RUNuts 2018 Garden thread (attempt)

[baymule]

@baymule do you have a pic or link to pics of the birds?

Not at this time, perhaps @RUNuts can post pics of his. Or you could refer back to page one of this thread, first post for a detailed description of RUNuts Asian Ground Parrots.

 

[flowerbug]

i wanna see the critters...

 

[RUNuts]

I'm redecorating... It rained and I can't do a thing with my loft! That and they denuded it. Grass was doing well until it got cold. Maybe when we exercise tomorrow...

I've got dirt, pots and seeds. Just need some time. And some trays. The under bed storage drawer broke. Plan B is the smaller scrap drawers. Need to repurpose my tool shelf to hold seeds in the garage. That will kill a day.

Is it worth starting lettuce? Lowe's had lettuce starts in the garden section (FOR $4 each!!). So I will guess yes.

Sunflowers and zucchini next. Got a sweet tater that is sending up leaves. Planning on planting those too.

 

[ducks4you]

Just started some red onions in a cleaned out quart sized glass candle with a lid, so it's a terrarium of sorts. HATE it when I see that somebody has done this with a canning jar! I even know canners who don't want anybody to put a spoon in THEIR jars, but that doesn't bother me. Anyway, I will check back in a week to see if I have anything. I bought a new package of Burpee seeds so I am expecting SOMEthing to grow.

 

[flowerbug]

i've never heard of anyone starting lettuce other than by direct planting. they are pretty delicate plants when starting out. same for many of the other greens...

 

[RUNuts]

@flowerbug -this is why I am asking. The freeze killed most of the plants at Lowes, including the ones in the greenhouse I was told. But there they are, lettuces and cabbages. Looking pitiful. I don't have a place to plant, so I'm not adopting. And it is raining, so no dirt work today. Working on things AGP.

 

[flowerbug]

@RUNuts cabbages are different. we've planted starts of those. they are also considered a cooler weather crop if i remember correctly. we only grew those once. was too much to keep the bugs off 'em without a net over. bugs didn't bother the brussels sprouts. we'd never grown those before either. yum to both.

 

[so lucky]

People around here (well, the old timers) try to get lettuce and peas planted by Valentine's Day. I have only had my garden ready for peas by Valentine's Day one time. The peas didn't do all that well, but a friend who planted the same day said she had a bumper crop. So it was probably just me.
Imagine what it would cost to have a garden if you only put out plants. Individual plants at $4 a pop. Yikes!

 

[digitS']

Is it worth starting lettuce?

I have lettuce starts each year and seldom direct sow seed into the garden soil these days.

It isn't that sowing seed out there is such a bad idea, it's that we can stretch the season better with the plant starts. Early, they have the warmth of the greenhouse. Late, they have the cool backyard shade if they need it.

Timing may get flubbed up but with a little seed sprinkled in a container every couple of weeks, we have those tender plants a little longer than otherwise. They are transplanted out in small bunches of 4 or 5.

DW is not interested in what I think are cut-and-come-again varieties. She wants tender leaf lettuces so we don't pick off leaves. The closeness isn't much of a problem if one plant is ready and the others aren't - just cut it at ground level. In a week or so, all the plants have had their time in the garden, been cut and the roots can be pulled.

Anyway, that has come to be our approach to growing lettuce.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@RUNuts looks like chickens to me. good joke peepers! (had me going there...)