Yolos - how did your broccoli survive? I imagine it came thru fine.

Babushka - Making homemade cheese sounds really cool. I've seen mozzarella being made a couple times which was pretty neat.

I took my second to last day of vacation yesterday to recuperate from the manual labor over the weekend. I got quite a bit done over the 3 days. For a short period of time my yard was leafless but that abruptly ended yesterday morning when the wind started howling at 30+ mph.

I finished filling my last compost pile and also filled my 6' diameter leaf storage bin. My Mantis and weed eater have been winterized and put in the basement. I fixed my push mower and used it to finish mowing/shredding up leaves.

I also started a germination test on some Maxibel bean seed I saved in 2016. I plan to grow these in the spring and need to know if they will germinate before I place my order with Johnny's.

Here are some pictures of my sleeping garden.

These are my 3 new 4'x10' beds. I also built another 4'x4' bed that will be placed about where my shadow is to be used for a cherry tomato next season.

These 6 4'x8' beds are going into their 3rd season.

These are now my oldest beds after ripping out a couple beds behind my house.

3 of my compost piles are full. I may fill the empty one yet or just leave it for turning the others into in the spring.

Lone Jack, it looks like you have a lot of land with plenty of room for more beds...room enough to grow another 1000 lbs :) What do you feel you gain by having the raised beds instead of planting directly in the ground?

Babushka, your cheese making class sounds interesting. Our favorite small local store sometimes has close date milk for ridiculously low prices. I've heard one customer saying they were going to use it for cheese making. Maybe I'll try it, too. I've only see ricotta being made and don't know how others would be prepared. Do you need special cultures for the ones you made? Time to age or ripen the cheese?...ah...another winter project.

We are eating the last of our now ripened green end of season tomatoes. I don't think they are any better than store bought in taste BUT they are from OUR garden :) Quite a few went bad over the last few weeks without ever getting ripe. From past years' experiences, this did not surprise me so I wasn't frustrated by it.

Snow is covering our yard and garden. Kinda nice to not feel like I should go out and find one more garden task to do for the year.

Naturegirl - I think I may be done adding more beds ( but never say never!). I prefer raised beds for several reasons...Less weeds and easier weeding and harvesting (less bending over). No compaction from walking in the beds. Better drainage and moisture retention. Raised beds warm up faster in the spring so I can plant a little earlier. Better soil....My native top soil is only about 8-12" deep and the sub soil is very heavy clay that roots have trouble penetrating. With raised beds I can immediately get very productive space without having to do a lot of amending of the native soil.

I will be growing in an in ground bed at a friend's house next season. It is about 1000 sq/ft. I plan to try to sneak some sweet corn in there as well as some onions and potatoes. I'm also going to plant some pumpkins mid season into the corn and maybe a row or 2 of beans in the fall.

Since I am not as organized as many here when it comes to recording harvests I have just now gotten around to totaling my 2017 melon harvests. As I pick, I always weigh the melon and record the numbers on a calendar in my kitchen. Drum roll, please?

From 3 Ambrosia cantaloupe plants: 67 melon, totaling 408#, for an average just over 6 pounds each.

From 3 Crimson Sweet watermelon plants: 13 melon, totaling 313#, for an average just over 24 pounds each.

Not too shabby from a city girl. My mouse problem this year certainly impacted the numbers, but we had plenty to eat and share. I'll call that a success!

Itsmce - Wow, that's a lot of melons! I don't think I've ever gotten more than 5 or 6 cantaloupe per plant and the critters usually get most of those. I think you blew away my 1033 lb. total.

I might have to plant a few melons in my friends garden next season along with the pumpkins after the sweet corn gets up and growing.

itsmce, That is an amazing amount of melon to grow, carry around, and EAT. How much space did the vines take up in the garden? Did your household eat it all?

LoneJack: I have one raised bed and have used ones in other places in the past. I like the faster warm up in the spring and the easier to reach height that you mention. However, the ones I used elsewhere had been neglected and weeds were as much a problem as in ground plots. The defined small area did made for a real sense of accomplishment when weeding was finished, though. A 4x8 area wasn't too daunting and was much more satisfying to look at after weeding than a cleaned up 4x8 corner of a large in ground plot that was still mostly weedy.

