Better Be Planting This Year. 2022+ And Up MEGATHREAD

Made turnip greens, hot Italian sausage and red kidney beans for supper. Simmered with onions, ham and red pepper flakes for about an hour.
Made enough for a few meals and it will taste even better tomorrow.
Served with a little balsamic vinegar... yum.
 
A lot of my seed packets say "thin when seedlings are XX in tall" or what have you. I planted several seeds (maybe 2-3) per spot in my raised beds. Someone posted a video on high-density planting for things like lettuce and I am definitely doing that, but for my cucumbers, melons etc. do I really need to worry about thinning?
 
APFSDS said:
A lot of my seed packets say "thin when seedlings are XX in tall" or what have you. I planted several seeds (maybe 2-3) per spot in my raised beds. Someone posted a video on high-density planting for things like lettuce and I am definitely doing that, but for my cucumbers, melons etc. do I really need to worry about thinning?
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Depends on soil type and fertility and how much you water.

If it's fertile enough and you water enough, competition between the plants shouldn't be too bad.

What I do is plant dense, then when the plants grow their second set of leaves, I split them up and transplant the ones I split off.

Cukes and melons take a lot of water so don't spare it.
 
APFSDS said:
A lot of my seed packets say "thin when seedlings are XX in tall" or what have you. I planted several seeds (maybe 2-3) per spot in my raised beds. Someone posted a video on high-density planting for things like lettuce and I am definitely doing that, but for my cucumbers, melons etc. do I really need to worry about thinning?
Click to expand...
For cukes and melons the most important thing might be space for the vines. But they need a lot of roots too. If plants are too close growth will be stunted. The trick of high density planting is having enough additional plants to outweigh them having stunted growth. But I think there is a limit. Root vegetables definitely need enough space for the root to develop into something you want to eat. For reference, the cukes below are spaced at 1’.

As of now I have everything planted. My timing for everything was off. Cukes went in today and are way too big. I’m a little worried about them but hoping for the best. My entire family put a lot of love into this garden and in my experience that is worth a lot.



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I only do 'high density' sowing on vegetables that I intend to harvest leafy greens from. Lettuce. spinach. beets, radishes, turnips and such.
On the root veggies, I let them get to the point that the leaves are ready to cook/eat and then I thin to allow the strongest plants to continue on and develop
the root tubers. In the meantime, the heavy cover has kept weed seed from getting a roothold or has shaded them into oblivion by starving them of sunlight.

So that is two benefits of this type of sowing. Early food in the season and weed defense...

I also double or triple up on the seeds when I direct sow, to increase the likelihood of germination and selection of the best/strongest of the three.
When starting indoors, all of that is avoided. You pick the transplants that are the best candidates.

I am going to try Direct Sown seeds only next season to find what will do best in my region in anticipation of a grid-down scenario.
By perfecting what does best and produces the highest quality yields, I feel it is a worthy experiment...
 
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enbloc said:
If I've learned anything about small-scale gardening though, it's "everyone skins their own cat in their own way."
You do what works for you and I'll do what works for me. Perfect.
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Yup, conditions differ everywhere.
Every year is just another experiment to see what works. I find myself perfecting things about one crop/veggie at a time.

The cukes and tomatoes I've got down pat, but others are still in the works each year.
 
I bought hard red winter & spring wheat berries for an experiment also. Many uses. Grind for bread; sprout for food, plant to replenish seed stock.

I will sow when my summer crops have given up the ghost...
 
enbloc said:
I bought hard red winter & spring wheat berries for an experiment also. Many uses. Grind for bread; sprout for food, plant to replenish seed stock.

I will sow when my summer crops have given up the ghost...
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Cover crop wheat is used extensively around here. once you plant the field, you let it mature over winter and then it is desiccated and flattened down in the spring and no till seed drills are used to plant corn or soybeans. The ground always has a layer of cover to prevent erosion from rains. The wheat reseeds itself for the next fall/winter growing season.

Spring wheat is planted in April to May, makes a continuous growth and is harvested in August to early September. Winter wheat is planted in the fall. It makes a partial growth, becomes dormant during the cold winter months, resumes growth as the weather warms and is harvested in the early summer (June and July).
 
Uzi2 said:
Cover crop wheat is used extensively around here. once you plant the field, you let it mature over winter and then it is desiccated and flattened down in the spring and no till seed drills are used to plant corn or soybeans. The ground always has a layer of cover to prevent erosion from rains. The wheat reseeds itself for the next fall/winter growing season.

