2013 Gardens

[SPLASH]

I got the gardens planted this weekend. A week later than last year because I really don't like planting knowing night temps flirt with freezing.

Here is the list.....................


Raised garden

3 German Johnson Tomato plants
2 Brandywine
1 Black Krim
1 Mortage Lifter
1 Delicious
1 Beefmaster

Same pickling cukes on same trellis as last year (Direct sow seed) a few Marketmore 76 slicing cuke seeds on ends of trellis.
A Butterhead lettuce mixture of seeds planted under the trellis in hopes I'll still grow good lettuce during the heat of summer since the cukes will shade.

Hot Peppers

1 Trinidad Scorpian (latest super hot, really unique "scorpian tail" bottom of fruit.
4 Hungarian yellow wax
4 Cayan

Sweet Peppers

1 Big Bertha
4 Purple Beauty
4 California Wonder

Planted a hill of Hale's Best Jumbo Cantaloupe and a hill of Crimson Sweet Watermelon.

I had a hell of a time finding onion bunches this year. 7th greenhouse had some, but not what I was hoping for. I was leary of ordering plants online. May have to start my own from seed over winter.
I ended up with just shy of 100 white onions.

RANT TIME! How in the hell can you run a decent sized greenhouse and have this on your sign for onion bunches?!
"White, Yellow, and Red Texas Onions"

Texas IS NOT a variety of onion! If they grow great in Texas, that means they are short day and we need long day. I planted them close to save space for everything else because I have a feeling they won't grow very well. We'll see.........

Here are some of the onions. On the bottom is after trimming for planting.



Notice the white plastic domes near the end of the garden. They are over my melon hills. Yesterday it was 14 degrees warmer in the dome than outside. The dome also stays humid and moist. Hoping this helps with germination.



Looking forward to some growing.




Other garden has more German Johnson tomatoes and a few other varieties. 31 total tomato plants this year.
A few kinds of slicing cukes, of course the pole beans along the fence so the dog can pick his own, jalapeno's and a couple sweet peppers, Gold Star Cantaloupe, yellow squash, zucchini, Brussels Sprouts, Acorn and Buttercup squash.

[ScoutB]

Nice work Splash. I hope it all grows well for you this year. Personally, I'm waiting for the farm stands to open again for the year. Shouldn't be long now - hoping for some fresh asparagus.

[SPLASH]

The soil near the lake should be very fertile. Just sayin........

[ScoutB]

Actually, it's all clay. I need to dig some of the muck out of the lake and make a garden. Someday. When I have some free time.

[SPLASH]

I read and watch videos on aquaponics. It's like hydroponics, but with fish for nutrients. If I lived on a lake, I'd definitely run a pump to use lake water for watering.

[SPLASH]

A little about the Trinidad Scorpian pepper I'm growing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Moruga_Scorpion

[ScoutB]

You eat those? Be sure to keep a box of popsicles on hand.

[wanderinangler]

That's quite a list! We have a lot growing too this year.
Tomatoes:
Brandywine
Black Krim
Black Plum
Beefsteak
Cherry
Cluster (like cherry, slightly larger)
Homestead
Baxters Bush

Beans:
Blue Lake Bush
Wax (bush)
Early Harvest (bush also)

Peas:
Sugar peas

Radishes:
Giant
Breakfast
Cherry
Crimson

Zucchini:
Bush Zucchini
Gold Zucchini (also bush)

Squash:
Summer Squash
Acorn Squash
Winter Squash
Early (like summer squash, bush type)

Cucumbers:
Marketmore
Armenian
Pickle
And some bush type I can't remember

Brussels sprouts
Beets
Spinach
Royal Red (lettuce)
Kohlrabi
Swiss Chard
Iceburg lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Cilantro
Broccoli
Green onions
Edamame
Watermelon
Carving pumpkin
Sugar pumpkin(for baking)
Cayenne pepper
Hungarian yellow pepper
Strawberries

Other than some of my wife's herbs.. I think that's it. Sounds like a lot, but if you were to look at my blog it's really not that much. Just a little bit of everything. We started most of these in the greenhouse. A few tomato plants, the broccoli, cilantro and the strawberries were purchased.

[SPLASH]

Greenhouse?! I'd love to have a greenhouse. Problem is............... I wouldn't be satisfied with the ones from Menards, too small. Let me suggest this guy on youtube. mhpgardener. He is down in Virginia and has two large greenhouses that he heats all winter with wood. Tons of greenhouse and outdoor gardening videos.

After a week of over 2.5" of rain, very high winds, tornadoes (nearest was about 4 miles away) and not much warm temps, my gardens aren't looking as good from the start as the past few years.
First the in ground garden- My bean seeds have not sprouted. 4 cukes have died, the rest look rough. Squashes and Gold Star cantaloupe look really rough, but maters are standing straight, peppers not too bad.
Raised bed- Hale's Best Jumbo cantaloupe seeds have not sprouted, but watermelon has. I am trying out the "Grow it now plant protectors"
youtu.be/l8xP5PZyyGs

I have the larger size ones on the cantaloupe and watermelon mounds. My tomatoes are all doing well except the Delicious plant. A branch blew out of a tree and crushed it. The stem wasn't snapped completely, but it's wounded. A couple of my small hot pepper plants are yellowing due to way too much water, but the larger ones and sweet pepper plants are looking good. My pickling cukes and marketmore's have sprouted. Only about half of the pickles though, I will plant more in a week or so. My dill hasn't sprouted. It may have gotten buried too deep from the rains. I need a bunch of dill, so I will for sure plant more.
The onions are the only thing I would say is doing great.

[ScoutB]

It has been a rough start with the weather for sure. I can sympathize with the gardeners in the group. My lawns are growing like gangbusters though. I'm mowing at least once a week right now and I'm still not keeping up. I need a couple of dry weeks in a row to slow things down.

[wanderinangler]

We did lose a few cucumbers the first time it got cold, but since then we haven't had any loss. The cool weather is holding back a few of my plants though, mainly the tomatoes and the peppers. When we get a warm day you can almost see them grow, then days like yesterday don't keep things going. I've harvested a bowl of radishes and peas already though, so the cooler weather plants are producing like crazy. I've got squash and zucchini growing already and they don't seem too affected by the weather. My biggest zucchini is about 3 inches right now. Won't be long! :-D

[wanderinangler]

Jun 2, 2013 13:02:30 GMT -5 SPLASH said:

Greenhouse?! I'd love to have a greenhouse. Problem is............... I wouldn't be satisfied with the ones from Menards, too small.

Our greenhouse is 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. It's about 6 foot tall at the point, but it plant's about 4 feet up. We were able to fit 8 trays of 72 cell flats under the shop lights. That is 576 cells. We obviously didn't use ALL of them, but we separated the flats by types of plants, that way I could adjust the lights height equally. We have the greenhouse in the basement so I don't need to worry about heating it much. When the seedlings outgrew their cells we'd put them in 8oz Styrofoam cups. We had probably 80 cups at the end and still a few plants in cells. We had also already filled three 5 gallon buckets with peas (5 - 6 plants per).

They may be small, and even kind of cheap, but they do work really well. I don't have the kind of yard where I could have the greenhouse I want, but this one has done really well by me. If the bigger one is out of your budget these $40 ones aren't a bad alternative.

[SPLASH]

Have a pic?

[wanderinangler]

I will get you a good picture. I'll even send a message to my wife to remind me to do it!

[magician]

I live on the lake and aside from a few weeks each summer when they treat the water I pump it from the lake. Works great!