Since using raised beds, I've gone to an in ground bed layout (wide row) in my main garden instead of my former single rows. It gives me uncompacted soil and more room for growing than the row arrangement. It is interesting that you find better moisture retention in the beds. My raised bed dries out much faster than the main garden. Maybe I better go heavy on the organic additions next spring or/and think about adding drip tape or some other irrigation.

You sure will have a lot more space next year with the friend's land. Are you sharing work and harvests there? Are you the garden mentor for a new up and coming gardener?

Naturegirl: My entire garden is roughly 25 x 50. By the end of the season the melons have spread to cover easily half of that space. They go in after the early season things like greens and peas have come out. I attribute the quantity produced at least partially to the fact that I always plant several basil plants at the garden's edge. The bees love the blossoms. We eat plenty of melon when they are producing as do my extended family, neighbors, and friends.

Lonejack: I bet you still hold the title of most harvested in this group. I'm not nearly as disciplined as you in the weighing. It's hard for me to keep up with the tomato harvest, for example. And you, tracking down to the individual plant...that's impressive.

Naturegirl - Lots of compost and top mulching is the key to water retention in raised beds. For things like garlic that don't care to have constantly wet feet I need to limit both during wet years to avoid rotting.

My friend has gardened in his plot for several years but in the last few he has neglected it in favor of weekend trips to his lake cabin as well as spending 2 or 3 entire weeks there in the summer. It is great soil but I expect the weed pressure to be bad next season because a lot went to seed this year. I will be doing most if not all of the work. I will do what I can to keep the weeds suppressed and use my mantis and stirrup hoe to hopefully keep them in check. Yes, I will share the harvest with them.

Itsmce - I'm not sure about that. You only needed about 310 lbs. of other things to go along with the melons to pass up my total. I'd bet that you harvested more than that. I didn't track tomatoes and peppers down to the individual plant but I did track them by variety. Not sure if I will do that next year or not since I am growing more varieties of tomatoes 4 of which will be blacks and I doubt I will be able to tell them apart after putting them in the harvest basket. Big Beef will be the only red slicers I grow so I should be able to keep track of them.

Hi Guys
Does Growing a Sprout Top For The SnailBob Count????
LOL
He's a Giant African Land Snail....

Ninecrow - Yes it counts for Escargot but you will need more than one for a meal. lol

I tried these sprout tops for the first time this year and they were pretty tasty. Boiled for about 5 minutes in salt water, drained, and tossed with sauteed onions and bacon.

Not much new on the gardening front here. Still dry as a bone but we have a decent chance of rain Sunday and Monday. Highs in the 50s for the next week and then getting back to near normal temps Christmas weekend.

I harvested the first cutting off my indoor lettuce and brought a salad for today's lunch. 3 out of 6 on my Maxibel bean germination test had sprouted as of last evening ( 6 days) which is encouraging. Always happy to save money on seeds. I'm going to grow Maxibel in the spring next year so I can save more seed for the future. I probably only have ~100 saved from 2016 which is just enough to plant a 4x10 bed. I'll plant Provider beans in my fall garden and at my friends plot. I think I saved ~700 Provider seeds last year.

My compost piles have shrunk by about a foot since I last filled them so I'm going to top them off one more time this weekend and call it good.

I'm going to wait until Dec. 26th to place my Johnny's order so my seeds don't get lost in the Christmas shipping chaos. I may go ahead and fill my cart today though :-). I already have 3 varieties of leek seeds to start on New Years weekend so the only thing I really need soon are some Evergreen bunching onions.

Good idea with the germination test LoneJack. I should do several of those...maybe then I'll finally be willing to part with some very old seeds. I'd be shocked if some of them grew, but I don't want to throw them out. Hope springs eternal in a gardener :)

I ordered one lone pack of seeds today. Carmen peppers. They are an AAS favorite of ours and I've never seen them on a local seed rack. I had an email offering free shipping plus 25% off from Burpee, today only. (Code: FREESHIPDAY....in case anyone else wants to put in an order) It seemed like the right time to take care of getting that pepper. I'm kinda proud that I didn't order anything else. After all, Christmas is coming and who knows what Santa will bring.

