Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Thought I would start this thread, see if it catches on. Just ongoing stuff about my garden, and maybe yours this season. I was out working for the last two hours and needed a break, so this is it.

Strawberries were getting sort of matted, so I dug up and transplanted to a new place, watered them in. I think I made a bit of a mistake last time, planting the crowns too deep, see what this does. One row so I can have a better shot at taking care of it instead of a 10 x 10 mat.

In the raised bed for salad stuff, have a row of radishes up. And I saw this morning two or three beets. No lettuce or kale showing yet, but should be soon. Volunteer little dill plants all over.

Potatoes I planted mid March are not up yet, and a good thing too with the weather lately. Seed potatoes may be a problem later on, so I got some store potatoes and they are sprouting, white not russets I am guessing are Kennebec. Those and what I kept from last year sprouting in the basement will be fine.

Weeded the garlic this morning, sitting on a honey pail with a trowel, got most of the grassy stuff from in between, should be hoe for the rest of the year.

Sent some of those new Zealand Blue squash seeds to WinsomeWonderfulWoof, who is on the Corona elder care detail. (Yay her!) She is to share with Jay and KB if they get it together. Ate the last one of them about April Fuels Day, not a soft spot on it, I am darned impressed with a good squash that stores for 7 or 8 months.

I expect I will add to this thread by the end of the week or so, and look forward to maybe someone else telling about their garden as it progresses.

SO since I ordered raspberry canes this am I am going to join in. This will be our last attempt at raspberries for some reason they don't do well and die. These are some different varieties and a better spot. Have an asparagus bed ready too. A friend has a load of rhubarb she wants to split so I'm getting some of that. Mine collapsed last year but one patch did come back. I seriously love rhubarb.
Also we are working on 4 new raised beds, they will be done this pm. I want to put strawberries in one of them. Took delivery of 10 yards of Triple mix on Friday and it looks great. The other shot is the garlic in lower raised bed, it's doing great - thanks for the suggestion @Kbr42 ! Behind it is the pea and bean garden for this year. The peas and fava beans are now in.
Hope the seed potatoes arrive soon. We are going to put them in with field peas as ground cover. The raised beds and fruit plantings have been carefully arranged so that chicken fence can go around them LOL. Squash will be planted in half straw bales. These were used last year for turkey nest barriers and have in them and are nicely rotted. Will cut holes and add soil.

Planted some potatoes today in a container, I figured if @Farrier1987 has done it I can try it too. Planted some lettuce about a week ago, and weeded some of the flower beds today.

I started compact container tomato varieties in mid-Feb. They are now in their big containers and have tiny flower buds on them.

Veggie garden tomatoes were started early (March 18), grown under the lights and have been potted up. I do hope that we have an early spring so that I can plant them out before June! Eggplants and peppers were sown at the same time, but are small and still in their 3" pots.

I've started Tatsoi, Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, Parsley and Basil. Spinach and Lettuce are in the cold frames so maybe we'll get to eat it in a while. It's very slow! The rest are sitting on the window sills.

I planted half a row of peas and some cilantro in the veggie garden, and I've weeded the asparagus garden a few times. It's a real mess and difficult to keep the weeds down.

I like the raised beds KB, but with mine, they are 8 ft long and 4 ft wide. I can sit on the edge to weed, and get rows closer together.

OMG @Killerbunny can you sent your DH over to do some raised beds for me, just love them, you lucky so & so

I've got butter leaf lettuce, spinach, mesculan mix and radish all up. It's got snow on it again this morning for about the 3rd time and so far it hasn't seemed to damage it. I have tomatoes and peppers under lights and cucumber, zucchini, squash and cantaloupe (thanks to KB for those last two) in my Lee Valley self watering seed starter-which I really like. I've had the seed starter for years and finally used it this year. Only about $30 and makes it so fast and easy and no remembering to water daily or guesswork of how much. Also reusable.
I need to get to the main garden to clean up and turn soil. I've got peas and beets to sow asap.

Just Googled @Happy's Lee Valley self-watering seed starter. I have some similar ones from Gardener's Supply (made of Styrofoam and very old). Do you know if these need special potting mix? I should see if mine will fit nicely under the grow lights as I hate having to raise and lower them for frequent watering. I also think they might keep me from over-watering peppers!

labradors wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:26 am

Just Googled @Happy's Lee Valley self-watering seed starter. I have some similar ones from Gardener's Supply (made of Styrofoam and very old). Do you know if these need special potting mix? I should see if mine will fit nicely under the grow lights as I hate having to raise and lower them for frequent watering. I also think they might keep me from over-watering peppers!

I used a soilless mix.
I started my tomatoes in this and I put 2-3 seeds in each cell and I would say 90% germinated. I transplanted last week into a mix of potting soil and soilless blend and zero lag on those tomatoes.
I wish I had started my peppers in the seed starter as well. Definitely ordering a second one for next year.

Thanks Happy. My containers needed extra-fine potting mix for the wicking action to work. That's probably why I stopped using them....