So I'm thinking about starting from seeds this year. Who all does this and when should I get them planted? Any certain varieties you like? Does NCSU or someone similar have a list of recommendations for this area? I know I want to can lots of tomatoes, so I'm thinking Romas for that...

2/6/2015 1:14:28 PM

I've been doing it for a few years now, but you'll have to keep them indoors until it gets warm enough/they get hearty enough to survive cool evenings.

2/6/2015 1:42:33 PM

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/home-vegetable-gardening.pdf

Depending on the amount of indoor space you have, you could winter sow plants to get a head start and then plant the frost susceptible ones after tax day. Suggested varieties on pg 12 of the .pdf

http://gardening.ces.ncsu.edu/plants-2/vegetables-2/

2/7/2015 12:10:38 AM

Thanks for the links. May get started on this...uh, this weekend.

2/12/2015 7:02:47 PM

We did 4 20 ft rows of veggies last year, but basically I took my 4 tine tiller and slowly tilled up the row, but nothing around it.

This year I want to plow up the complete area. 30x40. What should I be doing to prep the land?

2/13/2015 12:37:41 PM

Quote :

"This year I want to plow up the complete area. 30x40. What should I be doing to prep the land?"

Same here...I have a lot of soil leftover from last season's container garden, and about 1.5 Earth Machines worth of compost, and a nice patch of fabulous rock/clay/soil where I want to plant. What's the prep process like? I definitely want to do raised beds.

2/16/2015 1:53:57 PM

We just built a proper seed starting rack. I'm waiting on seeds in the mail.

I am going to start:
-canning tomatoes
-heirloom tomatoes
-bell peppers
-watermelon
-acorn squash
-butternut squash
-basil

and direct seed several kinds of corn, beans and sunflowers. I got this variety of sunflower called Sunspotwhich is midget height (2 ft) and produces huge flowers. Should be entertaining to see what the chickens do with some of those.

2/19/2015 2:15:07 PM

Quote :

"We just built a proper seed starting rack."

Any pictures/links?

Quote :

"-canning tomatoes -heirloom tomatoes"

What varieties did you order and where from?

2/19/2015 2:30:24 PM

Anybody start seeds yet?

3/5/2015 11:22:04 AM

Nope, but it's about time.

I got some lettuce seedlings this weekend, may go ahead and put them in the ground and hope the freezing temps are gone.

3/9/2015 9:17:39 AM

Anyone have good ideas on building a raised bed on a sloping lot? We'd like to build 1 foot out and 1 foot tall from the fence, but the entire yard slopes at a pretty good angle.

Also, any good references for when to start planting?

3/9/2015 9:53:51 AM

A good place for seeds: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

My plan (in addition to the orchard (fruit/nut) and berry patches):

RAISED BOXES (front to back of boxes): (these are 4ft wide by 32 ft long raised beds)

First Box (far right)
Long Standing Bloomsdale Spinach/ Spinach from Jefferson Garden
Sweet Valentine Romaine Lettuce / Jericho Romaine Lettuce / Speckled Bibb Bibb (Butterhead) Lettuce
Flowers

Second Box
Carola Seed Potato/ Dark Red Norland Seed Potato
Forest Green Parsley/White-Stemmed Pak Choi Chinese Cabbage /Daikon, Miyashige White Fall Radish
Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash

Third Box (middle)
Herbs
Tomatoes (Roma/Paste)
Tomatoes (Experiment Paste with bucket)
Bell Peppers

Fourth Box
Siberian Kale /Hanover Salad (Spring) Kale
Garlic/Potato Onions
Costata Romanesca Summer Squash

Fifth Box (far left)
Red Onions
Yellow Onions
Strawberries

BEAN PATCH/ROWs: (2ft wide by 32ft long)

First Bean Row (right)
Arkansas Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber
Scarlet Runner Bean

Second Bean Row (32 feet, plant 8ft every week for 4 weeks)
Sugar Snap Tall Snap Pea

Third Bean Row (split in half)
Blue Coco Pole Snap Bean - Plant 5 feet every week
Lazy Wife Greasy Pole Snap Bean - Plant 5 feet every week

Fourth Bean Row (left) (every 10 feet)
Worchester Indian Red Pole Pole Lima Bean
Green Arrow Dwarf Shelling (English) Pea
Asparagus Bean (from Jefferson Garden)

SPRING/SUMMER SQUASH PATCH: (45ft wide by 30ft deep)

