The garden has been in for 3 weeks now

[bearfan454]

I usually go to several nurseries every year to check out who has the best looking plants. This year I ended up with 8 Early Girl, 2 Old German, 2 Brandywine, 5 Sandia peppers, and 1 Habanero.
I need to make my cages soon. I gave franmarz my old cages. This is her first garden here in Tx since moving from Fla last year. She has 4 Early Girl, 1 Old German, 1 Brandywine, 1 sweet banana pepper, 3 Japanese eggplant, onions, squash, and a bunch of different herbs. We almost have gotten too much rain for now. In about 3 weeks it will be in the mid 90's every day so I guess the rain is good for now. I'll post a pic this weekend. Miracle Grow for Tomatoes is your friend and how.

[Vinca]

1. My husband tilled our garden up last Sunday and I put in a few things.

It's still too cold for tomatoes in New Hampshire, but I've got plenty to keep me occupied until the first of June when the plants go in. Today I plan to put in lettuce, spinach, chard, beets, carrots, cabbage and broccoli. Our garden gets bigger every year - it's now about an acre. I plan to use a good chunk of it this year for ground cherries, my new favorite garden item. I saved Aunt Molly ground cherry seeds last year and have a dozen started under lights as well as a dozen of the pineapple-tasting ground cherries that I've never grown before. I wonder if the Miracle Grow tomato food would work on them since they're also known as husk tomatoes.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

2. My husband rototilled last Saturday here in northern Ohio

I put in two type of peas, potatoes, spinach, onions and chives. My cabbage and broccoli plants can go in anytime now, I was just afraid they were not quite big enough yet, got a late start on them. Our rubbarb is coming up nicely, looking forward to that first pie. I have been thinking about ground cherries myself. Are they hard to grow? Just what do you do with them? I have only read a little bit about them, not real sure how you use them, but I like to try new ideas.

[Vinca]

4. The ground cherries are like giant, orange blueberries and

the Aunt Molly variety, that I grew last year for the first time, has a distinct citrusy taste. They're absolutely delicious. For the most part we ate them raw because they are so good that way. I did make a couple of pies that were also very good. I made 1 jar of jam to try and it would have been really good if I'd strained out the seeds. You can freeze them, but I didn't really care for them as much after they were frozen. They seemed to lose much of their citrus flavor. I might try dehydrating them this year. You treat them pretty much like tomatoes. The leaves are supposedly poisonous, but I didn't have any problem with animals getting anywhere near them. They say to wait until the ground cherries drop from the plant in their husks to eat them, but I couldn't wait and discovered I liked them a little "under done" because they had a little tartness that way. The ripe ones are very sweet. One thing I plan to do this year is to put landscaping fabric around them to catch the ground cherries. It's not necessary, but I put mine on the edge of the garden and some escaped into the grass. They're about the same size as a tomato plant and don't require staking, although I'm thinking they would be easier to pick if the plants had some kind of support. They're definitely worth growing.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

8. I am definitely going to have to try them

I like my food a little tart also, so good to know can pick them before recommended to cut down on the sweetness. I have a great dehydrator the kids gave me for Christmas last year so I think I will try that also. Thanks for the information.

[Kolesar]

5. Next season, I am going to have to start my own broccoli, cabbage &cauliflower

The local garden centers *never* have plant starts until late May.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

9. Yes, you can get them in much earlier that way

Plus I find them really easy to start. I don't have any fancy set up, just put in little trays on a windowsill facing east and covered with plastic wrap till they sprouted. Then uncovered and watered and rotated on the windowsill as needed. We heat with wood but the room they are in is one of the coolest, but they still pop up nice and healthy. I think they are plants that just can take the cool better. My tomato starts are more of a pain to take care of.

[Kolesar]

12. Or put in a late crop, too!

thanks for the advice :hi:

[bearfan454]

7. I use it on my peppers also.

It works great.

[WolverineDG]

3. Mine's going like gang-busters

I've got monstrous Roma tomato plants so huge they're "escaping" their cages. :scared: Over in the 2nd square foot area, the squash are kicking butt & taking names. Already I've harvested 4 green squash, & a few strawberries as they ripen. Loads of green tomatoes that have yet to start turning red.

6 romas taking over the back area :scared:
3 squash taking over the front area :scared: (can I cut off the leaves to give my other plants some room?)
9 potatoes (flowering off & doing nicely)
5 corn (one already tassling)
lima beans
black eyed peas
3 strawberries
2 Cherokee purples
2 brandywine
2 rutgers
beets somewhere
various herbs
Lazarus, the plant that came back from the dead, who sprouted another tomato :eyes:

[NEOhiodemocrat]

10. After reading your post I just had to check where you lived!

Do you garden year round down there in Texas? You garden sounds great. I have cut back my squash vines before when they get exceptionally rambunctious, it didn't seem to hurt them.

[WolverineDG]

11. Extreme south Texas

Usually we don't garden in December, January, February, but this year, we didn't get too many cold fronts & no freezes, so Lazarus hung in there. I started putting stuff in when the temps went up into the 90s in late February. :o We've already hit 100 a couple of times too.

Thanks for the info on the squash vines. I'll cut them back now because I'm afraid they might eat my dogs. ;)

dg

[Kolesar]

6. We started lettuce, beets, spinach, radishes and bunching onions 3 weeks ago in N. Ohio

They are under a row cover with big bottles of water near them to buffer the heat. They sprouted within a week and are growing nicely.

Some lettuce from last year germinated and started growing nicely once we put the row cover over them also.

[JDPriestly]

13. I'm envious. I wish I had enough space for so many tomatoes.

Sounds like fun. Enjoy.

[madeline_con]

14. Grow a couple in 5 gal. buckets.

[wuvuj]

15. Has anyone tried....

...Celebrity tomatoes? Ready a little later than Early Girl/Boy...but really good producers of midsized tomatoes.

[Kolesar]

16. Celebrity is my fav

The local nursery supplies starts that have excellent disease resistance and the tomatoes are oh-so-good.

[Alameda]

17. I planted Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra and Black Prince....

Cherokee purple is a delicious tomato, hopefully it will have a good production of nice tomatoes. The green zebra has a nice taste, and it you have a problem with birds and critters, they don't go after green tomatoes. I found an odd variety of arugula that has kept going for over a year now. In fact, it's just gotten larger and seems to spread a little like a spider plant. It gets shoots that I've cut and given to friends to grow. I also planted scarlet runner beans that went very well the last few years. In addition to getting nice beans, it has a pretty red flower that attracts humming birds. It grows up, so if you have a small place, you get more out of the space. I put poles up with wires for it to grow on. Last year they grew 30 feet and made a nice shady area for my hammock.

Check out Daves garden plant files....http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53465/

Interesting feedback from others about a whole lot of plants.