Maybe. But to be honest, I try not to grow things that need all that. The first batch of Sugar Snaps didn’t need too much work, and they were good, but I’m getting greedy, and pushing my luck with a second planting. My daughter is visiting soon, and I was trying to have Sweet Peas and Sugar Snaps going, but it’s not working out.
I think it’s getting a bit warm for peas for you? The reason the pests get active…
It SHOULD be warm. Usually it’s downright hot. Average for May 18th is 83, the record is 101, and I’ve seen plenty of 90’s in May, but yesterday’s high was 59. Even crazier is that it’s been raining for most of the last week, which I believe has virtually never happened before. Average rainfall in May here is 0.8 inches. I think we got more than an inch in the last 24 hours.
It’s been snowing in the Sierra’s, about three hours away.
I heard drought is over here for the first time in 15 years.
I’m not sure what hope for.
Here too, a few days ago, a night rain equaled to a normal May’s rain. It’s also cold here, day around 17°C /63°F and night around 10°C / 50° F. March this year was warmer than May. Weird.
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I’m not doing a garden this summer. But I purchased ramps a few weeks ago that had been pulled that day. They still had a very healthy intact root system. I kept 1 ramp whole. I kept the cut root ends of the others (figured scallions send up growth from them). I planted them the next day in the garden. Fast forward several weeks: the whole plant lost it’s leaves but is putting out new ones. No sign of the cut bits of root ends. Fingers crossed that perhaps I’ll have a few ramps to harvest in several years!
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Ramps prefer the cooler temps of the mountains. A few years ago I planted some locally harvested ramps up the old mountain road on my property; this spring I was able to harvest a handful of leaves as they just started to go dormant (left the bulb in place) and make a small batch of ramp pesto for my pea harvest! If yours are to make it, give them afternoon shade and moist, woodland soil.
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Welcome to HO!
My area is a bit warmer than they usually like. But I have a little microclimate that I thought I’d experiment with. It’s in a steep ravine and the creek and rock keep it a bit cooler in the summer. I planted under a deciduous tree in an area with rich soil (lots of humus). Since the conditions are far from prime I only tried one little plant!
Welcome Deanne! I’ve been wondering where you are and how you’re doing; what a way to reconnect! I’m still at the same place, though a lot older. Please give a call sometime or email: rob “at” pitcherplant + dot+com (same as it ever was).
HopeSprings is a professional horticulturist, plant geek. So, any advice/info she gives on growing plants is accurate!
Good for you on the ramps. Mine have maintained and that’s it, no increase after five years. argh: 
pH maybe?
Yikes, it’s time to get to the garden before it gets hot, thunder-storming and “tornado-y”! (We’ve been dodging these lately.)
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Ironically my herbs are doing quite well (baby thyme and parsley sprouting nicely), but I have utterly failed at trying to get seedlings for tomato and shishito pepper plants the last few weeks. I admittedly didn’t put a ton of effort into the tomato, but I was really hoping for the shishitos to do something! Even one measly plant I would take, but so far nothing. 
My few garlic bulbs that survived my wet winter and spring are doing ok, and my scallions are always growing like weeds. Guess that’s better than nothing.
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I seem to suck at garlic and onions, but I am okay with shallots, and with the right hot and sweet peppers. . This year might be good for tomatoes as well! I have to grow in containers, and prefer “Dwarf Project”.
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Are you trying to grow garlic/onions in your Earthboxes? I find that besides scallions (which grow a little too well), EB’s don’t have the soil depth to consistently grow garlic/onions.
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Thank you! That makes sense. I have tried them in Earthboxes, but I have also tried in the ground, and in other containers. For some reason, shallots seem to do okay. I saw someone using “root trainers”, and if I don’t give up (again), I may try those.
Good luck! We had a small group of them growing in the Olmsted Woods at the National Cathedral, but they really never thrived.
Thx! I’ll be very pleasantly surprised if this works!
Hey, Rob! It’s been a long while! Loooong while!
I’m living the good life with a Plott hound near Asheville, not far off the Parkway – apparently when you buy 7 acres here, it comes with a Plott! I’ve got a fair size vegetable garden where I grow as much as I can from celery and sweet potatoes to garlic and dried beans. And 17 chicks arrived via the USPS last week!
I’ll send you an email tomorrow … if I can grab a few minutes between weeding the onions and finally planting the watermelons!
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Our earthboxes ar just starting to come to life during this cold/wet spring. I’m usually late getting the seedlings in, but managed to organize myself at the end of April/beginning of May. The basil was not happy at all with me, and the other plants have just sort of tolerated the weather. I have new basil ready to go in, and the lettuce is just ready to harvest. I’m looking forward to salads with those gorgeous greens. Otherwise, between the boxes and a few other containers, we have a new hot pepper who’s name escapes me, several poblano plants, lots of herbs, a dark cherry tomato and two different slicing varieties, a couple of strawberries, some ground cherries for snacking, and a couple of empty pots waiting for inspiration. Eggplant or sweet peppers, perhaps?
My husband and son built a deck a few years back and included a platform for earthboxes, so I don’t even have to bend down to tend the boxes. Life is good.
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So envious! Beautiful and not bending, ultimate gardening.
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Those are gorgeous earth boxes! I’m jealous too. I would love to transform my garden space to something like that.
On the somewhat good news front - the change over to a few more days of sun vs. cloud and rains seems to have finally made my seeds start to grow! I’m getting little baby, baby seedlings on my shishito pepper plants! I guess it was really just the miserable 3 months of constant rain that was the cause. There is hope yet that I could still get a harvest this year.
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Very neat to hide the earth box with the deck. Now you need some strong guys if you need to take that out, or can it be opened in the front?
The plastic sheets on the tomato pots are to keep the heat?
What are the strings for?
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