Whos into home grown

[Fordtech86]

Any one up for a garden thread?

Getting ready here, ground is still too wet to work though.

Got tomato’s started, had to replant my pepper plants so they are a little behind. Got about 40 pounds of taters to put in.

We always do lots of cucumbers too, kids love the homemade pickles.

Strawberry patch didn’t survive last year, will be replanting that.

Also do most other common veggies.

 

[Moose7060]

Too bad about your Strawberries. Are your tomatoes under a grow light? Looks like purple light.
My strawberries for the most part survived, need to replace about 1/4. Will be doing tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse near the end of the month. Raspberries looking good, will be planting the garden may long weekend and the wife wants 2 apple and 2 cherry trees planted soon.
Good luck with your crop.

 

[Fordtech86]

Are your tomatoes under a grow light? Looks like purple light.

yes on the grow lights, I am hoping to get a greenhouse built one of these days though.

We had a pretty hard drought last year, had a lot of stuff going on and couldn’t keep up with the watering on the strawberries.

 

[MOOTS]

We are doing one again. Haven’t even pulled up last years poles or fence yet. Been slacking.

 

[OntheRidge]

We had a terrible problem with the darned spotted lanternflies on our cukes last year. Miss my winter pickle supply!

 

[Fordtech86]

Miss my winter pickle supply!

ha! My kids ate our stash before November we going to at least double the plants this year.

 

[Fordtech86]

Saw this and thought it was a good idea for some.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

We are not quite as far along. We have 2” rain forcasted tonight and tomorrow and then some snow on Wednesday. But we are getting ready for the garden.

Since we had a warm spell the garlic is up and doing well…I just side dressed it before last bit of rain. Rhubarb is just coming up. I’ve got my cache experiments that look good…wheat and rye…the rye will get turned over real soon as green manure. And then just this last week we brought first batch of seedlings from under the lights in basement out to the greenhouse…we’ll keep that up every couple weeks.

it’s still pretty early here with chance for frost so we won’t take the greenhouse goodies outside for a while…we are sort of in the seed starting phase now. When the morels start popping it’s go time.

The bees are keeping busy on sunny days and bringing in the pollen and nectar already, so we are close. It’s still cold here though and a lot of days they can’t really go out so the winter candy board is still in use and we are giving them some pollen patties as well…and they have been working on it the past couple weeks.

If I can get the tiller out to use yet this month I’ll feel like I am not (yet) behind for the year…that’s a big if for us.

We had snow at the place up north 2 weeks ago so no chance to till or plant potatoes up there either…that will be May if soil gets dried out.

 

[RCW]

Ford - plants look great. Good bunch of them!

We had a big garden years ago. Wife’s Italian uncle gave us a flat of tomatoes, said it was a mix of Roma, beefsteak, etc…..

EVERY ONE of those tomatoes were cherry tomatoes!!! I could pick a 5-gallon bucket almost every day! Ran them through the food processor and froze them.

 

[Fordtech86]

The bees

I wanted to get into bees this year, but I ended up using that money for another hobby I didn’t need . I do have a co worker though that does them though, so we just trade eggs for honey.

Working full time still and the kids keep us fairly busy as well, son is on rifle and archery teams, daughter does competitive cheer so it makes it a challenge some times to keep up. They do love to garden though (because they get to drive the kubota ), my son also shows chickens for 4H.

 

[Fordtech86]

EVERY ONE of those tomatoes were cherry tomatoes!!!

that’s funny

Good bunch of them!

I didn’t count when I moved them into the bigger containers this weekend, my starter trays hold 72 seed pellets, had 2 trays for tomato’s, there was maybe a dozen or so that didn’t germinate, but there is 130 something. The trays they are in now each got 32 plants, but the last tray does have a few peppers from my first attempt at them. Have another tray of pepper started too.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I wanted to get into bees this year, but I ended up using that money for another hobby I didn’t need . I do have a co worker though that does them though, so we just trade eggs for honey.

Working full time still and the kids keep us fairly busy as well, son is on rifle and archery teams, daughter does competitive cheer so it makes it a challenge some times to keep up. They do love to garden though (because they get to drive the kubota ), my son also shows chickens for 4H.

Keep up the good work! It’s not a bad thing for kids to learn where food comes from and have an active role in finding / harvesting / growing it. Come to think of it, that would actually solve a lot of problems for some adults too.

 

[fried1765]

yes on the grow lights, I am hoping to get a greenhouse built one of these days though.

We had a pretty hard drought last year, had a lot of stuff going on and couldn’t keep up with the watering on the strawberries.

You should strongly consider a poly "hoop" greenhouse!
A LOT of bang for the buck!

Many years ago, my dad and I built a small frame/glass greenhouse.
It required maintenance every year!

I then bought a 17' x 50' galv. steel frame hoop greenhouse.
Best plan ever.
I used a double layer of ploy, with a small inflator fan, and it stayed naturally warm until December.
I bought a large propane unit heater, and a vent fan, and could keep it warm as needed.

Poly lasts 5+ years before needing replacement.

 

[Fordtech86]

You should strongly consider a poly "hoop" greenhouse!
A LOT of bang for the buck!

I will, thanks for sharing that!

 

[Henro]

I had a different image in my mind when I read “home grown.”

I’ve preferred beer for the last 50 years…just an aside…

I may have tried homegrown once. I kind of remember that, but I don’t have a green thumb, so that quickly ended…

 

[Fordtech86]

I’ve preferred beer for the last 50 years…just an aside…

Im not here to judge

but on a side note, home brewing is on my bucket list

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Im not here to judge

but on a side note, home brewing is on my bucket list

Not to hi jack your garden thread, but I make syrup from black walnut sap (similar sugar content as sugar maples)…anyway my buddy from work is home brewer / wine maker, he watered down and fermented our syrup into what would be similar to a maple liquor…it was outstanding. If you have honey, or syrup, or fruit, and know someone knowledgeable you can create some really interesting sipping ‘juice’ from some of the excess spoils. Happy experimenting!

 

[Fordtech86]

Not to hi jack your garden thread,

Hi jack away stuff like this is what I hoped to pick up from this thread

 

[Henro]

Home brewing is a rewarding endeavor. I still have my brewery in the basement. Got into it big time. Have not brewed for ages though.

Also have 25 gallons of mead I made 25 years ago aging…made from honey, similar to a wine. Not sure why I made it as I don’t drink wine…LOL

They say mead gets better with age…should taste it one of these days…15 years ago it was quite nice.

For the youngsters, that probably sounds like a lifetime…LOL…but true!

 

[Fordtech86]

15 years ago it was quite nice.

For the youngsters, that probably sounds like a lifetime

I was barely old enough to buy beer 15 years ago, legally anyways

Home brewing is a rewarding endeavor. I still have my brewery in the basement. Got into it big time. Have not brewed for ages though.

maybe we can motivate you with this thread to dig that stuff out

I would love to see your set up and operation.