What's growing? The garden thread.

cowgirl836

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Zone 5A. I planted different lettuces and spinach on April 8. I usually harvest early (cut and come again) and don't wait for heads to form. I've got a lot of greens to eat...doing really well this past week. I planted onions mid April and just planted my tomatoes two days ago.

Speaking of tomatoes what is the best way to plant them? I trimmed off most of the branches and buried them pretty deep but a good six inches of the plant still remained above ground. The tag in the pot said only leave 1 inch exposed. I thought that was weird. I didn't plant them for about 10 days after I bought them and they did grow a lot from when I brought them home. Perhaps those were directions for when the plant is very small.

Not sure what else I am planting this year. I have no luck with melons though my son wants me to plant them every year. I may try some winter squash and sunflowers (for aesthetics). Last year a storm came through and flattened all my onions so I harvested them early July. Hopefully they can stay upright a bit longer this year. I am looking for something else to plant that the family will like. They are picky.

I just watched insta stories from my indie grower on this topic last night! She lays her tomatoes out on their side the night before (need to be in fairly small containers for this to work) and trenches them. I'd never heard of it before but I may try it - here's an article that explains it better than what I was trying to type.

 
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BigTurk

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I just watched insta stories from my indie grower on this topic last night! She lays her tomatoes out on their side the night before (need to be in fairly small containers for this to work) and trenches them. I'd never heard of it before but I may try it - here's an article that explains it better than what I was trying to type.

My car share partner was telling me about planting tomatoes sideways. Maybe that is a University of Iowa thing?
 

Sparkplug

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I make my own seed tapes. Use single ply paper towels, “paint” on paste made with flour, add seeds and cover with soil. Much easier than getting down on the ground and messing with the tiny seeds
 

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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Planted the wife’s tomatoes and peppers. Best start they’ve had in awhile. Wife never had a garden growing up.
 

cowgirl836

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Got our tomatoes and peppers in...first set of green beans too. I try to do something new each year...technically no new plants this year but trying new varieties so I hope that counts. Tomatoes - Black Krim, Paul Robeson, San Marzano, cosmic sunset. Oh I suppose the red Lettuce counts as new! Eating some Spinach and arugula this week.
 
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clone4life82

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Not surprised. I remember my dad going in the barn to check the stored hay & straw and talk of barn fires happening. And a few times the local fire department would get called out to a (round) bale fire.

Work at a place that had a Morton style hay storage building burn down a few years back because people put wet hay bales in and they internally combusted.
 

cowgirl836

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Bump time! We got moved to zone 5A by the USDA and even though the frost date is now 5/7, I actually don't see frost in our forecast. Highs are still normal but lows are looking mild.

I started 50 milk jugs outdoors with annual seeds end of March to last weekend and with the warmer temps this week, many are sprouting which is fun! I spend a small fortune in annuals each year so this is a low cost experiment to see if I can do some on my own.

Planted the first of the garden yesterday -multiple spinach types, carrot types, one lettuce, arugula, snap peas, and trying out green onions and radishes this year. Need to do potatoes yet and the spring garden planting should be set.
 

JM4CY

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Bump time! We got moved to zone 5A by the USDA and even though the frost date is now 5/7, I actually don't see frost in our forecast. Highs are still normal but lows are looking mild.

I started 50 milk jugs outdoors with annual seeds end of March to last weekend and with the warmer temps this week, many are sprouting which is fun! I spend a small fortune in annuals each year so this is a low cost experiment to see if I can do some on my own.

Planted the first of the garden yesterday -multiple spinach types, carrot types, one lettuce, arugula, snap peas, and trying out green onions and radishes this year. Need to do potatoes yet and the spring garden planting should be set.
What's the trick to snap peas? I've tried these and it never works.
 

intrepid27

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What's the trick to snap peas? I've tried these and it never works.
What didn't work? I plant both spring and fall snap peas and have good luck. Most varieties need some type of trellis although I just planted one yesterday that supposedly only gets 2 feet tall and does not need support. Last year I planted my fall crop around Aug 1st and the snap peas were great.
 
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JM4CY

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What didn't work? I plant both spring and fall snap peas and have good luck. Most varieties need some type of trellis although I just planted one yesterday that supposedly only gets 2 feet tall and does not need support. Last year I planted my fall crop around Aug 1st and the snap peas were great.
Both times I tried, I believe part of the issue was them being crowded by other plants. However, the second time, they weren't that crowded and they never produced hardly anything. Do they transfer easily? I may try that bush variety.
 

Kinch

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Lettuce and Kale under cover. Use old corn tunnels. Also planted potatoes and onion plants.
 
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cowgirl836

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Both times I tried, I believe part of the issue was them being crowded by other plants. However, the second time, they weren't that crowded and they never produced hardly anything. Do they transfer easily? I may try that bush variety.

IDK, I've never had trouble with these. I plant in cool weather (I'm doing one set now and I'll plant pod peas later in July for the fall) and use an inoculant. I'll thin them out as they come up and then I do a very simple trellis that is just some stakes at both ends of the row with twine in between. I do not transer, I think peas are supposed to be pretty sensitive to transfer. Plus they are good with cold soil and light frost.
 

cycloner29

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Carrots, red beets, radishes, onions, and peas in the ground. I used the TP method on the first three. Made a paste of flour and water, cut the TP into three 7' sections, had an old kid's medicine dropper and just laid my tape measure out and put drop of paste at recommended spacing. Pretty slick way. Will what and see what actually comes up.
 
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intrepid27

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Both times I tried, I believe part of the issue was them being crowded by other plants. However, the second time, they weren't that crowded and they never produced hardly anything. Do they transfer easily? I may try that bush variety.
I've never tried transplanting peas.
 

bos

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Last year I had some radishes left from storebought that we didnt use so I tossed them in the garden to see what happens. Well.... they grew and got big green and bushy/flowery. The bugs loved the flowers that eventually turned in to seed pods. Read that you could eat the seadpods so tried that out. DELICIOUS. Not even a huge radish fan but the pods were amazing (milder radish flavor if you havent tried) Anyway, waited till the rest of the pods browned out and now this year I started those seeds and they are growing so looks like Ill have a radish patch this summer. Typically do this kind of stuff with store bought veggies especially celery. Fun project and dont have to buy seeds and partially growns from the garden center.