Lettuce is all in except one type, spinach is in, kale is in, potatoes are in. I still need to get other cold weather crops into the garden but it has been to wet to till.
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Lettuce is all in except one type, spinach is in, kale is in, potatoes are in. I still need to get other cold weather crops into the garden but it has been to wet to till.
Our cold spell has passed, 54 degree at night , looks like the tomato's , pepper's and eggplant weren't harmed by it.
I just read a Delta Farm Press article about growing Monster Melons in Louisiana. I'm going to try growing a watermelon. Last year several cantaloupe vines and one watermelon vine sprouted from seed that was in compost and worked into the bed. Every cantaloupe, 8-10 of them would begin to rot before ripening , they were not on the ground , the half green fruit just didn't taste sweet at all , not good . The watermelon , on the ground , ripened...it was good but I could have let it ripen a little longer ( scared it was going to rot).
Having success with that watermelon , and reading this article , I'm going to look for a melon vine to plant tomorrow. The Carolina Cross is what I'm looking for, the melons can range in size from 15 to 200 pounds . The world record watermelon is 262 pounds !
I didn't even know Louisiana had a water melon growing competition or festival....the fellow who grows these monster melons has a web site and growing information and will answer your questions....... this should be fun !
Gary
Gary,
If you want a good watermelon (not big) get Starbrite. It is about 25 pounds and does well down here. I just planted 50 of them 2 days ago. A good cantaloupe for here is Athena (5 lb). Cantaloupe, and watermelon to a lesser extent should not get much water when ripening. If you get a heavy rain just before cantaloupes ripen, they will be tasteless. Watermelon will just be less sweet.
Coons love both of them.
I started some Straight 8 seeds a few days ago. Might be a little late, but I'm gonna give it shot.
Starbrite watermelon and Athena cantaloupe ...got it, will look for those. Good tasting trumps big size any day. I'm going to baby the watermelon and see if I can grow a nice sized one.
I would like to try the cantaloupe again, the volunteer's that grew were probably from supermarket fruit and heavens knows what country they were from....they didn't like La. humidity/weather. What was interesting was the vines climbed a trellis and over a tomato cages to get up off the ground, I had to put some extra uprights for them to climb , the fruit just hung down from the vines. I have a wooden fence covered with hog wire they can grow on , I used it for growing mirlitons and a grape vine but a hard freeze killed all those so the fence is now bare and needs something.....cantaloupes ..Yes ! Looking forward to actually eating a good vine ripened cantaloupe and watermelon ! I have a possum that lurks in the neighborhood , the coons mostly moved away when the utility right of way was cleared of trees .
Thanks for the advice farmerjim, appreciate it !
Gary
We have peppers:
Thai Dragons
Vietnamesse Multi Color
Kona reds
Jap. Lanterns
Thai Suns
Black Cobra
Coyote Zahn White
Black Chili
Chiltepin
Bangkok Uprights
Biker Billys
White Ghosts
Viet. Devils
got all those in pots now and half are up and sprouted- the germination was slow , a few took over a month to pop up and some did not come up at all- had to try a couple times on a few of those. Kona RED did not want to come up ?? Still waiting on those-
We have several other type not yet in the pots but need to get the ones I have up further before I take on another couple dozen seedlings.
Potatos, onions, are growing well. Okra, beans, black eye peas, squash, are planted. Tomato plants are in starter pots. Now we are forecast to have frost and possibly snow this weekend. Watermelon and cucumber seed is waiting.
Potatos, onions, are growing well. Okra, beans, black eye peas, squash, are planted. Tomato plants are in starter pots. Now we are forecast to have frost and possibly snow this weekend. Watermelon and cucumber seed is waiting. I plant Celebrity tomato and the original Porter, a small plum tomato that is very disease resistant and puts on fruit in hot weather. I lost the seed and had to search hard to find it. Many suppliers sell improved Porter, a larger fruit that is susecptable to blossom end rot.
