2021 Gardening Timeline & Bragging Thread

[bwframe]

I worked part of the south facing side of the house today. Pulled a lot of creeping charlie and mulched the year old asparagus with compost.

Cleared some dead leaves from overwintered leaks and bunching onions. Also dug half of the horseradish bed and replanted the just starting tops.

I have an herb garden along another south facing building. These south facing "flower gardens" are a pleasure to work on chilly yet sunny days. Convection/reflection warms the beds nicely bringing early spring yeilds.

 

[d.kaufman]

So if I’m on year two, should I just let the runners do whatever they want? I have a 4 x 10 raised bed garden that the strawberries were in. I have two beds, and the other has pepper / tomatoes. I had cucumbers, and two tomato plants in the strawberry planter. I’m either not gonna to tomatoes in the strawberry planter, or just do cucumbers and strawberries. This past year cucumbers were producing more than I could even give away. Tomatoes did okay but were still producing when it started freezing. That late frost messed things up.

Key with the runners is to let them take root then cut the vine from the mother plant. My runners end up outside of my patch so I then transplant them back into the patch

 

[Expat]

I point the runners in the same direction, so the patch moves slowly across the garden. Then I keep tilling over on the old side a few feet each year., to keep it the same approximate size.

 

[teddy12b]

I'm trying something new this year by putting down a weed barrier and then poking holes in where I want plants to grow. I'm hoping this keeps the weeds down to a minimum.

I'm also going to do some experimenting with laying a cattle panel on it's side for green beans to use at a trellis and I'm hoping to grow the heck out of them.

 

[d.kaufman]

I'm also going to do some experimenting with laying a cattle panel on it's side for green beans to use at a trellis

We use cattle fencing for our cucumbers. Works great

 

[Expat]

I'm trying something new this year by putting down a weed barrier and then poking holes in where I want plants to grow. I'm hoping this keeps the weeds down to a minimum.

I'm also going to do some experimenting with laying a cattle panel on it's side for green beans to use at a trellis and I'm hoping to grow the heck out of them.

I used black plastic around the tomatoes and peppers for many years. They like the heat anyway.

 

[CindyE]

I'm trying something new this year by putting down a weed barrier and then poking holes in where I want plants to grow. I'm hoping this keeps the weeds down to a minimum.

I'm also going to do some experimenting with laying a cattle panel on it's side for green beans to use at a trellis and I'm hoping to grow the heck out of them.

i did that last year and it did help. i probably should order more...

 

[XtremeVel]

tomato's and peppers thrive when planted through slits in red plastic. Something about certain ultra violet rays from sun being reflected back into underside of leaves, giving them a extra dose.

While red plastic isn’t quite as effective as black, it still works well In preventing much weeding without the risk of overheating your soil if in a raised bed.

What I have found is it can benefit more then just helping preventing weeds. It also is great at preventing some soil borne diseases from splashing up and infecting your plants.

The only downside I have found to using plastic mulch is it does make watering a little more challenging.

 

[bwframe]

tomato's and peppers thrive when planted through slits in red plastic. Something about certain ultra violet rays from sun being reflected back into underside of leaves, giving them a extra dose.

While red plastic isn’t quite as effective as black, it still works well In preventing much weeding without the risk of overheating your soil if in a raised bed.

What I have found is it can benefit more then just helping preventing weeds. It also is great at preventing some soil borne diseases from splashing up and infecting your plants.

The only downside I have found to using plastic mulch is it does make watering a little more challenging.

Woven garden fabric is popular.



Starting the second year here. I left it down (and growing spinach) for the year. We'll see how it plays out.

This year just digging out last year's holes, filling them back with compost and a new plant or seed.

 

[spencer rifle]

Rolled up pea seeds in wet paper towel for sprouting. Have the basement grow shelf set up and ready. Burned off the rest of last year's leaves in the garden area. Had to physically remove the chickens before they did some stupid chicken thing like run into the fire.

 

[Snapdragon]

I bought tomato seeds to plant a couple of months ago and forgot until a couple weeks ago. Seedlings are 1-2" tall now. Is it going to be too late for them?

 

[Expat]

I bought tomato seeds to plant a couple of months ago and forgot until a couple weeks ago. Seedlings are 1-2" tall now. Is it going to be too late for them?

View attachment 130776

You have 2 months still, so you should be okay.

 

[d.kaufman]

I bought tomato seeds to plant a couple of months ago and forgot until a couple weeks ago. Seedlings are 1-2" tall now. Is it going to be too late for them?

View attachment 130776

Yup. Plenty of time especially since it'll be 2 months or so till you can put them in the ground

 

[Magyars]

We've downsized our garden from 50' X 50' to 5 4x8 raised beds.
Our spinach, grown in a small widow style green house over the winter is now being harvested....
Already planning our next crops..seeds may get hard to find this year.
Don't plant before Mother's day...!!!!

 

[bwframe]

Key with the runners is to let them take root then cut the vine from the mother plant. My runners end up outside of my patch so I then transplant them back into the patch

I point the runners in the same direction, so the patch moves slowly across the garden. Then I keep tilling over on the old side a few feet each year., to keep it the same approximate size.

I smothered about 3/4 of my strawberry patch today with woven garden fabric. It's always seemed counter-intuitive to kill growing plants.

I am hoping to move the runners growing in the last 1/4 of the strawberry patch to grow on the ground cover, then smother the rest.

Any advice, tips, links or video on this endeavor appreciated.

 

[d.kaufman]

I smothered about 3/4 of my strawberry patch today with woven garden fabric. It's always seemed counter-intuitive to kill growing plants.

I am hoping to move the runners growing in the last 1/4 of the strawberry patch to grow on the ground cover, then smother the rest.

Any advice, tips, links or video on this endeavor appreciated.

Dont know if this will help but I dont kill off any plants. They die off naturally and I just keep transplanting runners into the same area (8×8 patch) Good organic composte works wonders on keeping my patch full of needed nutrients

Sounds like Expat has more room so he directs the runners a certain direction, but every so often tills in the opposite side from where he's directing the runners. Essentially keeping the same size patch, but slowly moving in a certain direction.

Dont see anything wrong with either approach

 

[bwframe]

I've thought about adding at least one more variety of strawberry. I started the Parks Whopper berries 4 years ago. May look to plant some ever bearing berries?

What varieties do you guys have growing?

 

[d.kaufman]

What varieties do you guys have growing?

Some of my favorite everbearing are ever sweet, temptation, and ozark beauty.

At this point in my patch there's probably 8-10 varieties that grow in a given year

 

[churchmouse]

We use cattle fencing for our cucumbers. Works great

Ditto. We have more than doubled the yield doing this.

We also use a weed covering on the ground and yes we rarely have to weed.

 

[bwframe]

Some of my favorite everbearing are ever sweet, temptation, and ozark beauty.

At this point in my patch there's probably 8-10 varieties that grow in a given year

Thanks! Just ordered some Ozark Beauty and Chanders from the MIgardener, along with some seeds that have been laying in the cart, waiting to build an order.