WR's 2014 Spring Garden

[w_r_ranch]

Like just about everyplace else, we had a longer & colder winter than normal here. Needless to say, the spring garden is going in late compared to years past, however I expect that it will still be a good year. In this thread I will document it's progression from planting to harvest and will be picture heavy.

I started planting on April 1st. The first thing I did was plant the potatoes (I would normally plant them around February 21st). Then started planting the 'direct sown seeds'... the Kentucky Blue & Italian Roma green beans, as well as the cucumber & spaghetti squash. I also installed the 50 tomato stakes for the transplants & then watered everything in. Margarita time !!!

 

[w_r_ranch]

On April 2nd, I got all the sweet corn planted & started trimming the lower leaves of the tomato transplants (leaving only the top 3 sets of leaves). I like to do this, as when I plant them, I lay the individual plants in a trench so that the stems are in direct contact with the soil. If you take a close look at the stems of tomato transplants, you will notice the fine "hairs" lining the stem... these develop into roots when they come into contact with the soil. By burying a large portion of the stem, I effectively double the size of the plant's root system & that encourages very productive plants. I managed to plant 20 of the 50 tomato transplants, tieing the tomatoes to the stakes as I went (to prevent any stem damage as the wind here was crazy today) before my back said 'that's enough for today'.

I took a break & then watered everything in.

 

[Mike]

I'd love to spend a week with you and your garden. Looks incredible already!

 

[majorcatfish]

do not in anyway want to hijack your thread, but you mentioned hairs on the tomato stems
heres what sam is talking about.

back to you sam.......

 

[Rahab222]

Beautiful! You are a gardening perfectionist!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!!!

The wind has died down somewhat so it was good enough to get back to it. Planted the last 30 tomatoes & got them tied up, then planted the peppers (12 jalapenos & 11 green peppers), as well as the 12 eggplant. Lastly, I planted the 25 okra.

After taking a break, I lightly watered everything in as it's supposed to start raining tonight & continue tomorrow (90% chance).



Next week, I will order a truckload of shredded pine bark mulch (so it will be on hand) & start tilling the 'melon patch' prior to planting it.

 

[ErnieCopp]

By far the fanciest garden I have ever seen. You do an amazing amount work, building, gardening, cooking, etc,, When do you find time to take care of your Cattle?

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

LOL!!! They only require about 30 minutes, every other day at this time of the year (there's plenty of grass).

 

[Rahab222]

I can't begin to imagine the amount of time and back breaking work you obviously put into your garden. I spent six hours today spraying everything down with liquid seaweed - my second application against the spider mite infestation. I did a small part of one orange tree that also has the mites, but realized it would take me most of a day to do a single orange tree. It's already covered in flowers and is my main pollinator for the garden until the flowers start turning into fruit. I did, however, see my first hummingbird today, sucking on the orange blossoms. I usually have my feeders out by now, but the spider mite infestation has delayed me. Right now, I'm just feeding peanuts to the blue jays and bird seed to the miscellaneous birds. I also found a dead squirrel this afternoon, right next to my back patio where I go to turn the water on. Almost stepped on him and I SCREAMED because I was startled. Got a shovel and threw it over the back fence and onto the bayou. We're expecting thunderstorms in the Houston area tomorrow, also. At least my seaweed application had time to dry before the weather sets in tonight. If the weather clears off, I'm hoping to apply my liquid calcium to my tomato plants, etc. on Monday. These are flowering, too, and I already have some cherry tomatoes and peppers on some plants. My potato plants are also beginning to flower. I need to finish planting and get some more trellises up. However, I'm pretty tired from all the expansion I've done so far this season, so I think I'm going to plant out what space is left and then work on nurturing everything to fruition. I'll add more growing space next year. However, this extended spring is really nice, as I'm usually sweating in the garden by now. Also, I bought some whole wheat flower and gave my mother your bread recipe to make. I said, "It looks really simple." Mom just looked at me like, "For ME to make?"
"Yes, Mom, it looks really easy, don't you think?" I'll let you know if I get any bread or not...

