Gardening

msimon, you are lucky to be able to grow chives, cilantro and lettuce. I have tried several times and cannot grow any of those items. Good going for you!!

spazktck, I have done the same thing with string in the front of my cabin .... I did purple and white (shadow dance) morning glories, sweet peas (flowers) and pole beans. It was very cool looking with them all growing together!! Your idea of the peas is even better. I had scarlet runner beans which have bright orange flowers and the beans get very long. If you want to eat the beans, it is best to pick them when they 4" - 6" but they do grow very long. If you want to use the beans to plant again, let them grow long and you can plant the seeds inside the pod for next year. I got Hart Heritage variety scarlet runner beans. I still have some!!

>>> There are also some tall nasturtiums that grow pretty high that I mixed in with some morning glories. Burpee used to carry them but no longer do. Hummingbirds LOVE the flowers!!!!!!!

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lucky,

Have you tried the lettuce in bags of soil? I started that a few years ago and that is the ONLY way I grow lettuce now. I get a bag of Miracle Grow soil, punch a bunch of holes on one side, using a screwdriver or whatever (for drainage). Flip it over and cut out rows with scissors. Plant the lettuce seeds in those cut out rows, without ever removing any of the soil from the bag. I have one of my bags, on a small table right outside my back door, so it is easy to pick. I usually get two to three bags going, staggering when I plant the seeds. As long as you keep picking it, it keeps growing. I love having fresh lettuce right at my doorstep, lol.

@lucky7s wrote:

msimon, you are lucky to be able to grow chives, cilantro and lettuce. I have tried several times and cannot grow any of those items. Good going for you!!

I have had great luck with lettuce, just plant it, keep the rabbits out, and it pretty much grows on its own. The cilantro has been hit or miss. I have tried planting the whole seed, cracking it to expose the two seeds inside each coriander ball, pre-soaked them, and sometimes they sprout well and other times I only get a few plants to come up. My weak spot is chives! I have had terrible luck with planting chives from seed and the best I've come up with is my seed is just too old. I do get one or two spindly chives to come up, but they never seem to make it. I did have a dozen or so sprout last Fall and I'm hoping they'll return this Spring (time will tell). I'll keep trying with the chives and eventually get a nice patch growing.

I've got a really nice oregano patch, thyme plant, strawberries, mint, lemon balm, and have no trouble planting basil, parsley, and other herbs, but chives seem to be my achillies heel.

Good luck with everyone's spring garden! Get your hands dirty, plant some seeds, and plant a few extras to share with a fellow gardener.

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

msimon, where I live people help themselves. I did not encourage that as I wanted to give veggies and flowers to my friends and family but my neighbors stole a lot of stuff and had their friends outside in my garden at night time. Oh well, this year I am moving and having a greenhouse if I can afford to do that.
I have 2 kinds of hollyhock seeds soaking in water. I tried that before and it worked well.I also planted a bunch of parsley and cilantro. Time will tell. I planted roma tomatoes, white morning glories, blue morning glories and
cleome, beefsteak tomatoes, more cherry tomatoes, cosmos, spring celebrity hollyhocks, geraniums and purple morning glories.

lucky, I used a bunch of old windows, to make the sides of a homemade green house, on my little back porch, off my closed in porch. They were just going to throw the windows out, because they got all new ones. These are just single paned, some of them with cracks, but I don't care. I then purchased a greenhouse film/plastic off the internet for the top/roof. I have enough to do it 20 times over. If you don't remove the plastic here, in the winter, you pretty much have to replace it every year or so. Old windows work great to make any kind of green houses. I still have some left and plan on making a few of those cold boxes, in the ground, with the window as the top/lid. I have heard and seen good things about those.

Lucky, I really feel for your situation. I am happy to share with friends and neighbors, but I want to be the one who decides to share. If my neighbors were stealing from me or my garden, I don't want to say what I would do to them...lol! I know how angry I get when the rabbits and deer help themselves, I can't imagine how mad I would be with any two-legged pests.

