What have you done today in the Garden?

Down here in the heat, I grow Arapaho and Navaho. Mine get big juicy berries from Mid April/May to July. They are just starting to leaf out now and a few have a flower on. They grow very long canes so I prune them twice a year: after they finished fruiting and in late fall. Last fall I had canes 15-20' long !! They love to grow !!

I don't notice the seeds in mine. That just might be me, that the seeds don't bother me, or they may have small seeds.
I don't know.

They also make pups like crazy from runners. I have to keep finding folks to give them away to because once one of my friends has taken some, they get pups too so I can't pawn any more off to them !!

 

Those are very pretty blossoms!

 

I have one of those that came with my rototiller many many moons ago ....but I've never used it. I wasn't really sure what it would do. How lovely your garden looks makes me think I'll give it a try in the lower garden this year. I've thought about it in the past for potatoes and leeks, but never got around to it.

It looks great DM. Well done!

 

@DHR....I was intrigued that you can go to a garden shop and buy sod - and jealous! It looks very nice.


Today I was able to pull the grass out of the raised chive bed at the back porch. The quack grass is so sneaky I often don't see it until it hits the salad.

The ground is still frozen in the flower gardens, but I'm going to attempt some clean up today once the sun warms the soil a bit. I can at least do some pruning of the lilac suckers and honeysuckle which will be nice. I pruned the Transparent apple tree after my early AM walk this morning. Next will be the Crab.

 

Changed the oil and gas filter on the rider tractor , cleaned out the air and carb filter used the compressor to blow out the filters and cleaned the deck. Chased the moles/gophers out of the pastures with the tractor and called it a day.

 

Spring has certainly arrived.
The first bluebell.




They've spread around our garden for over fifty years.

 

In the last few years the ''yard'' garden at the rear of the house has become rather untidy and overgrown. I've just been trying to keep the pathways clear, and have concentrated on the bigger beds at the front whenever feeling well enough.
Today I thought I'd really have a go at doing a proper tidy up, and took out a lot of rubbish - cutting, pruning, and pulling out dead stuff. It's so good to see some sun again. When late afternoon happened I sat down on the reclining chair in the last bit of sunshine, and went to sleep!

 

Ta Daniel I was just sticking them in the ground too, but then I looked up what I was meant to be doing, now I stick them in a very gritty compost

 

Where I used to live in the West Country there are still ancient field systems that survive called "Ridge and Furrow". The surviving ones are that important that they're actually marked as antiquities on the Ordnance Survey maps. They were to do just as you describe, grow stuff in ground that would otherwise be too wet.

I used to drive past one field on the way to a job, you could still see the ridges from centuries ago

 

So @Tetters, now that you brought it up of course, I want to ask a wee question? Why is it that it seems men are the ones saying that necessity is the Mother of invention? Seems likely a wife is behind that one. Any feedback from across the pond?

 

I learned a preference I now have is to start with as smooth of a tilled surface as I can. I am sure a tractor weight or the weight of the very large tillers might help it shrug off angling down into turning or other skidmarks from the intitial tilling. The little rear tine super bronco I have wants to wander with its more narrow wheel width and relatively lighter weight making it harder to form that straight line. Something to think about this fall now. It rained enough to pond today and the furrows got wet but not the hills. One thing I did was flip up one wing and go all the way around to make an outside barrier. If nothing else it will help keep weed seed from floating into the garden.

 

I repotted the taller tomato seedlings. The dwarf varieties don't need it yet.



These are the Roma II. I wondered if the seeds would grow, several years old from my saved seeds. They grew well. They were a little leggy because I didn't get them to the LEDs immediately. So I planted them deeper in their new pots.



They all perked up quickly.

Roma II VF is a disease resistant, determinate heirloom. They grow true from saved seeds. The fruit is meaty, good for salsa and tomato sauces, but not as large as hybrids. I started ten plants for our garden, plus two for a friend.

I also potted up two SuperSweet 100 seedlings. They are my favorite cherry tomato, but are hybrids so I buy the seeds. Very vigorous and tall growing indeterminates, the exceptions to my preference for dwarf heirloom - types. I think almost as sweet as Sungold, but more tart and more tomato'y flavor, and highly productive.

The pots are sturdy, and I have re-use them about ten times so far. After washing them to remove all soil, I run them through a cycle in the dishwasher to sterilize them.

 

Daniel—Great to see your toms coming along so well.
I am jealous that you are already planting-on. Exciting!
How are things looking outside at the moment, mate.

 

We have been quite busy over the past couple of weeks in the lottie as well as the other household things.

We have been cleaning the flower plots, and are still not done. Here is how one looks.


We have begun aerating the grass paths and feeding them.


We have decided to get rid of the front fence and replace ir with a much simpler one. Step one was to measure and acquire the poles.


Further work has been to prepare the beds in our lottie and the lottie of our neighbour for the tomato project. We then rolled the mulch layer back over the beds until somewhere in May.

 

I grew San Marzano and here in the humid hot south it was a bit of a challenge. The Roma I grow are very similiar to the San M but slightly larger and much more robust in my garden. Taste wise there is a difference to me but it is very slight. I like the Roma for my pulp mill, and will put in cherry and other tomatoes that have come to the door of overripe. I bought B 16 celebrity starts to get her momentum up. We just passed last frost date on Sunday. Oh and focast highs are in the upper 80s so that 50f soil may well be here. I checked the pH and added ash since I saw some 6pH places. Mostly 6.5pH. I was wondering why I don't just try for 6pH since that is the pH of rain.