What do I have planted?.... Lemme see, um, Dandelion, Chick Weed (LOTS of Chick Weed), Curly Dock is doing exceptionally well this year, as is the Bull Thistle, both seem to be getting an early start. Have an excellent stand of volunteer Violets. Flea Bane and Wild Onion have matured and are declining (also a bit early). I also have a bumper crop of Poke.
The root crops, Black Locust, Flowering Crab Apple and Black Gum are coming up everywhere!
The half acre patch behind the barn I cleared off two years ago is carpeted with Broom Sage and Poison Ivy. The fence rows and woods edges are being taken over by Multiflora Rose and Blackberry....maybe I'll get some Blackberries this year.
Bush Honeysuckle and Poison Ivy both seem to thrive when I do my best to try to eradicate them.
I'm starting to see a bit of green coming up in the raised beds.... probably the Giant Foxtail getting an early start.
Farmer's Market set to open in a couple of weeks.... I can get everything I need there!
LIFE IS GOOD!
Jerry
The Poison Ivy and invasive Bamboo is looking good here also. I been trying to kill both since I moved in here in 1973.....that stuff don't die it just moves somewhere else.
I had a backhoe remove the bamboo and the top three feet of soil, it will sprout up anywhere in the lawn, flower beds or garden. Saw some sprouting in with the bed of Louisiana irises the wife has, I better go and do battle with it.....I win the battles but the bamboo is going to win the war....it's a lot more tenacious than I am.
Hate Bamboo
Was finally able to get a load of compost and till it in today. Should be able to plant the potatoes next week. It's weather dependent on other crops. I may plant the first patch of green beans. But I will most likely hold off until Memorial Day to plant the peppers. No point in planting early because they don't do anything until late July.
dragon813gt ,
SE PA must be in the "frozen North " , having to wait until Memorial Day to plant peppers ,
What kinds of peppers are you putting in up there ?
Gary
planted 10 nanking cherry bushes, 10 dogo crab trees. 2 raspberry plants. carrots are up in my large compost filled cattle tank. we are going to have alot of carrots this fall. oh yes, one hardy rose bush.
planted some skinny little leeks i started from seed in 2 square bales that are well rotted and fertilized. we will see what happens. the weather is getting warmer so should root well and maybe by october they will be ready to harvest.
Is anybody else besides me a member of the Tomatoville forum?
Our 3 lemon trees have given up their last fruit almost ( one still has a couple left) they all have new fruit starting and continue to blossom. Muscadine grape vines are so-so, I may have trimmed them too late. Been really dry here, two good rain storms in the past 4 months. Olive tree yield two our three olives per year, I'm told they need a cold month or so to fruit, not likely here. Pineapple plants have fruit starting, Mother Nature will it have her way.
Potatoes, beets, first row carrot, more lettuce, and 2 kinds of peas went in today. 9 more rows to plant then 44+ tomato plants(well more like 88, I do 2 starts per pot). Some needs to wait for warmer weather and warmer ground temps. I need to take soil temps tomorrow.
leeks and carrots growing like nuts in my composted filled old cattle water tanks. got some leeks in small rectangular straw bales and they are growing good also. got some carrots in bales also and they are doing very well also.
With our alkaline soil and alkaline water we're limited to what will survive here. We have asparagus on their second year, started with 3 year old roots. Also some tomatoes, basil, mint, elephant garlic, thyme and peppers. Peppers do really well and we enjoy them so we have Anaheim, sweet peppers. various colors of bell peppers, banana peppers and jalapenos.
I've got a 1/2 acre of sweetcorn, 1/4 acre of popcorn, 14 rows 80 ft long of green beans and wax beans, 4 rows of cabbage 110ft long, 4 rows of onions 4 abreast 200ft long, 1000 strawberry plants, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, celery, egg plants, with a lot more stuff to go into the ground.
I can use some help, and I don't pay worth a darn.