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Ranchwife- your veg garden

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nr

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Are you going to grow lettuce?
I've been experimenting and finally hit a solution that works against multiple lettuce-growing problems if you're interested.
 
We use the "Mesclun" seeds. Awesome stuff, awesome salads. We also grow Romaine lettuce, they do well here. The head doesn't do so well, they are very small heads, get wilty, think it gets too hot. Plain leaf lettuce tends to get bitter.
 
reader (the Second) said:
Have you tried Baby Romaine? I buy this organic and it's my favorite lettuce for salads now. It is a small green/red leaf. Romaine is too crunchy.

We pick the romaine while it's small (ie baby romaine). I love leafy salads!!!
 
Good evening!!! thought i would come home and get the planting started and we have had one gully washer after another today and the mountains have a nice covering of snow on them, so planting is being.....delayed a bit!!! Yup....definitely gonna have lettuce....planted red leaf lettuce last year and it darn near took over the garden, but the family really liked it!!! we go through so many salads in the summer (everything from taco salad to chef salad), that it definitely pays off in the long run!! Never tried Mesclin, personally, but gonna have to give it a try! Not much of a bug problem here, thank goodness. Jesse says they tried every year to grow iceberg lettuce here and they failed every year....the leaf lettuce sure seemed to do well!! sure cannot wait to see all the sprouts coming up!!! :D :D
 
YUP!!! :D :nod: :mrgreen: :D

Everything we've planted is up, been eating salads out of the green house for over a month. 'Taters, peas, beets, lettuce, corn, lima beans, green beans, scallions are all up and growing, especially with all this moisture! You can sit there and WATCH :shock: it grow!!! :D
 
I replanted a half acre of butter beans last week. They should be up by now. The corn has been layed by and the peanuts are starting to peg. If the weeds don't take it we should make plenty if the rain holds.
 
IMG_1603.jpg


Well, since nobody asked for it, I can brag about my lettuce anyway hopefully with a picture if this photobucket works.
Planted in large pots that trees come in has some advantages:
no gully-washers wash away the seed
the pots warm up earlier so they produce sooner
It is easy to water
the lettuce stays cleaner- no dirt spatter
the tubs can be put up high out of rabbit reach where they're easy to pick
and best of all, when it gets hot you can move them into shade where they keep producing, bolting later.
 
nr,

Love your idea, your lettuce looks so yummy! Speaking of bragging rights...


HPIM0378.jpg


This is our "salad makings" in the greenhouse

HPIM0376.jpg


This is our garden, 'taters 'n peas

HPIM0375.jpg


Our Chives and garlic
 
FANTASTIC!! I love a garden so...

My knees just won't allow me to work in one any more (sigh). BUT I BET I COULD DO SOME LETTUCE LIKE NR SHOWED US...YEA!!!

My ex sister-in-law was a Basque girl and she planted her garden in blocks instead of rows. Have you ever heard of that? Man, she really had a great garden year after year.
 
FH,

I've seen them, heard of them, but never done it. We have a lot of our garden in lasagna beds, such as the chives and garlic are in. We have some rows, but not too many, also black plastic for our canteloup, watermelon, honeydew, pickles, squash, pumpkins, eating cukes, zucchini. The black plastic holds the heat in the soil, keeps the weeds down. It kinda hurts when the temp is 110, black plastic gets pretty hot. These lasagna beds are 3' wide and whatever long, so 2 people can go along each length (across from each other) and get a bed weeded in a hurry, can get the whole garden weeded in a couple hours, don't need to weed but every other week or so.
 
Hanta- Awesome greenhouse and garden with lots of sun! I salivate!
FH, I've tried to convert to planting in blocks rather than rows...but my mind thinks in rows! It is a very hard habit to break yet blocks are more productive for those of us with limited space. Reduces weeding as well.
IMG_1604.jpg

Here is the arbor my husband built and I did the gate which "almost" swings well :oops: haha I'm no carpenter! This garden only gets 1/2 day of sun so gave up on melons but do get tomatoes, cucs by July. Two sides have deer fencing plus the groundhog fencing but now we have moles/voles! Don't know how to fence them out! Has anyone tried castor oil successfully? Don't want to use poisons in the veggie garden
IMG_1609.jpg

Outside of the veg garden is intensively planted a mixture of evergreens, flowers, grapes, pear tree, newly caged in blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries and the pond I dug by hand a few yrs ago. Boy are those digging days over!! We really are thankful for our little piece of heaven. Just lacks one long-horned steer!
 
Hanta Yo and Non Rancher Beef Eater :cboy: (wow it's been a long time since you were called that!!!!)---

:clap: You two have a couple of the most beautiful gardens and yards I've seen. We have been working on our yard, and hope to someday have a nice one, but living in a pasture in rotten soil has definitely been a challenge. Thanks a million for posting the pictures.

Geez Hanta Yo, I felt very guilty for not making it up to your place on our little trek around MT, but now I'm not only feeling guilty, but very dissappointed too. Not only would it have been a treat to meet you and your family, and of course Corky, but to see your place and that awesome garden would have been a great treat too!

