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Okay, last year I started my tomatoes WAY to late.  Want to get a jump start on it this year.

When should we start seeds inside to transplant them once warmer weather arrives.

Also, what are some good varieties of tomatoes to grow?  Last year I tried beef steak.  They are one if the longest to produce fruit.  So I ended up with hardly any.  :(

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Rule of thumb is 6 weeks before you plan to transplant, you can start earlier if you can keep them lit as they grow larger. I have been planting on mothers day weekend for years.

Best tomato I have had is a Rutgers Jersey Beefsteak, found them at Home depot one year and have been saving the seeds since. If you see them pick up a plant or two and save the seeds, juicy, dark center, solid meat, very little cavity, and man do they taste good.

The best addition I found for my soils is the Black Kow manure from Home Depot, everything loves it, quadrupled me yield.

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15 hours ago, Redeye65 said:

Best tomato I have had is a Rutgers...

Rutgers is a fantastic hybrid. A must have IMO. Many of the nurseries around me have them in flats for like $0.75/each if starting seeds isn’t your thing. 
 

I was gifted an AbracaZebra transplant last year. Delicious! A large-cherry size hybrid of the full-sized Green Zebra; still large enough to slice though. Starting putting fruit clusters out early and kept producing late into the season. Low maintenance. Cool looking too, haha.

FYI If you’re a Morris County resident the MCMUA allows residents to pickup up to 2cuyd of compost (and mulch) at their facilities in Parsippany & Mt Olive.

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I usually buy/plant small plants around mid-April or so. Last year I finally wised up and decided to wait until after the likelihood of overnight frost was almost gone to do my planting.

What do folks here grow? I have good luck with Swiss Chard; most types of tomatoes, lettuce, and hot peppers; oregano; basil; and cilantro. I've tried potatoes, carrots, onions and green peppers with mixed results. I really need to make the leap into canning at some point.

Not sure what I am doing this year though as I am trying to execute my GTFONJ plan, in which case I'd tear down the raised bed to fill in the hole where the pool gets setup to make the lawn look good.

 

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Wife purchased an assortment of seeds for me from St. Clare Seeds.  Starting some indoors in the plastic "greenhouse" trays.  Went with a 72 count tray this year as have so many seeds.  

There are so many different types of seeds that I'm not sure what to start first!  Probably wise to start with those that have the longest growing season first.  Probably start with tomato, sweet peppers, cucs and carrots for now.

I think I'm going to have to expland the size of the garden this year!  

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On 3/12/2022 at 6:52 PM, Xtors said:

I usually buy/plant small plants around mid-April or so. Last year I finally wised up and decided to wait until after the likelihood of overnight frost was almost gone to do my planting.

What do folks here grow? I have good luck with Swiss Chard; most types of tomatoes, lettuce, and hot peppers; oregano; basil; and cilantro. I've tried potatoes, carrots, onions and green peppers with mixed results. I really need to make the leap into canning at some point.

Not sure what I am doing this year though as I am trying to execute my GTFONJ plan, in which case I'd tear down the raised bed to fill in the hole where the pool gets setup to make the lawn look good.

 

I have a LOT of sun in my garden, which means certain things do less well. Still trying to figure out what works best, no two years have been really consistent for most things. 

Grape tomatoes usually do awesome for me. Nice fruit and copious yield. Full size tomatoes are a bust in general.  Most lettuce and spinach does well, but for a pretty short season, I need to mess with trying them as a fall crop.  Peppers in general do well, hot peppers do really well. All the herbs seem to do well. Sage will try to overrun the place, oregano, basil, and cilantro grow nice and moved in permanently. I barely have to do anything but water them mid summer. I can grow carrots, but I can't grow nice carrots. Potatoes were a non starter until we just skipped the seed catalog and just hacked up some sprouting ones from the supermarket. Same with garlic and onion. The absolute most awesome thing I got out of my garden was the sole survivor cantaloupe. If they touch anything they seem to rot, but damn it was so much better than what the store sells. 

