vegetable gardeners represent!

[ravenscape]

Anyone else here into vegetable gardening? I started out doing container gardening 3-4 years ago, and now have 2 medium sized and 1 large (6'x 12') raised gardens. I'm planning to double the size of the large garden this year.

I have some winter veggies going right now (broccoli, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, celery onions) and my herb garden is going strong, except for the basil which always dies off in the winter.

I started my first batch of seeds today (tomatoes, peppers and basil) in about 50 seedling pots. I'll double or triple that tomorrow.

What do you like to grow? what do you like to eat?

[livius drusus]

I've been wanting to start a veggie garden for a while. I think this may be the year I finally take the plunge. I'll start with two 4 x 4 raised beds. Heirloom tomatoes and beets will feature prominently. Beyond that I can't say yet.

Do you do companion planting?

[ravenscape]

I've been wanting to start a veggie garden for a while. I think this may be the year I finally take the plunge. I'll start with two 4 x 4 raised beds. Heirloom tomatoes and beets will feature prominently. Beyond that I can't say yet.

Do you do companion planting?

Yes, I do. I plant basil and onions around the tomatoes and chillies. I plan to plant some squash in my bean tipi garden this year. Last year I had some lettuce varieties growing with the beans. The beans gave the lettuce shade during the hottest part of the growing season.


ETA look into lasagna gardening when you're ready to start those raised beds.

[livius drusus]

Hmm... Bean tipi garden sounds ambitious. I'm skeered.

For future reference, here's a link (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23558) to my reportage on all the heirloom tomatoes my Dad planted last year.

[ravenscape]

*drool*

my seedlings so far are san marzanos and brandywines. I love the brandywines. this is my first year trying out san marzanos.

Last year I had brandywines and Mr. Stripeys, along with an heirloom currant tomato that grew like a weed - it spread over half my 6'x12' plot, choked out my basil and a couple of my chilies. The year before that, I had brandywines, Cherokee Girls, and an incredibly delicious black cherry tomato. I grow a few modern hybrids, too, because they produce much earlier than everything else.

Here's a pic of my prize 2009 brandywine:

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs140.snc1/5974_1114921389388_1117556870_30281225_7281403_n.jpg

And here it is on the vine, not quite ready to pick:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs160.snc1/5974_1109986746025_1117556870_30268528_1557119_n.jpg

[SharonDee]

I'm going to try tomato plants again this year. Must plant earlier this time; when last year's crop finally came in I had completely lost interest, letting most of them rot.

First cooking fail and now gardening fail. :sadcheer: But I will persevere!

[ravenscape]

also...the bean tipi garden was dead easy. I tied some sticks together into a tent shape, and I planted heirloom bean seeds around the base of each stick. They grew like...weeds. I just wished I had more. I'll plant two trellises full of beans this year.

[Qingdai]

Yes, hello relevant to my interests. I have 4 raised bed boxes to garden in. I just put rotated out my compost, so they are refreshed and ready for planting, when the weather allows.

I've got one bed that is mostly blueberries, sage, oregano and thyme, with some room to put in something else.
One bed is dedicated to rhubarb and strawberries, next year they are going else where and it's vegetable city.

Then I have two which I plan to plant using a book called "Square Food Gardening," which Plant Woman recommended and I got a free copy of, it does look very good.

[livius drusus]

That's what I'm using as a template too, Q. :yup:

[Qingdai]

It's sort of refreshing, I grew up on a farm so we had enough room to plant the entire packet, now I can plant maybe a quarter.

My one pro tip for not having to thin carrots is to mix radishes with carrots, radish are ready long before carrots so as you pull them, they naturally leave enough room for carrots.

[ravenscape]

I know someone who used that method with good results. I'm too helter skelter, though. I always buy and start way more than I have room for and wind up with over-aggressive companion planting and lots of containers taking up the slack.

My main problem is impatience. My sons gave me a 4'x3' portable greenhouse and I'm starting seeds in it this weekend. Hopefully that will give me a big jump on the growing season this year. I'm also planning on wintering some tomatoes and chilies in the garage when the season is over.

My first year of veggie gardening, the rest of the family was all meh until I cooked the first batch of garden-grown pasta sauce. After that, I've had all the enthusiastic help I could ever ask for.

