Oh yes, TK. But garlic is my "cash-crop". The sale of it pays for my addiction to growing orchids and funds my spring/early summer orchid purchases.

I prefer onions. Still working on growing them. Seems like only half grow, and even those are small.

I find that growing garlic is easier, or at least more predictable. My wife and I have trouble with onions now (gastric). Part of growing old I guess. We use garlic several times each week and garlic doesn't seem to bother us. We never have trouble with vampires either.

texaskitty111 said:This are my greens for today:



Yummy!

Nice! What's still growing in December in Murchison? Young spinach? When did you start it?

I'm also "8a" but I've had lots of hard frosts already and our daylength is why they invented the term "Seasonal Affective Disorder" (gloomy skies = gloomy guys).

I can grow cabbage, chard, kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower. I started the seeds in Aug, I think. Set out in Oct when it finally cooled. We can also start onions soon.

Thanks! I didn't realize they could last that long in seedling trays.

I've only started Bok Choy in trays for fall once. If I recall, after three weeks they were trying to climb out of their cells and transplant themselves.

But I had started them in prop trays outside in full sun, in the long-day part of summer. We have cool summers! I figure that let them grow faster than any indoor seedling could.

Last night I had Swiss chard and rutabaga greens for dinner, sautéed with garlic, pine nuts and a bit of lemon; served over pasta. Yum. Chard is still going from last spring(it goes dormant in the heat of midsummer where it was shared by beans, as weather cooled it took off again. Direct seeded rutabaga in early September and it's just forming roots now...we have had some frost but cabbage type crops usually survive our winters. I didn't thin the rutabagas until now, just pulling up the ones that are too close to ones that are setting roots.

Went to Disney for thanksgiving and in Epcot they had experimental garden tour. This is photo of tomatoes in greenhouse using "lean and lower technique."

They sure don't look 'lower' as in shorter to me. Must be referring to the pots??

Lol. You spoke too soon. Look closer, it is really hard to comprehend what you're seeing. These are monster plants so if you enlarge photo and look at the base of plants you will see the inches thick vines are twining around the bed. If they grew straight up they'd be a couple stories high. The greenhouse roof was not very tall.

About 20 years ago we had a fellow growing greenhouse tomatoes using hydroponic techniques. The vines were supported by cables to roof beams. as the the plants grew , they were maintained at a constant height by lowering the plant and coiling the lowered part in the solution. He went broke but it was cute and worked, just did not make any money.

SCButtercup said: ... look at the base of plants you will see the inches thick vines are twining around the bed. If they grew straight up they'd be a couple stories high.

Yikes! Not exactly "short season" plants, hmm?

Did they say how old those giants are?

I think someone there must be related to Jack, of "the magic beanstalk" fame.

It was experimental facility, fascinating. We just had a quick drive through but I could have stayed for hours. Epcot=experimental planned community of tomorrow, it was really fun to go with all adults. Our children are 19 and 23 now; and the last time we went 5 years ago they weren't as patient about the futuristic part, really fun trip.

I have a friend who worked at a GH where they did the same lower and wind thing farmerdill.

I went to the farm today and we picked lettuce, one very large side shoot of broccoli, a cauliflower (Majestic), some carrots (all under row cover) and some sugar snap peas, also wrapped with row cover.

I had some onions I started from seed growing under row cover and I transplanted them today. I swear, if all my onions survive, we will be floating in onions. One full 50' x 3' row, and three partial rows (close to half rows each). If the ones I started from seed work out I may do my own sets instead of ordering from Dixondale next year.

I had to pull the straw back from a small area of garlic because I had all kinds of wheat sprouting. Ugh! I think the problem was part that I had forgotten to put the compost down so we tossed it on top of the straw. I used organic Preen on my onions but figured I shouldn't on the garlic since technically it still needed to germinate. The onions have barely anything sprouted. I hope it continues that way.

Is there two kinds of Preen. I use it but never paid attention to organic or not organic. Figured Preen was Preen. Also learned that you can seriously harm even perennials if you over use around them.

Yes, there are two kinds. I believe it started out strictly organic so I didn't pay much attention and bought the wrong kind. I was able to exchange it for the organic. So, it pays to read labels!!!

Yes, there are at least two kinds of Preen. The most recent I saw was for use around vegetables. They do say not to use Preen too close to clematises but I've done it (not knowing of the warning) and never had a problem with any clematis.

Well, I have 45 pounds of the stuff coming. One bag is for the lawn. I am having a terrible time with all sorts of weeds in the lawn of all places. Wish I had thought about applying in the fall as chickweed was going strong until and after frosts. Dang stuff is indestructible and is now established in places. As soon as the snow is gone I am preening everything even if I have to rePreen after planting dahlias.

Mary, doesn't your landscape service people spray pre-emergent?

Lol. What landscape service people? Or are you suggesting that I could hire it in the spring to get an early run on it with minimal work then retouch when I add the spring plantings? That's an idea though.