What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Dirtmechanic]

Last night, I started germination testing for all soybeans over 5 years old (17 varieties) in an effort to identify which ones may need extra TLC this year. They are all in a temperature-controlled chamber, kept between 75-80 F. degrees. The weakest varieties will be started in pots, in an effort to revive them before all the seed is dead. That worked last year for a variety with 2009 seed, and the oldest varieties this year are 2012 seed... so I am hopeful they can all be saved.

It was chilly today but sunny, so I took a look at the perennial onion bed. All came through the winter in good condition. I'm particularly happy about the Pearlzwiebel (Pearl onion) which I almost lost several years ago along with my garlic. The few survivors were planted next to the house, and have now spread to form several large clumps. An heirloom relative from SSE ("Truepear 1") has formed a very large clump, and needs to be divided. Both varieties appear to be in the same species & I expect them to flower, so I hope to get crossed seed to experiment with. I should finally have enough of both of these rare leek relatives to share with other gardeners this year. I just need to mark all of their locations now... the grass-like foliage disappears shortly after it dies back, and I don't want to dig up half the flower bed looking for them in the Fall.

Seed starting begins tomorrow (for peppers). My transplants need to be started much later than most of the gardeners here, and I've been chomping at the bit... I can't tell you what a joy it is to finally begin the 2021 gardening season.

What on earth eats a garlic besides humans? They seem indestructable.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Seed starting begins tomorrow (for peppers). My transplants need to be started much later than most of the gardeners here, and I've been chomping at the bit... I can't tell you what a joy it is to finally begin the 2021 gardening season.

i know, it is so nice to be able to get moving and back outside and not feel like everything is trying to freeze yer nads off.

 

[Zeedman]

What on earth eats a garlic besides humans? They seem indestructable.

It wasn't eaten. Garlic is supposedly a fairly trouble-free vegetable, and for about 10 years, it was. But due to a series of events, I lost my entire garlic collection 3 times. The first time was to a disease (aster yellows) which rode up from the South during a freak warm spell in March 2013 - according to the Extension, carried by migratory leaf hoppers??? Garlic was about the only thing green for the leaf hoppers to feed on, so the infection was total - over a wide area. It killed not only my garlic, but most of the garlic in the Upper Midwest.

The second time I lost everything because it was to be planted on a friend's property, and just before planting, the couple suddenly separated & sold their property. There was no time to locate an alternate site... and that one really hurt, because I lost 36 varieties.

The third time I planted garlic in my own garden - and due to record rainfall that year, the bed was flooded, and everything rotted.

Given that some of those failures were freak weather events, I'm hopeful that my garlic will be more dependable going forward - especially given the cost of replacing garlic stock. I lost two heirloom potato onions though, which could not be replaced.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I got the dirt turned and raked in my box and have lettuce, arugula, radishes, Swiss chard, and spinach planted and I covered with plastic. It rained and cooled off again. I am going to start working on a spot in the garden for kale and collards. I have them outside in the greenhouse spending nights. My tomatoes mostly look horrible. they have been out in the greenhouse during the day and back in at night and now have to stay in a couple of days. I have new tomatoes and peppers to transplant.

 

[seedcorn]

Tilled the garden. Then planted snap peas, beets and spinach. May plant sweet corn. If it doesn’t come up, no loss.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I got the dirt turned and raked in my box and have lettuce, arugula, radishes, Swiss chard, and spinach planted and I covered with plastic. It rained and cooled off again. I am going to start working on a spot in the garden for kale and collards. I have them outside in the greenhouse spending nights. My tomatoes mostly look horrible. they have been out in the greenhouse during the day and back in at night and now have to stay in a couple of days. I have new tomatoes and peppers to transplant.

Me too. Seedlings just got potted. DW will be yelling because I have a whole tray of determinants and that rush of ripeness is a fair work, I admit. But I NEED pasta sauce.

 

[Zeedman]

Peppers are all planted (118 cells) and placed in the germinator until they emerge. Several of the soybeans planted March 30th for germination testing have already emerged, and been counted; others are visibly starting to sprout.

I drove out to the rural garden yesterday, and the garlic is beginning to poke through the hay; I'll check in a week for any which are having trouble getting through the mulch. The raised bed for the garlic gives me more latitude regarding its placement; it is located on the low side of the garden, where garlic would otherwise do poorly. Thus far, it appears the garlic has over-wintered in good shape.

The ground looked dry enough to till under some of the leaves DW collected from her flower beds, so I thought I'd try out the new tiller. It did pretty well for awhile - until one of the wheels fell off! The wheel is bolted onto the end of the axle, and apparently I didn't tighten it enough during assembly. Of course, by the time the wheel worked its way off the axle, I had tilled & buried both the bolt & locking pin. I called the company to order the replacement parts, and they were very accommodating. The CS mentioned that they were already considering adding a torque spec for those wheel bolts, so I'm guessing others have had the same problem. When I pointed out that a lock washer should probably be included to prevent the bolt from working loose, the CS person agreed, and passed that on to engineering. They are sending the replacement parts for free.

 

[digitS']

This will be the first tiller that I have had that requires that the wheels be disengaged from the axle to move it into "neutral." The same situation that @SprigOfTheLivingDead was talking about with his plans.

I hope that I don't lose any pins in inappropriate circumstances, @Zeedman .

Today, some Asian greens were transplanted into the beds under the temporary hoop house. It was 30°f this morning. This was after a "sprinkley day" with no sunshine until the very last minute of sunset. Right now, I don't see a cloud in the sky ! There will be afternoon temperatures pushing at the thermometer trying to hit 60° this week but frost every morning but, maybe 1 or 2 - kinda what the WS says. We are just a little colder here (& the distant garden, also) than the nearest weather stations.

Steve

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Put the transplants out in the sun and weeded the main garden.

 

[seedcorn]

Peppers are all planted (118 cells) and placed in the germinator until they emerge. Several of the soybeans planted March 30th for germination testing have already emerged, and been counted; others are visibly starting to sprout.

I drove out to the rural garden yesterday, and the garlic is beginning to poke through the hay; I'll check in a week for any which are having trouble getting through the mulch. The raised bed for the garlic gives me more latitude regarding its placement; it is located on the low side of the garden, where garlic would otherwise do poorly. Thus far, it appears the garlic has over-wintered in good shape.

The ground looked dry enough to till under some of the leaves DW collected from her flower beds, so I thought I'd try out the new tiller. It did pretty well for awhile - until one of the wheels fell off! The wheel is bolted onto the end of the axle, and apparently I didn't tighten it enough during assembly. Of course, by the time the wheel worked its way off the axle, I had tilled & buried both the bolt & locking pin. I called the company to order the replacement parts, and they were very accommodating. The CS mentioned that they were already considering adding a torque spec for those wheel bolts, so I'm guessing others have had the same problem. When I pointed out that a lock washer should probably be included to prevent the bolt from working loose, the CS person agreed, and passed that on to engineering. They are sending the replacement parts for free.

Which one did you buy?