Baby cabbages slowly developing....Cool evenings down to 35-40 degrees. They seem to like this weather. Super dry here, watering all beds again today. We are worried the drought may be returning after last year's record breaking rains.

Babushka - Very nice looking cabbages! I don't see any cabbage worm holes in the leaves. Have you had them covered with insect barrier or has it been too cool for the butterflies to be around. I hope you and Socal get the needed rain to help put out the fires but it doesn't appear very promising by looking at the forecast.

Naturegirl - Carmen is one of my favorite peppers too. Very dependable and early ripening. I also grew Escamillo last year for the first time. Also an AAS winner. It is very similar to Carmen in size but ripens to yellow. The fruit walls are not quite as thick as Carmen either. Johnny's carries it as well as a few other vendors.

My garden got a nice little 1/4" rain Sunday morning which should help the leaf mulch stay put and add some needed moisture to my compost piles. I got all of them topped off one more time on Saturday. We have 4 more days of nice weather in the 50s and then the bottom drops out with highs in the 20s and 30s and lows in the teens. New Years morning is currently forecast to be -5. A 50% chance of our first snow on Christmas Eve.

I got germination on all 6 Maxibel bean seeds in my test so I'm good to go for 2018 and don't need to order any new seed. I'll leave a few plants unharvested so I can save more seed.

I just looked at my forecast again and now it is showing 11 degrees on New Year's morning. That sounds a lot better than 5 below!

@LoneJack: BRRRRR. Us California lightweights shudder at the thought! :) Still very dry here, not a drop of rain in long range forecast.

I do have most of the beds covered with green tulle netting. Some very small little critters getting in but otherwise seems to be performing pretty well. Swiss chard should be ready for a first harvest in a few weeks. Lettuce and radishes are ready as well. Temps continue to hover mid 50s-60s day, 40s to mid 30s at night. Not sure that we have had a true frost yet.

Yes, Brrrrr! But there are much colder places on earth with much longer winters so I can cope for a couple months and piddle around with indoor growing. Only another 2 weeks until I will start my leeks!

I thought I remembered that you were using tulle covers and it seems to be working very well. When watering my indoor lettuce this weekend I noticed a couple lady bugs had infiltrated my basement for the winter and had found a home in my lettuce. I won't have to worry about aphids on them!

Our yard and garden were covered with fluffy snow last week. We received about 18 inches spread over a few snow storms. One night had temps drop down to 0 F. That's a temp we don't see every year, and usually don't see for very long. This week looks to be much warmer. Rain fell this morning leaving all the beautiful white snow looking dirty and compacted. I wish we would get a foot to a foot and a half on the ground that stayed for the season and then get an inch or two once or twice a week to freshen things up with pure whiteness. Not too picky, am I :)

I'm hoping we will have some more temps below 10 F that last for a few days. Winter weather like that often results in fewer insect pests in the garden the following summer, especially in the spring and early summer.

I'm baaaaack from my short fall hiatus from this thread! I've been spending the last month or two staying very busy at work. But now I'm getting antsy and ready to plan for 2018!

Here's my list for the next few weeks:

1. Visit the Starbucks down the street and ask for used coffee grounds to get our giant compost pile full of leaves cooking! Kitchen scraps aren't cutting it in terms of nitrogen and I'm hoping for a compost thermometer for Christmas!

2. Plant some onion seeds! Well, first, research how to grow onions from seed. I've watched a few Youtube videos and read an article or two but need to do some more reading. I've never grown them from seed before but would like to try it out! Any suggestions for good varieties that store well?

3. Continue to check on the pansy seeds I sowed last weekend in a moment of sun-starved, I-hate-grey-weather desperation. I know it was way too early but I just needed to plant something, ANYTHING, to see something grow.

4. Tend to my Aerogarden lettuce. Last Christmas my husband surprised me with it and it's a nice easy way to grow lettuce and herbs during the winter!

