2015: Vegetable Garden Reports Post Here

[JohnyMac]

I just planted my tomato and potato seeds (TPS) inside. The trays are sitting on electric mats and in a south facing slider window/door.

Next week will be:
Inside
Broccoli
Cabbage
Egg plant
Peppers
Sweet Potato's
Yams

Outside
Sugar pea's
Sugar Snaps
Rosemary

Soon as my plants start to sprout I will put them under a sun lamp this year.

What are you up to?

[brat]

Just finished setting up heat and grow lights yesterday. Sorted seeds. All electrical is run and timers set. Trays loaded later today and well, seeds won't go in till Sunday. Built five more raised bed boxes, three potato bins, cold frame and five trellises this week. 

My garden's about half acre, so I use a planner and it helps with layout and supplies. Plant list is attached, but it only shows initial plants, not staggered planting/replants and such. Unfortunately, it also limits plant list on size of area, like strawberries for example. It shows only a few plants, but the planting area is actually tiered, so there's about eighteen plants. It don't figure in vertical either, like potatoes. There's four plants per box that'll go vertical four feet. Oh well, it'll give you an idea anyway.......

[JohnyMac]

I use a similar planner that I developed. See attached.

My garden is under 18" of snow and the temp will be -5 tonight. I am chafing at the bit to get started. I also need the spring to come so I can loose the 20#'s I put on this winter 
 

[brat]

This ones for you Jmac. Haven't been in for a few days, been busy. But I'm gonna take a couple of weeks off now that the first planting is in and the "irritation" lines are up and running. 2nd planting in about two weeks, 3rd about two weeks after that.

Garden is a half acre and is divided in three sections of 30 foot rows. 56 rows total after taking out for 5 six foot maintenance rows and new raised beds.

1st planting was:

4 rows Silver Queen corn (4 rows 2nd, 4 rows 3rd planting)
1 row Harvester beans (1 row 2nd)
2 rows Contender beans (1 row 2nd, 1 row 3rd planting)
4 rows Pintos
1 row Purple top turnips
1 row Clemson okra  (1 row 2nd, 1 row 3rd planting)
2 rows Straight neck squash (2 rows 2nd planting)
1 row bush Sugar Baby watermelons
6 rows Beauregard sweet potatoes
2 rows Waltham Butternut squash
1 row Albanian cucumbers (1 row 2nd planting)
2 rows tomatoes and 4 new 4X4 raised beds for tomatoes
    (Early pick, Independence, Sweet Heart, Riper Poke, Best Boy, Better boy and Early Girl)

Took your advice from last year and built 3 potato boxes where I put in Kennebec, Red Pontiac and Yukons. We'll see which does best and go all in on that one next year. Already added four boards and you can almost hear them growing at night.


4X8 Raised beds:

Short and Sweet carrots
Bonnie Hybrid cabbage
Red cabbage
Georgia white onions
Texas super sweet onions
Sweet red onions
Asparagus


For dessert:
2- 100 foot rows of Triple Crown blackberries
Raised bed of Raspberries
Raised bed of Quinault strawberries

I won't even go into the peaches, pears, apples and grapes. Bagged apples all day Tuesday. After using 300 bags, I decided to let the rest go it on their own.
 
and as they say.......e i e i o.

[JohnyMac]

Holly crap, it sure pays to live south of the MD line. This is what I have in so far:

Raised Beds
Lettuce, Dill
Mesclun, Cilantro
Radishes, Rose Mary seedling)
Arugula, Broccoli Seedlings)
Carrots, Cabbage Seedling's)
Swiss chard, Snap peas
Pole Peas, Blk Eye Peas
Wax beans

Field
Corn (Popping corn as sweet corn around here is CHEAP)
Tomatoes (Purple Cherokee & Brandy Wine)
Onions (Spanish bulbs)
Bush beans
Lima beans.

Still have to plant:

Roma tomato's, cucumbers (Salad & Pickling), Basil, Assorted melons, summer and winter squash, zucchini, watermelon, pumpkins, potatoes (From seed), Peppers (Hot & Sweet), rutabagas and turnips.

The softer seedlings, e.g. peppers, melons, cumbers, etc. will be planted post Memorial Day weekend. Pictures to come later as things start growing. 
   

