What's growing? The garden thread.

[nocsious3]

Where do you live that you have produce already and tomatoes in the ground?

KC suburbs. Some plants can easily handle frosts. Radishes, onions, turnip, broccoli etc. went in like early to mid April and were started inside. I don't use plastic tunnels but do cover some stuff if it gets below 30 degrees.

Asparagus started coming up mid April. Average last frost is like April 14th but it about 2 weeks later this year.

Zone 6b here.

 

[NWICY]

Let's talk rabbits for a minute. Besides fencing what does everybody use to repel these garden destroyers. They tunnel under my fence all the time, and it's hard to keep them out.

My BIL lives in town and a pellet gun is his favored form of rabbit control.

 

[NWICY]

Not really a garden question but hey, my hummingbird feeder is in my flower garden so thought I would ask. Has anyone seen any yet? We just put our feeder out about a week ago a couple of weeks later than normal in southern Iowa due to the weather. I thought I saw one in neighbor’s flowers so thought they should be visiting our feeder soon, but doesn’t look like it.

Hummingbirds birds just showed up this wk along with the Orioles. Little buggers sure like to fight amongst themselves no matter how much feeder space you have.

 

[NWICY]

Rhubarb is ready so I made my first batch of rhubarb crunch this afternoon. Recipe calls for a cup of sugar, but I like the tartness of the rhubarb. Been setting for an hour so it is still warm. Going to make some strawberry/rhubarb compote tomorrow to put on pancakes or French toast.

View attachment 98675

Still warm? Throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it. YUM.

 

[cycloner29]

Still warm? Throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it. YUM.

Totally forgot about that. We don't even have any. Sure was good for breakfast! Hard to believe it is considered a vegetable.

 

[CYdTracked]

Hoping to get garden planted this weekend. The rain over the weekend and Monday night its still too wet to run a tiller through right now. Part of my problem is even after building up the garden bed a little higher than the backyard the back part of my lot takes awhile to dry out which is ok in the summer when I don't mind the soil having more moisture but a pain in the spring to get it dried out enough to prepare it to plant if we have a cool wet spell like we have had until just now.

Haven't decided what all to plant yet but probably the usual tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, peppers, lettuce, onions and broccoli. Going to try a small spot of green beans again but have not had much luck the last few times for some reason. Sometimes I don't get a great germination rate and the times I do the Japanese beetles just destroy them but my daughter is begging me to plant some again so probably will try to.

 

[Cydaddy]

Put in lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes and onions on Monday which is 2 - 3 weeks later than normal. Will do tomatoes, peppers, green beans and cucumbers later this week. About five years ago we redid our garden and brought in several pickup loads of compost which has made a huge difference in amount and quality of produce. We have a 5' wire fence around it which keeps most varmints out. We use irrigation drip hose (Menards) to water which works well since it doesn't wet any of the plants. We usually let it run for 3 - 4 hours when we water and I suppose you could put a timer on it to avoid forgetting to turn it off.

Once all the plants are established I detach our lawn and sweep up the clippings to mulch the garden to combat the weeds and conserve moisture. Our biggest problem is my wife over populates the space with tomato plants and it is hard to get around once they mature.

 

[carvers4math]

Hummingbirds birds just showed up this wk along with the Orioles. Little buggers sure like to fight amongst themselves no matter how much feeder space you have.

Finally saw one at the feeder at 5:45 am when dog had to go pee. They must be coming pretty early but feeder doesn’t seem to be going down much.

 

[CYdTracked]

Put in lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes and onions on Monday which is 2 - 3 weeks later than normal. Will do tomatoes, peppers, green beans and cucumbers later this week. About five years ago we redid our garden and brought in several pickup loads of compost which has made a huge difference in amount and quality of produce. We have a 5' wire fence around it which keeps most varmints out. We use irrigation drip hose (Menards) to water which works well since it doesn't wet any of the plants. We usually let it run for 3 - 4 hours when we water and I suppose you could put a timer on it to avoid forgetting to turn it off.

Once all the plants are established I detach our lawn and sweep up the clippings to mulch the garden to combat the weeds and conserve moisture. Our biggest problem is my wife over populates the space with tomato plants and it is hard to get around once they mature.

Sounds like you and I think alike! When we moved into our current house there was no garden but I had one at our last place. The soil was typical for newer homes where you didn't have to dig too deep to hit clay. Fortunately my parents raise some cattle about 30 minutes away and pile up the places they feed hay over the winter to compost so I hauled in a couple nice pickup beds full of composted manure from the winter lots which is some really rich/black composted soil! I also have to put up some chicken wire fence to keep the rabbits out. Half of the garden is in the back corner of the lot that has chain link fence but I had to put the chicken wire on that too as the baby rabbit sneak through chain link too easily.