5. Continue working on my garden budget for 2018. Knowing what large projects I have on the horizon helps me plan for what it'll cost and how much I need to save!

6. Seek out any and every bit of living beauty I can outside! Found these beautiful ornamental kale/cabbage at Chicken N Pickle in North KC last weekend. Makes me want to grow some next year to plant in my front yard. So I bought some seeds!

As far as seed starting goes, I've placed a few orders for flower seeds because I have plenty of leftover pepper and tomato seeds from last year's orders. I think I'm all good on herbs, squash, beans, chard, and lettuce as well.

LoneJack your Brussels sprouts look fantastic! Mine were small, but tasty! I cooked them with a slice of bacon and some herbs about two weeks ago.

Sunflowers, those are some beautiful kale. Maybe I'll remember to plant some midsummer next year. It would be great to have some good color after the fall frosts.

Nice Brussels Sprouts, too. That looks like a tasty way to cook them. I've found they are so much better when I take the time to do something other than steam them in a little water! Often it is olive oil and whatever herbs I feel like that day and then some time in the oven. Your bacon looks like a great addition I should try.

Good to see you Sunflowers! It sounds like you have been very busy. Are you still writing the flower gardening blogs? I think I'm done starting bulbing onions from seed and will just buy the Dixondale plants at Planters Seed and Spice. I'll still start leeks and bunching onions from seed. Copra is probably the best storage onion we can grow around here. Candy also stores pretty well for me. Planters carries plants of both of these varieties but I don't think I have seen seeds for them there. They won't have their seeds out until late January anyway.

Your lettuce Aerogarden looks ready to harvest. I did another cutting on my indoor lettuce on Sunday and brought a small salad for lunch today.

Your sprouts look tasty. My favorite way to cook BS is to roast them in the oven with a little EVOO, a few pieces of 1/2 cooked chopped bacon, Rosemary, just a splash of maple syrup, and S&P. Toss everything in a bag to coat it and roast in a foil lined baking dish at 400 for 30-40 minutes stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Naturegirl - Yes, I typically cook Brussels with herbs but it was a special occasion for these so I threw a bit of bacon in! Btw the special occasion was that they were the first Brussels sprouts I'd ever grown!

LoneJack - It's good to hear from you too! Yes, I'm still writing for the Kansas City Gardener magazine on occasion. Maybe I'll follow your lead and start my onion adventure with plants since it's my first time! That would probably be a lot easier than seed.

I think we'll be enjoying a nice salad from the Aerogarden tonight! Do you keep your lettuce growing in successions all through the winter? It's such a nice way to have fresh produce in the cold months.

I'll have to try out your roasting recipe next time I have sprouts. I usually add a teaspoon or so of brown sugar to my pan but maple syrup sounds even better for a bit of sweetness!

quick question for you folks. my leeks are not doing very well. thinking partially my fault - i purchased a 6 pack of tiny ones but they sat in pots for months before they went in the ground. i did transplant the 6 pack cells into quart size pots at one point until i had bed space free but they were pretty root bound by the time i planted them and had to be teased apart. variety american flag. they have been in ground for ~ 8 weeks now and do not seem to be doing much. outside leaves seem to be yellowing and dying back and they are not getting much bigger. did they just get damaged via in pots too long? it has been very dry here, perhaps need to water more? wondering if i should cut my losses by ripping them out and purchasing a new batch? would welcome any guidance - first time growing leeks.

Sunflowers - I'd advise using the Dixondale plants for onions. I've had pretty good results from seed in the past on some types but others have been resulted ub dismal tiny bulbs like the Pontiac I tried last year. The Dixondale plants are always dependable and cheap too ($2.50 per bundle of 50+). Planters will have them in stock by early March. I'll let you know when they come in.

I planted my first 12 Muir lettuce around Nov. 10 and 6 more a couple weeks later. I just harvest the outside leaves every week or so and they continue to grow more leaves for a couple months. After that they get pretty root bound in the 4" pots and peter out. I'll need the lights for broccoli about the time they loose steam anyway. You might not have the root bound problem in your Aerogarden.

