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I have 2 old cabbages that stayed outside in my raised beds all winter, I was hoping that when things warmed up they would make a head, but no they are bolting acting like trees. Now we are trying to figure out how to just eat the leaves. I'm not a cold slaw person so I guess we will have to add them to soup or something.

The green house/battery room got really hot today, I may have to open the door to keep from burning up my plants in there.

It appears that I have over planted lettuce again this year, I just never seem to learn.

I told the wife my plan to only plant a few indoor tomatoes and then make clones, she looked at me like the RCA dog....

Hopefully this weekend I can install the bottom watering system for my outdoor canning tomatoes, I'm going to use 1 1/2" PVC with slots cut using a circular saw.

It's funny, we were eating salad with tomatoes and cucumbers tonight, and the wife says, "this all came out of the garden, right?" and I said yes the lettuce and spinach are outside and the cucs and tomatoes are in the basement... But, that's my garden these days.

I am excited at the prospect of being able to grow more in the winter. To be honest, I have been testing and selecting plants that can work for the past 3 years and I'm just starting to see the opportunity for success....
 
Neb said:
Ditto what @Bacpacker wrote.

The hugelkultures I put in 8-9 years ago used fresh cut logs. The newest bed uses logs that have been stacked that long with no cover. I hope they are ideal since the rotted logs act like a sponge and hold moisture.


The beds on The Ridge are all hugelkultures. That were I grow garlic and onions. They don't required protection from critters for the most part. The beds do not have any irrigation. Between our average rainfall and the hugelkultures the root crops do fine. I even get some volunteer spuds from years past. :thumbs:

Ben
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You showed the Answer before the Problem...!!! :cool:
 
Weedygarden said:
The next time I go to the store I’ll get some of each. I know a young man who works in produce in a local grocery store. I’ll ask him when I see him what he knows about citrus seeds. He’s usually at the dog park in the early afternoon when I go with one of the dogs I watch, Monday through Friday.
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I spoke to the young man who works in produce. He suggested that organic oranges might be more likely to have seeds. I did buy an organic orange, lemon and lime but haven’t cut them open yet.
 
UrbanHunter said:
I have 2 old cabbages that stayed outside in my raised beds all winter, I was hoping that when things warmed up they would make a head, but no they are bolting acting like trees. Now we are trying to figure out how to just eat the leaves. I'm not a cold slaw person so I guess we will have to add them to soup or something.

The green house/battery room got really hot today, I may have to open the door to keep from burning up my plants in there.

It appears that I have over planted lettuce again this year, I just never seem to learn.

I told the wife my plan to only plant a few indoor tomatoes and then make clones, she looked at me like the RCA dog....

Hopefully this weekend I can install the bottom watering system for my outdoor canning tomatoes, I'm going to use 1 1/2" PVC with slots cut using a circular saw.

It's funny, we were eating salad with tomatoes and cucumbers tonight, and the wife says, "this all came out of the garden, right?" and I said yes the lettuce and spinach are outside and the cucs and tomatoes are in the basement... But, that's my garden these days.

I am excited at the prospect of being able to grow more in the winter. To be honest, I have been testing and selecting plants that can work for the past 3 years and I'm just starting to see the opportunity for success....
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I have one Brussels sprout plant that survived winter. I can’t imagine how because it was below zero in January. Time will tell if it produces anything this year.
 
UrbanHunter said:
Today was a red-letter day. I got to harvest my first indoor cucumbers, they tasted good.

I decided to end my store-bought tomato experiment, they were just way too leggy for my space. I got some Siam Tomato seeds, they are a much more compact plant and I have gotten high yields from them in the past. I plan to start 3 plants, and then try to clone them into 9, that will give me a good crop and I will have some seeds in reserve... In the past I have been able to grow 3 generations before the good qualities were lost completely.

This week has been so busy I had to improvise to transplant a bunch of plants, most are just in larger pots, some moved outdoors. I just can't keep up.
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It is still too early to plant cukes here. It is supposed to get cold again here in the near future.
 
Weedygarden said:
Wow! That way you can grow them year round!
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Yep, I figure if I can harvest 2 fingerling size cucs every day that is one less thing that has to be imported from South America. The plus side is that if a real SHTF event ever comes I can continue to eat fresh greens even after going dark...
 
UrbanHunter said:
Yep, I figure if I can harvest 2 fingerling size cucs every day that is one less thing that has to be imported from South America. The plus side is that if a real SHTF event ever comes I can continue to eat fresh greens even after going dark...
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I’ve tried growing my own vegetables in the house. My neighborhood has a mouse problem and a few years ago we all got them when they tore up and redid a golf course close to us. I have to cover seed starts with plastic covers or they’ll kill all of them. It is such a bummer. I’ve thought about an indoor greenhouse that is tightly enclosed.
The mice are in the yard as well. It is an ongoing struggle.
 
