2017 Raiquee's Gardening Thread

Raiquee · January 15, 2017

I have never done one of these before on this website. So I'm gonna try for this year! Here's the background:

We own 4.3 acres in WI, very windy.
I run a 50x50 garden which is organically managed.
We plant EVERYTHING we can to eat, so this won't only be tomato pictures.
But last year I grew 100+ tomato plants.
I intensely plant my garden
We can and freeze a lot of our harvest so that we can enjoy it year round.

Here are a few pics from last year.

IMG_1281.jpg

This is the side with corn, squash, melons, and last year I had one bean teepee and a crud ton of weeds.

IMG_1282.jpg

This half although it doesn't look this big had over 100 tomato plants (they are in the far upper right corner by that blue block) peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, beans, lima beans, beets, turnips, brassicas, summer squash, cabbage, celery, onions, carrots, purple hull peas, cucumbers along the back fence...

I'm gonna guess this is about mid July, but not 100% sure.

jmsieglaff · January 15, 2017

Awesome looking garden! I always like seeing other's gardens. We grow a lot of similar stuff--only on a very different scale! Looking forward to your 2017 updates.

Salsacharley · January 15, 2017

Really nice. Looks like you did a good job on the weeds too.

ginger2778 · January 15, 2017

Your place is beautiful. So much land too! Lucky duck!

KarenO · January 15, 2017

Beautiful well kept garden!
KarenO

jtjmartin · January 15, 2017

Oh, the pics caused a little heart ache! I had a half acre garden for years in Mequon, Wisconsin. I miss the deep black topsoil, clear blue skies with a cool breeze coming off Lake Michigan on hot summer days (well sometimes), and the red tail hawks calling from above.

The pics with the tree line in the background almost looked like my garden!

Enjoy every moment. I'll be following your posts!

Jeff

PhilaGardener · January 15, 2017

Great spot! Can't wait for updates and growing season again!

Raiquee · February 5, 2017

Well we pulled my big seed starting rack out and I currently have 3 flats of my potting mix "charging".

I'm planting either today or tomorrow (depending on the potting mix)
500 Alisa Craig onion seeds
Artichokes
100-ish peppers. I am still waiting for Lady Bell pepper seed to get here, but everything else will be planted. This is the varieties of peppers I will plant:

Sweets:
Amethyst (Craig's)
Enjoya
Stocky Red Roaster
Wisconsin Lakes
Sweet Orange Crunch
Lady Bell (I usually get plants from the Fleet farm on clearance for these but last year they kept them in a greenhouse and every plant developed a bacterial issue. But they are an early nice green bell pepper and has worked good for me each year. Not a heirloom tho, it's a hybrid)

Spicys/Others:
Jalapeno
Serrano
Cayenne
Pepperocini
Habanero
Ghost
Numex Joe E Parker
Shis***o

Everything else is mid March before planting for my zone. So hang tight for seedling pics

Jimbotomateo · February 5, 2017

Simply beautiful garden. Looks like you might have gently rolling land . Reminds me of the Bear Creek area we visited for one week few years back.

jpop · February 6, 2017

Beautiful garden you have there Raiquee!

Bio-Ag-Guy · February 7, 2017

Beautiful place!

Raiquee · March 30, 2017

Well I had an epic seed starting failure. I think it was my soil-less mix. I planted out two flats of pepper seed, one flat of dwarf tomato project seeds, a flat of onions, artichokes, and a flat of brassicas. Literally 100s of seeds. Possibly thousands. I got like...40 seedlings. They soon shriveled and died. I had a white mold issue, and I'm pitching it all and replanting with fresh stuff and fresh trays today. Luckily I have most of the seed I used, but somethings I don't. Oh well, I will have next year to grow them. :/

This has been taking up a lot of my time:

17362895_10155000929635330_3087452614819634984_n.jpg
Before
17554386_10155023166395330_7433054075920098588_n.jpg
After.

I exclaimed to my husband one day: "I want to learn how to put in a tile floor. Natural slate at that!" and I did. And it looks real good for never laying a tile floor in my life. Still needs trim and transitions and a final seal after I get all that haze up.