Babushka - Are you seeing any new leaves developing on the leeks? Often times the existing leaves on onion and leek transplants will die off after planting out but new leaves will take their place. Usually being root bound doesn't affect allium seedlings. I've grown 60-70 in a 2 lb. yogurt tub for 12 weeks before and they do fine as long as they are kept well watered. American flag is one of the longer DTM leeks at ~110 days and it will take even longer during the short days of winter. I wouldn't give up on them just yet. Give them water at least once weekly and a shot of fish emulsion every couple weeks. If they don't show signs of new growth by February you can cut your losses and plant some more then.

LoneJack - When do you start your broccoli seeds? I typically just buy a six-pack at the local garden center, but it seems I have a hard time getting them as early as I think they could go in the ground here. Follow-up question: what's you favorite variety?

Back to the compost discussion from awhile back: I checked my compost bins on the weekend as I was collecting leaves one last time. The best bin was running at about 120 degrees. I hope that's still warm enough to work some magic. The newer bin was only about 80 degrees. I added several mower bags full of leaves and stirred it all up a bit. I then dragged a hose out to give them both a good soaking. I was hoping there'd be a bit more green grass collected when I leafed. Today I am collecting coffee grounds from the Starbucks close to my office. When I get home I'll stir them in to hope to get things going again. It's going to get COLD by the weekend, so hopefully I can get things cooking before then.

@lone jack thanks so much for responding. yes am seeing some new leaves, seems like things are just SLOOOOwwwW. OK long DTM, makes sense. will up the watering schedule given it is still so dry here. i did give them some fish emulsion a week ago so will also do that next week. thanks again.

Babushka - you're welcome. There are some much shorter DTM varieties. I grow King Richard every year which is only 75 DTM. I can start harvesting them in early June if I get them planted out by mid March. I am also trying Megaton and Gevaria for the first time in 2018 and dropping Bandit.

Itsmce - Up here in KC I start my spring broccoli and cauliflower the last weekend in February so that will be the 24th in 2018. I pot them up to 3.5" pots at 2 weeks, start to harden them off at 4 weeks and plant out at 5-6 weeks weather permitting sometime in latest March or early April. I think Bay Meadows is my favorite variety but Early Dividend is a close second and 2 weeks earlier than BM so I can start harvesting it in mid May. Pacman is a pretty good one as well and I hear Lieutenant is pretty good but I've never tried it. Some varieties that I won't plant again are Sun King and Green Magic. I'm also going to stop growing Arcadia after growing it the last 2 years....it grew fine but the beads in the main head were loose and next to zero side shoots.

It's hard to keep the compost piles hot for very long in the winter. A couple weeks is pretty good without actively turning and adding additional nitrogen. Mine sometimes freeze solid if we have a bad winter. I usually leave them alone until it starts to warm up in February and then turn/merge and add more N and they fire right back up.

@lone jack -another reason why growing from seed is the way to go. those were the ONLY thing i grew from nursery starts - all the rest of my winter garden i started from seed. will purchase some short DTM seeds for next time!

Johnny's seeds has King Richard (75 DTM), Megaton (90 DTM), and Gevaria (100 DTM) on sale right now. I'm sure they are seeds packed for 2017 sale but leek seed keeps better than onions so I'm sure they would be fine for 2018 and most likely 2019 and maybe longer if kept in the fridge.

I agree that there should not be any problems with older leek seed. This past year I started several varieties from very old seed when I was cleaning out the seed box. Most older leeks did fine. Onions definitely did NOT. Except the packs of bunching onions grew okay.

LoneJack, I'm going to take a look at Johnny's sale. Thanks for mentioning it.

Sunflowers, you inspired me to roast Brussels Sprouts for supper tonight. Thanks! They were great...much better than the first half of the bag that we steamed.

Lonejack, mind if I ask how you grow your broccoli seedlings? Do you fertilize while in pots? Our climate (frost dates, zone 6, etc.) seem pretty similar so I thought I'd plant similar to how you do. Our frost danger is past completely at mid May so I figure early April is a good time to plant out?

