Warm weather has my green thumb itching.

[Don K]

With the 70 degree days we have been having I have broke out the shorts and the tiller. Time to plant stuff to eat or either for the sun to scorch. : As much as I hate hot weather here in the south, I can't help but get excited when the bluebirds start calling each other and the grass greens up. I have a few cool season crops going and I'm taking a chance on not getting a late frost with 3 rows of sweet corn. We'll see.









These are some English peas and cabbage in my beds. Also have lettuce and carrots planted in the middle for shade when it gets warmer.









I have a row each of garlic, red, yellow and white onions. The 3 new rows are sugar dot sweet corn (bicolor).





Here is my new blackberry arbor. I have 2 varieties here. One will stick ya and one won't. The canes have been planted about 2 weeks and are starting to sprout leaves.





And just because it makes the heart smile some daffodils in my back yard.

I hope this garden is successful this year. We will see what the weather brings. With the price of oil soaring again I need some food. :-\

Don

[WDH]

Wow Don, you are getting the early jump on things for sure.  Your garden look great as always. 

We were cleaning up some on the old homeplace today and my wife said, "Looks like a good place for a garden."  Uh-oh, looks like I may have two this year

[submarinesailor]

We were cleaning up some on the old homeplace today and my wife said, "Looks like a good place for a garden."  Uh-oh, looks like I may have two this year

With the way that food prices are going you WILL need 2.

Bruce

[Norm]

Thanks for the pictures Don. 

[Raider Bill]

I put some tomatoes in Friday. I grow in containers.

[scottyblue]

What a great garden you have.Nice raised beds and inground.Looks like a big set up.

I'm an Allium fanatic.Mainly onions but garlic as well.Walla Walla is a darn nice onion.

Here in Ontario we still have snow on the ground but we are about to go through a warm stretch with tons of rain.A few more weeks and I'll be putting in my onion bulbs,radish,lettuce,spinach and peas.A little later I'll do carrots,beets and beans.Tomatoes and peppers will follow along with beans and squash.Perhaps a few melons.

[DanG]

Hey Scotty!  I see ol' Tom finally got his hooks into you, eh? :D  Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

[ely]

planted my potatoes and onions on tuesday and some of them on monday.

[SwampDonkey]

I probably eat 2 or 3 onions a week. Any time I have a piece of meat cooking, I need an onion. Need an onion for the salad to. ;D When I buy onions it's by the 10 lb sac. I'll have to see if I can get some Spanish onion bulbs.  8) I'm going to be growing a lot more jalapeno and bell peppers. I love them little hot babies. :D

Don, you should be able to grow two crops starting this early. ;D With all the garden and the shop construction, your not going to have much time for sleep.  ;)



I think if it's a dry summer again, I'm going to invest in some hose, but I might have a rubber barrel I can rig up under the eves trough.
It will rain eventually and a 1/4" can fill a barrel when you have a huge roof. ;D ;D

[ErikC]

 Nice looking gardens again Don. I like to grow onions and garlic as well. I like walla walla and copra. SD, do you put out sets? I have had better luck getting nice bulbs from seeds, then transplanting them.  Or buy seedlings. Just curious how it works for you.

[Dave Shepard]

It's 4°F. My green thumb is still dormant. :D

[scottyblue]

Hey Scotty!  I see ol' Tom finally got his hooks into you, eh? :D  Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Darn big hook it was DanG.Nearly ripped my cheek out! :D

Thanks for the welcome.

[SwampDonkey]

SD, do you put out sets?

I have not purchased any for 10 years, but I always got sets. You have to go early to cull out the soft mushy ones because most are in big bins. :D

How long to trays of planted onion seed get to a bulb? I have about 3 months before I can plant. ;)

[fishpharmer]

Hi Scotty, I see you have been a member a while, only recently posted.  I just wanted to say welcome to FF. 8)

DonK, impressive as usual.  Have you ever had deer eat your onions?  Last time I planted them (a few years ago  :-[), the deer ate them all.

[ely]

so far the deer here do not eat onions.  i sorta wish i had not said that now. :

[ErikC]

 It takes no longer to get onions from transplants than sets. The problem with sets is this: They are already one year old, and onions make a bulb on the first year, and seed on the second. So a lot of them can end up bolting, and the bulb looking more like a leek.. Especially if they get stressed from heat or lack of water. The transplants just want to bulb no matter what. Sets work often enough though, just the percentages are less in your favor.

