2018 how did your garden grow?

[Jaye]

[...] Also I have managed to kill off my mint, honestly!

Plant it where you don't want it to grow, @Killerbunny . It will thrive. I planted mine in wicking bed containers this year. Works really well.

[labradors]

Windwalkingwolf, can you save some seeds from those big boys?

[TomK]

Good to hear that its not just me with the parsnips...i used to get all of my seed from heritage seeds in Manitoba..never had an issue..then last year i bought some OSC seed from my brother in law's store and had maybe 20% germination..got some more seed fast and replanted and nada....I went back to him and started a conversation on the matter...he wasn't sure and said he didnt manage the seeds..it was done by the area rep who sets up the spinner and stocks the rack and then at the planting season end comes and gets it all again...they get a cut at the store...his info was that the seeds are sent back to warehousing where a sample is taken, planted and tested for seed viability...if its not good the seeds are not to be sold next year...my take on this, cynical cuss that I am, is that we have managed to get old non viable seed despite the 'story'...I am not going this route again...back to Manitoba...nuff said

[Jaye]

Re: parsnips, I really like them roasted with onions and bacon in olive oil or butter, then added to pasta, with a few sprigs of parsley as a garnish. The salty bacon paired with sweet parsnip makes a really nice flavour combination.

[labradors]

I LOVE parsnips and popped some in a row in front of my chard. They never came up and I figured that somehow it was my fault. That was a couple of years ago. I don't have much luck with carrots in my clay soil (although at least they germinate!) so I didn't bother to try parsnips again. It's easier just to buy them at the store......

[Ontario Chick]

Grapes, stop torturing us, bad enough with the watermelons, any bananas?

[WLLady]

after washing and picking them off the stems i am DONE with grapes for this year. my spaghetti squash are just turning yellow. going to try one for dinner tonight. figure its likely half way cooked already in the hot down here....
also last year i had a very poor norland red potato harvest. like horrible poor. guess what i just dug up? yep. last years row of norlands that sprouted this spring instead of last. roughly another 50 pounds....lol

[TomK]

Ok...enough already...one of 12 plants...Amish Paste....wonderful canning tomato.

..and the only fertilizer is old cow crap in fall tilled in...got a little blight coming on so hurry up ripening is my daily prayer

[Jaye]

I'm saying daily prayers too: The blight is setting in on my one and only tomato plant this year, so I'm not holding out much hope for mine to ripen. That's okay, though. I only planted it as an afterthought and because I felt sorry for it in the clearance section, obviously abandoned. I'm mostly off tomatoes for the moment anyway; I'm supposed to stay away from nightshades for a while. Your plant still looks pretty vigorous, though, Tom, so here's hoping you get a good crop from it.

[windwalkingwolf]

Windwalkingwolf, can you save some seeds from those big boys?

Yes indeed!

last year i bought some OSC seed from my brother in law's store and had maybe 20% germination..got some more seed fast and replanted and nada....I went back to him and started a conversation on the matter...he wasn't sure and said he didnt manage the seeds..it was done by the area rep who sets up the spinner and stocks the rack and then at the planting season end comes and gets it all again...they get a cut at the store...his info was that the seeds are sent back to warehousing where a sample is taken, planted and tested for seed viability...if its not good the seeds are not to be sold next year...my take on this, cynical cuss that I am, is that we have managed to get old non viable seed despite the 'story'...I am not going this route again...back to Manitoba...nuff said

I have had the same experience EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I have bought OSC seed. I used to think it was something I was doing wrong, but it's not. This year, I bought a corn variety that caught my eye, and would supposedy mature a couple weeks earlier than my saved seed. Not a single one came up, while my own 4 year old seed sprouted fine. So, I took some and tried to sprout it in damp paper towels. Nothing. It didn't rot or mildew, it just didn't sprout.