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The corral fence right by the garden... Honeysuckle is blooming, smells like heaven and means spring is officially here. (3wks late). This scent always takes me back to plowing at night, getting ready to plant cotton in the spring. I'd run a tractor every night for a month. Seems there was always honeysuckle blooming, filling a whole field with the scent.

Oh, this is japanese honeysuckle and a medicine used by many. (Lonicera japonica)

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Amish Heart said:
I'm waiting for the rototiller to arrive. The garden area was plowed up a month ago, so the areas I have not planted and seeded already has weeds. I am tired of shoveling large areas of dirt, so I'm waiting. So the greenhouse is full of potted plants to plant, and they are fine in there for now. I still have 12 pots of begonias in the kitchen area that I started with tubers, and I'll make room for them to go out to the greenhouse maybe this weekend. I overstarted tomatoes again. Counted 60 something plants. So I'll share. And a little carried away with cucumbers...three types, marketmore, a smaller type, and armenian. But the animals eat them, too. So that's ok. Lots of summer and winter squash types, way too much, but again it could be animal food after I've preserved alot. Has anyone just used straw to hill potatoes? How big should the plants be before they are hilled? Mine are up about 5 inches.
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i grew a plot of fingerlings once. probably 12x30-35ish.i covered it with straw...rodent troubles galore.
 
We got rain last night, it was a very hard fast rain, just under an inch in less than an hour. All my rain barrels are now full, we appear to be in a wet pattern for the next few days so I don't have to water, I might have to worry about my plants drowning but it will be a good test of things.
 
Peanut said:
The corral fence right by the garden... Honeysuckle is blooming, smells like heaven and means spring is officially here. (3wks late). This scent always takes me back to plowing at night, getting ready to plant cotton in the spring. I'd run a tractor every night for a month. Seems there was always honeysuckle blooming, filling a whole field with the scent.

Oh, this is japanese honeysuckle and a medicine used by many. (Lonicera japonica)

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That picture reminds me of my childhood. Walking to school there was one house along the way whose front slope was covered in honeysuckle. The scent was intoxicating and taking the flowers to taste the "nectar."

The other thing that popped in my mind was buttercups. Holding the flower under your chin to see if you liked butter. As if that's a real question. Who doesn't like butter?

@Peanut what type of medicinal uses does it have?
 
Planted 12 tomatos, 8 Red Beefsteak's, 2 Black Krim's, 1 ea Cherokee Purple and German Johnson. 5 Peppers, 2 Red Bell, 1 Pablano, 1 Serrano, 1 Japaleno. Over 200 Blush onion slips, and about 75 Patton onion slips. Long day at work, but got done what I planned tonight.
Lettuce and Spinach is growing great. My taters in the beds are nearly 30" tall and should be blooming soon. Got a handful of snow peas, eaten right there. Should get a good meals worth by the weekend.
 
Tommyice said:
That picture reminds me of my childhood. Walking to school there was one

@Peanut what type of medicinal uses does it have?
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It's not widely used in western herbal medicine. It is big in Chinese and Arabic medicine. That's where you have to look for experienced answers.

I've never used it so have no practical experience. The books tell me it has a wide range of uses from respiratory issues, liver and spleen issues, child labor and freckles (and a few dozen more).
 
Peanut said:
It's not widely used in western herbal medicine. It is big in Chinese and Arabic medicine. That's where you have to look for experienced answers.

I've never used it so have no practical experience. The books tell me it has a wide range of uses from respiratory issues, liver and spleen issues, child labor and freckles (and a few dozen more).
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I have a book that is about like that but with mesquite wood tea - cures everything from hiccups to cancer 😜 I'm not saying that the honeysuckle doesn't have uses. I just think it's "peculiar" when there are so many and of such a variety of issues.
 
We are expecting 2 days of rain, so if I want to put anything out in the garden I need to do it today.... I think I will start some more carrots and Brussels sprouts. Then I can transplant some onion starts that I have. The growing station is still emptying out one starter tray at a time.

