Garden time !

[WFO Speedracer]

Gardening can get expensive , if you let it, but as the old saying goes , if you are going to be stupid you better be tough, I will add or have deep pockets.

This cucumber trellis popped up on my screen this morning and yes looks cool but the price is ridiculous and it's only 48 x 42' , for $34.99 you can buy a 16tf by 34' wire fence panel from Tractor supply, make a U out of it and spread it out as far as you like and have tons more growing area .. this is exactly the way I am doing it next year.

https://www.gurneys.com/product/cucumber_support?p=0579716&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping (Product Listing Ads Original) - SHOP&msclkid=3658e8a45ad21666a5fd8e4369c0778b&utm_term=4581802401881407&utm_content=All Product Groups

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/hog%20wire%20fence%20panels?

I like gardening this time of year because it's not scorching hot, the weeds don't pop up as much and you can do fun stuff , since the freezer is now stuffed I can let remaining peppers and tomatoes grow and see just how big they will get.

I also do fun stuff like rooting tomatoes from cuttings and replanting them, I have three new ones in the ground now and three more about ready to plant , they are about a foot high when they go in the ground.

I also have the same with Potatoe plants , the peppers are still putting out like crazy and the okra is still producing some, the tomatoes at my other place have now started kicking out tomatoes and the second crop of cucumbers has been planted in both places so I will have more cucumbers in about a month to 6 weeks , cucumbers grow and produce really fast.

I made vertical cucumber towers by stacking two tomato cages together with zip ties, they are about 7 ft tall, we will see how it goes. I also learned this year that pepper plants are perennials, that means like trees they go dormant and produce year after year if you dig them up , repot them and put them indoors for the Winter, I am going to try it out and see what happens.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The garden has slowed down a lot because of the shorter days but I pulled these huge Cooliano peppers this morning , the tomatoes were pulled during different times this week , I also have a bunch of bell peppers growing nicely , the cucumber towers are really taking off now , I have one watermelon that might actually mature and a few more cantaloupes .

This month it is time to plant lettuce , brocilli, caluflower , kale , spinach ,radishes and Swiss chard , the lettuce if you harvest it correctly and just snip it off leaving about an inch grows right back just like grass last all Winter long.

The peppers get cut in half , gutted and put in freezer bags , later you can stuff them or cut them up like bell pepper , the Bell peppers if they are large enough get gutted and left whole and frozen, if they are too small they get cut up diced and put in a freezer bag for later use cooking. I have a ton of both put up in the freezer already this year .

 

[WFO Speedracer]

All these were picked this morning , I let them get really big and picked them at the last minute , we are having a family reunion tomorrow and I am bringing stuffed Coolianos , fully loaded mac and cheese and a Sundrop cake .

I still have tomatoes here and there but they are not very big , okra is done but I have about four bags full in the freezer and at least four bags each of cored bell peppers and cored and halved Collianos , there are a ton of bell peppers still growing I am also going to let them ger as big as they can get before harvesting , it is supposed to hit 89 degrees here today.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I picked these beauties this morning.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

It's that time again , this year I am doing gardens in three different locations and planting mostly from seed , ALDI has a limited variety of seeds but the seeds they do have are 59 cents per pack, so far I have planted watermelon , cantaloupe and bell peppers from last years saved seeds , beefsteak tomatoes, Kentucky blue wonder beans, snow peas , cucumbers , squash, okra , romaine lettuce and zuchinni .

I preach this a lot but getting started in gardening is really easy , inexpensive and can save you a lot of money , as high as food prices are right now it's something you might want to look into .

I hear the excuses all the time, I don't have time, I don't have the land, space or gardening tools , I am doing no till gardening this year in some plots , no gardening tools needed , also you can plant in anything , dixie cups , butter and sour cream containers , boxes berries come in , take out food plastic containers and egg cartons make excellent seed starters and it's from something that is either dirt cheap or you are throwing in the trash anyway .

A lot of plants like carrots, onions , tomatoes and potatoes will grow just fine in 5 gallon buckets , cucumbers , pole beans and peas will grow just fine along side of a fence or in five gallon buckets , they just need something they can climb on .

