Thought I'd make a new thread for chatting about gardening this year. 

We just put our cherry tomato seedlings into their new home, and I'm super excited about them!

http://youtu.be/ofWEdsSL6Wo

(ETA: It's hubby narrating that video, in case of gender-confusion, lol)

Anybody else into indoor gardening?

What about our southern hemisphere people?  Anybody planting or enjoying the fruits of your labour?

And for those still in the grasp of winter, are you making plans for your garden this year?  What will you plant?  What did you learn from last season?

More butternut and spaghetti squash. Giving up on growing Brussels sprouts and probably cabbage and corn as well.

Peppers can be planted closer together this year, to produce more in the same amount of space. May also blow off broccoli but will definitely give cauliflower another shot.

I had the right amount of zucchini and yellow squash (2 plants of each).  Going to pay better attention to what tomato varieties I am planting as it was pure chaos last year.

fyi - this will be my 3rd year gardening so I'm a beginner..

What kind of yield do you see off of a zucchini plant?  I've never grown it, but am curious.

Korellyn, how cool that you are starting new crops at this time of year!  I'd love to have a system like that someday!  Thanks for sharing.

We just had our first big snow last night, so spring seems a long way off right now.  But I've gotten two seed catalogues in the mail, and have a started a list, and that always makes me feel good!  I just love seeing those catalogues in the mailbox!

I'm going to cut down on the zucchini and spaghetti squash and we're going to put in more potatoes too.  More of our peoples' traditional crops of corn, beans and sunflowers as well.  We just don't have the space to put in all the varieties of corn; don't want them to mix.  Otherwise the regular veggies we always have. 

I've also got my eye on one of those cultivators like you got last year, Elsa, the one we have now is too big for me to handle well, I'd like a smaller one.  What kind is it again? 

don't have the settup for indoor gardening (aroudn these parts/this time of year, we'd need lights), and we can't really start seeds until the end of march at the earliest..  preferably not until mid april or even may. 

but i have my house plants to hold me over

Zucchini..  we had one plant last year  ..i think that single plant yeilded three bushels.  always way more then we need.  something about the soil and zukes/cukes, they just don't stop coming. 

Grows like crazy, K. Can't keep up. 100 squash per plant, literally. I pick it every day and dehydrated it last year.... a batch every other day. I also froze some, at some but as much as I tried to keep up, I would still wind up with huge squash on the vine that I threw out just from being weary. The neighbors had squash too of course!

2 plants is probably enough (1 each) but they don't take up much space for the way they produce so...

I wound up using it in stuffed peppers, both banana and bell. Sausage and squash with bread crumbs and the like for the stuffing. Mozzarella cheese and sauce made from garden tomatoes. These freeze really well.

Holy crap!  That's awesome!!

I may have to try a plant in hydro next time round and see how it goes. (the climate here is wrong to grow it outside, unfortunately)  I'm always in the market for high-yielding crops.

Peppermint - this may be an ignorant question, but why does it matter if the corn varieties mix?

Peppermint, I have this: Mantis 7225-00-02 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Tiller/Cultivator (CARB Compliant) and recommend it without reservation.  I am reasonably strong but old and used it without complaint. It's not that hard and not at all heavy and definitely does the job.  Vines to get wrapped around the axle...but really, I am very satisfied,

Korellyn, they're very ancient crops, our people have been farmers along the Missouri River for milennia, and we have flint corn and flour corn and gummy (sweet) corn varieties that our ancestors developed during that long period of time.

They say that corn travels - the pollen - if you plant them too close together, and when it does you can get your flint corn (for grinding and making one of our staple foods - cornballs) mixed up with the gummy corn (for making soups and mushes) and then your seed becomes contaminated and you lose the variety altogether. 

We've got blue, white, yellow and red varieties as well, popcorn too.  The've all got to be planted a safe distance apart from one another so they don't travel.

