Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 33 Entries. Monday, February 19 View Page Always behind getting the diary started so time to get caught up before the season gets too busy. Giant onions were started in January. Had some old potting soil from previous year that I recycled into the new mix that had some tomato seeds that had failed to germinate last year. Ended up with some year old tomato seed that germinated with the onion seeds. Since there were a few of competition seeds and regular tomatoes have no idea what they are at this point. Lesson on if you're going to use soil from previous germination attempts to make sure you're using a different seed type all together in case an old seed germinates to prevent misidentifying what plant you are growing, lol.   Monday, February 19 View Page Giant onions and mystery tomatoes after uppotting into 1/2 gallon pots. Have a few aisla craig and glazebrook variety giant onions for the two different types we're growing this year.   Sunday, February 25 View Page Heat wave in February has me considering silly things for an early fair pumpkin. Laid down some clear plastic to start warming the soil.   Tuesday, March 12 View Page Is this what I think it is? Looks like the seed exchange package has arrived!   Tuesday, March 12 View Page It is, Christmas in March! Always something in the mix that's fun to try each year. Thanks Andrew for your hard work on this.   Friday, March 22 View Page Seed has emerged for our early fair pumpkin. Chose our 1655.5 from last year for this for a couple of reasons. First is want to see if the % heavy will carry through another generation. Second is if things go south with the early start have plenty of seeds for backups.   Saturday, March 23 View Page 24 hrs after emergence, roots were already starting to come out of the bottom of the pint sized germination pot. Uppotted into a half gallon pot. Would like to go larger off the start but the indoor germination greenhouse is a little cramped until I can get the outdoor greenhouse that's used for hardening off plants fixed from previous hail damage.   Wednesday, March 27 View Page Four days later time to uppot the 1655.5 again. Love the aggressive root system so far. Outdoor greenhouse repaired and early spring garden plants have been moved outside to clear space. Uppotted into a 3 gallon pot this time. Planning on the pumpkin plot being ready for this to go in the dirt by the time it outgrows this pot.   Friday, March 29 View Page In the outdoor greenhouse have some giant kohrabi and cabbage plants that don't look too bad. Giant onions look a little sad, need to get these to the garden once the weather starts to behave. Have a flat of marigolds started as well. Mystery tomato plants growing like weeds and starting to blossom.   Friday, March 29 View Page The 1655.5 has found it's way outside as well to start hardening off to prepare for its permanent home.   Friday, March 29 View Page Weather got cold again right after putting down the plastic on the plot. Soil temp under the plastic a little over 64 degrees, which isn't bad compared to the ambient temps. Can see the difference in growth in the weed cover crop between the plants under the plastic vs the weeds outside that aren't covered.   Friday, March 29 View Page Soil temp outside of the plastic checking in at 57. Plastic cover making a difference as an alternative to soil cables, although the seven degree difference shows they're probably not as effective in cooler weather. Needed the sun to cooperate more over the last month than it did.   Friday, March 29 View Page Time to get the fair pumpkin plot ready. Can see the difference here in weed development between those covered with plastic and those that were uncovered.   Friday, March 29 View Page Amendments applied based on previous years soil test as I haven't got back this year's results yet. Been pretty close to the same amounts of needed nutrients the last two years so don't think we'll be too far off of what was added. First till done and will let this mellow overnight before doing the second till to finish off the weeds. Can see the refurbished cheap greenhouse frames in the background waiting to go into place once the plot is ready. Both of these frames were wrecked by high winds in previous years so had to reinforce and replace these two with parts from another wrecked one. Hopefully it's enough to make it through this spring.   Saturday, March 30 View Page Final till done, now for the next step of laying the fabric for weed control   Saturday, March 30 View Page Fabric down, and frames put into place. Going to stake the frames down with fencing T-posts this year to help stabilize and hold in place. Seems like the spring winds we get here are a lot more intense than what they used to be years ago. Will add more fabric at a later date as the plant fills in the space.   Saturday, March 30 View Page Frames staked in place, and plastic installed. Half of the plastic is the original greenhouse cover, the other half is just plastic sheeting. A lot of clamps in place to hold the plastic and the skirt was weighted down after the pic was taken. Going to hold off planting the pumpkin for a few days as a big storm is forecasted with high winds and hail followed by freezing temps. Don't want the plant in there if this thing fails to hold together.   Wednesday, April 3 View Page As feared the greenhouse didn't hold up to the 50+ mph winds we had with the storm. More wind coming, so think at this point will just close in the remaining half to start reheating things. Will add the other half back if the plant outgrows this part and the weather is cool enough that it still needs to be enclosed.   Sunday, April 7 View Page 1655.5 hanging out in the outside transition greenhouse hardening off and waiting for better weather to get planted in it's permanent home   Sunday, April 7 View Page Other items in the outside greenhouse. Can see a pretty good change in the kohlrabi, cabbage, and onions from 10 days ago.   Monday, April 8 View Page Went to the top of one of our buildings at work to take in the eclipse. Wasn't in the totality zone, we were at 93%. Just shows you how powerful the sun is as with only 7% uncovered we just got down to an eerie shadowy light out and the sun still appeared round unless you zoomed in with the camera. Pic is with the cell phone zoomed all the way in taken through a pair of the eclipse glasses.   Monday, April 8 View Page After work had to check to see if the morel mushrooms had started popping yet. Found enough to have a skillet or two. One of my favorite times of the year with the mushrooms, spring fishing, and turkey hunting.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page 1655.5 Finally made it to it's permanent home today. Seed was planted on St. Patick's day and now planted in the garden on my birthday. Time will tell if these lead to good luck or if I have jinxed it, lol.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page 1655.5 all tucked in after transplanting.   Monday, April 15 View Page Five days later 1655.5 seems to be taking to its new home well. Another round of big storms with big hail predicted for the area tonight so wanted to take one last before pic in case it doesn't make it through the night.   Monday, April 15 View Page In the meantime, the morel mushroom harvest is getting bigger and better each day.   Thursday, April 18 View Page Got a big long-spurred tom for the first turkey of the year.   Thursday, April 18 View Page Tradition to get a harvest pic in front of the blooming lilacs in the yard   Friday, April 19 View Page Main has developed and started working its way out on the state fair plant   Tuesday, April 23 View Page This is a new one for us. Guessing a rabbit decided to sample the brassicas. Giant kohlrabi and cabbage took a hit of varying degrees. These two kohlrabi suffered the most damage. This one was taken down to ground level, don't know what it will do even if something sprouts back from the leaf nodes. The one in the upper left at least still has the grow tip so think it will recover even though it will be set back quite a bit.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page This is typical of most of the damage where the plants lost 1-3 of their bigger leaves. Installed so chicken wire around these to try to protect from further damage.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Main on the 1655.5 is about half way down now   Wednesday, April 24 View Page The other four players for this year all germinated as well. Have the 2030 Tobeck squash, 2517 Haist, 1911 Urena, and 2469 Daletas.