! Love the raised bed layout.

[lakngulf]

Tomatoes, Squash and Corn are coming along. Some small squash about the size of my little finger, and a few dime size tomatoes. Just hope the soil diseases, hot sun, and my gardening habits don't ruin the crop.





I have my okra under small wire to keep the rabbits out.

[erins327]

You guys have some great gardens! I enjoy looking at the pictures for inspiration/ideas/entertainment.

Here is out little creation...

Side view with tomatoes on the left, green beans middle, and a combo of tomatoes and okra seedlings on the right. Foreground is peppers.



This is the garden assistant posing with a closer look at the tomatoes and tomatillos.


And a closer look at garden.

The two rows of tomatoes were built on this Spring. Everything else is raised. Want to widen it and do another bed next season? Oh the addiction keeps growing....

[JohnnyB60]

Well I'm a little embarrassed to show my little garden after seeing all these fine gardens, but here goes. I used to have a larger garden but I can’t get down on my knees anymore so I raised it up.

This year I only planted 3 large tomato plants so that I’ll be able to keep up with finding and removing hornworms. Last year was a disaster because I could not see the little buggers and they caused so much damage.
I love pear tomatoes so put two into a small planter box.


I also wanted to try a different approach to watering using soaker hose because last year I was having water problems with dry areas.