What does your garden look like ... Today?

[gary350]

I went outside early this morning to check out hail damage from last nights 9pm storm. Potato plants are flattened in several places but they will be ok. I can't see any hail damage to, tomatoes, peppers, or melons. TV claimed 60 mph wind gust hail sounded like 5 machine gun blasts to the our house roof. We were lucky to be on the edge of the storm. We needed the rain and could use more.

 

[DiggersJo]

Rare to get hail here in the UK like that we had in Italy, and I guess how bad it can be in the USA. Apart from it being able to decimate a full summer crop before it started (were mostly in Spring) it was the damage it done to peoples cars! I wondered for a long while why so many people has mottled paintwork on the vehicles until I realised it was hail damage, doh!

 

[gary350]

I decided I should take photos rain is 1 hour away. Living in tornado alley we might get a nice rain or storms with high wind and hail. I filled up my irrigation ditches this keeps all the water on the plants not in the walk area to water weeds and grass. People like to ask me, why does your garden have no weeds? Weeds don't grow in 100°f hot dry desert. Rain always seems to be much better than city water. I need to be carful dragging water hose between the rows small plants are easy to damage. We have cold weather all next week I hope to be able to plant corn next weekend. I decided not to plant beans next week, I planted watermelons instead. I can plant beans Sept 1st they grow better in cooler weather.

 

[Meadowlark]

Planted out repurposed micro pond today...

 

[gary350]

Not much to do in garden but wait. No rain means no weeds or grass. Tomato plants and pepper plants have blossoms. The only thing to do is keep irrigation ditches wet 6pm every day about 10 min work. I have several kinds of potatoes growing side by side that makes it easy to see different plants look different and some plants grow larger than others. Onions are just now starting to grow bulbs day length is now about 13 hrs. of sunlight vs 11 hrs. of dark. 1 week of rain in the forecast maybe I can plant corn about May 3th. I planted melons 4 days ago when potato plants are gone melons can spread out.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

My neighbor had some trees taken down and offered some mulch so I used it for my path. I also threw a light layer in some in some of the gardens.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Here's a proper before-after comparison.

 

[Sheal]

It's looking good JB.

 

[dirty hands]

What a difference i bet walking through that gate.

 

[Meadowlark]

Sunrise on the back gate to Meadowlark gardens...

 

[gary350]

2 weeks later my TN garden has barely changed plants are a few inches taller. 60 years later the corn belt where we once lived has not changed either, drive 300 miles in any direction 10 ft tall corn fields all look the same. This is Big Sky country, I miss the moon and star show every night. Most of these towns have a population of about 200 to 500 people.

 

[Meadowlark]

The peak spring growing season is here...so let's take a quick tour of the veggie garden....


Bottom right of the photo below shows two varieties of blooming squash. To the right of that two varieties of blueberries in containers.

The far-right row contains several different varieties of sunflowers and blackberries. The row just to the left of the sunflowers is made up of two bean varieties (pintos and blue lake).

Moving left of those are four rows of corn plantings (three staggered plantings). On the left of the corn rows are containers with carrots, horseradish, Klip Dagga, asparagus, and bafra tobacco.

Then the trellis with lima beans makes up this part of the veggie garden.

The other part of the veggie garden is shown below:

Just past the containers on the right see a trellis with about 25 tomato plants of various types, tomatillos, three varieties of peppers, cucumbers, and a watermelon mound.

Moving to the left shows the potato row with three different varieties...and the start of harvesting them having already removed about 30 pounds so far. This row will harvest at well over 200 pounds of potatoes.

One more row to the left is the onion crop which has been supplying onions to the table since Dec and is now about two weeks from final harvest. It also will harvest out over 200 pounds of onions.

One more row left shows the mostly ungerminated peanuts and Canelli beans. The next row left has several varieties of tobacco plants, kale, and seed of Osage Orange.

The far-left portion contains an area being conditioned for next year's crops.

 

[DiggersJo]

Looks more like a farm... lovely veg

 

[Meadowlark]

Looks more like a farm... lovely veg

Thank you @DiggersJo . We eat well here and enjoy healthy foods to boot. We also supply considerable amounts to the local food pantry center of hope.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

One of my woodland-style garden spaces. I'm looking forward to introducing zig zag goldenrod to it this year. I've desperately needed more goldenrod in my gardens and it's one of my favorites I've seen in the wild so it'll be a welcome aggressive addition.