2023 Gardening Thread

Nothing happening with the seeds. I check every day but with night temps near freezing it's not getting warm enough during the day yet.

I planted sugar snap peas outside on Saturday. Monday night we had cold rain and light snow, so I don't expect those up anytime soon either. Some of the onions are peeking up and the garlic and strawberries look good.

Went to the community garden to get early spring plants. First day of sale was last Friday and I have not been able to get there. Today they were sold out of everything but cabbage. Very disappointed. They are supposed to have strawberries and asparagus on Friday and I will miss that, too. There was a huge line anyway, so I did not stay to get more seed or ask about straw. I'll just go to the hardware store.

My hyacinth are blooming, and this is not a great angle, but they smell heavenly. I usually get a new one every year, but did not see any this winter.

Redspruce I don't fertilize seedlings beyond using fresh good quality starting mix. I may use Miraclegro (mixed from blue crystals) once the individual plants have gotten larger, if they need it. Out in the garden they get composted chicken manure, and sometimes I make manure tea from a handful of dried pellets and a jug of water, for the house plants on the deck.

Look what happened over night! I watered a bit around dinner last night and these were not there!



That is my test chard, I put 2 in each pot and 3 came up!

Hikr, I love the smell of fresh basil. They say it's going to get into the 80's later this week, so I guess it is time to get that planted.

And I just noticed one of my shishito peppers has finally come up!

Edit: our ~30 mins of yard work is done. Didn't take much to get us both out of breath. I'm focusing on cleaning up the east side of the house, it has the day lily bed, the giant lilac tree, and the honeysuckle invasion. The area's been ignored for a couple of years. Last year we put up trellis to give the back deck some privacy. Today I raked out about half the flower bed, including windblown trash. It made a big pile with the leaves that collected against the fence over the winter. An ongoing problem. DH has tried to grow grass there but too many leaves collect.

DH collected some of the leaves and moved them to the compost bin. I couldn't find the clippers to remove invasive vines and trees, so I switched to cleaning the driveway of accumulated debris along the edges, something else we haven't done in a few years. There's a 6" wide layer of dirt (with stuff growing in it) along each side. Between the maple trees, leaves, and a sloped yard it's anther ongoing problem.

I've never heard of apple mint, but from what google says it's just another variety in the mint family.

Planted my bargain strawberries today. I got 6 to fill in holes in the raised bed (on right). Garlic and overflowing strawberries fill my brick pathway and spill into the garden on both sides of the decorative urn. There's onions in there, too. On the far left the raised bed has spinach(not doing well), peas (a few are up) and lettuce (which you can see). There's also a brown row in the straw which is swiss chard. We also have a bountiful crop of dandelion puffballs, since the yard hasn't been mowed, and you can see shade on the back half of the garden is already an issue.



DH and I stopped after dinner today and looked at plants. He spotted a clearance rack at the back of the nursery and I got several "distressed" annuals for my flower pots. The only thing wrong with them is the blooms have faded.

Not a lot going on in the past week. I watered the garden a couple times because it's been dry. Out of the whole row I think I got 3 spinach seedlings, and the swiss chard isn't looking much better. I love chard.

Today I went to the community garden. They were out of a lot of stuff, as expected. No basil, for example, or ground cherries (which I have never managed to get there). I did get 2 Sungold tomato plants, and a sweet pepper plant, and several herbs like rosemary and chives, and two 3-packs of swiss chard to add to my row. They sold me straw, but when I got my car around to the back of the building the trailer was empty. So I had to go back for a refund. I'll get it from a hardware store, it's about the same price.

Of the 9 tomatoes I seeded 8 are doing well. One is just failing to grow leaves. It's still a little too cold to plant. Cucumbers doing well and are ready to go into the ground, but will probably get bigger pots for now. Pepper seedling not happy but hanging in there (a little cold for them). Same with the thai basil. I guess I need to plant my own italian basil this year.

@RedSpruce it's hit or miss every year, and they are increasingly popular. They were out of lettuce seed, too. I've been 3 times this spring and they have been out if it every time. I was only able to plant mine last month because I had some left from last year. To be fair to the organization, I have little to complain about. The lowest income families get first pick of everything, and I can afford seed and straw if I need to buy it. I'll be stopping by tomorrow to see if anything is restocked, especially ground cherries. They go fast and I've never gotten any.

I've got 2 rows of peas and one is up and the other isn't. Same envelope of seed, planted on the same day in the same bed. 🙄

Anyway, I looked and it seems I have more chard coming up, but it is teeny-tiny. The ground is bone dry and dusty, I need to water this evening. Planted my 6 new chard plants, they were pot-bound and needed to go in. They'll be ok in the 50F temps we have overnight right now. No luck on the spinach, so I threw down more seed and watered it in.

Dug up a few dandelions. Hoping we get rain on Thurs. It's easier to get them out when the ground is wet.

Planning to go looking for straw tomorrow. Weeds are coming up and I need to get it down. It may take several days, though.

EmilyB said:

What vegetables/herbs can withstand high sun/wind?
When is the right time to plant for each season?
Should I move my garden location or persevere one more time?

Click to expand...

If you were in the US I would say check with your local agricultural extension office, which is a government organization that promotes farming and research. I don't know what your local equivalent would be.

With enough money and care anything can be made to grow anywhere. What are your neighbors growing? Is there a garden club in your area? There are undoubtedly garden growing guides for your country, check a library or look online for some advice for your region. Here is one example: https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/vegie-guide-zones/9796680

Typically there are two planting seasons, one in the spring and one in late summer or fall, depending on your climate. We are in mid spring here in the US and I am guessing that puts you in mid fall. It's hard to give specific advice because I don't know your daily high and low temperatures, but plants like a certain range. So I've started plants that can withstand cold nights and a bit of frost. Won't plant the things that need hot weather for a few weeks yet. You'll be wanting to start things that will survive the coming cooler weather, even though it may be quite warm now.

Seedlings are like babies. They need constant care and feeding. You cannot leave them alone and expect them to thrive.