|
|
Post by Superb Owl π¦ on Mar 1, 2016 13:58:45 GMT -5
Father-in-law gifted us his raised planters because he moved to a new place without a deck, so I'm excited at the prospect of growing more of our own veggies this year.
Speaking of which, between growing a better veggie crop ourselves and the farmer's market, I want to set a goal for Owlette and I to incorporate more and more variety of vegetables into our cooking this spring/summer. Those of you that are used to having a lot, please share your creative food ideas.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 1, 2016 14:09:39 GMT -5
Father-in-law gifted us his raised planters because he moved to a new place without a deck, so I'm excited at the prospect of growing more of our own veggies this year. Speaking of which, between growing a better veggie crop ourselves and the farmer's market, I want to set a goal for Owlette and I to incorporate more and more variety of vegetables into our cooking this spring/summer. Those of you that are used to having a lot, please share your creative food ideas. We should totally start a "Cook Your Veg" thread on the Food Board, because this is a constant battle for me. I'm really good at just, like, roasting or sauteing my CSA haul and justifying the lack of creativity by claiming the produce quality is so high that it doesn't demand anything more. The truth is just that I'm lazy and lack creativity. |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 1, 2016 18:57:09 GMT -5
I figured I'd make some butterbeans to go with supper, and holy hell I had to make a lot after I discovered how many from 2015 I had in the freezer. We haven't laid out our row plans yet this year so I don't know how many rows I'll plant. Definitely not three again. Two rows of green beans was all I could handle, too.
I hope to be so busy with a new job by harvest time that I have to work hard to keep up. There's certainly a danger of my plans getting too big now that I'm at the house.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hugs and Hisses on Mar 1, 2016 19:56:34 GMT -5
I figured I'd make some butterbeans to go with supper, and holy hell I had to make a lot after I discovered how many from 2015 I had in the freezer. We haven't laid out our row plans yet this year so I don't know how many rows I'll plant. Definitely not three again. Two rows of green beans was all I could handle, too. I hope to be so busy with a new job by harvest time that I have to work hard to keep up. There's certainly a danger of my plans getting too big now that I'm at the house. So now you have a whole row free you would have used on beans? You know what this means! Impulse Plant Time! Woo-hoo! One year, we impulse-planted peanuts. In New Jersey. We grew exactly one peanut. It's quite possibly my greatest accomplishment in life. While we were in Disneyworld, Liz and I overheard a woman in her late-teens/early-20s talking about her plans for her future. She made some comment about how she was going to get an apartment and then figure out what she was going to do with her life and then go to grad school and blah blah blah. I said to Liz, "I'm going to buy a house, grow a peanut, and then take the rest of my life off." Done, done, and done. |
|
|
|
Post by Djse's witty November moniker on Mar 3, 2016 1:50:01 GMT -5
Quick update: Well...not entirely sure what happened, but everything we had under lamps except for a few peppers (2 orange bell and 2 hot Portugals) just up and died a few days ago. I checked them before work, all good...got home from work, all the leaves had fallen off and most of the sprouts had flopped over. The good news is we doubled our space under the lamps, started over with fresh soil, and we've already got some sprouts cracking the surface again. Fingers crossed for better luck with round 2.