Great job gals, and thanks a million for posting pictures. Will you please post some updates and they "grow" along???

TTFN--

TTB
 
Such impressive photo's! And garden stories! I'm jealous. Poor water or no water at all, combined with parching SD winds have limited my garden success. The yard looks great right now. Mostly native grass "lawn", too few trees and flowers, but I keep on trying.

Just heard of someone who filled some feed bunks with soil for a garden when the knees could tolerate gardening the old way. May be worth a try.

Has anyone tried the red plastic for tomatoes? It sounds interesting. I like mulch, and it is pretty hard to convince the men in the family to allow me to use it. They think it grows more weeds. My point is it makes the EXISTING weeds easier to pull.

Sure would like to hear more about the greenhouse in MT, especially how much it adds to your growing season, heat, siting (does it back up to a building, etc.).

I'm considering one on the south end of our garage, but wonder if a little corner in the garage itself would be better or not.

MRJ
 
Beautiful gardens: I have never seen taters planted in a green house though. My taters are almost gone. The ones still in the ground have bloomed so I should get them dug and in the basement. Please keep posting pictures. I will take some and give the disk to Mike and let him post mine. What do y'all want to see? Hayfield? Gardens? Cattle? Naked women? What?
 
Alabama said:
Beautiful gardens: I have never seen taters planted in a green house though. My taters are almost gone. The ones still in the ground have bloomed so I should get them dug and in the basement. Please keep posting pictures. I will take some and give the disk to Mike and let him post mine. What do y'all want to see? Hayfield? Gardens? Cattle? Naked women? What?

Alabama:

I'd love to see some pics of your area---but of your hayfields, gardens and cattle. No naked women---if I want to see that I can look in the mirror at any time :oops: (mostly prefer not too!!!) I'm guessing the menfolk my respond slightly different! :p

Take care and have a great day---

TTB
 
MRJ said:
Such impressive photo's! And garden stories! I'm jealous. Poor water or no water at all, combined with parching SD winds have limited my garden success. The yard looks great right now. Mostly native grass "lawn", too few trees and flowers, but I keep on trying.

Just heard of someone who filled some feed bunks with soil for a garden when the knees could tolerate gardening the old way. May be worth a try.

Has anyone tried the red plastic for tomatoes? It sounds interesting. I like mulch, and it is pretty hard to convince the men in the family to allow me to use it. They think it grows more weeds. My point is it makes the EXISTING weeds easier to pull.

Sure would like to hear more about the greenhouse in MT, especially how much it adds to your growing season, heat, siting (does it back up to a building, etc.).

I'm considering one on the south end of our garage, but wonder if a little corner in the garage itself would be better or not.

MRJ

MRJ,

We've been using the red plastic mulch for the tomatoes for the past 5 or 6 years. Works great, no weeding and I get tomatoes coming out our ears. I also use the slow soaker hoses under the red mulch and make a small hole in the plastic near the hose and plant. This really saves on water!!!! We start all our plants from seed in Feb, move them out to the greenhouse end of March. We have a propane heater to keep plants from freezing at night. Daytime nice and warm, plants love it. The greenhouse sits by itself. You can kind of see it in one of the pics I posted.
Have a great day!
 
Alabama said:
Beautiful gardens: I have never seen taters planted in a green house though. My taters are almost gone. The ones still in the ground have bloomed so I should get them dug and in the basement. Please keep posting pictures. I will take some and give the disk to Mike and let him post mine. What do y'all want to see? Hayfield? Gardens? Cattle? Naked women? What?

Alabama,

No taters in the greenhouse they are outside in rows. Please no naked women :oops: :shock: would like to see your area, what you grow, etc. :D
 
Turkey Track Bar said:
Hanta Yo and Non Rancher Beef Eater :cboy: (wow it's been a long time since you were called that!!!!)---

:clap: You two have a couple of the most beautiful gardens and yards I've seen. We have been working on our yard, and hope to someday have a nice one, but living in a pasture in rotten soil has definitely been a challenge. Thanks a million for posting the pictures.

Geez Hanta Yo, I felt very guilty for not making it up to your place on our little trek around MT, but now I'm not only feeling guilty, but very dissappointed too. Not only would it have been a treat to meet you and your family, and of course Corky, but to see your place and that awesome garden would have been a great treat too!

Great job gals, and thanks a million for posting pictures. Will you please post some updates and they "grow" along???

TTFN--

TTB

Sure, TTB. Would have loved meeting you, your hubby and Holly. I know how it goes, busy time of year. We'll catch up to each other one of these days! :D
 
nr,

What a beautiful garden, a sure "piece of heaven"! Love your pond, I tried that here but with dirt blowing around I couldn't keep it clean and the frogs kept making a home out of it! YUK! So I emptied it and buried it. Send some more pics!! Love to see some of your area, I haven't been farther East than Illinois.
 

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