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

I just ordered those cherokee purple tomato seeds off ebay, lucky, I will let you know how it goes.

Oh!! I am very happy you did. You will love them. They are the best tasting tomato and they are so nice to look at. I recall taking pics of the first one I picked. It was huge and purple. Happy gardening!!

I am curious as to why you ordered them from ebay. Don't you have a Walmart near you?

I go to Walmart about 1-2 times a month, I was just there last week. I try to do things when I remember them, lol. Plus one seller had 50 seeds on ebay for $1.75, free shipping. I think I could have gotten them even cheaper, but I didn't have time to keep looking. I find ebay to be a GREAT place for seeds, especially if you know specifically what you are looking for. I have ordered quite a few different seeds on ebay and even sent some to my sister, directly. I am not sure what the price would have been at Walmart, but I am sure it would have been more expensive, if I counted in the fuel.

If you do Facebook (and I do not!), there is something called the bloom room. But like I said I do not do Facebook.

I don't have much luck with vegetables and flowers, but I'm pretty proud of my agave garden.

More seeds came up I planted last week... roma tomatoes, Burpee super sweet 100 cherry tomato, white morning glories. Now if I can keep the seedlings ... alive I am set to go. I haven't checked the rest yet but I have several gro trays full of seeds. Yes, I will try to grow lettuce again and some Cherokee purple tomatoes!!

@spaztck wrote:

Lucky,

To me, heirloom tomatoes are just tomatoes that are not very common. The ones I got are called Pink Lady. I am not sure what the other requirements are, I just usually expect them to be a little different then the common place, normal tomato. I like trying new varieties.

My favorite is Black Krim. It is one ugly tomato. Growing it in TX is always hit or miss. When it hits, we get a tomato that most think is spoiled. Those in the know, let the uninformed think it's spoiled. If we don't, then we have to share. It's thin skinned so it doesn't hold well. Ugly doesn't describe it. Perfectly ripe, it looks like a black eye in the throes of trying to heal itself. It's never perfectly round either...there will be bumps. Closest thing I've found for a great tasting tom in TX. The hybrids I always plant are Lemon Boy and Sun Sugar. There's a white cherry I love but can never remember it's name. That little piece of garden candy is the only reason I weed the garden; no one besides me has ever enjoyed it. It might be called something stupid like Snow White. Most of my stuff is started from seed.

Have fun!

MaryAnn

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!

The trays if peppers I planted on 2/28 came up. YAY!! So now I can plant more. I got a bag of organic seedling soil at Aldi for $2.99 so I grabbed that. I will plant some Cherokee purple in the organic soil and want to plant more yellow tomatoes for my friends!! I had 2 yellow jubilee but they both died.

Don't worry about the deal. Don't worry about the seeds are organic. Worry about how you take care of your garden. If your garden is organic, it's cool.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!

Lucky7s: I have trouble getting peppers to germinate...what's your secret? I have read that they like it warm while germinating, but I don't have a heat mat. I have been trying to think of ways to warm up the peppers while they are germinating, but haven't found a good solution yet.

Any advice or suggestions?

P.S. Congrats on your peppers!

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

Oh seriously!!!! I just spent hours and hours planting spring flowers this afternoon. Once back in the house, I heard a possibility of a freeze on the news. Uuuuggghhhh.....

Some days you just have to create your own sunshine.

Pepper seeds take a long time to germinate.....for me at least......if you want to speed up the process, put some seeds on a wet paper towel, then put it inside a zip lock bag, and put it somewhere warm. They will germinate pretty quickly.

I just plant them in my little cups and know they are going to take much longer than my tomatoes. On really cold winters, I have put a small space heater, the kind that radiate heat, rather than blow heat, under the table (where I have my seedlings growing), on the lowest setting, and that has helped.

@msimon-2000 wrote:

Lucky7s: I have trouble getting peppers to germinate...what's your secret? I have read that they like it warm while germinating, but I don't have a heat mat. I have been trying to think of ways to warm up the peppers while they are germinating, but haven't found a good solution yet.

Any advice or suggestions?