On the zucchini - we must have put in 20 plants - OMG - but we had plenty of folks to give it away to, and shredded/cubed/froze a ton of it.  Using it now in pancakes, breads and muffins (shredded) and in stir-fry and stews (cubed).  It's great.

Thanks, Elsa!  I almost started drooling when I saw the picture!  I want one of those!  If I get one, I'm going to be a gardening fiend when it arrives!  I'll end up tilling up my whole yard!

OOHHHHH SHINY!!!

We just moved into a place with a yard for the very first time, so I'm looking at finally putting in my own dirt-garden this summer.  Planning a little obsessively.  That looks like it's well worth the money, wonder if I can get one up here, or hopefully our hardware stores stock something similar.  It's always a challenge for me to find tools appropriate to my small stature.

I love poring over seed catalogs too.  It was Stokes originally, but I think William Dam may have overtaken them for the simple addition of a table of contents, something Stokes frustratingly lacks!!

It's so cool that you have those ancient varieties, Peppermint.  My ancestors are so muddled and transient I wouldn't know an ancient piece of my heritage if it walked up and said hi.  How hard is the process for saving your own seed?  What do you have to do?  I wish we could grow corn here.  I could grow it inside if I had a giant warehouse and no budget constraints on equipment, but somehow I think we'll just keep importing it until the trucks stop coming.

Hmmm, going to check out William Dam after this ...

The process for saving seed is not hard.  As you're shucking the corn, keep an eye out for the plumpest ears with straight rows that go all the way to the tip, or very close.  Then you just pull the shucks back and when you have about 10-12 of the best ears set aside, braid them together, hang them up in the sunshine and wind (I cover mine with a wrapping of cheesecloth to keep the flies off) and let them dry.  Bring them in at night so they don't get wet with dew, then hang them out again the next day.  Do this until they are good and DRY.  Then rub two ears together over a tarp or a sheet and the kernels will pop off.  Let them dry there another day or two, keep stirring the kernels with your hand.  Then tie the seed up in an old pillowcase or store in glass jars and there's your seed for next year!

Before you plant, make sure the little white 'triangle' at the root of the seed is intact.  This is where all the niacin and other goodies are stored in the seed.  If it's chipped or broken by the shelling process, better use another that's intact.  If your corn is good and dry before you start shelling, you'll have a higher percentage of intact seeds.

Saving seed is worthwhile, if you are growing 'heirloom' (non-hybridized) varieties.  With hybridized crops, you'll get a harvest the second year if you save the seed, but there's no guarantee it will be as good as the first.  I try to only use heirloom seed, then save the seeds of whatever crop it is for next year.  BTW, the process above works for generally anything you grow - pick the best of the crop, dry seeds very very well, store in a glass jar or pillowcase, keep away from extreme cold/heat/moisture/light and you're good to go in the spring!  This goes for flowers, veggies, fruit trees or shrubs, any kind of plant really.

And yes I love our ancient crops.  When I'm in the gardening process, from beginning to end, I think about my grandmas, generations back, who made it possible for me to be planting the same way they did.  The ties that bind, for sure!

Oh wow and after that long post I just re-read yours and see that you can't plant corn!  Well, at least you know how to dry it now if the day comes when you can.  Is your growing season too short to grow it outside? 

South of the equator here and it has been hot and very dry for a month or so, but light rain today yeh! I don't have much luck with vegies here as soil is very clay, no outside running water so I've been bucketting from my dams onto plants, and lots of critters here who  think I do all the work for them! So I'm envious of your stories of beautiful corn and zukes and cukes. Zukes here seem to get a mould and don't grow much. I have planted out over 100 pineapples and some are finally fruiting. They take ages. And I pulled down a big banana tree with unripe hand of bananas to save it from the critters and I've been digging up, cutting off banana suckers and replanting where I want clumps growing. Very hard, physical work to remove the suckers.  Put in some pawpaw seedlings, but they will need lots of luck to survive. Water chestnuts are going great.

