Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Thinking about the garden

Last year I started all my tomato plants inside, using one of those mini-greenhouses that can be purchased at Walmart. It worked out well for me, and I've bought another such greenhouse for use this year. I'll be buying Legend tomato seeds again, because their blight resistance really did prove superior; they also produced quite well for me. I see the experts are working to come up with better blight resistance in tomato plants all the time, so maybe there will eventually be something even better than the Legend tomato. One thing that helps control blight is to plant the tomatoes in a different part of the garden each year, and I do that.
Last year I got in a hurry and started the tomato plants at the end of February; they were getting pretty leggy by the time I could set them out. So this year, I'll wait until at least mid-March.

My two worst garden enemies are blight and squash bugs; I totally stopped gardening for a few years because of them. Last year, squash bugs killed the zucchini plants early on, but the cucumbers survived. I won't be making pickles this summer, since I have plenty left from last year. I'm thinking one hill of cucumbers will be more than sufficient. After the prolific production of butternut squash last year, I know I don't need to plant so many of those, either! Maybe I'll plant a hill of acorn squash instead; their size is much more appropriate for me and Cliff.

I'll be planting only Yukon Gold potatoes; we love them! And I'm going to try Bodacious sweet corn; it seems to get rave reviews. I'm not planting a huge amount of anything, except for tomatoes; I want to can a lot of tomatoes again.

Cliff and his sister are going to stay out of the gardening business this year; they've both decided they'd rather put their time, energy, and talents toward other enterprises.

Ah, garden plans in mid-winter. Hope for the future. Something to cancel out a little of the depressing news I hear on television.

7 comments:

  1. can i move in with you? I love fresh veggies from a garden!!!

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  2. We here in Ohio cannot safely plant any tomatoes outdoors til the end of May. We often have frost till then. In Mid March we often still have snow on the ground and everything is still frozen. We may get some beautiful days here and there, but that is it. Spring comes but not much gardening will be done here. I don't plant much at all but enjoy the roadside stands with the fresh produce.

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  3. I won't be putting them outside till late April; I'll start them in the greenhouse in March.

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  4. I miss having a garden and going out each day to see how those homegrown goodies are coming along. It was relaxing and so enjoyable once those veggies started producing. I don't miss the weeds that seem to grow faster than anything else though.

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  5. Vicki9:32 AM

    My garden is 6x6, evey year is a race to see who gets the tomatos, blight or me. Wish I had a Big Girl garden like you. Vicki

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  6. Greenhouse? We go through shade cloth like it was asswipe. I think our last frost is projected to be next week sometime.

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  7. I think I went over board in buying seeds this year. I got the butternut squash, okra, cabage, carrots, onions and many more. This year I am buying my own tiller so I don't have to borrow one. I'm ready for spring but I have a feeling, it will be wet and cold again. Like last year was.

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