The Sprout- B&B Gardening 2013

[Mycon]

When most of my other hobbies were rendered inert last spring by a medical issue (that continues to baffle doctors to this day), I found myself drawn more and more to the mostly barren, tiny garden strip in my back yard. When I found that working in the garden actually seemed to relieve my pain, I did my best to enhance the soil and get some veggies growing. While I did get a few along with some peppers in small pots, the small size of the plot plus soil quality and erosion didn't lend itself to a great harvest.
This year however, is different. I've started earlier, and I've gone a little nuts

I composted what veggie matter my juicer left over, tea leaves, coffee grounds, old leaves, and grass clippings over the winter. I then tilled the existing soil and mixed in the compost as well as a couple of bags of topsoil. It seems that we are going to have a long and chilly spring, so I put together a basic hoop-house cover to keep the worst of the weather off of the seeds I planted. I have also decided to convert a typically dry weedy section of my lawn into a pair of raised beds.
C'mon B&B, lets see those veggie gardens!

 

[Mycon]

In addition to this, I converted the unused bathroom in my basement into a sprouting cave. Using a nutrient solution developed by a local plant biologist, I started testing my luck with Black Krim tomato seeds in fiber pellets. They grew much faster than I had anticipated, and I had to hastily assemble some small potting and grow lights. The plant in the cup on the right was a seed in a package 2 weeks ago. The two on the right were seeds 1 week ago, and are so tall that the pellet is actually planted in the bottom of the Solo cup.

 

[PFP_Dad]

There is a lot to be said for the therapy of gardening. I grow only herbs at the moment but have already drawn up designs for a small raised garden and another raised flowerbed at my new house.

That said, be careful telling everyone about your new "grow operation" in the basement!

 

[Alacrity59]

Great stuff guys. I have to say that a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich made with tomatoes from your own garden is a wonderful thing. As are green beans or lettuce or just about anything you can grow yourself. I grew potatoes for the first time last year. Folk were asking me why since you can buy them for so little. I just wanted to try it and I very much enjoyed them more having raised them myself.

 

[PFP_Dad]

We've had a large garden most of my life. Veggies fresh from the plant really can't be beat. I recently moved to Texas and apparently they get two harvests of more veggies here. Is UT the same way?

 

[Mr5x5]

...
I composted what veggie matter my juicer left over, tea leaves, coffee grounds, old leaves, and grass clippings over the winter. I then tilled the existing soil and mixed in the compost as well as a couple of bags of topsoil. It seems that we are going to have a long and chilly spring, so I put together a basic hoop-house cover to keep the worst of the weather off of the seeds I planted. I have also decided to convert a typically dry weedy section of my lawn into a pair of raised beds.
C'mon B&B, lets see those veggie gardens!

Nice tunnel. My gardening is limited because my career is agriculture production but I have some topset onions, rhubarb, asparagus, kale, spinach, radishes, potatoes and horseradish out now. I will get some sweet potatoes, cushaws and bitter melon out later in the year.

 

[Mycon]

We've had a large garden most of my life. Veggies fresh from the plant really can't be beat. I recently moved to Texas and apparently they get two harvests of more veggies here. Is UT the same way?

I was about to say no, but then I remembered that I got about 2 harvests out of my pepper plants. The lemon cucumbers and sweet gypsy peppers produced more than anything else. I planted Cherokee Purple tomatoes last year too, but they went in late and I had a big problem with cracking so I didn't get many. Those that I did get were unbelievable. I hate raw tomatoes from the supermarket, because they taste like metal to me. The garden-grown heirlooms don't taste anything like that.

 

[Mycon]

More seedlings. The two metal cans are actually 1 Magic Plant Bhut Jolokia pepper and 1 Hot Cherry pepper. I have tried a few of these in the past with no success. Not this time! The others in the peat pots are giant bell peppers.
And for the record, I didn't mark the cans so I have no idea which is which

http://www.thepatentmagicplant.com/store/Hot-Chili-Peppers/

 

[Mycon]

Sprouting Round 2 was done in peat pellets. I did 2 each of : Cherokee Purple tomatoes, Purple Tomatillos, Jalapenos, and Sweet Banana Peppers. I got sprouts of the Cherokees and Tomatillos in about 48 hours, so I moved them out of the greenhouse and under the lights. Oddly, I seem to be getting twins from one of the tomato seeds. Can a single seed sprout 2 plants

Round 3 was done in Black Gold seed starting mix and placed in little solo cups with holes punched in the bottoms. My pepper order came in from www.pepperjoe.com yesterday, so I got a few into the makeshift pots last night. I plan on soaking another group of seeds overnight for the next batch to see if they germinate faster. Seeds in the first round consist of: Carolina Reapers, Scotch Bonnets, Mustard Habeneros, Trinidad Scorpions, Ancho/Poblanos, Bolivian Rainbows, and Pasilla Bajios.

