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The Covid "Victory Garden" thread

mla2ofus

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Only things I add to our veggie garden is manure and shredded leaves tilled in in the fall. We have our tomato, broccoli and onion seedlings started. Got a large oscillating fan blowing gently on them to strengthen the stalks and we started setting them outside for a short time to acclimate them.
Mike
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
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Normally we are organic gardeners for our food but I've heard good things about PREEN and really hate dealing with weeds. I've got enough other stuff to worry about. PREEN is made from corn.

They make a few different varieties. Organic. With or without fertilizer. I got the tubs with fertilizer because the ground in the garden beds was not amended with compost for the past few years and just overgrown with weeds.
 

m1west

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Ok today I finally got some starter plants. This morning at 8am I a called the hardware up town as this morning they got their new supply of starters, or so I thought.
They told me it didn't show yet so call back, I called at 10 no I called at 11:45 the lady told me the truck showed up at 10:30 and is being bought aggressively. I jumped in the truck and flew down there. When I got there there were old ladies on them like white on rice. I had to elbow my way in. I was able to get most everything I was looking for, tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, egg plant and some herbs, cilantro and basil. I wanted some strawberry starters but they won't be there until tomorrow.Also got plenty of dirt. Pots are coming from Ebay and will be here early next week.
 

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m1west

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Well between pulling weeds, working and the work cabin I got about 75% of my pot garden starters in the pots and should finish the planting today.
 

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mla2ofus

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Got our broccoli starts planted, planted the carrot seed+TP, sugar snap peas and beets in the ground. Will plant the tomatoes in the green house, chard, green beans, zuchini and cukes in the garden in the near future. Forecast to have some low 30's nites for the next few days so will do the rest of the planting after that.
Mike
 

EastTexFrank

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We've got our few tomatoes and peppers in the ground and they are doing well. We have 6 plants of 3 different types of tomato and six plants of three different colors of bell pepper. It's not a lot but when they start coming on they should keep the two of us supplied, or at least we hope.

I'm still thinking of what to do for winter veg if this darned thing comes back in the fall to haunt us all next winter. Like mla2ofus, a greenhouse of some sort is the obvious answer. I have that "portable greenhouse in a box" thing that is down in the barn. I need to drag it out and assemble it to see if it would work up at the house for growing a few pot friendly veggies.
 

RNE228

Bronze Member
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My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery.
They sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads. She's never seen a spring rush like this.
 

m1west

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My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery.
They sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads. She's never seen a spring rush like this.

Been dealing with that also, still can't find any strawberry starters.
 

EastTexFrank

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Supplies around here aren't too bad but they do sell out. The nursery that we usually use is sold out again and he says that he isn't going to get any more in. Tractor Supply, Ace and the other hardware store have a small but decent supply. The other nursery in town has a plentiful supply of just about everything that you would need or so my wife tells me after her visit today. I haven't been to Walmart as it is a zoo.
 

Melensdad

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My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery.
They sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads. She's never seen a spring rush like this.

Pretty much what I am expecting to see here if I ever go out again.

We bought early for exactly that reason. I'd still like to add a few more but we are in good shape for our small garden.

My garden is a grouping of small raised beds, each bed's shape is defined by a 2x6 cedar board that forms the outline. Between each of the beds there is a crushed gravel path. Yesterday morning I sprayed some extended release weed killer. The crab grass and weeks have been trying to overtake the gravel paths. I put an end to that with the ground clear. It should do the trick.

Our garden is still not planted.

We had 2 nights of freezing temps in the past 7 days. We will be planting NEXT week, probably looking to start on Monday or Tuesday. Until then it is RAIN. Started this morning. Not supposed to end until Sunday evening.
 

m1west

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Hi all, got 1- beefsteak tomato and 2- green bell pepper plants with fruit growing. it won't be long now.
 

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bczoom

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You must have been able to get them in the ground much earlier than I could (which was Memorial Day weekend). All my plants are still pretty small. It'll be end of July before we are able to get any tomatoes or peppers.
 

m1west

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You must have been able to get them in the ground much earlier than I could (which was Memorial Day weekend). All my plants are still pretty small. It'll be end of July before we are able to get any tomatoes or peppers.

Got them in by the middle of May, Im not sure its any easier or cheaper than going to the store, but I grew them myself.
 

Melensdad

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We couldn't get our plants in the ground until Memorial Day either and we've been having such heavy rains that we still have a few that are in plastic tubs, they may just end up in the big tubs???

