2019 Gardening Thread

abasket · March 20

Our yearly garden thread!! Woo!!

Still early here in Ohio. Potentially could plant a few cool crops in a couple weeks if it warms up.

After the new year I grew some microgreens inside - sunflower shoots and pea shoots - it was SO fun to have something green growing and they were tasty!

Feel free to post at anytime and on vegetables or flowers. Here's hoping for a long productive gardening season!

momo2x2018 · March 20

I just planted beets, celery, fennel, tomatoes, kale, bok choi, carrots, brocolli and bell peppers.
I still have a couple of stalks of kale which is about two yers old, I just strip the leaves from it as I need it.

Lemons are ripening - and very juicy! Pomegranate tree is budding.

abasket · March 20

^^ Oh my what I would give to be able to have fresh lemons and pomegranates! Are you in California?!

momo2x2018 · March 20

@abasket - yes

katliamom · March 20

I just got three yellow twig dogwood bushes by mail order. It's part of my new plan to introduce some winter color and visual interest to my front yard. Excited. Bring on the gardening season!

sryrstress · March 20

All I'm growing right now is limbs and sticks. They seem to be multiplying abundantly without fertilizer

I'm having cervical spine fusion surgery end of May. Our last frost date is May 10. Going to be a mad dash to plant all the annuals and get the perennials going. I'm at a new location that needs a lot of TLC and I'm getting bummed it isn't going to happen this year.

Definitely jealous of those who can plant in early spring and/or grow fruit!

abasket · March 20

@srystress, best of luck on your surgery! Maybe just try to plant a few pots prior to your surgery so you have something colorful to look at while you recover!

Or ask a friend to come and do the hard labor while you direct what to plant!

camathmom · March 20

Our Meyer lemon trees are bursting with new fruit. We planted them 25 years ago, and they are going strong! We planted a lime tree 2 or 3 years ago, and we are hoping that this is the year that we finally get some limes! I think that we will just do an herb garden and cucumbers this year. In San Francisco.

greenwitch · March 20

I'm way behind already! I spread some of my home made compost in the place where I usually plant arugula in the winter, but I never got around to planting arugula. Some interesting stuff is coming up there, I see cilantro, at least one arugula, and several tomato plants. My compost never gets hot enough, lol.

I tried garlic a couple of years ago and it didn't come out well. But three of my house garlics sprouted vigorously so I planted them in pots and they're looking good so far.

We had 270 satsumas this year that I picked, vastly different from the year before when we got 0. I think it was a big year for acorns, and the squirrels and bluejays were all too stuffed to bother the satsumas. Our tiny meyer lemon tree only gave us one lemon, but it was good. They are both blooming now.

ETA - I planted some sprouting potatoes last fall but I never saw them grow so they must have rotted. I found seed potatoes at Home Depot, of all places, and I'm going to plant them tomorrow. HD also had asparagus and other cool weather starts.

abasket · March 21

I'm jealous of those of you already planting!

I do garlic every year now in my raised bed. I'm at a community garden with the raised bed and then do an herb garden at home - not much sun area at home.

mathmom · March 21

I'm just admiring the results of planting over 200 bulbs a few years ago. The crocus and snowdrops are all up. Daffodils are poking up as are the hyacinth. I still have too much shade for vegetables. One neighbor's tree fell down last spring, but I need the other one to go as well! I've contracted with someone to rip up my entire front yard and start all over. We are covering the concrete front walk with blue stone while we are at it. Can't wait.

WayOutWestMom · March 21

While prepping and planting yesterday, I pulled out the carrots I'd left to over-winter .

Yikes! I have 15 lbs of carrots!

Kidlets suggested making carrot cake, but they are the ones who like carrot cake, not me. And they don't live here anymore.

So any other ideas?

I've planted: snap peas, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and chard. I put out 2 ancho chile plants inside protective water walls yesterday. (It may say spring on the calendar, but I don't trust the weather.) Already in because I planted them last fall cauliflower and brussel sprouts.

Once the wind stops howling (40 mph gusts w/ hail this morning) I'll plant carrots and pak choi.

I'm thinking of trying to grow artichokes this year as my annual experiment in vegetable gardening. I figure since I can grow a great crop of thistles on the hillside, artichokes ought to do fine. Anyone have any helpful pointers?

greenwitch · March 21

@abasket - you should be able to plant peas and carrots and cool weather greens already. Peas can sprout on warmer days and they don't mind a little snow if it comes.

I had arugula in MD once and we got hit with 2+ feet of snow. When it melted, the arugula looked like it had been ironed flat against the ground. I wish I had gone out every day and snapped a photo. It slowly bounced back and grew just fine. Not as sharp as hot weather would have made it, but still plenty sharp and tasty!

abasket · March 21

Well I support carrot cake too! - especially if you celebrate Easter!

If you had a baby I'd support making homemade carrot baby food and freezing it.

Roasted carrots. Grate, freeze and drop in soups/marinara to sweeten them slightly.

Someone at our community garden (northern Ohio!) trialed an artichoke plant a couple summers ago - I was shocked when I saw an artichoke nearing maturity!

No spring flowers here yet, but I'm READY.

thumper1 · March 21

@WayOutWestMom mail carrot cake to those who like it?

katliamom · March 21

@mathmom, I love bulbs! My crocuses are out, but the daffodils are still a ways from blooming, and tulips are only now starting to peak through, an inch tall if that. Sadly, at least 2-4 weeks to go before I'll see a lot of color.

sylvan8798 · March 21

Ok, maybe some of you can help out with suggestions on this project. I have a bed on the north side of the house, about 4 feet wide by 20 feet. I've decided that I'm tired of what's growing there, and want to take out everything but the rhododendron bush near the west end of the bed. It doesn't get much sun, except for small strip along the walk at the north edge. We live in the northeast, so fairly brutal winter conditions. I don't know yet what I want to put back there though, other than to minimize the amount of maintenance it takes. Thoughts from the experts?

abasket · March 21

Do you need height? And you're basically saying it's a shade area??

My first thought is a hosta garden. They come in SO many colors and sizes (leaf size, height, etc. ) .

sylvan8798 · March 21

^I don't know - do I need height? It's the side of the garage. Yes it's pretty shady. Currently there are some ferns there and ground covers, and a lot of moss (in addition to the rhododendron). I had to pull a hosta we had growing there a number of years ago because it got so huge it was taking over the planet. We have a small hosta bed on another north face.

abasket · March 21

Hostas are tough. Yes, they will grow and sometimes get too big - they are very welcoming to being split in the fall or spring - you can take the clump and put it elsewhere or give to a friend.

Here are some good pictures of different types in actual settings. The first picture shows a straight bed with a smaller variety of hosta lining the front of the bed and then larger varieties behind that row. You can see that they can be a foot tall or 3 or 4 feet tall! https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/grow-lush-shade-garden-hostas

The leaves just die off in the fall. The plant stays in the ground. Hearty for cold regions. Little maintenance and even in shade can provide a variety of color in the green family from very light to very dark and also variegated. Most have a mid-summer stem that flowers white or light purple.

mathmom · March 21

I like carrot soup. This looks pretty yummy to me: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/217913/vegan-carrot-curry-soup/ though I don't think I've made this particular one.

@abasket - Wow! That was an amazing variety of hostas. I have a lot of shade - in addition to ferns and hostas I like bleeding hearts and Solomon's Seal. I think my new garden plan includes a bunch of Lilyturf.

2019 Gardening Thread

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