Hi IG, have talked with you a couple times over in the compost forum... Making plans for spring? I've been planning for spring since fall! Here are some of the things that I have done so far:

1. Bought a shop light at Lowes for my seedlings (last year I just had them in south-facing bay windows with mixed results).
2. Been collecting seeds locally whenever I find them on sale (Fred Meyer has some good seed sales).
3. Laid out the garden plan in MS Excel, it gives me a great idea how much seed, etc. I need.
4. Ordered some raspberries and asparagus for new beds this year.
5. Ordered drip tubing for my new irrigation system.
6. Contacted U of I Parma office for best table grape varieties - I am going to add some more grape vines along my fence this year. They had good recommendations where to obtain high quality vines for Idaho.

Things I still have to do very soon:
1. Remove sod for new planing beds (I hate cutting sod!).
2. Plant seeds to put under my new light fixture.
3. Contact vine supplier that U of I recommended for my new grapes.
4. Draw up plans and get the rest of the adapters, etc. for my new irrigation system.
5. Figure out a way to make spring arrive sooner and be warmer than last spring (my peppers were pathetic last year)!

Hey, backyardener. I bought a box of daylight fluorescent bulbs for my lamp.6000 Kelvin? If you need a couple of bulbs, I'll be happy to provide them.

I also want to cut some sod. I asked at the local rental shop how much a sod cutter costs to rent; something like $110/day. I might do it. I bunged up my hand doing it manually. It took over a year before it got back to normal.

My peppers and tomatoes did not thrive last year. Weather? I saved some glass doors and windows to make a greenhouse or cold frame. I also want to give the muskmelon a head start. They were popular in my household.

Thanks for the offer, but I do already have some bulbs for my shop light. It is really hard to hold off the urge to plant seeds now! I want to see how much better they do under this light than they did in my window last year.

I do think that the pepper / tomato problem last year was weather related. Spring and summer were both much cooler than average - I remember planting my peppers and watching them do nothing for many weeks. It was very frustrating. Two years ago I had a wonderful crop, but the weather was much warmer as well.

Last year I used a tiller (set very shallow) to remove some sod when I put in a swingset for my daughter. I just used the tiller to clump up the sod and then manually raked / picked it up and composted it. It was back-breaking work, but was much easier than the "shovel" method I had used before. I'm going to do that again this year for my new area, which is about 150 square feet. If you have a large area to cut, I think I'd rent the sod cutter.

I've been wanting to build a cold frame for a while now. Unfortunately I always have so many other projects that I never get to it. I don't see this year being any different.

Yeah, I rented a rear tine tiller to turn the third vegetable bed from sod. I won't do that again. I want to add about 800sf and I don't want to deal with weeds/grass so I'll rent the sod cutter.

I'm going to try row covers to give the early plants some protection.

A friend who has a grandmother in Vale, Oregon says his GM has started her tomatoes and some peppers! Seems early.

I guess we are the only 2 here, this section of the forum is pretty dead.

I learned my lesson last year that starting / putting out peppers too early is a bad thing. I always start more plants than I need to be safe. After putting out all the plants I needed for the garden, I had some extras that stayed inside for a few more weeks (without grow lights, only a south facing window). I didn't have the heart to toss them, so I found some space around the yard to fit them in. They produced way more peppers per plant than the ones in my garden. The soil they grew in was not as good as the ones in the garden and they were in partial shade. I am sure it was because the garden plants got stunted by the cool spring weather and the ones inside did not.

I am also not convinced that partial / afternoon shade is a bad thing here with the intense sun / heat we get EVERY DAY during the summer. I planted 3 fruit trees last year and the 2 that get evening shade are much happier than the one that gets all-day sun. We'll see if that holds true when they start producing fruit (fingers crossed).

That's an interesting observation about shade. I have a maple tree that's sprouting in front of my gardens. I was going to remove it but maybe it can help my crops.