Squash Patch (top Right)
Spaghetti Squash (Vegetable Spaghetti) Winter Squash

Squash Patch (Top Left)
North Georgia Candy Roaster Winter Squash

Squash Patch (Center Right)
Sweet Passion Muskmelon

Squash Patch (Center Left)
Small Sugar Pumpkin

Squash Patch (Bottom Right)
Table Queen Bush (Acorn) Winter Squash

Squash Patch (Bottom Left)
Waltham Butternut Winter Squash

LATE SUMMER/FALL SQUASH PATCH:

Squash Patch (Top Half)
Hollow Crown (Sugar) Parsnip
Harris Model Parsnip

Squash Patch (Bottom Half)
American Purple Top Yellow Rutabaga

Chicken Coop:
Morning Glory (Volunteer)
Luffa, Ridged Edible Gourd

3/9/2015 12:02:32 PM

First spring with my own yard. I was thinking today might be a good day to fertilize the grass since it's supposed to rain this week. Is this true?

What kind of fertilizer should I use? I'm not getting a soil sample until maybe this fall. Should I spring for the turf builder like 30-0-4 or should I just go with 10-10-10? What do you guys recommend?

3/10/2015 7:57:59 AM

unless you have newly seeded grass, go with 10-10-10 at a rate of 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sf.

Now is a good time before it gets too warm/late in the season. However, it's not necessary to time fertilization with rainfall; especially if it's enough rainfall to produce substantial runoff like there will be this week. I'd probably wait until the last day of rain, the ground will be wet enough to dissolve the solid pellets if that's what you're using.

Get your soil tested next August.

(This is all assuming you have a cool-season grass)

3/10/2015 9:21:52 AM

^Okay so ill wait until Sunday. I did overseed last fall but the majority of the yard is established fescue.

3/10/2015 10:13:21 AM

ok; yeh, stick with the 10-10-10 now, until a soil test tells you differently.

The exception would be starter fertilizer in the fall for new seed. But be sure to get true "starter" type, e.g. high in phosphorus (something like 20-20-4); I never use the high N low P & K fertilizer. Chances are, your soil will be fine/close for N, but low on P&K. Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and leaving grass clippings will add a lot of nitrogen to the soil.

3/10/2015 12:32:25 PM

I normally bag my clippings..I know a lot of people say its better to leave them, but its messy as all getout when my dog tracks them in the house.

3/10/2015 12:47:57 PM

Tried to till up my garden area, after putting leaves, chicken poop, compost, etc in a thin layer on top of it all.

Water table has risen so much that anything below about 1-2 inches is all mush, so it was a pretty unsuccessful attempt. Tiller rental place gave me a credit to use it again once things dry out some.

3/14/2015 8:28:30 AM

I'm going to till tomorrow morning- supposed to be a nice day for it. I'll plant red onions, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, carrots, kohlrabi, peas and harvest the carrots from last season.

So far I haven't had much luck in plant snow peas along the garden fence line, I'm going to try planting in a square instead.

I'm waiting on my asparagus and strawberry sets- hope they come early next week since we're going to have gorgeous weather.

3/14/2015 11:27:45 AM

growing container potatoes for the first time (20 gal tubs). the russets should do OK. I'm a little worried about the sensitive varieties though. keeping the water and nutrients just right will be crucial

Russet Burbank
Red Lasoda
Yukon Gem

3/14/2015 11:47:36 AM

Do you all sift/filter your compost to remove of rocks, sticks, worms etc before using?

Planted a couple early boy tomato plants, some red pepper plants, and herbs today (in pots)

Was going to till today but it seems the ground might be too wet. Hopefully next weekend... : /

[Edited on March 15, 2015 at 4:43 PM. Reason : ]

3/15/2015 4:43:09 PM

^ I don't sift my compost. I just hauled 4 truckloads this weekend, and my daughters helped pick out the grubs and fed them to the chickens.

3/16/2015 7:17:45 AM

So I still think I'm tilling and building raised beds, and I don't think I'll have enough soil/compost to fill it out.

Would any of these products be good to add in? If not, where else should I look?

http://www.themulchmasters.com/RETAIL_PRICE_LIST.pdf

3/16/2015 11:11:29 AM

Hard to tell as I like to know what my compost is made from. Is there any way to find out their soil base/composition or compost makeup?