[Don K]

If we get a decent amount of rain this summer and fall, I hope to do 2nd crops of potatos and the cold crops. Hopefully I will get 2 tomato crops in as well. If I was retired my fields would look like a truck farmers.  :D I broke the ground for my pinkeyes yesterday. The forcasted rain should soften the ground and make the second tillage even better.

Don

[scottyblue]

Hi Scotty, I see you have been a member a while, only recently posted.  I just wanted to say welcome to FF. 8)

Thanks for the welcome.

DonK, impressive as usual.  Have you ever had deer eat your onions?  Last time I planted them (a few years ago  :-[), the deer ate them all.

[scottyblue]

It takes no longer to get onions from transplants than sets. The problem with sets is this: They are already one year old, and onions make a bulb on the first year, and seed on the second. So a lot of them can end up bolting, and the bulb looking more like a leek.. Especially if they get stressed from heat or lack of water. The transplants just want to bulb no matter what. Sets work often enough though, just the percentages are less in your favor.

That's true about onions being biennial and the risk of sets/bulbs bolting but that risk can be greatly reduced by purchasing bulbs no more than half inch in diameter.Larger bulbs have a greater risk of bolting.I grow hundreds of onions and I hand pick my bulbs(purchase in bulk)so I get the size I want.It's true that a hot stretch of weather can bring on bolting but it rarely happens in my zone.Starting with sets can shorten the time to harvest by 4-6 weeks as opposed to direct sown seed.But as you say,with transplants there's not a big difference.Another thing that can cause a bulb to end up looking like a leek is growing the wrong variety for ones area.There are long day onions and short day.Onions produce top growth first and once the amount of light hours reach a certain length,the tops stop growing and the bulb develops.A long day variety grown in the wrong area may not have its bulb development triggered and you get a lot of top growth and a leek like bulb.

Cheers

[Magicman]

Looking very good Don.  I had better catch up on my tilling, but it will not be nearly what you have.

[SwampDonkey]

My tillage is limited to the amount I can turn with a shovel in 3 - 4'x8' raised beds. :D I have scaled way back because a big garden just goes to waste in my instance, one man can't eat all that stuff. :D

[ErikC]

It takes no longer to get onions from transplants than sets. The problem with sets is this: They are already one year old, and onions make a bulb on the first year, and seed on the second. So a lot of them can end up bolting, and the bulb looking more like a leek.. Especially if they get stressed from heat or lack of water. The transplants just want to bulb no matter what. Sets work often enough though, just the percentages are less in your favor.

That's true about onions being biennial and the risk of sets/bulbs bolting but that risk can be greatly reduced by purchasing bulbs no more than half inch in diameter.Larger bulbs have a greater risk of bolting.I grow hundreds of onions and I hand pick my bulbs(purchase in bulk)so I get the size I want.It's true that a hot stretch of weather can bring on bolting but it rarely happens in my zone.Starting with sets can shorten the time to harvest by 4-6 weeks as opposed to direct sown seed.But as you say,with transplants there's not a big difference.Another thing that can cause a bulb to end up looking like a leek is growing the wrong variety for ones area.There are long day onions and short day.Onions produce top growth first and once the amount of light hours reach a certain length,the tops stop growing and the bulb develops.A long day variety grown in the wrong area may not have its bulb development triggered and you get a lot of top growth and a leek like bulb.

Cheers

I should have said welcome Scotty. Sorry for the bad manners. :-\

The day length is important. You guys have plenty for any long day onion up there I bet. We get by fine here with them too, but you have to get an early enough start so there's plenty of growth or they won't turn out. Mom and dad grow hundreds and hundreds at their place for the farmer's market. I get by with a couple hundred for just us. Transplanting seed starts is cheaper than sets too for that many, if you start the seeds. All the onion seeds I need cost 3 or 4 dollars.

[jim king]

Just a bit of worthless information to all you Northerners.  Did you know that you cannot grow onions in the tropics as the days are the same length and the onion doesnt know it is supposed to make a bulb and get ready forwinter as the days are all the same lenght and dont get shorter and send the message to get ready for next year..

If some one has figuered a way please let me kow.

Today I got a melon flower and several pickle flowers.  Tomatoes are looking good also.  My radisheses and lettuce look like it will be a disaster.

[Paul_H]

Could you fool them with shade in the same way we use a grow light to start tomatoes?

[jim king]

I dont know. :