Weedygarden said:
It is still too early to plant cukes here. It is supposed to get cold again here in the near future.
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My B I L has hand pollinated his yellow squash, because the bees are not working the blooms until nectar starts later in the season.
I wait till the soil warms a little, before I plant.
 
Weedygarden said:
I’ve tried growing my own vegetables in the house. My neighborhood has a mouse problem and a few years ago we all got them when they tore up and redid a golf course close to us. I have to cover seed starts with plastic covers or they’ll kill all of them. It is such a bummer. I’ve thought about an indoor greenhouse that is tightly enclosed.
The mice are in the yard as well. It is an ongoing struggle.
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🐱🐈‍⬛🐈 will Help...!!!
 
Snowman said:
Pic 002 in Post # 494 is getting ready to Open, will post New Pic when it does...!!! Looking like it's gonna 🐝 a Winner...!!
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Here it is :

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LadyLocust said:
A funny: last night Hubby asked when I will plant the tomatoes outside (he asked so he knows how long he has to do the tilling). I told him when the apple blossoms fall. I might have gotten the stink eye 🤨😂
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Hubby is so funny. He asked so when are you planning on putting the garden in? I looked at him like he was from another planet and asked him what part. He said all of it. I said the carrots are sprouting. The lettuce is up. The spuds are in. He thinks plant everything in one day. So later he asked so when will you plant beans. I asked the temps for the next week so he pulled them up. Then I asked when the next full moon will be. He said he didn’t have a witchcraft app 😂. I said if the temps hold, by the next full moon 🌝
 
LadyLocust said:
Hubby is so funny. He asked so when are you planning on putting the garden in? I looked at him like he was from another planet and asked him what part. He said all of it. I said the carrots are sprouting. The lettuce is up. The spuds are in. He thinks plant everything in one day. So later he asked so when will you plant beans. I asked the temps for the next week so he pulled them up. Then I asked when the next full moon will be. He said he didn’t have a witchcraft app 😂. I said if the temps hold, by the next full moon 🌝
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Full moon!👍👍👍
 
I counted 20 cucs on my indoor plants!

Outside I see that my potatoes have broke ground and the boc-choy and beets are coming up. This year I have planted little bunches of green onions almost everywhere. I have some strawberries that made it through the winter, need to replant or feed them.

Yesterday I cut the pipes for my bottom watering system, just a 1 1/2" Inverted Tee arrangement with 2 - 1/8" slots cut every 8", hope to install one of them today, the place where the other one should go has carrots growing right now...

I made slug traps yesterday using old relish jars, insides wiped with oil and a drop of beer as bait. I'm going to add a roof using a paper bowl and roofing nails, this is so they don't fill up with water when I water. Slugs seem to love baby spinach and lettuce, so I try to put between 3 & 6 traps in each bed.

While putting out traps I also put out some of those yellow sticky traps for the flying insects (white flys and aphids).

I plan to plant my first batch of summer squash after church today. Once they are planted I will start a new batch in the basement. I have found it is easier to just keep moving the growing locations around with new plants than trying to fight off the vine borers and squash bugs mid season. This year I did plant green onions around the area where each squash plant is going in. The goal is that the onions will be a mild deterrent.

We are expecting temps to get into the low 70s today, so I will have to open up my raised bed lids, because of yesterday's high winds 30+ MPH, I left them closed last night.
 
New Sprouts this AM and a Surprise Visitor :

#012 is a Sprout near the base of a Apple Tree, will clip it when I go back there later...!!! #007 has the Surprise Visitor...!! :thumbs:
 

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Marigolds Ready to 🐝 Planted near the Rose Bushes...!!! 2 Hibiscus Bushes in their Hopefully Forever Spots...!! Apple Blossoms losing their Petals...!
 

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We had a morning of sun here, so myself and eldest son did a bit outside until the rain started, most chores things I should have done weeks ago. We planted all the potatoes I had. A box of sprouting roosters I'd saved, a bag of purple ones I was given, a bag of Sarpo Miro, and the early Charlottes, that won't be so early now! Son bought down buckets of rainwater to the poly and we tidied up a bit, as the wind had done some damage, and I watered all the onions and garlic. Then we covered outside beds to kill off some weeds. I've decided to stick to basics this year, just planting lots of potatoes, because the prices are going up, onions and cabbages. And this week I'll have to put down pumpkins and courgettes. My strawberry bed has been taken over with creeping buttercup, so I'll have to clear it and lift the berries. My indoor plants already have flowers.
 
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