Thanks for the info Peppermint.  I always appreciate knowledge, even if it's not immediately applicable.  Never know where life will end up.

Our growing season here is far too short for many crops.  Planting outside starts at the end of May at the earliest, and by late August frost is starting to kill things.  Also even when it gets quite hot during the day, it cools off considerably at night, to around 10 degrees C.  Many plants can't deal with that.  And on top of that the soil here is quite poor and acidic.  So we're quite limited in what kinds of outdoor gardening we can do.

That said, my mom had a garden of raised boxes and grew substantial quantities of many things: potatoes, carrots, lettuce, peas, beets, etc.  Planning to follow in her footsteps.

CrIsis - pineapples? Pinapples!?!  So cool!!  Any chance of pics?  I'd LOVE to see what those look like in the garden.

Korellyn, Hi there. I would love to show you some pics, but I'm a real computer dummy and haven't been able to do it. I tried for 2 days once to get up a photo of my bananas and no go. I still have so much to learn yet. Yeh, the pineapples look great. they are a bromeliad and look like a spikey agave bush, and the cute little pineapples grow off the end of the "agave " stalk. they take a couple of years or so to produce, [mine are taking longer], but getting there. you cut the heads off the pineapples and just plant them in the ground. Too easy! I was so happy to have some rain yesterday and went around planting the banana suckers in safe areas where they can go "nuts" Ha Ha . they just keep growing from the parent plants and are pretty hardy, taste great when I can beat the critters to them, and fill out areas nicely. I've also been growing water chestnuts in paint containers etc, for years. No work to them apart from keeping the containers filled with water.

I wish I had space for a real garden but my yard is small and I don't get alot of sun - too many big trees blocking the way.  I will probably stick to my tomatoes (2 plants) and may try a squash.  Last year my cukes were strange so I think I will nix that idea this year.

@Korellyn - I know this is really bizarre but there was a story in the paper about guy living near Lake Ontario (ie in Toronto proper) who was able to grow a banana tree in his backyard!  Blew me away!  We have longer growing time than you do - more like where Rantares is but It is virtually unheard of to have bananas in Canada! But apparently it can be done - the plant has to be very well covered in the winter - plus the backyard is small and well- sheltered. 

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!!!!!

Just had to get that out.  Came home from work yesterday morning to find the grow tent flooded.  Turned out to be a faulty connection between the drain pump in the controller bucket and the main reservoir.  Easy enough to fix, but in the meantime we've had to pull out the tent to let everything dry out, which meant pitching the plants.  Realistically we're lucky the tent caught most of the water, but still very frustrating.

Starting over, again.  It's a good thing I've already accepted this is basically a lifelong project.  In the grand scheme of things redoing a month is not that bad.

I thought the gardeners might enjoy this TED talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/roger_doiron_my_subversive_garden_plot.html

*thumbs up for the TED talk*

loved it!

Wow, Korellyn!  What a drag about your grow tent!  I have some idea of the work that's involved in just setting one up, not to mention having to tear it all down, dry it out and start all over.  I wish I could pour you a cup of tea (and sympathy) across the miles, or better yet, roll up my sleeves and help you fix it!

((((Korellyn)))), got my fingers crossed for you that no more hassles arrive on your doorstep!  It's all blue skies and healthy veggies from here on out!

I'm champing on my bit. I understand I can plant lettuce and cauliflower on April 1!  It's been a mild winter and it's going to be 60 degrees out tomorrow. I feel like getting out there and putzing around. :)

I ordered some grape vines and a dwarf cherry tree. Can't wait!!

Have started lettuce, arugula, spinach, cilantro, basil and parsley in windowboxes to grow in sunny kitchen window.. Should be able to put all but the basil out on to the deck for many February days. Trick is to remember to bring them inside at night!

@Elsa:  so am I!  All the gardening catalogs are piled up next to my reading spot, and I have been drooling over them the past couple of weeks.  Also, I mentioned to someone at work how I wanted a tiller like yours, and guess what?  They sold me their two-year-old model for a hundred bucks!  They only used it 8 times!  Yayyy!

