What Did You Do In The Garden?

[digitS']

Sugarsnax and Napoli

If you look back at an October post of mine in this thread, you will see me complaining about trying to grow Sugarsnax, Branching Out. They have always been a little difficult for us to grow because of length. In another garden, I regularly dug out the beds. At a cultivated soil depth of at least 8", they did okay - although they generally want to go deeper. The soil was different there than in the big garden - more pea gravel. The trouble they had in 2022 may have finally convinced DW that we can't follow the tractor guy's tilling with a Sugarsnax planting.

It's possible that I have tried Napoli but I may have just been attracted to the listing in a catalog . It's those Nantes types that I have some trust in.

Okay, @flowerbug , carrots can produce well in a small amount of square feet. Never.the.less, I can't see me out there straining the soil through a screen ...

Unfortunately, it seems that in different locations, different soils, different veggies taste different and sometimes, not so good. @Cosmo spring garden , I had acorn squash as a regular thing in one garden. Changed to a different place and they produced well but tasted funny. We had all these squash and didn't want to eat them. And yes, peeling little carrots can not only be no fun but, actually a little dangerous! It may be why FlowerBug's mother didn't care for the little ones. My solution used to be to use the scrubber on them but DW wasn't gonna go for that ...

Steve

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

If you look back at an October post of mine in this thread, you will see me complaining about trying to grow Sugarsnax, Branching Out. They have always been a little difficult for us to grow because of length. In another garden, I regularly dug out the beds. At a cultivated soil depth of at least 8", they did okay - although they generally want to go deeper. The soil was different there than in the big garden - more pea gravel. The trouble they had in 2022 may have finally convinced DW that we can't follow the tractor guy's tilling with a Sugarsnax planting.

It's possible that I have tried Napoli but I may have just been attracted to the listing in a catalog . It's those Nantes types that I have some trust in.

Okay, @flowerbug , carrots can produce well in a small amount of square feet. Never.the.less, I can't see me out there straining the soil through a screen ...

Unfortunately, it seems that in different locations, different soils, different veggies taste different and sometimes, not so good. @Cosmo spring garden , I had acorn squash as a regular thing in one garden. Changed to a different place and they produced well but tasted funny. We had all these squash and didn't want to eat them. And yes, peeling little carrots can not only be no fun but, actually a little dangerous! It may be why FlowerBug's mother didn't care for the little ones. My solution used to be to use the scrubber on them but DW wasn't gonna go for that ...

Steve

Soil does effect the taste of vegetables. Nantes type carrots do better for me because they have a rounded end. The pointy ones just become a twisted mess.
I also bought pelleted seeds for carrots this year so I don't have to thin them. I hope they grow because my kids picked them for their garden .

 

[Phaedra]

Doing nothing, the garden is frozen - and we expect another snow which might reach 15-20cm height during the weekend.

Well, a hoop tunnel is a minimum requirement if I want to protect the winter crops. The purple broccolis that I expected so much were all in bad shape - some were removed from the previous long and frosty days, and the others - I guess I will remove them also after these two coming snow and frosty weeks.

 

[ducks4you]

Carrots WILL grow for me, but I can't seem to get loose enough soil. Where I have been successful it was modest. The carrots Were tasty.
I'll have to try again, bc there are cheap carrot seed packages available pretty much Everywhere.

 

[Branching Out]

Doing nothing, the garden is frozen - and we expect another snow which might reach 15-20cm height during the weekend.

Well, a hoop tunnel is a minimum requirement if I want to protect the winter crops. The purple broccolis that I expected so much were all in bad shape - some were removed from the previous long and frosty days, and the others - I guess I will remove them also after these two coming snow and frosty weeks.

Sorry to hear that your purple broccoli didn't make it through Phaedra. Last year I tried purple broccoli for the first time, on the recommendation of a friend. I had no idea what I was doing, and they all got trampled by the snow, and rotted. This year I placed the seedlings in two different locations in the garden. One patch was unprotected during a couple of 2 week long snow events, and the second patch was given shelter by way of large plastic bins that were inverted over them. The unprotected plants rotted, and need to be removed from the garden. The ones under cover did just fine with no light for about 3 weeks. We have harvested the little broccoli stalks twice, and are they ever nice. One thing that I will do differently next year is to place a short strong stake next to them when I plant them, as they have a tendency to grow towards the light, and lodge.

 

[flowerbug]

... And yes, peeling little carrots can not only be no fun but, actually a little dangerous! It may be why FlowerBug's mother didn't care for the little ones. My solution used to be to use the scrubber on them but DW wasn't gonna go for that ...

Mom is very sensitive to bitter tastes and the carrots were somewhat too bitter for her. to eat carrots i'll just scrub them with a scrubby a little to get most of the dirt off them and then cut away whatever looked not very edible. a bit of dirt won't stop me. no peeling required for carrots. the only time i would normally consider peeling carrots was if i were making a roast and then i would like the carrots cleaner looking for that. so yummy.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Peeked at my garlic from the car window and it's looking good. A neighbors dog likes to come play with our dog and she likes to lay in my garlic bed. Must be a cosy place.

 

[flowerbug]

Peeked at my garlic from the car window and it's looking good. A neighbors dog likes to come play with our dog and she likes to lay in my garlic bed. Must be a cosy place.

you'll have to stop that, garlic won't do well being repeatedly trampled.

 

[donna13350]

I have so much I'd like to do, but we've had huge amounts of rain this winter, instead of snow, so ground is just too squishy...I can't even get out to trim my fruit trees, I don't want to compact the soil. I have to admit, I am liking the warm winter we've had so far...way above average temps.
On the flip side of that is learning how to garden with our "new normal"...I used to be able to have a spring crop of some things, but the last few years we go from 50 to 80 with no in between. I'm going to try shade cloth this spring for some things that have bolted the last couple of springs.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

you'll have to stop that, garlic won't do well being repeatedly trampled.

I did. As long as my dog is not avaliable to play the other dog won't come as often.