January gardens

[prairiewindmomma]

How do your gardens fare?

Anyone having fun browsing seed catalogs?

Is anyone changing layout of their gardens this year or trying a new technique?

How are our southern hemisphere boardies doing?

[popmom]

I’m trying to figure out what if anything survived the arctic blast. Usually turnips will spring back, but the carrots—I’m not so sure. Even the turnips still look dead. I’m sad, but I’ll replant.

 

Yes to seed catalogs! Although I’m trying to minimize my spending. I keep meaning to look for a seed swap group near me. 
 

What is your preferred budget friendly way of starting seeds? I’ve been saving egg cartons, but the paper ones don’t work well. They dry out too fast. I currently have lettuce sprouting in a Chick Fil A salad container. Works pretty well. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by popmom

[Melissa in Australia]

Having a hot spell these last few days. We have been covering the leafy veggies with cotton bedsheets during the day to protect them from the sun and hot wind

[popmom]

Oh! Advice needed on my aphid infestation. I’ve never had this happen before. I’m mostly concerned about my bougainvillea cuttings. 
 

I have 3 predatory stink bugs on my kitchen counter plants—the ones that are infested, but they aren’t putting a dent in the problem. 
 

These are aphids—right? I tried to get a pic of them.

Edited January 1, 2023 by popmom

[Melissa in Australia]

 You coukd try White oil or a few drops of dish liquid in slightly warm water and spraying it on

[popmom]

25 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

 You coukd try White oil or a few drops of dish liquid in slightly warm water and spraying it on

I may try that. I remember I tried Neem oil on something a couple of years ago, and it killed the plant. 😞 

[prairiewindmomma]

Aphids: wash the leaves with soapy dish water every few days, if that doesn’t work move on to a 50% vinegar/50% water spray.

[Rosie_0801]

I'm mainly trying to stop everything cooking in the soil. I lost two native seedlings because I planted too late, being unable to clear enough kikuyu quickly enough. Also impressed dd's bestie's little sister with all the magical looking cabbage whites..

Tomatoes are flowering, so I have hopes for them. So is the midyim berry! The single surviving pumpkin has been flowering profusely, but I've no idea if they are getting pollinated. They all look like male flowers to me. That's not useful... I got the lime tree cheap because the growing tip had been cut or chewed off, but it's thrown out some new growth, so there's hope.

[Faith-manor]

Well, since it is a freezing Michigan winter, mine is still a windowsill garden. But I am proud to say that I am able to still harvest sweet basil, oregano, mint, chives, and green onions. It isn't much, but it also makes me happy.

I am in spring garden planning mode. Take pity on me, the newbie gardener. If I do succession plantings of carrots so my entire crop does not mature simultaneously, can I do those in the same raised bed, or will that deplete the soil too much? If I need to use a different raised bed, what would be a good crop to plant them after? I will have two beds devoted to broccoli. Would one of those beds be okay?

And one more question please! Since the snow melted off during a brief warm up, I can see the heap of leaves in my raised beds that I put there to compost. They don't look like they are breaking down. But maybe they are. It just looks like 3-4" thick of wet leaves. Will these things break down by May 1? We will thaw out by the beginning of April and start getting a lot of sunshine, but I am concerned. Do I scoop them out if they aren't completely broken down? Do I take a shovel and turn them over, and mix them into the soil? If I do that, am I disturbing the soil biome a lot?

I know exactly nothing. However, I am eager to learn.

[popmom]

I’m a newbie too, but I have watched lots of YouTube (sort like staying in a Holiday Inn Express). I raked aside half the soil in my beds and dumped my leaves. Then I raked the soil to cover them up. Then I repeated on the other half of the bed. I actually doubt they will be fully composted by spring, but I’m sick of buying compost to add. I have a big compost pile where dh dumps lawn clippings, but I don’t like to use that in my veggie beds. 
 

I have a nice sized worm bin, but it’s not enough bulk fill material. Better for side dressing or spot fertilization.

Edited January 1, 2023 by popmom

[prairiewindmomma]

Decomposition depends on your climate. I will absolutely have breakdown of leaves by May (but not of fir needles). It's generally about 4-6 months for it to fully happen here.We usually mow over them when leaf fall has completed in order to break them down into smaller components to speed breakdown. If you have something like whole oak leaves, in a drier climate, it can take a couple of years for the lignin to fully release and for decomposition to fully take place.

