Anxious To Get Started Gardening

[posiepurrs]

Now that I am retired I will have the time to garden again. I was worried about being able to dig to prepare my vegetable garden because of my bad knees but I found some videos on YouTube showing how to do no dig gardening. I am going to try that this year. I am starting slowly with just a few things - sweet peas, bunching onions, tomatoes, peppers, summer squash and potatoes (maybe). Nothing like the garden I had when the kids were growing up. I didn't have to buy any vegetables back then. I had enough for fresh and then I froze or canned or stored the rest. I even grew my own bread poppies and sesame seeds for baking. I am anxious to get started but it is WAY to early yet as our last frost date is the 3rd week of May. I can't even start seeds yet. We had a snow and ice storm last night. Anyone else anxious to get started?

 

[verna davies]

I have had some lovely weather lately so I've dug my garden...it is small so no big deal... I'm going to grow in pots this year, tomatoes, potatoes, runner beans. I planted my begonies in small pots at the beginning of the week ready for my hanging baskets and they are inside on the windowsill of my garage. Like you, I cant wait to do more.

 

[posiepurrs]

Some of what I am planning to grow I will put in the flower beds to give more space for other things in the garden and to confuse pests. I only need one or two squash plants, and since I am the only one who likes fresh tomatoes just one or two of those also unless I decide to make sauce.

 

[AbbysMom]

I'm the opposite of you. I've been feeling overwhelmed and I think I am going to skip the vegetable garden this year.

 

[aliceneko]

I started my first gardening of the year today. Planted Lily of the Valley (far away from where the cats normally roam) and am going to plant some Bleeding Hearts for next spring.
Also need to plant crocuses for next spring and organise my wildflower garden!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Usually I am but I've been so focused on other things that DH and I were talking about giving the garden a rest year.

2 of my raised beds are literally falling apart. And we've been discussing the need to stop dividing my attention. I think what I may do is only plant tomatoes and maybe some peppers. There are still a number of farm stands to visit and some of my standard favorites like cukes and summer squash seem to fail every year anyway.

I will still want my flowers. But they go in pots and aren't so hard to water.

 

[NY cat man]

I just picked up a do-it-yourself magazine with an article about building raised, no-stoop planting beds using wood, with corrugated metal sides. There are provisions for a water reservoir and a cover for frost protection. I may just build a couple of them for this year.

 

[weebeasties]

We are just growing a little bit this year. Tomatoes and peppers in grow boxes and cucumbers in the ground. I've started my seeds and have impatiens to put in hanging baskets today. I'm thinking about planting some chive and parsley. I've never grown herbs before.

 

[lizzie]

We garden in raised beds,too,but they're not exceptionally tall.Ours are 8 feet wide and 50 feet long and they're about a foot tall.We have blackberries,raspberries,and 3 elderberry trees,four o'clocks,iris,a yellow knock out rose bush,hibiscus,a small mint bed,goji berries,and I know I'm forgetting something but these stay in the same place every year.The other day we picked up Yukon gold seed potatoes (they go out St. Patty's Day) and I've been picking up seeds for green beans,wax beans,cukes,eggplant,beets and radishes so far.I want to do tomatoes and jalapenos and green peppers,too.He mulches very heavily and already has 3 large round bales of hay waiting.Hoping for a good year!

 

[posiepurrs]

While I am a certified Master Gardener I haven't done much in the last few years and was surprised to realize how much I had forgotten. I just hope I can remember as I go along. My focus the last few years has been inside since I worked as a floral manager of a shop.

 

[di and bob]

I have extensive flower gardens and a huge garden every year, spring around here is very busy! Every year I say I am going to do less, and every year I don't. Already have my tomato seeds to start. I have been noticing the ones i grow from seeds, do a lot better and get less disese, almost every plant I bought to fill in last year from three different nurseries got disease. ? I think it may be in their soil or flats? I grew my tomatoes in straw bales last year, did fantastic! A good alternative if you have poor soil, or even no soil, they can be put on concrete. The hardest part is conditioning the bales before planting, it takes two weeks so start early! I grew 3 plants per bale, 24 plants in all, and had a wonderful crop. I go to Farmers market every year to sell, it's only for a few hours once a week, and I make a thousand dollars to help pay for my water bill, which is very high here. Since we water an acre here in town it can run 300.00/month!But our place is absolutely beautiful, especially around teh end of June, before it gets too hot, and people often ask to tour it. It makes me proud and maybe all the hard work is worth it!
Yeah I'm getting itchy! I'll start weeding next month, if it is green it usually is a weed! i usually start in February, but we didn't have any warm days! now I'll have to watch I don't kill any crocuses, daffodils, or tulips coming up.

 

[posiepurrs]

Interesting! Have you grown other things in the straw? My garden when the kids were home (and I didn't work fulltime) was 150 foot by 25 foot. Luckily we have a well so I didn't have to worry about water bills. I have a question for everyone: I bought a bag of the Equine Pine Pellets to try to switch my cats to using that as litter - but they hate it. I have almost an entire bag of clean, unused litter - any reason I can't compost it for the vegetable garden?

 

[di and bob]

I found out it sprouts a LOT of mushrooms! Perfectly normal and doesn't hurt anything. You can grow anything in straw that you grow in dirt. Top heavy things like corn, tomatoes. etc. need good support like what I provided above. The bales break down over the summer and make wonderful compost! You do start everything by parting the bale a little and adding a handful of potting soil to get things started, for radishes, carrots and such you sprinkle a line of soil down teh middle of the bale. It holds the seeds in plcae and doesn't dry out as fast. You can research it by googling straw bale gardening, or how to condion a straw bale for gardening.
PS I did a little research and it mostly said as long as the solids are removed first, pine litter is fine to compost.