Don't fall into the garden trap of thinking you need expensive seed starters , peat pellets or the like to start growing your own food, you don't , you need a container that will hold dirt and some potting soil , remember you have to be able to gather way more in produce than the money you would shell out for plants and supplies.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

This is my no till plot it's about 12 x 40 and I am opening up another 10 x 10 plot next week , the compost pile was in the 10 x 10 spot.

You start by removing any weeds, then you lay down cardboard and cover it with compost .

Today I finished up the compost and planted watermelons and cantaloupes, I will post some pics when the plants are big enough to actually see.

All the compost in the 10 x 10 plot in that first pic had to come out and be sifted through a milk crate onto the plot , you are looking at a 1 inch coverage of compost on the whole plot , the leaves and larger materials went into the new compost pile .

The old compost pile becomes a new plot , ready to plant , you start the compost pile in a different spot and next year it all starts over .

This plot is next level , not for beginners and a poop ton of work !

 

[WFO Speedracer]

So far I have watermelons and cantaloupes in their own plot , I have Tomatoes and Kentucky blue wonder beans planted in a Florida weave trellis , I have
Zucchini and squash planted , bell peppers and eggplant planted and cucumbers and snow peas planted in two different places.

I still have more Kentucky beans, tomatoes, okra . lettuce and corn in containers that I planted from seed , as soon as they are ready they too will be planted.
Today I mulched in everything I have planted already with leaves I have collected. It has been drizzling rain here for two days straight so I timed getting plants in the ground and mulched in just right.

I probably way overplanted this year , probably something like 30 Tomato and okra plants , a stand of corn, I don't even know how many Zucchini and squash plants , but I can always give the produce away to family or sell it at the local farmers market , all you need to sell there is an Alabama growers permit, (free from the local county extension office ) and you do not have to pay tax on what you sell here.

It's about to get popping !

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Its that time again Garden 2025 !

I have put a lot of work into the garden this year , I overwintered it with leaves , weeded it then mulched it again with leaves , grass clippings and finally with Pecan Catkins , I have succession planting on Tomatoes , cucumbers, zucchini , snow peas and lettuce thus far . I am on my third set of tomato , Zucchini plants and cucumbers so far . I have Marigolds and Zinnias planted in between some of the plants , they are companion plants and keep bugs away .

I am doing a lot of stuff different this year, no tomatoes in cages , full mulching to keep the weeding and the watering time and costs down . tomatoes and cucumbers are growing on the arch trellis and behind that tomatoes and Kentucky blue wonder beans on a Florida weave trellis , next week I am starting the second Florida weave trellis with more tomatoes and cucumbers .

I have never done the Kentucky blue wonder beans before and these things are growing inches per day , if you see strings going everywhere that is why , they have to have a ace to go to keep growing. Under the arch trellis are radishes and romaine lettuce , on the other side of the Florida weave trellis I have the okra and Zucchini I also have bell peppers, eggplant and Jalapeno peppers planted in the cages.

I also have sweet corn , watermelons, cantaloupes , more cucumbers , radishes and snow peas planted in the garden at my other house here.

In a few weeks I am planting a second lettuce bed there as well , it is still in seed starting containers at the moment .

There are a few spots in the garden that still had weeds and grass growing there , that's what the tin is for , in a few weeks all of it will be gone and mulched with leaves .

Next year I will have my greenhouse down here and I will get an earlier start on the planting season , I will also probably cover that arch trellis with plastic and use it as a makeshift greenhouse ..

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Today it's harvest time ,a small harvest anyway , I have been harvesting snow peas for weeks now and freezing them , they are a cold season crop and the heat has pretty much done them in , at least till Fall when I plant more anyway , the few remaining pods will be left on the plants to mature then dried out for seed for the Fall planting season.

Everything has flowers on it now and today I spotted a good sized bell pepper today , I have several tomato plants with tomatoes on them and the Kentucky blue wonder beans have started producing , I also harvested the first crop or Romaine lettuce for supper tonight along with radishes that I also grew in the garden .

 

[James crouch]

Love this post, sounds like you turned that sunny patch into a full-on produce paradise! That plant haul for $1.50 is an insane score, especially with bonus plants. Your no-pesticide companion setup and pond water feeding is seriously impressive, old-school and effective. Grilled zucchini from your own garden? Doesn’t get better than that. Kudos!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

My

Love this post, sounds like you turned that sunny patch into a full-on produce paradise! That plant haul for $1.50 is an insane score, especially with bonus plants. Your no-pesticide companion setup and pond water feeding is seriously impressive, old-school and effective. Grilled zucchini from your own garden? Doesn’t get better than that. Kudos!

