John - Home grown is always so much better with the exception of celery. (My home grown celery is always bitter, even if I build up the dirt around it.) I grow Purple Passion asparagus. We haven't eaten ours yet. Probably tomorrow.

And the tomato seeds you sent to me have sprouted and are very healthy looking. Thanks!!

Cindy, My purple passion has some humongus stalks that would better if they were smaller.

Wayne - Mine usually get smaller in a month or so after having harvested them for that month. I do love the flavor of the purple gus.

It was soooooo Hot today (how hot was it?), that I had to cover my broc and cabbage transplants from direct sun during the peak of the heat. They're a-ok now as the sun goes down. Hopefully we will get some rain over the next 2-3 days and cooler temps too. I did remove some Fire Blighted stems and one limb from just one of the pear trees today, caught it early I hope. The other 2 pear trees looks ok so far. I'm tempted to plant some corn seed tomorrow, and the squash seed too. Too early for the melons, will not take a chance with those ;-)

Another nice day here today...high 50's :) I harvested a lot of spinach and planted most of the hoop house tomatoes yesterday and will finish today. It will be a jungle in there with vines 12" on center. Lots of new varieties this year for fun, along with standbys Black Krim, Chocolate Stripe, Wessels and Mortgage Lifter. My Bull's Heart seedlings are still too small to put out but they should be ready when we get back from San Diego about May 1.

Getting a little rain now, almost finished the back lawn mowing. The nice warm trend continues but it's not hot now. This morning pic below shows the 3 rows of fall spinach which are looking like small tobacco plants, thankfully no sign of bolting yet. The cabbages are doing well and to the far left is a fizzy row of beets and carrots (2 wild lettuces in the background). The row behind the rain gauge are the bush beans that haven't popped up yet.

Panning to the left of the beet/carrot row are more cabbages and broccoli plants. They surround the spot where 4 hills of watermelons will be planted next month. Before the melon vines get too active the cabbages, brocs, beets, carrots, and spinach will be harvested to vacate their spaces for the melon vines.

...at least that's the plan, nyuk.

I had one of the 3 Bartlett grafts I made showing a hint of green on the tip bud yesterday and obvious today. These were grafted March 9. Hope the others; including 2 Bosc pears aren't far behind.

I planted more scallion bulbs, radishes, and Nellis Winter lettuce. Still have 2 lettuce varieties and my spinach still to sprout. Would be worried but the red tipped Merville Des Quatre Saisons just sprouted a few days ago.

Egyptian Walking Onions-left over tomato plants

Potatoes and Bok Choy

Jalapenos

First tomatoes on the new crop-Honeycomb

A couple tomatoes on last year's tomato plant

I had another pear graft leaf out today. This one a Bosc. And a row of red tipped lettuce finally sprouted. Cold day here; only 45° F. I over did the down tree cleanup. Need to take a break.

Planted some late lettuce seeds today, the early plants are almost picking size. Will need to water the gardens tomorrow, back up in the 80's by Weds/Thurs and we could use a good deep soaking. The Snap beans are popping up now and I planted the squash seeds yesterday. It may turn cooler next week but if not too cool I'll plant the early corn and the sweet potato slips. The blueberry blooms have mostly dropped and it looks like a good year for the berries. No more sign of fire blight on the pear trees so hoping that's over.

Congrats, John!

Richard - Your jungle looks very healthy.

I picked quite a bit of asparagus today that I will cook for my grandson when he comes for dinner this Wednesday. Last time he had it he ate almost all that was served. He loved it!

Worked on cleaning up this years potato patch.

The Golden Russet apple from my "cider collection" that was grafted 2 years ago has one blossom on it. And an Antonovka apple grafted 5? years ago has 3 clusters of lilac colored flowers near the tip of 3 of the 4 tallest branches on the bushy tree. Best news is that the Cox's Orange Pippin has some buds that have enough color to indicate they're flower buds. This is a multi grafted tree. all COP. with scions from a dying mature tree here and some from Fedco and possibly from the USDA at Geneva.

Edit as I almost forgot: The Bartlett pear that I drill grafted 5 weeks ago into the trunk about 6 inches above ground has leafed out.

Here's this morning pic as things progress. The recent early heat wave is forcing the spinach to bolt now. Will pick as much as I can to freeze before it's too bolty. The cabbages need the room to expand while the beets/carrots are growing fast too. The bush beans are up and I'll fill in any gaps today with new seed. The squash seed (far right row) should pop up any time now. Cooler temps are on the way next week with the lowest temp at nite around 42F. May get needed rain tomorrow, possibly 1 full inch.

vgkg - Are all the spinach generations bolting?

