HPQ's garden journal

[HotPepperQueen]

We had a friend come over a couple days ago with a tractor to till up our garden. Well one thing led to another and we ended up expanding one of the larger gardens so I could include more watermelon varieties and squash varieties. Not to mention all the dozens of varieties of tomatoes and peppers I have to fit in there as well.

We also tilled up an area back by the creek to plant a food plot for the deer. They have been coming around a lot lately and the feed store was having a sale on seed so I said "why not". They are not much work after planting.

I have decided to cut back on the amount of potatoes I put in every year due to the amount of waste we have had the past couple years. So I have ordered extra onions to fill that empty row. We have to can extra spaghetti sauce and tomato juice this year which requires A LOT of onions so at least they will get used.

I ordered biodegradable organic fertilizer mats that are supposed to prevent weeds for the tomatoes and peppers. They are really thick paper type sheets that are about 2 square feet each. I am excited to try these.

The majority of planting won't happen for a few more weeks but I plan on putting in the peas, potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, and onion sets in the next few days. It's probably a good thing I can't do a lot of planting yet since I will be butchering about 85 meaties on Saturday and I have 6 ducklings and 25 meatie chicks in the brooder right now. Always busy and something going on around here.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Sounds great HPQ!

I posted on another thread about how great the Northern Exposure tomatoes from the seed you sent me are doing! They're growing faster, bigger, thicker than all my other tomatoes - i'm really looking forward to seeing how they taste!!

And i've never heard of the biodegradable fertilizer mats you mentioned, sounds like a cool product i'll have to check them out! Are you planning on using them to put your tomatoes and peppers in the middle of them, or are you laying them in between the plants?

 

[journey11]

Sounds like you timed out your meaties well, to move on from one thing to the next.

If you end up with more onions than you can use up, try dehydrating the extras. It is super handy to have them ready to toss into recipes and they keep forever.

Those fertilizer mats sound interesting. I haven't heard of those before. Let us know how they work out.

 

[Smart Red]

Note to Journey and HPQ... Dehydrate your onions outside if possible. The smell of onion oils permeating the house can be a bit overwhelming.

 

[journey11]

For real! I usually shut mine in the sunroom and an open all the windows. The garage might be a better location.

 

[HotPepperQueen]

I plan on putting the plants in the middle of the mats. I have a small tiller for in between the rows.

I have used dehydrated onions in recipes before, never thought of drying them myself. I usually go through so many onions with canning season- last year we went through a 100lb bag!

 

[HotPepperQueen]

All the tomatoes and peppers went in the ground last weekend. Also put in the cucumbers, summer and winter squash, onions, beans, peas, pie pumpkins, and potatoes. I am planting the watermelons, muskmelons, sunflowers, radishes, spring onions, carrots, and other miscellaneous things.