Leathernecks

One of my brandywine tomatoes.

My precious!

When I renovated my house, I ran a couple wires from my living room to the north and south sides of my house for a future irrigation system. It is definitely something I have in the long term plans. The drip irrigation in flower beds and the garden would be worth its weight in gold. Not to mention, my house was vacant for a few years before I bought it, so the yard was a jungle. Also, I tore it up when I put in a basement. I don't know if I have a single blade of grass, just weeds. Going to tear it up and seed it at some point, and the irrigation system would be amazing. Did you do your own or have someone do it? I've thought about having someone design it and then doing it myself. The videos I've seen look pretty easy, I just need someone to tell me where to put everything.

It's actually unavailable right now on Amazon. Maybe I got the last one lol. There are a lot of others. The main reason I got this one is because they have a 2 year warranty and they're active answering questions on Amazon in case it is needed. retractable hose It isn't a very big hose, but for gardening, it supplies more than enough water.

Also, today I installed a retractable garden hose that is 130 feet long, and that is a life saver. Rolls back up on its own.

This is the best my herbs have ever done. I have almost full grown plants that I can use for the next couple weeks, and I have ones I planted from seed that are just starting to come up. I think all of my herbs might be coming up. Going to hopefully plant some more beans and lettuce this weekend to try to get more use out of them. Trying to prolong garden season.

I haven't checked today, but yesterday I had some decent sized blossoms that are still closed that will probably open in the next day or two. I think my brandywine's take longer than 2-3 weeks to ripen, but some of the smaller tomatoes can go pretty quick. Maybe because once I see the brandywines start, I check them every day like a kid waiting for Christmas.

My garden is starting to come along. All my beans, corn, lettuce, and other seeds are coming up, and the tomatoes are starting to come out of their funk. Starting to get flowers on a few peppers and my tomatillo. Didn't see any last night on my tomatoes when I took the pictures.

I didn't know that about artichokes. Sounds unbelievable (un-bee-leave-able...cause the bees won't leave it!)

I don’t know if there is anything special you have to do, or if they just go to seed and you collect them. Going to have to look that up some time, but I can't imagine it is that tough. I tried fennel for the first time a couple years ago, and loved it. Such a different flavor than any other vegetable.

I would love to see the rabbit that could get to your plants! I planted 3 fennel plants. Planning on eating 2 of them, and I'm going to try to get the seeds from the 3rd one. Never done that before, but I love fennel seeds. I planned on doing some artichokes, but they didn't make the move well when I planted them in bigger pots this spring.

Your tomatoes and peppers are killing it! Mine have gotten quite a bit bigger the last few days with some rain and warm temperatures, but no fruits yet. My beans and sweet corn have started coming up, and my fennel is looking awesome. Herbs are looking pretty solid too. Lost a cauliflower and broccoli to some rabbits, but got over that pretty quick haha.

That's what I plant for a cherry tomato too. Tough to beat their flavor and quantity.

Last year I planted my cherry tomatoes right next to the basil so I could stand in the garden and eat about 10 cherry tomatoes wrapped in basil. I wasn't thinking when I planted this year and they are a couple rows apart.

I have reused potting soil from one year to the next. If you aren't sure if it will work, in January/February, plant a couple seeds and see if they take. I want to say I saw something that said to bake the soil for a little while in case there has been bacteria growing on it, but I could just be making that up haha. I reused seeds this year, and didn't have any troubles. Still had a great germination rate. Can really help cut down on the costs. If you want something that is a really quick turnaround, it might be worth looking into shoots, sprouts, and microgreens. I have grown a few, and I think those are a blast to grow. From planting to harvest in a week or two. I've been meaning to get some going, so maybe that will be a project for this week.

Not a potted plant guy, but I would think a lot would depend on the potting mix you are using. A lot of them have slow release fertilizers built into them, but I don't know if that is enough or how long it lasts. I crush up some eggshells and put them around my tomatoes and peppers to prevent end rot. My first few tomatoes last year got it from not having enough calcium, and a few eggshells took care of the problem.

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely be getting some.

I hadn't heard that about corn and tomatoes. Sounds like it is only an issue if the corn gets bugs. I saw that a lot of people plant them next to each other without issue. Mine are next to each other, so hopefully no problems! I basically put the tallest plants in the back (north) so they don't block other plants from getting sun.

I watered my garden today, and saw a bunch of lettuce and arugula starting to pop up. I'm so proud of the little guys lol. Pulled up a bean seed and it was starting to grow too. Hopefully pops up in a couple days.

Hopefully the pelican that ate it didn't mind. I didn't trust that fish haha.

Here's my garden progress. Plants aren't as big as I usually like them, but I don't think it will make much difference in the long run. Everything in there was started from seed except a few peppers, one tomato, one tomatillo, and the onions.

I took a trip to the Mississippi coast a couple years ago and caught this thing. I thought it was going to fly away.

I also had oregano come up from last year's plant that went to seed. It was a huge bunch of oregano, so I cut it off and I'm going to try drying it.

We finally got dry enough that I could get my garden planted. Still kind of clumpy when I tilled it today, but we had a chance of rain so I had to get them in. My tomatoes are looking rough from the inside and outside of hardening them off for about a month, but they're starting to come out of it. I was too tired to think about taking a picture, but I will take one tomorrow. I got a ton of things planted. If you picked a random vegetable from a list, there's a good chance I planted it haha.

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I looking into getting something to be able to make coffee if I ever need to. I came across the Aeropress. Seemed like an interesting concept.