P.S. Congrats on your peppers!

It takes peppers longer to germinate than tomatoes. I planted seeds 2/28 and they just came up last week but they all came up...every single one. I like growing peppers the best. They always sprout. ...and once they come up they do not die as easily as tomatoes!!

I forgot to post this...Anyone can call any gardening company...Burpee, Park Seeds, Jung, Hart, Gurney and ask them questions. I happen to like Burpee the best.

I lost most of my first batch of peppers last year and a few years ago. We have a bug/fly, that will lay it's eggs inside the baby peppers, and the children will feed on the inside of the pepper, completely destroying it and eating their way

This year, I plan on putting lose screen over my pepper plants, in hopes of preventing that disaster.

".if you want to speed up the process, put some seeds on a wet paper towel, then put it inside a zip lock bag, and put it somewhere warm. They will germinate pretty quickly.">>> from spaztck
I just read the exact same tip on Burpee website. Good going!!

I took a sweet potato and placed it pointy side down in a glass of water.I want to grow a sweet potato vine.

Ever have one?

I had planned to get the garden bed planted with cool season seeds today. But, I ended up writing reports from 10:00 - 4:20 PM. Reports that should have only taken me two hours max. What the hell. I had total writers block today - very frustrating. I'll get seeds planted before the next big storm is due to hit us next weekend. I now have to get cleaned up and run out and do a quick mobile phone shop. Thank God, there is no narrative in that report! Then I'm going to settle in to watch the last three episodes of the Walking Dead and become a zombie myself.

Does anyone know anything about buying a greenhouse? I want to get one but I don't know who to buy from. I want to keep squirrels, chipmunks, birds and neighbors from stealing my veggies. Doe anyone have any suggestions?

Here is one that is similar, but a little bigger than the one I have. It looks like they have gone down in price. My sister and brother - in - law got it for me as a gift one year. The problem is the plastic/fabric starts to rip/tear and would only last a season. Knowing what I know now, I should have been completely removing the plastic/fabric cover at the end of each season to make it last longer. The last time I bought one of the three custom pieces, it was close to $100, that is just for one part of the plastic covering. The covering fits tight and keeps the frame from falling apart. Overall, I have been very happy with it.

A couple of years ago, I created a homemade greenhouse using old windows on a small porch I have. So, I don't use the other as a green house anymore, but I use the frame to hang plants and have other plants growing up the sides.

[www.amazon.com]

@msimon-2000 wrote:

Lucky7s: I have trouble getting peppers to germinate...what's your secret? I have read that they like it warm while germinating, but I don't have a heat mat. I have been trying to think of ways to warm up the peppers while they are germinating, but haven't found a good solution yet.

Any advice or suggestions?

P.S. Congrats on your peppers!

I use heating pads that are rated for moist heat just in case some water gets close to the pad. I put them on the low setting and put the tray on top of it.

I have never had any trouble getting pepper seeds to germinate but they do take longer than tomatoes.

I have my strawberry plants in hanging baskets on my deck. Fresh strawberries this week!

How is everyone's garden doing? I am in process of doing the greeenhouse. YAY!!

Spaztck, how are your Cherokee Purple tomatoes doing?

I had some critter in my living room where the seedlings have been >>> til something chewed up my beefsteak tomato plant and also yellow pear. I got the not so brilliant idea of placing the tomatoes and peppers in a storage container and yes I put the lid on. Most of the tomatoes had wilted leaves and looked dead by the morning but hey the critter did not eat them. lol

All I have left is 4 yellow pear tomatoes, 3 salsa tomatoes, 10 hollyhocks, 6 geraniums, 1 beefsteak tomato, 1 parsley, 1 tasti lee tomato, 2 sweet hybrid mix peppers, 2 sweet peppers and 3 jalapeno peppers!! I am going outside and start getting the ground ready for the raised bed garden. I will have beets, peas and many beans. I want pole beans, pole peas (snap peas), podded peas, Cherokee wax beans (yellow) and bush beans.

Anyone else? Happy gardening!!! ~ *

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