I am still avoiding the community garden plot. Baby steps.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 3, 2016 11:05:23 GMT -5
Quick update: Well...not entirely sure what happened, but everything we had under lamps except for a few peppers (2 orange bell and 2 hot Portugals) just up and died a few days ago. I checked them before work, all good...got home from work, all the leaves had fallen off and most of the sprouts had flopped over. The good news is we doubled our space under the lamps, started over with fresh soil, and we've already got some sprouts cracking the surface again. Fingers crossed for better luck with round 2. I am still avoiding the community garden plot. Baby steps. Oh my god, that's a nightmare!! I don't even want to think about that happening to our little plants. ::rocks in place, whimpering:: I'm so sorry, and I'm so impressed at how casually you're like, "Welp, we just started again!" |
|
|
|
Post by Buon Funerale Amigos on Mar 3, 2016 11:05:30 GMT -5
Quick update: Well...not entirely sure what happened, but everything we had under lamps except for a few peppers (2 orange bell and 2 hot Portugals) just up and died a few days ago. I checked them before work, all good...got home from work, all the leaves had fallen off and most of the sprouts had flopped over. The good news is we doubled our space under the lamps, started over with fresh soil, and we've already got some sprouts cracking the surface again. Fingers crossed for better luck with round 2. Ouch. Sounds like damping off or something else fungal. |
|
|
|
Post by Djse's witty November moniker on Mar 3, 2016 12:43:53 GMT -5
Quick update: Well...not entirely sure what happened, but everything we had under lamps except for a few peppers (2 orange bell and 2 hot Portugals) just up and died a few days ago. I checked them before work, all good...got home from work, all the leaves had fallen off and most of the sprouts had flopped over. The good news is we doubled our space under the lamps, started over with fresh soil, and we've already got some sprouts cracking the surface again. Fingers crossed for better luck with round 2. Ouch. Sounds like damping off or something else fungal. That was Djshe's theory as well. When we started over we used all fresh pots and new soil, so here's hoping this round makes it a bit further along. |
|
|
|
Post by π cahusserole π on Mar 3, 2016 12:46:33 GMT -5
I need to go buy some neem oil or something. Three days in the ground and my pumpkins are already getting chewed on.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hugs and Hisses on Mar 3, 2016 13:33:17 GMT -5
Djse's witty November moniker -- I'm so sorry about your seedling disaster! No joke, I had signed on here to mention that I'd had my first gardening nightmare of the season -- I dreamed all my onion seedlings dried up and died overnight. Clearly, your veggies are visiting me in my sleep! I'll try to dream of bumper crops tonight. 
|
|
|
|
Post by π cahusserole π on Mar 3, 2016 20:17:19 GMT -5
AFTER:  I have discovered that underneath that layer of mulch is, like, 90% rocks. Apparently my parents had a "river bed fill" or something when they got it landscaped. So now I have to get all that out and put real dirt in. My mom asked if I planted anything today. No, I just cleared about two square feet. Also I have no idea what to do with these rocks. It's not like they're recyclable or compostable. I'd have to wash them if I wanted to, like, fill up some jars as decoration (which I am not interested in anyway). |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 4, 2016 10:38:29 GMT -5
I have discovered that underneath that layer of mulch is, like, 90% rocks. Apparently my parents had a "river bed fill" or something when they got it landscaped. So now I have to get all that out and put real dirt in. My mom asked if I planted anything today. No, I just cleared about two square feet. Also I have no idea what to do with these rocks. It's not like they're recyclable or compostable. I'd have to wash them if I wanted to, like, fill up some jars as decoration (which I am not interested in anyway). Is there any other part of your yard that would benefit from a "river bed fill"?  Maybe you could make a little fake stream and get one of those tiny decorative bridges to nowhere? |
|
|
|
Post by Djse's witty November moniker on Mar 4, 2016 11:29:34 GMT -5
The 2nd round of seedlings under lamps are doing all right so far. We're right around the point where they all up and died last time, so I'm hoping for happy seedlings when I get home from work today. Lettuce and peas are slowly but surely starting to break the surface in one of the raised beds outside. I'll take some photos this weekend if things are still alive.  |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 7, 2016 10:38:01 GMT -5
I wasn't expecting to see any signs of life in the pepper tray until later this week, but an impatient peek at it yesterday morning yielded a huge surprise. Three different varieties are already sprouting!! Spring's super-accelerated even indoors this year!  I can't wait to eat that monkey! |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 8, 2016 10:10:53 GMT -5
We have entirely not enough crocuses in our yard. Every year I say in the spring, "Let's plant more crocuses in the fall!" and then completely forget about it. But this year? This year I'm going to make a map of what spots in the front need more bulbs in them, and then I'm actually going to order those bulbs in the summer, and plant them in the fall, like an actual grown-up, responsible person. There's no stopping me now!*
*Check back in the fall. There might be stopping me now.
