What Good Thing Did We Learn?

[Nyboy]

WHEN IT COMES TO GARDENS 1ST YEAR THEY SLEEP, 2ND YEAR THEY CREEP, 3RD YEAR THEY LEAP.

 

[majorcatfish]

couple things, firstly dont over plant cow peas..... they become a witch to harvest.
yes you can plant bell pepper plants mid season... thanks to @Nyboy
escarole and kale is very Delicious if cooked right....have to retract my statement about kale tasting like cardboard....
a blend of different tomatoes makes out of this world tomato sauce.... used all 5 types of tomatoes that we grew.
specialty watermelons are not friendly to much rain.. will plant a good red melon this year.. still love my cantaloupes.
there are certain things that are cheaper to buy than grow...

will never win the battle on weeds..

 

[baymule]

WHEN IT COMES TO GARDENS 1ST YEAR THEY SLEEP, 2ND YEAR THEY CREEP, 3RD YEAR THEY LEAP.

2017 is the third year for my garden, so it oughta be jumping like crazy!

 

[bobm]

2017 is the third year for my garden, so it oughta be jumping like crazy!

Only if you grow out a DOZEN hogs on the plantation garden before you plant crops in it .

 

[digitS']

Our garden plants have evolved with us, in our gardens and on our farms.

Our crop lands stay in production for many years. The plants return annually. They have evolved and been genetically altered to prosper on cultivated ground. Only a few can be pioneers. Only some of those have broad environmental adaptability. That we can grow one species of plants from one continent to another, different soils and climates ... they must like us ! Or, they like to be around us.

Bay,that Four Season Harvest dude says that usually it's the wind rather than the cold that gets to winter greens. If you can arrange a windblock for your kale and such, it would be interesting to see if that helped.

Wind is tuff on plants. What a difference in my 2016 plants from one end of my tomato beds to the others. One end, fully exposed; the other end was near the sunflowers. As usual, some of the sunflowers near the neighbors' big garage blew down and goose-necked their way through the growing season. They still helped!

yup love Russian kale either red or white, you might want to start some indoors then plant them outside

Are you suggesting starting plants during the summer for a fall/winter garden? It's an idea. Nearly all of our spring plants are started plants. I even did that for many of the beets this year - it worked! Starting plants in containers during the hot weather takes attention

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Only if you grow out a DOZEN hogs on the plantation garden before you plant crops in it .

 

[majorcatfish]

@digitS' yes thats the idea.. last august was a hot one here tried to start lettuce beets carrots kale,etc, like i have in years past. had a 80% failure rate last year.
really was not able to get a good germintaion till mid sept
this august going to <if it's blood hot> start them indoors on the germination table for early September planting. will still direct seed the carrots and beets, but going to use shade cloth for them. of course by mid sept will be able to plant normally for winter..

also @Nyboy send me Yankee bell pepper seeds started them 6/1 planted them about 7/2 about 2 months later picked some of the biggest blocky bells ever.

so as an experiment going to start a few tomatoes, bells and other peppers mid may, to see if theres a difference in productively/healthiness of them... had bells/peppers growing till early oct.. after that time to pull and seed cover crop..

yes 90% of our early spring veggies are started indoors as well...

 

[Zeedman]

Well, as I finished putting away the last seed from 2016, I learned my final lesson for the season. When I put seed away, I update the inventory for each variety in the card file (yes, I'm still a paper dinosaur). Throughout the season, varieties that are "in progress" have their cards turned on end; at the end of the year, as the inventory is completed, the cards are turned back down. So when all failures have been recorded, and all seed counted, there should be no cards still standing on end (except for garlic & perennials).

There was one card left. It was a pepper that I know I collected seed for, after two years of failure. I've had this happen a few times in years past, and after searching, I usually find the seed in some out of the way location... not this time. There is only one possibility that comes to mind - that the missing seed was accidentally mixed into something else. I usually harvest pepper seed in several lots, and each lot has an index card which follows it. My guess is that the grandson (who we watch before & after preschool) may have switched a couple of the cards.
Now I'll have to grow a trial block next year of all the pepper seed saved, to see which one might be mixed!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I learned I need to start earlier with bok choy. I need to get onions in the ground earlier. I can plant a lot less of collard greens and still have too much. I like giant red Japanese mustard more than I thought. I need to do something different with my tomatoes, from different varieties to more compost, to different area of the garden.

 

[Nyboy]

I learned I need to hire garden help based on their knowledge and not their looks.