I stay away from used mushroom compost, preferring to stay with composted horse/mulch compost because the heat level can get nice and high to kill bacteria and weed seeds.

3/16/2015 12:36:08 PM

Got some info from them:

Landscape soil - 50% compost, 50% sand-silt-clay
Topsoil - 80% compost, 20% sand-silt-clay
Soil conditioner - "aged pine bark" - evidently it's good for tilling into red clay
Compost is made of - "food grade residuals, yard trimmings and aged sawdust" - couldn't get percentages...

So what would be best to fill out new raised beds with? Already have some fresh compost and some garden soil from last season. Guess I should till some of that pine bark into the clay first?

[Edited on March 16, 2015 at 1:15 PM. Reason : ]

3/16/2015 1:13:09 PM

watch those clay percentages, last load i got there was loaded with red clay. Its broken up fine, but there. Takes a lot of compost, organics, tilling, and time to make decent garden soil from their stuff.

3/16/2015 2:11:19 PM

What about their compost? Not much there, nutritionally?

Are there better sources out there for bulk quality soil?

[Edited on March 16, 2015 at 2:42 PM. Reason : ^ thx]

3/16/2015 2:41:58 PM

the problem with aged pine bark soil conditioner is it can raise the acidity level in the soil (resulting in need for lots of lime) - I would rather add peat moss and lime

I am not thrilled by their compost as sawdust again can bring in high acidity levels....but that would be better than the soil conditioner.

Do you know anyone local who has horses? People with horses usually end up paying people to haul off their composted manure. I get most of mine free from the local 4H Horse Clubs here in VA (just a thought)


I would always add compost before more dirt FWIW

3/17/2015 8:18:34 AM

don't forget the lasagna garden! great way to stretch your compost in a raised bed.

3/18/2015 1:07:54 AM

My setup

3/23/2015 9:40:22 AM

Holy shit! Are you living in Morrisville?

3/23/2015 10:58:02 AM

No I live in Spotsylvania VA on 6.5 acres.

To give you an idea on size, the five raised bed on the right are 4x32 ft with 7 feet between them, the left 4 rows are 3x32 ft with 6 ft between them. The raspberry/blueberry/ blackberry rows are 3x32 ft long. I haven't measured the expanded pumpkin patch but I estimate it to be 32 x44 ft. There are also 19 fruit and nut trees (and I will be adding 2 more figs soon). You can also see my new 8x8ft chicken coop with the 37x63ft run. We also have a 4x5ft chicken coop with a 12x12ft enclosed 7ft high run for our laying chicken flock. We have 6 chickens (1 roo/5 hens) for this flock and picking up 2 more hens this weekend.

Also on Friday we picked up 47 chicks for our 4H project. These are Cornish rock broilers. We will be doing turkeys this summer/fall and some guineas this spring.

3/24/2015 10:54:40 AM

I just started some seeds last night

San Marzano tomatoes
Heirloom variety
Trinidad Scorpion hot peppers
Thai hot peppers
Marigold

[Edited on March 24, 2015 at 11:07 AM. Reason : saps]

3/24/2015 11:06:51 AM

I had always thought that San Marzanos had to be grown there, but today I learned that they're just a cultivar. Neat.

3/24/2015 4:22:05 PM

I guess they grow over 6ft tall...gonna need some sort of big trellace or something. Planning on 9 of those plants. Should be plenty for canning.

3/25/2015 6:59:23 PM

Quote :

"No I live in Spotsylvania VA on 6.5 acres. "

Awesome setup but I see no fencing? No worry of animals eating your plants?

3/26/2015 12:35:34 PM

Last spring I bought a bunch of 'organic' bagged potting soil (mostly advertising 3 months of fertilization). In the late fall, I dumped it all into a pile in my backyard where it has sat (mostly covered by a tarp) until now. I'm starting to transfer new plants into 2-3 gallon pots. Outside of adding some fertilization, is there anything else I need to do to that soil?

4/6/2015 12:39:39 PM

The reason I ask is the plants (the cilantro especially, but all in general) aren't doing so hot. I haven't fertilized yet but i cant imagine that's the problem...

I'm thinking maybe it's become too heavy, and I might need to add something like this in: "fillers such as coir (coconut husk fiber), grit, or perlite if the mix feels too heavy."

4/6/2015 8:32:13 PM

Got some pine bark mini-nuggets to lighten the soil up with, also some fresh soil and compost to mix it.

