Patrice's Patch Garden Journal

My ds planted my raspberries this afternoon and I got the plastic on the other hoophouse frame. Now I've got 2 beds covered and ready for planting. I'm going to get some of my cool season crop seeds started tomorrow.

I am still trying to get my onions planted. Sounds like your garden project is really moving along well this year.

I've still got white onions to plant, the red ones were missed last Fall so I split them and replanted most of them. I still have about 5 to split that should give me another 20 or so. I'm going to dedicate a bed to the rest of the onions and add the leeks and shallots (I bought seeds for starting them). It's a smaller bed, maybe 3'x4',I had originally set it up for strawberries but changed my mind and grew my zucchini there last year.

I got my shallots, leeks, carrots, celery, kohlrabi, turnips, rutabaga, and parsnips seeds planted today. I'm hurting badly but I forced myself to get them planted as we are supposed to get rain for the next 2-3 days. I also found 2 new little metal rakes at Aldi for $3 each. They are actually kids garden tools, but they are perfect for my raised beds.

I received my Goji bush and my Hansen's cherry bushes last week, on April 3rd. They are small and will take a good amount of time before they mature enough to produce any fruit. One of the cherry bushes had damaged roots, it's main root was bent during shipping and actually broke completely off when I unpacked it. I'll have to see if it will grow. I'm NOT thrilled with the condition of the plants I received and probably won't waste my time or money ordering from Gurney's again.

I don't care for the packaging materials that their seeds are packed in either. They are in thin uncoated paper envelopes that are difficult to open and cannot be resealed.

The rose bush was of decent quality and size for the price, but the other live plants did not meet my expectations. With that said, I'll update their growth during this year. If I have time today and it isn't raining I'll take some pictures of the plants I received so I have a base to judge their growth against.

sorry to hear you are not satisfied with the plants. Hopefully they will grow and do fine despite the damage

You might also send those pictures and a letter to Gurney explaining your disappointment. Maybe they will stand behind their products. ??

I didn't think to take a picture of the broken roots and I've already planted them.

Sorry to hear this I was hoping they would be great. I was planing on ordering from them next year. I guess I will stick with Stark Bro's.

Stark Bros is definitely a better choice Chad.

These are my cherry bushes, sorry they are hard to see.


These are my Goji berries, the one in the middle with the green on it is the one I bought at Meijer. Unfortunately the cold has done a number on that one. The one on the right is the one I received from Gurney's.

I bought some Yukon Gold and Red Northland seed potatoes this morning at Menard's. They are 5# bags and were on sale 2/$9. I'm going to grow them in my homemade grow bags that I sewed out of heavyweight landscape fabric.

I also picked up new 16" pots to transplant my blueberries and Goji berries into because I can't seem to get my ground acidic enough for them. I'm also going to plant some strawberries in a couple more pots.

I was out checking the yard this morning after the storm and spotted the tips of some of my asparagus peeking out of the ground.

My ds helped me get the trellis netting up on the canopy frame for the morning glories and moonflowers to climb up and over.

That should provide a lot of nice shade this summer.

I sure hope it does. I'm planning to plant one bucket at each of the six legs of the canopy frame so there should be plenty of vines.

I REALLY need more sleep to have a fully functional brain. I returned the planters I bought yesterday and had the store ORDER the ones that are on sale, the ones I really wanted. Don't know why I didn't think to have them ordered yesterday.

I ran to Home Depot and bought 6 bags of miracle grow garden soil this morning. Then got home and realized I needed 12 bags so I'll be sending my ds back to the store for 6 more in a little while. I needed 6 bags for the planters and 6 for planting the potatoes in the grow bags. Duh! I'd be scary if I actually used my brain.

I spent several hours cleaning out leaves and dead plants from along the back and side fence planting areas. My peonies and starting to come up. I got the blackberry bed cleaned up and ready to add a few more plants. My magnolia is blooming.

I have a magnolia too, but mine is a saucer type. It is almost finished with it's bloom this year.

On Saturday I picked up some Jobes fruit tree fertilizer spikes and my ds pounded them in the ground for me yesterday. I've never used them before, I used to just feed the trees chicken manure tea but since I don't have the chickens any longer I figured I try the spikes.

I also picked up some shallot bulbs to give those a try as well.

I think I know what I want to try a do with the 55 gallon blue barrel that was used as a pool cover float. I'm going to try making one of those pocket style planters that has 45 pockets cut into the sides and you still have room to plant at the top as well.

I'm thinking of filling it with strawberries and see how they grow. It should be minimal maintenance as far as weeding goes and harvesting should be easier too.

I have to sew my landscape grow bags for my potatoes this week. I still need to figure out where I'm going to be placing the bags in my yard once I get them ready. In the past I've grown the potatoes on my gravel driveway but my neighbor's maple tree has gotten huge that they won't get enough sun in that location any longer. I'm thinking I'll have to set up a pallet or two in what is becoming very limited space behind my garage/garden area. The place I'm thinking of using will need a bit of work to get it a bit more level but it just might work out ok.

I also want to get started on the new horseshoe flower garden this week. I've got the top soil bags sitting in the space. I just need to do a bit of weeding and some leveling of the area before I can spread out the dirt and my seeds.

I saw a video of a guy making one of those. He recommended using a heat gun to soften the plastic when he cut and formed the pockets.

Please let us know how the pocket barrel turns out. I need to do something different with my strawberries. The place I have them used to be grass, and I am having trouble with the grass trying to come back.

Have you ever grown sweet potatoes in the grow bags? I have tried every trick I can find, but they just don't do any good here. I had never heard of grow bags until a few days ago, and now I am thinking they may be the way to go, or at least something else to try.

Chad I haven't grown sweet potatoes in bags before but they probably would do fine in them.

This year I'm NOT sewing the bottom of my bags closed, I'm going to use a zip tie/tie wrap for easier harvest in that Fall. Basically I'm sewing a tube out of landscape fabric.

They grow ornamental varieties of sweet potato in large planters all around the shopping area adjacent to where my hubby works. He is friends with the landscaper that is in charge of those planters and they guy says they get a huge pile of potatoes at the end of each season. They are edible, but they usually just discard them because they were only grown for ornamental purposes.

I grew sweet potatoes in containers last year. It worked quite well and was so easy to harvest them.