2016 Garden Thread

[BilletHead]

    A bit of the BilletHead garden update. Tomatoes and peppers growing great. Second planting of lettuce under tomatoes and peppers are trying to out grow the pepper plants. Soon will need to pick it before it takes the sunshine away from the plants. Lots of blooms on plants too. Have not seen any baby tomatoes yet but we do have baby peppers.

The BLT bed. The pork part is not growing fast enough The little piggy is hiding in the salad. Should we have planted some beans here too? You know pork and beans?

   Lettuce taking over the pepper plants.

Baby peppers.

And finally the lettuce bed. Need to get these few left picked tomorrow. Gave away three more heads to the neighbors. Will re till and we are going to plant some cucumbers in this bed. 

BilletHead

[tho1mas]

Looking good - the lettuce & spinach has been great this year. I'm starting to turn green around my eyes.

[ness]

I'm getting spinach this year, which is a positive because it always has been tough for me. Spotty germination so ice filled in the holes with seed preps routed indoors. That seems to be working  

I'm not as big a lettuce head as BilletHead, but I've got quite a bit about ready to pick. Outside germination has been spotty, so I'm gonna have to get some more seed out. Getting radishes and I've filled holes with new seed. Baby peppers too. A few blooms on the maters. Peas are coming up great, but just like last year Dwarf Grey is about twice the size of Amish Snap. 

Got a few strawberries coming on and my gooseberry bush is covered in berries. 

[ness]

13 hours ago, Quillback said:

I have been dieting since January, down over 40 lbs. now.  Sadly, I still need to lose about another 40, so probably have another 5 or 6 months to go.  But no doubt about the benefits, BP is down and my body (except for my right knee) feels a lot better.  Hang in there!

That's great! I'm down 20 since mid February and need another 10 to 20 to get in the range. I've got a really supportive girlfriend who really helps. Trying to change the lifestyle so this is permanent. 

[BilletHead]

       Boy Ness you gonna to shrivel up and blow away? Is that fine lady working the weight off of you? I ave a good support system too. I lean on her a bunch. You should of seen the two of us changing the blades on the rider mower. This one good arm thing is the berries. Glad I have good help and she likes to push mow and run the weed eater .

  Tho1mas,

We are also beginning to turn green. I want to say I am sick of eating fresh lettuce but you know we will miss it when it is gone. Have just went out and grazed on it right in the garden, of course standard and wilted salads. Every sammich too. May try grilling some ? Mrs. says she is just going to slice one of those ruby red heads in half, drizzle dressing on it. I said I am going to throw my halves on the grill real quick then off and dressing. I got a stupid look out of her.

BilletHead

[ness]

Hah! Nobody's working anybody. Just put my mind to it, but it helps when the other half is on board, and already eats like a bird. ? But I've been working on this a while. Down 48 since 2012. Divorce gets credit for about 15.  

CSA starts up on Monday, so I'll be getting veggies dumped in my lap weekly until October, plus whatever I can muster from my teeny garden. Food'l be going through me 'like poop through a goose' as dad used to say. ?

[jdmidwest]

If you ever want to loose weight fast, get one of these.  I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks.

 

 

[BilletHead]

            Well time for the garden update. How is yours going?

The BilletHead's is growing great but some hot sun would help. With this wet weather am sure glad it is in raised beds. Starting with the chestnut project. Some of the catkins have baby nuts on them. I mean tiny nuts. My friend who got me to start this project assured me the nuts will grow fast. He said you can see the nut grow and change every few days. Did more reading about wildlife liking these. A lot more nourishment than other mast crops. Deer actually prefer chestnuts to acorns. We will see . They will produce each year unlike some acorns that only produce every other season. So here is one of our baby's under my thumbnail.

Tomatoes going crazy.The lettuce under them needs to be picked this weekend as the sun is not getting to them. Pretty little heads in those beds. Lettuce binging with every meal now,

Little tomatoes hiding in there too,

 Planted some cucumbers in the original lettuce bed. A couple of purple basil also. Had some garlic sprout in the house so I planted a row of them too. Every clove in that cluster sprouted. Don't know anything about growing garlic but here it goes,

Then there are the peppers. Some plants growing well while others a bit slower. Some with peppers,

    We think we did a good job of getting the blackberries under control. Berries formed on one variety while the outer rows still in bloom,

    Herbs great. New pots of sweet basil and rosemary. The carryover sage 7 to 8 years + is in bloom Lemon thyme, oregano, mexican oregano carryovers too. 

Finally a few flowers showing off. Torch lily's four years in the soil, may need to thin out this fall really in thick masses,

The wildflower patch, coreopsis in bloom while the pale purple coneflowers not far behind.

Some of the butterfly milkweed is blooming and soon the backyard flowers will be showing off. Also had something pretty cool happen this year. We have five dogwoods growing around the yard. The area we live in has no wild trees in the timber. That may change soon. We found four baby trees growing in one of our flower beds. Yanked them out and put them in other places in the yard. Crap we really don't have anyplace to plant more stuff unless we take something out. So if anyone wants a dogwood I may be able to fix you up or if anymore appear they will go to the timber and take their chances,

BilletHead

 

[Quillback]

Good stuff Billet.

I am getting broccoli now, lots of it.  Weather has been good for it, but it will soon be done as once daytime temps stay over 80, it goes to seed.  Fresh broccoli is so much better than the frozen stuff, but you guys know that.

Sugar snap peas are coming in well also.  And some of the tomato plants are setting tomatoes.

Cantaloupe and Honeydew plants are up, but slow, they need some hot sunny weather.

[tho1mas]

Raised beds are the way to go. The lettuce has to go today (for compost). Hate to see it go but I hope to have more this fall. Need sun for everything -  cukes are kinda pale.