HOW'RE YOU PREPPING NOW FOR SPRING/SUMMER GARDENS?

As a relative newbie, I'd be interested to know what people are doing at this time of year to get read for springtime/summertime gardens. Please post what you're doing in advance, so we can ALL sit back and enjoy our spring/summer gardens! Thanks.

I'm starting peas this weekend in my straw bales. They'll be adding nitrogen to the bales for my later crops.

oct 2006 planted garlic for early july harvest planted in a foot hight raised bed.

pea fence is installed I grow sweet garden peas on one end and flowering sweet peas on the other.

entire garden was limed late fall letting the winter rains wash it in.

250 pounds of Alfalfa pellets spread on a new growth area that is very sandy.

Onions were seeded 1/15 and 2/7

2/7 Garlic was planted in the gh to be set out march 15 for mid Aug early sept harvest


2/7 250 strawberry crowns were planted in 4 inch pots to be set out may first.

presently installing 20x40 foot arch style hoop house for growing tomatoes in and to use as cold frame for spring flowers and garden starts

Thats pretty much it

I've planted suagr snaps,lettuce,radish,carrots,kale and onions. Pulled black plastic off the rest of the garden and have been burning oak leaves and pinestraw on unplanted area then I'll get that area tilled and ready for more planting. Will be doing potatoes and strawberries as soon as my mail order gets here. I started tomatoes,peppers and eggplants earlier in the month under light on a heat mat. Already started hardening some of them off before they go to the greenhouse to finish out for planting out later in April.

P

Hi Red question why do you burn the Oak leaves and Pine straw? I haven"'t either to use in fact I don't know what pinestraw is?

I lied another question did you plant seed,sets,or onion plants?

Glad I read your post because you reminded me I need to get the black plastic on under my plastic hoop houses to warm the soil. LOL it needs warming it snowed again yesterday. Ernie

We disked up our garden patch a while back, disking up all the turnips, kale and spinach that grew out there all winter. We have now made up rows and planted, 3 kinds of spinach, early alaska peas, broccoli, brussels cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, large onions. I think that's it, for a while till warmer weather comes.

WE also planted 9 l00 foot rows of red pontiac potatoes and ukon gold. Have fingerling potatoes coming.

WE dug big deep holes after we made rows up for the potatoes, and put in l/8 cup triple l3 and a dash of lime in each hole, covered that up and placed the potato on top of the clean soil. burried them allup.

we put down chicken litter in the veggie garden from our coop and cow manure from our cow pasture. Hope it does well

How do you all get it dry enough to do soil work? Here there are 2 foot snow drifts and rain.

WE just have to wait till the soil dries out, we've always tried to plant by the almanac but most of the time can't because of the rains etc... we watch the weather, we knew it was going to rain yesterday so we worked hard all last week to get in the ground what we wanted so we wouldn't have to water anything and wouldn't have to wait 2 more weeks as now we have to wait a while before we can go back out there. spring is awful around here for the rains, we just have towork around mother nature.

There is a big difference between Arizona, Zone 7b and Indiana, Zone 5b. The weather is much dryer in most of Arizona and much warmer, too. I am in 5a in the West and we have snow on the ground and it is frozen and will be for 2 or 3 more weeks. To prepare for my garden, I went to the store and bought alfalfa pellets and checked to make sure I have enough seeds for everything I want to grow. Normally I would plant seeds indoors under lights, but I will be out of town for 2 weeks in the middle of March.
I have been pruning my fruit trees, though.

Eweed have you ever noticed rabbits being a problem because of the alfalfa pellets. DH won't let me use them because he doeesn't want to fight the rabbits off the garden. I was also wondering why you don't compost your oak leaves?

I'm with Indy,waiting for the snow to melt off, I did try some winter seed sowing I learned about here at DG. I is hard to read about others getting out and started already

Silver tell hubby baloney till the pellets in the soil so they can begin composting and releasing fertilizer. You can also make tea out of it and that works to. I don't have oak leaves but Suppose they don't break down well they seem to last a long time in the woods?Ernie

I'm in Arkansas if you were referring to my zone. I think it's hotter in Arizona than Arkansas too. There is always one or two things we have to replant, for the rain washing away the seed or rotting it. But we like our garden to be finished completely for the month of august when we usually go on trips. And when we come back, the end of August we'll plant our fall garden

eweed,I burn them for the pot-ash.

I planted the itty-bitty onion bulbs but I do have some seeds for bunching onions I need to get planted as soon as I till more ground.

kathy_ann,
Who's this "WE"? Is your WE like mine? Suppose to be hub's and me but hub's generaly wanders off once the tillings done.

P

We is husband and me, sometimes son too

Here's how I begin!

Do you guys mind if I jump in? Been lurking a little.

