Tortoise's 2018 garden(s)

[Mini Horses]

I'm of the opinion that when we save own seeds and plant outside, they will be as resilient. The plants are acclimated. I saw an article where a planter put seeds in their little pots late Fall/early Winter. Too cold to sprout. They stayed out all winter & sprouted in Spring. Mother Nature at her best?

I'll give it a try this Fall -- see what happens.

 

[tortoise]

I have wanted to try winter sowing also @Mini Horses ! I have a collection of plastic blueberry clamshells. Since we have blueberries, people save them for us. I keep accepting even though I have no use for them. ... until now...

I have a feeling your garden is much bigger than mine!

Main veggie garden is approx. 1/5 acre, I think 90 x 100 feet??

 

[tortoise]

We bought and planted 4 apple trees to add to our mini/future orchard. We have 9 young apple trees planted 2014, 2016, and 2018, 2 struggling cherry trees from 2016, 1 nearly deceased but not completely dead plum tree from 2016. And 1 mature apple tree.

I need to plant hazelnuts. I have about 200 nuts saved and have been chilling in the fridge for a month.

The sun is starting to go down and isn't so intense now. That means it is gardening time for me. TTYL!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yay on apple trees! I planted a plum today. I'm a little bit worried - I thought plums were supposed to grow like weeds...but apparently not?

 

[tortoise]

Not when you regularly get -20 F with strong winds?

 

[tortoise]

I planted my early sacrificial garden (before average last frost date). 8 tomatoes, celery, onion, chives, basil, thyme. Hopefully the few straggler roosters won't destroy it like every other garden I've put in that spot. I told DH NO FREE RANGE CHICKENS THIS YEAR!

I discovered that some of my "hollyhocks" were actually sunflower seeds. I wonder how they got in there? I didn't know what kinds so I just transplanted them into a weedy rocky patch that I just keep planting random stuff in there in hopes something likes it and grows faster than the weeds/grass. I found an english daisy I planted last year that survived and looks good!

First hot day of the year - 86 degrees, sunny, not much, if any, breeze. I didn't get much done. Actually, I was predicting based on the weather I wouldn't get much done and because we're headed for a cool snap, there's not much point in trying to acclimate to the higher temperature. So I went shopping and ran errands in my hometown about 45 miles away. I forgot to buy onion sets.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We hit 91 yesterday but it wasn't too bad because the humidity was really low. I'm sure that won't last for much longer...

 

[tortoise]

We're having some cool weather which I am loving for getting garden work done. Plants are probably not loving it quite so much.

Yesterday I spent 3 hours weeding. Digging out quack grass that are coming up after tilling and hoeing rows that aren't planted yet.

I still have to make about half the garden beds. I'm annoyed with DH dumping uncomposted barn hay/bedding/poop in the garden. It makes preparing beds and hoeing unnecessarily physically difficult. It's very hard on my wrist/thumb/tendons.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Working in some cool weather sure beats the heck outta working in the heat! But, like you said, plants might not like it as much. Hope it warms up for you as soon as you're finished with preps! Can you wear some kind of wrist and/or thumb brace that will take some of the pressure off?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Your garden is huge! Sounds like a great year for you!