Diggin' and Screwin'

I can only imagine what most of you hoped this thread was about. :sneaky2: Well it's not, so move along.

I'm talking about my garden. Getting a later start than I wanted to because of the weather, but today is when I begin working on the garden at the "new" place. Raised beds for the veggies, with berry bushes here and there.

First, I've gotta' stake out the patches, then I'm gonna' frame some raised beds with plastic lumber. (That's the "screwin" part! :blushing:) I have to take a few soil samples ("Diggin') and get them tested, and in a couple of days some lawn gets torn out, soil gets tilled up, and a couple of truckloads of loam will get delivered and get cut in with what's there.

So, I just fueled myself up (made my breakfast - Lobster Mozambique Eggs Benedict on Sweet English Muffins :drool:) and gulped my coffee and it's "get my @ss outside time" by 10:00.

You all have a good day - catch you later! :)

Boy is this thread going to get lots of hits from search engines!! Have fun screwin' in the garden Ken...now I've got to go help my brother in law with his roof!:)

we'll be expecting some pics later on

Ken, I don't know how big you want your beds, but I've used these

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ad.php?t=11046

I have 14 of them so the growing area is pretty big. They're about 3' x 4'

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ken

I can only imagine what most of you hoped this thread was about. :sneaky2: Well it's not, so move along.

---

I have to admit....this got my attention!:tongue_smilie:

Quote:

---

Diggin' and Screwin'
by Winnie Today 10:03 AM

---

Have fun in the garden, Ken......but don't wear that pointy red hat. People might think you're a garden gnome.:innocent:

Aaaaaaaahahahahahaha!!!:smash:

I was going to say something, but realised it would make things worse. I don't need to do any diggin' and screwin', the raised beds are finished:innocent:
Just waiting for some better weather to get sowin' and plantin':)

You got a late start because of the weather?

I've gotten an early start. The last 4 days have flirted with 80, in michigan, in march/april, where it can snow in May. This weather has been beautiful and my plants are all growing and I've gotten some planting done early.

Of course I worry a late frost will now screw me by killing all my fruit/berry buds, which can be devastating for the harvest in the fall.

But the weather here has been beautiful.

If we don't get that late frost, and if it stays above freezing from here on out, my growing season this year is going to be of record length, it'll be awesome.

Thats right, rub it in Chris. I was all ready to make a start sowing, then the weather turned to winter again. There's not a lot of point sowing seeds when the temps are so variable and there's gale force winds, so I'm waiting another week or two. I have got tomatoes growing away on the windowsill though ready to go out once the weather is better. Things will soon catch up.

Ken, you doing all that digging and tilling and loam spreading yourself? Or sittin and watchin with an umbrella in your drink? ;)

I haven't rototilled the garden cuz it's still too wet but did get the new rabbit fence up and hand spaded two beds for the onions and brocolli. They can take a frost or two. Today's job is to sow seeds into flats into the cold frame. The peas were in the weekend after St. Patty's day which is the earliest I've ever been able to get them in here. They still haven't come up but they aren't rotted, which means they are waiting for something cold to happen one more time. They always seem to know when to sprout. But I live norther-wester than you Ken. Zone 5-minus, but not quite 4.

The cranberries made it through the winter so I guess they like where they are. Gonna have to expand the bed as these things put out some long runners.

Waiting for some new fruit trees to arrive in the mail. Was hoping yesterday but not.

Sometimes it isn't the weather that affects your planting. My container garden has the tomatoes and peppers doing really well. My neighbor, in an effort to help out his nephew while he is going through a rough patch was trimming some trees. He dropped a very large limb across the Azalea's, the chain link fence, my container garden. The frames are destroyed. Hopefully my efforts have saved the plants. Some people should not be around power tools.

"...and that, son, is what you don't want to do. Did you see how the limb dropped straight down? That, right there, is gravity. You can't see it but it's there none-the-less."

"Uh, dad, Mr. Crash is coming over. He doesn't look very happy. He has his bug sprayer."

"Go get your mom, son."

Here's the official planting list. May have some difficulty with one or two, but it's worth a try. :innocent:

Artichoke
Asparagus
Beet
Bell Pepper
Butternut Squash
Carrot
Corn
Cucumber
Daikon
Dental Floss
Eggplant
Garlic
Iceberg Lettuce
Pepper
Parsley
Pumpkin
Radish
Red Onion
Romaine Lettuce
Scallions
String Beans
Summer Squash
Sweet Pepper
Tomato
Zucchini

Strawberries
Blueberries

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ken

Here's the official planting list. May have some difficulty with one or two, but it's worth a try. :innocent:

Artichoke
Asparagus
Beet
Bell Pepper
Butternut Squash
Carrot
Corn
Cucumber
Daikon
Dental Floss
Eggplant
Garlic
Iceberg Lettuce
Pepper
Parsley
Pumpkin
Radish
Red Onion
Romaine Lettuce
Scallions
String Beans
Summer Squash
Sweet Pepper
Tomato
Zucchini

Strawberries
Blueberries

---

Bay scallions or sea scallions?

...and don't forget the blackberries......everybody need blackberries!:tongue_smilie:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 2dumb2kwit

Bay scallions or sea scallions?

---

Sea scallions, 2dumb. :innocent:


http://www.selfish-shellfish.com/img...20Scallops.jpg

Artichokes green or Artichokes Jerusalem?
Green ones maaaaybe down where you are.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LowKey

Artichokes green or Artichokes Jerusalem?
Green ones maaaaybe down where you are.

---

Green ones. I was told I may have to make a plastic sheet "modified hothouse" to cover them but that they have been grown here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by huntermj

I just planted some dental floss as well. I have high hopes for a bumper crop.

---

Try some of this stuff. I had a great dental floss crop last time I used it. :innocent:

http://www.prezzybox.com/data/media/17245.jpg

You're not planting all that now are you Ken?

Some of those are typically fall crops.

Speaking of weather, at my mother in law's today I checked out her asparagus patch I planted for her last year. She can harvest and eat some tommorow, she could have a few days ago even, she just didn't know it was up already.

She lives 10 miles south of me, my asparagus is barely peeking up. She must have a microclimate, or I just planted the bed better when I did her patch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chris

You're not planting all that now are you Ken?

Some of those are typically fall crops.

Speaking of weather, at my mother in law's today I checked out her asparagus patch I planted for her last year. She can harvest and eat some tommorow, she could have a few days ago even, she just didn't know it was up already.

She lives 10 miles south of me, my asparagus is barely peeking up. She must have a microclimate, or I just planted the bed better when I did her patch.

---

Chris, I'll get the first plants started in a couple of weeks. They'll all be in by mid-June.

We had a great asparagus patch at my fiancee's previous house in R.I. There's NOTHING like munching on asparagus within a minute of picking it. Now, I'll have to wait a year or two for a decent crop.

By the way, the lillies are up about 3" - 5".

I've got some pics from last year. I'll take more this year.

I've promised myself that I'll learn how to post pics by the summer. :blushing: