God, it feels like ages since we’ve had a good gardening update, doesn’t it?
Anyway, the garden is completely in. The peppers transplanted just fine, but the tomatoes are moping around. Though, I have noticed that tomatoes seem to like to mope around every time there’s a minor change.
NM has her tomatoes and she kindly pretended like she hadn’t left them in the care of the world’s worst gardener and this afternoon Rachel is coming over and I am going to load her up with everything else I have left.
Hurray!
Now all I need to do is acquire some hose. Though, I have to admit that, while I was laying in the hammock yesterday, I had a brief plan to kidnap W. and make him come over and design a contraption that would suck water out of the creek while there’s still water in it and then somehow collect rainwater for storage for when the creek goes dry.
And don’t get me wrong. I believe W. could make me such a contraption. But I worry that it would cost me 5 times as much as what just buying a lot of hose would.
Anyway, what’s going on in y’all’s gardens?
Tiny Cat Pants 
My hands are the Grim Reaper when near soil and growing plants. I just sit on the sidelines, watching, not wanting to destroy anything.
Newscoma, you should try your hands at Kudzu ;-)
I am late with the peppers and tomatoes. My black raspberries [Oh, exotica!] are loaded with buds, so I hope for 10 gallons this year. Try them. They root from cane tips, so endless supply of new plants.
We’re not entirely out of the chance of frost up here, so that (plus the “race to the end of the semester”) is keeping my gardening all in the planning stage. Plus I think we’re going to tear out our other fence on Mother’s Day weekend and until I know what that will do to the sun patterns, I’m reluctant to put anything in.
Nothing yet-I’m in WI and we had snow/freezing temps this past week, so I still haven’t planted yet. But, I plan on seed starting this week, and can’t wait.
In the Sonoran Desert, salad days are over. Spinach is bitter and tough, and the carrots are wide and woody when we pull them: so different from the sweet, soft things they were a few weeks ago. Corn is 12 inches tall though, and the tomatoes and beans are widening across the aisles. Herbs are proliferating: cilantro, rosemary, mint, oregano, and lavender. The garlic and onions are still burgeoning underground and will be ready in another five or six weeks.
On rainwater catchment, we have a cistern off the corner of the house that the gutters feed into. We upended a 3-foot-diameter road culvert into two feet of wet concrete plumbed with a spigot. Right now it holds about 400 gallons, which we will put on the garden a little at a time until the summer rains come. Here’s an image and some instructive links, if you’re interested. It can easily be a DIY project with a few handy folks and about $300 in supplies.
http://www.zonagardens.com/landscape/rainwater.asp
Not much, yet. I have planted beans all along the back fence, which haven’t sprouted yet, and some bush beans and squash in my big garden bed, which ditto. And some late peas, which are coming along nicely enough, but I think it’s a race between them and the heat. (And when they poop out, I’m pulling them up and planting more beans. I’m going to need some canning demonstration and pointers, for sure.) My lettuce and spinach are coming along nicely, my cabbage and other brassicas not so well. And while I was out of town, my roses started blooming.
I was going to plant the tomatoes you gave me today, but instead I went and pickup up the rest of my transplants — tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplants, and some lime basil because it sounds so cool. Some of them are ready to plant, and some will need to sit outside for a week first. And then I went to the ballgame. So that I can report that I really like the changes they’ve made to Greer Park, except that they don’t serve frozen lemonade anymore. /digression
So I will be doing a little planting each day, morning and evening, for the rest of the week.
Well, that link doesn’t work for shit outside of the zonagardens domain. Sorry about that.
Try this one:
http://www.southernarizonaraingutters.com/rain-harvesting-installation.html
The step-by-step instructions are better anyway.
My tomato seedlings are growing — at least I hope they are – they are now about 1 1/2 inches tall – in half and half cartons. There are 2 to a carton, as that’s how the seedlings popped up. I’ll transplant them to larger cartons soon.
Cilantro – I planted the seeds in the salad takeout containers and they’re growing like gangbusters – they really seem to like my little improvised greenhouse.
Red sunflowers – sitting on the patio in styrofoam cups that I’m reusing. There are about 40 out there. They’re loving the sun. Ready to transplant those once they get about twice the size they are now.
My lemon balm and bee balm came back from last year – looking good.
Purple cannas – springing forth from the ground. I had about 3 or 4 last year – I think there are about 10 coming up this year.
Iris – I got a bunch from my mom’s house that have to be put in the ground. Haven’t had time. Same for the asian iris that is sitting in a pot out there.
Basil – seedlings off to a good start. About 2 more inches and I’ll figure out a spot for them.
Mint & oregano are thriving in the flowerbed. Same for the sage, although I didn’t get around to nipping the flowers off of it.
Some of the existing iris already bloomed. I think it’s got another bud waiting to open. I haven’t really paid attention to it except when walking out to get the mail.
Mexican hydrangea – I have one sprout coming up that’s about 6 inches tall. They get about my height at my grandmother’s house.
Basically much has been done, but there is still much to do.
The strawberries on my land in Cullman, Al started coming in two weeks ago. My peaches should be ready around the middle of next month. Barring a last second shocker of a huge frost it looks like its going to be a bumper peach crop this year. It came a frost a few weeks ago but it didnt last long enough to harm anything. Me and my brother in law planted a half acre of okra at my place here in the Selmer/McNairy County area yesterday. Im obsessed with gardening and farming. I even went and helped a friend pick up 2,000 eggs at a chicken house he runs for a few hours this afternoon. It provides a great weekend escape from hanging around fakes in the pr biz during the week.
Hey there — you could install a rain barrel on a downspout… pretty easy to DIY, from what I hear, and captures rainwater for use in gardening (though likely not on vegetables). Lots of info here: http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/EnvironmentalServices/epo/EnvironmentalServicesEpoRainBarrel.aspx Just make sure to do the anti-mosquito thing!
Ha. Maybe someone read my rainbarrel post after all…..
I think big. And expensive. It’s a byproduct of engineering school and working on projects with million dollar budgets for 10 years. Sorry. :-)