2024 garden lovers thread

[LoveDaisy]

Starting a post where we can chat about gardens and how the 2024 season is going. I would love to hear about your vegetable and/or flower gardens.

I am mostly a veggie gardener but have been trying flowers the last few years. I have a fairly large old school in the ground veggie garden.

This year I am growing:
3 kinds of potatoes
2 kinds of peas
2 kinds of lettuce
Cucumbers
Bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, and purple)
Jalapeños
Green beans
Tomatoes (currently 20 different kinds of heirlooms)
3 kinds of pumpkins
Gourds
Eggplant
Basil
Parsley
Chives

Sunday I will see a friend who grows from seed and will get an assortment of other plants. It’s always fun because he grows unusual plants so I’ll get some new varieties I haven’t grown before.

I’m am also debating going to the Hartford Regional Market tomorrow because I love plant shopping.

 

[LoveDaisy]

A few early season pictures.

Tomatoes




Peas



Lettuce

 

[LoveDaisy]

Potatoes



Cucumbers



Basil

 

[LuvOrlando]

Wow, what a lovely garden. They are a lot of work but look to be peaceful, maybe on my to do list.

 

[auntfrannie]

I just moved all of my plants out from my basement grow lights and hoping for a good year. The damn groundhogs always have it in for me...even though my vegetable garden is fenced in! For vegetables this year:

Kale
Genovese Basil
Lettuce Leaf Basil
parsley
Eggplant
Sweet Banana Peppers
Shishito Peppers
Orange Bell Peppers
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Delicato squash
Black Cherry Tomatoes
Paste Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes

 

[auntfrannie]

For bedding flowers I grow:
Impatiens Xtreme - these get to about 20" for me and perform great
Begonia Sprinter Rose
Geranium Bulls Eye Cherry
Verbena Tuscany series

For cutting flowers I grow:
Godetia
Stock
Zinnia Benary's Giant
Sunflowers ProCut series
Snapdragon Opus mix
celosia Flamingo Feather
Celosia Sunday mix
and over 100 different dahlias for cutting

Nothing is blooming yet so no pics!

 

[barkley]

our weather is whacko here. snow as recently as 2 weeks ago trading off with days in the 80's, winds yesterday and today in the 50 mph range, next few days in the 60's and low 40's with rain. hope to eventualy get something in the ground

 

[LoveDaisy]

My peach tree has so many baby peaches. The last two years I lost them all to a late frost, hoping we will get some this year.

 

[bobbiwoz]

@LoveDaisy , your garden looks beautiful!

One of our garden boxes is disintegrating… we will be planting tomatoes and cucumber seeds in the other one.

 

[auntfrannie]

@LoveDaisy where do you live that you have so much production going on so early in the year? I'm in southwest PA and my garden won't look like yours until mid-July!

 

[LoveDaisy]

@LoveDaisy where do you live that you have so much production going on so early in the year? I'm in southwest PA and my garden won't look like yours until mid-July!

I am in CT. I planted the cold weather crops (peas, lettuce, and potatoes) in April. The other items went in last weekend. I still have more to plant but I am hoping to pick up the rest of my plants from a friend who grows from seed this weekend. I need to see what he is giving me to plan out the rest of my space. I hope to be done planting by Memorial Day.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I saw my friend who grows from seed today. I love his set up for hardening the plants. It’s a small greenhouse on a dolly so he can pull it into his garage if it gets cold at night. He told me he cut back this year and only planted about 350 plants.



I tried to use some self control and only came home with two trays of plants.

 

[auntfrannie]

I have about half of my stuff planted but I need to get my cattle panel arches up before I can plant the rest...as far as vegetables go. All of my flowers are in except for the dahlias...those will probably be next weekend. I have 76 tubers plus about another 50 or so in cuttings that I did a few months ago.

I wish I had a longer growing season!

 

[LoveDaisy]

I have about half of my stuff planted but I need to get my cattle panel arches up before I can plant the rest...as far as vegetables go. All of my flowers are in except for the dahlias...those will probably be next weekend. I have 76 tubers plus about another 50 or so in cuttings that I did a few months ago.