Ernie, Eweed, a couple of questions. Is your sandy area packed hard? I have an area that is like builders sand that packed down hard before we bought the place. Will alfalfa pellets do anything for it?

Also, interested in your hoophouse. What are you hooping out of? It sounds like you plant directly in the ground? What do you cover your hoop with? That is a big one. It sounds like you have more hoop houses? Do you have a nursery business or something?

Also, are you the one I saw pictures of that had your hoophouses on walls? I think I saw those. Pretty cool.

Jeanette

Sorry Eweed, I meant Bigred. We have 2 monster live oaks and when they drop their leaves we gather them on the grass and run the lawn mower over them. Voila, no leaves. They get chopped up and dissapear into the grass.

Sunday we cleaned out half of the arbor bed, added compost, humate and sulphur. I do different stuff every year. I still need to add Rose Glow for the roses. Atleast it has alfalfa in it. DH doesn't know that.:)

silver,
If I don't burn my leaves and needles,I mow over them and use them for mulch then turn them in the next season when they;ve broken down. I use un-mowed leaves and needles between veggie rows to cut down on weeding ,hold in moisture and keep my feet clean of mud. By the end of season I rake them up compost or burn them before I recover the part garden I won't be using for the winter with black plastic.

P

Now that's a good idea for leaves, I'm gonna have to do some raking first though LOL, but I'm going to do that this year between the rows. thanks P

Bigred, what do you use the potash for that you get from burning the leaves?

Jnette yes sand packs but well amended with humas will help it.Mine is full of cow poo which helps and I plant winter wheat in the fall and till in in the spring. Tilling in straw is cheaper than alfalfa pellets by far . I reserve the alfalfa pellets for fertlizing more than soil enhancing. Alfalfa pellets can also be turned into a tea that is a great source of nitrogen. No nursery business here just monkey business lol and yes I grow in the ground under the hoophouses. In this climate thats the only way to insure a good tomatoe crop.Dont know if you saw my hoophouse or not but it is good sized and has 3 foot walls if I did it over they would be four or five. Ernie

sorry wrong pic lol this is a shoesquash. Edited to say covering is with 6 mill good gh plastic visqueen .

This message was edited Feb 27, 2007 6:56 PM

Is that this year's squash? Jeanette

silver,
I burn the leaves and needles in the garden then just till them in before I plant.

kathy_ann,
I tried putting down leftover house shingles last year but they got muddy and slick. Last thing I would have thought of since they've got that grit on them,that they would be slick.

P

I've heard of folks doing the shingles too and they were slick as well, I did newspaper once. Kids said, never again, too much work LOL DUH , what's weeding! Work I tell ya, work.......

k_a

I tried putting down cardboard boxes last year and planting my tomatoes thru holes I cut in it...weeds grew right over the top of it.

P

yes, those buggers will find a way through won't they. I HATE WEEDS!!!!!!!

Which is why I'm planting in Earthboxes! No Weeds!

Gymgirl, I'm in zone 5 and we still have snow, so obviously my situation is different than yours, but here is how I prep for the upcoming season. Starting in January, I go to all my favorite seed websites (Johnny's, Swallowtail, Lonnie's, Onalee's, etc) and order all the seeds for the upcoming year. When I get them, I separate them according to when they have to be started indoors. I update my journal here at DG to reflect all the plants that will be in this year's garden (I have a separate journal for each year). I stock up on my supplies--seed starting mix, lights, peat pots, etc. At the appropriate time, I start my seeds indoors (today, since we are 12 wks from our last avg frost date, I will be starting datura, vigna caracalla, and begonia). I also take this time before spring to bone up on my how-to garden reading--I have books on propagation, Ohio gardening, all-purpose gardening, etc. I will be cleaning my tools and pots, and have DH check on the mower to make sure it's in proper working order. I make my to-do lists of the things that will need special attention as soon as the temps regularly get in the 40s--the edges need to be re-done, the compost pile stirred up, several things need pruning, etc. So, you can see, although I can't be outside yet, I have plenty to keep me busy. Oh, and because I was dying to grow SOMETHING, I started a flat of lettuce. They should be ready to eat before I even have a chance to get them out. :-) Tamara

I still have my winter garden going with salad greens, daikon, turnip greens, etc. I have seedlings for tomatoes (444, celebrity, sweet million) and peppers (tam jalapeno), but they won't go in until next month. I just prepared a bed for pole beans (I'm going to do them maypole style) this past weekend. As I harvest and clean up winter veggies I'll amend and prepare for summer stuff. I'm excited - I love this time of year!

