when are you sowing your garden this year?

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Originally Posted by Brian

OK so it's finally nice now. Finishing up a little fence-thing for my raised beds tomorrow. Is it too late for bush beans, pole beans, sweet peas, potatoes, etc.? I'm assuming not as I plan to dump some of those babies in ASAP.
Yard was a mess this year.

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It's getting a little late for peas, but you're good on everything else.

I have everything in. 11 tomato plants, 14 pepper plants, snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, bush beans, pole beans, eggplant, acorn, butter nut, spaghetti, sun burst squash, mini pumpkins, carrots, honey dew, cantaloupe, water melon, herbs, corn and okra. I also put in 3 blueberry bushes and have a bunch of strawberries that over-wintered.

I started my tomatoes, peppers, squash and herbs inside from seed. With the lack of sun lately I have had a heck of a time getting them hardened off. They need to be introduced to the sun slowly so they don't get burned but that's been hard to do. My solution was to get the lite, white crop cover fabric to cover them with. It allows a lot of light in but should block enough of to keep them from getting burned. Once they're established a little better, I'll uncover them. The side bonus of this technique is that is protected everything from the pea sized hailstorm we got a couple weeks ago. Everything uncovered got beat to hell, everything covered is in great shape. I might cover them with row cover every year to protect against hail from here on out.

The rain has been rough on the garden. The plants are so wet they just can't breathe. I'm afraid that if this keeps up I might get a problem with disease too. Hopefully the next few days will dry everything out.

Picture of the covers and clips used to hold them down.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...ce35097d8e.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...72886973b4.jpg

3rd day without frost! Finishing the raised beds this week.

So far, tomatoes, basil, mints, rosemary, thyme and jalapenos is all I got.

Hollohas I wish I knew you had to harden them... I'm new to this whole gardening thing... Where did you get those clips? What are they originally for... I need to get some of those! Also where did you get that fabric? I set up that same type of system and was going to use 3m clear plastic but didn't want it burning my plants.. That mesh looks perfect!

The clear plastic will work fine and I actually use that earlier in the season when it's still cold at night. Just make sure to open the ends during the day for ventilation as it will get HOT in there on a sunny day.

You don't have to harden them, that's just the best practice. They will most likely be fine but you might end up with some damaged or dead leaves. And even though they are still small plants, make sure to stake them because they actually need to get used to the wind too. Hardening them just gives them the best chance to get a solid, quicker start outside.

The clips are specifically made for this purpose as is the fabric. They are called Snap Clips and the fabric is called "floating row cover" or something similar depending on the brand. The fabric can be purchased on amazon or literally any garden supply catalog. The snap clips are a little harder to find. Amazon has them but they are crazy expensive there. I like to use a company called http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/

Snap clips http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/in...2=-99&cid3=-99

Fabric. http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/in...2=-99&cid3=-99

Hers another source. I have some coupon codes for this place around here somewhere, I'll post later today.

http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supp...n2pd=sh&catId=

Awesome, thanks... Yeah I think I had some issues with not hardening. I had the burnt leaves so I figured I needed to keep watering... Ahhh newbie mistakes! My tomatoes are finally coming back after the hail and the squash is trying... Watermelon is toast!

Update on the rbeau30 farm. (LOTS OF PICS)

So I am pretty sure I lost 4 trees, and am on my way to loosing a plum tree.

BUT, looks like everything else is coming back.

Hops (and 3 dead trees)
Attachment 59021

Garlic (planted last fall). I heard that garlic on the perimeter of your garden wards off rabbits and things. (The trellis is one of my cucumber trellises)
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Garlic Scapes almost ready for harvest
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Green Beans
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Scarlet Runner Beans
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Hoops that I put in for hail These are not attached to the raised bed so they can be easily removed for tilling. The coverings are just some cheap white bed sheets. Clamped on with 99 cent clips from home depot.
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Rocky Mountain Painted Corn experiment.
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Sunchokes (Left are red right are white) The red ones did not emerge as fast as the white tubers.
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We have zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, tomatoes, beans, carrots, cantaloupe, bell peppers, and watermelon.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...psfrivcfik.jpg

I really like how they are high off the ground... Having a bad back, I can appreciate having to bend over less with those.

I also want to learn how to do those concrete borders you have on your lawn.

I built the boxes myself. It is nice having them up high but it took a lot of soil to fill them.

I paid for the concrete curbing.

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Originally Posted by newracer

I built the boxes myself. It is nice having them up high but it took a lot of soil to fill them.

I paid for the concrete curbing.

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A few folks in my neighborhood have that. I really think the look is really slick. Much better than the rusting metal borders that they usually use.