Both rounds were watered with a diluted nutrient mix, and placed in a sprouting greenhouse on a seedling heat mat.

 

[jzuzphreek]

After a garden disaster of epic proportions 2 years ago, I got discouraged and haven't wanted to try again (No time, overcrowded, etc). My wife, however, talked me into buying a creole tomato plant from a local farmer's market. The hard part was already done, and I was content to repot it and just have one plant to take care of. However, after 3 straight weeks of torrential downpours, I fear for the little plant's life. He's got 3 buds at the moment, but well see if the sun will acutally come out this week.

 

[Alacrity59]

It snowed a bit today here. Here is my garden supervisor helping me plan while warming him self after a bath.


Grass is raked and fertilizer applied. May 24th for planting here is the tradition. Victoria Day weekend. Before that we still get killer frosts.

 

[Argonaut]

After a garden disaster of epic proportions 2 years ago, I got discouraged and haven't wanted to try again (No time, overcrowded, etc). My wife, however, talked me into buying a creole tomato plant from a local farmer's market. The hard part was already done, and I was content to repot it and just have one plant to take care of. However, after 3 straight weeks of torrential downpours, I fear for the little plant's life. He's got 3 buds at the moment, but well see if the sun will acutally come out this week.

Fear not, tomato plants are as tough as most weeds, unless the cutworms find them. Fat green insidious little buggers that turn your plants into stumps overnight.

 

[Argonaut]

It snowed a bit today here. Here is my garden supervisor helping me plan while warming him self after a bath.
View attachment 328939

Grass is raked and fertilizer applied. May 24th for planting here is the tradition. Victoria Day weekend. Before that we still get killer frosts.

I could be misinterpreting his look, but I think he is suggesting a bacon crop for this year.

 

[jzuzphreek]

Fear not, tomato plants are as tough as most weeds, unless the cutworms find them. Fat green insidious little buggers that turn your plants into stumps overnight.

And the reason I could care less about "organic". Give me pesticides or give me bacon!

 

[tinashubby]

Finished tilling mine two weeks ago (10'x23') with my Mantis tiller-raised beds next year! Reverted this year to black plastic mulch like I used years ago with great results. Sugar snap peas are about 2" now, lettuce has sprouted, spinach I am not sure what is happening with, but last year it didn't sprout well for me. The rest of my garden this year will consist of bush beans, several varieties of tomatoes, including Black Cherry (about 4" now in Jiffy strips) and Golden Cherry, Bush Cucumbers, Habaneros, hot cherry peppers, Anaheim peppers, Sweet pickle peppers, and some type of bell pepper. I plan on getting all of this in the ground in about another 2-3 weeks.

Last years garden produced less beans a peas than the previous year, but still have some beans in the freezer. Tomatoes and peppers went crazy, and I still have some whole frozen peppers in the freezer. Last years cukes started great, but got powdery mildew, and I got about 8 cukes compared to probably 30-40 the previous year. I'll be on the look out for it this year, and I will need to figure out how to harvest and prepare stinkbugs!

Pics coming after everything is planted.
Wayne

 

[oc_in_fw]

Finished tilling mine two weeks ago (10'x23') with my Mantis tiller-raised beds next year! Reverted this year to black plastic mulch like I used years ago with great results. Sugar snap peas are about 2" now, lettuce has sprouted, spinach I am not sure what is happening with, but last year it didn't sprout well for me. The rest of my garden this year will consist of bush beans, several varieties of tomatoes, including Black Cherry (about 4" now in Jiffy strips) and Golden Cherry, Bush Cucumbers, Habaneros, hot cherry peppers, Anaheim peppers, Sweet pickle peppers, and some type of bell pepper. I plan on getting all of this in the ground in about another 2-3 weeks.

Last years garden produced less beans a peas than the previous year, but still have some beans in the freezer. Tomatoes and peppers went crazy, and I still have some whole frozen peppers in the freezer. Last years cukes started great, but got powdery mildew, and I got about 8 cukes compared to probably 30-40 the previous year. I'll be on the look out for it this year, and I will need to figure out how to harvest and prepare stinkbugs!

Pics coming after everything is planted.
Wayne

You can freeze tomatoes? Do you gut them first?

 

[Alacrity59]

You can freeze tomatoes? Do you gut them first?

Blanch bag and freeze.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Blanch bag and freeze.

Okay, thanks. I was thinking of starting gardening by first do five or so pots of tomatoes- I hate store bought tomatoes, they are always mushy. This is also why I eat BBB sandwiches instead of BLTs (well, one reason any way)

 

[Alacrity59]

If they go well five or six will produce a lot of tomatoes. When they get to size you can pull them off green and set them in a window to ripen. Just saying this because sometimes my plants get so heavy I need to take some off.

 

[maich]

Getting lovely results this year in Texas, I planted earlier this year and I actually had a lot survive from last year since we had a very mild winter. Gotta love over wintering all of my peppers and having tomatoes that are producing in April.