Garden Diaries, 2020

[Farrier1987]

Four different kinds of beans planted today, all for fresh eating or freezing. Also some okra plants emerging. Planted parsnips as per JimW's instructions, will see how they turn out.

[Ontario Chick]

I have to congratulate @Ontario Chick on her amazing chicken resistant hostas. The big one she sent round last year is growing well despite chickens best efforts to dig it out and eat the shoots! SHe could make a fortune!

I am now working on deer resistant hostas, another 50-75 years and I should have it figured out.
Mesclun sprouted and lettuce is up, somebody has been trying to dig up Swiss chard and somebody is eating the top of garlic shoots.
Potato shoots are up, only because they were several inches long before I planted them.

[Farrier1987]

Strawberries blooming furiously. Can have salads now with all sorts of stuff. No dill yet, but coming along. I really like the Red Russian Kale too. Lots of potatoes up, beets doing well and a few shoots of corn. Several squash coming up and spreading their wings. A few sweet potatoes prospering well. The onions are doing famously. And I cut down on area planted this year and the weeding is a lot easier to keep up with. Going to build a couple more raised beds this year, more productive and less work, can be watered by hand not the sprinkler, easier to weed, sitting on the edge, rows only about 6" apart, so more stuff in less area. I am just really liking them. I bring the goat in and pt her on a chain for parts of the garden I havent planted, eating weeds and winter wheat.

[Killerbunny]

Hey @Farrier1987 your strawberries are just beginning to bloom here and our new bed of asparagus has lots of shoots. Now people I want to know how to care for my asparagus and strawberries. I have straw mulch down on both and soaker hoses (last 2 in store).
We put in more raised beds and my aim was to cut down on the other beds (you've seen these @Ontario Chick and know how much there is). Apparently we now have to plant every freakin' square inch of everything! I have the raspeberries and rhubarb in some of the area and I've persuaded DH into field peas for ground cover/ nitrogen/ chicken feed so I'm now suggesting sunflowers to store the heads.
Yikes.

[Farrier1987]

Hilled potatoes yesterday. Good catch on the carrots this year. My New Zealand blue squash is well started. (Jaye and KB did the WeirdWalkingWoof ever get you the seeds I mailed her?? I did not get my tomato or mangle seeds from her. She seems to be AWOL again.)

Eating lots of salad. Today will be the first beet green feed of the year. I never started sweet potatoes myself before, just took handouts form neighbors, seem to be doing will, starting to vine.

Sort of a poor catch on my sweet corn and green beans, might replant, not sure. Looks like I might have a catch on the parsnips, thanks for the tips Jimw. Peas coming good, should start to bloom pretty soon.

Anyway, hours and hours of time spent in the garden, and I like it. How is everyone else's doing? I am really liking my raised beds, going to build at least one more this year. So much easier to weed and water, and denser spacing of plants, I like it a lot.

[Killerbunny]

We had to replant our sweetcorn too and the Yukon Gold are slow. Lots of spinach and lettuce to eat now.
Walked out yesterday to the zucchini that were doing so well and - CUCUMBER BEETLE!!!!!! Haven't had this for 5 years. These are away from the melons etc. so fingers crossed.

[Farrier1987]

About a dozen ripe strawberries yesterday. So good! Jam etc soon.

[TomK]

We had to replant our sweetcorn too and the Yukon Gold are slow. Lots of spinach and lettuce to eat now.
Walked out yesterday to the zucchini that were doing so well and - CUCUMBER BEETLE!!!!!! Haven't had this for 5 years. These are away from the melons etc. so fingers crossed.

Gill..you got the potato seed at Forfar right?...as did I...and they are REAL slow but coming along finally....the red Pontiac are twice the plant and my Purple Russians are ahead of the Yukon Gold and all three were set the same day.....oh well..

[Killerbunny]

Yes @TomK we though we had done something wrong the Yukon Gold are very slow but the Russetts we got in Perth are going great!!

[KimChick]

Anyone else having problems with garlic not coming up from a Fall planting?
And darn it all, a deer ate some of my begonias.