You all are going to call me crazy but...
Cedric Owens
7 years ago
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Jase
7 years agomamapinky0
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Call Me Crazy, But I Planted Tomatoes
Comments (23)Leslie, Yay! Planting time is my favorite time of the year, or at least it is until harvest time replaces it as my favorite time. Have you reached your average last frost date yet? I know it must be getting close. My average last frost date is tomorrow, and I may celebrate that date by putting corn seed in the ground so we'll have Early Sunglow corn to harvest by Memorial Day weekend. Well, assuming pests, tornadoes, hail, flash flooding, wildfire or some other natural disaster don't get the corn plants before the corn gets harvested. On nights our forecast low is in the low 40s, I usually worry a little about the tomato plants but don't cover them up. If it is forecast for the upper 30s I do cover them. Around here, a forecast low of 38 or 39 usually gives us an actual low near freezing accompanied by frost. I just finally got around to potting up sweet pepper plants yesterday and they really won't even be large enough to put in the ground for another 2 or 3 weeks. I started hot pepper seeds very late, so they likely won't be big enough to transplant outside until latest April or early May. I am not rushing to get beans, squash or anything else into the ground....at least not for another week or two. At our house, we really have reached "dead week", which is the quiet week or two in between the point where all the cool-season crops are planted and it is still too cold/too early to plant the warm-season crops. Well, except for tomatoes....but they always get special handling here. I use dead week to work on larger projects....like planting flowers or cleaning up and mulching perennial/shrub beds, or starting seeds of warm-season flowers in the greenhouse. It is kind of drizzly here this morning, although I think the afternoon will be a lot warmer, sunnier and nicer. It might be a good afternoon to garden, but I won't be out there in the garden because I have to be someplace else. I hope to spend all day out in the garden tomorrow though. The flower border needs weeding, mulching and some pruning back of last year's dormant foilage on some of the perennials. The tomato plants that already are in the ground sure do look happy. Even though we didn't get much rain, the rain water always seems to perk them up and make them happy. The smaller tomato transplants grown from seed are in the greenhouse today to keep them out of the wind. If the wind has dropped significantly by the time I make it back home from a funeral this afternoon, I might carry the tomato seedlings outside to the patio for a couple of hours of sunlight and wind exposure. Dawn...See Morei know ya all are going to tell me to shut my mouth but....
Comments (2)on the south side would be the best place, and not just because it means you have to mow less! :) that's where i'm putting mine because the south side of the house gets the best sun exposure. i don't have a compost pile either, this year i am buying my compost. hopefully i will have enough spare cash this summer to build my own bins to make it myself for next year's garden. the lowe's website (do you have lowe's out there? home depot?) has detailed, illustrated instructions on how to build your own compost bins.......i was thinking of using those instructions,though i'm sure there are several sets of directions in various places online. oh yeah, the mulched up clippings from your grass are what should go in the compost pile. i'm buying compost, peat and topsoil this year to fill my garden beds. i have three 4'x12' beds and two little 2'x3' beds, the sides are untreated pine. the sides are nailed together and supported every 4 feet on the long sides with a 2' length of rebar driven into the ground on the outside of the bed right against the wood. i duct-taped the top oo the rebar so it doesn't scratch me. it might not have been completely neccessary to enforce the sides, but this way i won't worry about it, and rebar is very cheap :) the beds i built are pretty close to the house......the edge is about 15' from the edge of the porch. they all run north to south, tallest things like corn, trellised tomatoes on the north end (closest to the house) and lower things like strawberries, carrots on the south end (farthest from the house). don't every worry about sounding silly, everyone on these forums is so kind and helpful and patient. there's no better way to learn than to ask questions.....i asked about a million before settling on how i wanted to set up my garden! welcome :) what are you thinkinf of planting?...See MoreCall me crazy...
Comments (7)Looking good, Liz! I found out today that an IHMS actually only works if it's set up. Luckily my tomatoes and eggplant are covered under see-through material so it stays up all the time, but, the potatoes and lettuce I cant leave under bed sheets and plastic pots all day everyday, especially when the temp gauges are reading 80+. Leafy greens might be a bust this year, but the potatoes ought weather the storm just fine, I think the flea beetles have made them so the hail just goes passes right through the leaves. Steve, We might have some glacial till up in the mountains, but, since the Laurentide Ice Sheet never made it as far south as Colorado, all the glaciers we've ever had are/were isolated ones up in the high country. What we DO have is eroded mountains that were either washed down or blew across the prairie and at times even built sand dunes along the front range during REALLY dry years, and sometimes as far away as Nebraska (the Sand Hills region of the Cornhusker State is made out of sediment that was once our foothills and peaks). Consistent flash flooding deposited alluvium at the base of the mountains, so our native topsoil is surprisingly a very sandy loam! However, since modern times, agriculture and development have stripped us of that and we are left with clay. Around Denver, one way to tell if your property was either farmed or ranched is how bad your clay is. If your subdivision was historically farmland, your clay will be much worse than if it was ranch land. As far as I know, the area I live in was owned by a rancher, George W. Harriman, and later it was a dairy farm run by the Beers Sisters. I have clay, but it's a friable, crumbly clay that drains fairly quick as opposed to heavy dense "potters clay" that a lot of other folks have, especially closer to the river where irrigation was much more accessible. So, that's much more than you ever wanted to know about that. I think was 2011 or 2012 we broke the record for highs, and broke the record for days in a row of record highs! In July I think it was we had 1-2 weeks straight of days in the 95-110* range. I was working at the power plant then, and it was almost a safety hazard to go inside, where the thermometer was registering above 140*. That was the year I got really good at running the dozer because it was the only place besides the office that had AC. What a contrast to last summer. I think we had a total of about 4 days above 89 and we were getting lows in the 40's even in late June, maybe even 1-2 nights in July! You know Steve, if you want to borrow the kid for a little while to keep your sanity, I think it could be arranged LOL!...See MoreOk call me crazy... I'm trying to root florist roses again...
Comments (12)So far the IGUANA cuttings are still looking good. It'll be two weeks for those on Thursday. The leaves dropped and new growth is sprouting and the canes are looking supple. When I did the cuttings outside last yr, they would begin to turn black within about a week. So I think this is going to work!! I'm so excited! Even if I only get one or two to root of each variety I try, I'll be happy!!! And the SHOGUN buds are still holding tight and keeping the darker coloring, despite my cat Lola nibbling on them....See Moremamapinky0
7 years ago
larsi_gw
7 years ago
georgect
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agolarsi_gw
7 years agoPat Z5or6 SEMich
7 years agoCedric Owens
7 years agoCedric Owens
7 years agoCedric Owens
7 years agoWe'll see how this goes. Sidenote: Target's Cartwheel app has 20% off all Persil.
mamapinky0
7 years agoestysmith
7 years agoCedric Owens
7 years ago
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