If you need to speed decomposition in the spring, shred them, keep them moist, and add them to the compost pile. 

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Decomposition depends on your climate. I will absolutely have breakdown of leaves by May (but not of fir needles). It's generally about 4-6 months for it to fully happen here.We usually mow over them when leaf fall has completed in order to break them down into smaller components to speed breakdown. If you have something like whole oak leaves, in a drier climate, it can take a couple of years for the lignin to fully release and for decomposition to fully take place.

If you need to speed decomposition in the spring, shred them, keep them moist, and add them to the compost pile. 

Thanks! I think mowing would have helped. I was in Alabama in October when the leaves dropped, and dh knew that I wanted to have them composted for the raised beds so he just heaped them up in there. I may have to scoop them out in the spring, let them dry, and then mow them, rake back up, and then wait for them to breaks down enough to use. That means I will need to find compost and fertilizer for my raised beds because they woke be decomped enough to use before I have plants and seeds foe those beds.

[Melissa in Australia]

I reccomend  planting carrots in a different spot and having a different planting of veggies  I don't usually worry about the 3 year rotation plan, but if I do a root crop then do an above ground crop in that location next

[Lady Florida.]

I was worried the Christmas freeze would kill or badly injure some of my plants but they all fared well. I brought in some tender potted plants and covered the vulnerable ones that are in the ground. All of my flowering plants seem to have done well. 

The vegetable garden is fine. I cut off most of the lettuce leaves before the freeze hit and we had a lovely salad. My tomatoes are in a pot so they came inside. It has several tomatoes growing and quite a few flowers. I put a sheet over the raised bed and everything there is fine. The lettuce is coming back, the carrots look good, and we have quite a few beans on the bush bean plants. My sugar snap pea plants are growing but not producing anything. I need to do a bit of googling to find out if I should be worried or if I'm just being impatient.  Fortunately we didn't get a hard freeze plus one night we had wind and the next two nights were cloudy. Both of those conditions helped prevent frost from settling on the plants. 

[cjzimmer1]

We just ate our second meal of lettuce from my indoor garden.  It was delicious.  One in particular was super thick and crunchy.  Of course I planted two different blends and both the blends just say they are mixes of loose leaf lettuce so I have no idea what that one was but if I did I'd go plant a whole bunch of that one.  My cucumber plants are coming along nicely.  They are about 4 inches tall and about 8 inches wide.  I'm going to have to hang some trellis pretty soon as I expect to see runners coming soon.

I got another bed set up in the basement with a grow light.  I was suppose to plant that yesterday but got some nasty bug from the kids and instead spent the day in bed with a fever.   Not up to traversing the stairs today.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have enough energy.  I've got to mix up the soil (which is all down there already thankfully) and then I will be planting some Tiny Tim tomatoes, culantro (not a typo for cilantro, it's in the same family but is suppose to have a more pungent flavor than cilantro), a dwarf basil, a couple kinds of kale, some more lettuce and radishes and possibly carrots.  Oh and after that I want to drill holes in a five gallon bucket and plants some potatoes I have that are starting to sprout.  

[prairiewindmomma]

The kale made it through the 12F weather, but it doesn't look great. I'm looking at the cabbages I planted at different points through the late summer and fall. Supposedly I should be able to harvest cabbage through late December here, but I don't see that playing out this year IRL. My turnips likewise never did much, despite my trying to stagger plantings to find an ideal window. I think I've come to the conclusion that I really can't plan on winter gardening here outside of a greenhouse. I've solved the drainage issue (it's constantly raining here), but I really can't resolve the temperature swings and really low light issues. I think what I may do next winter is just really let the soil rest and cover crop the whole thing.  My cover crops are actually doing really well (which is completely wild to me). The fava beans died, but the rye and some of the other components are thriving.

Indoors, I'm slowing expanding my hydroponics, and I need to figure out how I can run space for that and for my spring seed starting.

But, mostly, we're working on the hardwood floors right now. Dh is running the nail gun, and I'm sorting boards and painting trim.

[Faith-manor]

2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

The kale made it through the 12F weather, but it doesn't look great. I'm looking at the cabbages I planted at different points through the late summer and fall. Supposedly I should be able to harvest cabbage through late December here, but I don't see that playing out this year IRL. My turnips likewise never did much, despite my trying to stagger plantings to find an ideal window. I think I've come to the conclusion that I really can't plan on winter gardening here outside of a greenhouse. I've solved the drainage issue (it's constantly raining here), but I really can't resolve the temperature swings and really low light issues. I think what I may do next winter is just really let the soil rest and cover crop the whole thing.  My cover crops are actually doing really well (which is completely wild to me). The fava beans died, but the rye and some of the other components are thriving.

