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The First Harvest

4/20/2022

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We have the first harvest of the garden season! We pulled the radishes. We had 32 radishes that weighed 3.5 lbs. Out of all of them there was only one that was cracked. They crack because they get too much water, and this year there has been plenty of that from Mother Nature. Radishes are a great way to start the growing season because they only take about 6 weeks from seed to harvest. We pulled them because we were afraid they were going to bolt. Here is a good guide on when to pull them: When to Harvest Radishes.
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Also last week we passed the average last freeze here in Memphis so it is time to plant some more plants that are less cold tolerant. This year we are participating in the University of Tennessee Home Vegetable Trials. We will be growing bush beans and cucumbers as part of the trial. The bush beans are a comparison of the Antigua and Dulcina varieties. We planted the first round of bush beans yesterday.  It was 2 squares, one of each type. In two weeks we will plant another two squares (where the radishes were), and then two weeks after that we will plant another two squares (where the spinach is growing now. That's a slight change from the master plan. We'll be posting a video about planting the beans soon.
We also planted Basil at 4 plants in a square. Two of the plants are sweet basil and the other two are purple basil. We planned for them to be next to the tomatoes because the two plants help each other out. We got the basil at Home Depot and there were several plants in each pot so we pinched off the extra. Unfortunately, there were too close to separate.
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We also planted the other 2 tomatoes. One is 'Black Cherry', which is a variety Alainia Hagerty recommended. The other is 'Celebrity.' We planted the black cherry the normal way because the plant was small. The Celebrity plant we planted using the trench method, which Alainia showed us how to do. Here is the video of Alainia planting using the trench method.

The tomatoes we planted a month ago are still doing well. They have survived the few cold nights we have had.
In the last few weeks the garden has realy exploded. It has been cool and moist, perfect plant growing weather. The spinach and greens are ready to pick a few leaves, the peas are flowering, the lettuce, carrots, cauliflower,and onions are growing fast.
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Spinach
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Turnip and Mustard Greens with some volunteer lemon balm growing outside the bed
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Peas
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Cauliflower
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Lettuce and Carrots
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Onions
The Swiss chard is still being difficult. The one plant that came up from the first seeding 6 weeks ago is looking sick and the second seeding from two weeks ago is doing nothing. I am going to check the store for some transplants to use instead. Joellen Dimond said she has the same problem with Swiss chard in her garden so it might just be the climate or conditions in this area.
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Frost Warning!

3/28/2022

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We planted a few tomatoes very early for television reasons. Over the weekend there was a frost warning, so we had to cover them up to protect them.  Because the only time I could get to the garden was the middle of the day, I did not want to use plastic because the plants would have been cooked in their little greenhouse. So I used a piece of fabric we had laying around. I put stakes in the ground by the plants to keep them from getting crushed and held the fabric down with stones and bricks we had lying around. Before I covered them, I watered using cool water. Water holds a lot of heat that will be released as the temperature drops. It worked and the plants are still alive.  The forecast looks clear of frost for the next week or so, but we need to watch it closely. We are still two weeks from the average frost free date here in Memphis.
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Looks like they came though just fine. We'll be ready if it gets cold again.
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Planting Tomatoes Waaaay Too Early

3/21/2022

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We just got done taping some segments on planting tomatoes with Alainia Hagerty from The Tomato Baby Company. Keep in mind it is March 21st here and we still have about two weeks until the average frost free date in Memphis, so it is way to early to plant tomatoes. We planted now so that by the time the TV segment airs on April 16 it is timely. (Also on April 9 she will be talking about a whole bunch of tomato cultivars)
Alainia showed how to plant them laying down just under the surface. That puts more stem in the ground which allows the stem to root all along the underground portion. Pretty neat.
Hopefully there will not be a frost, but I'm not betting on it. We will have to be ready with the plastic just in case.

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Alainia Hagerty with the newly planted tomatoes.
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    Square Foot Garden

    This year we are trying out square foot gardening. We will be growing a 4x8 garden and seeing what happens and finding out how much we can grow in such a small space.

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    Here is what is growing right now in the Garden:
    (click the picture to zoom)
    Master Plan
    We hope to follow this plan to be able to maximize our harvest. (click to zoom)
    Our Harvest So Far
    5.50 lb Radishes (32 plants)
    1.09 lb Spinach
    0.70 lb Turnip Greens
    0.58 lb Turnip Roots
    1.71 lb Mustard Greens
    3.71 lb Peas
    1.12 lb Green Lettuce
    0.83 lb Cauliflower (1 head)
    ​3.74 lb Basil
    3.96 lb Carrots (46)
    0.11 lb Green Beans (bust)
    24.17 lb Tomatoes (225)
    4.77 lb Onions (16)
    0.53 lb Summer Squash (2)
    8.69 lb Eggplant (25)
    9.40 lb Cantaloupe (4)
    9.90 lb Watermelon (3)
    21.19lb Cucumbers (34)
    3.17 lb Peppers (19)
    0.58 lb Oak Leaf Lettuce
    1.20 lb Romaine Lettuce
    8.45 lb Sweet Potato (6)
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  • Home
  • Watch
    • TV Schedule
    • Full Episodes Online
    • How-to and Informational
    • Questions and Answers
    • This Week in the Garden
    • Garden Notes
  • Garden Topic Collections
    • Apple Trees: How-to and Information
    • Peach Trees: How-to and Information
    • Tomatoes: How-to and Information
    • Square Foot Garden Blog
  • Resources
    • Soil Testing
    • Extension Publications
    • Gardening Resources
    • Blogs
    • Organic Gardening
    • Articles
    • Privacy
  • Guests
  • Contact Us
    • Ask a Gardening Gardening Question
  • Search