Mmm, broccoli, probably my favorite veggie.

I probably should plant out some calendula in my garden bed. Are they pretty cold hardy?

Probably my fave too :D
Calendula have been uncovered for a week at freezing temps...no problem lol!

Vera

....add Giant Indian Red Mustard :)

Vera, are you planting the Calendula just as an ornamental in the veggie garden, or is there some vegetables that benefit from being grown alongside it?

Bonnie

I hope for pest control. Will also be interplanting short growing Marigolds. Geranium will be planted near the brassicas to deter cabbage worms too :D

Vera

I plant Marigolds in the veggie garden, and last year tried Nasturtiums, but they fried in the intense sun here. I have several types of Calendula that I wintersowed with plans of putting them in decorative pots on the porch, but maybe I should stick a few in with the veggies. What pests do they deter?

Thanks,
Bonnie

Very cool, I think I will plant out my calendula next week then ... didn't realize they were quite so hardy.

I may sow some calendula seeds I held back as well, because I'd like some for flower beds as well as for the vegetable garden.

I get aphid horrible on my calendula, sometimes you can't even see the stem. must because of the stickiness of the stems. Additionally, calendula reseeds everywhere here.
I only use marigolds, short ones.

I risked it, and put out Broccoli Bonanza 3 weeks ago with cut off milk container hats, so far they are happy and I am sowing more soon for a later crop

Bonnie...like busylizzy said. I'm hoping to draw the aphids aways from the veggies and of course attract lots of ladybugs and their larvae as well as parasitic wasps to the aphids! I also held back 2 containers for the flower beds. Most information just shows Calendula as a general pest control...of course Tagetes species are a lot more powerful and the reason I plan to plant both :D
Reportedly Calendula planted with Solanaceae crops repels the Hornworm.

Vera

Today I took a few minutes to plant out green leaf lettuce that was getting rootbound and waaay ovecrowded in it's milk jug, and I also planted more chamomile...this time out with the rhubarb and broccoli, since broccoli apparently likes chamomile. Still need to plant the brocc out, though...probably wednesday. It's a bit...drab and cold today, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I figured now was a good time to plant these out.

Cool zengoes...I should transplant some of my chamomile reseeders over by the Broccoli and Collard...I have a staggered row of lettuce in between and the calendula spaced evenly thru and on the ends. The Purple Haze carrots are going to be on the west border. This entire space is only like 4.5 x about 5 while the other end (same dimension) is Culinary Sage, Monarda, Snapdragon (not sure how it will do 3rd year, but have replaclements), and will plant my tall Marigold 'Harlequin' and Zinnia, Floss Flower, Celosia and not sure what else.
I can't remember how close my Broccoli were spaced last year, but I believe about 10". The heads were abt. 6"...so I hope a staggered row will give enough space. I won't let the Collard leaves get so large this year and start using it earlier so not to use up two much space!
In my other veg bed I planted my Giant Red Mustard on opposite ends and on either side of the overwintered Red Russian Kale are two blocks of direct sown lettuce and radish. I have plastic laid over the soil on the north where a block of Clemson spineless Okra and a block of Strawberry Popcorn will go. The entire south end of the bed is all flowers: Culinary Sage, Aster Laevis, Echinacea, Chives, Blue Flax, Coreopsis, Lavender, Catmint, Thyme, and lots of Clarkia and Verbena re-seeders. Basically I don't have any beds dedicated to just veggies LOL!!

Vera

Vera, I hope to start more Snaps next Winter, that way, I'll have blooms from this years' sowing next year, and blooms from next year the following year. From that point on, I hope the reseeders will ensure blooms each year.

I have 4 or 5 types of WS echinacea. Very small still, and none have true leaves yet. Once they get their true leaves I'll start planting those out...some in the bulb garden to help make it more 3 season...along with columbine, aster and daisies.

I haven't even started my tomato bed. I've almost finished sheet mulching 1 3-4 x 16-20' bed and that's it. I still need to create a bed for the raspberry canes coming Friday, prep beds for the apple trees, blue berries, elderberries, strawberries and June berries all coming this week or next.

All the while I still need to WS about 15 or 20 more containers of seed...cosmos, zinnia, basil, etc...

I have a 1/2 dozen containers open 24/7 now, and more will be opened over this coming week...to be planted out next week, probably.

I'm now entering full garden mode...between my job, changing to a new store next week, etc...

At least my herb spiral is getting planted slowly, but surely.....I hope to place 1 or 2 herbs a week in it until it's full.

Feel free to come visit so I can put you to work!!!! ;)

I'll be right there...leave a light on LOL!

Nice...lots of berries!!

I'm thinking I'll wait another week to start on the Zinnia, ect. Planted out the snapdragon 'Black Prince' today and in the process found a few of the same self-sown ones. The mother plant was half-alive and half dead and out it went to the compost heap LOL! The other's from last year are in much better shape :D

Planted some Clarkia out with the self-sown ones already there and did a few Matthiola incana. I wasn't sure about this one and soil/air temperature requirement so held some back.

Thinking about the Golden Marguerite today too and the Penstemon 'Husker's Red' needs thinned out our potted up or out; with 100 % germination it's like a carpet LOL!

That makes sense ... if there's already self-sown Clarkia, it's probably a good indication it's plant-out time. I did a search on Golden Marguerite, and I bet my daughter would love this flower. She's drawn to yellow and white daisy-like flowers.

I started my zinnias last week, and ended up having to bring them in yesterday, so you're probably smart to wait. I want to plant out annuals at the end of this week, but I'm kind of nervous we could have some more late freezes.

I sowed Wonderberry 'Solanum Burbankii' indoors today. I will probably sow some in a container outside in a couple days as well. The seed packet says they have a germination of 60%, so I'm going to try them several different ways and hopefully one will work. I'm really excited about this one, although some reading I've done suggests these berries may not be very tasty. Supposedly, they're at least good when made into jam.

I sowed some Bolivian Coriander 'porophyllum ruderale' indoors probably 3-4 weeks ago, and nothing so far. I think it's supposed to be difficult to germinate as well, so I tried sowing some more inside. I've gotta find something to do inside while it's chilly outside.

Well sources say in order for Matthiola to set buds it has to have at least so many weeks of night temps at 60 and cooler and day temps no higher than 70. I'm just not sure what the minimum temps should be. I do know that day temps less than 70 isn't going to last long! Hard to imagine right now LOL! Also I don't know if that bud setting requirement begins after so many true leaves are formed or what? As they are now they are only in the 1st true leaf stage!