Jacob - I think I described most of my method for broccoli above but I can elaborate. I start the seeds in cell packs with one seed per cell. Broccoli seed often germinates at 100% for me so no need to waste seed by putting more than one per cell. The seeds sprout in 4-6 days and start to grow pretty quickly. At 10-12 days the first true leaves appear and I start to fertilize with Miracle gro liquafeed Veggie and Tomato formula at about 1/4 strength with every watering ( using bottom water method). At about 14 days I pot up the seedlings to 3.5" pots. They really start to grow fast after potting up and are ready to transplant at around 5 weeks with 4-6 true leaves. One tip is when I first pot them up I leave about 3/4" of room at the top of the pot and then I fill the pot prior to hardening off the plants to help support the stem in the wind.

Early April should be fine for your location. I guess you are at a higher elevation in the Ozark plateau which might increase the risk of late frost. Broccoli is pretty tough but can get frost nipped in the mid 20s as young seedlings. They usually recover but it can slow them down a bit. Good idea to be prepared to cover them if you plant out much before early April.

Sunflowers - If Santa doesn't bring you a compost thermometer, Planters S&S has analog compost thermometers for around $15 IIRC.

Itsmce sounds like your compost is doing well! If your area of KS has been as dry as ours in KC, it's a good idea to drag out the hose and water it. I plan to pick up some Starbucks grounds today or tomorrow and turn them into my pile asap because our temps are supposed to head downward pretty quickly in the next week to 10 days. I just feel awkward asking the Starbucks people for grounds! I need to get over it and just ask. I wish they still bagged them up and left them by the front door like they used to.

LoneJack, you're like a broccoli instructor here! Thank you for the tip about the Dixondale onion starts and the compost thermometer. Will the onions be at Planters around the same time as their seed potatoes? I had a blast growing some Red Thumb fingerling potatoes in a large pot last year and would like to do that again with another variety or two. I even got my husband to help with the harvest!

Jacob, good luck with your broccoli adventure!

Sunflowers - Your welcome! Yes, the onions and seed potatoes usually come in about the same time in early March. I'll check then and let you know when both have arrived. Sometimes the fingerling that they carry comes in from a different source a little later in March. I wonder what fingerling they will have this year?Planters actually has a heated box truck and they drive up to Minnesota to pick up the seed potatoes and down to south Texas to get the onions.

For real? They go and get their own seed potatoes and onions?! That's SO COOL and makes me want to shop there even more. I was in the neighborhood last weekend so I stopped by and picked up a few trays for seed starting. I should have gotten some Promix like you suggest but the bales are quite heavy and I was wearing nice clothes so I didn't feel like lugging it back to my car :-)

Yes for real. The Promix bales weigh 60 lbs. but they will wheel it out to your car and load it for you if you ask. Now you have to go back!

I'm off work until Tuesday. Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!

Well it's Tuesday already. I hope everyone had a great Christmas with friends and family!

It's going to be a nice quiet week here at my office with probably 1/2 of the people taking the week off. I'd rather take my vacation days when the weather is nice. I only have to work 3 days anyway because Friday is a company holiday.

We went to a Christmas party on Friday night and there was a white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a Donald Trump Chia head and it's orange! Not sure if I'll plant the thing or just eat the seeds.

I was bored on Saturday morning when it was snowing here and decided to go ahead and start my leeks. I sowed about 60 Megaton, 80 King Richard, and 30 Gevaria. I plan to plant 5 10' rows so I only have room for about 100 of them. The rest I'll give to my neighbors.

I just finished placing my order with Johnny's. I bought Calliope Asian eggplant, Baron poblano peppers, Rock Star and Tom Fox pumpkins, Yellowbunch pelleted carrots, Crimson Sweet watermelons, Evergreen Hardy White bunching onions and some more Megaton leeks.

It looks like I am only going to plant about 300 sq/ft. of my friends garden next season. His daughter and DIL want to use the rest of it. No big deal as I will still have enough room to grow ~150 sweet corn, and some onions, melons and pumpkins.

