Garden pics?

[Black]

So whatcha' growin'?
I feel good . . . finally got my butt outside during the last of the daylight and got my outdoor planting started.
I'd bought 25 packets of various stuff at 99¢ ea from this seller:
http://myworld.ebay.com/zanna1&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID
a few months ago In order to save shipping.
No pics-- it got dark . . .

[CW2V]

Peppers.

To early to plant here, but got them started inside.

CW2V

[The UnDoug]

I borrowed a roto-tiller from a fellow gardener at the community garden where I go. (You may recall my post last week asking about running an electric tiller off of a car battery.) I tilled the garden, and it was a hell of a lot harder than I expected it to be! I got it all done, but I still am not really thrilled with the condition of the soil. Mainly because I can still see too much green crap (leaves, bits of weeds, and even some weeds that are still rooted). Not sure if I didn't till it well enough/deep enough, or if the soil was just too taken over by weeds/plants.

Regardless, it's as good as it's getting, and it's not *that* bad...just not exactly what I wanted.

Yesterday I planted a blueberry plant (hopefully it'll become a nice bush in a few years--right now it's basically a stick), I also planted cilantro (bought a plant at Lowe's on a whim), and also planted 6 asparagus "bulbs" (more like little dried up bundle looking things). I've never grown any of these before, so it'll be mostly for fun.

I have seeds for lettuce, carrots, sunflowers, sweet corn, ornamental corn, eggplants, pumpkins, watermelons, yellow squash, butternut squash, zucchini, peas (2 types), beans, and a few other things.

I have strawberry plants that I planted last year, and are now quite a bit larger (they send out runners and grow new plants, in essence). I expect quite a few berries this year (only got one berry last year!). I also have several varieties of peppers and tomatoes growing indoors at home, and will get them outside pretty soon.

I expect to be at the garden a fair amount this week. I want to get stuff planted.

I *LOVE* gardening! I was looking forward to it all winter long!

How do you all control weeds in your garden? I didn't do much last year, and paid the price. My community garden is an "organic" garden, so I can't use pesticides. Some people put down straw, timothy hay, or even black plastic sheeting that is perforated to allow water through (they cut a hole for the plants). I definitely want to keep the weeds down this year, because it took away from the enjoyment and the asthetics of the garden last year, and the condition of the soil this spring.

In case you can't tell, I'm excited that it's garden time! :-)

[Frank]

Pineapples! I have them here and there, all over the yard. Picked our second one yesterday. They are so sweet when picked ripe. We have sweet potatoes, papayas, tomatoes, bananas, peppers and some strawberries (an unintentional treat for the birds).

[Jack D.]

So far the garlic is about a foot tall and the chives are getting ready to bloom. Nights are still in the low to mid 40's so nothing else is really in yet. Oh, the apple, cherry and plum trees are flowering.

[kap]

Strawberries, peppers, Japanese cucumbers, Asian egg plants, chives, sage; all sorts of tomatoes: Roma, Heirloom, "mutt" (I don't know what). All are growing taller by the weeks and sprouting up leaves and flowers but bearing no fruits A coworker said I needed bees to pollinate. Well, few of the bees we do get tend to oddly and quickly die off. I have been gently tapping the leaves in hope of create an artificial pollination process somehow :dunno: Will try to post pictures tomorrow.

We'll be attempting at planting watermelons, pineapples and custard apple. These will be tough as they are Asian topical fruits. Not sure if our zone 8-9 is hot enough.

[Black]

I have indoors:
Various petunias
Eggplant
Bell peppers and 3 kinds of other mild peppers
2 kinds of tomatoes (Juliet Hybrid and Early Girl)
Foxglove
Portulaca
Some unusual varieties of Alyssum
Basil
Cardinal Climber
Cypress Vine
Impatiens
Coleus
Celosia-- 5 varieties

Started outdoors today (mostly in 16" planters):
5 or 6 kinds of zinnias
Mexican Sunflower
More Basil
Snapdragon

Already growing outdoors-- Elephant Garlic

I also had to get some Canna in the ground yesterday as it was sprouting in the bag-- I realized too late that the entire selection of bagged bulbs and tubers had gotten wet; I have a bag of rotten Calendula I'm hoping to return without a fight.

[mrbigstuff]

I've had something in my yard - a fungus, a spore? - that is preventing some plants from fruiting while others just die off completely. The zucchini plants, for instance, have died off about the last five planting seasons (out of seven years) from a white fungus. The fungus affects all squash, because summer and pumpkin have not fruited either. Tomatoes have done well, though. No luck with bell peppers, I think those have to be greenhouse kept until the hottest of the New England months.

[kap]

mrbigstuff wrote:
I've had something in my yard - a fungus, a spore? - that is preventing some plants from fruiting while others just die off completely. The zucchini plants, for instance, have died off about the last five planting seasons (out of seven years) from a white fungus. The fungus affects all squash, because summer and pumpkin have not fruited either. Tomatoes have done well, though. No luck with bell peppers, I think those have to be greenhouse kept until the hottest of the New England months.

I have the same experience with my pumpkins and mums. The former never gave any fruits since planted last year; the latter's leaves look like swiss cheese after being planted in the ground for two weeks.

As far as other plants, esp. Asian eggplant and Japanese cucumber, I spray a mixture of chilli pepper and water under the leaves every other day to kill off the flea beatles.

This website helps with companion planting, http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html.