Welcome to Magnolia Gardens
April 2026 Update
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April 29-30, 2026 - With temperatures in the low 60’s and a cloudy do, I planted 6 determinate tomatoes, 4 Amish Paste and 2 Celebrity. It is probably still a bit too early, but I put the plants under black plastic, thus providing some heat to the roots of the tomatoes. I also began preparing a spot for 76 gladiolus bulbs, all yellow, that will go in near my raspberries. These 6 tomato plants are determinate, thus they will grow bushy, but stay small.
I also planted 7 Indeterminate tomato plants on April 30. These include the golf ball sized Early Treat (4 plants) and Beefsteak (3 plants). I planted them directly in line with my fence posts and I will train them up each post, keeping just the main lead, cutting off any suckers. I have not tried that before, but many other gardeners grow Indeterminate tomatoes in this way. I have a few more areas where I will grow some more tomatoes the old fashioned way, using cattle panels and keeping suckers, despite the plant being an indeterminate variety. I used black plastic to heat soil and keep out weeds, but the plastic isn’t porous, so water sits on top of the plastic. I will replace that with farm covering that is porous.
I also planted 7 Indeterminate tomato plants on April 30. These include the golf ball sized Early Treat (4 plants) and Beefsteak (3 plants). I planted them directly in line with my fence posts and I will train them up each post, keeping just the main lead, cutting off any suckers. I have not tried that before, but many other gardeners grow Indeterminate tomatoes in this way. I have a few more areas where I will grow some more tomatoes the old fashioned way, using cattle panels and keeping suckers, despite the plant being an indeterminate variety. I used black plastic to heat soil and keep out weeds, but the plastic isn’t porous, so water sits on top of the plastic. I will replace that with farm covering that is porous.
April 28, 2026 - Although the weather was cool, compared to how it was a week ago, I was able to continue doing some prep work, some weeding and some other garden chores in anticipation of warmer weather coming soon. The biggest issue has been keeping the “green worms” off the broccoli and cabbage, despite these vegetables being covered by netting. So far, I have found about 14 of these sneaky worms, as they are the same color as the broccoli leaves. I also spotted two good sized rabbits hopping around the backyard, not at all concerned that I was walking towards them, until the very last moment, when they took off for the pond area. My tomatoes, cukes, pickles, basil and parsley have all been outside during the day, acclimating to the outdoors, so they will not suffer transplant damage. Some of the tomatoes have very strong stems and are beginning to flower. I have prepped the area where they will grow, putting down plastic to keep weeks away and make the soil warmer. Finally, the potatoes are beginning to show leaves. The first ones out of the box, Norland Red, had some frost damage, but new leaves are already coming up again.
April 22, 2026 - I was able to pick up some apples at a reasonable price and make an apple pie from scratch. Except that it takes 1/2 lb of butter for the crust, the pie was nutritionally pretty good with limited sugar and no added chemicals one finds in store bought pies. Everyone enjoyed eating the pie, as it was gone in two days.
I was able to get to the cold crop beds this afternoon and do some much needed weeding. I was surprised by how much the broccoli, collards and cabbage have grown in the last few days. I found two cabbage worms on some broccoli, despite my netting, but all the other plants seem do be doing fine. I also planted 10 Chieftain potatoes and 10 Eva potatoes. This finishes up the potato plantings. I was a bit concerned with the Norland Red potatoes, which had some wilted leaves due to the early morning front on Monday.
Inside I transplanted some peppers as they have come along extremely well. The tomato seedlings are almost a foot tall, basil, parsley, cukes and pickles are all now showing real leaves.
This next week looks to be fairly cool, meaning that the peppers, tomatoes and basil will stay inside for a while longer.
I will be able to do some more weeding and spreading of mulch, in hopes of keeping the weeds under control.
I was able to get to the cold crop beds this afternoon and do some much needed weeding. I was surprised by how much the broccoli, collards and cabbage have grown in the last few days. I found two cabbage worms on some broccoli, despite my netting, but all the other plants seem do be doing fine. I also planted 10 Chieftain potatoes and 10 Eva potatoes. This finishes up the potato plantings. I was a bit concerned with the Norland Red potatoes, which had some wilted leaves due to the early morning front on Monday.
Inside I transplanted some peppers as they have come along extremely well. The tomato seedlings are almost a foot tall, basil, parsley, cukes and pickles are all now showing real leaves.
This next week looks to be fairly cool, meaning that the peppers, tomatoes and basil will stay inside for a while longer.
I will be able to do some more weeding and spreading of mulch, in hopes of keeping the weeds under control.
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Blooming Magnolia treesApril 10 - It seems as if, perhaps, the freezing winds from the northwest have subsided some, bringing some much needed warmer night temperatures. All the cold crops planted over the last few weeks have survived the cold snap “frost on the grass” . In the last two days I have done more work around the yard, fixing the netting, weeding and planting. Yesterday I planted 86 more onions and 18 lettuce seedlings (mostly Nevada). Today, I cultivated the potato patch area with my new Ego cultivator, as I got tired of trying to get my Mantis tiller to work properly. It probably needs the carburetor cleaned out, but I don’t like the fact I have to keep cranking the pull line to try and start the engine. The Ego cultivator is cordless, starts right up and digs down nicely, saving me from going on my hands and knees pulling out weeds, one by one.
I planted 10 potatoes from the last of the 50 lb potatoes I bought at Byler’s last November. We will see if they grow. I still have two more rows of potatoes to put in, Eva and Alaska, I think it is called. I have tilled those two rows, so they will go in soon. -
Apple pieMy second attempt at making a home made apple pie. This one weighed 6 lbs and it took 3 days to disappear. -
Ego cultivatorApril 12 - Celebrity tomatoes seeded on March 23 were transplanted into solo cups on April 12 (4). More tomatoes will be transplanted tomorrow.
April 15 - Hot times in Magnolia as temperatures went up over 90º for the last two days. I was able to spread mulch over the rocks around the property and bought one more yard as I was running out of mulch. Watering is necessary, as the veggies are growing rapidly.
April 18, 2026 - I started basil, parsley, some more tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce in the sunroom. -
Campari tomatoesA collection of Campari tomatoes grown in my sunroom starting December 26, 2025
My Walking History
Walking Log
I started keeping track of my daily walking miles since May 2, 2021. The spreadsheet provides a list of the miles by week, month and year.
Daily Updates:
05-01-2026
Weather in Magnolia, Delaware
John B. Lindale house, “peach baron” of Magnolia, Delaware. The farmhouse is of a Victorian design built in 1886. Magnolia is called the “Center of the Universe”.
A Collection of March, 2026 photos
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Plastic and netting experiment to protect broccoli plants -
Prepping second “greenhouse” for collards and cabbage -
12 broccoli plants going in, waiting on clips for netting -
Magnolia tree starting to bloom -
My first Campari tomatoes, started late December
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Lots of Campari tomatoes in the sunroom
There is still a lot of clearing of weeds to do prior to planting, but the strawberries are free of weeds for the most part. This will be the first time I have tried plastic to help slow down weeds.