The discussions on water got me to thinking and even the starter trays consume about 1/2 gallon of water per sq-foot per week, so anyone who is gardening or farming is going to be very dependent on water supplies.
 
Got the peppers in the ground yesterday evening. Also moved some volunteer swiss chard. This morning before work got the broccoli in the ground and about half my pole beans. Have to start those under cover or critters of various sorts eat them. It started raining midmorning and is expected to continue until Sat. so am glad most things are in the ground. @UrbanHunter I hear ya about getting things out of the growing station. I want everything out of there.
 
2" of rain this week, thundering now. I'll enjoy the rain as long as there aren't nadoes.

Pulled the first onions today...This afternoon I was in the big town so stopped at lowes to see what they had for plants. I bought 9 plants, $42! Ridiculous price.

Anyway, I bought 2 Thai and 2 Tabasco pepper plants, didn't grow them last year. Got couple cayennes and jalapenos.

Got another cilantro. I bought one a couple weeks ago. 2 days after re-potting, it bolted! Never had that happen before. I usually keep one trimmed enough that it doesn't bolt.

So I let it bolt, chopped it up this afternoon. It's in the dehydrator now.
(and picked a pound of sliced butt at the bbq joint.)

grd onion 05may22 2a .JPG


Bolted cilantro
grd onion 05may22 4a .JPG
 
Replanted beans and first-run cantaloupe are up now. Hopefully the cat got the gopher and he won't steal any more seedlings. Picked the first couple of cherry tomatoes this week. Dang they are tasty! Should also get the first few grey zucchini this weekend as well. Picked up a couple of more pepper plants that I need to put in the ground this weekend as well as my herbs. Got 2 kinds of mint for pots then dill and variegated lemon thyme for the ground. Skeeters are coming out. Supposed to reach 100°F this weekend already too.
 
The rain has moved into the area and we are expecting over 2" so I went out and placed a by-pass tube on my rain water collection system because my system is already full to overflowing. I need to clean out the drainage dip that I installed about 18 years ago, it allows my over flow to travel off the property and down the hill to the neighbor's lake (it's not a lake but it looks like one when it rains). It's on days like these I wish I could afford a much larger system where I could collect and store a couple thousand gallons to weather any drought that might come my way.

I have a cherry tomato plant that was scheduled to be moved outdoors, but it grew through one of my wire shelves in the growing station and now has half a dozen tomatoes on it, I can't move it outside without cutting the branch with the tomatoes....

I need to plant a few seeds in starter cups today, buy my potting soil is all wet...
 
And so it begins...just pulled about 15 tomato worms off my tomatoes tonight. There's nothing quite like the bright green squirt of their guts when you get them with the pliers. I know I probably didn't get them all. Tomorrow I'll be mixing up my BT to spray them over the next few days. Also need to distribute the DE around the whole garden.
 
ABR said:
And so it begins...just pulled about 15 tomato worms off my tomatoes tonight. There's nothing quite like the bright green squirt of their guts when you get them with the pliers. I know I probably didn't get them all. Tomorrow I'll be mixing up my BT to spray them over the next few days. Also need to distribute the DE around the whole garden.
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If you do not till and or rotate your crops, then you will have more tomatoes worms.
Chickens love them & look like the Super bowl 4th quarter, if you throw the worms in the pen.
I like throwing in 10 or more at once.
 
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ABR said:
And so it begins...just pulled about 15 tomato worms off my tomatoes tonight. There's nothing quite like the bright green squirt of their guts when you get them with the pliers. I know I probably didn't get them all. Tomorrow I'll be mixing up my BT to spray them over the next few days. Also need to distribute the DE around the whole garden.
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Okay, that's gross 🤢 😂
 
joel said:
If you do not till and or rotate your crops, then you will have more tomatoes worms.
Chickens love them & look like the Super bowl 4th quarter, if you throw the worms in the pin.
I like throwing in 10 or more at once.
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This is the first time with tomatoes in this spot. We do a mix of containers and in-ground now. So lots of rotating. We don't have chickens right now but will keep that in mind when we get more!
 