That's also interesting about the peppers. My peppers seemed to get off to a rather slow start and only produced very late in the season. Maybe this is a argument for avoiding the 'monoculture' of planting blocks of vegetables together. Mix it up. Be creative with the layout.

In far western WA I am just starting to plant tomato seeds today. My daughter lives in Spokane and I gave her tomatoes, peppers and eggplant that were put in mid-June. Surprisingly the broccoli, zuchini, swiss chard did great for her, but the "hot" vegetables were as slow as mine over here. I thought it was me, but it may have been the unusual weather.

Wow. Since this thread started in Feb., I don't feel too bad for starting my peppers and tomatoes in January. Given the heat and light, it was an expensive adventure, but it helps aid in the depression, which I don't have now thanks to starting seeds in January. It may have been a little early. I think next year I will start them in March. I have been winter sowing for a couple years and have fun with trees. My buckeye have sprouted and I gathered some of the seeds from the trees that turn bright red in the fall at Silverwood. Those are just now beginning to sprout. So, I have started Catmint, too early, its blooming; Tomatoes, chili, jalapeno, red, yellow and green bell peppers, salvia, delphinium, bell flowers, coleus and some red potatoes that started to grow so I planted them in pots. Because winter was so hard on my bushes, I have a few pots of cuttings seeing which with root. I also took cuttings of my sedums in January, that too, may have been a little soon. They are leggy. What can I say? Around January with three feet of snow on the ground I have had enough winter. Growing seeds under a grow light is almost as good as going to a tanning bed. BTW. I also started some tomato seeds late to see which ones do the best overall. Time will tell

Whats going on up there in Idaho?
I am way down south and way east, back in Georgia- zone 8.

I dropped by to see if you guys are planting potatoes.
But nobody is. Over here in Georgia my Idaho potatoes are growing happily. I hope to dig them up by the 4th of july.
You see, here summers are way hot and potatoes don't like it and they get home sick and want to go back to Idaho (grin!)
But seriously, You live in Idaho and nobody is planting potatoes? Whats wrong with you ? I came to your forum to learn more things about growing potatoes, but I cannot find anything about potatoes (sy!!!grin, more sy!!)

Probably you plsnt potatoes in mid may? I planted mine her in early march.They are now about 8" tall. But bad news is that tomorrow night and the night after that we will have a light frost ( 30F, 27F). Will this kill my potatoes?
I thought I came to the right place and experts on potato growing , Alas!!!sy!!

Some of you have had problem with growing cucumbers. I give you some advice;
-- first, you got to have bees or butterflies to polinate them. If you dont have those, then you have to do it yourselves; Pick a male flower and lower it on female ones so that their sex organs come in contact(cukes sex ducation 101)
--- do not give your cuke plants too much nitrogen.
--- plant them in full sun

You have some of the best climats for cucumbers.

Ok! I have to sign off now. but I will visit from time to time to see how thing are going in Idaho. And hopfully I'll find some potato growing expert here.
Cyrus

cyrus_gardener, I didn't say that I don't grow potatoes... last year I had 50 plants and I'm planning to have about the same number this year, maybe a few more. I'm planning to get them into the ground this weekend if the weather cooperates. Our spring weather can be pretty cold (as it is this year), they don't seem to do anything until the soil warms up so I don't plant them early as it increases their chance of rotting. I usually start digging a few out in mid-July (Red Norland are my favorite early variety).

I don't think frost will kill your potatoes unless it gets really cold. I have not seen frost damage to mine, and I do plant them before last frost date (which is not until late May some years). Make sure you start hilling up the soil around your plants so you get more tubers and they don't turn green.

Way hot? I would wager that we get temps just as hot as you, but minus the humidity. It regularly gets to 100+ in July and August (105+ is common in Boise). I plant my potatoes in an area that gets afternoon/evening shade and they usually are still green until late September, maybe my potatoes are happier because of the dry air and the lower night-time temps? It being so dry here it does cool off at night.

