2026 Gardens

[ness]

Well, there's been a little chatter around here lately regarding gardens, so maybe a devoted thread is in order? I'll start.

I basically do a  Square Foot Garden method, which works well for the small backyard garden I do. Three raised beds, each 4 x 8, feet for 96 square feet total. If you're not familiar, SFG is based on a grid of 1 foot squares, with tight plantings in well-amended soil.For example, 4 heads of lettuce to a square, 16 radishes, 9 beets, 9 spinach, etc. They recommend 1 square for determinate tomatoes. Crazy, huh? Well it works for tomatoes if you prune them to a single stem and take out all suckers and any other side growth. I did it for years, but I give them more room these days since they're not getting the amount of sun they need due to tree growth. I pretty much follow the guidelines on other stuff though. 

One of the benefits of the close planting is that weeds are naturally shaded out. And with the good soil, any weeds you do get can be pulled easily. I'll mulch with grass clippings later on for water retention and weed control. 

We get all we want, plus always have some things for friends and neighbors, so we're happy. 

Garlic went in the ground last fall, and it's standing about 6-9 inches tall now. If you haven't done garlic, give it a try. IT's the easiest thing to grow. We've still got a few heads from last summer.

Last month, I started tomatoes, peppers, herbs and half the spring lettuce indoors. I do succession planting on several things to help spread the harvest out, so, I started the other half of the spring lettuce yesterday and this weekend or next I'll start half the radishes, spinach and beets outdoors.  Last weekend each bed got 6 cubic feet of an organic commercial vegetable garden mix.

I'm cutting out cherry tomatoes this year. We really like them but flat get tired of them by mid/late July. And they're big and unruly plants and require a lot of maintenance. I'm also reducing the number of tomatoes to 4 this year. Like I said, there's just not enough sunlight to really thrive. We'll get plenty, just won't have as many to give away.

The 4 tomatoes will be Black Krim, German Pink, Brandywine and Celebrity. The first three are heirloom indeterminate, and Celebrity is an old favorite hybrid determinate that I've grown since around 1991. Black Krim is a good alternative to Cherokee Purple. The flavor and look are very similar, and they don't have the white core we always seemed to get with CP. 

A few years back I put in a drip irrigation system and that's been a really nice upgrade. Watering is a cinch, and you don't wet the leaves when you do it. It's also nice for when we are out of town and have somebody else taking care of things. 

So, there's more than you wanted to know about ness' 2026 garden. Let's hear about yours, or if you want, tell us why this is such a stoopid hobby   

[jdmidwest]

Mine was off to a quiet start, cleaned off a few raised beds for lettuce and spinach, sugar peas, green onions.  Replanted a strawberry bed with fresh bare root plant that were hard to find.  Stopped at an Amish store to get them.

Will plow garden at farm this weekend if dry to turn it over.

[Quillback]

I put some snow peas and radish seeds in the ground about 10 days ago, they should be popping up any day now.  A few shoots of asparagus have sprung up.  I'm not intense gardener by any means, but sure is good to get some stuff from the garden.

[ness]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

I put some snow peas and radish seeds in the ground about 10 days ago, they should be popping up any day now.  A few shoots of asparagus have sprung up.  I'm not intense gardener by any means, but sure is good to get some stuff from the garden.

Ate you getting any thick asparagus yet?

[Quillback]

38 minutes ago, ness said:

Ate you getting any thick asparagus yet?

No still skinny and not too many.  I'm thinking (hoping) it will get going soon.  

[Quillback]

10 day forecast shows no rain.  Had to water the garden today, if the 10 day forecast holds true, I might have to water the shrubbery.  It's good to have healthy shrubbery, you never know when you might need it.

 

[Oneshot1]

I was going to start planting today but I’m all alone so wait until my wife is home tomorrow.

I’m going with Ruth Stout method in my regular garden.

Still have to fill my big Raised Beds.

oneshot 

[ness]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

10 day forecast shows no rain.  Had to water the garden today, if the 10 day forecast holds true, I might have to water the shrubbery.  It's good to have healthy shrubbery, you never know when you might need it.

 

Hey, I was in that movie!🤪

[ness]

8 hours ago, Oneshot1 said:

I was going to start planting today but I’m all alone so wait until my wife is home tomorrow.

I’m going with Ruth Stout method in my regular garden.

Still have to fill my big Raised Beds.

oneshot 

I had to look up Ruth Stout as I'd never heard of it. So many approaches to this stuff. Square Foot is really just an offshoot of 'French Intensive' gardening developed centuries ago.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intensive_gardening?wprov=sfti1#

[Lancer09]

We are doing some Ruth Stout Method potatoes.

Added 3 4x8 raised beds and another 4x4. 
Garden fence is about half way done after getting the new duck coop and run done last fall. They'll get run of the place to fertilize and eat slugs most days when it's done. Fencing 16 yards deep by 46 yards wide. 
Just had to build a second smaller run and coop for our Call Ducks (7 and hatching a few more), and 35 full size domestics. 

Most of my root veg are in the ground, been getting a few asparagus already but this cold snap tonight will put a hurting on it. Didn't harvest for the last two years though so should get a decent crop this year.