Garden

[Roda]

I've been busy planning what I am going to plant this year. I finaly convinced my husband to let me till up an area in the back yard near where I plant tomatoes. I'm so excited. This opens up so many more options. I am going to plant cucumbers, bush beans, zucchini, yellow squash, baby carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I probably will do alot of my herbs in pots on the porch. I still might plant something else like peas. I already sowed some spinich and lettuce seeds in the flower garden, so I hope it does well. What is everyone else planning? I think this year will be alot better than last growing season. Already there is more rain.

[missy'smom]

I'm glad you started the thread. I've been itching to gush about my garden dreams and schemes. I'm a pretty lazy gardener. Last year we planted tomatoes from seed too late so they got nice and big by fall but didn't have a chance to fully ripen or even get red. So, I planted up seeds in starter trays last weekend. I'm going to toss all the cherry tomato seedlings that come up by themselves every year and give my soil a break-save a few to give to friends. Zucchini is on our list to grow again. I have sage, mint and thyme in the ground from last year that are coming back to life. Dried alot of sage last fall but ran out a month ago so plan to dry more this year. Shiso will come back on it's own. Kiddo dumped a packet of carrot seeds in a container at Sunday school last year so we dumped them in the ground and they did ok-very crowded. We want to try again, properly so I have seeds that will go in the ground as soon ad DH helps me get the compost mixed in. Lettuce will go in ground this year-I usually grow it in containers. Green onion will be in thr ground as well as parsley-the parsley we harvested in the cool fall air was SO tasty! We'll try cucumbers again. They weren't so successful last year. Aside from that I haven't really decided. Tried eggplant unsucessfully last year and still have some seeds-debating about giving it a second try or not. I have never yet succeeded at rosemary but would love some. Finding the right spot is tricky with my limited space and pots have never worked out for me so far.

[luvs2eat]

I live in north central Arkansas, where there's no dirt... literally!! It's all hard-packed clay and rocks! Last year I gardened right in big garden soil bags (read about it in Mother Earth News and their new April/May issue shows it again!) and I have 'em ready to go again.

I've already planted mesculin, kale, and arugula in one. I have sugar snap peas in and cukes and zucchini. Tomato plants will have to wait till it's a bit warmer. I can't find butternut squash seeds but do have spaghetti squash ones that need to go in.

I have basil, parsley, thyme, and chives in big pots. I think I can take them outside today... we have gorgeous weather and night temps are not so cold.

I also ordered 2 blueberry bushes that went in last weekend and have 3 or 4 raspberry plants to go in when I can finish filling up the trench that hubby dug for me w/ a machine w/ good dirt and garden soil... backbreaking work!

Last year, we made our own "topsy turvy" tomato planters w/ old pastic hanging basket containers. We had cherry tomatoes right outside our kitchen door... it was great!

[purple]

I am so excited for this years garden to grow...my 2nd year! We are doubling the size so we will have room for watermelons and pumpkins(both new for this year). I am planting indoors and some more direct planting the end of May.

Indoors in cups I have babies coming up: (so cute!)

various tomatoes

purple kohlrabi (new this year)

zucchini

cabbage

cucumbers

lemon cucumbers (new this year)

marigolds

sunflowers

lettuce

jalapenos

bell peppers

chili peppers (new this year)

pepperoncinis (new this year)

planted outside so far: cabbage, lettuces, spinach and peas

yet to plant outside:

more: cabbage, black simpson and romaine lettuces, zucchini, cukes, lemon cukes, kohlrabi, sunflowers

and:

carrots, lotsa beets, green onions, red and yellow onions, corn, pumpkins, cantaloupe, watermelon, broccoli, basil, pickling cucumbers(new this year), potatoes, garlic and wild flowers.

Last fall I saved seeds from some of the veggies and wildflowers and am planting those but I still bought some too.

I bought a canner and my MIL gave me lots of jars! I plan to can lotsa pickled beets, tomatoes, pickles, salsa, jalapenos, and jam from our local wild berries (after I go pick them). We are almost out of frozen berries, zucchini and tomatoes but I will freeze more this year and pumpkin too.