Hi, I have been posting on the general vegetable gardening forum on and off for a few years, and just noticed this forum was here. I am over in Nampa. My veg garden is shaping up nicely this year, though I'm wishing for more space and wondering where I'm going to put everything I've started from seed... I'm also trying harder to get succession plantings in this year to keep us in fresh veggies out of the garden for a longer time period. I started my peppers and tomatoes the first week of March this year. I'll get some more pepper and eggplant starts from Canyon Bounty Farms. Wonderful place for various heirloom tomato starts for anyone in the area.

As far as growing potatoes, I do it, but I'm certainly no expert. They don't need a whole lot of soil nutrition, and just need to be hilled diligently. I used to grow them in Bakersfield, California and they did fine with the heat as long as they had plenty of water.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say Hi to the other locals!

Here is a link that might be useful: Canyon Bounty Farm

Hi backyardner

My comments were general and generally humorous.

But I never thought that it get that hot in Idaho.
Like you said, cool nights and dry air cool off your potators.
In Georgia, ocasionally it get around 100F too but then it won't cool off that much at night. also we get a lot of mid 90s days with high humidity. That is why the soil temperature stays hot and that is what potatoes do not like.
You are right about hilling. In order to get more tubers, got to hill them up with nice fluffy soil or straw or a combination thereof. The longer the stem under ground the greater the chance to have more tubers, providing other conditions are met.

I am growing only about 20 hills. My potatoes are getting bushy now and little by little I am filling around and between shoots. I will pack some leaves/pine straw combination later and then I will mulch them just with straw/leaves to keep the roots cool.
We just had two nights of light frost (28-30F) this past Monday and Tuesday nights. I could not take any chances so I covered them with leaves/straw. All went well.

I have learned one more thing about potatoes that is ane exceptional conditions compared to all other vegetables and that is LOW PH requiement. They say that potatoes do best when soil ph is in 4.5 to 5.5 range. How do you achieve this? The soil around here, with normal ammendmensts, has a ph of 5.8 to 6.4, which is perfect for most garden veggies but not for potatoes. So what I do is I add a lot of composted leaves to lower the ph. How do you do it?

Also, I will greatly appreciate if you tell us about fertilizing your potato plants. I know that too much nitrogen is not good.

It has been a pleasure to talk to a great Idahoan.
I will drop by regularly . Untill then.
Cyrus

Most people who have never been here don't realize how diverse Idaho is. We have climates 2-7, mountains, valleys, forest, desert, etc. Most of southern Idaho (where most people live) is high desert (about 3000 feet) where it gets cold in the winter and very hot and very dry in the summer. Most of the "Idaho potatoes" are grown toward the eastern side of the state where it is not quite as hot and dry.

Here in SW Idaho, since it is so hot an so dry, our soil tends to be alkaline (ph 7.5 - 8). The first year I grew potatoes I didn't add anything to the soil. They grew fine and produced pretty well. I believe that the acid soil is recommended to prevent scab. Now I add compost and sulfur to reduce the PH, but still see scab occasionally. It is really hard to reduce the PH of silt/clay alkaline soil. The scab doesn't bother me since I peel the potatoes anyway. I would not worry too much about your PH, it is likely lower than mine and I get very good yields from my potatoes. If you notice scab on your potatoes you could add a little sulfur this fall for next year's crop, but it is probably not really necessary in your soil.

For fertilizer, I don't add much. Just mostly home made compost and a LITTLE 4-4-4 organic fertilizer sold locally. My silt/clay soil holds nutrients pretty well, so I don't need much. Too much nitrogen can lead to huge leafy plants with a few small tubers.

It has also been my pleasure to talk to a Georgian, I don't get to do that very often!

You are right backyardner. I didn't know that Idaho has such a diverse climat. I Always though of Idaho being cool in the summer and cold in the winter and they grow potatoes everywhere.

Thanks for the valuable info about Ph and fertilizer.
So I wouldn't worry too much about PH. Although I have already amended my potato patch with lots of natural compost (rotted leaves and pine straw). Like you said, I wouldn't worry about scabs either since I am not growing potatoes to sell. All I care is good yield.