Indoors, I'm slowing expanding my hydroponics, and I need to figure out how I can run space for that and for my spring seed starting.

But, mostly, we're working on the hardwood floors right now. Dh is running the nail gun, and I'm sorting boards and painting trim.

I was also thinking about a cover crop for all the beds. Maybe peas. Not sure. I am still learning about the options for winterizing and fertilizing soil.

Good luck with your floors!

[PeacefulChaos]

Joining in!

I’m thinking about trying out the method of sowing seeds in milk jugs in the winter. Has anyone here ever tried that?

As far as my garden this year, I’m thinking I want to try to keep as many of my usable plants - herbs, veggies - in containers as possible. They’ll just be easier to get to. 
Then the plan for the rest of the beds I have (and then some lol) is to rip out the alien plants and replace them with natives. 
 

I’m always so excited about growing season but it’s like every year a wrench gets thrown in. Here’s to an uneventful (at least when it comes to that sort of thing) 2023!

[ikslo]

2 hours ago, PeacefulChaos said:

I’m thinking about trying out the method of sowing seeds in milk jugs in the winter. Has anyone here ever tried that?

I did and didn't care for it, mostly because the sides of the jug once you cut the top off aren't very stable. I have better luck using juice jugs and drink containers.  I plant a lot in recycled drink containers, actually.  I also have an independent garden center nearby with a huge pile of pots in the back.  She gives away any with writing (can't resell plants that advertise other nurseries or something other than what is in the pot.  I get a lot of smaller sized pots for free this way.  I also buy some of the larger pots when I need to step up for less than it would cost to buy new.  

[ikslo]

Most of my stuff made it through the freeze, although I did bring a lot inside.  Beans were lost.  My tomatoes survived outside covered, but not well. I should have brought them in. Peppers lost a lot of leaves but are already starting to come back with new growth.  Still harvesting greens.

I've started some new seeds for the spring.  Have tons of plans.  Wishing I had the tons of money to execute. Still contemplating what kind of trellis I am going to construct for my passion fruit.  I also have two large pots I received for Christmas and I have to decide on placement - and how I am going to fill them up.

I came down with Covid over the Christmas break so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  Starting to feel better now. Hoping to get some things done today.  I have to go back to work tomorrow.

[KungFuPanda]

20 hours ago, popmom said:

I’m trying to figure out what if anything survived the arctic blast. Usually turnips will spring back, but the carrots—I’m not so sure. Even the turnips still look dead. I’m sad, but I’ll replant.

 

Yes to seed catalogs! Although I’m trying to minimize my spending. I keep meaning to look for a seed swap group near me. 
 

What is your preferred budget friendly way of starting seeds? I’ve been saving egg cartons, but the paper ones don’t work well. They dry out too fast. I currently have lettuce sprouting in a Chick Fil A salad container. Works pretty well. 

Google Winter Sowing. It works. This’ll be my 5th year. It’s great. No lights, no space indoors, no hardening off, no worries about chilling or soaking or scraping seeds. Basically you turn a milk jug into a mini greenhouse and nature wakes up the seed when it’s time. 

[SHP]

I was able to collect 5 more 5 gallon buckets of fill for the berms we are planning this year. 🙂 I am pretty confident we will be able to build the two main berms this spring. I am really excited to get the plant standards. I refuse vines that are invasive, agressive, or can damage the house plus we have a very small space so standards are an excellent compromise. 

I have seeds from Plant World for some harder to find plants that are doing well. I am most excited about the arisaema tortuosum that is growing strong. I saw one at a botanical gardens and fell in love. I was then given a related plant and I am ready to move to a warmer climate so I can grow them. The foliage is unique and just beautiful. They are related to the corpse flower so bonus people deterant. 🙂

[TechWife]

I lost the last of the summer & fall plantings in the big freeze Christmas weekend with the exception of the butter lettuce plants. They are in pots tucked under our raised herb garden bed planter and are shielded on the back by the house and on one side by a deck box planter. Apparently that was enough to keep them alive a bit longer.