[JohnyMac]

Well I planted the pepper seedling's Sunday, 36 Roma tomato seedling's and 150 onion sets. We did have a frost last Wednesday night/Thursday morning however the Tomato plants came through like troopers.

This Wed/Thurs temps are supposed to get down to ~40 degrees F so up on the mountain we will probably see ~5 degrees less or 34-36 degrees F. Once Thurs passes it will be clear sailing and I can get the softer seedling's in the soil.

Which means:
> Melons*, (* = Question below)
> Cucumbers,
> Summer & winter squash, and
> Potatoes.
Then I will plant in my last raised bed a second crop of carrots, lettuce, swiss chard and radishes.

Once my first raised bed gives up it's harvest I will plant rutabaga and turnip seed in it.

 *= I have never successfully planted melons as yet. I have done a lot of reading about growing melons in the
      north and this is my plan. I am hoping some folks on this forum can give me a thumbs up on my strategy or
      offer some enhancements to me plan.

      I have heavily manuered/composted 3' x 12' beds and covered with black gardening screen. This is to keep
      the ground warm (Above 70 degrees F) and moisture in between watering. The seedling's will be planted 3'
      apart in the black gardening screen - So eight plants per section. Everything will be planted in a remote part of
      my garden so there will be no need for me to go there and potentially step on vines.

Thoughts?

Once I get everything in I will post some pictures. :-)

It looks like brat and i are the only ones working on their Victory Garden this year as nobody else is playing.   
     

[JohnyMac]

With our last frost last Saturday done with it looks like clear sailing here at the redoubt; I planted my melon and summer squash seedling's yesterday (5/25/15). The winter squash and cucumbers are going in today.

Friday night found me spreading tarps over everything that was planted. Then Saturday found me pulling the tarps off the seedlings. The goal was to not destroy the plants as I took the tarps off. I was 100% successful. 

I am pooped and kind of burned out on the garden at the moment; however I know that feeling will be replaced with pride as things grow and I start harvesting.

Now will start fire wood gathering time. Oh boy 

[JohnyMac]

Friday I harvested my first veggies from our garden. Green leaf lettuce and radishes.

Everything I harvest this year I am keeping records on.
> Date of harvest/ Reseeding
> Qty (pounds and ounces)
> What we did with it, e.g. eat, can or give away.

Sounds kind of anal however I am trying to see what our garden will produce. The goal is to produce 80% of our yearly veggie needs for two people.

On another note: I have had to replant my Lima and Bush beans. I do not know why they are not coming up. A friend suggested I planted the seeds when it was too cold yet. Once the rainy weather passes today, I will be planting them for the THIRD TIME! 

Brat... it seems like we are the only folks on a forum of over 450 folks who planted a garden this year. 

[Kbop]

sweet corn, pumpkins, sunflowers beans and blue potato's are doing nicely.

[JohnyMac]

Awesome Kbop! 

[Kbop]

my potato cage experiment is working well.  I have learned that next time I need to plant my seed potatoes closer to the edge of the cage in the lower levels - I should also make the cage slightly smaller.  my current cage is 5' high and 3' wide.  the height is good but I think next time i'll make it 2.5' wide.  the potatoes in the cage are now blooming and the blue potatoes are doing the best so far.  I'll know more when the plants start to die back later this season and I harvest.  Next year I may try ginger on the top tier and potatoes in the lower tiers.

The hay bail garden is ok and I can see where it might work for special circumstances but it isn't as fertile as raised beds.  having said that the pumpkins and beans are growing fast.

[JohnyMac]

Great report Kbop! 

I haven't seen my garden in two weeks now and have no idea how it is doing. I too am trying out a new potato growing apparatus. I will share my story when I get back complete with pictures.

If you get a free minute...It would be cool if you would show some pics.

[brat]

I've been picking early green beans now for about three weeks. Lates are just stating to bear. I've canned 9 pints, given away about three pints worth raw and we've eaten about six meals with them. Of the two varieties, harvester and contender, contender has out produced four to one. So it's gonna be a keeper.

Squash has been coming in about two weeks. Rain and straight line winds have taken out 13 plants. Have six early that survived and are still producing, 8 are getting their first blooms and 5 are late and broke ground in the last two weeks.

Early okra is getting it's first pods. Two late rows are about 12 inches.