Thanks for the report Tamara. I realize that having a garden isn't just about being outside and playing in the dirt! I walked around the yard this weekend taking assessment of everything that survived the winter -- not much with color survived. But my wonderful begonia did! You actually grow them from seeds? How neat! And I have a dinnerplate hibiscus that may still be alive, but won't know until July. I looked at the small mountain of leaves my DH has mounded up all winter long, and am wondering what I need to do to it to help it become compost a little faster. It's all the grass clippings and leaves raked since last fall. Is there still time to throw in my coffee grinds? Read somewhere that they actually help, and earthworms love it. Also, there's a soil conditioner I'm gonna look for this weekend as I begin my shopping for planting. Don't need any new pots, cause bought many on sale at end of last summer. Have some Easter lilies that I rescued from the trash after last Easter, There are multiples growing in pots, and I imagine they need there own individual pots.

Yep. And clearing out and reorganizing my potting area, washing and sterilizing pots (Jerry Baker has an absolutely WONDERFUL recipe I use. It smells like toothpaste, and I could stand there all day washing and scrubbing out pots!). Collecting my tools and getting them cleaned and oiled. Lots to do!

I've been ordering seeds and lining up packets of what I want to grow and then trying to pare them down to what I CAN grow in the space and time I have. Last fall I covered the garden with 2 or 3 inches of old cow manure from an organic dairy, then I brewed up a few gallons of aerated compost tea, applied it to the soil and covered everything up with leaves for a winter nap. Until I plant in the spring, the microbes will do the rest of the work. The leaves rotted down a little faster than expected, but the nice yard crew was kind enough to pile on a few more inches the last time they cleaned up the yard. There should be some great stuff waiting under there by the time it's ready to plant.

Gymgirl, I throw in my coffee grounds every morning. Even in the summer, my compost pile never gets "steamy" because I'm sure I don't have the correct ratio of green:brown materials. Either way, I figure that eventually the stuff will break down. I still have my pumpkins from Halloween that I have to put in there. lol (I left them in the wheelbarrow and they froze in there). I just throw everything whole into the compost pile, and then jump on it to squish it (and then fluff it back up with the pitchfork to get oxygen in there). I'm sure the neighbors think I'm a nut job. ;-) I actually have never grown begonias from seed before, so it will be interesting to see if I can actually get them to germinate. I was just removing some snow from the front beds to see if the snowdrops had come up yet, and they did! Poor things were buried under the snow so I couldn't see them. In the fall we had put a large amount of leaves in all the beds as insulation, and when I pulled them back, I could see all the other spring bulbs sprouting up as well. I think I might start removing all those leaves so I can feel like spring is finally here. I am sooo sick of this deary, cold winter!! So, what are you growing this year? Tamara

Zone5girl - I do my compost pretty much the same way. I turn it about twice then let it sit and I start another pile. It is usable in about a year from my experience (though I have to screen out some roots and such before I move it to the garden). I could probably be more serious about it, but it just isn't that important to me. I usually have 3 piles sitting and 1 pile in process at any given time.

Have any of you used the compost makers? I bought some from Gardens Alive this year for the first time even though I have looked at several before. It is pretty expensive so am anxious to see how it works. Can't wait for this snow to melt and the ground to thaw. It snows every day. The snow isn't so bad if I thought the ground was thawing.

I am praying that all the honeybees don't die. If they die all our prep work and planting will be in vain. We will be in a lot of trouble. LIZ

I live in zone 9b in Casa Grande AZ, and have been tilling up garden rows and flower beds. Waiting for soil temps to get up there and then I have a greenhouse FULL of stuff toget in the ground. I always have to re-plant stuff for starting too soon. This time I am going to TRY to wait.

Your right, I think we have to replant some stuff. Not sure on the potatoes last night, but it got down to l7 degrees last night, it was suppose to get to 25 but we always get colder than the weather predicts because we're in a valley. I should have known, it was hard work putting in those rows of seed, I wonder if the pea and spinach seed will be ok? I haven't checked on the brussels and broccoli yet. I think we have to replant the radish though.

Maybe it will all germinate when the weather warms up next week. This was an unexpected cold snap but we always have an unexpected one when we think winter is over.

kathy

The tomatoes I started out earlier under light on heat mat have been out in the new unfinished addition(aka my home gym)long enough and will move to the greenhouse hopefully later this week and then will be bumped up to dixie cups or pots.

We gotten down to the lo-30's for the weekend but looks like my sugar snaps sprouts have made it just fine. Kale and radishes sprouted despite cold nigh temps. Spinach,lettuce and carrots have yet to sprout.

P

Peggy,

I was thinking of starting squash seed in the greenhouse. (dont want to rebuy the heirloom seed) do you think it's too soon to start by seed in the greenhouse? If I want to plant them the middle of next month , they should be ok ? ha? No heat mats under theseed trays, but I put the trays outside during the day and take them in during the rain and night temps. so it's like their sprouting outside really. (in the ground) I want to plant the squash seed too, guess I should get busy LOL