We also purchased an actual compact tractor, with a tiller attachment so the garden can be tilled in an afternoon versus over several days.

jd1.png

My little mean green fightin' machine! We (I) will be expanding the garden by 10-20 feet (so it will be 60x70 or 60x80) and I will plant in the un-fenced area corn and potatoes. I will fence it next year, I just don't have the time this year (I already know.)

We are still eating onions from last August. They are starting to sprout and some has made it to the compost pile. But I haven't bought onions since AUGUST. That's so crazy to me!!

MissS · March 30, 2017

You have done a beautiful job on that floor! Be proud!

I'm so sorry about your planting failure. It is still not too late to be starting seeds here in Wisconsin. I still have not started mine. Most years they don't get started until April 15th and I still get a very good harvest. So..... if you have the time and seed, go ahead and start some more.

Raiquee · March 30, 2017

Patti) I am glad to hear you don't start until Mid april. I've always started my tomatoes on St. Paddy's day, but have been starting onions in Feb and peppers a little bit earlier than my toms.

I plan on getting brassicas out as soon as the freezes stop, and at this point I might just direct sow to save me time and space on the seed starting rack.

I re-planted my onions and pepper flats today. The baby doesn't want to take a nap and once she does I will be putting in the toms.

Raiquee · April 7, 2017

Well I got a much better result the second time around. Here's a pic of my dwarf tomato plants flat. Some seed I dug out of the old substrate and replanted, and was pleased to see even some of them up. They are still germinating, so I hope by Monday they will be all up!

17796650_10155054093820330_5486761339198130589_n.jpg

I also replanted my peppers and I did two trays. Well one tray started germinating and the other tray, nothing! I was bummed and looked to see what was going on. The heat mat was unplugged.

Sooo, those will be a bit behind the others.

My new planting of onions is up, and I'm hoping to plant the hoop house outside with our lettuces, radish, spinach, kale and swiss chard today.

January 15, 2017	#1
Raiquee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 307	2017 Raiquee's Gardening Thread I have never done one of these before on this website. So I'm gonna try for this year! Here's the background: We own 4.3 acres in WI, very windy. I run a 50x50 garden which is organically managed. We plant EVERYTHING we can to eat, so this won't only be tomato pictures. But last year I grew 100+ tomato plants. I intensely plant my garden We can and freeze a lot of our harvest so that we can enjoy it year round. Here are a few pics from last year. IMG_1281.jpg This is the side with corn, squash, melons, and last year I had one bean teepee and a crud ton of weeds. IMG_1282.jpg This half although it doesn't look this big had over 100 tomato plants (they are in the far upper right corner by that blue block) peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, beans, lima beans, beets, turnips, brassicas, summer squash, cabbage, celery, onions, carrots, purple hull peas, cucumbers along the back fence... I'm gonna guess this is about mid July, but not 100% sure. __________________ Desire' Mother of 3, homesteader, canner, gardener, dwarf tomato participant.

February 5, 2017	#8
Raiquee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 307	Well we pulled my big seed starting rack out and I currently have 3 flats of my potting mix "charging". I'm planting either today or tomorrow (depending on the potting mix) 500 Alisa Craig onion seeds Artichokes 100-ish peppers. I am still waiting for Lady Bell pepper seed to get here, but everything else will be planted. This is the varieties of peppers I will plant: Sweets: Amethyst (Craig's) Enjoya Stocky Red Roaster Wisconsin Lakes Sweet Orange Crunch Lady Bell (I usually get plants from the Fleet farm on clearance for these but last year they kept them in a greenhouse and every plant developed a bacterial issue. But they are an early nice green bell pepper and has worked good for me each year. Not a heirloom tho, it's a hybrid) Spicys/Others: Jalapeno Serrano Cayenne Pepperocini Habanero Ghost Numex Joe E Parker Shis***o Everything else is mid March before planting for my zone. So hang tight for seedling pics __________________ Desire' Mother of 3, homesteader, canner, gardener, dwarf tomato participant.