Straight lines winds in two different storms laid down my corn. After getting it back up, I built a 100 foot wind screen with some old landscaping cloth for the north and west sides of the rows. Cut some vent flaps about every foot or so and since then have survived the latest two storms with no damage. Early corn has tasseled and making. Mid corn about three foot and late about foot and a half.

Zucchini blooming, first cukes picked yesterday. Onions, cabbage and carrots have been harvested and boxes replanted. Winter squash is abundant, but weeks from harvest.

Turnips harvested and replanted.

First peaches are in. Canned some pickled and made up three bags for cobbler. Last peaches are turning and should be ready in a week or so. Planted three more peach trees last week that were propagated from cuttings taken this past spring from green wood.

So far I've got 5 gallons of blackberries in and gotta pick later today. Started another 100 ft. row from cuttings and transplants.

I've bagged 300 apples, the rest gotta fend for themselves. Still a couple of months out.

Grapes are heavy this year due to rains. Looks about a bushel and a half. Most excited about my 12 new vines that I propagated from cuttings taken last winter. They're in the ground now and growing nicely, about 18-24 inches tall.

Sweet potatoes running but haven't bloomed. White potatoes have already started to die out. Guess I'll have to lay over those boxes and see if any made when I can get a round to it.

Tomatoes are running full bore. I'm canning tomatoes and turnips today.

oh yeah......... eieio

[JohnyMac]

Wow brat you are WAY ahead of me in the frozen tundra.

Before I left the cabin/garden I had harvested 20 ounces of leaf lettuce, some sugar snap peas and radishes. Replanted some more lettuce and radish seeds along with peas and beans for a late season harvest. One entire raised bed I dedicated to rutabagas for early fall harvest.

When I left about 1/4 of my tomatoes had flowers along with my summer squash and zucchini. Corn (pop corn) was just short of knee height. I lost about 1/4 of my melon harvest to some nasty rain a couple of nights before we left.

Last, literally the night before we left I planted my potato seed in my newfangled potato boxes - Report and pic's to follow when I get back there. 

All in all I would say you are about 4 weeks ahead of me. 

[Kbop]

Here you go JohnnyMac;

the potato cage - only about a dozen plants are peaking out around the sides.  Lesson learned.

[JohnyMac]

Looks GREAT Kbop!

I am really interested to hear how much potatoes that will produce. Where did you get the idea?

[Kbop]

sorry in advance for the wordy reply;
I like trying new things.  I tinker and putter about.
- if you want to judge my level of gardening skill.  I've gotten Plumeria (frangipani) to bloom indoors in MD, USA.  Same for Sambac Jasmine - grown in my office and used in my tea.  I like hydroponics and have been trying various forms of that for several years - I'm really interested in how thedigininja's trial works out.

this year I'm trying a straw bale garden - I heard about that during an online symposium - "Home Grown Food Summit" sponsored by http://growyourowngroceries.org/.  it was a free e-symposia.  There were several interesting and good ideas.  http://homegrownfoodsummit.com/ has more info.

I'm also trying to grow potatoes - I'm pretty new to that.  I was also looking into growing ginger during the summer and in a green house - I've grown that before.  while looking up growing ginger, I ran across a potato cage/tower on the intewebs.  I discarded the tower idea - too many negative results on line.  The cage idea makes sense and had some good positive results.  I found a couple of videos and it looked better than ripping up the soil , hilling and planting. 

[JohnyMac]

Thanks for the links Kbop!

[Kbop]

hay bale experiment worked but not as good as the raised beds.  it didn't keep the weeds out - maybe too many birds where I live.

the potato cage - worked but could be much better.
design this year 3'/1 meter tall and 3'/1 meter in diameter.  layer of straw (one leaf) then 6" of dirt and a layer of seed potatoes 6" of dirt and another layer of straw.  there is a layer of straw all around the outside to keep the dirt in and hold water.  (there is a pic below of the cage).
results - see the pic below. the bottom layer didn't produce.  the soil and straw on the lowest layer compacted too much.  I'm thinking of making the cage one or two feet high and 3' wide next year and trying one or two layers only.  I need to plant the seed potatoes or cuts on closer to the edge of the straw so the runners will find the light.  The blue potatoes aren't heavy producers and I got about 5 pounds of potatoes and used about 1 pound of seed potatoes - not a good return for the variety but I think I can double that next year.

here is what I got from the top two layers.

