I got my vegetable garden planted!

[SizzlininIN]

I'm so psyched! My BIL came yesterday and tilled me a garden spot. I didn't go real big as I didn't want to get discouraged.......no I regret not going a little bigger.
Anyway, I have 3 different tomatoes Big Boys - the kind you slice, Roma - for sauces and cherry tomatoes. I also put in 3 different bell peppers (red, yellow and green), cucumbers, carrots, radishes and lettuce.

I still need to put in some onions and garlic though. Unfort., they sell so many of the starters together and I don't need that many.

Constance......how to I plant garlic? Do I just put a full bulb in the ground or a clove?

Oh.......and I also put in my herb garden.......I can't wait to start using these.

 

[bethzaring]

I'm not Constance, but I have extensive experience growing garlic. This is not the time of the year to plant garlic. We (SE Ohio) plant garlic anytime from late October to mid November. It is harvested in mid July, cured about three weeks and then enjoy. You plant individual cloves, not the whole bulb, and plant it right side up, about 6 inches deep and 6 inches apart.

 

[kleenex]

I have in my garden at this point of time:

1 Yellow Banana Pepper plant
1 Jalapeno pepper plant
1 Poblano pepper plant
1 Big Jim Pepper plant
1 Habanero Pepper plant
4 Park's Sweet Banana Whopper Pepper plant

I would like to get one more pepper plant to round out my collection this year.

 

[Trip]

We started ours but cant plant the started ones yet (this is canada after all) but put out seeds of lettuce and beans, have cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinach started and planted my herb garden with is a first for me... So I'm on the ball too this year.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Thanks for letting me know about the garlic bethzaring.

kleenex ..... you like your peppers don't ya....

 

[mudbug]

Sizz, best of luck with your veggies. I'm a perennial plant person (read lazy), but like to hear about others' adventures with the bugs and the fertilizer and so on.

Best of all, you get nice fresh produce at the end that you KNOW where it came from.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Sizz, best of luck with your veggies. I'm a perennial plant person (read lazy), but like to hear about others' adventures with the bugs and the fertilizer and so on.

Best of all, you get nice fresh produce at the end that you KNOW where it came from.

I love perennials also. I just went out and spent way too much money on just flowers and shrubs. I really do look forward to eating what I've grown. Yes it will be interesting to see what all encounter in the garden this year as far as pests. I'm still trying to think of a way to keep the rabbits out. I haven't hardly seen any around here since we moved in but I think the garden will temp them to come around. The birds are already ticking me off pecking at my grass seed.....which I tried to protect with straw.

 

[kleenex]

The peppers from my garden are fresher than what you can get at the grocery store

 

[SizzlininIN]

The peppers from my garden are fresher than what you can get at the grocery store

Totally agree with that! I just have never met someone who focused on growing peppers......I think its great! I was thinking about growing some jalapenos but was afraid even 1 plant would produce more than I needed.

 

[bethzaring]

Hey Sizz, Good luck with this garden venture, I hope it works out well for you.

I have been gardening at this particular spot for 22 years and have noticed that our bunny rabbit population dissappeared a few years after the coyotes arrived, about five years ago. When we first gardened at this location, we had major problems with deer, groundhogs and bunny rabbits, to the point that we had to install a substantial fence around the garden. I swear the local critters spread the word about the nice salad bar in the neighborhood. . We have a few neighbors who have no fences around their gardens but they are able to let a few dogs run loose in that area.

Right now we have 3, 80 foot rows of potatoes up and growing nicely, (3 different varities), 3, 80 foot rows of garlic that are about 3 feet tall, 2, 80 foot rows of carrots that just germinated, a block of spinach that is ready to harvest, I recently set out the broccoli, parsley, onion and celery plants and about half of my tomato plants. It is still a bit risky to put out all frost sensitive plants here. I have basil, sweet potato and pepper plants waiting in the shadows for the weather to settle. We actually plant stuff every month from March through Sept to be able to harvest fresh produce. We concentrate on eating fresh from the garden to lessen the amount I have to put by. I usually can or freeze green beans, green peppers, sweet corn, various tomato products, pesto, wild black raspberry products. We also grow kale, winter squash, pumpkins for decorations, asparagus, lotsa spinach we may plant spinach 4 times during a growing season, cabbage for slaw. I LOVE fresh green beans so we make two plantings of them. Our garden is about 100 feet by 100 feet. We trade some garden produce with some friends who supply us with their beef. And flowers, a soul needs flowers. I started zinnas this year and set them out yesterday.

 

[Claire]

In our area it is traditional not to plant before mothers' day (to do so is to invite a late freeze), so I have my workload ahead of me. I've lived here 4 years, and have decided on the following:

3-5 pepper plants. Mostly hot for drying in the fall.
4 tomato plants -- two early girls in the ground, one each plum and patio in whisky barrels
2 cucumber vines -- preferably pickling cukes. I don't actually pickle them, just like them
a mixed lettuce bed (this I did put in this week). I mix greens, then plant them in an area where the soil is shallow and nothing that needs deep roots will grow.
a red onion set -- I plant them, and use all summer as green onions, then later as round onions.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Wow beth.....thats quite a garden you have there. I'll def. be increasing mine next year as there wasn't room for other things I really wanted to plant. Oh well I'll be hitting the farmers market for those things.

I'm going to try my hand at canning this year too. I'll def. be giving a shout out when that time comes as I'll need all the help I can get.

Clare.....mom always said not to plant certain garden items and flowers till after mothers day also. I got impatient though......it was only 5 days though .....maybe the frost king/queen wasn't watching......lets hope.

 

[kleenex]

Totally agree with that! I just have never met someone who focused on growing peppers......I think its great! I was thinking about growing some jalapenos but was afraid even 1 plant would produce more than I needed.

If you planted just one big jalapeno plant you will have all you would need for a year.

 

[kleenex]

In our area it is traditional not to plant before mothers' day (to do so is to invite a late freeze), so I have my workload ahead of me. I've lived here 4 years, and have decided on the following:

I had one day this year that I had to bring out plastic mayo jars becuase of a freeze warning. I would hate to lose all of the plants I planted.

 

[kleenex]

Well I went to the farmers market today and picked up a red cattail hanging basket:

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/05555.html

Could not find a pepper plant that said buy me, so I went over to a big gigantic local mom and pop nursery and I picked up one 6 pack of Thai Dragon peppers to finish off my pepper plant buying this year I hope.

It will be a another couple weeks before I can purchase a sunflower plant though for the garden.

 

[Claire]

Sizzlin, I, too often get impatient and plant to early. I pretty know what can take it, but the hard part is annual flowers. Since I hit Florida during the time I'd be tempted this year (just got back last week) I did OK. BUT NOW this darned rain is making me crazy. I'm ready to get started, but cold rain doesn't inspire me. When will this cold front pass on?

 

[bethzaring]

I think it is several more days before the weather will clear. Over the past several days, I have only received 7/10th of one inch of rain. I have been able to do a bit of mowing and transplanting into the garden. Our garden is on a slope (flat land is scarce around here) and we keep it heavily mulched, we can get into the garden pretty much at will. I just picked some asparagus and spinach. As soon as the weather breaks, we will get a first cutting of hay. Spring weather is always a challange to navigate.