Strawberries didn't do too well until they went wild in the garden between beds. I have a mongo blackberry bush that makes giant ass blackberries. 

Zucchini, squash, and cucumbers used to be nice, but they just keep dying to one problem or another the last few years.  

 

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6 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

What is the soil like?  Have you tilled anything into it

I’ve got serious clay, so it’s all raised boxes. All the boxes are amended with some peat moss and compost. 

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I do (about to be did) raised bed too. Initially I bought a bunch of topsoil and mixed in some peat moss and manure. At the beginning of every season I would add back a little of each. This year I am disassembling the garden to fill in the hole I made for the Intex pool. Also, once everything was planted I covered the bed with plain cedar mulch to help keep the weeds from going ape. Seemed to work pretty well overall.

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I do have some "garden ambitions" this year! :good: I just ordered 2 small batches of asparagus crowns - Martha Washington and Jersey Supreme. That vegetable apparently requires patience and self-discipline - no harvest this year, and barely any harvesting allowed next year. But, I freaking love asparagus!... I buy it all the time even though it's crazy-expensive at the store (and getting MORE expensive by the day)! So, the wait should be worth it... because an established asparagus patch can produce for 15, 20 or even 30 years! So, I figure I'm playing the long game. From a prepping standpoint, I like the thought that it's perennial - I don't have to worry about a run on veggie plants or seeds. It will just sprout up year after year. (And if I'm fortunate enough to escape this state... eh, hopefully the next owner will also love asparagus!) So, the asparagus will fill up one raised bed...

My other plans for the garden are loading up the "cow panel" wire arches I had installed that now connect my (2) 4x8 raised beds. So, it's basically an 8 ft long, 6+ ft high wire arched tunnel - perfect for supporting vining plants! I'll have some indeterminate tomatoes (of course!), probably some cucumbers, and I'm also currently eyeballing some "personal size" melon varieties that mature to a petite 4-6" (adorbs! I like to try things you don't find in the grocery stores - that's half the fun). That will leave just enough room in the 2nd plot for maybe 4-6 not-too-large upright-type plants. No doubt, I'll plant some eggplant. I bought a beautiful Italian variety in the past - white with pale lavendar stripes - very tasty too! Because I have such limited space, I have to avoid plants that are space hogs. So, sadly, no zucchini.   

:icon_question::icon_question::icon_question: Has anyone tried growing Brussels Sprouts btw? If so, did you get a 2nd year's harvest out of it? It's supposed to be biennial - but I'm not sure if we're too cold here in NJ to get that 2nd year of growth even if mulched...? It's nice and narrow in shape - so it would be a real space-saver for my small garden & it's another vegetable that I do purchase frequently. 

I'm also going to weave edibles onto my deck plantings. Instead of buying flowering baskets this year as I normally would, I'll be direct sowing nasturtium seeds into hanging containers (the flowers, leaves and stems are all edible, have a mild peppery bite, and are an attractive addition to salads).  I'm also going to try direct sowing lettuce in a long trough container - hopefully, I can continue to sow throughout the summer - though I'm not sure how that will work in the worst heat? It's an experiment.  I'm also going to try a late season planting of Sugar Ann sugar snap peas in another deck container (no staking required). I'll learn a lot this season about what works and what doesn't. I'll be better next year...

BTW, just recently I came across this useful chart for NJ vegetable gardening - it really maps out the timing of everything you need to do:  https://www.ufseeds.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-UrbanFarmer-Library/default/dwacc4bb44/images/content/New-Jersey.pdf

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Our Brussels Sprouts gave us more than one season with only one planting.

The wife started seeds (so many veggies, I can’t remember them all) early in “milk jug hothouses” and transferred some of the baby Bok Choi and butter lettuce that started sprouting into the raised beds a few days ago. Everything looks like it’s doing well.

