Dawn's Garden 2022

[Dawn]

It begins again! Tomatoes are started. Hoping for a great season.

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[Setec Astronomy]

Ha, I see you found a way to mark the Jiffy Pellets...last year I used cell trays and regular plant markers, but I wanted to go back to the Jiffy Pellets this year so I found some very small craft sticks on Amazon that I'm going to use until it's time to up-pot.

[Dawn]

Ha, I see you found a way to mark the Jiffy Pellets...last year I used cell trays and regular plant markers, but I wanted to go back to the Jiffy Pellets this year so I found some very small craft sticks on Amazon that I'm going to use until it's time to up-pot.

I actually forgot about marking them until I was ready to plant, so I scrounged around the house to find something to cut up and stick in there. This is one plastic water bottle.

I haven't used the pellets before, these are coco fiber. I often start in seeds in coco fiber, so I thought I'd give these a try.

[Dawn]

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We have sprouts. I had to bring in a light. I was planning on using mini greenhouses (clear tubs that go outside during the day, and inside at night), but we went back to very cold temps for the rest of the week. I found an LED light from my set up year before last. I'm only growing these 48 plants this year (24 for the garden, doubled for extras in case I kill them).

These are the varieties, the first half are returning, second half are new.

Old German
Girl Girl's Weird Thing
KARMA Peach
KARMA Purple Multiflora
Anna's Multiflora
Stump of the World
Midnight Sun
KBX
Dester
Aunt Ginny's Purple
Eva Purple Ball
Taiga
Amber Keyes
Amish Paste
Green Gables
Neves Azorean Red

[Growing Coastal]

Yes. Very cold nights here this week, too.

[Dawn]

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Taiga, Dester and Amber Keyes all failed to germinate. I don't know if it was the seeds or the coco fiber pots, so I replanted in the potting mix I used here. All are from one vendor, bought this year, while every single self-saved seed from 5 years ago germinated.

This is their first day in the storage bin greenhouse, there are more to pot up, but those are back ups, so I'm not in a hurry.

[KateL]

Ooh I'd not thought about using storage bins in that way- intriguing....

[Dawn]

I decided to plant some back up plants for the ones that might not come up. I chose Berkeley tie dye, brandywine (I think I have sudduth), candy sweet icicle, and blush. I'm going to try and get into a local farmers market, and wanted a good variety of colors. Candy sweet icicle and blush look nice together in a berry basket with KARMA Purple Multiflora. Berkeley tie dye has always been a favorite of mine, and everyone (market shoppers) love big pink tomatoes.

Ooh I'd not thought about using storage bins in that way- intriguing....

I started doing it a few years ago when I decided to grow a few extra for sale. I didn't have any more room for more lights, so I put them in bins on my back patio. Turns out, it works better than grow lights. You just have to make sure they don't get too hot, but that's easy enough.

[Dawn]

And just as I was about to give up, up comes a taiga sprout from the original planting. 3 weeks later . I grew it last year and I don't remember it taking this long to come up. I didn't get tomatoes from it because last year was terrible, I only got tomatoes from Stump of the World, Red Lithium, Midnight Sun, and a couple cherries. Stump of the world and Midnight Sun earned their place as must grows. Red Lithium didn't really have seeds. It was weird, it had super tiny seeds, about the size of a poppy seed.

[Dawn]

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It's 40 degrees outside, the bins were 71 last time I checked. I thought the solid color tops would be more of a problem, but the light still gets to everything.

[friedgreen51]

That is a great idea! I am going to give it a try when my seed sprout. I just started them on Saturday.

[Dawn]

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This is why I grow out more than I need (and also in case I kill them). This is supposed to be KARMA Peach, a potato leaf, but it's not. The other one I planted is growing potato leaves.

I'll probably grow both to see if anything special comes from this. The KARMAs are good tomatoes.

[Dawn]

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I got the new beds put in, I didn't realize it would take up this much space. It's a good thing, though, I'd rather have garden than grass. Actually, I won't have grass either. The rest of the yard will be tilled up soon and planted with flowers. Should look pretty nice.

