The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

[Aslanisthebest]

You guys are so great. Thanks for the very informative responses, Digs and fantasia. I am planning to come back with a lengthier post but I have a bit of schoolwork leftover and this has been hovering over my mind for the past few days...

So I got my Totally Tomato Seeds (*:D *) and then started them out. I was a bit worried that I started the seedlings too early, but after following the directions and putting them in closed containers, I think it will be alright. (plus, after worrying a whole lot, I surprisingly read a verse which said something along the lines God blessing land/crops (I think this was in Ezekiel....), and that encouraged my heart quite a lot. ) I'm worried that I didn't get seed starting mix and got potting soil instead. If I've messed up, I'm going to like because I've used quite a bit of my seeds. (I have plenty cayenne pepper and alicante tomato seeds left over, but probably less than half of the original amount of the romas and jalapenos.) So... I'm really hoping and praying these seeds work out. I did get potting soil and read that this could be problematic; should I buy some seed starting mix and and restart some new seedlings? (would it be possible to sift out these seeds if they haven't germinated yet and then replant them in seed-starting mix? )

If they do, I still do have one dillema - in a rush at WalMart, while quickly calculating what would be better to buy, I walked out with a bag of Miracle Gro Potting soil. However, the thing says that it'll produce bigger plants and there's a picture of a very enlarged flower plant. Does this mean that my plants/vegetables will be bigger? Because if so.... :S I really don't want the soil to meddle with the nice product I bought from Totally Tomatoes. ... and I hope, if so, bigger doesn't equal bland, tasteless vegetables because that would just be awful. If this is so, if I get some organic non-plant-meddling potting soil and then keep on growing the seedlings indoor with the new soil, will that work out even though I started the seeds out on this stuff? Thank-you in advance for the response!!

Thank-you, again, for the reply to my previous questions. I'll be back with responses to those!!

[fantasia]

I walked out with a bag of Miracle Gro Potting soil.

That's what I use. And no, you're not going to end up with Audrey II from Littlest Shop of Horrors. (Hope you get that reference. ) Your plants will be fine.

I'm having a little bit of trouble with my seedlings this year.... trouble I don't recall having in the past. A few of them are dying, and I'm not sure what's causing it. My best guess is that I'm putting too much stress on them. I left them in my greenhouse overnight the past two nights cause it was well above freezing and there's a heater in there. But perhaps the range of 45F to 105F each day is too much. Whether that's it or not I'll definitely be bringing them back in over the next few nights cause it's gonna be cold again. At least it's only like 3-4 little plants.

On the plus side, I have 3 watermelons up.

Ara is here today so we might plant some more stuff. Not sure what. Maybe cantaloupe or lettuce or both?

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

On the plus side, I have 3 watermelons up.

Any of the Carolina Cross watermelons?

How did this weekend at the farm go? Did you get anything in the ground, or is it still too cold out there?

[fantasia]

On the plus side, I have 3 watermelons up.

Any of the Carolina Cross watermelons?

Make that 5 watermelons, and yes, they are all Carolina Cross Watermelons. I'm going to try to grow at least one of those here at my house this year (so i can baby it ), and put the others out at the farm. Last year I had six come up but two died before I was able to plant them. One of the watermelons this year hasn't actually broken free of the seed yet even though it's sprouted (it's pinning those first two leaves shut) so I don't have high hopes of it surviving. We'll see.

How did this weekend at the farm go? Did you get anything in the ground, or is it still too cold out there?

I didn't do any gardening over the weekend, though not for lack of nice weather. I had other projects I was working on. But on Friday, Ara and I planted some loose leaf lettuce and spinach in a container which Fiona subsequently knocked over. *ahem* So I don't know if I'll be getting much leafy green stuff up. But I have a lot of seeds so I should be good to go.

A funny story though... I found out that the Olympia Spinach I ordered is actually a New Zealand Spinach. I didn't know what that meant so I looked it up and it's technically not spinach at all. It has similar looking leaves and tastes like it, although it's a vining plant. According to my mom and sister it's not very good raw but it's ok cooked. Whoops! Well, I'll give it a shot anyways and if I don't like it, I'll know not to get it again.

[fantasia]

Tonight I planted the first official thing in my own backyard garden.... 1 whole row of peas. Based on the amount I used up (about 1/3 of a packet) I'll probably plant at least one more row here. (I bought 3 packets)

And.... my second round of peppers just started sprouting. Here's hoping I get all of the rest of the ones I need. I'm about 17 plants short at the moment.