My favorite things about last years garden:

the cantaloupe, cabbage and carrots had the best flavor!

Digging up the potatoes with my hands (finding that treasure gave me tears)

watching things grow where I didn't plant them...lol

watching the fuzzy cantaloupes grow big and the pretty corn

learning

watching the bees work on those big sunflowers was interesting

sharing veggies with others

saving seeds...I took walks just to find flower seeds I could save

eating the fresh peas right from the vine

I hope everyones garden does great and that more people could try it (I didn't know what I miss missing all these years...fresh is best!)

[codetalker]

I live in north central Arkansas, where there's no dirt... literally!! It's all hard-packed clay and rocks!

My development was built on bed rock. It's a good, solid foundation for the house but the yard leaves a bit to be desired. The developer trucked in dirt and put down 3 to 5 inches of fill dirt. Every year when I turn the soil, I take out a couple hundred pounds of rocks.

The back yard is relatively small. I dug up all of it and turned it into a Backyard Wildlife Habitat according to the National Wildlife Federation guidelines. I have two fruit trees and just seed-bearing flowers for the birds. The bonus for me is that with no grass in the back, mowing takes half the time.

Last year, I planted some butterfly weed. Late in the season, I was surprised one day to see it swarming with Monarch Butterfly caterpillars.

http://brandtbeach.com/Arthropods/Y09/WP/WP_C_Monarch_6_091609.webp

This year I'm adding more butterfly- and caterpillar-friendly plants.

There's a photo showing part of last year's garden at http://brandtbeach.com/Birds/Y09/WP/WP_Backyard_071509.webp

You can see some of the coneflowers, sunflowers and zinnias. On hot summer days, the Mourning Doves like to camp out in the shade under the sunflowers.

[jackay]

My husband loves to garden so I have it easy. We live in Minnesota and he already planted onions and garlic yesterday.

Our garden will also include bush beans, pole beans and seed beans, chinese cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, dill, kohlrabi, lettuce, muskmelon, watermelon, peas, radishes, zucchini, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, peppers, winter squash and zinnias. By the house I have some garlic chives. I plan on getting more herbs but DH doesn't know that yet. We have several patches of asparagus, some sweet grapes, raspberries and apple, pear and plum trees. Still waiting for the fruit trees to bear more than one or two fruit.

My DH gets leaves (mostly ash and maple) from lots of friends in the fall. He chops them up and spreads them on the garden once the plants come up. That helps keep the weeds down and the moisture in the soil. In fall, he tils them into the soil, which adds lots of nutrients.

I help harvest the garden and do most of the canning and freezing. Sure glad DH loves to garden as I don't enjoy it. One year we added some rooms on to our house. DH did a lot of that work so I ended up gardening. He thought once I started gardeing, I'd grow to love it. That did not happen. Sure was happy to give the garden back to him the next year:)

[kareng]

My husband loves to garden so I have it easy. We live in Minnesota and he already planted onions and garlic yesterday.

Our garden will also include bush beans, pole beans and seed beans, chinese cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, dill, kohlrabi, lettuce, muskmelon, watermelon, peas, radishes, zucchini, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, peppers, winter squash and zinnias. By the house I have some garlic chives. I plan on getting more herbs but DH doesn't know that yet. We have several patches of asparagus, some sweet grapes, raspberries and apple, pear and plum trees. Still waiting for the fruit trees to bear more than one or two fruit.

My DH gets leaves (mostly ash and maple) from lots of friends in the fall. He chops them up and spreads them on the garden once the plants come up. That helps keep the weeds down and the moisture in the soil. In fall, he tils them into the soil, which adds lots of nutrients.

