jjannie's 2021 Garden

[jjannie]

With this milder winter with little snow its been hard not to think about next year's garden. We have several projects set to work on this year:

1. Recently picked up a greenhouse that is like ours that was still in its box at a decent price. Due to the space we have available, our plan is to use it to extend the greenhouse we already have as there's not enough room to just put 2 full sized ones so this will just be an added on space so we'll need to be bit creative on how to downsize it to fit within the space we have - but should be doable. 

2. We're not doing a straw bale garden this year instead we are going to try planting that area using those tree-sized pots nurseries use. We picked some up last fall from the nursery at great price for this experiment. The hope is that we can use these which may allow us to extend our growing season by moving them into the garage in fall to protect them early frosts. We experimented with using these pots last year and the tomatoes we grew in them did really well, so fingers crossed on this new adventure. 

3. Not growing sweet potatoes this year - it was fun to do last year but didn't produce like we hoped it would. So the large grow box we made for the sweet potatoes will be planted with  - we think - bell peppers. 

4. Cantaloupe did well, but the small watermelons didn't, so both those planters will be planted with only the cantaloupe.

5. Found a neat way to make strawberry planters using pallets (Link)- so we'll be converting over our raised bed planter, using all the plants we can harvest from it and maybe buy a few more to add into these new planters - we'll just see how well this plan works out for us this year. 

Looks to be a fun gardening year with several experiments to see how well they all work out.

[wiperhunter2]

Getting your 2021 garden thread started already, guess I should get mine started too. Jil, please consider starting a new thread for those Strawberry boxes you are building, including that link to how to build one out of pallets, I think other members would be interested, Thanks.

[jjannie]

Getting your 2021 garden thread started already, guess I should get mine started too. Jil, please consider starting a new thread for those Strawberry boxes you are building, including that link to how to build one out of pallets, I think other members would be interested, Thanks.

New thread posted for those planters. 

The GH addition we are adding that we picked up that was new in the box but it had been stored outside, the polycarbonate panels were filled by those leaf cutting bees  so we've been spending time removing all their hard work of leaves and mud.  Here's a couple pics of the before and after of doing the panels. We only done the ones we need for the addition. All the others we can continue to work on to have as spare panels. 

We did get our seedlings started 2 April - looking so forward to see them sprouting, just thinking of those home grown tomatoes that are so yummy is great motivation! 
 Before

 After (at the top you can still see a little shadowing remained, but way better)

[wiperhunter2]

Those panels look great, now that you have them cleaned up. Do you think those leaf cutters got into the panels before you bought them or after you got them?

[jjannie]

Those panels look great, now that you have them cleaned up. Do you think those leaf cutters got into the panels before you bought them or after you got them?

 Definitely before. Even the box had a lot cut leaves loose inside it. We had to use a long wire to break the leaves apart, then we used a long piece of weed eater line with pipe cleaners attached to one end that we'd run down the channel and out other end to remove all dust. The channels that had larvae in them were very sticky and almost waxy which make them extra hard to clean out. Some we even had to drill first using a really long bit as they were stuffed too hard to get wire through.

[wiperhunter2]

Those panels look great, now that you have them cleaned up. Do you think those leaf cutters got into the panels before you bought them or after you got them?

 Definitely before. Even the box had a lot cut leaves loose inside it. We had to use a long wire to break the leaves apart, then we used a long piece of weed eater line with pipe cleaners attached to one end that we'd run down the channel and out other end to remove all dust. The channels that had larvae in them were very sticky and almost waxy which make them extra hard to clean out. Some we even had to drill first using a really long bit as they were stuffed too hard to get wire through.

I bet that was one of the reasons you got such a good deal on the GH.

[jjannie]

Those panels look great, now that you have them cleaned up. Do you think those leaf cutters got into the panels before you bought them or after you got them?

 Definitely before. Even the box had a lot cut leaves loose inside it. We had to use a long wire to break the leaves apart, then we used a long piece of weed eater line with pipe cleaners attached to one end that we'd run down the channel and out other end to remove all dust. The channels that had larvae in them were very sticky and almost waxy which make them extra hard to clean out. Some we even had to drill first using a really long bit as they were stuffed too hard to get wire through.

I bet that was one of the reasons you got such a good deal on the GH.

Actually the people selling the house were renovating it. They had 2 GHs that were left by a previous resident that had been stored out side. Since the boxes were still sealed by factory they gave us the choice which one we wanted. We are sure they could have had no idea those sneaky bugs were getting through and doing all that damage - since we got them before the warm up began or they would have maybe seen the bees coming and going once again from those boxes. Still feel we got a good deal and we'll have some parts if we ever need them in future.

[Kent]

Jil, sounds like you have some good plans for this year. I have very limited space so I planted two fruit cocktail trees right next to each other. Last fall, I purchased a bunch of Walls O Water. I took a leap of faith and planted my tomatoes, green peppers and seeds for cucumbers and squash on April 2nd.

