I have dogs so I’ve never tried cocoa mulch, sorry!
And I’m also in the free rain barrel club so haven’t looked at alternatives.
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I ate leaves from the lettuces we planted a couple of weeks ago. We are basically self sufficient now 
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Seed Freaks are sending to Western Australia residents for the next two weeks.
I need all the greens so I can feed them to my chickens.
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This new garden is going to take a long time before it has good soil but here’s to hoping something is productive!
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My rain barrel is elevated on a platform so that I can access the bottom spout more freely than it being direct on the ground.
My mom has real barrels with screens on top that you can remove to dunk the entire bucket in to fill old school.
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I have 6 basil plants in the raised bed. 5 of them look good, one is limp and wilting. According to Google this is either too much water or not enough - so, well, that’s SUPER helpful.
It is probably not enough water because we’re in a drought and I’m having a hard time keeping up with the watering even though I go there daily. But then why are its neighbors OK?
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Hi, everyone! I moved into a new place in April. I told myself I’d take this year to focus on house projects and see how the yard evolves throughout the year, but of course I can’t help myself and am thinking about contained projects I can take on. I have a few starts in containers around the yard.
This part of the yard (behind the dog run and in front of the shed) gets the most sun, so my plan now is to set up containers and raised beds there.
My new goal is to set up a pumpkin patch. I’m thinking about using a raised bed like this for it and seeing what happens, feedback welcome.
Newby gardener reporting in! I impulse bought tomatoes last weekend on a trip to the garden store to get other plants.
Ummm how often should I be watering them???
And also, do they need bigger pots? The one in a smaller pot that already has a cage is a “patio tomato”. The other is a Sun Gold
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First bell pepper from my overwintered plants is nearly all red.
Also, looks like the peppers are smaller and much funnier-shaped this year than they were last year. Since they all came from seeds I saved from one grocery store pepper last year, I guess they don’t owe me a thing.
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I would repot the purple one if you can. The plant might be okay, but a smaller pot dries out faster.
Tomatoes are generally pretty thirsty plants. Cadence depends a lot on your climate. Deep soak 2-3x/week, and on off days poke your finger down 1” into the soil and see if the soil is still moist. (Most plants prefer deeper longer soaks less often vs a little bit every day.)
Fun!
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Everyone’s vegetables are all looking delicious! Meanwhile, I’m pretty proud that I’ve managed to keep alive my lettuces and beetroot. We’re eating them this week and should be self sufficient in leafy things shortly… Until I need to start the next batch, anyway.
Fails: my lettuce seeds never sprouted, so I bought another punnet of seedlings. The snails ate all of my coriander, so I will set up a safe space for those with copper tape.
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Yesterday we finished this planter! We still have 2 more that are a bit smaller to finish but they are amazing!
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We are eating a small handful of fresh greens every day! Anyone else managing to get snacks from their garden?
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I deliberately bought a cherry tomato variety that does yellow fruits so there’d be something to snack on. There’s never enough ripe ones at any time to bother adding them to a meal so they get consumed right out in the yard.
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Service berries Aka Saskatoon berries are in season. We don’t have a bush, but there are plenty around that nobody is picking. So I take a few when they overhang the sidewalk.
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My tomato plants are starting to put out fruit.
Also, I think this is just US centric (apologies) but: are there any Master Gardeners here? I’ve thought about it but the cost and volunteer hours are high for me. Colorado State is offering a version that’s just the online coursework for $500, and I’m thinking about doing it. The timeline is basically fall semester, and then I could use the rest of the winter to plan our 2022 garden.
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Still getting bell peppers here, plus basil and mint. There are also lots of blackberries (not garden but everywhere along our drive). I should go pick some.
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I’m seriously considering it for next year. Minnesota only has one class per year though.
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