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2017 Garden Planning and Report Thread

25K views 465 replies 36 participants last post by  Charles Lynch 
#1 ·
Now that Mother Nature has just about closed the door on 2016 gardens, it's time to start planning for next year's crops!

What are you doing differently in 2017?

What will you grow more of? What will you grow less of? Increase in garden size? Or decrease?

Let's hear about your plans for seed selection and garden prep!
 
#149 ·
Did the first thinning of the carrots.

Pulled some weeds.

Flowers are forming on the green peppers.

Tomatoes are showing some stress going from planting flat to garden and seeing lower 40s to upper 90s in the last week. Keeping them watered and hoping for the best.

Currants have lots of plump translucent green berries.

Raspberries are getting hit by spider mites. Need to get a chemical control on them. New flowers are forming.
 
#150 ·
Did the first thinning of the carrots.
Wash the carrot roots and add to salads. Same goes for the carrot tops. We cut the tops up unless we were thinning very small plants. Small roots are OK the way they are. If the root starts to get larger then maybe we would cut them into two.

Eventually the carrots could get large enough that many times the tops are tasting to strong but that could take several weeks. Some seasons we were able to use the tops until we harvested a mature carrot crop.

Works for beet tops. We will be pulling Dill ferns starting this week. We add those to salads or tartar sauce.
////
 
#151 ·
View attachment 256383 So far:
21 tomatoes
25 jalapeños
2 summer squash
2 zucchini
2 tomatillos
2 eggplant
3 cucumber
3 pickles

Still have some squash and tomatoes to find a home for.
Mike
Ok you cant just tease us like that. Need to see more of your set up there.
 
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#152 ·
Rectangle Font Parallel Pattern Slope
Sky Tree Shade Wood Fence


There are three 4'x12' beds in the center, and 2'x8' beds around the perimeter. Two shorter beds for the entry. Cattle panels serve as a trellis for the tomatoes and cucumbers, and keep the deer out.

Chicken coop next to the garden for 'fertilizer'. ;) plan to add a rain barrel on the coop for irrigation.

I'll try to find some more pictures from last year.

Mike
 
#156 ·
Like hunting, fishing and a lot of other of our pastimes, gardening is certainly not about saving money for most of us. The cost of tools, fencing, fertilizer, herbicides, seeds, plants.... all wipe out any savings. How many pounds of beans can I buy for the cost of a rototiller. How about the cost of the land itself? Its about having fun and quality food, not money.
 
#158 ·
I just but in my tomatoes n pepper plants tonight. About a week earlier for me than normal, but weather looks good.
Thing is, when I bought my plants last week, the cells at this greenhouse were all 3 cells, not 4.
Anyone else seeing 3 cells instead of the old 4 cells?
 
#159 ·
I just but in my tomatoes n pepper plants tonight. About a week earlier for me than normal, but weather looks good.
Thing is, when I bought my plants last week, the cells at this greenhouse were all 3 cells, not 4.
Anyone else seeing 3 cells instead of the old 4 cells?
Thats what I have seen here also. I bought some today at Menards and they had 6 cells in them fo 1.88. Local greenhouse here has plants and most are only about 2 inches high. I cannot believe they are selling them
 
#166 ·
Lynch's in Twinning was $11 for a flat and the plants were all 6-10 inches tall. They they threw in a bonus plant which was a big tomato plan that already had little tomatoes growing on it. Since I planted my plants, they have about doubled in size in less than a week.
 
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#171 ·
Cloud Sky Plant Tree Natural landscape

Plant Green Tree Grass Agriculture
Plant Green Fence Mesh Road surface
Road surface Asphalt Grass Tar Groundcover

Got my garden in between storms this weekend. This is the earliest I've ever got it in but judging by the upcoming forecast I'll be fine. First two rows of corn are up. I still need to mulch around my tomatoes broccoli and cauliflower and cage my tomatoes. I ended up biting the bullet and bought 25 new tomato cages this year. Got sick of the cheap flimsy ones and constantly bending the support legs straight again.
 
