The Sprout - B&B Gardening 2014

It's that time of the year again! Time to till the land!

Got the pepper plants started. Red & Green Bell peppers, habanero peppers, Jalapeno peppers. Plan on doing tomatoes and cucumbers for pickling. Might even try watermelon again but in the new place my space is limited. I'll snap pictures along the way. Who knows what else will go in the ground.

So what ya'll planting this year?

We didn't do one last year, but we had a guy from the ranch next to us bring over a tractor and disc up about a 20X15 foot (maybe a little bigger) area recently...even though it's a little late to get started here.

The area fenced off for a garden is about 2,500 square feet but not going to do one that big this year.

The Sears 5 hp tiller we've had for over 10 years had to have the trasmission case split open to be fixed as it wouldn't shift. A few months later it locked up in forward gear. We looked around here yesterday for a new one but all we could find that was big enough was a Cub Cadet rt65. I didn't want one that didn't have gear drive (I believe that one is belt drive), so after looking around on the net yesterday we ordered a Husqvarna DRT900H with the Honda engine from Lowe's to till up the disked area...free delivery!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_372859-6331...tiller&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=tiller&facetInfo=

Hope it works well.

As for what we plant:

onions
lettuce
hot peppers
potatoes
green beans
okra
tomatoes
radishes
squash

And whatever else we want.

simon1 said:

We didn't do one last year, but we had a guy from the ranch next to us bring over a tractor and disc up about a 20X15 foot (maybe a little bigger) area recently...even though it's a little late to get started here.

The area fenced off for a garden is about 2,500 square feet but not going to do one that big this year.

The Sears 5 hp tiller we've had for over 10 years had to have the trasmission case split open to be fixed as it wouldn't shift. A few months later it locked up in forward gear. We looked around here yesterday for a new one but all we could find that was big enough was a Cub Cadet rt65. I didn't want one that didn't have gear drive (I believe that one is belt drive), so after looking around on the net yesterday we ordered a Husqvarna DRT900H with the Honda engine from Lowe's to till up the disked area...free delivery!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_372859-6331...tiller&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=tiller&facetInfo=

Hope it works well.

As for what we plant:

onions
lettuce
hot peppers
potatoes
green beans
okra
tomatoes
radishes
squash

And whatever else we want.

Click to expand...

go BIG! It would be nice If I had the space for a large garden. I can only go about 2 feet off my patio and around it. I wish I had a picture of the garden my mother had when I was a kid. Our home sat on 2 acres and I swear the garden was at least 1. We had several rows of sweet corn, several rows of green beans, lettuce, 4 or 5 different kinds of peppers , watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, squash and probably some more I'm forgetting.

This is what I had last year, but I moved. It was hard to keep the weeds out as it always is with a first year garden so I'll just share the freshly tilled picture.

I have 2 8'x4' raised boxes that I work with. And I am going to be trying the square foot gardening ideology this year. Gonna be planting lots of green beans, corn, gold radishes, turnip's, crap tons of carrots, some snap peas, have strawberries and might plant some rutabegas.

igasho said:

I have 2 8'x4' raised boxes that I work with. And I am going to be trying the square foot gardening ideology this year. Gonna be planting lots of green beans, corn, gold radishes, turnip's, crap tons of carrots, some snap peas, have strawberries and might plant some rutabegas.

Click to expand...

strawberries are a fun plant. They branch out and take root, then branch out again and take root, then again and root. It's cool seeing it one week small, then the next with 3 arms that have taken root.

It's 30X20, so I have 600 sq. ft. to work with this year. After the new tiller gets here I can always enlarge it if I need to.

And the horses have been rolling in it...guess I need to shut the gate.

simon1 said:

It's 30X20, so I have 600 sq. ft. to work with this year. After the new tiller gets here I can always enlarge it if I need to.

And the horses have been rolling in it...guess I need to shut the gate.

Click to expand...

Good fertilizer!
What breed of horses have you got?

I plan to do tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, strawberries and cantaloupe. All from starter plants except the cantaloupe, we usually won't plant until the first of May. We are supposed to get close to a freeze tomorrow and the day after, it should be the last one but you never know.

Almost forgot this bit, this is the layout for my garden planted.

Toothpick said:

Good fertilizer!

Click to expand...

Yeah, they've been in and out of the garden area since season before last along with a few cows that the people we trade pasture lease fees for, if they keep the pasture bush hogged, will put out there from time to time along with the horses. They have done great the several years they've used it; they not only bush hog but fertilize and spray weeds.

