Anyone have the "itch" yet? (merged)

[expatgirl]

heavanly!!!!! tomatoes!!

you want to know how to make an 80 year old Gramma mad??????? Take a bucket of those sun-basked cherry tomatos and eat all of them by yourself....Oinkersville.......how did I know that she was saving them to reseed her garden..........you remember Granny Clampett jumping up and down about something stupid Jethro Bodine did??? About the same reaction..........I thought that seeds came from catalogues...........

 

[msmofet]

you want to know how to make an 80 year old Gramma mad??????? Take a bucket of those sun-basked cherry tomatos and eat all of them by yourself....Oinkersville.......how did I know that she was saving them to reseed her garden..........you remember Granny Clampett jumping up and down about something stupid Jethro Bodine did??? About the same reaction..........I thought that seeds came from catalogues...........

 

[luvs]

you want to know how to make an 80 year old Gramma mad??????? Take a bucket of those sun-basked cherry tomatos and eat all of them by yourself....Oinkersville.......how did I know that she was saving them to reseed her garden..........you remember Granny Clampett jumping up and down about something stupid Jethro Bodine did??? About the same reaction..........I thought that seeds came from catalogues...........

goodness, me!

 

[Claire]

The Itchy Fingers Site

Any of you looking spring in the face, but it is too early to plant? Here you don't plant until Mothers' Day, so another month to go. But the sun is out (although it is still sweats weather, not really warm). I have some seeds for greens that say I can plant before last frost, so I think this week I'll get out there. My chives are up; I've been using them for months. I think I'm going to work on cleaning the gardens and maybe buying some soil amendments. I know that in a few months I'll be sick and tired of working in the garden, but right now I'm ready.

 

[JMediger]

Claire, we're in the same boat. I'm hoping it will be dry enough to till next weekend and I can plant peas. Rhubarb is coming up nicely, no sign of asparagus yet - not sure when I should be concerned. The green houses are going up and my dad thinks plants are about three weeks away. I know I'll be tired of it too but I'm ready for dirty finger nails!

 

[babetoo]

all of mine is planted and up, i planted everything in pots. excited to see how this works

 

[msmofet]

Claire, we're in the same boat. I'm hoping it will be dry enough to till next weekend and I can plant peas. Rhubarb is coming up nicely, no sign of asparagus yet - not sure when I should be concerned. The green houses are going up and my dad thinks plants are about three weeks away. I know I'll be tired of it too but I'm ready for dirty finger nails!

i love rhubarb/strawberry pie.

 

[Snoop Puss]

Last year was my first at trying to grow things. Didn't get much in the way of summer veg - constantly digging new beds but always running behind the ideal time to plant. Winter was a lot better. Nothing like cauliflower cheese made with cauli picked half a minute before being put on to steam.
Will be a lot more ambitious this summer. Most beds ready to go, but still very cold here in this part of Spain. Anyway, you can tell I'm a novice: who else would think that tomato plants might have germinated and sprung up in the ten minutes since I last looked at them?

 

[Claire]

It is o'dark-thirty and I'm thinking about the day. It is too early for most things, but I've been told that hardy greens will work. So I'm thinking of starting my greens bed. Mustard, spinach, and chard. What do you think? My greens bed is only a few inches deep, set on top of an old cistern. Every year I throw a bag of topsoil and every couple of years a bag of composed manure. My husband occasionally tells me to plant something else there, and I have to remind him that there is only 3" of soil. But it works well; it is right outside of the kitchen door (yes, it is a 160-yr old house), and used to be the source of water for the home. So I put some soil on top of it every year, and we eat lettuce in the summer, and other greens in early and late months.

 

[msmofet]

It is o'dark-thirty and I'm thinking about the day. It is too early for most things, but I've been told that hardy greens will work. So I'm thinking of starting my greens bed. Mustard, spinach, and chard. What do you think? My greens bed is only a few inches deep, set on top of an old cistern. Every year I throw a bag of topsoil and every couple of years a bag of composed manure. My husband occasionally tells me to plant something else there, and I have to remind him that there is only 3" of soil. But it works well; it is right outside of the kitchen door (yes, it is a 160-yr old house), and used to be the source of water for the home. So I put some soil on top of it every year, and we eat lettuce in the summer, and other greens in early and late months.

o'dark-thirty

that sounds wonderful. my yard turns into a swimming pool when it rains so i don't have much luck. but this year i am thinking about doing planters hung on my deck railing. for herbs.