Tornado yesterday and thunderstorm this morning. Starting to clear up again but there is a fresh 2" of water in the pool so the ground is soaked too
 

EastTexFrank

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We only have a few plants but they, for the most part, are doing very well. For some reason on of the tomato plants is a little late. It has a ton of flowers but hasn't set any fruit. The other 3 plants are massive. They stand about 3 foot tall and are covered in medium sized tomatoes. I think that three of them are "Celebrity" and the fourth is a so called "black tomato". None have started to ripen yet but when they do …..

The four pepper plants are also doing well. They've set fruit and seem to be growing every day. We have 2 green peppers, a red pepper and a yellow pepper.

The potatoes that I threw in the ground down back have also come up and are doing well except for one that has been eaten but is still alive and trying. It was probably a deer or a rabbit looking for a snack which is strange because I always thought that the leaves were poisonous.
 

bczoom

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We couldn't get our plants in the ground until Memorial Day either and we've been having such heavy rains that we still have a few that are in plastic tubs, they may just end up in the big tubs???

Tornado yesterday and thunderstorm this morning. Starting to clear up again but there is a fresh 2" of water in the pool so the ground is soaked too
We don't put ours in the ground until Memorial Day in that up until that weekend, there's always a chance of frost.

Keeping them in tubs will be OK. They won't get nearly as big or produce as much but such is life. Anything in tubs will require more watering as they won't hold water/moisture nearly as much as being in the ground.

Tornado warnings last night here as well. Haven't looked at the gardens yet but everything else outside appears fine so hoping no damage.
 

m1west

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We don't put ours in the ground until Memorial Day in that up until that weekend, there's always a chance of frost.

Keeping them in tubs will be OK. They won't get nearly as big or produce as much but such is life. Anything in tubs will require more watering as they won't hold water/moisture nearly as much as being in the ground.

Tornado warnings last night here as well. Haven't looked at the gardens yet but everything else outside appears fine so hoping no damage.

Im forced to grow them in pots or the wildlife around here will eat all of it. Right now they are trying to kill my 3 year old cherry trees. After the rain stops the ground becomes dryer than a popcorn fart around here and the little bastards go after anything you water. They build nests under the plants then eat the roots while drinking the water. There are to many to kill.
 

Melensdad

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Our house is on a ridgeline, at the top.
Our garden is down the hillside, near the base.

Water supply is at the house.

So I ran a 25' hose from the house to the edge of the woods with a quick connect. Its a lightweight hose so the lovely Mrs_Bob can manage it easily. It just runs from the house spigot to the edge of the woods, over the lawn. Because it runs over the lawn it needs to be easily connected/disconnected from another hose, and also easily rewound at the house side.

There is a heavy commercial grade 100' hose running through the woods down the hillside to the garden. Quick connect coupler on that hose so it can connect up to the lighter weight hose that is attached to the house.

Down at the garden is a hose holder with a spigot. The commercial grade hose connects into the hose holder/spigot.

A 3rd hose is then connected to the spigot and that hose runs water to each of the garden planting beds.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Our house is on a ridgeline, at the top.
Our garden is down the hillside, near the base.

Water supply is at the house.

So I ran a 25' hose from the house to the edge of the woods with a quick connect. Its a lightweight hose so the lovely Mrs_Bob can manage it easily. It just runs from the house spigot to the edge of the woods, over the lawn. Because it runs over the lawn it needs to be easily connected/disconnected from another hose, and also easily rewound at the house side.

There is a heavy commercial grade 100' hose running through the woods down the hillside to the garden. Quick connect coupler on that hose so it can connect up to the lighter weight hose that is attached to the house.

Down at the garden is a hose holder with a spigot. The commercial grade hose connects into the hose holder/spigot.

A 3rd hose is then connected to the spigot and that hose runs water to each of the garden planting beds.

I think I need to see a drawing to understand.:th_lmao::th_lmao:
 

EastTexFrank

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My watering system is a holdover from my 25-year old mission to have a "no work" garden.

I ran one of those micro watering systems in my wife's herb garden where the tomatoes and peppers are growing right now. It was connected to a faucet and a timer on the wall. She doesn't use it now and prefers one of those whirleygig sprinklers that she has to turn on and move around. I need to pull that old system up.

For the raised bed garden I trenched from the water well, laid 1-1/2" PVC pipe and placed a faucet and a timer at the end of each of the three raised beds for soaker hoses.

When I had the big 1-acre garden I again ran PVC pipe from the well to the center and put a big sprinkler set on a 4"x4" treated post set right in the middle. Again, it was on a timer.

It all worked well for many years, basically until gave up veggie gardening.
 
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