How's your veggie garden in 2012...?

**G3farms** · Mar 24th 2012, 07:01 AM

Good to hear you got calves on the ground!!

**brooksbeefarm** · Mar 24th 2012, 07:23 AM

Thanks, only 16 more to go.

Jack

**Omie** · Mar 24th 2012, 10:34 AM

I envy you guys with your backhoes, rototillers, and discs....all I have is a hoe and a shovel! lol!
But then again, I don't want 150 pounds of onions, for sure!

Got 10 yards of bark mulch and covered the veggie garen edges and paths with 6" worth. If I do this every 4 or 5 years or so, i never have much weeding to do!

**DLMKA** · Mar 25th 2012, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Omie

But then again, I don't want 150 pounds of onions, for sure!

When you got 4 kids to feed you burn through the onions and taters pretty fast (pretty much everything gets ate up fast!).

**bwwertz** · Mar 25th 2012, 09:05 PM

I would love some gardening advice! I'm a "newbee" in that department too. We're in NC and I have the ground "disc-ed" up by a farmer my husband knows, but I know very little about gardening and really want to learn. Anyone up for mentoring a new gardener and beek? Don't know what the best kind of fruits and veggies to plant are, when to plant them, etc.

**DLMKA** · Mar 26th 2012, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by bwwertz

I would love some gardening advice! I'm a "newbee" in that department too. We're in NC and I have the ground "disc-ed" up by a farmer my husband knows, but I know very little about gardening and really want to learn. Anyone up for mentoring a new gardener and beek? Don't know what the best kind of fruits and veggies to plant are, when to plant them, etc.

Start by growing what you like to eat. Check the University Extension Office for your state, most have a vegetable gardening section that is usually chock full of information geared towards beginners. I'd start there.

**brooksbeefarm** · Mar 26th 2012, 08:19 PM

DLMKA,the first onions i planted got three inches of rain,we planted some more today and i was wondering how often you watered yours in dry weather? One other question,like you my dad would pull the dirt back from the onions so they would grow bigger.

My uncle would pull the loose dirt up over the bulbs to keep them from sunburning

. I have done both ways, but was wondering your thoughts on this? Our summers are probably hotter than yours. Thanks in advance. Jack

**Omie** · Mar 26th 2012, 08:58 PM

Hmmm, well our early Spring is no more. It's currently 26F and windy with gusts of 30mph... with a wind chill of 17F right now. Going down to 15F tonight with a wind chill factor of ZERO.

Good thing I bought extra packets of seed (and i always do), cause I may be losing some of my first batches of veggie seedlings tonight. I'm glad i didn't put my mason bee cocoons out yet, and I'm glad the fruit trees and blueberries have not bloomed yet! brrrrr......
maybe the peas and spinach will like it.

**brooksbeefarm** · Mar 28th 2012, 10:28 PM

Well i coudn't stand it, with all the warm weather we are having, i went ahead and planted a half acre of sweet corn.

I remember my uncle saying he put field corn out early one time and it came a light snow on it,he said it turned it black, but it came out of it and was one of the best crops he ever had. I'll bet he didn't give $11.00 a pound for his sweet corn seed and $16.00 for a 50# bag of fertilizer.Now the waiting game begins.

Jack

**efmesch** · Mar 28th 2012, 11:56 PM

My six little tomato seedlings have all established themselves nicely but the rains that the weathermen keep "promising" have all dropped their waters further north. It looks like today I'll have to take the garden hose and do the watering myself. No big sweat when it's just six plants. I'm sort of embarrassed by the small size of my plot, but take consolation reading about all of your big beautiful veggie gardens.
I hope you all reap big crops.

**kebee** · Mar 29th 2012, 04:44 AM

efmesch, you have more than I do and proably more than I will have for I hate gardens, may change later on but doubt it.

kebee

**efmesch** · Mar 29th 2012, 04:59 AM

Kebee...As far as exercise goes, it's more productive than having to use a walking machine that does the walking for you. Almost as good as beekeeping is to keep you in shape.

**blueblood** · Mar 31st 2012, 03:03 PM

I have tilled a new garden spot this year to get it closer to a water source. It's about 15x45 and will be growing mainly tomato varities as normal. I have pretty good luck selling them roadside at my house. My plants are all in the cold frame still growing. It will be at least another 3-4 weeks before the ground will be warm enough for planting. Trying something new this year for water. I purchased a drip irrigation system. WWW.dripdepot.com sells some pretty solid products. I bought the 140 plant garden drip kit and will be applying 3' wide platic this year to keep weeds down and heat/moisture in the dirt. Those two items should free up more time to spend with the bees. The garden pictured a few replies upward looked really nice!

**Slowmodem** · Mar 31st 2012, 03:39 PM

It seems like every time I have an off day it's raining. But we've had a little bit of dry weather so we got a dump truck load of mushroom compost and I'm putting that into the garden and am going to till it in before we start planting.