I wish I had a longer growing season!

What are cattle panel arches? I’m guessing some sort of a support?

How long does it take you to plant all your flowers? I would love to see pictures when everything is in bloom!

I also wish we had a longer growing season. I try to get in as much as I can in the season we have.

 

[amcnj]

This year the nighttime temperatures started improving right on time, and I planted everything a week ago. The thyme, oregano and chives all came back after winter, and I added parsley, basil and sage. Some potatoes I missed harvesting last fall also reappeared, and I see some pumpkin seedlings sprouted where the Halloween pumpkin ultimately ended up. I planted some tomatoes, and have a few more that sprouted late so they will go in the ground a little later. Oh and some lettuce seeded itself too.

I have geraniums in three window boxes and a large planter that I moved to an unheated porch over winter. They are all already large and flowering, and one window box had a petunia make it too. None of the alyssum did. But I had added some alyssum seeds to each end of the window boxes and they are up, but not flowering yet. I also overwintered some dahlias in a box of peat moss. I started watering and putting the box out in the sun a few weeks ago, and they went in the ground last week and are up a few inches now.

All the bulbs are done flowering. The azaleas, spirea and deutzia shrubs are in flower, and a huge rhododendron is joining the parade now too. The iris are the main perennial flower in bloom right now. It seems to me that there are more flower stalks on them than usual. I added some vinca and zinnia annuals here and there this year too.

 

[auntfrannie]

What are cattle panel arches? I’m guessing some sort of a support?

How long does it take you to plant all your flowers? I would love to see pictures when everything is in bloom!

I also wish we had a longer growing season. I try to get in as much as I can in the season we have.

This isn't my garden because I couldn't find any pictures of mine. This was an image that came up on a google search. You attach the cattle panels using t-posts. They work really well for tomatoes and any vining squash.

It will probably take a few hours to plant the flowers I have left. I will try to remember to post pictures when everything is in full bloom.

I'm glad you started this post! I learn a lot from fellow gardeners!

 

[Kim&Chris]

Great post!! From seed, I started Parks Whopper tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, Genovese basil, and some assorted flowers.

I'm in NJ, so it's almost a law that you have to grow tomatoes, LOL! Last year, we tried to grow corn but the ants said "it's ours!" and destroyed all but two of the stalks.

I also enjoy propagating trees and bushes, and have had a lot of luck with lilac bushes.

 

[LoveDaisy]

Great post!! From seed, I started Parks Whopper tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, Genovese basil, and some assorted flowers.

I'm in NJ, so it's almost a law that you have to grow tomatoes, LOL! Last year, we tried to grow corn but the ants said "it's ours!" and destroyed all but two of the stalks.

I also enjoy propagating trees and bushes, and have had a lot of luck with lilac bushes.

I would love to hear more about propagating trees and bushes. I have not tried that. I have cloned tomatoes but that is pretty basic.

 

[LoveDaisy]

This isn't my garden because I couldn't find any pictures of mine. This was an image that came up on a google search. You attach the cattle panels using t-posts. They work really well for tomatoes and any vining squash.

you are the second person this week to mention they grow on a trellis type support. I have an angled support I use for my cucumbers but didn’t realize they would grow that high! I also grow my peas and beans up cages but this could be really pretty in the center on my garden. I have a walkway down the middle. I’ll have to think at this for next year. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Kim&Chris]

I would love to hear more about propagating trees and bushes. I have not tried that. I have cloned tomatoes but that is pretty basic.

It's pretty easy with lilacs, and this is a good time of year to do it. Take a green branch (not one that gotten that hard, wood-like look to it) about 6" long. Cut off the leaves and make some small cuts to the branch's bottom. Then I dip it into rooting powder, and then into soil. Literally within days I start to see the beginnings of new leaf growth!!

I have tried many times to do this with crepe myrtle trees, but they seem to die quickly. Not sure why but I'm going to keep trying.