I think the benefits of crop rotation are both nutrients and pest control if you have enough space and time to make a simple rotation plan
Compost is always a good idea
Compost is always a good idea
gardening
- Thread starter hot grits
- Start date
I do all my gardening in lots of raised beds since my soil is 95% hard clay. This week I will get my seeds started. Last year I had 2 zucchini plants, 95 plants of green peppers and 300 tomato plants of a mix of cherry, beaf steak, roma, yellow pear cherry and mortgage lifters. All started from my own seeds. I also did lettuce, basil, cilantro, short Danver carrots and sugar snap peas. In years past I did a lot of hot peppers....thai chili, habanero, jalapeno, cayenne, etc. I am giving up in trying to do radishes in my raised beds. Tried for 3 years and never got a good radish crop.
i usually do cucumbers which i always have good luck with, last year i did cukes,tomatoes,broccoli, sweet corn, green peppers. this year i am gonna try lettuce .
Agentskull
BoM Feb 14
This year will be our first garden in our new place and our first non potted garden ever. So we are going to start small and expand it's foot print each year
I just put in two raised beds. The gophers are prolific around here. The only way I can keep them from killing my plants is raised beds lined with wire mesh. The closest bed is tomatoes and the far bed is cucumbers and a variety of peppers (Carribean Red, Cerrano, New Mexico, Serrano, Jalapeno, and Bell).
So far I've planted red and white onions, strawberries, sugar snap peas, red potatoes, carrots, swiss chard, spinach, and a variety of lettuce. I've also started 50 tomato and pepper seeds and a variety of herb seeds inside under my grow light. I will start cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, egg plant, corn and green bean seeds when it warms up. Blueberry bushes and horseradish should start coming on anytime. My new thing I'm trying this year is pineapple. Our local nursery got some plants in so I thought I would give them a try. I can't wait for full on growing season!
I am also in PA. The past few years I always started my seeds mid February and by planting time would have 3 1/2 feet tall tomatoes with blossums and 2 feet tall pepper plants with blossums. This year I think the ground will take longer to thaw so I am starting my seeds this week.
- Joined
- May 16, 2013
- Messages
- 965
We ussually do a big garden, this year will depend on if we find a house and get moved in this spring. I hope so. Looking for a property to do some permaculture on as well. Hopefully with fruiting trees, water and pleanty of space for gardens. Planning on doing raised beds for vegetables and landscaping with eatibles as well. We'll see.
Here in Chicago, May 15 is the average last day of frost but, with the exception of last year, I've been able to plant as early as the last week of April. I've done the whole "from seed" thing and with our shorter growing season, I just find I'd rather buy the plants and go from there.
My peppers and my herbs do amazingly well but I have horrible luck with vegetables (cukes, tomatoes, squash, etc.). I do all container gardening so I would welcome any advice.
My peppers and my herbs do amazingly well but I have horrible luck with vegetables (cukes, tomatoes, squash, etc.). I do all container gardening so I would welcome any advice.
How's everyone's seedlings doin? This is my first year growing my plants from seeds and I moved my seeds to inside my entertainment center on my cable box in a clear container and the germinated and sprouted FAST!! Have them under my home made grow light now and they are growing like crazy. Going to transplanting and fertilizing soon.
My seedlings are doing great. 99 percent of the tomato seeds I started have come up. I started them in empty Keurig K cups on a seedling heat mat and have transplanted them into 3 inch peat pots under grow lights. I have a timer on my grow lights so that the lights are on for 18 hours a day. Once the plants reach about 8 to 10 inches tall I put an oscillating fan in the room to toughen up the stems. But so far so good! The tomato plants are already 5 inches tall.
I live in the mountains in Colorado and just moved to a new house last year. Missed out on a garden last year and won't let that happen again this year. It's been unseasonably warm here, so I've had some time to work on the raised beds we are putting in. 12 yards of dirt later I almost have 3 of the beds done, now for compost etc. hope to grab some pics tomorrow.
Interesting idea on the K cups for starting plants. How did that work out for you? I won't be starting my own plants this year, have a couple week trip to Alaska in May, and none of our friends garden so I would have just come home to a bunch of dead plants. Hope to start our own next year though. Would be nice to find a use for the K cups except for the trash.
The k cups worked great. I got the idea from a local mom and pop garden shop that uses the k cups for kids when they come into the shop as an inexpensive way to have the kids start their own plants. This is the 1st year I tried the k cups and will be using them from now on. I just filled them with my starting soil then added 2 seeds to each cup. I made sure I washed the empty k cups out well and once they air dried were ready to use. Best part is that you can use them over and over.
This is a great idea.