2014 Garden Thread

[mike692]

So I got a virus on my laptop a couple weeks ago, and I'm just now getting back into the Swamp. Not sure about the new format, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I can't believe it's 2014 and time to think about a new garden season, but here it is!

I spent some time perusing the catalogs this morning over coffee. Hunting and trapping seasons are mostly over for me, so it's time to start thinking about it, and taking seed and equipment inventory.

I have some ideas for this spring and plan to plant some new varieties. I'm looking to expand my raspberry plantings, as well as blueberries, apples, grapes, and hops. I will be expanding, Lord willing, the garden area, and laying down some of the mountains of free mulch I have piled up on the property. I've already turned the chickens loose on some new ground and they already have it down to bare dirt. That will save me a lot of work. I was also thinking of building a third small green house on the south side of the house. There is an old door that I closed up years ago that could be reopened and could lead into a small solarium. I'd have access from the house for power and water, and it could add heat to my basement. I'm still in the 'thinking it over' stage on that one. I'm sure there will be a few other ideas pop into my head over the next couple of months but that's pretty much all I got for now.

What do you guys have in mind for 2014?

[Admin]

Good to see you back online with us Mike. damn computer viruses can be a pain eh?

I'm going to finish the greenhouse I started and till up part of my yard for new garden space. Been wanting to start a strawberry patch well as an asparagus patch so hopefully do that too. Those little hoop houses I started 2 years ago are working out slick so I'll be doing more of that too. The seed catalogs are pouring in.

[blazinriverrat]

Strawberries really like wood ash. Get plump fruits without any ferts. Smooth sweet taste.

[blazinriverrat]

I've got a quarter acre plot. Man lot of work. Got mulch to till in. Redo the fence, old cotton wood fell on it. What mess that was. Clean the raspberries out. Till again and hopefully the spring rain doesn't kill all my work. Plant.

[Jack of all Trapping]

Same garden for me this year. I have 4 good apple trees . I do plan to try some pear trees this year. I am looking at a couple varieties to see which ones can take the climate here better.

[johnporter]

Going to add to the asparagus patch in 2014. Planning on planting a few apple trees and also try sweet potatoes this yr. Got 3 more mouths to feed (daughter and 2 grandkids) so I will have to double my usual yield and really work what I plant.

[Ipostbulls**t]

Been thinking about my garden already as well, still not exactly sure what I will be planting have a few ideas.

[farmertrappe]

My strawberries and asparagus will need a good yearly clean up when spring finally breaks. I always spread some wood ashes in the patch, I thought it helps with some bugs, but if the berries luv it all the better. After weeding a nice load of compost will be applied. damn all this strawberry talk got me fired up, I've got one last pint of frozen berries in the freezer. I'm making some ice cream this weekend with Strawberries!

[nytrapper23]

Do any of you spread wood ashes on your gardens?

[nytrapper23]

Also what about chicken poop? Have had guys tell me it's not good for a garden.is this true?

[Jack of all Trapping]

I use wood ashe on my gardens. I spread it over the entire garden. I usually do this one time after the first snow hits it. Mom always did so I just still do it. Never tried chicken poop. I know a guy that empties his composting toilet on his garden. Grows great looking  tomatoes!! Never tried one though!!! 

[nytrapper23]

Thanks jack.

[hntswbow]

Feb 8, 2014 16:31:15 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

Also what about chicken poop? Have had guys tell me it's not good for a garden.is this true?

I throw the chicken manure on the garden all through the winter, this will give it time to air and settle down. Till it into the soil 2 to 3 weeks before you plant and you will be fine. I do not add any fresh manure after that original tilling those cleanings go into a mulch pile.

[mike692]

Chicken manure is fantastic for your garden. Just don't apply it directly to plants while it's fresh. It will burn them. Wood ashes are good as well.

[Admin]

Feb 10, 2014 8:39:59 GMT -5 mike692 said:

Chicken manure is fantastic for your garden. Just don't apply it directly to plants while it's fresh. It will burn them. Wood ashes are good as well.

Same here. I throw chicken poop and household food scraps on the garden all winter and till it all in when the snow goes. Been working good so far.

[blazinriverrat]

Use wood ash.
I Also will deposit fish and fowl carcasses throughout the empty Areas of the garden. By the next year thoughs areas everything thing will be broke down enough and tills in real nice. Plant are robust. High nitrogen.
My garden also turns into a meca for worms. Extra +.

