The Sprout-B&B Gardening 2015

Okay...who is getting their gardens ready for this year? I was a little lazy and didn't cultivate the garden last fall...and just did it today. Whew, that's almost like work.

Got my 20X30 regular area done, and my 10X15 pepper patch.



The Husqvarna tiller with the Honda engine started on the first pull, even though it's been setting since the last part of last July or the first of August last year.

This workin' 'till dark gets tiring. We haven't quite figured ours out yet, but What Y'all Plantin' this Year?

I just ordered three varieties of habaneros- Golden, Peach, and Tasmanian. I should be getting some Serranos, too. I am going to grow in 5 gallon containers. I have never gardened before, so I thought this would be a good way to find out if it is something I would enjoy.

Mike that looks like some hard work.

Mine is giving us some product now.

Beetroot, strawberries, a horseradish at the back, it is only a few months old and corn





Spring onion and tomato



Some Bell peppers



The wife's Taro patch.

That is TOTALLY NOT FAIR!!!

Your growing seasons are opposite of mine so I have nothing now.

Looks good though.

cleanshaved said:

Mike that looks like some hard work.

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Yeah, it can start to feel that way. Went North-South on the first passes, then East-West on the next ones. The criss-cross thing...on both patches...so that's double tilling. And I put that sucker as deep as it would go...and it was still a bit wet underneath, as you can see by the mud on the tiller tires.

It's pretty danged well turned up now though.

Who says it's too wet to plow?

Thanks Mike. It's great to he able to eat what you grow. I may look at hiring a rotary hoe next season.

Did you add any compost to the garden?

No compost, never have because we didn't make any...had a couple of cows in there "fertilizing" it the last few months. We added some triple thirteen last year, for the conditions around here. Thinking about not adding any fertilizer this year as we have not added any on some past seasons and it did just fine.

We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow Sunday night.

I'm not quite ready for a garden yet...

Toothpick said:

We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow Sunday night.

I'm not quite ready for a garden yet...

Click to expand...

That may answers my next question...........does anyone have a winter garden?

cleanshaved said:

That may answers my next question...........does anyone have a winter garden?

Click to expand...

Not I! I hibernate in the winter.

I'm getting ready to plant some tomatoes in my terra cotta pots. I'm going to wait though, we've got a blast of more winter coming.

Sigh... I'll probably kill some more innocent plants in pots in a few weeks. On a bright note, my petunias in the front yard have survived for almost a year. They just bloomed and look spectacular!

I'll probably try and get some cool weather stuff, like lettuce, 'taters, radishes, etc. in when this cold front moves through. It was 74 here Sat. but 30 right now, with about 25 mph winds...from the North. Weather Underground says a wind chill of 17.

I had a water hose hooked up Sat...just went out and unhooked it and put the insulated cover back over the faucet.

I can grow veggies, but I can kill petunias, or other flowers, just by looking at them.

Going to start the seeds in my green house in another week or so. Here in Illinois I cannot put anything outside until late April if I don't' want to risk getting it killed by a late frost. Got a good variety of seeds to try this year. Broccoli, cauliflower, couple types of carrot, beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, butternut squash, yukon gold potatoes, and a couple more I cannot think of right now.

Still have snow and ice on the ground. Hope my fig tree made the winter. Looking forward to getting some food in and a small food plot for the deer after April.

Tom

Finally got dry enough to plant...kinda sorta. We had rain for about 2 weeks, then 3 inches of snow that melted, then a couple of days after that snow melted we had 4 inches of snow that melted, then about another 2 weeks of rain. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

At least my pond is full and the water well should be also.

I have never done any herbs before so I hope my little area turns out okay. The little area closest in the pic. has:

Oregano
Cilantro
German thyme
Dill
Basil
Parsley
Rosemary

And some sweet banana peppers that are hiding just out of camera view. I've heard that hot peppers won't cross-pollinate with other peppers but one time I put banana peppers next to jalapenos and they were HOT! So I put them with Herb this time.

The main area has:

Cucumbers
Beets
Broccoli
Squash
Tomatoes
Onion
Kale
Lettuce
Spinach
Green beans
Black eyed peas
Radishes
Okra
Corn
Cantaloupe
Watermelon

Gonna pick up some seed potatoes in the next couple of days to put a row in next to the corn also.

My little pepper patch at the far end has:

Jalapeno
Serrano
Habanero
New Mexico Hatch 6-4L
Poblano

Sorry for the bad pic., but it's the best I could do today.



And the workhorses: A Husqvarna tiller with a Honda engine, a brand new little Honda cultivator that will be used to go between the rows, and the dreaded hand rake, cultivator, hoe, and that pointy ended thing that you use to dig the rows to put the seeds in. And my little pipe smokin' buddy girly girl that likes to sit with me when I smoke a pipe, and roll in the fresh dug garden...among other things. Now if I could just train her to use the manual cultivator that she's smellin' of....

Hey Mike, how does your garden grow?

It's not growing...it's floating!

Got corn coming up, tomatos have some bloom, and other stuff is kinda starting to come up. But...been too wet to get a tiller between the rows, and have only been able to mow the grass around the area that's not planted once, and had to do that with a push mower. There's an inch or so of water standing between some of the rows.

The grass and weeds are doing fine though.

I'll try and snap a pic. later today...if it stops raining. Supposed to rain all this week and into the first of next week. It's been raining for about 3 months. With all the clouds my satellite internet has been pretty spotty for quite awhile.

Get a boat.

Here's some pics. of my water garden, I mean rice paddy...umm, I mean small lake.

You can't even walk between the rows without sinking up to your ankles. I think I need to break out my scuba gear.

Why can't rain fall be evenly distributed over the course of the year. Just 1 year out of 20 is all I'm after.