 

[Rockytop]

Like just about everyplace else, we had a longer & colder winter than normal here. Needless to say, the spring garden is going in late compared to years past, however I expect that it will still be a good year. In this thread I will document it's progression from planting to harvest and will be picture heavy.

I started planting on April 1st. The first thing I did was plant the potatoes (I would normally plant them around February 21st). Then started planting the 'direct sown seeds'... the Kentucky Blue & Italian Roma green beans, as well as the cucumber & spaghetti squash. I also installed the 50 tomato stakes for the transplants & then watered everything in. Margarita time !!!

View attachment 765

Oh yea! Best time of the year!!

 

[w_r_ranch]

I spent six hours today spraying everything down with liquid seaweed - my second application against the spider mite infestation.

You are wasting both your time & money using liquid seaweed to combat spider mites... This is another one of those organic myths. At best it is a good organic means of ensuring all the minor nutrients are present for your plants (kind of like using compost). If you insist on being 'organic', at least use a insecticidal product that will kill them... like 'pyrethrum'.

You will often hear me say "Show me verifiable scientific data". If it isn't verifiable & reproducible in actual field trials, it is just marketing hype that is being passed as fact, which is obviously the case here in regards to liquid seaweed.

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda Chalker-Scott/Horticultural Myths_files/Myths/Seaweed extracts.pdf

 

[w_r_ranch]

Watered this morning & again this evening. Noticed that the potatoes & the Roma green beans are up... always a good sign!!!

 

[w_r_ranch]

As the seeds are just starting to pop up, I will continue watering 2 times per day to keep that top 4 inches of soil as moist as possible. The irrigation system puts out a really gentle curtain of water, although it is prone to 'drifting' in the higher winds that occur in the afternoon.

 

[w_r_ranch]

I saw that the corn is just starting to pop up tonight!!! I can't wait till it's 3 or 4" tall!!!

 

[txjustin]

Lookin good Ranch. We started a fairly large garden this year at my moms. Planted, I think, 17 25 foot rows. We plan on doing some major canning this year. I, of course, have my urban garden in my backyard again. I love being able to get out after a day of work and pick fresh veggies to grill up next to a juicy ribeye.

 

[majorcatfish]

I saw that the corn is just starting to pop up tonight!!! I can't wait till it's 3 or 4" tall!!!

heck we are counting the days<ok weeks> till the soil warms up so we can plant corn....

 

[w_r_ranch]

Weeded the 'melon patch' in preparation for tilling & forming the rows (next week).

Replaced 1 green pepper that was a casualty of the crazy wind. Then planted the marigolds between the tomato plants.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Well the 'Kentucky Blue' green beans are finally starting to sprout (I admit, I was getting concerned about them)... the 'Romas' are coming on strong & are 2" tall already!!! Okras are starting to pop up too & the corn is about 75% up. The only things that aren't up are the 'Spaghetti' squash & the cucumbers (it they aren't up by Monday, I'll replant them). Overall everything is progressing pretty good, given the late start this year

Also lost another green pepper due to the wind & one of the 'HealthKick' tomatoes isn't looking good, so I'll replace them tomorrow.

 

[w_r_ranch]

The 'Spaghetti' squash & the cucumbers finally popped up yesterday, so we're good-to-go on those. The 'Kentucky Blue' green beans are continuing to come up & the sweet corn is now about 90% up (some are 2-3" tall). Everything else is progressing & I hope to post some updated pictures in a couple of days.

The bad news is another cold front rolled through about 0900 hrs this morning. It went from 73 to 57 degrees in an hour's time... Winds are forecast to remain at about 22MPH throughout the day, with a low tonight in the upper 30s & a 90% chance of rain (which is on it's way).

This weather is crazy & tomorrow isn't suppose to be much better.