Right now, after a pre Easter freeze scare, the temperatures are rising nicely (50F-70F mostly) with some peaks and valleys. And no humidity yet. So I figur this is the best for gardening in general and potatoes in particular.
I am getting ready to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, all kinds of peppersetc. My peas chives, parsley, cilantro, dills.. lettuce are up and doing great. Cucumber family need a warm weather which we are geting now. I have lived in Missouri and connecticut which I believ were about zone 6. Here in this part of Georgia ( z7 or z8?)we are ahead of connecticut by about one month.
I have relatives in Washington state. Somtime when I go to visit them, I would like to come to Idaho, if I get a chance.

Have a great season
Cyrus

I'm up in Cocolalla, south of Sandpoint, and it's snowing today... It seems I'll be planting seedlings bought from the local nursery as I'm traveling back and forth to work in Ca and just don't have the time to nurture my own seedlings. I'm a little over 3000 ft and the mciro climate here drives me nutso.

Here is a link that might be useful: Schneekonigin

The final frost day in the Boise area is around May 15. I have had potatoes get stung by frost, but they recovered just fine. My soil pH is near to 8 but my few potato plants seemed to do ok. In fact, I think that potatoes prefer poor soil. Corn is another plant that's not picky about the soil, just wants nitrogen.

I'm late getting my plants started indoors. I'll probably resort to buying some of my starts.

PH =8 !?
Idaho _gardener

ph of 8 seems rather to alkaline for most crops and definitely for potatoes.

Ph of 7 is nutral. But most plants prefere slightly acid soil in order to help uptake food and minerals and also fight deseases.

But luckily, decreasing ph in short term is a lot easier than the oposite. Amend your soil with lots of organic mater like compost, leaf mold, manure (cow, horse)peat moss. Adding Sulfur is also another option.

I don't know about corn, but Potatoes won't have good yield if soil is poor and tired.
If you plant alfalfa and/or clover and turn it over before planing potatoes you will get a bumper crop. Because, apparantly those plant roots are oxygen fixers.

Just to make an experiment, pick a few hills and treat your soil as I described. Come fall, check the differen in yield, size and quqlity.

Sure, too much NITROGEN is not good becase it make your potatoes grow lots of green top but not a whole lot of potatoes. So I would fertilize them earlier with some all purpos (like 13-13-13) and in mid way fertilize with phosphorus and potasium (no nitrogen). Plants, includong potatoes, need nitrogen early on to grow good top to get into action of photosynthesis, in cooperation with the root system. But from there on it needs phosphorus (for flowering/fruit) potasium(for strong healthy roots,uptake minerals..)

Have a good season.
Cyrus

I had a reasonable crop of potatoes last season. I'm hoping for a good crop this year. I have amended the soil with all manner of organic amendments; home-made compost, coffee grounds, green manure, horse manure. Turns out that I used too much coffee grounds - the corn grew ok, but the pumpkin and peas refused to sprout in the coffee grounds. The potatoes seemed to tolerate the coffee grounds.

I'm thinking that I'm going to start planting even though it's early. The weather has been HOT lately, even for Boise. I'll just keep an eye out for late frosts and cover the more delicate crops.

IDAHO_GARDENER,
are you in zone 6?

I don't think it is early to plant potatoes in your zone now .
You can plant 3 - 4 weeks prior to your statistical frost date. By then, If you get a light frost, you can cover them.
It happened here in Ga zone 7/8 in early April. My potatoes were about 6" high. I covered them with laves + pine straw. Nothing happened.Now my potatoes are setting buds to flower.
I learned from my last year's experience, that here in mid-north GA , you should plant as early as possible so that you can harvest beore the HOT HUMID NIGHTS of July ang August. WE do not have, usually, cool nights like Idaho, in those months.

So my advice to you is: DO NOT HESITATE, PLANT YOUR POTATOES RIGHTAWAY.

Thanks Cyrus. Today's the day. I'll get some Yukon Gold seed potatoes over at D&B and plant them today.

