What did you do in the garden today?

[Sylvester017]

I think it sorta depends though on you goals and available space. We grew a lot of winter squash last year and it took up a lot of space but this allowed us to eat squash all through the winter until about 6 weeks ago without buying it. We had hubbards, spaghetti, butternut, buttercup, acorn, some more less common ones and it was great. I do love squash tho as does my husband and the kids will take it in certain dishes.

Corn for us does not work. It never fails to bring in veggie predators that know just when to strike.

I like growing beans because there are so many kinds and they taste so nice from the garden.

I'm not so successful with melons here is zone 5 but I keep trying!

We did cantaloupe once...a single long trailing vine produced only one cantaloupe & the night before we were to harvest it a rat chewed it! At least there was a good amount left to cut up for the hens' treat platter! Another cantaloupe vine grew all summer & never produced a single fruit...not even a bud or flower unless rats struck again?!

We aren't squash lovers but we do like Black Beauty Zucchini which we planted before. We planted more this year in the front yard for decoration but if they yield any zucchini... winner!

 

[Appalachickens]

Anyone else suffer that dark period between planting and sprouting where you start to question whether anything will actually sprout and grow?

Always.

 

[Appalachickens]

I went out to add more straw to the potato bed and saw a sizable snake skin wrapped around one plant. My guess is rat snake.

 

[Rick589]

You bet! I planted Sugar Baby watermelons and STILL don't know if they came up or not. In my frustration, I fear that I've done something unforgivable... I planted some cantaloupes in their place! At least THEY have come up now. Or.... now, maybe it's the watermelons???

Its have if they, the seeds, taunt you, maybe we’ll sprout maybe we won’t. Then they sprout followed by the long pause before growth really starts moving forward. In my case beets take FOREVER to sprout, beans push their way out of the ground, like your watermelons mine make me guess, tomatoes keep me biting my nails until I can clearly see they’ve taken hold, carrots make me sweat until I see the nearly invisible sprouts, and on and on and on.The only things I don’t worry about are potatoes, cabbage, and sweet potatoes ——these are nearly bullet proof for me.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Anyone else suffer that dark period between planting and sprouting where you start to question whether anything will actually sprout and grow?

Yup. I ended up with twice as many hot peppers as I needed last year because of that. This year I used a heat mat on the peppers and it helped massively.

You bet! I planted Sugar Baby watermelons and STILL don't know if they came up or not. In my frustration, I fear that I've done something unforgivable... I planted some cantaloupes in their place! At least THEY have come up now. Or.... now, maybe it's the watermelons???

I tried scarification this year to avoid that problem on my melons and other big viney plant seeds. Nipped a bit off the side of each seed with some nail clippers. It only half worked on the melons and squash; I reseeded the duds today and dug out the previous seeds, no roots or anything on them.

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

Put some leaves i had from last fall around my potatoes today. We have a hot dry forecast here for the foreseeable future. I'm glad I bagged all these leaves after pulling them off my beds this early spring. If I don't pull them off - the soil doesn't warm up as fast as I would like. Now I have them around my tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and celery. I put straw around my onions thinking it would be easy to pull away from them once they start to bulb. My green beans will shade themselves. Straw is already around strawberries! I really wanted some drip hoses this year but they just aren't in my budget right now. Hope you all are getting some good gardening in as well!

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

I used to, but nowadays I let a couple bloom so I have early tomatoes. I plant way more than I need.
One for the rock
One for the Crow
One to die
And one to grow
A good year the chickens are happy. A bad year I have just enough.

I love that saying!

 

[dirkandlorie]

If only my garden could grow as fast as the weeds around here! All these rains have them jumping out of the ground. Sunflowers and beans about a foot tall already, but chard is still little tiny seedlings. Tomatoes 2 ft. tall and flowering, but cucumbers just breaking through the soil. I have little tiny jalapenos on the bushes, but the anaheims and poblanos haven't grown an inch yet since transplanting. My garden is neurotic!

 

[TJAnonymous]

I've never had any trouble growing cantaloupe until this year.... I planted 5 starts in a leaf mulch in my in-ground garden weeks ago. One is basically dead. The other 4 haven't grown at all and are very yellow. Either they don't like the leaf mulch or the stupid amount of rain we've had is causing problems at the root level. Maybe both.... Looks like I probably won't get any this year...

 

[dirkandlorie]

I've never had any trouble growing cantaloupe until this year.... I planted 5 starts in a leaf mulch in my in-ground garden weeks ago. One is basically dead. The other 4 haven't grown at all and are very yellow. Either they don't like the leaf mulch or the stupid amount of rain we've had is causing problems at the root level. Maybe both.... Looks like I probably won't get any this year...

Is it too late for you to direct seed more cantaloupe?