 

[JMediger]

Claire, I think you should be alright with hearty greens. The maple syrup run is coming to an end (here) which typically means we are near the end of freezing nights. I'm going to venture out with dalhia bulbs next weekend.

Msmofet, if you are doing hanging baskets, try one with cherry tomatoes. We have three baskets that hang off the shed and they do woderfully! Give them about four feet to hang and you should have a good deal of tomatoes with even one basket.

 

[msmofet]

Claire, I think you should be alright with hearty greens. The maple syrup run is coming to an end (here) which typically means we are near the end of freezing nights. I'm going to venture out with dalhia bulbs next weekend.

Msmofet, if you are doing hanging baskets, try one with cherry tomatoes. We have three baskets that hang off the shed and they do woderfully! Give them about four feet to hang and you should have a good deal of tomatoes with even one basket.

thank you. i was just going to do the window planter/box type. but your idea sounds great. can i put one of those long eye hooks into a post of my deck and hang a basket, do you think that will work?

 

[msmofet]

i keep seeing the commercials for those upside down tomato plants. has anyone tried them?

Topsy Turvy Hanging Tomato

 

[babetoo]

i have two, one seems to be doing ok. i find it hard to tell if needs water or not. probe woun't go down in dirt far enough to be sure. the plant in the other one died. will see if we get tomatoes or not. will replant the empty one.

 

[msmofet]

i have two, one seems to be doing ok. i find it hard to tell if needs water or not. probe woun't go down in dirt far enough to be sure. the plant in the other one died. will see if we get tomatoes or not. will replant the empty one.

hmmmmmmmmm sounds like a 50/50 chance. would you recommend it anyway?

 

[babetoo]

hmmmmmmmmm sounds like a 50/50 chance. would you recommend it anyway?

probably worth a try, i would advise not to fill with soil. just to depth of the plant. would think easier to check water. it is to easy to overwater and that is not good. also makes it very heavy. very heavy. interesting and certainly worth the ten bucks i spent on each. also say can use for eggplant, squash etc. fun project.

babe

 

[appleyard14]

i have a nice small herb garden im planting right now, hopefully everything turns out, I have rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, sage, and chives. I also have some garlic in the works, i had some last year and it turned out great, very small cloves kind of purple in color, very strong flavour. But when I made roasted garlic with that stuff it was amazing with anything

 

[JMediger]

thank you. i was just going to do the window planter/box type. but your idea sounds great. can i put one of those long eye hooks into a post of my deck and hang a basket, do you think that will work?

Yes, I think that would work. I think the window style would too if you put just one plant in per box (so their roots can spread). Just allow enough "hang space" below. If your railing is 3 - 4 feet up then the height of the planter, you should have plenty of space.

i keep seeing the commercials for those upside down tomato plants. has anyone tried them?

Topsy Turvy Hanging Tomato

We have a similar one (through Gardener's Supply) and it's great. Like Babe said, it is really heavy! You need to plan support for 60 - 80 pounds. We had a special stand made and it works well. Our's tipped over last year in a storm and broke off the plant. We still got one perfectly round tomato though! Hopefully we'll have better luck this summer!

 

[Michael in FtW]

i keep seeing the commercials for those upside down tomato plants. has anyone tried them?

Topsy Turvy Hanging Tomato

We've had a couple of threads on this - this one on Upside Down Tomato Plants will lead you to the one before that from a year ago.

 

[Claire]

Yes, yesterday, knowing that rain was coming, I planted the greens. Traditionally here in the upper midwest, we're told not to plant anything that isn't really hardy until Mothers' Day. I don't even have my watering hoses hooked up yet (hence the planning for rain thing). I did put my big pot full of both rosemary and curry leaf plants (they look so pretty together) outside, figuring that if we have a late frost I can just pull them back in. They really needed some humidity (all of the windows in my house have baseboard heaters under them, making it very easy to kill plants by drying them out). I'm thinking about taking my bay and lemongrass and putting them out as well. Does anyone know if they can handle a frost?