Spring Planting

[Mermade]

I pulled out my old tomato plants. They were producing but only a couple at a time. The plants were looking pretty scraggly and I didn't think they'd provide me with a whole other season of fruit. Here is a small crop I got in January though:



I was just lazy at the end of the season and left them in. I was shocked when they started kicking out more tomatoes in the middle of the winter. Well, it is California! Same thing with the peppers from last year. I picked the last two in February, but pulled them out to make room for different crops. It was fun to get winter veggies from the plants, especially since we got a couple of freezes this winter.

[cbloom]

I've always had a garden everywhere I lived. Last year I moved to SF and have no land, so I'm going to be planting some little window boxes. I've never done that before so don't really know the tricks. I guess we're just going to do some annuals so we get some nice big flowers and then we'll clean them out in the winter.

[FeliciaLee]

How is everyone doing with their gardens?

I was all depressed until this morning. I couldn't figure out why nothing was growing (the spring planting, that is). None of my seeds were sprouting up, even the ones I'd germinated inside first. I thought maybe it was something to do with the crazy weather we've been having (99 degree high in March, 29 low, ouch).

But lo and behold, this morning three of my sweet peas started springing up, and I figured out the mystery. The wind here in the desert is so strong, that even though I was using a lowered garden method, the seeds were getting pushed towards the east of each trench! Peas are obviously heavier than most seeds, and even all three of them got pushed to the eastern side of the little trench I had them in. Aha!

Yes, I obviously had everything mulched heavily and protected on the western side (the wind is just THAT strong!).

Anyway, seeing those three little sweet peas sprouting up did my heart a lot of good. And I suppose more wind protection is in order!

So how is everyone else doing? Pics, pics?

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Mermade]

I posted this pic in the cooking thread, but here it is again. (I'm not a great photographer.)



My arugula is growing like a weed in the container up front and we've already begun eating it--mostly on bagels with lox. Yum! Some of my herbs are abundant enough to harvest, so all the herbs I used in the current ICOOT thread are from the garden. Soon I will have to put the tomato cages up, but, although you can't see the full extent of it, I have pink jasmine blooming like crazy on the garden wall and I want to wait until it's done. Then, I'll trim back the vines and put up the cages and the tomatoes can go nuts. The tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries have some flowers, so that's fun. I've put the basil in now: large leaf Italian basil, aroma basil, and purple basil. I've also been planting more flowers in the flower beds. I just love going out there every morning to see what's happening, it changes every day!

Felicia, I feel for you with the seeds. I remember in the Midwest waiting to see what would actually come up. Here in CA I've had bad luck with slugs and snails. When I planted seeds the seedlings would get munched the moment they came up. The slugs and snails seem less interested in the established leaves, so I put in small plants. I control them now just with beer traps which keeps the population down a bit. Some leaves still get eaten, but I'm now resigned to giving some up to them.

[limon]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone got plans to plant anything this spring?

I am determined to get things in this spring, before it becomes the usually blazing hot, so I've got plants on order and I've got to get the heirloom veggies started. I've decided to go the small fruit route with the scrubs to keep it interesting, so I've got blueberries, raspberries, red & black currants, Saskatoon berries, and quinces on order, plus a few lilacs, all from Raintree Nursery online. (Great place to find really unusually stuff cheaply, and the plants are wonderful.) Had to replace a maple that died last year, so I've got a new 10' red maple in the yard now, waiting for final planting. I even got the fertilizer and crabgrass preventer down already, so this is like a record spring for me.

So what are you planting this year?

[/ QUOTE ]

avocado.

[Ray Zee]

in montana where i am we have a 90 day growing season . it starts in late may or first of june as thats when the last frost is usually.
right now the snow is gone and a few buds are on my lilac bushes. a couple of daffodils and irises are pushing up from the ground. all the grass is just turning green.
so soon, onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes will go in.
the first good stuff will be my bed of asparagus showing handfulls every day around may.
in the green house tomatoes and a few other things are getting started and waiting to be hardened off in may then planted in the garden june first if the forecast is for no frost.
some tomatoes go in the ground mid or early may as a gamble with water walls around them.
my corn hopefully just beats the frost each year in the fall and the same with the majority of tomatoes.
will have some carrots from last year to dig out and perhaps find some potatoes.
the last of last years pumkins are now gone so pumkin pie is out for a time and the same with the squash. its all soft so the chickens are having a party.
old apples not eaten are going to the chickens, and the peacock, who likes fruit the best.
the freezer still has lots of corn, spinach,kale, onions, peppers and all sorts of other vegis. all done organically with no sprays.

[Mermade]

Ray Zee,

Your post reads to me like poetry. I love the visuals and the feeling of spring and the anticipation of planting. I am intrigued that you have a peacock. I assume they serve no useful purpose and are mostly decorative, but maybe I'm wrong.

[milliondollaz]

After hiking through the Muir Woods today, I had the strong desire to buy and plant a redwood tree. And I'll be damned if they didn't sell the bloody things in the gift shop! So I'm the proud new owner of a 3" tall Giant Sequoia tree, this one to be exact.

Is there anything like a "tomato sucess kit" for trees? Any recommended fertilizers? I am willing to do just about anything to get this sucker to grow abnormally fast. I'm thinking about placing it in the fridge during July, to try to get an extra winter season in. Bad idea?

[adsman]

I have a question for those of you like Ray who have a lot of experience at planting. Here in Italy they swear by planting by the moon. The moon has to be in the right phase for different types of vegetables etc. They even cut wood by the moon. If you cut wood in the wrong phase it won't burn properly, or so they say.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is this just an old wives tale or does it really make a difference?

[Ray Zee]

if you say grace before dinner, believe in ghosts, think of supreme beings, then why not plant by the moon.
if you dont, plant when you are outside and cut wood when it is there.