[rhyla]

It is definitely that time of year again. I've been getting the gardening itch the last couple of weeks. This year is going to be a big year for us here as we are getting serious now that we have decided to stay and not sell the house. It's probably a good thing, because working full time I don't think I could manage more than our little quarter acre! Of course, I still plan to grow enough to become self-sufficient for fruit and vegetables anyhow... even if it takes a couple of years for the fruit trees and bushes to get established.

The big projects this year are
1) Getting the upper portion (about 2/3) of the front yard cleared and established as a permaculture multi-layered perenial fruit/vegetable/herb/medicinal garden
2) Reclaiming the 30' x 45' annual vegetable garden

Where we're at with #1 the front yard permaculture garden:
-Still waiting for the guy I hired to pull out the cedar/boxwood/laurel hedges to come with his machine and truck to get rid of them for us
-Fruit trees overwintered successfully in their pots waiting to be planted: 2 x honeycrisp apple, 1 x grafted apple (yellow transparent, gravenstein, gala), 1 x red haven peach, 1 x italian prune plum, 1 x brooks plum
-Berry bushes and shrubs overwintered successfully in their pots waiting to be planted: 16 x blueberries (pink lemonade, chippewa, legacy, polaris... will become the new front hedge), 8 x haskap/honeyberry (borealis, tundra, berry blue), 1 x rosemary, 1 x goji berry
-20 sqft of mint planted (peppermint and chocolate mint), 20 sqft of daylilies (pre existing... to be transplanted to various places under the fruit trees), Many strawberry plants in pots waiting to go out to fill in some of the gaps, same with horseradish (finally tried my first batch of homemade horseradish sauce, and oh my is it good!), jerusalem artichoke and rhubarb
-Seeds ordered for Tea, Sea Buckthorn, Chinese Jujube, and a host of perennial vegetables and herbs
-Waiting to hear from a nearby nursery whether the two Amber Aki-Goumi that I wanted survived our recent cold snap
-Some items are going to need to wait until next year as the wedding/honeymoon are eating up much of our budget for the year: 4 to 6 x Paw Paw, 2 x Elderberry, 2 x Black Currant, 2 x Goose Berry

I know it sounds like a lot to fit on such a small space, but the fruit trees are all dwarf and some of the bushes are being used as a hedge and as such will have denser than usual planting. Plus there will be no "yard" so to speak. We are getting rid of all the grass and replacing it with these edible plants.

Where we're at with #2 the annual vegetable garden
-30 sqft set aside for the following projects: 8' x 12' greenhouse, moving the 6' x 8' garden shed from an awkward corner of the yard into the garden, building rabbit hutch and growing pen. Hoping to get these projects completed within the next month along with building 9 to 12 4' x 4' cold frames that can be moved around and placed over my raised beds.
-Artichokes (Imperial Star) and Summer Leeks (Varna) started indoors
-Still eating the Kale that overwintered (Yummy! Can't believe I used to not like the stuff)

Other than that the vegetable garden is a complete and utter disaster. All of the beds need massive weeding, weed cloth needs to be secured around the perimeter and filled with a barrier and weed-free soil to stop the grass from the yard continually creeping in. Along two perimeters I am going to plant artichokes and grapes. Along the third I am planting a mix of perennial wildflowers to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. That of course, like everything else in the vegetable garden is not done yet.

Where we're at with other random garden projects:
-Fruit trees overwintered succesfully in their pots waiting to be planted in the back yard (supposed to have been next years project, but I already have a few of the trees that will need to go in this year): 1 x Sweet Cherry (Glacier), 1 x Seneca Plum (this will later get grafts from a yellow plum tree that we found growing wild on the beach and love, and a green gage plum), 1 x Anjou Pear, 1 x Bennet Pear

[rhyla]

Oops, forgot to add 200+ Garlic starting to come up where I planted them in my parents yard (Had a bad attack of onion root maggot in the vegetable garden last year and even though they don't usually attack garlic, being that they are related I didn't want to risk losing all my garlic like I did with my onions.)

[nytrapper23]

Boy you have your work cut out for you , good luck.

[rhyla]

Feb 21, 2014 15:52:46 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

Boy you have your work cut out for you , good luck.

Apparently I didn't think so...