 

Any tips on bulbs for me? I need to add a reminder to my calendar to plant my bulbs in February - they are in the back of the fridge right now. I’ve never planted bulbs before and need to figure out what kind of container to put them in. Of course, maybe I should put them in the ground, but it seems easier to dig them out of a container in the fall than to dig them out of the ground. My only experience with bulbs is from digging out some canna lilies at our first house. The previous owners were very enthusiastic and planted too much of everything. It took us a few years to get things thinned so that the beds were manageable and the various bushes & flowers were no longer growing on the house. I don’t want to repeat that with these bulbs. 

[TerenceMil]

My January is free from gardening. I'm waiting for late February to start. For the moment I just browse around to decide what I'll be growing this year. Came across with https://www.pissedconsumer.com/michigan-bulb/RT-F.html while browsing and already want to start. Especially after having read this thread with your inspiring photos.

Edited January 18, 2023 by TerenceMil

[Serenade]

On 1/1/2023 at 8:30 PM, cjzimmer1 said:

W One in particular was super thick and crunchy.  Of course I planted two different blends and both the blends just say they are mixes of loose leaf lettuce so I have no idea what that one was but if I did I'd go plant a whole bunch of that one. 

This is something that drives me nuts!  I think many companies like to dump leftover seeds into mesclun, and so they never label them. From here on forward, I'm trying to only buy mesclun packets that identify all the seeds. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Serenade

[ikslo]

2 minutes ago, Serenade said:

This is something that drives me nuts!  I think many companies like to dump leftover seeds into mesclun, and so they never label them. From here on forward, I'm trying to only buy mesclun packets that identify all the seeds. 

Pretty sure my 2022 mesclun mix was 100% arugula 😆

[Serenade]

Not much survived the 7 degree F freeze we had, and then it stayed below freezing for over 36 hours, I think.  I thought initially some of my chard and kale survived, but every day that looks less and less likely.  I'm still hoping though. The one clear winner for outdoor vegetables is mache (also known as feldsalat, lamb's lettuce, rapunzel, and corn salad.) This is a very popular winter lettuce in Germany, but I've only seen it for purchase in the US at Trader Joe, and that was year's ago during the spinach crisis. They never brought it back. So I decided to grow some since I read it can go down to 5 degrees F.  I can pretty much vouch for that now, as mine looks hale and hearty after the 7 degree freeze. My plants are still very small though, as I didn't seed them until late October.  Outdoors I still have thyme and rosemary, and maybe some mint is still viable.  The garlic and onions look OK, too.

Inside we have a couple of pepper plants and some mini eggplants.  I didn't intend to overwinter the eggplants indoors, but my DH wanted to attempt it since he brought them indoors for a fall frost, and then never brought them out again.  So I am the person who has eggplants next to her Christmas tree.

I'm getting lots of seed catalogs and salivating over them! 

[cjzimmer1]

16 minutes ago, ikslo said:

Pretty sure my 2022 mesclun mix was 100% arugula 😆

I have a love hate relationship with arugula.  I love the taste of it and am happy that it is so very hardy in my zone 5.  But I also hate how hardy and prolific it is.  Five years ago I planted a 3 pack of plants and never since.  I know have plants growing on all four sides of my house.  It has taken over a patch of the lawn so we just mow it like grass (which is fine because it smells great when you cut it).  Some of the plants are perennials and last year I had to pull out a plant that was about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.  Every spring I have to do a massive weeding of arugula or else I would have no space for anything else.  And while it's annoying how much it has spread, I still appreciate it because before the arugula took over, I battled thistles every spring and frankly the arugula is much easier to deal with.

[ikslo]

2 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I have a love hate relationship with arugula.  I love the taste of it and am happy that it is so very hardy in my zone 5.  But I also hate how hardy and prolific it is.  Five years ago I planted a 3 pack of plants and never since.  I know have plants growing on all four sides of my house.  It has taken over a patch of the lawn so we just mow it like grass (which is fine because it smells great when you cut it).  Some of the plants are perennials and last year I had to pull out a plant that was about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.  Every spring I have to do a massive weeding of arugula or else I would have no space for anything else.  And while it's annoying how much it has spread, I still appreciate it because before the arugula took over, I battled thistles every spring and frankly the arugula is much easier to deal with.

Does it spread via the roots, or did you let it go to seed? I didn’t know I had to worry about this!

[cjzimmer1]

Monday all the kids were asking for another salad.  Sorry kiddos, it doesn't replenish that fast!

