jjannie's 2020 gardening

[jjannie]

With all the ‘extra’ time at home this spring we’ve gotten a good start on our gardening.
The greenhouse is a ‘new’ feature for us this year, so we’re learning when to plant as we didn’t want to heat it around the clock. Lately we’ve only had to run the small heater for couple hours overnight to keep no lower than 40*, so that’s not too bad. so we did get some plants out there. We’ve also sarted some seeds but they haven’t even sprouted yet. We built a potting bench using a fillet table that has a built in sink for countertop that is working out nicely. We have 4 auto-opening air vents in the roof - but with the sun on greenhouse we’ve already been over 120* so we made this opening we can set across in the doorway to keep the community cats from using our beds to do their business - it works - it also gives added ventilation so we aren’t getting hotter than about 80*.
We’ve been doing straw bale gardening for several years now - today was day 8 of the 11 days it takes to condition them (which means they start breaking down inside creating heat and compost inside) and they measured 145*-150* inside of them so they’re already ‘cooking’ nicely so we suspect they’ll be ready for planting very soon although we’ll still need to protect any greenery from frost as the 10-day forecast does have low 40s - high 30s in it and we are always few degrees colder than they predict - but having the warmth underneath a cover creates a nice greehouse effect that the plants love - then we can vent the frost covers during day so they won’t burn.
We enjoy starting our own plants from seeds when we can - this year we’re using gro lights and its really given us stronger, healthier starts than we’ve gotten in years past.

[jjannie]

We set the light up on timer to run 18 hours a day. Here are our updated pics taken 5 June. You’ll see how things have progressed throughout all our garden areas ( we have some garden areas that are in the ground in two different locations, in straw bales, fire ring planters, raised boxes, even some in large pots and the greenhouse where everything is grown in raised beds).

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Limit of 10 pics per post so here’s more from 5 June
https://ibb.co/jWcMRsj](Greenhouse1 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB)

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This is more 5 June from the ground-back area. We put the tomatoes in pots that are set on top of landscape fabric this year trying to avoid the neighboring pines’ roots that have taken over much of these growing boxes. We’ll see how this works. Just about everything is fenced off from the deer.

[wiperhunter2]

Wow, looks great, especially the stuff in the GH.

[fishskibum]

color me jelly and forgive me for coveting your goods
that’s a real nice greenhouse
and im gonna try some straw bail stuffs next season
Weve been on our spread 8 years now and its an everloving, evergrowing labor of luvs
and were always experimenting improving, failing and harvesting
The old man (my grandfather) installed a passion for for piscatorial pursuits and the gyo, shape your grounds and tend to them ethic
and these are the things that keep me grounded and happy
thanks for the link here ill try and start a thread share our work
but I need to get after my
#buildthewall

project

[jjannie]

@fishskibum

color me jelly and forgive me for coveting your goods
that’s a real nice greenhouse
and im gonna try some straw bail stuffs next season
Weve been on our spread 8 years now and its an everloving, evergrowing labor of luvs
and were always experimenting improving, failing and harvesting
The old man (my grandfather) installed a passion for for piscatorial pursuits and the gyo, shape your grounds and tend to them ethic
and these are the things that keep me grounded and happy
thanks for the link here ill try and start a thread share our work
but I need to get after my
#buildthewall

project

Looks like your making nice progress. We have lot rock walls and back yard pond is framed with them. Some of our larger rocks are over 7ft - luckily they were placed by machinery.

Is that rhubarb I see in foreground? What did you plant in front of rock wall where the drip line is running?

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“MrsJ, post:6, topic:319257” wrote:

Your greenhouse looks wonderful. I’m jealous, I’ve always wanted one, but thought it would be a lot of work to keep up with air circulation and temperature regulation. So, I just have a large garden where I fight the weeds, birds and bugs. It’s great therapy for me to get outside and work in any garden, flowers, or vegies. I live in Payson, Utah, where the temperatures are somewhat warmer than Idaho.

We’ve pretty much changed over to almost all raised beds of some sort - easier on our knees and backs. Our greenhouse is only 10X12 Harbor freight one. After watching a lot of videos on them, we’ve added a lot of structural support inside it, put 4 auto window openers on the roof, we have a Wi-Fi outlet that will operate based on temperatures for cooling or for heating. So far, we’re only heating enough to keep things from freezing. Once it has safely warmed up we keep our sliding doors opened. We had to place some deer fencing we framed up in the open doorway to keep the cats out (didn’t want them sunning themselves on our young seedlings or using our nicer dirt as a litter box). We just lift it little and slide it out of the way to enter, so it works pretty well. So far that has been enough air flow to not overheat the plants but once our temps get closer to 100 we may need to plug in an oscillating fan to cooling side of the outlet, it won’t really cool it, but it may help blow the hotter air out faster. Also moving air helps increase pollination.

