cindyabs

My Dad who was an aggie major always planted winter rye in his garden for the winter, calling it green manure.

Uncle_Bob

If you're really going to kill Bambi you'll also need a capable butcher.

Uncle_Bob

Just coming off an Arizona winter there is only one word to describe my 4x4 raised planter project. And that is "slow".
I basically went down to the nursery and got a selection of things as plants.
They didn't have much so i planted tomatoes (regular and cherry), romaine lettuce, cauliflower, green chilli pepper and red cabbage. Plus a couple of pumpkin plants started indoors from seed.
After planting i realized that the garden at the side of my house gets no sun over the winter period. So i resorted to getting a few separate largish plant pots and transferred the tomatoes and lettuce into the pots and placed them on the porch. The tomato plants have not grown as fast or green as they do in the summer and theres lots of dead material on them. I've only had only 5 tomatoes so far but they were a good size and taste so much better than the store. I've got just 2 chili peppers growing and a hand full of cherry tomatoes. The white part of the cauliflower is still smaller than a tennis ball and I have no idea how to tell when to dig up the red cabbage. Maybe they need some sun too, they are still in the planter in the shade. I lost a lot of lettuce, it seems to be very sensitive to watering, its easy to over water them.

There is a certain amount of satisfaction when you can just go out into your garden and pick what you want fresh.

I missed British style prawn cocktails with the proper cocktail sauce not the american red rubbish so i decided to make my own. I picked lettuce and tomatoes and a lemon from the tree.

The sauce was easy to make, half mayo half ketchup and squirt of lemon juice. I know i can improve on this, some people add Worcestershire sauce and horseradish etc. I quickly lined the cocktail glass with lettuce, added the prawns (popcorn shrimp) and topped it off with chopped tomato. My first prawn cocktail in America, dead easy to make and tasted lovely.

Given the recent cold spells in most of the country I suppose i should be lucky to be growing anything, even if it is slow. I'm sure i'm spending more money on water. Where i live the water usage from January through March determines you sewage portion of the bill for the following year, which is normally about half my monthly bill. Just something to be aware of.

Bob

That's good going. Down my way, the peas were meant to have been planted already so they do something once the ground warms up a bit...so might be a bit late to give those a go when we get around to the garden.

Places like Dollar Tree have flower/herb/veg starter kits and peet pots etc out already.

Southy_SWFC

Hendersons Relish

WEBlue

Really? I thought there was a general rule of planting cool vegetables around a month before the last frost? Are peas an exception? (Are peas even a cool/hardy vegetable?) Colour me confused....

Bob

They're meant to go in around November, before the frost, but again now if you want a second crop, if you have the regular January thaw, that everyone seems to get about now.

WEBlue

Thanks, I see now. All I planted last November were spring bulbs.

I might try some peas if the ground warms up next week once all this snow pauses being chucked at us.

ottotheboar

I mentioned previously I planted Austrian winter peas and they did tolerated the frost very well which was in the low single digits l which was severe by VA standards.
The turnips and radish died off.

WEBlue

Hmmm, good to know. Thanks, Otto!

Do others here go by the USDA Plant Zone map? (You plug in your state to see your own zone.) A lot of seed packets seem to reference these zones.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Pulaski

Yes, it's a pretty good guide as to what will grow in your area. Local micro-climates e.g. close to water or north/ south facing slopes can make a difference. I am too far south to grow rhubarb, but in a shady spot on a north facing slope, I have heard it is possible, and I have been meaning to try.

WEBlue

Thanks, Pulaski! I have a neighbor who's grown rhubarb for years. He told me the soil here is rotten for it (needs lots of "beefing up") but the weather is great for it. I think I'll need to work on my beds before I can try it.

We seem to be in a micro-climate here on the coast. Sometimes the weather can be quite different from that of the nearest city (inland).

After doing some research, I realize that most pea varieties ARE indeed cool-weather crops, they don't do well if the temperature goes above 70F. (Rhubarb likes a similar temp range, actually.) I'm not a huge fan of the ordinary garden peas, but I'd love to try sugar or snap peas, so I'll see if I can get some in the ground soon....

Pulaski

In theory there are just about enough "cool" growing days down here to get a crop of peas from germination in early March to harvest in early June, but my experience has usually been that warm weather in late May destroys the plants.

ottotheboar

We use that as a guideline but you can plant early in some cases. For example the planting date for corn is the 21st of April.
You can put a couple of rows in on the 7th then two more on the 14th taking a chance a late frost does not kill it.
With a good dollop of chicken manure and the rain we had last year the corn was ten feet high. The bears loved it.

Bob

Snap and sugar peas don't need to be planted quite so early or before the frost, they will do quite well in the NE planted after the frost, but then they wither pretty quickly when it does get to hot, which is why it helps to get those planted early. Green peas don't do anything unless they've been planted really early.