Spring wheat is planted in April to May, makes a continuous growth and is harvested in August to early September. Winter wheat is planted in the fall. It makes a partial growth, becomes dormant during the cold winter months, resumes growth as the weather warms and is harvested in the early summer (June and July).
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Great info! Thanks Uzi.
 
I just now planted four tomato plants I got at the local nursery. Stuff is really starting to come in, everything has spouted now (peppers finally did) and most look like actual plants.

At what point do you start harvesting beet greens? Do you get beets if you take greens for salads?
 
APFSDS said:
I just now planted four tomato plants I got at the local nursery. Stuff is really starting to come in, everything has spouted now (peppers finally did) and most look like actual plants.

At what point do you start harvesting beet greens? Do you get beets if you take greens for salads?
Click to expand...
You will still get beets of you don't cut off all of the tops and leave some for the plant to survive. Beets grow with multiple stemmed tops, so if you take a couple from each one, you'll have plenty to eat and the plant will have plenty to continue growing to maturity of the bulb.

Harvesting the greens can be done at just about any stage, but you'll get more for your effort if you wait until the greens are several inches high and the leaves are 2-3 inches across.
 
Uzi nailed it. I leave the inner leaves for the plant to continue to maturity.

I had beet greens & broccoli with chix tenders for lunch...
(I actually like the leaves more than the beet root.)

With the chix almost fully cooked, I cut the stems up into 1-inch sections and add them with a little onion and garlic and wilt the leaves last by placing them on top of the meat/onion/garlic/broccoli. The leaves covering the whole sauté pan traps the steam and finishes the remaining ingredients with the leaves finishing up to a nice deep-green. Toss some butter/salt/pepper in and give it a couple of flips. The beet stems bleed a little red and it gives the chix a pink hue and a great flavor.

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Drip system ordered! I don't even know why I've contemplated so long, the money I save on wasted water alone will pay itself back. We get charged more for the water going out than coming in, and I've looked into a separate meter but then town jacks up the rates so high for the water coming in it's not worth the hassle.
 
APFSDS said:
Gotcha, thank you! I will have to thin out cukes, they are definitely too close and too many. It's starting to look like a real garden though (disregard that planter in the foreground haha)!
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Nice! Do you trellis your cukes? I always found it easier to harvet them that way.
 
ReggieB9mm said:
Nice! Do you trellis your cukes? I always found it easier to harvet them that way.
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I've been planting mine next to a chain link fence and they climb there, works well for me. Of course I only do about 3 cuke plants and it still gives me more than we can use (there are only 2 of us).
 
APFSDS said:
I am a total newbie and haven't thought ahead that far yet, lol. For a trellis, do you mean like fence posts with chicken wire between them?
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sure! that could work. the possibilities are endless really. just something for it to grow up in and on. I use extra fence I had for things to climb up and onto. I however try to keep those on inside wire fences, as the deer and rabbits have no problem eating the stuff that wants to vine onto the exterior fencing.

good luck! still a relative newb too, fifth or sixth year of a garden. have notes going back three seasons and am always adding more to them for reflection later on. dates and general observations written onto calendar printouts from google.
 
kman said:
So first year having a garden and I'm utterly amazed at how much stuff you can grow in a 8x4 raised bed. Didn't realize that if you just take a little from each plant, it would just keep growing back all season? Why the heck I haven't I been gardening before?View attachment 624802
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Don't forget the free therapy. Nothing more satisfying than looking (and tasting) your handiwork...
 
APFSDS said:
I am a total newbie and haven't thought ahead that far yet, lol. For a trellis, do you mean like fence posts with chicken wire between them?
Click to expand...
I like the very inexpensive and reusable roll of poly deer fence strung between 2 or 3 green pickets. Vertical cukes have less problems with pests and insects.
also makes for a better looking cuke by not sitting on the ground and getting that flat yellow bottom...

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Anything the tendrils can wrap around is good. I’ve got about 20 plants in containers on my deck this year. It looks like a victory
garden from the past, produces an amazing amount of veggies! You don’t need anything fancy, plants just grow. A good squirt of Repels All every 6 weeks keeps the fricken chipmunks away from the veggies. Everything is flowering right now and the pollinators are are hanging out 🐝:)
 
enbloc said:
Don't forget the free therapy. Nothing more satisfying than looking (and tasting) your handiwork...
Click to expand...
That is very true! I didn't know it would be so satisfying.
Somebody was telling me about these greenhouses and how you can grow all year with one of them. Made in Canada
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