4/10/2015 3:28:45 PM

planted my seed spuds today. a little early, still have a few good chances for hard frosts, so I'll keep them in the garage for a week. might do a few in raised beds also...definitely plant those a little later

4/12/2015 3:35:24 PM

Quote :

"I just started some seeds last night San Marzano tomatoes Heirloom variety Trinidad Scorpion hot peppers Thai hot peppers Marigold"

I had pretty decent success with my San Marzanos last year. I didn't use a trellis. I just staked them with some standard wooden stakes. I think the stakes I had were 6' tall. Can't recall how many I had - maybe 4 San Marzano plants or so.

We started some tomatoes from seed about 2 weeks ago in the greenhouse. Several varieties - some heirloom, and some more common stuff. Working at a nursery/farm we do have an advantage with our greenhouses and stuff. But I haven't planted any tomatoes for my personal use this year. I'll probably just transplant some rather starting from seed.

Not really gardening since we're doing it commercially this year. But we just started picking greenhouse tomatoes last week. This is the first year we've grown greenhouse tomatoes. It's a lot of work. Suckering, pruning, tying the plants up, pollinating, etc. Much more work than field tomatoes, which we had grown before. But it's exciting.

4/12/2015 5:01:48 PM

Quote :

"I had pretty decent success with my San Marzanos last year. I didn't use a trellis. I just staked them with some standard wooden stakes. I think the stakes I had were 6' tall. Can't recall how many I had - maybe 4 San Marzano plants or so. "

Did they produce pretty well? I should have 6 plants...hoping that will be enough to can a bunch.

Here's my meager beginnings





+ 12 herb plants elsewhere.

Just bought enough treated 2' X 8' boards for three 6' X 4' beds. Will probably add one more...

4/12/2015 11:16:42 PM

Mine produced pretty well. Can't remember specifically how well or anything. Montee, however, didn't size up like I would've liked. But that may not be as big of a deal if you're canning. Plus, it was probably more my fault than anything.

4/13/2015 7:43:37 AM

We did all of our lawn and garden shit this weekend. Not going as crazy this year...just doing herbs, one tomato plant, and a couple pepper plants. The lettuces did well last year, but got a little out of control and I didn't like the void in the garden they left when they were done. We're doing the tomato plant in a container this year..and keeping it on the 2nd story porch. We've tried everything, but we just can't keep the pests away...so hopefully this will work.

4/13/2015 11:50:44 AM

what is the most cost effective way to make a 4' tall screen about 4-6' wide in a shaded area? I want to buy something that is already that size or will be that size in a season.

4/13/2015 12:08:08 PM

Quote :

"We did all of our lawn and garden shit this weekend. Not going as crazy this year...just doing herbs, one tomato plant, and a couple pepper plants. The lettuces did well last year, but got a little out of control and I didn't like the void in the garden they left when they were done. We're doing the tomato plant in a container this year..and keeping it on the 2nd story porch. We've tried everything, but we just can't keep the pests away...so hopefully this will work. "

My problem with tomatoes (and everything else) last year on the 2nd floor porch was the wind just beat everything up and dried them out easily. I'm planning on doing raised beds over the septic field this year. Higher ground compared to the rest of the yard which stays too wet, lots of nutrients, a lot less wind than on the deck, and full sun all day. Hoping for grape, roma, and at least one more kind of tomato, green onions, chives, basil, parsley, maybe some lettuce, and go from there. It depends what the local greenhouses have going and whether I can get good soil/compost.

[Edited on April 13, 2015 at 12:34 PM. Reason : df]

4/13/2015 12:31:02 PM

When and what do you all feed your seedlings?

I did a 1/2 the recommended does of fish emulsion 4-5 days ago on the plants that established 2'd+ sets of leaves. Fish emulsion is a 5-1-1, and I thought you're supposed to use something with more phosphorous at this stage, but read fish emulsion is good so I'm giving that a shot.



[Edited on April 13, 2015 at 7:54 PM. Reason : I read something about bone meal for seedlings for hot peppers...]

4/13/2015 7:48:10 PM

I have 12 San Marzanos to go in tomm....tax day is planting day. Also working on a new ireigarion setup...started digging trenches tonight.


To a earlier question, I don't have many issues with deer or turkey, my biggest problem.s are my own chickens

4/14/2015 9:24:24 PM

^ How tall are yours currently?

4/14/2015 11:32:02 PM

14 iin

4/15/2015 5:47:15 AM