2014 Gardening

Whew, bought $93 of seeds/plants today. Cold snap coming for the next two days then they will go into the beds. Plenty of different tomato, beans/peas, cukes, zucchini, etc etc. Still need peanuts and sweet potato slips.

 

I've never tried to grow peanuts. Any problems, yields Size, or special needs?

 

Sandy Soil!

 

Sandy is great but "heavier" will work. I used a two disc plow and built a ridge in a couple passes on each side. Raked up a sizable hill(@16" wide and 12" high) by hand and planted about 18" apart. When harvested just hang the plants in clumps from joists in the basement or detach and sun dry well before storing. If keeping a long time they will taste better if shelled and frozen. We have some a couple yrs old that taste OK.

 

Where is the best place to get peanuts for planting?

 

[sarca]Obviously. I would think, everything I could get locally would be roasted, dried, salted, or ready to spread.... That would be why I asked.

 

I just checked my grape plants. It is to early to know if they will survive. During the floods we had about 3" of water that ran over/through them. I tried to divert the water but I am worried it may have damaged them.

I have a huge container of coffee grounds collected. I read that they are good for nitrogen. I guess my blueberries will like them and the rest can go in the containers and beds.

 

Jumbo Virginia Peanut Vegetable Seeds Gurneys Seed Nursery
And other seed suppliers.

 

Cool, thank you.

 

I was naughty yesterday, Baker Creek had free shipping cause of Earth Day, so I ordered more seeds. Chocolate Habaneros(if they have chocolate in the name, I am required by law to buy them, and I've had success with habaneros in the past), Ghost Peppers, Asian Winged Beans, Red's Red Sweet Sorghum, and Canterbury Bells(not food I know, but I love those flowers, and it will encourage pollinators, that's my justification...well that and they were out of Trinidad Scorpion pepper seeds )

And yesterday I started seeds for cucumbers and sunflowers, today gotta start seeds for bell peppers, forgot to do that yesterday. And our radishes have sprouted with a vengeance. Zulu Prince Daisies are sprouting too.

 

Neighbor and I planted the early garden--two corns, blue lakes, limas, and a couple other types of beans. Bush hogged the other garden sites and will till them under next week. Raised beds planted and up nicely--looking good for early veggies. Strawberries in two weeks--yummy.

 

I have all my other seeds started indoors. My asparagus seeds are in the freezer. Holes are prepped and ready for the apple trees and I fertilized all the containers and planting beds. I think my onions from last year are coming up. The elk had munched down the plant and I figured they died, surprise!

I keep forgetting the watermelon seeds! The kids really want watermelon.

 

This weekend I planted my seeds in those recycled cardboard planters. I couldn't find my Sharpie so I grabbed one of the kids markers. Big Mistake. I watered and now the marker (water soluble) has faded. I have no clue what is what. I guess it will be a surprise later on. I always draw a sketch of what goes where prior to planting.

 

I remember when I first started gardening here at our current residence, I didn't label anything, just knew what was what because of where on the shelf they were. But then I moved stuff around and forgot and it was surprise time when they sprouted. Really don't like that melons and squash(including pumpkins and decorative gourds) look the same when they sprout, like sunflowers and cukes.

Oh and our garden is doing lovely. Should be able to start harvesting spinach in a couple weeks. Can harvest herbs now if I wanted

I have missed doing the banana dances

 

Well, I should have some broccoli ready in a week or 2, been eatin' spinach out of the garden for the last 2 weeks.

Tomatoes are doing nicely, I'll need to stake some of them pretty soon.

Beans need more nitrogen in the soil. It's a new bed with lots of wood mulch cover, so I expected this.

Lost all of my raspberry plants tho

 

I have had NO luck with raspberries or blackberries here. I know I'm doing something wrong with the raspberries though, because my next door neighbor has no problem with theirs. I'll figure it out eventually.

 

You sound like a man if you aren't willing to ask what they are doing differently.

 

Well I wouldn't ask him even though he does most of the manual labor for their gardening, he was the main person fixing the busted pipe at one of the water meters recently, and when working on fitting the PVC pipe into place, he said that maybe he should have measured before he sawed it down...