Green thumb is itching, anyone else?

[HHandbasket]

I'm late to the conversation... but I have the itchy green thumb too! We moved into this house in August so we are starting over with bare dirt. In the fall we started digging two smaller spots and added manure and compost and leaves and just left them. Now it is spring, I am really getting restless. We dug a 5x20' spot on Saturday, dug an herb bed on Sunday, and yesterday dug another 5x20' spot. Next we are rebuilding our chicken coop (to keep the chickens out of the garden), and then digging more beds around the coop.

I have some lettuce seeds already started inside. Can not wait to plant them!

We are not too far behind you. We are also starting over with bare dirt, moved here last April but had late snow last year until mid May! And wouldn't you figure, there's been no snow this year (knock on wood... I don't mind the snow, it's just all the slush when it melts!). We've been digging and prepping, moving the fences so the chickens cannot access the yard, and planting edible landscaping so we can have a lovely garden for just sitting and enjoying and is aesthetically pleasing, as well as one that produces lots of delicious food! This is our first time trying something so ambitious, but we finally have a big enough yard so what the heck, why not, right?

 

[HiddenHens987]

I took advantage of the warm 63* afternoon to turn some soil over in the garden and mix in some more leaves. I was also able to start some herb seeds today and have them sitting on a nice sunny window sill! Can't wait for spring now, really excited with lots of fun work/chores to complete!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Back to Garlic for a moment -
Late last fall I found a couple heads of garlic in the bottom of a bushel basket, it oviously had been there all summer, all dried up. I was cleaning out the raised beds getting rid of my dead tomato plants, found the garlic, said "what the heck" and planted the shriveled up cloves. It is actually in my 4x8 growhouse my DH made for me.

I have spinach out there and have been watering it every week, well actually whenever the temp is above 45 and I can get out there - the spinach is alive but not growing much, it is pretty much growing horizontally with the leaves about 1/4" above the soil.

Last time I watered, I noticed a couple of garlic cloves had started to pop out of the soil. I pulled one up to see and it has over 1" roots on it! I wanted to plant lettuce and more spinach where the garlic is right now.
Now for my question: can I transplant the growing garlic to a new location when spring finally gets here?

I will have to make a new planting bed for it, and that will have to wait until the ground thaws out.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Wooo Hooooo doing a happy dance here!

A neighbor is taking out the 14 rose trees that were just planted a couple of months ago (to flip a house)


She is keeping 2, another neighbor is taking 4 and we are getting the rest! Now to dig and prep all those holes!

 

[hispoptart]

I was just looking at pics of past years gardens when I found this thread, I too can't wait for spring so we can plant! But we have about 3 more months to wait. Heres a few pics to keep the happy spring thoughts going.....

 

[HHandbasket]

My Baker Creek Seed Catalog came today!

I have spent the last several days making seed tapes, mostly for the cruciferous vegetables we're planning to grow this year. I have my sterile potting soil, a tray of 72 seedling cells, and another tray of 72 Jiffy seed starter pellets in cells (total of 144 seedling starter cells). I have some wonderful heirloom tomato seeds that I am looking forward to growing this year. We will be starting some things indoors in about 2-3 weeks, another group in about 4-5 weeks, and after that, hopefully we'll be ok to start the last group of seedlings & start putting the first group in the ground, hopefully around late March.

My green thumb is itching so bad, I can hardly sleep at night. I just found out that we can plant brussel sprouts now where we live, normally could have done it a month ago, but winter is just now showing up around these parts.

I think this year will be my best garden ever. We've really got some good soil amendment goodies, some fairly decent and well-drained soil on the property to start with, and a fairly decent climate. This will be my first year gardening here in this new area, so it's going to be a trial-and-error growing season for us here.

 

[rancher hicks]

Hispo - Very nice. I received a response to a Yahoo comment I made about the weather. They said the changes could affect the food supply.

We may not eat a lot of processed food but we gardeners will eat and won't starve.

Wyo - what will you do with the garlic if you don't plant it? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

HHbask - Baker Creek is one of my favorite catalogs.

Question for us all. Anyone got good they grew in the pantry still? I've got some Hubbard Squash and a bag full of garlic and tomatoes frozen in the freezer. Oh and a rooster too.

I'm back with another question. I was checking something for Willhite Seeds and stumbled upon a coupon site or thing or whatever. Does anyone use coupons with ordering seeds? Master Gardener or something like that?

 

[Dchicken207]

Question for us all. Anyone got good they grew in the pantry still? I've got some Hubbard Squash and a bag full of garlic and tomatoes frozen in the freezer. Oh and a rooster too.

I have some garlic, a few squash(honey bear), potatoes,red onions, and a bunch of stuff that I pickled,carrots,onions,peppers,beans,garlic,etc.

 

[hispoptart]

I have a few can of tomatoes left. I need to do more canning this year.

 

[Kassaundra]

Just got back home from my local Walmart and they had some canning jars on clearance for $5 for 12 pints or quarts. I have never canned before, but was wanting to try this coming year, so I now have a start on some jars.