March 30, 2017	#12
Raiquee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 307	Well I had an epic seed starting failure. I think it was my soil-less mix. I planted out two flats of pepper seed, one flat of dwarf tomato project seeds, a flat of onions, artichokes, and a flat of brassicas. Literally 100s of seeds. Possibly thousands. I got like...40 seedlings. They soon shriveled and died. I had a white mold issue, and I'm pitching it all and replanting with fresh stuff and fresh trays today. Luckily I have most of the seed I used, but somethings I don't. Oh well, I will have next year to grow them. :/ This has been taking up a lot of my time: 17362895_10155000929635330_3087452614819634984_n.jpg Before 17554386_10155023166395330_7433054075920098588_n.jpg After. I exclaimed to my husband one day: "I want to learn how to put in a tile floor. Natural slate at that!" and I did. And it looks real good for never laying a tile floor in my life. Still needs trim and transitions and a final seal after I get all that haze up. We also purchased an actual compact tractor, with a tiller attachment so the garden can be tilled in an afternoon versus over several days. jd1.png My little mean green fightin' machine! We (I) will be expanding the garden by 10-20 feet (so it will be 60x70 or 60x80) and I will plant in the un-fenced area corn and potatoes. I will fence it next year, I just don't have the time this year (I already know.) We are still eating onions from last August. They are starting to sprout and some has made it to the compost pile. But I haven't bought onions since AUGUST. That's so crazy to me!! __________________ Desire' Mother of 3, homesteader, canner, gardener, dwarf tomato participant.

March 30, 2017	#13
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,146	You have done a beautiful job on that floor! Be proud! I'm so sorry about your planting failure. It is still not too late to be starting seeds here in Wisconsin. I still have not started mine. Most years they don't get started until April 15th and I still get a very good harvest. So..... if you have the time and seed, go ahead and start some more. __________________ ~ Patti ~

March 30, 2017	#14
Raiquee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 307	Patti) I am glad to hear you don't start until Mid april. I've always started my tomatoes on St. Paddy's day, but have been starting onions in Feb and peppers a little bit earlier than my toms. I plan on getting brassicas out as soon as the freezes stop, and at this point I might just direct sow to save me time and space on the seed starting rack. I re-planted my onions and pepper flats today. The baby doesn't want to take a nap and once she does I will be putting in the toms. __________________ Desire' Mother of 3, homesteader, canner, gardener, dwarf tomato participant.

January 15, 2017	#2
jmsieglaff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Southern WI Posts: 2,742	Awesome looking garden! I always like seeing other's gardens. We grow a lot of similar stuff--only on a very different scale! Looking forward to your 2017 updates.

January 15, 2017	#3
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Really nice. Looks like you did a good job on the weeds too.

January 15, 2017	#4
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	Your place is beautiful. So much land too! Lucky duck!

January 15, 2017	#5
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	Beautiful well kept garden! KarenO

January 15, 2017	#6
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	Oh, the pics caused a little heart ache! I had a half acre garden for years in Mequon, Wisconsin. I miss the deep black topsoil, clear blue skies with a cool breeze coming off Lake Michigan on hot summer days (well sometimes), and the red tail hawks calling from above. The pics with the tree line in the background almost looked like my garden! Enjoy every moment. I'll be following your posts! Jeff

January 15, 2017	#7
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	Great spot! Can't wait for updates and growing season again!

February 5, 2017	#9
Jimbotomateo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Santa Maria California Posts: 1,006	Simply beautiful garden. Looks like you might have gently rolling land . Reminds me of the Bear Creek area we visited for one week few years back.

February 6, 2017	#10
jpop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: SE Florida Zone 10 Posts: 319	Beautiful garden you have there Raiquee!

February 7, 2017	#11
Bio-Ag-Guy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Lake Park Fl. Zone 10a Brian Posts: 67	Beautiful place!

April 7, 2017	#15
Raiquee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 307	Well I got a much better result the second time around. Here's a pic of my dwarf tomato plants flat. Some seed I dug out of the old substrate and replanted, and was pleased to see even some of them up. They are still germinating, so I hope by Monday they will be all up! 17796650_10155054093820330_5486761339198130589_n.jpg I also replanted my peppers and I did two trays. Well one tray started germinating and the other tray, nothing! I was bummed and looked to see what was going on. The heat mat was unplugged. Sooo, those will be a bit behind the others. My new planting of onions is up, and I'm hoping to plant the hoop house outside with our lettuces, radish, spinach, kale and swiss chard today. __________________ Desire' Mother of 3, homesteader, canner, gardener, dwarf tomato participant.