I help harvest the garden and do most of the canning and freezing. Sure glad DH loves to garden as I don't enjoy it. One year we added some rooms on to our house. DH did a lot of that work so I ended up gardening. He thought once I started gardeing, I'd grow to love it. That did not happen. Sure was happy to give the garden back to him the next year:)

My Hub just saw a garden store ad for blueberries or raspberries. How easy are raspberries to grow? We are lazy gardeners.

[missy'smom]

I woke up this morning to find shis$#&o pepper and mizuna seeds on the counter. Dh was out of town yesterday so he must have picked them up at the Japanese market. So, I guess we can add that to our garden list. The gardening bug bit him last year so I no longer have to twist his arm to do the hard labor. But, he comes home with all these seeds, giving me homework to do!

I'm curious about growing asparagus but we don't have spot that I can dedicate to it. We may have to dig up another section of the lawn!

[luvs2eat]

My Hub just saw a garden store ad for blueberries or raspberries. How easy are raspberries to grow? We are lazy gardeners.

I've just gotten a tutorial from my neighbor who gave me a bunch of plants. She said to plant them about 3-4 feet apart and to put in 2 poles at each end of the row and run wire or string on both sides of the plant to keep them kind of contained. Otherwise they'll grow to huge unruly bushes. They send out runners under the ground. Neighbor had many plants coming up outside the garden box. Also, don't plant blackberries anywhere near raspberries.

[kareng]

I've just gotten a tutorial from my neighbor who gave me a bunch of plants. She said to plant them about 3-4 feet apart and to put in 2 poles at each end of the row and run wire or string on both sides of the plant to keep them kind of contained. Otherwise they'll grow to huge unruly bushes. They send out runners under the ground. Neighbor had many plants coming up outside the garden box. Also, don't plant blackberries anywhere near raspberries.

Thanks. The taking over the yard aspect may keep us from getting some. We do have a raised planting box that might work.

[Roda]

My development was built on bed rock. It's a good, solid foundation for the house but the yard leaves a bit to be desired. The developer trucked in dirt and put down 3 to 5 inches of fill dirt. Every year when I turn the soil, I take out a couple hundred pounds of rocks.

The back yard is relatively small. I dug up all of it and turned it into a Backyard Wildlife Habitat according to the National Wildlife Federation guidelines. I have two fruit trees and just seed-bearing flowers for the birds. The bonus for me is that with no grass in the back, mowing takes half the time.

Last year, I planted some butterfly weed. Late in the season, I was surprised one day to see it swarming with Monarch Butterfly caterpillars.

http://brandtbeach.com/Arthropods/Y09/WP/WP_C_Monarch_6_091609.webp

This year I'm adding more butterfly- and caterpillar-friendly plants.

There's a photo showing part of last year's garden at http://brandtbeach.com/Birds/Y09/WP/WP_Backyard_071509.webp

You can see some of the coneflowers, sunflowers and zinnias. On hot summer days, the Mourning Doves like to camp out in the shade under the sunflowers.

There are a couple of options for you. If you just want to plant enough stuff to eat you could try raised beds. Another option is take bags of garden soil and plant some seeds directly into it. I am thinking about doing this with my zucchini and squash plants.

[jackay]

My Hub just saw a garden store ad for blueberries or raspberries. How easy are raspberries to grow? We are lazy gardeners.

Our raspberries spread like crazy. They come up in the yard so we just mow them off. They really should be staked but we don't do that so it makes them challenging to pick them. They should have lots of sun. We live on a hillside with woods at the top of the hill and the neighbor's trees shading the raspberry patch earlier in the day so they don't get as much sun as they should. Still, we get berries.

The one problem we do have is that the deer love eating the tender branches. They don't bother the berries. Since nothing else does well in this garden, we just let the raspberries take over so I don't get too upset that the side closest to the woods is constantly being eaten.

In spring my husband cuts down all the old growth and we start with new growth. Our raspberries come later in the season but early enough to produce before frost sets in.

Our vegetable garden is on a lot we own that is about two miles from our house. We put in a garage there for storage and have running water in case it gets too dry.

Found out today that we won't be planting sweet potatoes this year since we haven't had the best of luck with them. DH says he may try them again another year.