Ordered seeds to try and start low bush cranberry, paw paw, goumi (the two nursery plants didn't work out), autumn olive, toona sinensis, japanese raisin tree, pea shrub, chinese magnolia vine, and yellowhorn... mostly so that they'll be grown enough for next years projects but it does add considerably to my work load for this year. I hope I haven't over done it considering we have the wedding and all to be doing too.

It's way too easy to get swept away with all the spring projects.

[mike692]

Pretty much all of the snow is gone here. Now if it would just warm up!

I started some seeds a few days ago in the greenhouse. Leeks, bunching oninons, and lettuce. I started some tomatoes inside. I'd like to get some tomatoes goign so I can set them out in Wall O Waters towards the end of April. I want to see if I can get some tomatoes this year before the blight gets them.

I've got some onion plants and some hop rhizomes in the mail so far, as well as all of my seeds. The ground is still way too wet to fool with, so I've been laying down cardboard and covering it with wood chips. I don't want to do ANY mowing in my garden area this year.

I've been collecting maple sap and thinking about the garden. That's pretty much all I can do right now.

[johnporter]

Got tomatoes and cukes started in the house. Today, I planted broccoli,onions and 2 types of lettuce in my #1 grow box. 10 day forecast looks pretty good for here in the mountains so I am hoping to fence my main garden in this weekend and plant all my potato seed stock...

[stickbowhntr]

Chicken poop way too hot if fresh in my experiences as many have said place all winter and rototill in spring not so bad. I have a friend In Mo. that catches 100's of coons yearly and what he doesn't sell in meat market goes directly into his garden ABOUT 2' DEEP. In fall before freeze up he takes his tractor and plows open the garden and then covers them up as he places them. That deep the just slow release to garden and he has a great garden and supplies MOST his own family veggies.

[loggerlloyd]

Stick whos your friend in Mo?

[rhyla]

Peppers are all coming up, artichokes are getting their second set of leaves and are almost ready to be potted up, leeks are doing well, I noticed my first yellowhorn (nut tree) coming up, really keeping my fingers crossed for the tea and paw paws... all indoors at the moment still, of course.

The front yard has been cleared, I've got the honeyberry/haskaps in and a few volunteer kale plants.

The back garden is getting fixed up bit by bit. I've got tonnes of peas in, and some radishes, lots of volunteer corn salad, turnips, and some unidentified plant that the label has worn off from last year... I don't recognize it, but it clearly planted in a pattern that I put in, so we'll see! The egyption/walking onion miraculously survived the onion root maggot infestation that plagued the rest of the onions in the garden. I know I should have taken them out so the little buggers had nothing to feed on over the winter, but I really, really hoped that they would get left alone.

Got two vermicomposting bins started up, which is fantastic! I'm hoping to get one more up and going, but we shall see.

I have too many seeds. It is actually a little ridiculous when I start to look through what I have. So I guess my next big order of business is getting some in the ground! No point it putting all my effort into the big projects if I don't get anything planted and end up with no food. So tomorrow I will clear one of the 8 x 4 beds and plant what I can. I'm thinking lettuces, cress, mustards, kale, turnips, carrots, spinach, etc. Then I'm going to pick some of what has survived the winter or volunteered this spring and eat our first meal from the garden of the season!

I'll see if I can get some "before" pictures now at the start of the season with little work done, and then post "after" shots as the season progresses. It's going to be a major undertaking to get the gardens in to shape after so much neglect, but I think it's largely doable.

[nytrapper23]

Man,you are way ahead of me.I still have 1' of snow on the ground.dont start to much inside , never seem to have much luck with it.

[Deleted]

I still have snow on all three of my garden areas, but, soon, I will be salting my asparagus beds. Then be thinking about some onions and taters

[mike692]

If I would have had more time this week, I probably could have planted peas. The garden dried out pretty good on Tuesday. I did get it all cleaned off, and managed to plant some onion plants.

I have my brassicas started, and they are starting to come up. Bunching onions, leeks, and lettuces are planted as well. I hope to start some tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant over the weekend in the greenhouse. We're just about to really get going here!

[Deleted]

Got my asparagus beds salted the other day before the heavy rain As soon as it dries out a bit, I'll be putting in the first batch of green onions, with potatoes not too far off

[Admin]

Apr 4, 2014 16:34:33 GMT -5 @charder said:

Got my asparagus beds salted the other day before the heavy rain As soon as it dries out a bit, I'll be putting in the first batch of green onions, with potatoes not too far off

You'd be planting them in snow here.