I put cardboard down, then hay between the beds. Some of the cardboard was warped, that's why the beds look wonky, but they'll settle in. I'll fill with what little compost I have, then buy some dirt.

These 4 beds, plus 2 more I already have, the size of the big ones, will be all of my garden space this year. Tomatoes will go in 3 of the big beds, 8 per bed. Middle ones for summer squash and melons. Big one on the end will be for sweet corn and green beans. I'll plant my greens in the tomato beds, summer comes on fast here, greens season ends before the tomatoes get very big.

[Dawn]

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I added some more hay, grass clippings and some top soil. I'm not going to worry about filling them up the first year. I'll put the promix soil in the planting holes. I think it'll work.

There are 2 more beds against the fence. One will be for peas and greens, the other for tomatoes.

I rototilled the space under the little apple tree, I'll plant herbs in there, and alliums.

Plan is to rototill the rest is the yard and plant flowers. My sister has plans for her own garden on the other side of the yard, but I'll believe it when I see it . So far, she has done nothing to prepare.

[PlainJane]

That looks great! What variety of apple did you plant?

[Dawn]

It's a Fuji! My favorite

I didn't realize when I bought it that it was an ultra dwarf. I had planted it in my back yard where I wanted a bigger tree, I moved it to this spot last year because it was better suited there, I thought. I don't think I'll get apples, though, because I just have the one tree. There are some apple trees in the neighborhood though, so possibly.

[Dawn]

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I ran into a patch of River rock while rototilling . I bought this house in 2019, and it has mostly been a rental for a very long time, so no one really took care of the yard. So at some point, someone put rocks down, and then someone else, probably, put dirt over it? I don't know. I'm collecting them to use around my new tiny mulberry tree (sprung up last year out of nowhere, there are no mulberry trees around) so it doesn't get dwarfed by the flowers.

Update: I got an overflowing 5 gallon bucket worth of river rock from this spot, also the remnants of a tree trunk, so they must have been there to decorate around the tree. I wonder how long ago that was. The house is 70 years old.

[Dawn]

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These are from my security camera, I've been using it to mark the progress of my lawn-turned-flower-meadow project. The first picture is from Saturday, second one from today (Monday). I've been busy . Last summer we had a record heat wave, crazy stuff, but this plan was already in the works. I'd been debating about the best way to kill most of the grass and then figured out that the heat would do most of the work for me if I stopped watering. It worked until fall, we had a very wet fall and lots of stuff grew back. This spring, some grass had come back, but mostly weeds.

Saturday, I mowed everything down with the lawnmower on the lowest setting, then rototilled the area in the corner with the apple tree. Sunday, I did the rest of it with the rototiller and put in the walkway. The walkway is made from some cut off fence posts I got free from a friend after she made her livestock fence. I honestly thought that it'd be more slippery than it is, it turned out to be quite stable.

Today, I raked off the top later of dirt and dried grass (I put it in the raised beds), and made the little frame for the mulberry tree. I used the rocks that the tiller dug up around the tree. You can't see the tree in the pics, but it's there.

I also went to the local nursery. I told the guy there that I wanted a smallish shrubby plant that had fruit. So now I have a gooseberry plant. I did not realize they were pokey. It'll go in the little bed in front of my living room window. I also came home with onions, peppers, and some flowers.

And now I'm stiff and sore and attempting to relax, but my 5 month old kittens are awake and playful, so I'm not doing much relaxing

[Whwoz]

Nurseryman may also have been thinking prickly plant tart fruit, more chance of you getting it too.

[Dawn]

Nurseryman may also have been thinking prickly plant tart fruit, more chance of you getting it too.

Well, I originally was going to plant it in the corner where the sidewalks meet, but I want the mail carrier to continue to deliver my mail without being attacked by a spiny plant. When I moved here, there was barely any vegetation, and no bees or butterflies or birds. The birds like the apple tree, but I thought a shrubby fruiting bush would make them happier, so they'd stick around and eat my bugs