That’s a nice cart of produce in that picture - please tell me that was from last fall. :huh: We love where we live, even though it isn’t the easiest for back yard gardening, we make do but we don’t thrive doing it, but we just keep trying. Its almost for a challenge more than anything else.

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Jil, it’s coming up on a month since you last posted some pics of your GH plants, do you have any new pics you could share? I bet it’s really been growing good.

[MrsJ]

@jjannie

“fishskibum, post:5, topic:319257” wrote:

color me jelly and forgive me for coveting your goods
that’s a real nice greenhouse
and im gonna try some straw bail stuffs next season
Weve been on our spread 8 years now and its an everloving, evergrowing labor of luvs
and were always experimenting improving, failing and harvesting
The old man (my grandfather) installed a passion for for piscatorial pursuits and the gyo, shape your grounds and tend to them ethic
and these are the things that keep me grounded and happy
thanks for the link here ill try and start a thread share our work
but I need to get after my
#buildthewall

project

Looks like your making nice progress. We have lot rock walls and back yard pond is framed with them. Some of our larger rocks are over 7ft - luckily they were placed by machinery.

Is that rhubarb I see in foreground? What did you plant in front of rock wall where the drip line is running?

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“MrsJ, post:6, topic:319257” wrote:

Your greenhouse looks wonderful. I’m jealous, I’ve always wanted one, but thought it would be a lot of work to keep up with air circulation and temperature regulation. So, I just have a large garden where I fight the weeds, birds and bugs. It’s great therapy for me to get outside and work in any garden, flowers, or vegies. I live in Payson, Utah, where the temperatures are somewhat warmer than Idaho.

We’ve pretty much changed over to almost all raised beds of some sort - easier on our knees and backs. Our greenhouse is only 10X12 Harbor freight one. After watching a lot of videos on them, we’ve added a lot of structural support inside it, put 4 auto window openers on the roof, we have a Wi-Fi outlet that will operate based on temperatures for cooling or for heating. So far, we’re only heating enough to keep things from freezing. Once it has safely warmed up we keep our sliding doors opened. We had to place some deer fencing we framed up in the open doorway to keep the cats out (didn’t want them sunning themselves on our young seedlings or using our nicer dirt as a litter box). We just lift it little and slide it out of the way to enter, so it works pretty well. So far that has been enough air flow to not overheat the plants but once our temps get closer to 100 we may need to plug in an oscillating fan to cooling side of the outlet, it won’t really cool it, but it may help blow the hotter air out faster. Also moving air helps increase pollination.

That’s a nice cart of produce in that picture - please tell me that was from last fall. :huh: We love where we live, even though it isn’t the easiest for back yard gardening, we make do but we don’t thrive doing it, but we just keep trying. Its almost for a challenge more than anything else.

This picture was taken the first year I had my garden here in Payson fall of 2002. Before my hair turned white. I still garden in the same place, but I do rotate where I plant my different vegies. I usually have a good crop to harvest each year.

[jjannie]

@wiperhunter2

Hey Jil, it’s coming up on a month since you last posted some pics of your GH plants, do you have any new pics you could share? I bet it’s really been growing good.

I’ll try to get some more today. It is growling well. We each ate a first ripe cherry tomato today during our walk-around checking on all that’s growing. Seems many of the cukes that we saw early probably never got pollinated, or at least not well enough as they wither and eventually fall off. So we’ve plugged in oscillating fan to cooling side of that outlet so to put light breeze moving some air around a bit in there to assist the pollination of the cukes, and I am sure the tomatoes won’t mind it as well.

[wiperhunter2]

@jjannie

“wiperhunter2, post:8, topic:319257” wrote:

Hey Jil, it’s coming up on a month since you last posted some pics of your GH plants, do you have any new pics you could share? I bet it’s really been growing good.

I’ll try to get some more today. It is growling well. We each ate a first ripe cherry tomato today during our walk-around checking on all that’s growing. Seems many of the cukes that we saw early probably never got pollinated, or at least not well enough as they wither and eventually fall off. So we’ve plugged in oscillating fan to cooling side of that outlet so to put light breeze moving some air around a bit in there to assist the pollination of the cukes, and I am sure the tomatoes won’t mind it as well.

When we first got back from Idaho, we had several squash that had not been pollinated, now that the bees are out in force, we are not having any problems. One thing that helps, is having a lot of clover in my grass, I think it helps to bring the bees in closer to my veg plants and they will evidently move over to the Veg plants.