The goal is to be able to go outside and pick all the veggies for a garden salad out of my garden , except for carrots they take way too long to grow and I have had zero luck with them thus far. I think I have the wrong soil type to grow carrots in and get good results .

 

[SteveC]

FYI, I'm pretty sure James Crouch is really just "ai-generated" responses.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

FYI, I'm pretty sure James Crouch is really just "ai-generated" responses.

His profile says member since 2017 , hell IDK anymore .

 

[WFO Speedracer]

What you are looking at here are free tomato plants , all except for the two in the black pots, I had cherry tomato wedges that were left over from a salad , I put the pieces in a container and covered them with dirt , several days later I had what you see here , these of course have been transplanted into individual containers and in about a month will be ready to plant in the garden.

One of the garden myths that is totally busted is that you have to harvest the seeds, dry the seeds then plant them , you don't , as a matter of fact a lot of times you have to soak dried seeds so they will sprout , you can simply plant slices of a tomato , eggplant, cucumber and also cantaloupe or watermelon seeds straight out of the watermelon and they will come up if the soil temp and water content of the soil is correct .

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I pulled the rest of the radishes this morning, this is the best looking crop yet , it doesn't look like a lot but we have been pulling and eating them for a over a month now.

Radishes Bolt , which means they shoot upward, it is caused by the plants being in stress, in this case too much heat , when they bolt just pull them , they are done at that point, same thing happens with lettuce .

No worries I have three more rows growing in the other garden and I will probably plant two more here .

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Todays harvest , the Kentucky blue wonder beans are kicking @$$ , there I figured a way around the censorship. , I will defiantly be planting these again , most likely another crop or two this year from beans I let mature and harvest for seed.

Those have been blanched , dumped in ice water and flash frozen , that was about a handfull but trust me these haven't even got going good yet.

I got one cucumber last week from the other garden , I picked it to go in a salad , not huge but very tasty, today I picked this lone Zucchini and it's a beauty , also the lettuce plants are looking amazing , I am trying to fool mother mature a bit by shading them with the cucumber and blue wonder bean plants and maybe they will not bolt on me for a while .

They say pick the outside leaves but I have had issues with them bolting that way so now I just cut them off with scissors and maybe just maybe they will keep making lettuce that way for a while , if not I will replant it this Fall anyway.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Kind of a fun comparison shot , the first pic May 18th , second pic is today , third pic is the top of the arch from inside .

The Kentucky Blue wonder beans have made it all the way over to the arch and started taking it over , I am harvesting about a handful of beans each day , that doesn't sound impressive but its a lot of beans in storebought terms it's about a can of beans a day , the cucumbers are now at over 6 ft in height , I have another Zucchini growing and three fairly large eggplants , tomato plants are full of tomatoes .

I also set up two more Florida weave tomato trellises a few days ago and started stringing them , the third batch of tomatoes are big enough that they now need support. All the Seadoos in the back yard have now disappeared from the street view, another added benefit to the living arch trellis.

Those two tomato cage towers to the left of the arch in the second pic had Snow peas on them , they now hold even more cucumbers .

I looked for T posts at Tractor supply to make the new trellis , they were $5.99 each , they are made of sheet metal and are a complete joke , the Farmers Co-op had the real T post that were much longer and made of really heavy gauge iron for $32.99 for five so I went with those for the trellis.

They are a one time expense just like the cattle panels I used for the arches , next year I don't have to deal with that , I am growing a lot more stuff vertically to maximize the space in the garden , most likely I am about to start a second crop of those blue wonder beans with you guessed it another trellis or another cattle panel setup..

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/studded-t-post-6-ft-125-lb-per-foot-3609112

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Common-3-in-x-6-ft-Actual-1-4-in-x-3-in-x-6-ft-T-Post-W-P-1-25-6-Ft-0-In-GRN-UPC-Green-Steel-Farm-Fence-T-post-Post/4758566?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lum-_-bng-_-PMAX_LUM_000_Priority_Item-_-4758566-_-0-_-0-_-0&gclid=0126adf91007148da335c5b7adae654a&gcl