STARTING OUR SPRING VEGGIE GARDENS Part 1

"The Hot" in New Orleans is maybe like "The Fog" in the Bay Area, "The Rains" in the Pacific NW, in that it has its own personality. :)

Nola,
You missed it...LOL!

Does "The Hot" creep along eerily at night, devouring anyone in its wake? Well, now that I think about it, maybe it does! LOLOL!

Linda, I'mt rying to figure out why that's pitiful. Looks like an overachiever to me!

ME too ,,, here is one of mine. second from about a week ago

Steph,
Thank you, for being so kind and encouraging. I hope to get all the seedlings planted this weekend. The group inside with tomato babies hasn't even been hardened off yet, so, I pray they will adjust to the change outside. They seem to be pretty hardy.

Here's a pic of my mater babies. They're growing like weeds! Seems like I'm raising the lights daily. This weekend, I'll add more dirt to the cups and then maybe next week I'll pot them up in bigger/deeper cups.

What a doofus! Hit the wrong button. Pics in next post.

This message was edited Feb 8, 2013 8:02 PM

Tomatoes, spinach, cilantro (which looks a lot like a weed I have growing in my garden so I have to be careful when weeding), and Texas Legend onions.

purrrty!

mater babies........how sweet it is. Mine should bloom in two weeks. tic toc tic toc

I gotta get the garden ready for all the broc, cauli, and leafy things. I just have little seedlings right now. Planting out in 3.5 weeks. count down.

I like that.......... The Hot. that was funny.

So they will call this snowstorm The Deep? maybe. dark for me, have to wait for daylite for pix, 82* was a shock after being in Ky at 12* a week ago...am wondering how stuff looks

We ,me and a friend use to travel back and forth from Indiana to Texas during during fall and winter. Never did get use to that ,, that was hard on the body, ignored or not!!..
You could be in ice frozen snow and 14 hours later in dry 90 degree heat and sunshine ... it is not descriptive

I am hardening off all of my tomato plants during the day in the shade of my back porch.
I found those tall cardboard boxes to keep them safe from the winds ... they are great !!
I will gradually move them to the sun light.
My ideal planting date will be February 15th ... but the weather man keeps changing his mind about that date !!
I will keep watching the weather.

My cats Bronto (the white one) and Torchy (the brown one) are keeping an eye on the plants.

I am harvesting all my cauliflowers and radishes to free the area for the tomatoes.
Broccoli will stay in the garden until I transplant out the peppers (which will be early in April).
Broccoli are a very rewarding crop, compare to cauliflowers. In fact broccoli keep producing those delish side shoots.
I have new areas in which I seeded lettuce and they are growing great !

The collard and kale I started in August are still producing ... but very slow.
I used to harvest a large basket of kale one week and of collard the next week. in fact you can see in the pictures that the plants look like a stick with leaves on top.
I don't know how long they will produce ... because everything else it looks like bolting ... so I seeded some more lettuce in between ... weee
Onions are growing well.

Those are my DH pets area.
I "threw" seeds of clover and chicory a few months ago and i don't water them or even look at them ... and they are growing just fine.
When this pets will come out of hybernation in April, they will have a big buffet on those greens ...

er...what are DH pets?

Peppers and eggplants are growing really slow, but it is normal.
They germinated very slow and it takes a while for them to grow at the beginning. But after they will have 4 true leaves, they speed up !
I have also started zucchini. YES it is early .... but I am on a mission ... yes ... again ...
This year I will "be able" to grow zucchini.
I will keep them inside until the stem of the plant is so thick that the Squash Vine Borer will not be able to penetrate ... this is my plan.

her D Dear H Husband pets are box turtles for one...

Thanks, Kitt.

Here is Bazinga and girlfriend. Bazinga is my tortoise and he is an "escape" master.
When I was gone for 2 weeks in the summer, he escaped and made a house in my lettuce bed !! He was hiding under the eggplant plants.
When I came home I just couldn't figure out why half of my lettuce bed was all eaten ... I though and invasion of some kind of pest!
Until on day I was reaching for an eggplant and I saw two red eyes staring at me .... BAZINGA !!

Well, I am very pleased to meet you, Bazinga.

Bazinga! That's way adorable.

I can't imagine a tortoise moving fast enough to escape. Lol he did pick a good spot to set up house tho. They are cute.

Box turtles are great backyard pets, tho it is sometimes hard to tell about their sleeping habits-they tend to hang around.

I have had box turtles when they were legal to keep , interesting pets and additions to the garden , old ones become real friendly ..

yes ... my older one "Big Mama" go crazy for Tomatoes Hornworms. So funny.

I have not seen one in decades.

Find you a blacberry patch- just watch for snakes. They love dry ground, yellow pursla.ne, and blackberries

Yesterday I did harvest all the lettuce that was in the area dedicated to the tomatoes.
I put down a layer of coffee grounds (courtesy of Starbucks) and a layer of "Vital Earth" compost (locally made in DFW).
Today I plan to set up the perforated plastic cover on top of the PVC hoops (If there is not too much wind)
The tomatoes are on the back porch and they are growing and growing.
Beautiful green leaves and some of them are producing flowers already (but I am removing them)

I hope weather man will change his mind ... or my tomatoes plant will be for sure hardened for the next planting date of Feb. 25th.

While I was working outside I saw a squirrel .... running along the fence ... and it went inside the bird house.
I did notice that the hole of the bird house was "remodeled" by somebody ... now I know who did it !
I always have a squirrel in my back yard and it has never stolen my vegetables ... even the tomatoes.
So cute !!
I am going to name it: "Carmelita" and I hope she will not become my "bandit - a"

She is cute drthor. Good luck with the plurality hope.

We woke up to another day of rain!! I'm so tired of this. I haven't been able to prepare my garden beds yet & I've got transplants that need to go out.

Lots of rain here also , garden is still frozen ,cold returning , Planting much is a while away here...
love the pics , it gives hope of days to come here .
Pic #3 or #5 for The"" WANTED"" Poster ? .

May have to plant in tween raindrops. Redbuds in bloom

**NEW THREAD STARTED!!**

Please post any replies to this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1297978/

Kittriana ~ I hadn't noticed any Redbuds here yet but the Carolina jessamine has opened. Love the fragrance.

My multiplier onions are sending up bloom stalks already.