#direct sowing

[jensownzoo]

Two garden tasks accomplished today. The first, above, was planting a row of parsnip seed (pre-soaked for 24 hours). None of the seed I put into the front bed germinated. Either it didn't like the spot or it was eaten. So second try in one of the back raised beds. Strip of hardware cloth to protect frim diggers.

Second task was to get the spearmint harvested and in the dehydrator.

Glad I did that now because two of the stalks had aphids and ants starting up on them. I only need this much dehydrated spearmint for tea (the peppermint and sweet mint are my main go-tos for that), so the aphids can have at it now. I can just wash them off to use it fresh for stuff like tzatziki.

The squirrel yesterday didn't get all of the sown French filet beans because here's one emerging.

The clematis in the side yard decided to start its yearly show.

Still patting myself on the back for planting radishes for the flowers instead of the roots. They're putting on a nice display while the borage and calendula are still gearing up to bloom. Drawing in the bees and tiny wasps as well. And then when the flowers are spent, the chickens can enjoy their leaves. *patpatpat*

[atiya3aha]

On the 10th of November, so like five days ago, I did another pot of poppies and nasturtiums. Different kinds though, because I didn't want to exact same pot of plants.

I also sowed verbena, lavender, and violet queen salvia. Supposedly it's well mannered.

Nobody told her that, because when I first tried planting this salvia, nothing happened. So I recycled the dirt, and later found her popping up everywhere. I'm trying again and this time giving the seeds the whole psuedo winter to figure themselves out before adding something else to this pot.

I'm sort of running out of space in my little concrete yard, but I feel like this is a future me problem.

[floramama]

Ways to Protect Seeds and Seedlings from cats,slugs etc..

When I started sowing seeds in the early spring when the weather was still chilly, I realized that I have to protect them from our kittens who tend to dig wherever there is beautiful open soil. Also slugs and snails love the newly sprouted seedlings. So I had to find a way to protect them!

As I was trying to figure out how to weave baskets, I made frames with pruned branches and wove around them roughly with ivy and grape vines. I placed them where I sowed the seeds and waited for them to sprout!

I also found a small metal basket at home and just placed it where I sowed seeds.Its holes were big enough so that I kept it in place until the seedlings got stronger. I lost 2 of them to snails but it worked for kittens!

Another protection way that I use the most is plastic water containers cut in half.Sometimes wind blows them away, so just put a stone on top to keep it in place.

Tohumları Kedilerden,Sümüklüböcek vb.’den Korumanın Yolları

Bazı bitkilerin tohumlarını direkt toprağa ekince daha iyi büyüyüp gelişiyorlar.Ama bahçede hoplayıp zıplayan, gördüğü her tavlanmış toprağı kazan kediler olunca bu iş pek te kolay olmuyor! Bir de buna yeni çıkan filizleri yemeyi çok seven sümüklüböcekler de eklenince iş iyice zorlaşıyor.

Tam da sepet yapmayı yeni yeni öğrenirken, budanmış dallar ve sarmaşıklardan yuvarlak çerçeveler yapıp yeni tohum ektiğim yerlerin üzerine koydum. Filizlerden 2 tanesini sümüklübocekler yedi ama kedilerden kurtuldular!

Başka bir yere de evde bulduğum ufak metal bir sepeti koydum.

Çok kullandığım başka bir yöntem de ikiye kesilmiş 5lik damacanalar. Rüzgarda uçabiliyorlar ama üzerine bir taş konursa yerli yerinde durur.

[turtlesandfrogs]

So I live in a zone 5/6 and I want to start my garden really early this spring, I was wondering if you had any suggestions for some sturdy plants that can survive early spring?

Caveat, I'm in zone 8 and I grew up in zone 7, so a bit warmer than you. That said, I'd start by considering carrots, kale, peas, radish, spinach, Asian greens, and turnip. But those are guesses.

Have you found your last frost date yet? Once you have that, packets of seed usually have time indicators based on that- "sow two weeks before last frost" for example, or "sow as soon as soil can be worked".

In case you're talking about flowers, poppies and nigella like a bit of cold to get started. Actually, a lot of herbs and flowers actually need a cold period to germinate, so look into those as well.

Anyone from zone 5 or 6 care to chime in?

[jensownzoo]

Tired and moving slow today but I still got all the garden tasks done today that I was planning on with nearly an hour left in the day to spare.

Soaked the nasturtium seed overnight. Got a 12 pack and a window box planted with the red nasturtium seeds I picked up at the seed swap. Got a six pack planted with a nasturtium mix that I bought in bulk a year or two ago. Then I ran around the garden poking random holes with a finger and dropping the rest of the seed into them. They're one of my favorites so they can never be too many places.

Got all the sweet potato slips that were showing signs of roots potted up to continue rooting in soil. Eight of them are now in pots I nabbed from the recycling bin twoish years ago...perfect because they're deeper but not too wide. There are at least ten more cuttings in the jar of water and the sweet potatoes themselves are still pumping out sprouts.

Otherwise I watered the stuff in the cold frame, scrubbed out all the dirty pots from transplanting and scavenging, and pulled up all the earth staples (made from wire coathangers) from the raised bed where I had trellis lines for the tomatoes. I found out you can diy those tomahooks for trellising tomatoes out of wire coathangers so i'm going to make some of those this year for the raised bed tomatoes. That way I can lower the plant down once it hits the top of the wire enclosure.

Peppermint came back in the two earthboxes, vigorously enough that I may have to do the first harvest in a week or so. Tomorrow I'll get these off the ground and onto the supports made from cinder blocks and metal beams. My back hurts too much today especially with how waterlogged thet are from this weekend's rain.

Patch of sunchokes at the end of one of the raised beds coming back from last year's transplantation. I didn't harvest it last year, but it looks like I'll be able to this year.

Bonus spring flower:

First spiderwort flower of the season. I've got four big clumps of it (this one is slowly being surrounded by bee balm). I tried digging it up to divide the clumps this past fall, but they're all too tied up with the roots of a maple tree just behind them. I didn't have the energy to fight with it. Maybe this year I can pry some loose with a hand trowel or something.

[the-re-farmer]

Our 2026 garden: planting carrots and cucumbers, trellis added, and food forest progress

Well, my day of rest yesterday, such as it was, is done and today, I got some work done in the garden. The first thing I wanted to do was plant thew carrot seed tape I’d picked up. These went into the trellis bed, next to the Rainbow Mix carrots. View this post on Instagram The boards that had been used to protect the Rainbow Mix carrots until they germinated were simply set aside in the bed…

[the-re-farmer]

Our 2026 Garden: corn is in, and some clean up done

Things stayed way too hot overnight. None of us got much sleep, even though the house is so much cooler. With today supposed to reach 31C/88F today, I headed outside shortly after 6am. My plan to dig more beds for the corn quickly changed. We had high winds, I could hear thunder in the distance. So I quickly planted one package of corn, first. View this post on Instagram We’ve grown the Yukon…

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[the-re-farmer]

Our 2026 Garden: transplanting gourds and hollyhock, direct sowing luffa and sunflowers

After waiting for the call from my doctor until well past the clinic closed, I headed outside to finish up. The bi-color pear gourds transplanted, I wanted to sow the short season luffa next to them. I also wanted to mark where they were and protect any seedlings, but I was out of collars, so I grabbed more 4L water jugs and cut them to make more. The packet has only 9 seeds, so I cut 5 collars…