@Vajra:  what kind of grape vines did you order?  I'd love to grow grapes, but I'd have to find a variety that can take our sub-zero temps.

@Crackers:  I'm so jealous!  You already have things started and can put them outside in February - many times our coldest month of the year!  We can't put things outside until May around here, but you go girl! 

Peppermint - hooray!

Oh my gosh, Korrelyn... You are just over to the left and it's -32 here. How are you doing this??? A flood? Removing the grow tent???

My thoughts are with you... I'm so sorry you had to pitch your plants.

Well, we've got the tent dried out and put back together, and the system almost ready to go again.  (it was just a little flood ;-p)

Here's a pic of what we're using in the meantime for germination.  The germination tray for our tomatoes is on the left (two popped up so far!) and on the right you can see a simple DWC system made of a Rubbermaid container that I've planted lettuce in because the lettuce here is sad and brown and slimey.  I haven't had a good salad in months!

This one you can see the lights a bit better.  Just low-power T5s.

And here's one where you can see the little baby lettuce plants popping up.

Once the tomato seedlings go into the tent, I'll definitely be planting another unit of lettuce.  It's getting to that time of year where you really start craving fresh greens.

I can't wait to garden this year.  I'm going to have the soil in my garden checked by our local extension agency...last year our garden didn't do so well and we got late season blight and my hot peppers/tomatoes did terrible.  I think we are going to have an early spring and I will get lettuce & onions in first.  I love to can my veggies, especially tomato sauce, hot peppers in sauce, hot pepper butter & green beans.

Elsa..I love your Mantis!

Korellyn, Great job on your plants!

I am going to do some gardening this year with my mom, I've decided. We will do tomatoes, basil, parsley if she wants, and maybe zucchini if it's so easy to do and has a high yield. We'd only need 1 plant if that was the case.

Same lettuce just before thinning/addition to salad.

Trying to figure out how to manage the dogs...

Just tilled 1/4 of the garden...dogs behaving for the most part. I want to plant lettuce asap.  Exciting! :)

We're ordering our dirt today for our community garden!  We've decided to half the size that we originally planned since it's our first year so it's easier to manage and we won't get discouraged or overwhelmed.

Anybody have any good sources for heirloom seeds?  We had a great company picked out, but they're for a much larger scale and their minimum order is way more than we need.

Oh- @Elsa, glad to hear the dogs aren't getting in the way!!

Well, Lila and the tiller did not mix last year but now she's got a distraction - RYLEE!

@Korellyn:  way to go!  That looks like some really fresh salad!

@CArRiE:  congrats on getting your community garden off the ground!  I remember seeing your thread on it during the *dark times* we recently went through around here but forgot to comment!  You are just going to love it!  As to sources for heirloom seeds, I get mine from www.selectseeds.com, wwwseedsofchange.com, or wwwGrowOrganic.com.  Huh - don't know why those last 2 web addresses didn't go live, but at least you have them.  Heirloom seeds are a little more spendy than hybrid, but you can save and store the seeds from your juiciest crops and won't have to buy them next year! 

@Elsa:  you're already TILLING?!?!  I'm so jealous - I want to get out there with my Mantis too, but all it would till up would be SNOW!  Glad the dogs were cool for you!

http://www.tomatofest.com/  <---- Great heirloom tomato seeds & service.

Garden 50% + tilled.

Happy!

Waaaaaay too early to plant here, but I'm thinking about my garden plans!  ;-)

Definitely growing more Great White tomatoes this year and some more Lemon Boys as well - those are my faves. 

Old Germans, Black Krims, & Cherokee Purples are all good heirloom varieties, though the latter 2 are prone to splitting if your water sitch is apt to be uneven - very thin-skinned.

Is there a post somewhere here that has hydro for dummies cause I don't get it and want to!