Got the third harvest off my indoor lettuce on Sunday!

I hope everyone's having a wonderful holiday season! LoneJack, I hope you're staying warm inside with your leek seeds. The outdoor temperature fell to 3 degrees last night and we're in for another couple of cold days! The temperature in my plastic-covered bed only dipped to 18 degrees so I'm hoping that the ranunculus in there survived. And then three spinach plants I'm attempting to overwinter. Even if the top growth dies, the plants beneath the soil may regenerate new growth in the spring.

My family knows me well and I received a few gardening related gifts for Christmas! My brother in law got me a Family Tree Nursery gift card and two tomato accelerators from Gardener's Supply Company. My husband gave me the sturdy, highly recommended hose reel I've been drooling over for months. Father in law gave me a book called Epic Tomatoes and some seeds. My brother gave me a few things, too.

The winter blues have officially set in, and I must turn to indoor succulents, amaryllis (like the stunner below), aerogarden lettuce and herbs for solace. Today I started two seeds for a Tiny Tim tomato plant that I hope to be able to grow in south facing window with a grow light. I've never grown a dwarf tomato variety before but it'll be a fun way to pass the time. Who knows, I may start tucking dwarf tomato plants in my sun-loving flower containers next summer!

Has anyone else grown anything to maturity inside (besides lettuce and herbs)?

Hello guys, I'm new here.

I wanted to get your help since I got a terrible ant infestation in my veggie garden *sobs*

They are small and red and eat the leaves of the vegetables mostly. A website I read ( http://ohealthyeah.com/how-to-get-rid-of-ants-naturally/ ) recommended I use boiling water, but I'm afraid it will ruin the plant or burn the young fruits.

Any idea on how to solve it?

Sunflowers - that Amaryllis is indeed stunningly beautiful! Nice job! No I'm not staying very warm right now. My heat pump is having issues and is only able to keep the house around 60 right now. I have our HVAC guy coming over on Friday morning to fix it.

I haven't even tried to grow anything besides lettuce to maturity indoors. Your experiment with the Tiny Tim will be interesting to follow. I've never seen those tomato accelerators before. I guess they work similar to wall-o-waters?

I saw a few leeks starting to poke up last evening at 5+ days from seeding. By the weekend most of them should have sprouted.

Maria - Most ants do not bother veggies but a few may cut the leaves to take back to the nest. How best to get rid of them depends on what type of ants you are dealing with. What type of plants are they eating?

LoneJack They eat my corn and sunflower seeds

My guess is that the ants are probably 'farming' aphids on your plants and the aphids are doing the leaf damage. If you look close you should be able to see the tiny little aphids. If you do have aphids the ants are probably just harvesting the excrement of the aphids. Spraying the plants with hose end sprayer should knock the aphids off but you will probably need to do it every few days.

That being said, some types of ants do love sweets and will sometimes eat the corn silk and kernals. There are various ant baits that can be used to combat them but which one to use depends on the type of ant.

Update on my Broccoli surviving the cold. We had 26*F weather one night and while I knew that the Broccoli plants would survive, I was not sure about the actual Broccoli heads surviving the 10 hour 26*F freeze. Well the heads survived just fine. I harvested 8 heads in early Dec and another 4 heads yesterday. I still have about 4 more heads to harvest in the next few days.

I will be covering up tomorrow. We have 6 nights of 24º - 26ºF weather with two of the days not getting above freezing . I will be watering and covering up for several days. I consider myself VERY lucky. We are on the edge of this large slug of cold air.

I'm glad those of you with unexpected temps in the 20's are making plans and continuing to get harvests.

We have had sub zero temps for several nights. Brrrr. I'll be starting a few things inside soon for possible March planting.

For today's outdoor time we "planted" a Christmas tree we "rescued" after it was set out on the neighbor's curb for disposal. It is now set in a large pot and held up by wet (now frozen) soil. It is placed close to our bird feeders so the small birds can hide in its dense branches when the neighborhood hawk decides to try for a meal at our feeder. That "tree" is the only thing I plan to plant outside for a few months!

the hawk wants to eat also. hahahaha the hawk can not eat seeds. hahaha. it wants those birdies. hahahaha

It's been below zero the last 2 nights here as well. -11 yesterday and a balmy -2 this morning.