I did get my tomato seeds in soil and also planted my downstairs raised bed.  In there I put 2 kinds of kale, a few carrots, endive, arugula and a small amount of lettuce.

I have plans for a pot of basil, culantro and another large pot that will grow the tomatoes when they are ready to transplant and some more lettuce. And then potato because it just sounds like a crazy thring to grow indoors so why not.  However, I ran out of dirt so will need to pick up some more before I can get the last set planted.

Prior to this year, I had never planted anything from seed nor done any kind of indoor gardening but I'm having fun seeing what I can do.

 

I've been following this guy's indoor gardening videos and it's really expanded my thinking about what is possible to grow inside.

Guten Gardening - YouTube

 

[cjzimmer1]

6 minutes ago, ikslo said:

Does it spread via the roots, or did you let it go to seed? I didn’t know I had to worry about this!

Mostly it spreads by going to seed but some of the plants are so massive in the spring that their roots had to have wintered over.  The plant that I mentioned above was single plant.  I can't say I've noticed any spreading by roots but it is a bit hard to tell with the amount of overgrowth I have.

 

I have no idea if this is normal behavior for arugula or not.  These were some leftover plants we had from the greenhouse one year so I stuck them in.  But we have customers who keep buying the same plants from us year after year.  I keep thinking "why are they buying more arugula?" but perhaps their conditions are such that they don't have it coming back like I do.  Neither of my sisters have ever had it come back either.  I can't say I'm doing anything special to them to get "rewarded" this way other than I just ignore them all summer long because I've got other veggies to tend to at that point.

[LostSurprise]

DH got a surprise puppy this Fall, so any garden planning has faded to caution. We took my bean arches (cattle panels) down to make her a run by one of the side doors. 

I do have a gigantic basil that I brought indoors before it got cold that I need to harvest. And I need to clean up the gardening bench in the basement. 


I appreciate the inspiration from our Southern friends, and I will continue to drool over Prairiewindmomma's hydroponics and others' lettuce. Maybe if I get in gear with that bench today I can start some lettuce.  
 

[prairiewindmomma]

On 1/3/2023 at 6:34 AM, Serenade said:

The one clear winner for outdoor vegetables is mache (also known as feldsalat, lamb's lettuce, rapunzel, and corn salad.) This is a very popular winter lettuce in Germany, but I've only seen it for purchase in the US at Trader Joe, and that was year's ago during the spinach crisis. They never brought it back. So I decided to grow some since I read it can go down to 5 degrees F.  I can pretty much vouch for that now, as mine looks hale and hearty after the 7 degree freeze.

Thank you for mentioning this! I had forgotten about this vegetable and I just found seeds for it! https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/greens/specialty-greens/vit-green-seed-419.html

We got down to 15F/-9C with the latest cold snap and I've been trying to figure out my winter greens situation. This looks like a good option!

[Faith-manor]

On 1/3/2023 at 9:40 AM, cjzimmer1 said:

I have a love hate relationship with arugula.  I love the taste of it and am happy that it is so very hardy in my zone 5.  But I also hate how hardy and prolific it is.  Five years ago I planted a 3 pack of plants and never since.  I know have plants growing on all four sides of my house.  It has taken over a patch of the lawn so we just mow it like grass (which is fine because it smells great when you cut it).  Some of the plants are perennials and last year I had to pull out a plant that was about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.  Every spring I have to do a massive weeding of arugula or else I would have no space for anything else.  And while it's annoying how much it has spread, I still appreciate it because before the arugula took over, I battled thistles every spring and frankly the arugula is much easier to deal with.

I feel the same. I like arugula, and love to make mediterranean quinoa bowls with arugula, feta cheese, olives, and hummus. But, I was warned by another person that articulate will take.over the earth if too many people plant it. That made me nervous. It is the same reason I do not have a zucchini plant. If those things ever mutate, life on planet earth is going to resemble a Sigourney Weaver Aliens script! 😁

[cjzimmer1]

22 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I feel the same. I like arugula, and love to make mediterranean quinoa bowls with arugula, feta cheese, olives, and hummus. But, I was warned by another person that articulate will take.over the earth if too many people plant it. That made me nervous. It is the same reason I do not have a zucchini plant. If those things ever mutate, life on planet earth is going to resemble a Sigourney Weaver Aliens script! 😁

But at least zucchini dies off each year, its the plants that spread each year that are the most dangerous! I planned to plant strawberry spinach until I read how agressively it spreads.  