I spent two days grafting D'Anjou pear scions. Ordered 4 scions in early Jan for delivery in early March, received mid April (21) yesterday. Got 6 grafts out of the 4 scions. They were thick and dormant which I didn't expect this late. I think some may take.?

John, not all yet. I'd say about 20% of the fall planted spinach is bolting today showing a few pollen stalks and/or pointed leaves. I'm hoping that when the temps drop into the daily 60's Sunday thru Thurs (with a good soaking on Sat, fingers crossed) that will slow the bolting process. Even the spinach seed I planted around Mar 1st (to fill in fall gaps) is near bolting now. From the 3 rows I planted in the fall It looks like the row planted around Nov 5th is the best timing for my area. Planting spinach seed in the fall here does increase the Spring harvest time from March 1st to almost May 1st (if the temps don't get too hot too fast).

The good news is that my 2 cheatin' tomato plants have their first clusters in full bloom now. I also planted 3 rows of sweet potatoes today, just 3 short rows for a total of 9 SP plants. That should be enough SPs with a couple of extra rows from buried vines once they spread out. Before it rains tomorrow (1.5" Please ;-) I'll plant the first corn plot and a few younger tomato plants.

Weather . com did have a frost advisory up for us for Monday night. They have since taken it down but I wouldn't be surprised to see it come back.

I just now finished potting up my tomato seedlings. This is probably our last warm day for the next two weeks if predictions hold.

Rain chances for tomorrow are looking pretty good (100%). We haven't had a decent rain in over two weeks.

It's been raining for about 45 minutes so far and there's more on the way. There's also a severe t-storm watch for this afternoon. It's a wait and see day.

John, bump up that 20% to 60% bolting this morning, Friday's 89F made the spinach bolting explode. Cindy, we got 3/4" rain yesterday which was good, good enough to at least tamper down the pollen, nothing violent. I'll be planting most of the tomato & pepper plants today, this week's highs will be in the upper 60's with low 40's at night.

vgkg - I read years ago that tomato plants can have tissue damage when temps are below 50 degrees for any length of time. Forecasts for this area predict that that will not be happening here until Friday, May 5.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/night-temperature-tomatoes-76197.html

We ended up with just over one half inch of rain.

Yep temps above 50F would be ideal and I'll be gambling with some set back for sure, but these need to get into the ground now. Soil temp is good and the lowest nite temp here is predicted to be 42F on Tues morning with mid-upper 40's the rest of the week. These younger tomato plants don't have any buds yet so they may not bloom until early/mid May. Looks like I'll be pulling up a lot of bolting spinach this week > straight to the compost pile with some for the hen too.

I have my early sweet corn under a visqueen tent for 3 or 4 days....cold at night. Tomorrow I plan to set out 25 Albion day neutral strawberries. I have broccoli and cauliflower that need setting out too.

I usually use Mother's Day as my plant out date. This year it is a little late so I might go with the week before.

This year Mothers Day aligns with my early set out date for tomatoes; because MD is late. But before I make a final decision I take a look at the weather for the next week. I need a bunch of Slurpee sized cups for my tomato seedlings for potting up.

Mission accomplished, got the tomatoes and peppers in the ground. Looks like 2 nites this week will drop to 43/44F briefly here but rebounding quickly after dawn. The last items to plant will be the cukes, melons, and 1st corn but those won't go in the ground until nite temps are stable above 50F. Removed a few more fire blighted stems from one pear tree, that stuff can sneak up on a tree quickly.

The apples are setting fruit now and the blueberries are green and plumping up. Just one more spinach picking and those 3 bolting rows will be yanked. The broccoli and cabbage plants are growing large and leafy but no heads are forming yet, it's a good sign that the broccoli will not button-up.

Our low last night was 41 here.

Tonight's low is predicted to be 38. Brrrrrrrrrr.

It's 46 here at almost noon and we had pea and mostly smaller hail about an hour ago.

It rained a little over 2 inches yesterday-50s at night and 80s during the day-pretty much everyday. These cooler temperatures at night make for great blooming-getting more tomatoes on the vine everyday-squash is just starting to produce females-hopefully I can get a few fertilized by hand since the bees are basically gone (haven't seen a single bee this year). Cindy, I hope it warms up for you.

Me too, Richard.

At least it's not snow. It's snowing in Michigan!

After a low of 42F last night the tomato plants seem to be ok, all but one. When inspecting them this morning I saw where one plant was lying over on it's side on the ground. Arrrg, come to discover it was a cut worm when I removed the top surface of the soil, it ended up as a snack for our hen. I have a few back-up plants for this type of situation. Nite temps will slowly trend to warming up now and more rain is predicted in the coming days.

I also pulled out about 80% of the spinach that had already bolted after picking a huge load to freeze. the remaining 20% should give us some more for fresh cooking at least for another week. Below are before & after pics of the 3 rows...

