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[appaws]

Any other gardeners here? It's an exciting time of year for us. I am about to start putting in my cool weather crops over the next few days. I have red and yellow onions, red and yellow potatoes, and my little snow pea starts are an inch tall under a grow light in my garage. Seed packs for radishes and carrots, lettuce and spinach are ready to go.

Kentucky is a tough place for cool spring crops like peas, lettuce, broccoli, etc. because it usually goes from winter directly to "fucking 105 degrees" pretty fast.

I'm also going to put in drip irrigation for the first time. I bought a kit on dripdepot.com. Hopefully it will save me time and water, plus help yields by being really consistent with moisture.

Anyone else grow their own food?

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I have a huge throbbing green thumb.

You gonna post pictures and stuff too? I'd love to see what you pull off this year.

So far this year I've only done indoor stuff. Tomatoes and a variety of spicy and sweet peppers have been planted in the starter trays. My bigger project (right now) is doing trays of microgreens.

I made a tray of kohlrabi sprouts last night and laid them on the warming pad. I also brought two trays of broccoli microgreens from the basement upstairs.

My first attempt at beet microgreens was a failure. Some mold formed because I let the pad dry out too much, so I threw out the pad + the existing sprouts. A shame, because they smelled really good and had a bright almost-metallic maroon color. I should've taken a pic before I threw them in the garbage. My two other beet trays appear to be growing just fine but I'll have to watch them more closely.

 

[appaws]

I'll totally post pics and updates and stuff. I am going to put in my onions starts on Saturday, which I buy from Dixondale farms. I am planting them in round smartpot raised beds, and I think I am going to lay out the drip irrigation in a round pattern....like the Dreamcast logo, whatever that is called (pinwheel?), and then plant the onions alongside. It might not be the most efficient use of space, but I have these round 50-inch smartpot containers I have to do something with.

My pea starts are 1.5-2 inches tall in their little peat pellets. I am going to trellis them on little teepees made of garden stakes.

I ordered seed potatoes from both Gurnsey's and Wood Prarie Farms, but I don't know when I am going to get them.

 

[J-Roderton]

I rent at the moment so don't have anywhere to really plant stuff, but I do grow chili peppers on my deck. It's nice to have hot peppers any time you want and they're pretty easy to grow.

 

[appaws]

I rent at the moment so don't have anywhere to really plant stuff, but I do grow chili peppers on my deck. It's nice to have hot peppers any time you want and they're pretty easy to grow.

That's awesome. I started that way when I was still in an apartment in grad school. It wasn't great condition wise. I was in Michigan, and the deck was heavily shaded with trees, but I still managed to grow some pretty respectable yields of cherry tomatoes and radishes grown in seed trays.

So what regions are you guys in?

 

[J-Roderton]

appaws I get a shit ton of sunlight where I position them, too. I'm in Tennessee.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

just moved to GA recently. gotta build planter boxes if I want to grow. not really sure i have the time or want to though.... might just do a big pot for tomates.

grew a ton up in NY though.

 

[Manus]

I usually grow peppers, tomatoes, and onions every summer. I always do tons of different types of peppers. Than I dehydrate the ones I don't eat and make into crushed pepper flakes.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

I usually grow peppers, tomatoes, and onions every summer. I always do tons of different types of peppers. Than I dehydrate the ones I don't eat and make into crushed pepper flakes.

how spaced out and deep are your onions. ive tried once and they were so small.

(red) potatoes are so easy and great/fun to grow.

 

[Manus]

how spaced out and deep are your onions. ive tried once and they were so small.

(red) potatoes are so easy and great/fun to grow.

No more than one inch deep. Four to five inches apart. I always fertilize my crops though also with nitrogen. Always seems to do wonders.

 

[appaws]

I usually grow peppers, tomatoes, and onions every summer. I always do tons of different types of peppers. Than I dehydrate the ones I don't eat and make into crushed pepper flakes.

how spaced out and deep are your onions. ive tried once and they were so small.

(red) potatoes are so easy and great/fun to grow.

Are you growing them from sets, or seeds, or plants? I find that those sets (which are second year onions) do not work very well. Start from seeds for best results, or buy plants if you don't get started early enough. Are you getting the right day length type?

I buy mine from Dixondale Farms. Check out their website. Their FAQs and guides are really useful.

Fertilize at planting with a balanced fertilizer for root development, just the top few inches of soil as onions do not root deep. Start fertilizing with Nitrogen as they grow. Dixondale sells an onion fertilizer (21-0-0) that I use. I used to use blood meal and that worked fine as well. When they start to bulb, stop fertilizing.

 

[Manus]

I never start from seeds. If I was in a much warmer climate I would. I always get starters at like local greenhouse or Lowe's. Usually never have any issues from them at all.

 

[appaws]

I never start from seeds. If I was in a much warmer climate I would. I always get starters at like local greenhouse or Lowe's. Usually never have any issues from them at all.

They can work. I know that people use them, and they are sold everywhere. But they are the second year in the onion growth cycle and they are much more likely to bolt and put up flowers instead of putting energy into the bulb as we want them too. Again, I don't claim to be an expert but there are lots of resources on google, etc. that explain the science better than I can.