[pinball]

On 1/1/2023 at 5:33 PM, popmom said:

Oh! Advice needed on my aphid infestation. I’ve never had this happen before. I’m mostly concerned about my bougainvillea cuttings. 
 

I have 3 predatory stink bugs on my kitchen counter plants—the ones that are infested, but they aren’t putting a dent in the problem. 
 

These are aphids—right? I tried to get a pic of them.

I use Castile soap…1 tablespoon per quart of water.

I lightly mist over a matter of days…especially when I use it outside in summer. I don’t want kill aphids and end up with black spot 

[Serenade]

20 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I planned to plant strawberry spinach until I read how agressively it spreads.  

It's good to know this.  I was eyeing this plant, and maybe I will rethink.

[Faith-manor]

Bought these yesterday. Way too soon to even think about starting plants indoors. I probably won't even consider that until April 1st. But I couldn't help myself.

[Lady Florida.]

First green bean harvest (bush beans). We'll have them tonight either roasted or sauteed.

The 2nd photo is of my sugar snap peas. The plant keeps growing but it's not flowering. Anyone know what might be the problem? I think they're getting enough sun, they're not over fertilized, and I don't *think* it's been too hot. Those are the three most common problems I found when I searched. They were planted the same day as the beans and should have had a shorter maturity date. 

 

 

[popmom]

Who recommended this book? I can’t find the post now. I got it transferred from our botanical gardens library branch. I added a pic of my first attempt. It’s mostly komatsuna. 
 

Also added a pic of my first viola bloom. It opened a couple of days ago. That was exciting. 🙂

 

 I scored an Aerogarden Harvest from Amazon warehouse for $35. It’s the one @prairiewindmommasaid was on clearance—without the seed pods. I just ordered it, so it should get here this weekend. What else will I need to buy? I have plenty of seed. I didn’t feel good at all today, and I did some really scatterbrained stuff. Left a gallon of milk in the car and then burned my roasted green beans. Today has been one of those days when I need the idiot proof nature of an Aerogarden. The brain fog was bad.

ETA I found out my stink bugs were NOT beneficial, so I had to put them outside. I think I’ve got the aphids mostly under control though. Thanks for the recs on that!
 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by popmom

[Rosie_0801]

On 1/2/2023 at 10:43 AM, Faith-manor said:

And one more question please! Since the snow melted off during a brief warm up, I can see the heap of leaves in my raised beds that I put there to compost. They don't look like they are breaking down. But maybe they are. It just looks like 3-4" thick of wet leaves. Will these things break down by May 1? We will thaw out by the beginning of April and start getting a lot of sunshine, but I am concerned. Do I scoop them out if they aren't completely broken down? Do I take a shovel and turn them over, and mix them into the soil? If I do that, am I disturbing the soil biome a lot?

I'd leave them there as mulch, but I don't know if you should.

 

 

I just harvested rhubarb and it is in the oven becoming pudding, if the recipe works. 

[Faith-manor]

Yay, Rosie! Our eldest son, C, is a rhubarb nut. He is whining about how long it will be before we have any to harvest.

[Faith-manor]

In other news, I did a thing! I am so proud of myself. 😁 I actually noticed my winter, indoor herbs were beginning to struggle, purchased some organic plant food, and fertilized them according to directions. Now they are perking.

I am sure the poor things are just in a catatonic daze. They were fully expecting to be executed by a plant serial murderer, but instead were nurtured. Cue the Stockholm Syndrome in my plants, particularly the basil. I am pretty certain that plant has very mixed emotions about me and needs therapy. 😂

In all my life, I have never had an indoor plant that lasted more than 3 months. These mint, oregano, basil, and chives in pots which I began outdoors last May are now over 8 months old, no plant funerals. My daughter thinks I have been replaced by an alien look alike.

[Serenade]

On 1/8/2023 at 11:04 AM, Lady Florida. said:

First green bean harvest (bush beans). We'll have them tonight either roasted or sauteed.

The 2nd photo is of my sugar snap peas. The plant keeps growing but it's not flowering. Anyone know what might be the problem? I think they're getting enough sun, they're not over fertilized, and I don't *think* it's been too hot. Those are the three most common problems I found when I searched. They were planted the same day as the beans and should have had a shorter maturity date. 