[johobbit]

Even though I don't post in here a lot, I love reading the comments, advice, suggestions, helps, and seeing the photos.

Bella, all the best with your seeds! Looking forward to your updates. You too, DiGs, and fantasia.

for your first official planting, fk! Re: all the seeds in a packet ... when we had our big garden, every year it was the same: I bought a goodly number of seed packets, only to be reminded each year how far each little one actually goes! (From the beginning, I should have kept better track. ) I kept sowing and sowing and it's like they replenished their contents (reminiscent of Elijah and the oil). Finally, I made a note to purchase a bit less, which did us fine, and prevented me from trying to squeeze in extra rows just to use everything up.

I'm not sure whether we'll have the garden back in full swing this year, as we're still doing construction on that side of the yard, but I hope to have a small plot, anyway, featuring probably our top favourites: peas (which never make it in to a pot, for we always eat them raw), beans, and tomatoes, both cherry and large. ♥

Even still, we can't plant here until all danger of frost is over ... the last weekend of May! Yep, 'tis a shorter growing season where I am.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

We usually plant our garden in mid-May. . . it's a bit riskier, but you gotta do what you gotta do

[johobbit]

But we're further north than you, DiGsY.

This is not a spam post. Please don't PM me, mods.

EDIT: Actually, to ensure the above, I will add that one year we did plant mid-May, and promptly got frost. So, yeah, I learned my lesson as to why southern Ontario's non-written gardening rule is "no planting until the weekend after the long May holiday, which is always celebrated around May 24th.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I just don't think of you being that much further North than us. If it weren't for that lake in the way, you'd only be about three hours away (maybe not even that much)

[stargazer]

Speaking of being farther north... I look out the window and the ground is still snow-covered.

And southern Minnesota, where I spent much of the past week, has little snow but lots of large 'lakes' in the empty farm fields - all that rain had nowhere to go since the ground is still frozen.

Our average last frost date is May 21, but it can come as late as June. Our shorter growing season can sometimes tempt people to gamble with their planting (sometimes even April can be quite warm).

So it's fun reading about people with plants growing already - kind of an early taste of spring despite the white outside.

[fantasia]

http://content.answcdn.com/main/content ... /f0264.jpg

Voila! A gardening zone map that includes Canada. Although I have to say Jo, you are right on the line of zone four and five so I'm not sure which one you are in.

I heard a few weeks ago that the garden zones are going to be rewritten again and I'm going to possibly be in Zone 7. Global warming at its finest I guess.

In other news, my lettuce is coming up which makes me happy cause Fiona knocked it over TWICE and I had to pile the dirt and seeds back in. Good to know some of it did survive.

We're going to have a few days next week where the lows are going to be in the upper 40Fs and lower 50Fs so that should hopefully really spur on all of my seedlings.

[johobbit]

Interesting map, fk, thanks! *studies it* Well, we're right near the western tip of Lake Ontario (on that tiny slanted part), so I'd say in zone 5. Probably an hour north of us, though, would be 4, so we're close, yes. The lake tends to be a moderator for our weather, and we're just below the escarpment, which moderates us as well. *awaits potential 'mod' jokes*

Btw, DiGs, and just 'cause it's interesting, our latitude is 43°; yours is 40—both in the same climate zone, not surprisingly.

at Fiona knocking over your lettuce. I mean, I'm sorry to hear that, fk.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

*awaits potential 'mod' jokes*

Well it must be a pretty lousy moderator, because it certainly let winter get off topic this year

[fantasia]

This weekend's project was pruning! We went out to the farm and took off a lot of one of the apple trees as well as the pear tree. My sister gave us a tip last year that you should never cut off more than a third of the tree, so that's about how much we took off both last year and this year. Yeah, they really needed it.
But it made a HUGE difference last year. All of the trees put on fruit, and one apple tree produced fruit for the second time ever. Too bad the heat and lack of water killed off the all of the fruit, but we're hoping after pruning it back even more that it will produce again this year.

ETA: Oh, Bella, I can now confirm that there are Brandywine tomatoes in that Random Heirloom seedpacket. Brandywine tomatoes have a very distinct leaf. It's really smooth and rounded as opposed to every other tomato plant where the leaves have a lot more notches in them. Well, one of my random heirlooms that's coming has those smooth and rounded leaves so yep, brandywine it is.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

We've had just the opposite affect when we prune our apple trees. In years when we prune our apple trees, we don't get a wretched apple. . . we haven't pruned them in years, and now they're absolutely loaded every fall

[fantasia]

LOL When do you prune them? Are they completely dormant?