Gardening ..again

[Eutycus]

These came from a local nursery which came from the LSU agriculture, I believe but not sure. I put them in ground on March 12.

That's the route I used to take, I'd buy transplants from the nursery.This year all my tomatoes are from seed that I planted in late January.Ground must have been cold. Things are slow.

 

[Piquant]

I have some from seed that I'm waiting on to get a little bigger.

 

[Piquant]

You guys are lucky. Was 26 degrees overnight here last night. I haven't even tilled yet.

Ask me in August

 

[Eutycus]

There is probably 300 miles between me and Louisiana. I got a hunch it's going to be a long hot summer for Us.

 

[TDM]

I’m home through Easter so we decided to go ahead and plant. My Wife and I went to our local nursery and bought 5 more bags of the LSU raised bed soil, 11 tomato plants, Better Boys and Big Boys, 3 red bell peppers, 3 sweet banana peppers, 1 sweet basil, and several packs of straight neck yellow squash. Planted 8 hills of squash, the partial pack and the other 2 were added to our seed collection in the freezer. Have a nice little patch of volunteer tomatoes and 2 squash plants that have sprouted from where most of the compost was spread. I wouldn’t chance planting now further north at the camp, but we should be safe down here.

 

[Eutycus]

I envy you getting to "play in the dirt". There really isn't much to do until I plant the Okra seed (soon). Except for the weeding and that isn't much fun.Those little showers we had lately sure sprouted the weeds.

 

[Eutycus]

You mentioned volunteer tomatos and squash. Those tomatos can surprise you sometimes (flavorwise).But that works 2 ways, sometimes they can taste awful. It depends if last year's parent plant was a hybrid or a heirloom. Are straightneck squash heirloom or hybrid?

 

[TDM]

You mentioned volunteer tomatos and squash. Those tomatos can surprise you sometimes (flavorwise).But that works 2 ways, sometimes they can taste awful. It depends if last year's parent plant was a hybrid or a heirloom. Are straightneck squash heirloom or hybrid?

Agree, roll of the dice on the tomatoes and no telling what variety the little squash plants are. Could be yellow, acorn, or butternut. The squash seeds I planted are hybrids.

 

[TDM]

You mentioned volunteer tomatos and squash. Those tomatos can surprise you sometimes (flavorwise).But that works 2 ways, sometimes they can taste awful. It depends if last year's parent plant was a hybrid or a heirloom. Are straightneck squash heirloom or hybrid?

Also, after Easter, I'm going to increase the size of the raised bed by turning the "L" shape into a "U" shape. I'll plant something high yield like more yellow squash or Zucchini. At the camp I won't plant much this year, probably just pole beans and okra. Oh, and need to plant some onions too.

 

[SOLANCO]

Afraid to plant more than one zucchini. Wind up leaving them on peoples' door steps in the middle of the night.
Tomatoes do well here but basil struggles. Wind up buying it. Go figure. Other than rosemary most herbs struggle here. Can not imagine why.

 

[Eutycus]

Afraid to plant more than one zucchini. Wind up leaving them on peoples' door steps in the middle of the night.
Tomatoes do well here but basil struggles. Wind up buying it. Go figure. Other than rosemary most herbs struggle here. Can not imagine why.

I'm the same way with Eggplant. Gorgeous plant and easy to grow but sometimes it's a task trying to give them away.Funny how some "neighbors" want veggies picked, cleaned, and hand delivered.

 

[1950DAVE]

And cooked, but not today.

 

[Eutycus]

I only have 10 tomato plants this year and if you recall last year was pitiful and there wasn't too much "sharing the bounty". I hope they produce enough tomatos for me to give the new pastor. (And maybe show off a little). He's from a big city in Indiana and learning how things are done down here.We are very "rural".

 

[SOLANCO]

All of a sudden I am wanting a summer tomato sandwich with Duke's. But it is only March and the Amish have not even started their early, hoop house tomatoes yet. Patience........

 

[pilot]

Happened to be looking out my window last September and saw a pretty good size hawk in my "redneck birdbath". Its actually the lid off of an Igloo cooler but the birds like it.Heck why not?, it is for birds.

Looks like a juvenile Cooper's Hawk.

 

[pilot]

I read about a guy feeding crows to keep them around so they chase off the hawks. Keeps the chickens safe. Ish.

 

[johnraleksa]

I read about a guy feeding crows to keep them around so they chase off

I read about a guy feeding crows to keep them around so they chase off the hawks. Keeps the chickens

I read somewhere that having a few black chickens help kept hawks and owl away also.

 

[snakebit]

Afraid to plant more than one zucchini. Wind up leaving them on peoples' door steps in the middle of the night.
Tomatoes do well here but basil struggles. Wind up buying it. Go figure. Other than rosemary most herbs struggle here. Can not imagine why.

My wife does a separate box garden for herbs. Basil, rosemary, and cilantro, can't remember if there are any others. She grows mint and it gets out of control pretty quick.

 

[Winterhawk]

I had to mow the back yard today. The neighbor mowed his two days ago and said it was pretty tough going, so I decided i had better get to it. Then I looked at the raised beds and the weeds starting up so got the hoe out and worked them over. Finally I still had some lawn seed left over from last year so seeded the bare spots in the grass. Thinking that the birds get fed at two feeders, if they see the grass seed they'll think a smorgasbord has been opened for them, so I spread straw from last year's archery target over it. Now my aching is aching!

 

[TDM]

Finished the addition to the raised bed and planted 5 hills of Zucchini seeds. Hopefully we’ll have an over abundance, we have a big freezer here and one at the camp that have some room to spare. We use vacuum sealers after blanching and they last a good while. I put some pine straw down in the middle walkway. I’ll eventually border it all with pine straw and maybe add a layer of cypress mulch. But I ran out of steam for the day.