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1 hour ago, Mrs. Peel said:

That vegetable apparently requires patience and self-discipline -

One of my neighbors where I grew up was obsessed with asparagus.  She only grew asparagus, and a lot lot of it.  The garden was about 8'x50' and she harvested sections every six to seven years.  She said that's how long it took to mature to where it was worth harvesting.

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Ugh...I'm so depressed! And here I was brimming with optimism just a few days ago... I was eagerly awaiting my asparagus crowns to come in the mail in anticipation that my young landscaper kid (who lives in my 'hood & does a great job on all tasks) was going to clear my raised beds of any weeds, etc. & that I could immediately get started planting. What I came to realize just today is how bad of a "mugwort" infestation I actually have in those raised beds. (Out of sight, out of mind... I admit I hadn't really examined them in months. My bad!). Mugwort is apparently a very intractable problem. He actually showed me that the roots of these things are going down at least a foot solid in both raised beds - I could see for myself that it's awful!! He actually recommended (if I want to garden this season) completely relocating the raised beds and starting over with fresh soil. I'm just beyond disgusted!

I feel like for 3 years now I keep sinking mo' and mo' money into vegetable gardening... first I bought the lumber, the cute little metal corner brackets, the soil... the year after that, I bought the cattle panel to make arches to connect both raised beds, etc. and of course, each year I'm buying live plants, watering them, and yet, after all that... it seems I've only eeked out a few nice vegetables! Some of it was inexperience, but it seems I just keep running into bad luck too! First year it was a rabbit with ginormous, scary teeth who LOVED the buffet I planted for him.  Next year, it was a groundhog - another grateful vegetarian with ginormous teeth. This year, I haven't even really gotten started yet... and I'm already tasting the Agony of Defeat due to... a WEED... of all freaking things! :hang: Arrrrghhhh!

I just don't understand why I'm such a green thumb in other ways (thriving houseplants, and each season, a truly stunning display of containers on my deck & porch)... and yet vegetable gardening in the yard has been pretty much an epic disaster for me! Why is this so hard? Apparently, I'd have made one lousy pioneer woman! If the apocalyse ever happens... I will surely starve!

@Scorpio64 (or others) - Other mugwort solutions? Is there something I could do now to keep the plots in the same location, even if it means losing one season of planting? 

I haven't quite given in to despair though... I'm trying my best to pivot! I have a very large deck - and about 2/3rds of it is bathed in a full day of sunlight. Since I do so well with containers, Plan B is to go big time into edible gardening on my deck. For instance, I have 2 large containers that I rig up each year with pea trellis connecting to the pergola above. I usually plant interesting annual vines - a mix of Japanese morning glories, cypress vine, etc. It provides a wall of color and also screens the scorching late afternoon sun from the table and chairs.This year, I may just devote both of those containers to vining vegetables - and weave in more veggies into other containers as well. Though none of that will save my sweet, tender little asparagus crowns.... :cray: 

Call me Bitter Gardener!

 

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4 minutes ago, Mrs. Peel said:

mugwort solutions

Mugwort, aka mum weed is like super impossible to kill.  My mom had an infestation in a closed bed surrounded by concrete walk and driveway.  I dug out the entire 4x10 section 24" down and back filled with quality top soil.  It worked for two years.  I'd have blamed the new infestation on the new shrubs I planted but the mugwort reemerged on the bed edges where some of the rhizomes were still present under the concrete.  It is that tenacious.

You can try and kill it with roundup, but you have to kill and kill and kill because it keeps popping up.  per-emergents do not work because the plant spreads primarily via rhizomes, a sprawling root system.  Cut one down, five pop up.  By the time you actually kill off (most)everything, your growing season has passed.  It may be easier in the long run just to dump the soil. and start again.

