What did you do in the garden today?

[Justagalwithchicks]

I started some oregano seeds and some Iroquois Cornbread beans in pots today. I want to start the onions too but I’m not sure what kind of planter(s) to use this year. I did toilet paper roll pots last year and those did better than the plastic seed tray, but they’re supposedly good to start packed together like grass and broken out later and that would be much easier space-wise - except that I’m out of pots.

I also got some coffee seeds for funzies but MIGardener said those do better with volcanic rocks in the soil (!) so I need to get some of that before I can plant them.


I need to get to that point with hot peppers. I learned that the dozen or so plants from two years ago made enough to last about a year…which is great except my area doesn’t have good pepper years consistently, and this year wasn’t a pepper year. I had to buy cayenne powder.

So going forward I need to start planting at least twice that to cover for the bad years. This year I’m planning to put in some ghost peppers too in the hopes that I can get away with putting less pepper powder in the various dishes and by extension stretch them farther.

It's a good idea! I've done this with tomatoes also and helped when blight hit hard one year.

 

[Molpet]

I want to start the onions too but I’m not sure what kind of planter(s) to use this year.

Last year I had some in 6 pack cells (worse), 3 cup yogurt containers (better), and a tray without the 6 pack cells (Best).
I'm starting soon because I waited until beginning of February and that was too late for onions to size up

 

[Smokerbill]

Got my onion seeds from Baker Creek today, plus a catalog from Murray McMurray chickens. Didn't know they sent out a chicken catalog.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Last year I had some in 6 pack cells (worse), 3 cup yogurt containers (better), and a tray without the 6 pack cells (Best).
I'm starting soon because I waited until beginning of February and that was too late for onions to size up

My concern with a plain tray is that I might overwater them and end up with root rot again. I lost at least half my onion seedlings to that last year.

 

[Eagle343]

My concern with a plain tray is that I might overwater them and end up with root rot again. I lost at least half my onion seedlings to that last year.

may try using a hand held spray gun?

 

[WthrLady]

Yep, the garden porn magazines are starting to arrive.

 

[Smokerbill]

My concern with a plain tray is that I might overwater them and end up with root rot again. I lost at least half my onion seedlings to that last year.

I tried shallower containers for onions seeds but decided to use deeper containers for starting them. Better drainage and more room for the water roots to spread out under the plants.

I cut the top and bottom from a couple of cardboard coffee cans and reshaped them to make onion starting pots last year. Worked well.

Just ordered a 2-pak of Jiffy 12 quart seed starting mix from Walmart today so the 2026 gardening season has oficially begun. I can plant my onions seeds when the dirt arrives.

The shallower containers (8oz mushroom boxes) didn't work out so well.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Cheapest way to make starting pots, recycle empty toilet paper rolls, or use rolled up newspaper ( if anyone is still buying/getting them)

 

[chickengr]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

a few buckets with water got frozen. sunny but cold.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Happy New Year everyone! I have compiled my list of lessons learned from last season:

• My shade garden boxes need more consistent watering than I have been giving them.
  • An irrigation kit might help with this.
• The soil in my boxes is poor (extremely low potassium, nitrogen).
  • I purchased Potash and Blood Meal to fix this.
• Cattle panel trellis are amazing, 10/10 would do again.
  • In the future however, no leafy greens directly below them. The birds like to use them as perches and bird poop on the Swiss Chard is unappetizing.
• Swiss Chard did well. Grow that again.
• Brentwood lettuce did well and lasted much longer before bolting than the current variety. Grow more of that.
  • It seems to become darker purple in response to more intense light, ditto for the purple basils.
• Kale is a bug magnet in my area and it turns out I’m not crazy about it. The deer will eat it too if it isn’t protected. Skip it going forward.
• Marigolds didn’t help repel critters but did bring in late season bumblebees.
• Frost cloth setup needs revisiting so that it is easier to put on and take off.
  • Cloth and Christmas light combo seemed to help get one melon to ripening but the tradeoff was more powdery mildew and the lights attracted moths. The Christmas lights also died afterwards. It might be worth finding a lightless heat source, or frontload the babying of the big viney plants to the early part of the season when they’re easier to cover and let nature kill them if they haven’t made it by fall.
• Montreal Market Muskmelons are worth trying again - they managed an edible melon despite a late start and a TERRIBLE warm crop season.
  • They do need to have more space around them so I can cover them with cloches without impacting nearby plants however. That can be applied to all the big warm weather crops, now that I think about it.
• Tentatively carrots need more water than I had been giving them in previous years.
• Beneficial nematodes did seem to work (ants in one planter vanished after application, kale in the treated containers had fewer issues).
• Starting the bunching onions in February worked well but I need watch out for root rot.
• Coco coir and a tiny bit of fertilizer isn’t good grow media in the long term.
  • I stocked up on compost in advance to avoid this problem.
• 14ish cayenne plants is sufficient for my needs for one year but my local weather isn’t conducive to growing them reliably so I must plant more to cover the cold years.
  • Dehydrating them and grinding them into powder worked well though.
• Germination rate from Annie’s Heirloom Seeds was terrible, don’t buy from them again.
  • Germination rates for scorzonera hispanica (Black Salsify) were slightly better if I stabbed the seeds into the ground like needles. Still not great, but might be worth an experiment if I get better seeds in the future.
• Uncertain how well the scorzonera hispanica did thanks to poor germination rates. Need to revisit in spring, and see how many of the few that did sprout survived the winter since they got buried behind the carrots and weren’t harvested.
• Trying to start the Turkey Craw beans inside in a pot and then moving them outside was a mistake - plants took damage from the wind.
  • Fan on the seedlings while they’re indoors might help with this.
  • For a small batch it might be worth keeping them indoors indefinitely now that my plant shelves are in a more permanent spot.
  • Or I could stick to starting pole beans outside like a normal person.
• Tulle bag test results are inconclusive until I can plant some of those beans.
• Squash hand-pollination tests failed due to lack of female blossoms to test on.

Unfortunately this year I will have to put off any tests or experimentation involving big, viney plants (pole beans, squash, melons, some tomatoes) in favor of deck maintenance/replacement. So the focus will be on things I can grow in smaller containers, stuff that can be moved without damaging it excessively, and/or plants that grow fast enough that I can put them in and get them out in between visits from various contractors.