|
|
moimoi
AV Clubber 
Posts: 5,088 
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 8, 2016 10:40:30 GMT -5
We have entirely not enough crocuses in our yard. Every year I say in the spring, "Let's plant more crocuses in the fall!" and then completely forget about it. But this year? This year I'm going to make a map of what spots in the front need more bulbs in them, and then I'm actually going to order those bulbs in the summer, and plant them in the fall, like an actual grown-up, responsible person. There's no stopping me now!* *Check back in the fall. There might be stopping me now. I tried planting crocuses one Fall, but it led to a showdown with the local squirrel population - whereupon I suffered repeated humiliation and my flowerbeds were decimated. Coating crocus bulbs in repellent will keep them from getting eaten, but they'll still get dug up and may not bloom. I think the only way to keep the ravenous rodents away is a physical barrier of some sort. |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 8, 2016 10:52:48 GMT -5
I tried planting crocuses one Fall, but it led to a showdown with the local squirrel population - whereupon I suffered repeated humiliation and my flowerbeds were decimated. Coating crocus bulbs in repellent will keep them from getting eaten, but they'll still get dug up and may not bloom. I think the only way to keep the ravenous rodents away is a physical barrier of some sort. Yeah, fencing's often the only way to go, and even then that won't stop squirrels. For the most part we don't have a huge crocus attrition issue with them, thank heavens, but man, the deer will hoover up the tulip bulbs as soon as you turn your back. One of my former bosses told me once that he'd bought hundreds of tulip bulbs for his new house, spent an entire weekend day planting them, and the next morning came outside to discover that literally every last bulb had been dug up and eaten. Our squirrel showdown/humiliation has been with pumpkins. Our garden fence is the perfect size to put little pie pumpkins atop each fencepost in the fall, and it makes our yard look so jaunty and seasonal. We did this for a few years, and then suddenly one autumn the squirrels seemed to discover that with a little work the pumpkins were edible. First they'd gut one pumpkin at a time, so that we'd feel like, "Oh, no problem, we can replace that one..." but then they got greedy and would skeletonize our fence in one day. I tried everything, but even coating the peppers in a cayenne paste didn't stop those little fuckers. And then they realized that we were growing the pumpkins, so they could eat them even before we put them atop the fenceposts. At that point the only thing to do was give up on pumpkins altogether. |
|
|
|
Post by Djse's witty November moniker on Mar 8, 2016 13:24:18 GMT -5
Quick photo-less update:
The 2nd round of seedlings is doing much better. I think the initial issue was a combination of lousy soil and the lamps being a bit too far away. Just about everything has cracked the surface at this point and are looking much stronger than round one.
We had to put chicken wire over the top of the raised bed that has the lettuce and peas so the squirrels would stop going after the seeds...and the puppy would stop rolling in the combination of compost and chicken fertilizer. (Anyone want a really stinky puppy? CHEAP.)
|
|
|
|
Post by π cahusserole π on Mar 8, 2016 22:36:04 GMT -5
Everything is planted! I was going to take photos, but then I realized that at this point everything just looks really pathetic.
(After I get back from my trip, I'm going to buy some more plant-plants, but all the seedlings are in the ground.)
|
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,088
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 9, 2016 0:00:33 GMT -5
On this 68 degree day in Chicago, I put out my rain barrels and lemon tree, surveyed the landscape and created a to-do list (up next: fertilize, mulch and weed cover). Tomorrow, I'm making my first trip to the garden center (!) to get some ideas for my hanging planters.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 9, 2016 10:06:34 GMT -5
Everything is planted! I was going to take photos, but then I realized that at this point everything just looks really pathetic. (After I get back from my trip, I'm going to buy some more plant-plants, but all the seedlings are in the ground.) Oh god, there's nothing sadder than taking that first step back after planting all the seedlings outside. You've spent weeks nurturing them, watching them go from seed to sturdy little baby plant, and you feel like they've gotten so huge and strong, and you work so hard getting everything into the ground and it's like, "YES! My garden is AWESOME! It's so FULL OF BOUNTY!" And then you look again, or actually take the photo and look at it in the camera, and it's like, "Uhhh... where are the plants? It's all just dirt." But seriously, congratulations! I was just surveying our garden this morning and whining about how desperately I don't want it to be empty anymore. I have such garden envy!! |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 9, 2016 10:18:58 GMT -5
So our garden has eight raised beds, which are all made of wood. They are wonderful, except that after a bunch of years holding damp soil, the wood starts to rot. In the last year we've been going through and rebuilding the beds one at a time, a job that's a total pain in the ass from start to finish. There's much bickering, and resentment of whichever one of us got the bee in her bonnet to take care of the task that day instead of letting it slide more (we seem never to be on the same page when it comes to the bed-rebuilding agenda), and frustration from the one of us who is comfortable using the power drill (hint: it's not me), and guilt from the one who isn't comfortable using the power drill (hint: that's not Hugs), and it's awful. But the most annoying part is getting the lumber, because we've decided, for some reason, that we need to get it from Lowe's and transport it home ourselves in Hugs's Prius. The 8-foot boards will juuuuuuuuust fit in the hatchback, but then the passenger has to spend the whole drive home holding up the ends of the boards that are sticking between the front seats, because otherwise they hit the gearshift thing. The whole ordeal of going out after work, waiting at Lowe's for the guy to cut the lumber, then driving it home so stupidly unsafely is such a drag that we tend to do one bed rebuild and then let it go a few months before tackling another.
