It's Gardening Season - Yay!!!!

[Astronuc]

Well it's gardening season, more or less.  We still have another 35 days before we not supposed have anymore chance of a freeze.

But the buds have opened on the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.  So now it's wait and see.

The rhubarb shoots have come up, and I still need to transplant (and divide) my biggest one.  I was partially successful with the smaller plant.  It looks like one of three transplants didn't survive the winter. 

Anyway, we are starting lots of seedlings indoors, and I have already turned about 3 cubic meters of soil (and composted leaves) in our main vegetable garden.

I started some garlic and I need to post the pictures.  One took off, and rooted and sprout immediately.  Others are coming along slowly.

I think this year I'll do beets and turnips and/or parsnip, and maybe various squash/zucchini.

[greenleaf1]

Have you tried any cold frame gardening?  We've been doing that a couple of years now and can keep lettuce and spinach going almost year round.  We had a frightfully cold spell for a few days in February and we lost a lot then, but did pretty darn good this year.

I need to get some raspberry bushes going.  Plus till my "corn area".   

[Astronuc]

We have bad luck with lettuce.  The weather gets too hot and dry, and it bolts.

I would like to try spinach.

Are there any good sources on 'cold frame gardening'?

We are in Zone 5, which means we can get some pretty cold temps - down to -20°F (-29°C) in winter, but we can get 100°F (38°C) in summer.

[Patty]

Chard tends to be more hardy than spinach but can be used in many of the same ways. That said, I admit I prefer spinach.

We've put in the pole beans, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, pie pumpkins, and leeks. I seeded some 5 year old celery seed, we'll see if it is still viable. The artichoke and strawberries are still going year round (zone 9 here) and the rhubarb is starting to take off again.

I tried fava beans for the first time this winter. They are almost big enough to harvest. I grew wheat again, this time with the intention of eating it (in the past I had merely weaved it into various art.) But the mice got to the wheat, and I only have a few heads left, which I will save for seed instead of grinding.

I've been amending cow manure into our "corn spot" and hope to plant corn before long.

Most of our garden is at the community garden, which has a lot of rodents. So, much of my plot is caged to keep the rodents out. I'll get a snapshot in a few days to share with you.

[greenleaf1]

This is a good book on 4 season gardening:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890132276/002-4955127-3312851?v=glance&n=283155


I was considering trying favas, Patty.  Hope they turn out well!

Anyone have issues with raccoons?  They ate all my corn last summer.  I've heard coyote urine will help.....

[Astronuc]

We have raccoons in our area - I've seen them on the neighbor's property, right next to our property.  However, they do not seem to bother our plants.

We have a problem with deer and rabbits though, so we put netting around our plants.  Perhaps that also dissuades raccoons.

Interestingly, I haven't had any problems with the raspberries, blackberries or blueberries, except something did eat the ripened blackberries before I picked them. 

I do have to protect the strawberries though.  Since they are at ground level, rabbits and mice have easy access.

[Patty]

I can cover the cages as needed, and the plants are then protected on all six sides with 1/4 inch mesh.

It feels weird to cage in my plants, but the community garden is over-run with mice, rats, ground squirrels, gophers, and the very occasional raccoon.

Our brief experience with raccoons resolved on its own, so we didn't need to trap. But with the other wildlife, we have used Havaheart traps very successfully.

[Astronuc]

Patty, that's cool!  Thanks for that.   Artichokes!  Hmmm.

I am hopeful about the garlic, but this is my first time.  I would also like to do asparagus, but that takes about two years to get going.

We use plastic netting, mostly for deer, but it does keep rabbits out too.

The only thing the mice or rabbits seem to bother is the strawberries, although I did chase a rabbit out of the garden where I had peppers and tomatoes growing.

We have at least one owl in the neighborhood, so hopefully he or she is controlling the mice and small rodents.

[Charity]

Nice photos Patty!

[Patty]

Thanks, A and C.

I'm starting to get into lasagna beds. Have you tried these? The few un-planted spots in the garden are receiving layers of straw, coffee grounds (courtesy Starbucks), cowpoop (courtesy the ranch down the road), and a few other organics. I'm curious to see how the soil develops with lasagna gardening. You aren't supposed to till it - just plant into it when it has decomposed a little.

The plants above, are bigger already. The potatoes are about twice as high, and the pumpkins and zucchini are also twice or more, as big. I recently learned that the potates will make more and more tubers, if you continue to mulch them vertically as they grow. Hmmmm. I'll need to mulch a lot, but that's OK and works well with the lasagna plan.

The artichoke is near done, but we've had about a dozen artichokes off it this year, and at least a half dozen more maturing at the moment. No complaints there!! I may need to remove ithe plant to make room for one more big cage, but it has served us well.

I hope to plant some peppers soon. Assuming the lasagna layers are ready to go in the next couple weeks.

[Astronuc]

I have not heard of 'lasagna beds', but it seems to make sense, and is consistent with what I have observed with our compost piles.

In our compost pile we dump non-meat/non-dairy organic kitchen waste (bread, fruit and vegetable scraps, and coffee grounds, used tea bags, etc) along with yard waste (leaves, grass clippings, twigs, etc).  I have noticed plants, e.g. tomato, potato, flowers, weeds,  . . .  growing very well in the compost pile!

One of my wife's uncles has a compost pile, mostly grass and leaves, in which he grows tomatoes, and he grows BIG tomatoes!

 

[Astronuc]

Minimalist Garden Bed
http://www.galleries.thegardenforums.org/v/mikecons/

[Patty]

Very nice. That's sort of a lasagna.

So far I am happy with the way lasagna gardening is working out. The worms are much happier than they were, and the plants seem to be doing very well indeed. There aren't any slugs, which is good for the new sprouts.

I planted basil a few days ago, and will add another layer or two of organic material in another day or two.

I need to get new pictures so you can all see how quick the plants are growing. My husband doesn't get the gardening bug, and so i can't share with him the way we gardeners like to. 

Added in edit: Here are the pumpkins, beans, and potatoes again. You can see how they've grown over the last three weeks (compare to photos above). The potatoes in particular are booming.

[Patty]

I pulled all the garlic and now have three tidy braids in my kitchen. I'm moving the last cage over to where the garlic was, and will be able to plant corn in it as soon as it is moved.

THe wheat is finishing, so I should have wheat berries to plant in the fall, soon. The fava beans are setting pods and maturing pods, and I'll have some seeds from those as well.

The carrots are almost big enough to start picking and the pole beans will be twining up the poles within two days. The potatoes have stopped growing, which means tubers are probably starting.

I've planted okra and soybeans and bok choy here at home, and sweet corn (four inches high now),  and a few more peppers and some tomatoes and oh yes, a friend gave me a sugar cane so we're trying that too.

[Astronuc]

Gee, Patty, that was fast.  My garlic is just getting started.  We planted tomatos, peppers (including one habeñero) and some peas.  Everything is growing slowly since our temperatures are barely up to 60°F, and at night, its 30's or 40's.  Lettuce seems to be doing well.

But I have 7 maybe 8 new blackberry canes.  Finally, they are taking off.  But I've got lots more work to do to expand the blackberry patch.     The raspberries, strawberries and blueberries seem to be doing nicely.  The strawberris and blueberries have flowers, but the raspberries are a couple weeks from flowering.

The rhubard is doing very well.