PLANTED GARDEN TODAY - anybody planting yet?

[biddybird]

Oh I wish we could get some of that good rain posted on here. We are so dry. I'm watering all the time already and the gardens do not do as well on system water. I planted on Good Friday, which is actually late for here. I waited, they say thunder in February, frost in April. Sure enough we not only had frost, but snow! Not normal here at all. Started to wet to plant (I planted in mud) and now we are too dry. Poor Farmers, they can't win.
I picked two buckets yellow squash this weekend. First pick!! They are loaded! Zuchinni is just now blooming so another week or two. Tomatos are 4 foot tall and have some tomatos on the vines but they are just now blooming good and I'm afraid it's too hot to set, 95 deg. most days. Potatos, cucumbers,tomatillos,radishes, carrots, and onions are great. Corn is in a new part of the garden and I'm afraid the garden mix we had hauled in was too hot. What did come up turned purple and died. I've since planted okra and have managed to see some come up. Guess its getting better. We have to have dirt brought in, all we have is bedrock around where I live.

BC Farms what do you do with all the pumpkins? We can grow them here but I have never tried. Your garden looks great! I can just about everything and do salsa every year if you need a receipe. For that you need jalapenas and banana peppers, if you can grow them.

I made an aspargus garden this year. I added good sandy compost last week that we pulled out of our steer barn two years ago and noticed this weekend they are shooting up pencil size all over. Originally they were up all over but smaller. If anyone has any advise I will appreciate it. Texas is not a aspargus state I'm told so I know I will have to cut it in November and work at it. There are people who show up at the farmers market with it so I know it can be done.

Good luck to all who are just now putting in gardens!!

 

[BC_Farms]

Biddybird- this is our first year growing pumpkins. I LOVE them and went a little crazy buying seeds this year. There are so many varieties and colors I couldn't help myself. Last year I made a pumpkin pie, so this year I guess I'll make about 20

. We have a lot of friends with young kids and love Halloween, so we'll probably let them pick some and use others for decorations and host a Halloween party.

I would love and be so appreciative of any canning advice and recipes!! We have a whole mess of peppers planted too, but no Banana Peppers I think. We definitely have Jalapenos.

Bought the rest of the seeds today. Glad that part is over, and now everything just has to grow!

 

[Bridget399]

My brother made me a grape vine last summer from heavy wire and telephone poles (he works for the local power co.)... we finally planted grapes for it. I made a strawberry patch, blueberry patch, and planted one garden, so far... It's amazing what you can get done when you finally get nice weather!

 

[Jen4]

 

[Mrs. Green Thumbs]

Oh wow... Iv been growing since late febuary. Let's see Iv got:

Corn
yellow crook neck squash
Green beans
Onion's
Potatoes
Tomatoes
bellpepper's
strawberry's
carrot's (coming out of my EARS)
garlic
celery
Jalepenio
lettuce
blueberry's
cherry's
celantro
sunflowers
hopefully watermellon
Red baron peaches
I know I'm forgetting a few things somewhere and we have some decorative plants too. Delphinium's, Geranium's, ect. I'll have to snap some pics soon.

 

[LarryPQ]

Well I finally caved & bought a bunch of grapevines, a bunch of big pots, and tied the bad boys to the run fencing. I will post some pics when I get home.

Eventually the grapes will go in the ground, but since we are still doing construction, I need to be able to move them if I ABSOLUTELY have to. Plus, the big pots (on the outside of the run) raise the vines above chicken-jumping height.

 

[biddybird]

BC Farms-- The Ball Canning Book sold in grocery stores is one of the best. I have used alot of recipes out of there. My kids have won Grand pickles at our county fair several time with the pickle recipe out of it. That book is almost like my Bible!!! Very Very sacred!!! If you have never canned you might pick one up, don't let it overwhelm you though. There is some hard ways to do some of it and some easy ways. Canning was passed down to me from my Grandma and there are some tricks.
I will dig out my salsa recipe and share it, it has won Grand and Res many times. My kids got into canning with me and came up with some different versions and it was quite a competition. You don't really need the banana peppers jalapena is fine, being so close to Mexico I experiment with alot of different ones.
Hope your pumpkins do well!!! I want to try gords. The kind you can make birdhouses out of, I have just never found a good spot to plant them.
I love to garden!!!

 

[BC_Farms]

I will look for that book, thanks!!

I looked at gourd seeds to make birdhouses too this year, but decided against them. Maybe next year.

DSO LOVES spicy foods so we have a variety of peppers, I'm just not sure what kinds. Of course, he just planted the seeds in the ground and didn't mark half of them, so I can let you know what varieties we have once they pop up

I think it's so funny that people are harvesting now and we're just starting to plant! A lot of people planted early up north because it was really warm in March and April...and then we got frosts in May! So far I've harvested some lettuce, spinach, and radishes.

We "inherited" some grapes with the farm too...they are all over the place!

 

[biddybird]

It is kind of strange hearing of people just now planting. If you haven't planted at least a month ago here, no matter how much you water it will burn up!

Very aggravating, we all pray for rain and below 90 deg at least until June. So far the rain has seemed to miss us and the heat is finding us.
We have mustang grapes that grow wild on our place. About every three years I will notice a bumper crop and have to put up grape jelly and alot of locals make wine with it too.

 

[vfem]

Here's some of the cut flowers I'll be enjoying. I'll also be selling these at the local farmers market from now on.