I had frozen puddles in my driveway yesterday. Still too early for tomatoes. I'll get some corn planted this weekend, but I will double plant the rows later in May to make sure I get some kind of a harvest.

I'm going to tent a bed to get some melons started.

IDAHO_GARDENER,

Glad to hear that you are planting your potatoes.
Zone 6 is the ideal for growing potatoes, especially
if you get cool nights.

lets Keep posting progress report.

Last night we had a heavy thunder storm here that dumped over
2" of rain. My potato plants are now laying down a bit.
I am going to pack more straws around and between the stems, as support and home for future potatoes.
I have also planted some in old tires. First I planted them in the ground, then put the first tire and kept filling around stems. Then comes the second tire. Probably I will use another tire too. But I don't have one right now.
With the tires, I cut a little more than the portions that fit into ring. This way there will be no water in them to cause rotting. So basically,what is left of the tire is the ridged part that contact the road ( used too !!!)
I wrap the tires with grape vine and add more straw over it , both to hide the tire and also to keep the roots cool.
This is just for fun.

Cyrus

Cyrus, cool, wet weather here. I remember the Georgia had some dry weather recently. I'm sure you're glad for whatever rain you're now getting.

I got the yukon gold, some sort of red potato and a blue potato planted. I made trenches and planted them in the bottom. The soil is clay modified with compost. The soil's looking much better than last year. Once the potatoes have grown a bit, I'll backfill the trenches and start mulching with straw.

Daytime temps are in the low 60's, but when the weather here breaks, we'll zoom right past 70 and be in the 80's to 90's.

I've got snow peas sown, carrots and radish sown. Early corn seeds are soaking and I'll plant them when they've absorbed their water. Also, sweet peas are soaking in water with vitimin C dissolved.

Tomatoes and melons are planted in pots indoors. Our last frost is May 17, so there's no rush there.

How's your garden growing?

Thanks idaho_gardener
What is happening with our friend, backyardner?

O! You mentioned adding vitamine C into soaking seeds.
That is interesting. Is it for prevening rotting or what purpose?

Yes, this year we are having good rain so far.
Nowadays we get a lot of showers and TStorms.

Other than, potatoes, my other stuff are growing fine.
My lettuce are at the peak. Snow peas already have peas.
Onions, garlic, chives, parsley, cilantroes, carrots, dills, squash, gourds, and few other are coming along nicly.(little bit of each)
But My peppers and cucumbers are very slow. I do not have a greenhous nor I have a grow kit. I used to have a cold frame. About a month ago a heavy wind uprooted a tree, that fell right on my cold frame. How lucky can you get !!(grin).
So I start now everything outside. If the seeds like it thy will grow. SO far my tomatoes are about a foot tall, and peppers are just growing true leaves.But not to worry. we have pretty long growing season.
I have also planted some corn (first time). It is funny. I was in HD looking at seeds. pack of corn seeds were close to 2 bucks. So I said the heck with it. I wen to grocery store and bouhgt a 2 lbs bag of popcorn corn (natural) for $1.25.They pop very nicely.
I planted some of that (after soaking for couple of days).
Well, it may not bee super duper sweet but it is nice yellow corn.(I am going to pop some after sending this post)
Until the next time
Cyrus

Oh, I am here... I just am not in the habit of checking this part of the forum very often. This is pretty much the only thread in the Idaho section that has ever had many posts. Ironically, it is someone from Georgia keeping it going (thanks Cyrus)!

I haven't been doing much of anything the past few weeks - it has been raining quite a bit (for the desert) and cold. I've just been watching the garden for signs of life. I planted most of my seeds 2 weeks ago and the only thing to show any progress are the peas. They are just poking through now. Up until this point, the only thing I've been able to watch grow were my perennials (fruit). I'm looking forward to everything else finally growing - well, except the weeds. luckily I don't struggle with them too much, mulch keeps them control-able.