It is possible to eradicate mugwort in a container without chemicals, but it's tedious.  Just keep pulling up as much as you can by the roots or cutting it as close to the soil as you can.  It will eventually starve the rhizomes by depriving essential sunlight.  It's a slow process, but it does work and is the end run of almost any eradication plan.  After you killed off the top with chemical warfare, you have to wait for the bunker dwellers to pop up and pluck them one by one.

The lazy way to kill off weeds is to tarp them.  Just lay down a dark heavy tarp and leave it there for a couple few months.  The heat and blocking sunlight eventually kills everything.

Let this be a lesson to ya'll who see this evil weed and wait to deal with it.  If you don't have mugwort, and you plant new anything, keep an eye on whatever you just planted for a while.  Most mugwort infestations start with pretty flowers,  tomato plants and shrubs you get from Lowes, HD and commercial landscape nurseries.  As soon as you spot even the smallest amount, get on it right away.  Once it takes over, it's a muthafuckah to get rid of. 

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2 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

The lazy way to kill off weeds is to tarp them.  Just lay down a dark heavy tarp and leave it there for a couple few months.  The heat and blocking sunlight eventually kills everything.

Well, what the heck... I'll try this! I'll lose a full season of potential growing, but it's worth a try. Then, if it pops back up again next year, I'll just dissemble the beds entirely, toss the soil, and move permanently into deck gardening only. Thanks for the advice!

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11 hours ago, Mrs. Peel said:

First year it was a rabbit with ginormous, scary teeth who LOVED the buffet I planted for him.  Next year, it was a groundhog - another grateful vegetarian with ginormous teeth.

 

@Scorpio64 (or others) - Other mugwort solutions?

Following you fore more recipes.

Glock 19 or S&W 686.

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15 hours ago, Mrs. Peel said:

Well, what the heck... I'll try this! I'll lose a full season of potential growing, but it's worth a try. Then, if it pops back up again next year, I'll just dissemble the beds entirely, toss the soil, and move permanently into deck gardening only. Thanks for the advice!

Pee on Your Veggies (yahoo.com)

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@Mrs. Peel  Maybe try putting down cardboard over the mugwort, maybe even several layers of cardboard, and then build a simple raised bed like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIyi95Umebk

Your local Home Depot probably has the Planter Wall Block in stock.

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having.

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7 hours ago, gleninjersey said:

@Mrs. Peel  Maybe try putting down cardboard over the mugwort, maybe even several layers of cardboard, and then build a simple raised bed like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIyi95Umebk

Your local Home Depot probably has the Planter Wall Block in stock.

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having.

Don't cry for me, Argentina... errr, Glen! ;) I suspect the aforementioned tarp and the cardboard you suggest serve a similar purpose - it's really about blocking the light for a good period of time, hopefully killing what lies below. Of course, I won't know until next year if it worked.

I already bought a large dark tarp and will get out there this week to tarp both existing raised beds thoroughly. Meanwhile, I'm going full-bore on the deck gardening. I have already pulled my largest containers out of storage and started prepping them. Several packs of seeds are winging their way to me through the postal service - mini cukes, mini zucchini, mini tomatos, even mini melons! I was pleased to see there's been a TON of development in recent years for smaller-scale, container-sized plants. And I've already planted nasturtium seeds in my hanging baskets. I have always done well with container gardening... it's in my wheelhouse... so, my confidence is relatively high. Who knows...? I might even just stick to deck veggies going forward if it works out nicely. I have a very large and sunny deck - I even have lattice-work privacy panels all along one side that are the perfect built-in trellises for any heavier produce. As I've eyeballed the situation, I've realized I actually have a LOT of potential to squeeze production from that space (while still weaving in some flowers to keep it all pretty). You might say my gardening ambition is defiant and unbroken in the face of The Great Mugwort Scourge of 2022

I'll report back during the growing season! I hope others will do the same. :good:

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Purchased the "planter wall blocks" and wood boards to make the raised beds yesterday.  Using Douglas Fir.  Price of Cedar is OUTRAGOUS.  Would have been close to $1k to use Cedar.  Was MUCH less using Douglar Fir.  I know it doesn't last as long but I want to see how we do and if my wife and kids help over the next year or two.  If the garden does well and I have some help maybe then we can look at Cedar or some kind of stone down the road.  And hopefully it will be MUCH less expensive then.