[jjannie]

Jil, sounds like you have some good plans for this year.  I have very limited space so I planted two fruit cocktail trees right next to each other.  Last fall, I purchased a bunch of Walls O Water.  I took a leap of faith and planted my tomatoes, green peppers and seeds for cucumbers and squash on April 2nd.

You can be a bit braver than we can on the backside of Wasatch mtns - but love your leap of faith attempt. I started seeds on 2 April with the plan for them to ready for outside by Mother's day or later.  We are still getting many nights in the upper 20s.   even then we still use walls water until about June. We did buy our cherry and sun sugar tomatoes already for outside planting yesterday but we'll put them out on sunny days then back into the garage window for overnight because if we wait until we can plant nothing is left to buy. We also picked up a flat (36 plants) of June Bearing strawberries whiel were at it and we'll supplement them with our current ones as needed for our newly built strawberry planters. Trying to get a lot done as well as getting out to fish every now and then - its a time-balancing act that's for sure.

[jjannie]

Jil, sounds like you have some good plans for this year.  I have very limited space so I planted two fruit cocktail trees right next to each other.  Last fall, I purchased a bunch of Walls O Water.  I took a leap of faith and planted my tomatoes, green peppers and seeds for cucumbers and squash on April 2nd.

 Hope winds and snow weather we had on Wednesday didn't harm your walls-of-water protected plants very badly. We got 12 inches of snow on this side but we were only forecasted to get 1-3 inches. Then we got little more last night but that pretty much melted off today and lot of 12" inches has also melted away - we needed it for the reservoirs. The daffodils didn't appreciate it, but they too are starting fluff back up as well.

[jjannie]

Planted the now-called ‘pots’ garden with pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, beans. The sweet potato box from last year has been re-purposed into a box for bell peppers and eggplant. Everything is covered in the pictures due to forecasted lows for the next few nights is low 30s. Once these cold temps leave we’ll plant the cherry tomatoes in their space by the garage, and a few more tomatoes will go in pots in the original garden area as well.


GH Bed 1 has bush green beans, bell peppers and a tomato


GH Bed 2 a tomato,  bush green beans and cukes in back by the trellis


GH Bed 3 tomatoes and eventually pole green bean seeds will be started soon for the trellis area



This is the repurposed sweet potato box - it now has bell peppers and eggplant in it

This is our now-called 'Pots' garden it has pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and bush  green beans. It used to be where we were doing our straw bale gardening.

[jjannie]

That was a cold night last night, forecast was 34 degrees but we got down to 29 here at our house - sure glad we had stuff covered up.  Still need to go out check on stuff surviving those low temps hopefully they'll be ok. The GH will have been just fine.

Update   stuff didn't do as well as we hoped for - lost the tomatoes in the 'pots', the rest of the 'pots' don't look very happy but we hope they'll pull through ok, the covered peppers and eggplants - the ones under the plastic bottles still look great, the ones under the white covers hopefully they'll pull thru although they don't look very happy. Quite the set back after babying those seed, then seedlings, then young plants. The GH recorded a low of 33.4 (no heater running) and everything did just fine in there. 

Guess that's gardening, try and try again - kind of just like fishing Willard - LOL

[wiperhunter2]

That was a cold night last night, forecast was 34 degrees but we got down to 29 here at our house - sure glad we had stuff covered up.  Still need to go out check on stuff surviving those low temps hopefully they'll be ok. The GH will have been just fine.

Update   stuff didn't do as well as we hoped for - lost the tomatoes in the 'pots', the rest of the 'pots' don't look very happy but we hope they'll pull through ok, the covered peppers and eggplants - the ones under the plastic bottles still look great, the ones under the white covers hopefully they'll pull thru although they don't look very happy. Quite the set back after babying those seed, then seedlings, then young plants. The GH recorded a low of 33.4 (no heater running) and everything did just fine in there. 

Guess that's gardening, try and try again - kind of just like fishing Willard - LOL

Wow, that's a bummer, glad most of your plants made it. It got down to 38 here. The wind yesterday and the night before blew our GH over again, for the third time, so I spent the day rebuilding it. I'll post an updated pic of the rebuild on my garden thread later. Just got back from Mother's day lunch, not bad, fewer people than we expected.

[jjannie]

Too bad that's happening, will need to checkout your pic later, but hopefully no damage has occurred to the plants underneath the GH.

[wiperhunter2]

Too bad that's happening, will need to checkout your pic later, but hopefully no damage has occurred to the plants underneath the GH.

Finally getting around to posting those GH pic.

[SkunkedAgain]

That was a cold night last night, forecast was 34 degrees but we got down to 29 here at our house - sure glad we had stuff covered up.  Still need to go out check on stuff surviving those low temps hopefully they'll be ok. The GH will have been just fine.

Update   stuff didn't do as well as we hoped for - lost the tomatoes in the 'pots', the rest of the 'pots' don't look very happy but we hope they'll pull through ok, the covered peppers and eggplants - the ones under the plastic bottles still look great, the ones under the white covers hopefully they'll pull thru although they don't look very happy. Quite the set back after babying those seed, then seedlings, then young plants. The GH recorded a low of 33.4 (no heater running) and everything did just fine in there. 