I really hope it warms up soon, but it will probably stay cool for a while then jump right into summer like last year. I'd prefer a gradual warm up, but I can't complain. Our hot, dry summers really are great for growing the things that I like the most, especially fruit.

Last spring was cool and all of my crops struggled. Everybody was noticing that the tomatoes weren't doing well, last year. I like cool weather but for the sake of the vegetables, I hope we have a slightly warmer spring than last year.

The weather forecast looks like we're past the hard frosts, but we won't see a warming trend for at least 10 days. I might set up some plastic covers over the corn patch to try to force an early start for some of the corn.

I'm going to stop at the big-box home improvement store and pick up a few tomatoes and get them set out under protection. I'll plant more next week when it starts to warm up.

Cyrus, you're right that the price of seed corn is crazy, but I do love garden-fresh corn. I've got some early corn seeds soaking right now. I'll get the bi-colored stuff started soaking next week.

Vitamin C seems to help with both germination rates and yield.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mention of vitamin C and pea germination and yeild

I'm expecting frost tonight. The forecast is for lows of 35 degrees, but I find that when the temps in town are 37 or less, I'm getting frost.

I'll lay a clear plastic sheet over the corn patch to try to keep the temps from getting too low.

As expected, my area got frost last night. I had hot caps on the tomatoes so they're fine.

I didn't notice any frost this morning at all. Do you live on a hill or anything? Maybe I just didn't notice, I didn't look too closely. I don't have any really tender plants out yet, but I'm going to go inspect my plants for damage. Hopefully my fruit is still ok - it looks like my cherries and peaches did set a fair amount of fruit this year. I'll be upset if I lose my very first crop to frost.

Backyardener, I live near the corner of Fairview and Cloverdale roads. I am a little closer to the second bench than the first bench, but not by much. I don't know why I get frost when they're reporting mid-30's at the airport. When the weather forecast calls for temps in the 30's, like 38 degrees, I get frost.

Had frost again last night but it wasn't as bad as the night before. I live on an acre place and I'm not far from a 'creek' that's used as a drainage ditch. It runs through our neighborhood. Perhaps that creek is the reason for cold air settling in our area.

My Early Girl tomatoes did suffer some frost damage after all. One has lost all its leaves even though it was under a cap.

The weather forecast is calling for temps in the mid 30's on Thursday and that's certain to produce frost in my area. I'll be scrambling to find enough plastic one gallon milk jugs to make more frost caps for the 12 tomatoes and 10 peppers I have planted.

I planted early in an effort to get an earlier than normal crop. I am willing to take the risk of frost damage to try to squeeze out some produce a little early. But it's a bit of work. I have some early corn seed planted and it's under some clear plastic in hopes that I can heat the soil up enough to get it to sprout. It's an experiment.

Frost warning tonight. Temperatures are predicted to drop to 33 degrees, which means certain, heavy frost for my garden. I've covered the strawberries with a plastic sheet. My early corn has just started sprouting, so I buried it in compost and covered that with a plastic sheet, too.

Hot caps on my surviving tomatoes and peppers, and the hot caps are buried in compost. The potatoes haven't sprouted, except for the volunteers. I dragged some extra dirt over the potatoes and buried the volunteers in compost.

I hope that's enough.

Well, I did get frost yesterday morning, but it was very light. The only place I could really notice it was on rooftops that were not yet warmed by the sun. I didn't cover anything and suffered no frost damage. I don't have any peppers or tomatoes (or anything really frost sensitive) planted yet, so that may explain it. The things I was most concerned about were the potatoes, blueberries (in bloom), strawberries (in bloom), and my fruit trees (fruit already set). They all look fine.

Hey there, backyardener. My remaining tomatoes got zapped even though I had covered them with gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off, and buried them with compost. I don't know why it gets so much colder here.

Thankfully, the corn seems to have made it without damage. Some strawberry blooms look like they had been zapped previously, but there are so many blooms, I'm not worried. The volunteer potatoes were good. The remaining peppers were mostly ok under their caps. Some wilting of leaf edges.

Next year I'll have a hoop house for early crops.