This will give the rows of carrots, beets, cabbages, and emerging snap beans some room to breath. In another 50-60 days or so all of these crops will be harvested and removed to give room to the watermelon vines that will spread over the entire plot.

It is interesting to see gardens with veggies growing so well. We had snow on our yard and garden this morning. I do have some large pots with snow peas, spinach, and chard that I've been hauling in and out most days. Last year's kale survived and is sending up lots of flower stalks. I snap them off every couple of days. They are a bit like broccolini. I love the taste and that I have something fresh from the garden. I pulled off some rhubarb. No asparagus has shown up yet. I expect it in the next week or two. The garlic has come in nicely. I need patience, patience, patience, and to not look at more southern garden pictures tooooo much at this time of year.

Just got notice today that the community garden plots are opening tomorrow! But I'll be working Saturday and Sunday, so I may only have time to cover the ground in Weed Block fabric Saturday evening or Sunday morning, then start planting next week. I have had no luck this year starting sweet pepper seedlings inside. Low germination and those that did didn't advance beyond 2 leaves. Tomatos started from some dried up cherry tomatos are doing OK. Beautiful weather 2 weeks ago in suburbs of Chicago, followed by two weeks where nighttime temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s, including a night earlier this week where ice formed on water in bucket. Thinking about starting some zucchini, watermelon and cucumber plants inside next week, and direct sowing some, and comparing what happens.

We are finally getting a decent rain but it's coming with a "gale warning" until 1am Saturday. Right now it's just a nice steady rain and we really need it. Looks like the worst of it will be out of here by 3 or 4 pm this afternoon.

How about you, vgkg?

Greetings all ,

Back from 10 days in San Diego where it was cold.

Oops that comment got away from me. Finally in a warming trend here south of Seattle

Having a bit of challenge with my phone! So I'm itching to get things into the ground but it is still not warm enough for tomatoes or peppers. The Fava Beans I planted in October are finally blooming and will soon have pods. They took too long to get this far so will need to stall my dahlia planting for this row. Got some shallot seedlings into the ground yesterday.

Mallory - I would predict that the zucchini and cuke plants you start indoors will be indistinguishable from those you direct seed. I'll take a pass on watermelon predictions.

Good luck with your gardening.

Cindy it's been raining here for about the past 12 hours for a grand total of 2.25". Like you we really needed it and the ground has soaked it up with ease. Sat will be dry for a brief break before getting more rain on Sunday at maybe another inch. Nothing violent here, no high winds or lightning, this should end the pollen season for the most part. The week ahead looks coolish with the lowest temp predicted at 44F by Weds morning, otherwise sunny with daily highs around 70. The garden is very happy today.

Getting lots of bok choy and jalapenos now. Bok Choy has got to be the easiest thing on earth to grow and it works in most Chinese dishes or most places as a celery substitute

I got nearly an inch of rain...don't want more. It's mostly a fight a lot of the time to dry out in the spring.

I planted watermelons today....inside.

We ended up with approximately one and three quarters inch of rain yesterday. Today it's still cloudy but it's not raining - at the moment. Tomorrow is supposed to be like yesterday, rain wise. Temps are still too cool to put my plants outside.

It's soup weather again.

After a gloomy morning the sun came out and temp hit upper 70's. I spotted my first couple of baby tomatoes forming on my 2 cheating tomato plants, they are blooming like crazy now. I should know soon if they suffered catfacing from the recent cold nights.

Wayne, I'll be planting my last 6 Gold Strike melon seeds soon, I hope Wilhite resumes selling them next year.

I got mixed results with Gold Strike...extra delicious and so-so. Perhaps it is one of those few that must have extra hot weather?

Time for Veggie Tales May 2023?

I got some tomatoes and got them in the ground yesterday. 12 in total. I buy them in small "six-packs." Bought 4 6-packs and split them with my neighbor. So we each got 3 San Marzano, 3 Cherry, 3 Cherokee Purple, and 3 Brandywine.

We had a high temp of 85 recently but now back down we'll have a high of only 60 on Tues and low only 42!

We don't have consistently warm temps so things are always slow.

On another post I explained how I experimented with old Okra seeds from my garden 2 or 3 years ago... and they all sprouted. I hadn't planned on having Okra this year, but now have 5 big pots with sprouted seeds. It's been cooler than normal, so it will be interesting to see if they continue to grow. I guess the experiment continues.

Michael - Veggie Tales - May is here and has been since May started.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6369289/veggie-tales-may-2023#n=20

Michael, we too are having strange May weather: it was cold all Spring; got into the 90s; dropped to 60s and low 70s; and now this weekend is suppose to be in the 90s... again. This up and down is more typical of our March. Weird year!