Guess that's gardening, try and try again - kind of just like fishing Willard - LOL

Jill, I'm a little late discovering this board, but I have an idea for your green house in case it gets cold again... I'm using one of those chick warming lights from CalRanch in my greenhouse, I think it's 500 watts and a red light bulb... Anyway it is keeping my greenhouse in the 40's when it's down to 28 outside at night... I just turn it on at night for the cold nights and it has been keeping things alive and well...(guess I'll find out how much it's costing when I get the next bill..) I think my wife is going to try planting some stuff outside today, at least taking her planters out.... I hope the cold will let up soon... We have only planted 6 rows or so in the garden this year, I need to get busy and get the carrots and spinach in... kind of missed the boat on those two... Other than that I'm not quite ready to plant beans and the tender plants just yet...  I did get some corn in, but I figure I can replant that if it freezes... Plus I'll plant some other varieties later to extend my corn season a bit... Anyway good luck later Jeff

[jjannie]

That was a cold night last night, forecast was 34 degrees but we got down to 29 here at our house - sure glad we had stuff covered up.  Still need to go out check on stuff surviving those low temps hopefully they'll be ok. The GH will have been just fine.

Update   stuff didn't do as well as we hoped for - lost the tomatoes in the 'pots', the rest of the 'pots' don't look very happy but we hope they'll pull through ok, the covered peppers and eggplants - the ones under the plastic bottles still look great, the ones under the white covers hopefully they'll pull thru although they don't look very happy. Quite the set back after babying those seed, then seedlings, then young plants. The GH recorded a low of 33.4 (no heater running) and everything did just fine in there. 

Guess that's gardening, try and try again - kind of just like fishing Willard - LOL

Jill, I'm a little late discovering this board, but I have an idea for your green house in case it gets cold again... I'm using one of those chick warming lights from CalRanch in my greenhouse, I think it's 500 watts and a red light bulb... Anyway it is keeping my greenhouse in the 40's when it's down to 28 outside at night... I just turn it on at night for the cold nights and it has been keeping things alive and well...(guess I'll find out how much it's costing when I get the next bill..) I think my wife is going to try planting some stuff outside today, at least taking her planters out.... I hope the cold will let up soon... We have only planted 6 rows or so in the garden this year, I need to get busy and get the carrots and spinach in... kind of missed the boat on those two... Other than that I'm not quite ready to plant beans and the tender plants just yet...  I did get some corn in, but I figure I can replant that if it freezes... Plus I'll plant some other varieties later to extend my corn season a bit... Anyway good luck later Jeff

 Glad you've found us here! We do have a thermostatically controlled outlet that would run the heater if we have it in the 'On' mode which we had not set for the year.  We were surprised that even the covered things did not do very well once we got into those high 20s. But it also has a high temp setting that turns on an oscillating fan to help circulate the air. The GH has auto openers on the roof windows that lets the heat escape, the air movement also seemed to help improve pollination. We've used a watt meter to determine how many things we can run off that outlet while keeping our power usage down. Our GH is 10x12 Harbor Freight and we picked up a NIB one as well that will allow us to make an 8ft addition ( no space for the full 12ft)  on it and then we'll have spare panels in case we ever needed to replace one. Inly issue with NIB GH  has been the panels were home to those leaf cutting wasps/bees who thought the channels made them an apartment complex. Tedious work removing their construction but we're almost done. 

We're doing all our outside replanting/reseeding and planting up our flower pots as well this weekend.

[jjannie]

Still working to get those spare extra GH panels cleared from the all the bee activity. Its tedious work for sure. Once cleared we are sealing ends of the panels to prevent this reoccurring while they are stored away. We also did this on original GH panels and its has worked really well. 

Got the remainder of plants that survived the late frosts planted outside into the pots garden yesterday.  Harvested another bowl of strawberries this morning. The seeds we replanted after frosts have started sprouting. This is ok for bush beans as it will spread harvesting out a bit hopefully the tomatoes, squash and pumpkin will still have time to produce something before that first frost comes in fall.

The GH: The bush beans already have beans that are 2in long.  The Armenian cukes  - one has bloom but they are growing nicely. The pole beans started in place are up and growing fast. The tomatoes and bell peppers both look happy. 

The pea pods: We plant these in pots, but they have all sprouted and seems to be happy as well. 

I'll try to grab a few photos to add to this post.

[jjannie]

Well life got in the way, but we finally got some pics taken. Not going to say what they each are  so maybe you can tell if you've seen the previous pics, plants are finally starting to take off nicely for here on colder back side of of the Wasatch - can't compare ours to the Wasatch front gardens like WH2 has of course but we think its pretty good for gardening here. Any questions about any just ask. Oh an we finally completed cleaning out all those GH panels - next we can start erecting the GH - we just may get it competed before we need to use it - LOL

check out the strawberry planters pic under that thread. 




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[wiperhunter2]

Looks good Jil, it won't be long before those bigger squash plants by the fence are producing.