Update: We just got .89" of rain. We also had marble size hail. I haven't been down to the garden yet. GRRRRRR.

 

[Rahab222]

Our weather's the same in Houston. We got 1.5" of rain on Monday, along with the cold front. Supposed to get down to 39 degrees tonight. I worked in the garden most of the day on Sunday after being away at my conference. It really needed some attention. I did some weeding and sprayed my tomato plants with Ni Cal for nutrition, but I need to do another application of the liquid seaweed for spider mites. The infestation is much better, but there are still traces. I also pulled some tomato leaves that had small colonies of red insect eggs on them. Don't have a clue as to what these are, but if my next application of liquid seaweed doesn't shape everything up, I guess I'll have to pull out the liquid Sevin dust come the first of May. I still have things to plant, but it's too muddy to get in the backyard today with my garden dog. I'll have to check on things tomorrow. I should actually be able to harvest my first pepper as I saw it Sunday when I was working in the garden.

 

[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, how did your plants do with the cold weather last night? Today my little okra plants that had just come up in the garden looks like they did not like the cold at all. My green beans (Roma II Bush beans) that are about 2" tall don't look much better. It kinda looks like they are wind burned and dehydrated, but we had about one-half inch of rain when they front moved thru yesterday; however, the wind has been blowing hard all week. Hope your garden fared better than mine.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Mr. Ranch, how did your plants do with the cold weather last night?Hope your garden fared better than mine.

It didn't get as cold as they forecast (41) last night, however the wind & hail did do some damage to the eggplant & the peppers... I will have to replace the green peppers for sure & probably the japs. The tomatoes were tied up so damage was minimal & they should be OK.

Life in agriculture is not without it's challenges, you just got to roll with it.

 

[Rahab222]

Let me just say this is one tough gardening season. My plants looked beautiful and lush on Sunday, before the rain and cold weather blew through. I went out the day after to add some more Sluggo Plus to my strawberry beds for those darn pill bugs eating every berry in sight and I was STUNNED! All my tomato plants had droopy and wilted looking leaves. Something has attacked my cucumbers and I will post photos of what the leaves now look like. It looks like something just munched away. There are black specks all over them, too. But I tapped these black spots out on a piece of white typing paper and took a look through the magnifying glass - none of them were moving. So I'm not sure if the black spots are another bug infestation or from compost/coffee grounds splashing up on the leaves from the 1.5 inches of rain that blew in with 29 mph winds and temps. in the 30s. Today was overcast, so not a chance for the soil to start drying out. We are in the mid-30s again tonight and we're expecting more rain through the weekend. I went ahead and pulled one tomato plant that I could see has absolutely no chance of coming back. I have a couple of tomato plants still left in the house, so after the temps. warm up a little bit, I'm going to replace the one I pulled. I guess tomatoes don't like the cold or too much rain. I did pick my first pepper today, but the wind blew all the flowers off my strawberry and potato plants. I'm going to post pictures of two of my cucumber plant leaves that look like they have been chewed to see if anybody can tell me what's wrong with them - is it bugs, white mildew, or the driving wind and rain blowing up compost and coffee grounds (which I use to deter slugs and snails). This year's garden has been a non-stop battle and the heat isn't even here yet. I guess this is our Easter norther we get every year, but it sure has done a number on my garden. I'm hoping everything will liven up a bit by tomorrow. Guess I'll know in the morning. Let me know what you think about my cucumber leaves.

 

[Rahab222]

Also, if the commercial farmers are struggling with weather issues like we've seen across the nation, I guess we can all get ready for inflated prices at the grocery stores. I read today that beef is at a 27 year high, pork is up significantly due to a need to slaughter lots of piglets, and the wheat harvest has been hit hard by the funky weather.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Yesterday I replaced the damaged green peppers in the garden (I am now out of 'spares') & fertilized everything via the injection system with 15-30-15. Still waiting on the truckload of shredded pine bark mulch... wish they'd hurry up already.