[jjannie]

@wiperhunter2

“jjannie, post:10, topic:319257” wrote:

“wiperhunter2, post:8, topic:319257” wrote:

Hey Jil, it’s coming up on a month since you last posted some pics of your GH plants, do you have any new pics you could share? I bet it’s really been growing good.

I’ll try to get some more today. It is growling well. We each ate a first ripe cherry tomato today during our walk-around checking on all that’s growing. Seems many of the cukes that we saw early probably never got pollinated, or at least not well enough as they wither and eventually fall off. So we’ve plugged in oscillating fan to cooling side of that outlet so to put light breeze moving some air around a bit in there to assist the pollination of the cukes, and I am sure the tomatoes won’t mind it as well.

When we first got back from Idaho, we had several squash that had not been pollinated, now that the bees are out in force, we are not having any problems. One thing that helps, is having a lot of clover in my grass, I think it helps to bring the bees in closer to my veg plants and they will evidently move over to the Veg plants.

I bet that would help - hopefully our fan will help things out. Here’s our GH pics I took yesterday. We harvested 4 red cherry tomatoes - they were so yummy, we even pulled a carrot so we could see how they were doing - it was about 4 inches long, very sweet and tasty - looking forward to harvesting them later this season.

[jjannie]

@wiperhunter2

“jjannie, post:14, topic:319257” wrote:

“wiperhunter2, post:13, topic:319257” wrote:

Wow, that really looks great. I haven’t tried any of our carrots but it sounds like yours are doing good. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of pollinating plants by using fans but I guess it’s possible, hope it works out for you. With our GH in Idaho we just open the doors during the day and the bees come in and do their thing.

your GH is way bigger than ours does it also have doors on both ends? Our air feels very still in ours so we’re hoping the fan will help. It sure makes it more comfy to be in there if nothing else. Forgot to mention we harvested all our first peas/pods as they were not flowering anymore the other day, and we’ve reseeded them for second crop. We just might get 3 crops this year since we can roll them into the garage if its going to hard frost. We also harvested the GH radishes so we’ll be planting another batch of them.

Yes, the Idaho GH has doors on both ends. Because the bees got such a slow start on pollinating the veg there in Idaho, the kids are thinking about starting there own bee hives next year. I’m not sure how that will work out but it sounds like a plan, guess we will have to wait a see. Wow, that is pretty crazy you are already starting another crop of pods, are they the same as snow pea pods, I posted pics of earlier in the week?

yes they are either snow peas or sugar snap peas, just can’t remember which. We did start them really early riling them in and out. Look what we picked yesterday. Jeff wanted me to see all finger sized cukes that have set so while looking I found this one he hadn’t seen - we were both shocked. It was likely our first one we saw a few weeks ago that we feared had maybe dropped off, LOL It was a very pleasant surprise that’s for sure. Between the bales and GH we’re going to have a LOT of them. Making a cuke, onion and tomato salad today.

[jjannie]

yeah they typically won’t start curling until they get little larger. Our second batch started sprouting yesterday. These pods stay pretty flat like yours were until they start forming peas inside. But the pods alone work nice in a stir fry and our granddaughters get kick out shelling and eating any that have larger peas in them. once we get this round harvested, we’ll start another round that we’ll harvest in late fall - rolling them inside if any hard freezes are forecasted.

Jeff planted one half of SP that I was growing slips in the greenhouse for fun of it. Pretty sure it will never give anything to harvest but it’d sure make a nice looking houseplant - LOL. My slips are looking pretty good, and I hope they really start growing soon, but mine are never as grandiose as yours look so we’ll see what I end up with once we harvest them later this fall.

[jjannie]

The SP vine has taken over the GH but we doubt its going to have any potatoes growing beneath it - but we shall see eventually. The green beans have vines everywhere and they are even creeping through edges of our polycarbonate panels and growing outside as well. The cherry tomatoes have really spread and we have them tied up to the support structures to keep them off other plants.

The SP in box out front have over grown well surpassing the growth of last year so we are hoping we get some good potatoes from it.

The melons - have about 3 watermelons that are maturing nicely, and I think 6 cantaloupes that seem to get bigger each day. So fingers crossed.

We are about to be overloaded once again on Armenian cukes. the GH has produced very well and the ones in the bales have several that will be ready in a couple weeks. Need any? Our neighbors are making out well as we have ben sharing with them.

[wiperhunter2]

@jjannie

The SP vine has taken over the GH but we doubt its going to have any potatoes growing beneath it - but we shall see eventually. The green beans have vines everywhere and they are even creeping through edges of our polycarbonate panels and growing outside as well. The cherry tomatoes have really spread and we have them tied up to the support structures to keep them off other plants.

The SP in box out front have over grown well surpassing the growth of last year so we are hoping we get some good potatoes from it.