Hi folks,

You are about one month behing us here in Ga, weatherwise.
We had our last frost on or about April 11. But our frost was deeper and those who did not protect heir potatoe, they got frost bites (zapped, as you put it).I forgot to cover a few beans and they got zapped.

I hope that frost scare is over for you and the weather will GET WARM SOON.
We have had alot of rain lately but it look like dryin up now. Times like this will test how good your soil is; Does it have adequate drainage? My garden got an "A". The only thing is that my toms & pepps are light green; meaning too much water washing down nitrogen. I am going to let everything get realy thirsty and grow deeper root. Too much water make plants lazy so they grow shallow roots.

Hi Cyrus. Yes, the frost is behind us. The weather forecast is for 70's tomorrow, 80's on Saturday, and 90's on Sunday and Monday. Lows climbing from 41 tonight, up to 56 on Sunday. Typical Idaho weather.

I jumped on the chance to plant more peppers and tomatoes now that the weather has changed. The problem will be preventing transplant shock with the temperatures jumping up to 90.

I'm glad you guys are getting some rain. I know you have had drought conditions until recently, so the rains should be a welcome relief, but it sounds like a bit too much.

Well, I spoke too soon. It's 40 at the airport and I've got frost again. I think the lesson here is that I've got to make a hoop house if I want early crops.

Well, to avoid transplant shock I think I would either wait until the middle of next week, or bring your tomatoes inside during the hottest part of the day. The last forecast I looked at called for 95 on Monday, but then cooling off into the 70s by Wednesday. Sounds like Wednesday would be a good day to plant. I'm going to start hardening off the seedlings I have been growing inside under my lights, but I don't think I am going to put my peppers into the ground until the end of the month. It still gets cool at night and (as I said in one of my first posts) the cool nights really stunted my pepper growth last year - the ones I planted late did much better.

backyardener, Looks like my new tomatoes and peppers made it through the frost mostly undamaged. Today's heat will be an issue, though; some of the peppers are wilting daily and only perk up when they're watered. Obviously, their roots are not established.

I'll be off work by 3:30, so I'll be able to give them some water then. Meanwhile, my early corn has sprouted and some of the 83 day corn is coming up, too.

been following, but havent posted here. im in nampa.... all my stuff is in the "ground" except the baby pumpkins i like to grow which i havent found yet... hurray!!!!!

Well, the long range forecast looks favorable. I don't see any more nights below 50, so I think I'll take advantage of the long weekend and get my peppers and tomatoes in the ground. That will pretty much complete my '09 planting - after that, I'll have everything in! What will I do with myself? I guess it'll be time to start working on the other projects that I have been putting off... and weeding...

mettzfamily, what-all have you planted?

BTW, for reference; I had a clear plastic sheet laid over my first planting of corn. It worked well to give the corn an early start.

Looks like something is browsing my plants again this year. Last year I had a critter of some sort munching the snow peas. This time I've got something eating my watermelon and pepper plants. It's possible I have a deer in my neighborhood, despite all the dogs.

My strawberry patch is weeded but otherwise not well organized. One end has become a strawberry jungle. The plants are getting rather large and there's plenty of berries in progress.

herbs strawberries garlic green and reg onions bell pepper potatoes 3 diff toms 2 diff peas beans cuke watermelon mini pumpkins, acorn squash cabbage carrots corn and a blackberry for my hubby. i am growing in containers because of horrible weeds and the possibility of a move mid summer.

It is not really spring anymore, but Lets keep this thread going! How is your progress? Any problems? Any pests yet?

Things are going really well for me so far, growth rate is starting to pick up. My potatoes are getting big (18 inches or so) and could use one last hilling. My peppers and tomatoes are starting to grow, but not very rapidly yet. The peas are looking good and climbing up the trellis, but no flowers yet. The carrots and parsnips are growing, although pretty slowly. Everything else looks pretty normal too.