#175 ·
Hate to do it but think Iam going to go to the nursery and buy new tomatoe plants.Had 72 planted by may 18 and they looked real good but 3 inches of rain sunday and a lot more rain now I don't think they will make it.So I going to buy now because in a couple weeks when it drys out the nursery might not have many left.Had rain like this a few year ago after I planted and it really stunted there growth.A heavy rain doesn't seam to effect Thames as much when they get bigger.I think the other plants will be okay.
 
#177 ·
I agree too much water early is not good. Two years ago we had lots of rain and I was still doing the heavy mulch and newspaper trick for weed suppression. The ground was so saturated that I don't believe it ever fully dried out and my tomatoes never got taller then 12". It was a total washout that year. That's why I haven't mulched or caged my tomatoes yet because the ground is so wet. I've wanted to pick rocks out that the disk and tiller flipped to the surface but it's so wet I can't even do that. Btw. Why is it I can never get rid of those darn things. lol.
 
#176 ·
I built my own tomato cages, years ago. I used 6 foot welded wire fencing, and one fence post - all from Home Depot. I cut off as much fence as I needed, rolled it into a large "tube," and wired the ends together. Then I sink a fence post made for that fencing, slide the cage over it, and attach to the post. Then I cut out some rectangles of fencing to create holes, so I can reach in, and pull tomatoes out. I've had these for 20 years, and they still work great. I can put 3-4 tomato plants inside each cage. They are about 3 feet in diameter.

This is the fencing, except I found some that was 6 feet wide.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...l-Welded-Wire-Garden-Fence-308303EB/205708553
 
#181 ·
That's awesome. If you have any pics we'd love to see them. The only artifacts I unearth are old farming equipment and cement tiles from an old silo that was near where my garden is now. I've found so much iron that I started tossing it next to my barn and scrapping it.
 
#182 ·
When I lived in Allegan county I had a low spot in my woods. I took my dozer and cleared all the brush out of about an acre and then had a pond dug. The guy digging the pond stopped and came up to the house with a whole pail full of stone chips. What I found out later it was though that at some time there was an indian camp there. We use to find a lot of arrowheads in the area. My best find was a half round knife which I was told was used to scrape hides with
 
#186 ·
Just want a option.My tomatoes and other plants have been in mud for five days and it looks like it will be a few days before it drys up. right now most look okay. Iam afraid because of all the water they might end up stunted.Would you guys replant when it drys up or gamble that they make it.Iam thinking of replanting because it would only cost about 30 dollars and would be pretty easy because I would just have to pole old plants out and put new one in the hole.
 
#193 ·
If you are in the Allendale area check out Countryside green house. When I lived down that way we use to get all our plants and flowers from there. My wife and one of our friends wife went last week and came home with over 300.00 in flowers . She said the flats were around 6.00. She brought me a tomato plant that is between 20 and 24 inches tall that cost 6.00
 
#194 ·
Did the first thinning of the carrots.

Pulled some weeds.

Flowers are forming on the green peppers.

Tomatoes are showing some stress going from planting flat to garden and seeing lower 40s to upper 90s in the last week. Keeping them watered and hoping for the best.

Currants have lots of plump translucent green berries.

Raspberries are getting hit by spider mites. Need to get a chemical control on them. New flowers are forming.
Thought about this post all week (been in the UP). Checked mine when I got home today, I also have spider mites on the blackberries. Raspberries looked ok. Thinking about trying Neem Oil.

Mike
 
#195 ·
Mike, I elected to use a sharp blast of water to get rid of the spider mites. This seems to have worked. However the damage they did killed the flower cluster and associated branch, so I cut it off. There are new flowers developing on the raspberries, and so far I haven't seen signs of spider mites. The leaves start to discolor and eventually turn yellow. I have read they suck the moisture out of the plant tissues.
 
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