[JohnyMac]

Awesome Kbop!

My garden was a bust this year. It was because I was gone from the cabin for 5 weeks between mid June and the end of July.

The weeds took over. I did my best to save what I had but by yield dropped by an estimated 2/3's.

With that written my summer & winter squash is doing GREAT! I used the black ground cover for those. Note to diary. Buy a big ass roll of that for next year.

I have done some research on a winter cover crop. I spoke with a lady at Penn State University Ag department and she convinced me to plow around Oct 1 then spread winter rye over the garden. Then in April 2016 to plow the rye under.

She claimed it puts a lot of nitrogen back into the soil, and the now mulch, helps to keep weeds in check.

So I went to the local feed store and bought 12 pounds of "winter cover crop rye". While I was there several ladies were there doing the exact same thing as I was doing. All of them had been using cover crops for years and had been getting great results.

The ladies told me to stay away from red clover. Although red clover gives you excellent results, the deer love it. And if the deer know your garden is covered with red clover you are training them to visit your garden.   

[Nemo]

Clover might be good idea for turkey day doings.  And would plowing under in March let the deer know its not worth visiting anymore?

Nemo

[brat]

Jmac, sorry to hear about your garden. On the flip side, I'm so tired of canning I've already started breaking down for fall. I still have tomatoes and okra. Tomatoes should be gone by next week. Got more jars over the weekend to make green tomato salsa. Already stocked for the winter for chow-chow, pickles, beans, corn, etc..

My only problem this year was potatoes. Built three of those boxes to grow verticle, but still ended up less than
15 pounds vs 3 bushels of sweet potatoes. Everything else was bumper. Planted carrots, spinach, lettuce and some cabbage last week.

I've never not used a cover crop. I use hairy vetch and mix in some winter wheat and crimson clover. You might revisit our previous conversation for fall....

http://unchainedpreppers.com/forum/sustenance/fall-garden-prep-for-the-spring/msg57306/#msg57306

I would not be afraid to use clover just because of the deer. They are easily controlled. As much as they like the tops of my sweet potatoes, I've never had a problem stopping them with pepper wax spray. One or two bites and they never come back. I have about 8-10 resident deer on my property, see them most every morning. If you ever wanted or needed the meat, there's a lot to be said for them coming to my yard/garden vs. me having to have to go to them in woods. At my age, the benefits of me dragging a kill across the yard vs. out of the woods somewhere and loading on a vehicle, etc. etc. are just to much to pass up. I have more problems with raccoons and possums anyway. They got a lot of my apples and some sweet corn this year, but they won't next year unless they told their offspring where to eat before I shot them. The deer don't like blood meal and I use that to keep them away from the orchard.

Next year you might want to look into Treflan (or generic equal). I've been using it for many years and usually only takes about two applications for the season. I use it in between the rows and never have to till and rarely hoe. I do weed around the crops after irrigation when the ground is soft and usually only while harvesting. I use saved up leaves to mulch on top of the Treflan and they break down over the season adding to the soil. Plus gives me something to walk on after rain. It's a little more work during the spring, but I'm more motivated then anyway. The trade off is less work during the summer heat and that time is used canning. Treflan is a preemergent, so naturally if you sow seeds, they need to be up prior to application. No problem if you use sets.  Treflan is cheap too at the co-op. Just don't pay the jacked up price for that Preen stuff, unless you need the shaker bottle. Yep, the active ingredient is the same. Buy in bulk bags and not the shaker cans.

BTW, got 5 gallons of grape wine in the carboy, plus 5 gallons of blackberry. Will be a couple of months before racking and bottling. Let you know sometime around Thanksgiving how it turns out. 

[JohnyMac]

Great stuff brat!

I too have been canning what I gotz plus a bit that I have purchased wholesale. Making red gravy today (Italian spaghetti sauce) today. We will be apple and pear picking this weekend. There are a shit-ton (Accounting term) of free apples around and on our property.

I still need to cann more green beans, summer squash and carrots then I will be done.

Next week I will start picking the winter squash to allow the skin to harden before I put in the root cellar.

On another not: Would love to try your wine.

BTW, got 5 gallons of grape wine in the carboy, plus 5 gallons of blackberry. Will be a couple of months before racking and bottling. Let you know sometime around Thanksgiving how it turns out. 