As far as fruit... I harvested a few strawberries this weekend, and they are loaded with unripe berries. Raspberries and blueberries have lots of unripe berries on them too. My grape vines are growing really well, but I think they are still too young to fruit (going to strip off the small scraggly clusters to focus on growth). My peach tree, on the other hand, is loaded. I've pruned it and thinned quite a bit of the fruit off. The remaining fruit is about golf ball sized, probably a little bigger.

So far, I am pest free, but I have noticed a lot of spiders this year - maybe they are keeping the bugs off my plants. I'm keeping close watch on the zucchini for the dreaded squash bugs, which will almost certainly be visiting again this year. I'll be ready...

Idaho_Gardener, I finally did find the dreaded cliche. I was digging a hole for a shrub and it hit the rocky stuff only about 4 inches down. It was not a solid sheet but more like a bunch of crumbly light brown rocks. My shovel made quick work of it, but that has got to make the soil pretty alkaline in that area. I mixed in some peat and some sulfur, hopefully that will bring the PH down enough.

backyardener, tell me about how you are cultivating your blueberries. I planted some blueberries last year but I must have goofed up the soil because they did not thrive. They're doing better this year, but I think it will be next year before they start producing.

Regarding the caliche, I would lay down some Starbucks coffee grounds. I've seen UCG turn clay into crumbly soil. But keep the UCG away from legumes and squashes. As an alternative, you can try Zamzow's Huma Green.

My potatoes are growing rapidly. I planted them in trenches, and then filled and hilled them with the soil from the trenches when they got big enough. I need to get some straw for my next 'hilling'. I planted Yukon Gold, Norland Red, and some kind of blue potato.

My early corn is above knee height. I planted succession plantings of corn. The fourth and last planting will be next week. The second planting is growing well, and the third planting has sprouted.

Tomatoes and peppers are growing well now. Store bought muskmelon and watermelon are also growing well. I just transplanted my melons that I started from seed. They've survived, and I expect good things from them.

Few of my peas have sprouted. I think it was the excessive amounts of Starbucks UCG I applied to the beds last year. Hopefully that will be broken down by next year. The carrots didn't germinate and only a few radish germinated.

My strawberries are starting to ripen. The raspberries look like they will have a good second year.

I had some losses of my first plantings. I suspect it was some kind of bug. There's been no damage lately, but the melons are very susceptible, so I'm going to find and apply some kind of bug repellent as a prophylaxis. Last year I had melons die suddenly. The survivors were delicious and I would hate to not have any muskmelon this year.

Seems like this has been another cool, wet spring. (Wet being relative to Boise's normally arid climate.)

For the blueberries, I first tilled the planting area (which used to be sod) very deeply (1 foot or more). Then I removed 6 - 8 inches of soil from the entire area and replaced it with peat moss (please don't send the environmentalists after me) and compost. I also added sulfur granules and tilled it again to mix the peat, compost, soil, and sulfur really good.

I didn't just amend each planting hole because I wanted to avoid the "potted plant" effect - which I am not so sure really applies in an area with such a low amount of rainfall. Even with my heavy soil I never have drainage problems.

I have them mulched with a mixture of shredded leaves, grass clippings, and wood chips. I feed them diluted MirAcid every month or so until August, then stop feeding so they'll "go to sleep" for the winter. It's only their second year in my garden and the first with fruit, so I really don't have any long term data, but they do seem to be doing very well.

I am really curious what the PH of that soil is now (was just over 7 before amending). Have you ever used one of those PH probes? I'd love to have one - I am a bit of a "tinkerer" and can't afford to send a soil sample every time I try a new experiment.

I haven't had a chance to try out the pH probe. I have used a soil test kit. My soil was about 8 on the pH scale.

I wonder if an Ohmmeter can be used as a pH meter. Make a metal 'probe' and calibrate it. I'll do a web search.

I had applied liberal amounts of agricultural sulfur pellets and mulched my blueberry beds with some old spruce needles. Last year, my newly planted blueberry plants struggled just to live. This year they look like they're doing better. Perhaps the sulfur pellets have dissolved.