when are you sowing your garden this year?

[Vanniek71]

I'm from Grand Rapids, MI. Most of my family is still in GR or Hillsdale, MI. Yoopers are weird.

My dad is in South Haven, about an hour south of GR...my brother lives in GR though.

My mom lives in the Hillsdale area.

and yes Yoopers are a bit odd...they are after all southern Canadians....

[Brian]

Sounds like a good idea, even to get to know the people with preparedness like mindedness.

I am going to have lots of jam this year.

Agreed, would be nice to meet up.

[mindfold]

My dad is in South Haven, about an hour south of GR...my brother lives in GR though.

My mom lives in the Hillsdale area.

and yes Yoopers are a bit odd...they are after all southern Canadians....

Maybe but we have guns and better football.


Sent from my tin foil coated mind reading device.

[rbeau30]

If anyone needs Mint cuttings, Mint has taken over the landscaping rocks. Probably good for people who make soaps, candles and things. They taste yummy.

I also have some citronella i think.

[Dave]

My dad is in South Haven, about an hour south of GR...my brother lives in GR though.

My mom lives in the Hillsdale area.

and yes Yoopers are a bit odd...they are after all southern Canadians....

Spent a lot of summer days in my high school years in South Haven. I grew up in the Kalamazoo area, so it was a quick drive there.

Potted tomatoes are climbing nice, leeks and jalepenos are sprouting and I already have two strawberry plants with fruits and one is turning pink. Herbs are doing ok, might get to cut some spearmint soon. Still have some plants where you can tell the leaves got hit with hail, but are starting to rebound thankfully.

[HoneyBadger]

I've got tiny little sprouts coming up! Beans, snow peas, green onions, and carrots!

[rbeau30]

I've got tiny little sprouts coming up! Beans, snow peas, green onions, and carrots!

Sunburning! FRUSTRATED!

[ChunkyMonkey]

Sunburning! FRUSTRATED!

Net

[Brian]

OK so I'm way behind any reasonable garden timeframes, but I did end this weekend with 3 raised beds built, installed, and filled with good "dirt." 2 of them are planted, the last one should be done in the next 48 hours.

Tagawas was out of the little plastic strawberries trays though, so the lady recommended I buy one of those big hanging pots to use. "Fort Laramie" - supposed to be good berries. I broke the pot apart and planted the clumps individually, but there are a ton of long runners. For now I just sorta shoved the "elbows" of the runners into a little soil. The internet seems mixed on whether it's better to cut them off completely to let the mother plant focus on her roots, or to go head and let them start growing too. The leaves are huge compared to what I'm used to seeing in strawberries, and 24 hours after I planted and watered them the leaves are all flat and laying on the dirt. Hope I didn't kill the darn things. I'd feel pretty bad if I killed strawberries. They're supposed to be easy, right?

Didn't have a clue how to plant the raspberries either. All the info online shows people planting bare twigs with roots. These were mini-plants from a pot. I broke up the wad of stuff in the pot and separated the canes as much as I can before burying them in the bed. We'll see how I do with those too.

If any of this stuff lives, I can say this was a fun thing to really start getting into this year. If they all die soon, I'll just go back to focusing on reloading I guess.

Beans and cukes tomorrow evening, as soon as I get the trellis attached.

I have at least a full wheelbarrow or two left of soil. Need to figure out what to do with it... I suppose I could make another bed, or maybe just get some random seeds or something going in 5gal buckets...?

[rbeau30]

Net

I picked up some plastic fencing for 9 dollars a roll for 2' x 25'. I doubled it up and put it around the raised beds. I figure I would need to eventually to keep pests away. It looks like it takes the edge off the sun when it is not directly overhead. We shall see how it effects the sunburning.

...

Tagawas was out of the little plastic strawberries trays though, so the lady recommended I buy one of those big hanging pots to use. "Fort Laramie" - supposed to be good berries. I broke the pot apart and planted the clumps individually, but there are a ton of long runners. For now I just sorta shoved the "elbows" of the runners into a little soil. The internet seems mixed on whether it's better to cut them off completely to let the mother plant focus on her roots, or to go head and let them start growing too. The leaves are huge compared to what I'm used to seeing in strawberries, and 24 hours after I planted and watered them the leaves are all flat and laying on the dirt. Hope I didn't kill the darn things. I'd feel pretty bad if I killed strawberries. They're supposed to be easy, right?

Didn't have a clue how to plant the raspberries either. All the info online shows people planting bare twigs with roots. These were mini-plants from a pot. I broke up the wad of stuff in the pot and separated the canes as much as I can before burying them in the bed. We'll see how I do with those too.

I have at least a full wheelbarrow or two left of soil. Need to figure out what to do with it... I suppose I could make another bed, or maybe just get some random seeds or something going in 5gal buckets...?

I planted Strawberries this weekend too... I just added a couple plants to whatever I had which isn't much.

I added one Blackberry plant that we bought from the store Raspberries should be the same. It looked like just a dead twig coming out of the ground for a good month and a half. I believe until the root system is established it doesn't do much in the way of canes at the top. My new Blackberry plant just has a few really healthy leaves while the other plants that have been there a while are doing well.

Do Potatoes with your leftover dirt? I have 3 buckets of potatoes right now and the greenery at the top of the bucket is growing like mad. You stat the seed potatoes at the bottom with good drainage, and a couple inches of soil in each bucket, and add soil as the green tops emerge until you are at the top of the bucket. This year is my fiorst year doing them and it is looking like it is working so far.