My little Greenhouse yesterday. Tomatoes are going to start flowering soon! HaHa!! 38F last night, cold, windy and rainy here. Even the radishes planted… almost 2 months ago only have their first set of leaves. They sprouted then stopped. Just too cold this spring for them to do anything. We had a few days in the 70’s but mostly highs in the low 50’s at best and 30's at night. Ground just not warming up.

Moved the early planting of peas outside. Had to, they were 18” tall and needed to be put in, they were getting too large. I guess I could have built a trellis in the little planters! 😊 Put in the first planting of pea seeds, been over a week, nothing broken ground yet. Seeds did sprout, I dug and peeked at a few, but ground still too cold for them to gain much traction. Carrots never sprouted either and the early spinach looks as bleak as the radishes 😊

Not too worried about the carrots, they are always slow here, but will eventually sprout and grow. Even the seed stock ones left in the ground from last year have yet to show signs of life.

Glad I did not start cucumbers yet. They would be getting way too large also. Timing is important, but with the weather as a variable, it is always a guesstimate anyway. Everything is usually in the ground and growing my this time of year. I will start the cukes later today and see. I figure with this weather we will skip spring and move right into hot spells.

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the bean seed i am trying to sprout just hasnt happened. i dug in looking to see how they look...mush. to be fair its been low light/heat and wet here. going into 30's next 2 nights now. i put 20-25 seed in a baggie with wet paper towel to see if i can find the needle in haystack...theres gotta be at least a couple out of hundreds of seeds that can still sprout.

also running a test on old cucumber seed too. southern states seed from 2009.

other old seed is some decades old..i have no idea..close to 30..mr.stripey tomato. my senior uncle says todays stripey are not the same as the original stripey. i agree...i am trying to get these going to see if they are more like it. theres not many of these seed. also i been searching and probably found the original stripey tomato from way back in the day in 1800's.

going to run germination test for a long while i have a lot of seed. if it doesnt germinate its going in trash bin.
 
Planting more fruit trees and replacements that didn't make it through the winter. It's a crap shoot for fruit in this area. I found some Russian root stock that is supposed to be cold and clay tolerant. I lost 3 out of 14 so that's not too bad in my books. With a one year guarantee I get one more shot.

They subbed a concord grape for a haskap. Grapes are not viable here. Too expensive to ship it back. Not sure what I am going to do with it.
 
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Today, the rain cleared out so I was able to harvest some onions and stuff. The rain and wind did not help organize things much.

My cherry tomatoes are starting to show some new green growth.

The canning tomatoes grew about 4 inches this week, will have to cage them soon.

About 1/4 of the spinach is about to bolt... Will have to harvest it for freezing by Saturday.

The crows paid a visit to my corn.. not happy.

I had transplanted a couple of store bought potatoes in an old ice chest (bottom has been well vented), not knowing what I'm doing I put about 10" of grass clippings in the bottom, then about 3" of soil, I placed the potatoes (they had been started indoors and had about 8" of green on top) into the soil and then applied about 3" more dry grass clippings. I decided to check them and when I brushed back the grass clippings I found a bright red potato about the size of a tennis ball, I covered it backup and will give things a few more weeks.

I had a seed starter cup with Brussels sprouts, I broke it apart and transplanted the sprouts into larger containers, now I have 6 of them growing.

I will need some containers to move my cucumbers outdoors by this weekend.
 
Opened the door yesterday to see this:
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We are thinking a racoon must have got himself caught up in it and threw a fit. I was actually able to save most of the plants. Luckily, I didn't have it packed full like it was a couple weeks ago.
Elk I've been working on old seeds too. Planted carrot today from 2017 - will see. Figure it's early enough I can still replant if need be. Hope your beans grow.
 
This morning I picked up 50' of cheap 5/8" hose for watering the trees, I don't think it is enough but I was cash limited and there were more important things on the list. This week is going to be very busy so I don't think I will be getting much fun stuff done....
 
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