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Anyone doing a garden?

It's really too late to start any winter tomatoes but it's about right time to start for this year's growing season. Some people start plants earlier but I figure if I waited until now I wouldn't be so eager to jump the gun and put transplants out early.

Anyone with experience growing potatoes? Each year I add one or two things to grow and I thought I'd try some spuds. They don't seem too difficult to grow. I saw one method using a large trash bag. I already have most of the stuff for the soil mix and large contractors trash bags too. Time to go play in the dirt!
 
RickeyM said:
Anyone with experience growing potatoes?
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MIL used to grow them. Use seed potatoes, each chunk needs an eye. Stick them in the ground and wait until the plant dies, then carefully dig them up. Don't wash until needed. I think that's all she did.

No seed starting here. It never works for me, and garden isn't that big. I'll buy seedlings in the spring or plant directly in the soil.
I want to try broccolini this year...can't find seeds locally. Will probably buy online.
 
Potato chunks (?) went into their growing bag yesterday. Insect netting, in place of the plastic, will go over the beds with garlic and the one with Romaine and onions. I'm considering adding some dill to one bed and radish to the other. My Bell pepper and tomato seeds have sprouted and I'll watch the seedlings like a hawk so I don't kill them this time. The more veggies the merrier :thumbsup: Also the strawberrie plants are showing new growth so it will be time to clean them up to get ready for the growing season soon.
 
This will be my lineup for the 2026 season. None of the Zapotec's I started last year survived so I'll give them another shot with the seeds I have left over. My son wanted some hotter peppers to make his seasoning so I told him to pick something out. He picked the Habanero's. I've been wanting to try the Leutschauer's out so I grabbed some of those.

Since my soil is getting pretty fine I got some carrots to try. I'm not going crazy with the number of plants this year (backbone says no) so I'll only get enough compost to perk up the pepper soil. Basil... :dunno: ...free seeds what can I say...I dont use it much but I can vac seal and freeze a bunch for F&F that want better than store bought.

Not sure if the Mammoth jalapeno's will stay true from last years peppers but we'll see...I know the Lesya's did. Just gonna plant everything and whatever happens happens. I have a feeling we are in for another scorcher this summer...hope not.

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This is what I have for seeds.

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Way more than I have room for. A few from last year and the rest dated 2025. Mrs. Kid gets bags of year old packets donated to her library every year.
If i feel motivated today I might put in some of that radish tape and a row of spinach.

Garlic is up !

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Yea. With limited space it's one of the few things we have luck with and get a good harvest from. Besides, they're crazy expensive. We'll eat the radish greens too.
 
I don't have the room to grow food for preserving. Used to....not any more.
So I've been focused on short rows with a quick yield. Things we can run out and pick for dinner....hence all the greens.

I put in radish, spinach and lettuce yesterday.

We'll buy 2 cherry tomato plants after Memorial Day. I've tried a lot of varieties, but in this particular situation cherries work the best, and give us fruit the soonest.
We usually get a basil plant from Trader Joe when we're on vacation, eat off it for a week then plant it in a bucket on the porch.

Does anybody grow Aspabroc or Yod Fah Chinese Broccoli ? They look intriguing but probably prone to bugs.

EDIT: Just bought some Yod Fah seeds. $3.50 with free shipping from https://www.rareseeds.com/broccoli-chinese-yod-fah
 
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oldgoatsrock said:
With the addition of a new freeze dryer we're planning on doing a bumper crop of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, etc.
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Sounds good...I would love to have a freeze dryer. Can they make the kind of strawberries like you find in cereal? I have a dehydrator but it's just not the same.

@BillyTheKid ...dang it man...I had to look those up...Asparagus if my favorite veggie and broccoli is high on the list too. Now I'm pondering that when I'm supposed to be reducing garden size. I'll wait for your report back...so maybe next year.
 
LHorn said:
Sounds good...I would love to have a freeze dryer. Can they make the kind of strawberries like you find in cereal? I have a dehydrator but it's just not the same.

@BillyTheKid ...dang it man...I had to look those up...Asparagus if my favorite veggie and broccoli is high on the list too. Now I'm pondering that when I'm supposed to be reducing garden size. I'll wait for your report back...so maybe next year.
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Sorry for the late reply, yes with my experience the strawberry's are very much like those you'll find in cereal
 
I managed to 86 two tomato seedlings. Actually it was gnats in the grow tent that got to the young seedlings and they didn't recover. I took the Bell pepper seedlings out before the gnats could get to them and they're doing well in our bedroom under grow lights. I soaked some more tomato seeds in a germination accelerator concoction and placed them on damp tissue couple of days ago. Hopefully they'll be ready to go into seed starting mix next week. The potatoes have all sprouted so all I have to do is keep the fed and watered. Once the plants grow about 8 inches tall more soil is added to the bag so they can continue to grow vertically. Currently I have more Romaine lettuce than I cah use even if I had some with each meal. I didn't want to grow this many plants but after sleeping all winter many, many seeds just took off.
 
The new batch of tomato seeds, around four have germinated and fingers crossed they're doing well. They're even dropping off their first set of leaves. Today I potted them up from the small starter cups to some larger nursery cups. They're about two weeks behind the peppers though. I potted them up as well and both got fertilizer. The garlic and onions are doing great. Both are covered with insect netting to keep the pests at bay. My strawberries are producing fruit but, like last year, a bird got to the first one. Tomorrow they're getting covered with the netting, like last year. Oh and the potatoes. If I had known it was this easy I'd have been growing them before now. I'm growing them "vertically". Started in a large trash bag then roll the sides up and add more soil as they grow. They're big enough to do that now.
Happy gardening.
 
Help me finish my garden ...

We have only 2 small garden spaces. I've planted it with the usual stuff for (all started with plants, I don't do seeds) -- 6-8 Green and Purple Perilla leaves, 6 Basil plants, peppers (Korean and Jalapeno), thyme, mint. Those are all fairly highly productive, so I can eat salad daily, largely with Perilla and Basil & peppers every day. I have space for a couple more plants. Are their other highly productive plants that would work well with salad? I tried tomatoes before, but they take too long to grow, then they get eaten by animals, so it's not really worth it. I probably have 3 square feet open, so looking for some highly productive plants to fill that space.
 
Have several tomato plants that will go in containers, or a raised bed if it arrives soon enough.

1x Big Beef
1x Better Boy
2x Black Krim
2x White Currant cherry tomato (although may plant only one)
 
Been raining for a few days. Just looked out the kitchen window and saw all 70 of my Garlic plants are starting to Scape. A little early but I am happy to see it.
 
peterp1 said:
Help me finish my garden ...

We have only 2 small garden spaces. I've planted it with the usual stuff for (all started with plants, I don't do seeds) -- 6-8 Green and Purple Perilla leaves, 6 Basil plants, peppers (Korean and Jalapeno), thyme, mint. Those are all fairly highly productive, so I can eat salad daily, largely with Perilla and Basil & peppers every day. I have space for a couple more plants. Are their other highly productive plants that would work well with salad? I tried tomatoes before, but they take too long to grow, then they get eaten by animals, so it's not really worth it. I probably have 3 square feet open, so looking for some highly productive plants to fill that space.
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Carrots...spinach? Gotta use the farmer's rule of planting 20% more than you want for the "wildlife tax". :rflmao:
 
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