[codetalker]

There are a couple of options for you. If you just want to plant enough stuff to eat you could try raised beds. Another option is take bags of garden soil and plant some seeds directly into it. I am thinking about doing this with my zucchini and squash plants.

I might try the bag of garden soil option in my back porch which is all glass (like a greenhouse). That would leave the back yard dedicated to the birds and would protect my food from not only the birds but the deer, rabbits, groundhogs, etc. Have to decide now what to grow. Guess it needs to be fairly compact.

What is the usual approach? Multiple small bags, one per plant?

Thanks.

[Roda]

I might try the bag of garden soil option in my back porch which is all glass (like a greenhouse). That would leave the back yard dedicated to the birds and would protect my food from not only the birds but the deer, rabbits, groundhogs, etc. Have to decide now what to grow. Guess it needs to be fairly compact.

What is the usual approach? Multiple small bags, one per plant?

Thanks.

Not quite sure myself. I got the idea from a girl at work. I am going to take one normal sized bag and plant one hill of the zucchini and squash. A typical hill for me is three seeds. So I probably will have 4 bags. I suspect you could do this with cucumbers too maybe two hills on those. You could probably even stand it up and plant a peper or tomato plant in it. I'm just going to use my imagination and try my luck.

P.S. Here is just one of many sites I found on the subject. I'm not sure where I putting my bags yet. I may lay them out front or in the front of the fence in my lower driveway. Open Original Shared Link

BTW the picture of the back yard is great! My boys would love it especially all the caterpillers and butterflies. Is the butterfly weed another name for milkweed? We go monarch caterpiller hunting every year and the butterflies lay their eggs on the milkweed. I would love to put some in the flower garden and encourage the monarchs and see they utter joy on my kid's faces!

[Roda]

I'm excited! I started some seeds two days ago and I looked tonight and they are already sprouting! I sowed them directly in the compost I have been working on for the past 1 1/2 years. I guess they like it. Hopefully soon I'll have lots of basil, marrigold and sunflower plants. I'm going to direct sow all my other seeds and buy my pepper and tomato plants. I thought this looked cool too. Maybe something to think about for next year. Open Original Shared Link

[purple]

I would like to grow asparagus (dh loves it, not me), blueberries and walnut trees. My MIL has two walnut trees. I cracked the walnuts for her and weighed them...33lbs! She gave me 1/2 of them!!!

[purple]

YAY! My lettuces popped up today! We have had snow, rain and hail all week long but they made it up thru all that and the mud! Maybe we can eat it 2 months earlier this year.

[missy'smom]

YAY! My lettuces popped up today! We have had snow, rain and hail all week long but they made it up thru all that and the mud! Maybe we can eat it 2 months earlier this year.

Isn't this an exciting time of year! I had a container that I grew lettuce in last year and didn't get around to cleaning it out and sprucing it up yet-lettuce popped up in it this weekend so I guess it re-seeded itself.

[Roda]

My spinich I planted did not do very well so I pulled out what was there and ate it. My lettuce is doing well and I cut two rows of it and got tons. I will be eating lots of salad this week. I still have three more rows (very little ones) to cut. When I plant lettuce and spinich for a fall crop I will try the bags next. I've got flowers coming up in the flower garden and the lettuce is in the way. Oh well. I dug up the new horseraddish that sprouted to give away. I originally dug it up in March when the big plants were just starting to get some green. I was going to give it to a friend, but I accidently let it dry up. Of course it is really hard to get rid of and the roots that were burried deep came back up. I want rid of it!! I don't have to buy any tomato plants. I had shoveled the compost into the wheel barrow and I had the whole thing sprouting with tomatoes. I transplanted some to cups and they look great. It is a mystery though on what kind they are. I also gave tons of them away. I had volunteer rutgers tomato plants come up too. So I am planting two rutgers, two of my mystery tomato plants, one mr. stripy and one brandywine. A friend gave me the last two. We had some other plants come up volunteer and my boys want to plant them to see what we get. I think two are cucumbers and the other two are either some sort of squash or melon. It will be fun. I planted 12 sunflowers that I started from seed and they look great. I am going to plant 18 marrigolds too. Everything is hardened off. All the plants have been on the deck for almost a month in cups. Hubby finished the spot for me and I worked in the remainder of my compost. I'll be setting stuff out very soon!