Maybe I will have to drive south and we could sample on your back porch. 

[Shadow]

On a finer note - my spring / summer was spent building a 5 element / 6 Meter ( 50 - 54 MHz. ) antenna and putting my tower back up in the air with the new beam antenna.

I managed to make 180 contacts this summer on 6 meters SSB from central - Western Pennsylvania.

It has to be a record for band conditions to be so poor, and to be able to work as many stations as I did.

I paid a friend $200 to pull the weeds from my garden while I tilled the soil July 10th.

I planted 36 tomato plants, a small row of lettuce, 2 rows of Kohlrabi and 1 row of Zucchini.

The feral cats attacked the garden edge where the lettuce and Kohlrabi were planted - not much production there.

The cats also attacked the tomato and green pepper plants.

The heat this summer - the hottest summer on record for my county, made the tomato and pepper plants lay over prematurely.  The light gentle rain yesterday perked up a lot of the plants.

I picked about a grocery bag full of lettuce so far and about 9 tomatoes.

My garden might be two months behind everyone else, but the heat this summer affected the crops of everyone that I spoke to.  So my theory is that if we can go 6 more weeks without a frost, my tomato crop may produce some and I have attempted to replant the kohlrabi and lettuce two times so far.

If I can get 36 green peppers from the 12 green pepper plants - I will have enough to make stuffed peppers and put them in the freezer.

I have been buying butter & sugar sweet corn for $3.00 a dozen, no reason to grow corn.

Plus - if something was to happen, there is no way to move a garden if you were on the run.
If you are a Prepper - you need to be mobile at a moments notice!

You can can as much as you please, but if you have no way to haul all that you have canned, there isn't a lot of good that food is going to do you if you do not have it to eat at your bug out location..

I think many of the forum members here aren't really Preppers - they are more like Homesteaders.
Like most other Prepper forums - they talk the talk - sometimes, but they can't walk the walk...

I may loose a little on my garden side of things, but what I have learned about propagation and using higher frequencies effectively is invaluable as far as my Emergency Communications goes...

I even went so far as to contact the Section Manager for my district and offer my services as a Emergency Communicator
( EC ) for my county.

[JohnyMac]

Mmmmm Shadow you wrote, "I think many of the forum members here aren't really Preppers - they are more like Homesteaders. Like most other Prepper forums - they talk the talk - sometimes, but they can't walk the walk..."

Oxford Dictionary
Definition of prepper in English:
noun
chiefly North American
A person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies: there’s no agreement among preppers about what disaster is most imminent whether you’re a doomsday prepper or simply like to be prepared, emergency foods should be kept on hand.

May I also share the definition of Homesteader

 

  n. A pioneer who goes and settles on a homestead.

    n. One who has entered upon a portion of the public land with the purpose of acquiring ownership of it under provisions of the homestead law, so called; one who has acquired a homestead in this manner.

    n. One who settles upon the public land, or acquires a residence under the Homestead Act.

    n. someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to it

Shadow, I disagree with your statement based on the a fore C&P (Copy & Paste) definition of "prepper" and then "homesteader".

I will not speak of others but will only share my situation with some PERSEC  in mind.

Due to MrsMac's physical condition, we can not BOG out. We had to find a location to be at when the SHTF. My brother and his family along with MrsMac and my help, have built quite a redoubt. The skills in carpentry, gardening, husbandry, fixing things rather than replacing them with endless funds, canning...Well you get the idea; has been priceless. Are the Mac's homesteaders or preppers...Well to be quite truthful I am proud to be called either.

MrsMac and I have been reading a lot of novels about homesteaders of late. The courage of the men and women who packed what they had into a wagon and then went west is remarkable. Where they preppers - No. To survive though, they did many of the things that we have done and with less.

Do my neighbors think that we will be safe in our castles if SHTF - Nope. We actively practice patrols and other offensive/defensive drills. If we loose what we have, the attacking marauders will find us in a pile of spent brass and our cabin razed to the ground. So their efforts will be for not.

Last Shadow, this Subject line was for reporting your 2015 vegetable garden reports not disrespecting forum members. I am proud to be called a homesteader, prepper, survivalist, or what ever. I am also proud of what my family has accomplished and am doing what I can do to protect them with what God has given me.