Ordered 4 cubic yards of gardening soil (top soil and "mushroom compost" mix) from a local nursery.

Need to move around a few things in my garden to make room for the three beds (8x4 & about 12 inches deep).  

Moved the most difficult (Butterfly Bush) was moved today.  Have to move some Peonies and Day Lillies tomorrow.  Know it's not the right time of the year but spot I was going to originally put the raised beds doesn't get as much sun as the garden area,.

May do one or two "cattle panel trelises".  Not sure yet.  

Hopefully have all the plants I started from seed around beginning of April in the soil by next weekend.  They are getting large.  Especially the cucumber and zucchini.

 

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1 minute ago, gleninjersey said:

Have to move some Peonies and Day Lillies tomorrow. 

use this opportunity to divide the roots/bulbs if they have been underground for a long time.  I mean, hey, who can't use a free peony.

3 minutes ago, gleninjersey said:

to make the raised beds

One of my lawn accounts has two gigantic Tractor Supply livestock water tubs on what appeared to be short legged saw horses.  It looked pretty cool, but I wonder how long the tubs will last.

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5 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

use this opportunity to divide the roots/bulbs if they have been underground for a long time.  I mean, hey, who can't use a free peony.

One of my lawn accounts has two gigantic Tractor Supply livestock water tubs on what appeared to be short legged saw horses.  It looked pretty cool, but I wonder how long the tubs will last.

Some of the Peonies I've had for a few years now.  Others I took from an Uncle's garden who passed away.  He had them for decades.

Yeah, people are having to get creative to make raised beds.  The price of wood is simply outragous.  I'm wondering if it will even be worth it.  The price is really adding up quickly.  $270 for the "cheap" wood.  $85 for the planter blocks.  $230 for the garden soil.  So close to $200 per raised bed.  Maybe I could have done two beds instead of three?  All spilt milk now.  No use crying over it.

I guess I can take comfort in that the beds should last for hopefully at last five years if not longer.

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Got the beds all done.  Transplanted 5 tomatoe plants (beef steak & Rutgers).

Unfortunately waited too long and all my cucs and zuchs I had started from seed died.  Were too over crowded.

Early today I went to purchaed Egg Plant, Zucchini and Sweet Pepper plants from HD and put them in.

I am going to replant cucumbers from seeds.  Hope to get it done tomorrow but forecarst is looking like all rain, all day.

Also going to plant lettuce, carrots, beets and a few other things.  

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13 minutes ago, gleninjersey said:

Who's pulling in baskets of veggies?

Not I. Everything seems to be growing really slow this year. Strawberries were the only thing on time.  So far I've only gotten straberries, blackberries, and the first cherry tomato. 

 

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Just a suggestion, for long term sustainability, low resource needs and ofcourse, for the lazy,  everyone should look at the things that (almost) grow on their own with minimal maintenance.

Feel free to add to the list

1.  Berries - Rasberries are like weed, they did good year over year but low yield this year. Black berries have some disease but seem to be doing ok. Freeze them all and use through winter.

2. Currants - They seem to be doing pretty good year over year. Yield varies.

3. Apple & Peaches - Did very well last year as it looks like COVID got all the squirrels. Not a fruit this year as it looks like squirrels got 5 jabs of COVID vaccinations thanks to Sleepy Joe.

3. Sunchoke - These guys have been spreading on their own and coming up year over year. Stores well and can actually leave them in the soil and dig up through winter.  Bonus - Farts can deter anyone thinking of kidnapping you or coming near you.

I want to find other varieties of root vegetables that are zero maintenance and come year over year.

What do you have that is low to no maintenance that you like ?

 

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