I also bag my lawn clippings to mulch the garden which works wonders then till it up in the fall which makes for some more organic material to compost. I only plant 1 cherry tomato plant which gets way too big for my liking and results in a lot of voluntary tomato plants the next year and 1 roma tomato plant. I don't know how anyone can do more than 1 of a variety as they make way more tomatoes than we can keep up with. I guess if you can you may want more but just eating them as they ripen or make a batch of fresh salsa when you get too many we still give away a lot of tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes usually get so overgrown a lot of them start to go bad on the vine because we can't keep up with them.

 

[cowgirl836]

We blanch and freeze tons of tomatoes. And the cherry tomatoes got ahead last yr so I started freezing too. Use straight from freezer or fresh and mix with olive oil herbs of choice, cook for about 25 min at 400 or so until starting to blacken. Toss into soup or whatever you want to have extra tomato flavor. Fabulous on bruschetta. Think we put it with stuffed peppers last yr too

 

[nocsious3]

We have our next failure. This 3 days of 90's has triggered my broccoli to bolt. Probably a complete loss. I picked some really cheap seed at the hardware store in February ( last year's leftovers) and I guess it's just not a good variety for my area.

Here's a tip that I give in the grass growing forums that I should have taken to heart in the garden. Get the best seed and varieties you can. Look at the varieties for pest resistance, heat tolerance, etc. A small difference in seed cost to get premium varieties, can make tremendous differences in yield. Somebody like Johnny's Seeds, whom has a huge market garden commercial business, is going to have tested varieties. I like Park seeds a bunch too. Baker Creek is awesome just to find something fun to grow.

 

[cycloner29]

Holy Ants!! Anyone else having a population explosion in their? In our neighborhood I’ve seen them like a moving carpet. Ant hills sprouting up in along edges and cracks in sidewalk. Have had a couple in the edge of my garden. 3-4 in the lawn. Was it the temp change that made them come out with a vengeance? Thank god for Ortho Home Defense Spray! This stuff does the job!! Have had a gallon of it in my garage for 3 years now and it still does the job.

 

[CoachHines3]

tomatoes goin in next week

wife wants to do a pumpkin patch this year, too. yay

 

[JM4CY]

tomatoes goin in next week

wife wants to do a pumpkin patch this year, too. yay

Beware of vine borers.

 

[CoachHines3]

Beware of vine borers.

yeah i've heard they can wipe everything out.

we had a smaller patch last year and didn't run into the problem but we have moved it to a different location to accommodate the football field sized patch she wants

 

[cycloner29]

Stalk borers really did a number on my zucchini the last couple of years. I even put Sevin down on the base of them. It did help but once they got in pulled them up as I had gotten good production from them. Not planting them this year. Trying cucumbers again this year after some sort of blight on them last year that pretty killed them off in a week after they had started to produce. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[JM4CY]

Stalk borers really did a number on my zucchini the last couple of years. I even put Sevin down on the base of them. It did help but once they got in pulled them up as I had gotten good production from them. Not planting them this year. Trying cucumbers again this year after some sort of blight on them last year that pretty killed them off in a week after they had started to produce. Anyone else have this issue?

You ever use Fungoil?

 

[cycloner29]

You ever use Fungoil?

Hmm.. never heard of it. I googled it and came up with nothing. I did find something call Fung-onil though, which I assume you are talking about?

 

[JM4CY]

Hmm.. never heard of it. I googled it and came up with nothing. I did find something call Fung-onil though, which I assume you are talking about?

Yes. Sorry had the spelling wrong. Got a relative that works for the extension office. He told me to use that stuff regularly and that it works. Follow the label if you try it. I use the concentrated version in a 2 gallon sprayer. Usually only mix up one gallon as my plot isn’t that big. I feel like it works but again follow the label or you will burn your plants. I use it about every 10-14 days and keep a log so I don’t over do it and some plants (tomatoes) can take it more regularly than others so I have to keep it straight. I feel like it definitely makes a difference though. Don’t apply on hot days when the plants are stressed.

 

[BillyClone]

Got some asparagus I’ve been eating the last few days but I’m eagerly awaiting my kohlrabi. Anyone else grow kohlrabi?

I always grow about a dozen kohlrabi plants in the early spring. I plant them around the first of April and usually have a good harvest by the end of May. I don't know if it's the central Iowa climate or what, but I swear, it's the only thing I can grow without much hassle.

Case in point - last week I went out and figured I had lost my small crop after the harsh cold and winds. Stems were broken off, leaves were brown, everything was either dead or dying. I went out yesterday to mow and lo and behold - I've got 12 plants that are green and alive and seem to be growing! Seriously, I could grow this stuff with my eyes shut.