The melons - have about 3 watermelons that are maturing nicely, and I think 6 cantaloupes that seem to get bigger each day. So fingers crossed.

We are about to be overloaded once again on Armenian cukes. the GH has produced very well and the ones in the bales have several that will be ready in a couple weeks. Need any? Our neighbors are making out well as we have ben sharing with them.

If you are getting a lot of vines, that is a good thing, at least it was for my SP plants. From the sounds of it your GH is working out really good and all this hot weather has your outside garden is doing well too. We are starting to get the green grapes coming on now, maybe you and Jeff would like some of them? We are getting more cukes than we can handle right now but thanks for the offer.

[jjannie]

@wiperhunter2

“jjannie, post:22, topic:319257” wrote:

The SP vine has taken over the GH but we doubt its going to have any potatoes growing beneath it - but we shall see eventually. The green beans have vines everywhere and they are even creeping through edges of our polycarbonate panels and growing outside as well. The cherry tomatoes have really spread and we have them tied up to the support structures to keep them off other plants.

The SP in box out front have over grown well surpassing the growth of last year so we are hoping we get some good potatoes from it.

The melons - have about 3 watermelons that are maturing nicely, and I think 6 cantaloupes that seem to get bigger each day. So fingers crossed.

We are about to be overloaded once again on Armenian cukes. the GH has produced very well and the ones in the bales have several that will be ready in a couple weeks. Need any? Our neighbors are making out well as we have ben sharing with them.

If you are getting a lot of vines, that is a good thing, at least it was for my SP plants. From the sounds of it your GH is working out really good and all this hot weather has your outside garden is doing well too. We are starting to get the green grapes coming on now, maybe you and Jeff would like some of them? We are getting more cukes than we can handle right now but thanks for the offer.

The cantaloupes have done really nicely so we will do them again next year. We only got one watermelon to full size and ripeness so think we’ll do something else in that bed next year. So far frost has not annihilated the SPs just yet although we have some 32* temps and those winds earlier its still growing well so guess maybe it has just enough shelter from the trees and some heat from the bricks on our house.

[jjannie]

We’ve learned some things this year:

1. Our soil temps is way too cool for growing sweet potatoes. While we improved their growing conditions this year and they did better, but still only got about as big as large carrots. Also our growing season just may not be long enough as well.

2. Carrots - Frist we tried some in the greenhouse. Their soil got some time release fertilizer added to it along with water soluble fertilizers. This added fertilizer seem to have been culprit that caused them to be so badly branched out. We later planted replacements in a similar dirt mixture but not in greenhouse - they did pretty well. (see pic) Pretty sure if they had whole season they would have all matured nicely, very sweet tasting.

3. 5 degree night temps - Got a couple chilly nights and the heater could not keep thing warm enough - lost the cukes and tomatoes but the onions and carrots are still okay.

4. The greenhouse - so happy to have had it and we are looking to slightly expand it but cant fit a full size of the one we already have - so we’ll see. We were very happy we had it.

5. Melons - are watermelons have never don’t great and this year was no different. The cantaloupe did great. So next year we’ll plant the cantaloupe in the watermelon bed and grow something else in their bed.

6. Bales - Next year we won’t be doing the bales. We have new plan for the area we had the bale garden in - its a surprise! Another garden test.

[wiperhunter2]

Nice harvest of carrots and SP, too bad the SP were not bigger. Are there two different varieties, if so, does each variety they have a different taste?

[jjannie]

@wiperhunter2

Nice harvest of carrots and SP, too bad the SP were not bigger. Are there two different varieties, if so, does each variety they have a different taste?

We noticed that as well. The seeds all came from one seed package we bought. They were supposed to all orange but I’m guessing there were some errant seeds at the vendor that snuck into our package. Those yellow ones are a little sweeter than the orange ones but we have no idea what kind they are. SP - We figure our soil temp must just be too cool for growing them here. Even the one we grew in the greenhouse didn’t have any larger ones.

[jjannie]

Well winter has arrived. So guess we’ll be harvesting the last of the GH carrots and green onions so we can turn off the little heater we’ve had in there.

Already thinking about our new plans for next year’s gardening.

Hope to expand our GH as much as space allows in the spring. It definitely paid off having it if growing here.

[Cowboypirate]

I really enjoyed reading some of the older posts here - has me excited for next year.

Moving back to Henefer in early summer really messed with my garden plans. But I am really looking forward to get back in the game next spring and sharing some of our stuff. I love to try to grow melons and such that have no business growing in Utah. Got to find a spot for grapes and where will I have my giant pumpkin patch? Maybe, now I am this close to the ranch again, I will have to till up the old patch that was so good to me 20 years ago.