Toothpick said:

What breed of horses have you got?

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They are Quarter Horses. SWMBO gets out there when I mess with them a bit and she says "They are BIG!"

I say "Yup, they're as big as a horse."

Argonaut said:

I plan to do tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, strawberries and cantaloupe. All from starter plants except the cantaloupe, we usually won't plant until the first of May. We are supposed to get close to a freeze tomorrow and the day after, it should be the last one but you never know.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's been a weird spring this far south...had freezes a few weeks ago and it's supposed to get down to 31 tomorrow night. Like you said, should be the last one but you never know. And you're not THAT far away.

Igasho, I've not tried the square foot thing before; I just always do rows. It will be interesting to see how yours goes.

Perennials -
walking onions
400 sq ft rhubarb
15 horseradish plants
50 feet of asparagus

Spring
200 ft of peas
40 sq ft of leaf lettuce

Summer
1/4 acre half runner beans
20 sweet potato cuttings
a few tomato and zucchini
some winter squash - hubbard, butternut etc.

Fall
1/4 acre cabbage
~25-30 garlic bulbs each 5 varieties
As much kale as I have room for (haven't decided on the variety)

Pics or it didn't happen.

igasho said:

Almost forgot this bit, this is the layout for my garden planted.
View attachment 436192

Click to expand...

You really like carrots! Maybe I'll do some carrots too.

simon1 said:

Yeah, they've been in and out of the garden area since season before last along with a few cows that the people we trade pasture lease fees for, if they keep the pasture bush hogged, will put out there from time to time along with the horses. They have done great the several years they've used it; they not only bush hog but fertilize and spray weeds.



They are Quarter Horses. SWMBO gets out there when I mess with them a bit and she says "They are BIG!"

I say "Yup, they're as big as a horse."

Click to expand...

I love horses. I'm jealous

igasho said:

Almost forgot this bit, this is the layout for my garden planted.
View attachment 436192

Click to expand...

One square foot each for squash and pumpkin seems a little too tight for adequate growth. I used Mel's book for my fall garden in 4 by 8 raised beds and my cabbage and cauliflower were too crowded. For my spring garden I have 4 raised beds and have spaced things out a little more than Bartholemew suggests. One foot for tomatoes is just too tight.

It wouldnt allow me to show that I am only going to end up with 2 pumpkin and 2 squash in those areas, I wont have 4 of each after thinning. And as far as the carrots go. Yes yes yes, my son whom is 18 months old LOVES carrots, I enjoy them and the wife will eat them like candy. Almost forgot we use them as a treat for the dog as well. I have 4 different varietals of carrots as well. And I fully expect to have 0 to freeze / preserve after they are all picked.

I haven't gotten to my backyard garden yet. Thats probably going to be a project in about 2 weeks. We're still getting threats of frost here, so I'm not too worried about not having stuff planted yet.

I'm also slowly converting my front yard to "edible landscaping". I tore out a bunch of grass to put a gravel walkway in. On the inside of the walkway is going to be strawberries. I may dig up more grass and put some strawberries on the outside of the walkway too. I also tore out some boxwoods near the house and turned that area into an herb garden. Rosemary, dill, 2 types of mint, onion grass, thyme, cilantro and basil. More boxwoods came out directly in front of the house to be replaced by blueberry bushes and a fig tree. Next task is to finish tearing out the other boxwoods and replace with perennial flowers. Once some of the plants get established and start putting some shade on the ground, I'm going to inoculate some hardwood chips with some King Straphoria spawn and spread it as mulch. The mushroom's mycelium will take over the mulch and pop up some very nice mushrooms under the shade of the plants. It will also break down the chips and create wonderful soil.

Tradition here is to wait for the May 24th (Victoria Day) weekend. I did that last year and still suffered a bit of frost damage. I trimmed some bushes back in the fall to let more light in. Also I need to allow for more room between the rows. Tomatoes and basil always. Hot peppers very likely, yellow beans.

Back in my hometown in IL they are getting bout 2 inches of snow tonight.
By the time my seeds are grown enough I should be plenty safe to plant here in TN. Should be...

Awesome thread. I don't usually plant until memorial day here in Maryland. Gardening for me is a family tradition. I could go on forever about the benefits of gardening but ill save the space and sum my feeling up in a few words: love, sweat, family, patience, and oh yeah the best veggies are home grown. Peace. Lastly, Roma tomatoes make killer tomato sauce with breaded eggplant to bring it all together.

3 days in the tray and I've got 2 zucchini sprouts. crazy!