Posted on 04/17/2015 1:08:22 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Good news.
You live in beautiful country, but it would be too cold for me! Hope you get some more moisture (preferably rain?).
Sounds like nitrogen could be overpowering the ratio of P and K and trace minerals. Why don’t you try some additives of the other nutrients at least on a small patch to see if that helps?
I’m with you. I don’t like to be outdoors without sunshine. LOL The older I get, the worse I tolerate the cold. We have been in the fan stage this week. No heat needed, except a heating pad for the achy joints.
When the sun shines the basement family room gets lots of warm passive solar, and that lasts till bedtime this time of the year. My electric bill goes way down.
Let us know how it turns out.
Same here. We aren’t supposed to get sun again until Monday.
In the 80s here. Lots of blossoms and leaves popping out.. Tomatoes are blossoming too.. I am torn over what else to plant. Peppers, eggplant..? Its only April 17.. Lots of options..
I bought 3 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants today (sale at Home Depot - 5 plants for $10). It is 3-4 weeks early here to plant tomatoes, but if I ‘baby’ them & keep them covered on cold(er) nights, maybe they’ll make it.
Two questions:
1. Anybody grown spaghetti squash? HD had some plants & I’m debating whether to try them ... I like to cook with spaghetti squash.
2. Eggplants - I love ‘em and have a terrible time growing them. The flea beetles just eat them up every year. Last year, I had new beds so it’s not like I had old soil with beetles in it. I have used sprays, but just can’t seem to keep up with the beetles. It’s all VERY frustrating. Any suggestions?
The redbuds are blooming ... I absolutely trashed my back planting 6 of them last spring so at least I was ‘rewarded’ with some gorgeous trees this year! :-)
We can certainly use all the rain we get, and the mountains need the snowpack pretty bad this year. We've already had several good wildfires spark up around us, and with a meager 69% snowpack, we're looking at all kinds of fire restrictions this summer. I plan on getting out into the back country, but that's never any fun without a campfire to sit by and cook my coffee on. I really wouldn't mind the snow either, if it weren't for the plants I've got outside. They are in the greenhouse, but it's not heated, so I'm a little concerned there. We'll see how it goes.
This winter has been absolutely gorgeous. We might have hit single digits a couple times, but nothing like normal. A couple winters ago, we were down in double digits negative, so this year has been great. April is usually the wettest month for us, so I'm hoping we see a lot more moisture.
Excellent! I'm hoping my "Build a Better Bug Out Bag" article will appear in the upcoming May/June issue of "Backwoodsman Magazine". The editor suggested it would either be the last issue or this one. It wasn't in the last. Keeping my fingers crossed. It's been a while since I've seen my byline in a nationally published mag.
Sounds like you might have too much nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen gives you lovely leaves, but no fruit.
What do you use for fertilizer?
Great start - good idea about planting a circle of onions around the pot. I like to have green onions and chives available to harvest 1 or 2 for several dishes, but it’s a waste of space to have a big bunch, because I don’t use them that often so just sticking some in various pots would work well for me.
Peppers for sure for us. They grew better than anything last year. I harvested a green one when needed and froze a few - the rest I let turn red before harvest, and then cut them into quarters, vacuum packed, and put in freezer for stir fry.
Red peppers here are at least 2 bucks during the winter and even more for organic, if you can even find them. Peppers are also a great source of vitamin C. We can’t really grow citrus outdoors here, so peppers are one source for us.
We don’t have a green house, but we do have a few small areas in the spring that can take a hit from frost. We just cover them with plastic and hang a 100 watt bulb underneath it for heat.
We have several outdoor outlets, and one of them is right by several of my raised beds, so don’t even need an extension cord.
As a kid, stuffed peppers was never on the preferred list for me.
I may give em a shot. I have a good well lit area. Lots of sun. They dont take up much room.. Good luck!
Until year before last, we did ok with squash ... and then came the Great Squash Bug Invasion. I was so disgusted (got one zuke & one yellow) that I gave up and did crazy weird squash last year that was squash bug resistant .... cucuzzi & trombettas. I want to try ‘regular’ squash again this year & see what happens.
Cukes were out of control last year - grew a few plants from seed and had WAY too many ... ended up cutting up pretty much everything coming off the vine and making freezer pickles out of them. If I get cukes this year, will be picking them off the vine at a very small size and making pickles - might let a couple get a little larger for salad fixins’.
I like to take my leftover peppers and slice them in strips, saute just a tad in some olive oil so they are still a little crunchy. Then I’ll put a cup or 2 in a foodsaver bag, vacuum seal and freeze. Works out great to toss tem in something during the winter, pasta or with some Italian sausage and onion.
I'm gonna do this. I got a killer deal on bell peppers a while back at the local grocery store. I bought a bunch, brought them home and dried them, then vacuum sealed them and threw them in the freezer. Didn't even think about olive oil and saute. Did the same with a bunch of shittake shrooms I got a deal on too.
I don’t have a greenhouse, but have big south and west windows. On my home page the sunset picture is the view west from my living room (but the photo was taken from the deck) of the continental divide which is only about 10 miles to the west.
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