[purple]

My spinich I planted did not do very well so I pulled out what was there and ate it. My lettuce is doing well and I cut two rows of it and got tons. I will be eating lots of salad this week. I still have three more rows (very little ones) to cut. When I plant lettuce and spinich for a fall crop I will try the bags next. I've got flowers coming up in the flower garden and the lettuce is in the way. Oh well. I dug up the new horseraddish that sprouted to give away. I originally dug it up in March when the big plants were just starting to get some green. I was going to give it to a friend, but I accidently let it dry up. Of course it is really hard to get rid of and the roots that were burried deep came back up. I want rid of it!! I don't have to buy any tomato plants. I had shoveled the compost into the wheel barrow and I had the whole thing sprouting with tomatoes. I transplanted some to cups and they look great. It is a mystery though on what kind they are. I also gave tons of them away. I had volunteer rutgers tomato plants come up too. So I am planting two rutgers, two of my mystery tomato plants, one mr. stripy and one brandywine. A friend gave me the last two. We had some other plants come up volunteer and my boys want to plant them to see what we get. I think two are cucumbers and the other two are either some sort of squash or melon. It will be fun. I planted 12 sunflowers that I started from seed and they look great. I am going to plant 18 marrigolds too. Everything is hardened off. All the plants have been on the deck for almost a month in cups. Hubby finished the spot for me and I worked in the remainder of my compost. I'll be setting stuff out very soon!

Good for you! Your garden is way ahead of mine. I harden them off in about 10 days. My spinach is about 1/2" long. Carrots sprouted just yesterday. Lettuces are 2" tall and some sprouted today. Peas are about 4" tall. No beets or potatoes yet. I can't plant warm veggies for 2 more weeks. I am trying new things this year and itching to get them started...

[Roda]

I sowed my cucumber and green bean seed yesterday. I am going to try and get my zucchini and yellow squash seeds sown this weekend. I love working with my garden stuff. It is a good stress reliever for me. I wish I had more room to do a more conventional garden. I just put things in where I have room in my existing flower gardens etc. At least I have been able to expand this year.

[missy'smom]

Yesterday I realized why we got so behind with planting some things last year and ended up with fruits(esp. tomatoes) that matured too late to fully ripen-all the end of the school year busyness! It's hard to get through the last month of the school year and that's when the garden needs a lot of help getting started and I have the least amount of time to do it! add in so many rainy days for us and it's a wonder we have much of a garden-actually most of what we do have going is stuff that plants and takes care of itself! This is the second or third year for my herbs like thyme and sage and they look fantastic this year! big bountiful specimins-I can trim them up into nice shapes and it is starting to look like I have a proper herb garden!

[purple]

So far all the babies are up BUT now we are having our second hail storm in an hour....my poor babies...ugh

[Roda]

So far all the babies are up BUT now we are having our second hail storm in an hour....my poor babies...ugh

I hope the storm does not hurt the seedlings. I just discovered the cucumbers are coming up already! We have had plenty of rain over the weekend so that helped. I still don't have my zuccs and yellow squash sowed yet, ugg! I need to get on it tomorrow.

[sb2178]

Planted:

spinach

lettuce

radishes

peas

mizuna

chard

kale: red russian and dinosaur (black tuscan)

broccoli raab

squash

yellow wax beans

green wax beans

purple romano beans

leeks

basil

parsley

nasturtiums

(lots of perennial herbs)

Coming:

geraniums

cucumber

turnips

Maybe:

chinese long beans

collards

Harvested:

lettuce

radishes

and the mizuna will be ready for a first pick sometime early next week, I think!