Yesterday Hugs made an amazing discovery. There is a lumberyard in the next town, a small, locally-owned business that is not annoying like Lowe's! And they might be able to provide all the lumber we need for the remaining rotting beds... and deliver it to us! HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE?
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 9, 2016 10:56:14 GMT -5
This year's experimental crop: black sesame.
This warm weather means it's just about time for me to get out there and start breaking up the plots.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hugs and Hisses on Mar 9, 2016 11:29:31 GMT -5
This year's experimental crop: black sesame. This warm weather means it's just about time for me to get out there and start breaking up the plots. Black sesame! How exciting! I just looked up what the plants look like. Those seed pods are wild! |
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,088
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 10, 2016 15:14:11 GMT -5
tulips sprouting! come on spring!  |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 10, 2016 16:43:00 GMT -5
I just visited the plots for the first time today. I spent a couple hours pulling old stalks and raking out dry grass in preparation for roto-tilling. It's supposed to rain all weekend, but maybe in another week I can till.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 11, 2016 11:21:53 GMT -5
Our garlic all started sprouting in December, when it was so goofy warm, but calmed down a lot over the last two months. The other day I wandered into the garden and noticed that it looks like it's roaring back to life. Go garlic, go!  |
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,088
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 11, 2016 11:44:09 GMT -5
Our garlic all started sprouting in December, when it was so goofy warm, but calmed down a lot over the last two months. The other day I wandered into the garden and noticed that it looks like it's roaring back to life. Go garlic, go! What color are your flowers? My ornamental garlic has light purple flowers. I assume yours is the edible variety..? |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 11, 2016 11:56:51 GMT -5
What color are your flowers? My ornamental garlic has light purple flowers. I assume yours is the edible variety..? I've never let them get to flowering, so I have no idea!  I suspect, based on all the other alliums I've grown, they'd probably also be purple. (Oh wait -- I have had the odd scape here or there slip through the cracks. They've never actually flowered, though -- they just got big seed heads full of basically little tiny intense crunchy purple garlic bombs. So that's a kind of cool thing, I guess... And still with the purple!) I should add that I never realized there was such a thing as ornamental garlic. That's totally awesome! I need to look this up, and see how much it varies from what edible garlic grows like. |
|
|
|
Post by π cahusserole π on Mar 14, 2016 0:23:23 GMT -5
Welcome back to Huss Has Obviously Never Planted Things In The Ground Before:
Half of my peppers and cucumbers have been eaten already. I found the culprit tonight: I need to kill me some snails.
Suggestions for a snail-killer that is friendly for veggies and won't get washed away in our recent torrents of rain? I know my SIL set out dishes of beer to lure them in, but the rain has been so intense that I'm afraid they'd get diluted. Maybe I can make little propped-open lids?
|
|
Maybe you could make a little fake stream and get one of those tiny decorative bridges to nowhere?
I suspect, based on all the other alliums I've grown, they'd probably also be purple. (Oh wait -- I have had the odd scape here or there slip through the cracks. They've never actually flowered, though -- they just got big seed heads full of basically little tiny intense crunchy purple garlic bombs. So that's a kind of cool thing, I guess... And still with the purple!)