I've also been reading about people who winter sow onion seeds in a container and just leave them outside until spring, even under snow of whatever, with a plastic lid on them. They literally don't touch it until spring and then they open it up and there are tons of healthy sprouts, already hardened off and ready to go into the garden. This article explains it:

https://savvygardening.com/why-planting-onion-seeds-is-better-than-planting-sets/

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

They can work. I know that people use them, and they are sold everywhere. But they are the second year in the onion growth cycle and they are much more likely to bolt and put up flowers instead of putting energy into the bulb as we want them too. Again, I don't claim to be an expert but there are lots of resources on google, etc. that explain the science better than I can.

I've also been reading about people who winter sow onion seeds in a container and just leave them outside until spring, even under snow of whatever, with a plastic lid on them. They literally don't touch it until spring and then they open it up and there are tons of healthy sprouts, already hardened off and ready to go into the garden. This article explains it:

https://savvygardening.com/why-planting-onion-seeds-is-better-than-planting-sets/

Yeah, the method I'm familiar with is planting onion seeds in the cool fall and mulching them heavily with a layer of hay. The decomposing hay + the insular effect of the hay will keep the onion sprouts alive even in sub-zero temperatures. The same method can be used for garlic.

 

[n64coder]

I’m an avid gardener. I planted shallots, garlic, potato onions last November so they should be coming up soon. I have onion seedlings and some herbs growing indoors. Will be planting peas, spinach, and other cool weather crops soon.

Will also plant beets, beans, edamame, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, squash later in the spring. I also have three pepper plants that I overwintered in my house from last year. This is very easy to do and lets you get a big jump start on producing peppers.

 

[appaws]

I’m an avid gardener. I planted shallots, garlic, potato onions last November so they should be coming up soon. I have onion seedlings and some herbs growing indoors. Will be planting peas, spinach, and other cool weather crops soon.

Will also plant beets, beans, edamame, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, squash later in the spring. I also have three pepper plants that I overwintered in my house from last year. This is very easy to do and lets you get a big jump start on producing peppers.

Nice! What region are you in?

I just got my onions in this morning. Now I can sit back and watch hoops.

 

[n64coder]

Nice! What region are you in?

Zone 6, just outside Boston.

 

[One Eyed Willy]

I spent all day today pulling out rose bushes along my driveway. Wife and I then planted a big variety of stuff. Azaleas, foxgloves, gerber daisey's, + a shit ton more stuff. Potted a boxwood with some impatiens by the front door.

edit. Zone 10A -- Also I should point out that between the front/back yards and the pool my wife and I probably spend about 5-8 hours a week outside tending to all of this. 8,000sqft lot, so you have to want to and enjoy working on it otherwise it'll regress to dog shit. Its so rewarding though, and I was happy for the sunburn today. Tired of endless rain here in socal.

2 weeks ago we ripped every plant/tree out of our backyard, literally everything except a ponytail palm. I then went and bought a metric shit ton of tropicals. Foxtail palms, king palms, pigmy dates palms, some vines, some cordyline, kimberly ferns, coleus and blue daze. Few more things before being done. Also installed a new gazebo as well with furniture.

+Added hibiscus yesterday

We also took an old, beat up side yard and torn it down to nothing. Then I built some planter boxes from old dropped cedar ceilings we re-used from when we rebuilt the back 3rd of our house (we did that ourselves too). Here is the side hide-a-way/veggie garden. This is a work in progress. Salvia's, a mallow (not pictured) and I planted Irish moss (about 75 of them) all over. This should grow in and the path leads past the veggie garden (berries/lemon/chilis) to the bench in the back which has a new potato bush/tree planted.

Also a shot of my yard since I'm kind of obsessed with it too, lol.

 

[appaws]

I'll definitely be back with photos soon.

I have onions and peas in, potatoes in the next few days along with radishes and carrots. But today I put in my first drip irrigation system. It was not too bad. Got the parts from Drip Depot. I do custom water cooling for PCs so there are some similarities there. I just like hobbies where I move water from place to place I guess. I put in a timer system so I can get the whole watering routine on autopilot.

I had an old statue of St. Francis lying around, so I decided to put it to use. I built a planter out of a bunch of bricks and put St. Francis in the middle of it, lifted up. Then I filled it in with potting soil so I can add flowers. I was thinking of using pansys, since it looks like they have little faces listening to St. Francis preach, like the animals in the stories. But my wife says Pansys will die off as soon as it gets hot outside, which is pretty early here in Kentucky. So I might just wait a few weeks and grab a flat of flowers from a nursery.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Transplanted one of three snowball bushes last weekend. Fucking hell digging in georgia red clay is hard.

Been slowly tearing out tons of ivy in backyard too. Chainsawwed about 5 trees down the other day as well. Making progress on the new house!

Wont get back to gardening for a bit as im going away and weeknds are dilling up fast. Might be able to work on the transplanting after work in evenings

Highlight - discovered the town recycling center where i can get all the free mulch i desire