Beginning into the garden season 2018

[blissful]

Ah, the gardening season is beginning. I'd love to hear about your gardens, if you plant them where you are.

1.What part of what state are you gardening in?
2.How do you garden, or farm, or ?
3.What do you raise?
4.Watering restrictions?
5.Do you start seeds?
6.When can you plant outside without worrying about freezing?
7.Hoop house, cover frames, heating, green house?
8.Other stuff?

1.(I'm in SE Wisconsin away from the big cities.)
2.(2 raised beds, three tilled gardens.)
3.(trellised blackberries, asparagus, numerous fruit trees-apple, pear, apricot, cherries, plums, strawberries ever bearing, garlic, herbs, vegetables, flowers.)
4.(no watering restrictions, well water)
5.(we start seeds in Feb/march)
6.(outside planting date June 1st)
7.(two cover frames on raised gardens)
8.(I trade for seeds and I have tomato, pepper, basil, and lettuce seeds.) (I put my garlic in the ground Oct/Nov, for harvest in July, so my gardening season has begun!)(We try new things every year.)

How about you?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

1.Eastern Wyoming, zone 4-5
2. 1 raised bed, large tilled garden (at Mom and Dad's), working on sunflower patch on the south side of the house this year, and a pumpkin patch, I also have flower beds and 2 rock gardens with succulents.
3. at M&D's - tomatoes, peppers (hot and sweet), onions, peas, carrots, lettuce, herbs, bush beans, tomatillos, watermelon, eggplant, asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, blackberries, have 6 new plum trees, raspberries, elderberries. My house - blueberry, pumpkins, flowers all over, trying to get perennial beds and bulb beds going year to year. Pumpkin patch going into the raised bed. Fern and shade flowers, hibiscus on north side of the house.
4. no water restrictions
5. we start the vegetables in the chicken coop, can start anytime as it's heated, will likely start when the weather lets up, too expensive to heat in subzero temps.
6. after Mother's day
7. have put in sunlights, electric and water to the coop. Dad and I have been building tables and shelves. Playing with the idea of a small greenhouse
8. I'll be making a patio garden for my deck, so I can just head out the door for quick lettuce and tomatoes instead of going to Mom's house anytime I feel like a salad. I get my seeds from Territorial Seed Co. out of Oregon.

 

[larry_stewart]

1) Long Island, NY
2) Primarily Raised beds Some stone, Some wood, but little by little my garden is expanding in non raised areas.
3) Always the basic veggies ( string beans, cukes, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, eggplants, Okra, zucchini, cabbage, chard, lettuce,tomatillo, garlic, herbs ), Peanuts, raspberries, blue berries, chestnuts, apples, peaches, strawberries, ramps, mulberries. Im not great at growing flowers, but I happened to have a good sunflower year last year. I also like to try new things. Im a sucker for anything new or exotic. If i see it in the garden store, and i haven't tried it yet, i have to get it .
4) No water restrictions ( unless a drought, but thats rare)
5) Tomatoes, string beans, peanuts, cukes all star by seed ( about April 1st) in my boiler room with plant lights. The room says at a constant 75- 80 degrees).
6) Everything else I buy as seedlings, except the potatoes ( seed potatoes), garlic and onions. I always try to get a jump on the season in March/ April with cabbages, peas, spinach, lettuce but i rarely have much luck. Usually May is when things get more predictable. Potatoes go in in April with no problems, Garlic October/ November of the previous year( picked about July 4th)
7) Make shift row covers, more for the cabbages to keep the bugs out than anything else. Wish I had a green house.
8) Exotic fruit trees That will probably amount to nothing, but it keeps me busy: Avocado, Myers Lemon ( got a few), Kafir Lime ( got a few, and leaves are useful), Pineapple (successful but time consuming), allspice, dragon fruit, olive, dwarf banana, moringa tree, fig Mushrooms ( shiitake, oyster, cremini, button..good winter project), aquaponic system ( basically turns a fish tank into a self containing garden, plants filter the water, fish waste feed the plants, usually I grow basil )

 

[caseydog]

1. I am in North Texas.

2. I have a small yard, so I don't have a big garden.

3. I grow mostly peppers and herbs.

4. Watering restrictions? Yes, but not for hand watering of plants. I have almost no lawn, and I'm getting rid of more every year, and replacing with native plants.

5. No, I start with small container-grown plants. They are cheap, and very easy.

6. I can plant by the second or third week in March, and not worry about freezing.

7. Nothing special.

8. The challenge here is mid-summer, when it is very hot and dry. My pepper plants will flower, but not set fruit in mid-summer. So, I get one small early harvest, and a much bigger harvest in the fall. My herbs are pretty tough in all kinds of weather, except for my basil. It needs a lot of water in the summer, and doesn't last through the winter. On the other hand, rosemary is bullet-proof down here. I replace it about every three years, only because it gets too woody.

CD

 

[bethzaring]

Spring/summer has arrived early and we are in an extreme drought.
New Mexico Drought Conditions Interactive Web Map April 17, 2018

Here are my greens, onions, and garlic with the asparagus to the right.

 

[blissful]

Bethzaring, beautiful!
We prepped the garden, tilled, added composted manure last fall. Things will start to be put in the garden, potatoes this week, and in another 2 weeks the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Lots of other small things.
This is our first year using landscape fabric to cut down on weeding. This is our garlic garden last week.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Plans went out the window, I've got the flowers in, but the veg have been scaled way back. Dad needed shoulder surgery and he won't be able to help for another 4 weeks. So I am just making up a small bed for myself and helped Mom with her tomatoes. I've had my tomatoes outside for the last couple weeks, they are doing fine.

 

[Addie]

Plans went out the window, I've got the flowers in, but the veg have been scaled way back. Dad needed shoulder surgery and he won't be able to help for another 4 weeks. So I am just making up a small bed for myself and helped Mom with her tomatoes. I've had my tomatoes outside for the last couple weeks, they are doing fine.

I can understand completely. My daughter's husband tore his shoulder tendon away from the bone. Got a massive cortisone injection. That helped the pain, but that is all. Since he does all the driving for a summer day trips, those won't be happening this year. I had hoped I could plant a small garden this year. But that isn't going to happen either. Not until way after my upcoming fourth surgery. I don't have to worry about tilling. Management sends maintenance to do that. They have all the equipment needed.