My leeks are all up and growing now. Megaton sprouted in 6 days, King Richard in 7, and Gevaria in 8. My order from Johnny's came in the mail on Thursday just 2 days after placing the order. I sowed 5 yogurt tubs of bunching onions Thursday night so I expect to see some sprouting any time now.

I picked my 5th harvest from the indoor lettuce yesterday and got enough for 4 good size salads.

This is the only other thing I have growing at the moment. lol. Sowed it on Saturday. The Chia seed mixture didn't stick very well.

Thats alright, his hair is a bit thin. Verisimilitude and all that.

We have been i the deep freeze for Z8b Texas. 20º night and now a 25º night . All day below freezing, Three more freezing nights to go before the warm up. This is long for us. I live in a minimal situation. My husband likes the "elevated light on the land look" That means no skirt on the shop. WE have 1.5" insulation on the pipes but that seems to not be enough. I spent a couple hours under the house unwrapping the the toilet supply line, heat taping it and wrapping it back up. The trap from the shower is a solid block so it is song baths. I heat taped and wrapped it but it has not defrosted so far. I am the only one thin enough to do the job. I think I am going to stop feeding my family..

My garden is wrapped up but we shall see. The cold is not particularly cold but long for us. I always kid that we have three three day winters. This one is actually a 6 day winter. I do see 60º in the forecast so the end is in view. I harvested my nasturtium,arugala, lettuce, mizunza for a new years eve salad. I am always relegated the salad when we have potlucks. We have been eating kale, parsnips, carrots and knochi. My portuguese kale is almost large enough for a trimming. I can't wait. The leaves a re a perfect size for stuffing with a spiced ground chicken or pork

I will see if the snow peas made it through . They were supposed to be sugar snaps. I have been underwhelmed with their performance. I almost did not wrap the vines. Super Sugar Snaps beat them hands down in taste, yield , cold hardiness, vigor. It is about time to plant the next natch of sugar snaps.

It its a small garden

Jack - that is the greatest chia pet ever. And I mean GREATEST! The best. Like none other...

I've been absent from the boards for just about the whole month of December (too
busy brewing – have done 40 gallons of beer and 15 gallons of wine so far!),
but Sunday I went through all my seeds and put in my order at Johnny’s. Also sowed some lettuce, kale, and spinach for S&G…should have done that a long time ago but better now than never – maybe it’ll last long enough to transplant outside when it starts to warm up
(we’ve been at or below zero wind chill just about every day since Christmas - I have a hunch we are going to have a long cold winter).

Jack are you doing regular onions from seeds this year or just bunching? I think I remember you thinking that seeds weren’t worth it based on the last couple years results. I’ll be doing seeds if only to have something growing in January – Monastrell, Walla Walla, Sierra Blanca, and Moonshine from Johnny’s.

I have to start planning my plant start donation/sale benefitting my moms MS Walk team. Last year was a hit even though it was poorly planned and spur of the moment. I did tomatoes and peppers only but had some people asking about cukes, zukes, and herbs so I might add those to the list. Problem is keeping the varieties o a reasonable number. I had 10 tomatoes and 7 or 8 peppers last year. Here’s my list so far (subject to change - let me know if there's anything glaring you see missing):

Tomatoes – Big Beef, Amish Paste, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Big Boomer Cherry, Moskvich, Sun Gold, Giant Garden Paste, Cherokee Purple, Early Girl, Brandy Boy.

Peppers – Jalepeno, Baron Poblano, Hungarian Wax, Lunchbox, Habanero, Ghost Chili, Doux D’espagne.

1 slicing Cuke, 1 pickling (variety TBD)

Yellow squash, zucchini

Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley

Might pull up some strawberry runners to sell.

Probably will sell some of the onions starts too.

I need to get my greenhouse built !!! That has to be a priority this year.

Hey its January! Time for a new thread - Jack?

Happy New Year everyone!