What did you do in the garden today?

[NH Homesteader]

We'll have a frost tonight. And forecast says 51 and rainy for Monday. Which I would have guessed after seeing the post from @tortoise because my weather pretty well follows Wisconsin's by 2 days lol! No snow though, gosh I wouldn't take that very well!

 

[tortoise]

Eeeek! Hopefully the storm system ran out of steam and no tornado for you!!! My forecast says 70's by Friday, so hopefully your cold snap is also short.

 

[NH Homesteader]

We hardly ever get tornadoes here. On occasion but it's doubtful. The mountains kinda kill off that sort of weather I think. We *should* just get the cold rain!

 

[Beekissed]

Everyone said these Fortex beans were bad at germinating and I think LG presoaks hers before planting. Mine got a little dab of rain this weekend and sprung up like magic beans! Every single bean germinated and have thick stalks about 4-5 in. high already!!

When I left, no beans and just a few cukes coming up....came back in two days and the beans are much larger than the cukes, but the cukes did all come up.

So far I'm more than tickled with this growing season...I think we are going to have a blessed garden year, folks!!!

The pak choy in my tunnel is ready for picking for baby pak and my romaine there is growing like weeds...that Agribon was just the ticket for keeping them in a shaded but still light environment, as it seems to have caused them to grow very quickly since it has been applied.

I need to plant the rest of this tunnel and get the other tunnel up and planted also. Also need to finish planting Joel's tunnel of lettuce.

 

[Beekissed]

Picked some rhubarb and ate it..... Took some pics of different things that are blooming right now and some of the magic beanstalks that came up. Looked at all the weeds that need hoed out, but didn't do anything about them yet.

One of the clematis vines...looks to have more bloom on it and coming on than ever before. It's going to be a GREAT garden year!

Strawberries, wallflower, snapdragon and lobelia.

"Magic" Fortex beans....strongest, most vigorous beans I've seen in all my life of gardening, though my bean lore is limited to half runners and bush beans.

Honeysuckle in bloom over the garden gate...from there it wafts right into my back window, where I sit here at the computer.

Chicago Peace rose variety, which I thought had died since being planted last season, is making a small comeback and blooming.

All the roses are loving this season, it would seem!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Marigold, calendula, nasturtium... and thanks to Bee's enthusiasm, have started adding zinnia. Iris along the front. Sometimes glads. A veggie garden without flowers is truly a sad garden.

OH, Just love the pic of your lobelia, Bee. That has got to be one of my favorite flowers in a border. Absolutely breath taking color.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Beautiful Bee! If it would ever stay warm maybe we could actually plant our garden, lol

 

[Beekissed]

And sometimes that sadness is a literal truth....

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/PD-35.pdf

http://www.oisat.org/downloads/nematodemarigold.html

http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b701.pdf

Growing flowers with vegetables is a type of permaculture that isn't really mentioned much, other than talking about companion plantings, but the flowers can benefit the soil, the growth of the vegetables and pollination of the veggies as well. They can not only attract pollinators, hide predator bugs and provide habitat for other creatures that may eat pest bugs, but they can help with pests in the soil as well, as in the case of some types of marigolds mentioned in the links above.

I have trouble growing nasturtiums in this garden for some reason, so I finally gave up, but I do grow calendula, marigolds, Black Eyed Susans and zinnias....this season I also planted sweet peas along with my sugar snap peas and really can't tell the two plants apart at this juncture.

Here's a great article about companion flowers and also companion veggies: https://dengarden.com/gardening/Vegetable-Garden-Companion-Plants

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Gorgeous Bee - just gorgeous!

I played in the dirt quite a bit yesterday. I filled a couple more tubs with soil and planted some Swiss Chard in one and some kale in another. The chard will be ok with the heat, not sure about the Kale... I filled in the radish row with new seed to replace the ones we've already eaten. AND picked two yellow squash and two zucchini! And tonight I found two more zucchini that I had missed. They are living in my oven right now - trying a new casserole recipe. That's all I'm gonna say, cuz if it doesn't turn out good - it never happened, lol!

 

[NH Homesteader]

I've been really interested in the flowers in the garden idea, I read something last year about marigolds. I'll happily look at those links tomorrow when I'm more awake, thanks again Bee!