 

 

I don't have any ideas for you about the peas, but I hope they start flowering soon! 

[Faith-manor]

On 1/8/2023 at 11:04 AM, Lady Florida. said:

First green bean harvest (bush beans). We'll have them tonight either roasted or sauteed.

The 2nd photo is of my sugar snap peas. The plant keeps growing but it's not flowering. Anyone know what might be the problem? I think they're getting enough sun, they're not over fertilized, and I don't *think* it's been too hot. Those are the three most common problems I found when I searched. They were planted the same day as the beans and should have had a shorter maturity date. 

 

 

Amazing! Love it

[Serenade]

Just wanted to mention that I was at Dollar Tree today, and they already have their seeds in -- 4 packets for $1 (not $1.25 🙂) or 25 cents each.  The varieties they sell are generally older, open-pollinated varieties, but they have a good selection. Today I bought Giant Noble spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach, a blend of different radishes, purple top white globe turnips, Little Marvel peas, Sugar Snap peas, Alaska peas, large red cherry tomatoes, and lavender.  If you go and they are cleaned out, try again in a couple of weeks.  They usually restock several times during the season, and sometimes there are different seeds with each restocking.

[prairiewindmomma]

@popmom, you need grow baskets, the growing medium, and liquid fertilizer suitable for hydroponics. Aerogarden sells a “grow anything” kit on Amazon, but there are a lot of generic versions also. Two optional things I have found helpful: disk covers/spacers for spacing out my plants (though you can just tape over empty growing slots), and the seed starter tray. I started my fall garden with the seed starter tray and had good luck and growth compared to my traditional trays and clip on grow lights.

[Serenade]

I went to a very interesting program at our local library on Saturday.  The topic was Winter Sowing, and it was about starting seeds outdoors in winter and letting nature decide when they should sprout.  The seeds are started in a sort of terrarium made out of milk jugs. (The milk jug is cut around just below the handle, but it is not cut fully, making a hinge. After the seed starting mix is placed in the lower half and fully watered, and then planted, the milk jug is sealed up again with something like painters tape.  The lid is left off the top for air, and then these jugs are set outside for the seeds to sprout.   This way they are already hardened off and there is no bringing the containers in and out of the house when starting seeds. The lady who gave the lecture said she pretty much leaves the jugs outside on their own, although she'll cover the containers with a blanket if the seeds have sprouted and it goes below 20 degrees.  If the seeds have not sprouted there are no worries.  Anyhow, I thought it was interesting, and I'm going to try it.  I think this method is best for things like herbs and wildflowers that are perennials and/or can self-sow, as well as hardy crops like brassicas and greens.  

[Lady Florida.]

I only had the one harvest of bush beans and just small amounts since then. There were enough recently to add to a salad but not to have as a side dish on their own. 

My sugar snap peas finally started flowering and there are quite a few. Some of the peas are starting to grow.

Everglades tomatoes - there are quite a few on the vine and I'm looking forward to when they ripen. 

The lettuces continue to grow and I continue to snip leaves for salads.

I don't know about the potatoes - the plant looks okay so I'm guessing potatoes are forming/growing. This is my first time trying to grow potatoes and I'm using a grow bag. My broccoli plants keep getting bigger but I don't see any broccoli. Don't know why.

Dh and I are going out to buy more seed potatoes this afternoon.

I'm planning my spring garden which needs to get started soon. By late May we're pretty much done for the season with the exception of some hot weather stuff like basil, rosemary, certain small (cherry or grape) tomatoes and hot peppers. 

The non edibles still need my attention. My hibiscus does great without my help as do the natives - firebush and blue porterweed. Most everything else needs pruning and/or repotting. I'm hoping to get outside and work on things this week. 

[cjzimmer1]

I'm just so excited how my indoor cucumbers are doing. These "babies" are now 3 inches long. Won't be much longer and I will be able to start harvesting. There is easily 40-50 of them on the plants already.

Continuing to pick lettuce about twice a week. Some of the downstairs greens are close to being ready. I think I'll be able to add some arugula in this week. 

I got potatoes planted last week but they still haven't shown any greens. I expect 10-14 days so hopefully I'll see something by the end of next week.

The culantro, cilantro, basil and spinach are all starting to sprout. The tomatoes are really slow growing (they are only an each tall despite being planted 3-4 weeks ago) so it will be a long way off on them but I'm still hoping they will produce before it's time to move outdoors.