[Qingdai]

You're both in a different grow region than I, so you can probably start indoor starts at this point. I'm pushing it. Peas I can plant in May. I've started parsley, but I am thinking of potting it.
I hate paying for a bunch of parsley and not using more than a couple of table spoons. The chickens like it, but not at $1.79 a bunch.

[ravenscape]

Yeah, the climate here is Mediterranean. I think I could probably have started my seeds even earlier, but it's been an odd winter so far. I'm thinking there are some cold snaps lurking out there in the Pacific ocean.

[livius drusus]

raven, what's that long, curved red pepper cradling your mug's lower mandible?

[Qingdai]

We are also Mediterranean, but more northern than southern. It used to be we couldn't grow tomatoes at all, now we get them pretty consistently.

[ravenscape]

raven, what's that long, curved red pepper cradling your mug's lower mandible?
It's a hot banana pepper, also known as a Hungarian pepper. Great for roasting and stuffing. It's sweet and not quite medium hot. Here are some pics of them growing:

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs140.snc1/5974_1109987106034_1117556870_30268532_4256534_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30268533&id=1117556870)

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs140.snc1/5974_1114918709321_1117556870_30281210_2630768_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30281211&id=1117556870)

[Chris Porter]

The only place at the moment we can plant veggies (my sister and I) is along the driveway. And past residents poured pebbles all along the dirt strip. We got a start last year in winnowing some of the stone. but this year I think I'm going to build raised beds (a la square foot gardening) and do more than raise the lone cherry tomato plant. She's really good at gardening, but it's the lack of protected sunny areas that hold us back. For sure we are going to do more tomatoes, but also beans and peppers. When we finally have a fenced in yard, there's an area on the side of the house that gets near continuous sun during the summer that we could plant about 3 sq yards.

We have no place to start seeds, so i'll be buying baby plants.

[slimshady2357]

Our back yard is so small we couldn't really have a garden in the ground, but we do grow lots of stuff in containers. Tomatoes, green beans, chilli peppers, potatoes (in sacks), strawberries, blueberries and this year Sou has some raspberries and gooseberry plants too.

Sou will not have any flowers anywhere, if it doesn't produce something you can eat or use (like the loofah plant) then it's a waster and won't be free-loading in OUR garden! :lol:

[ravenscape]

Container gardens work really well. The first year I grew tomatoes, they were all in containers. I just had to be careful the soil stayed damp and the sides of the buckets didn't get too hot from the sun. This year, I'm going back in the direction of containers for a few tomatoes and chillies.

[Sonoma Bear]

Most of our property is heavily shaded by old growth deciduous forest, which is delightful and restful in the summer, but lets little sun through. Thus we're fairly limited to container planting. We always have fresh herbs and chard growing in pots outside the kitchen door, with tomatoes and various hot peppers on the sunny front porch. While we'd like to have a ground-planted garden, we do well with containers.

[ravenscape]

Most of our property is heavily shaded by old growth deciduous forest, which is delightful and restful in the summer, but lets little sun through. Thus we're fairly limited to container planting. We always have fresh herbs and chard growing in pots outside the kitchen door, with tomatoes and various hot peppers on the sunny front porch. While we'd like to have a ground-planted garden, we do well with containers.
have you tried beans in containers? I thought about it last year, but found a spot for them in a raised garden instead. From what I've read, beans do quite well in containers. they don't have deep roots, so an 8" to 12" deep planter will do the job.

[Sonoma Bear]

[have you tried beans in containers? I thought about it last year, but found a spot for them in a raised garden instead. From what I've read, beans do quite well in containers. they don't have deep roots, so an 8" to 12" deep planter will do the job.

Haven't yet, but that's more to space consideration than anything else. In the past I've grown snow peas (nom nom nom), but it has been a while.

[LadyShea]

I did my first ever garden last year, I kinda sucked at it, then the weather fucked a lot up, but I learned a few things. I have been composting right on top of the garden all winter.

I will be planting tomatoes again this year...I got a lot before we had fucking monsoons at which point the tomato plant took over everything but stopped producing.

I will try zucchini again, they were growing beautifully until they got drowned in the aforementioned monsoons. We drilled additional holes in the boat we use for the garden so hopefully it will drain better

I need to plant way more beans than I did last year. I ended up with three plants and never enough beans all at once for a meal, but hubby hates frozen veggies, so I need more.

Peppers were a success, so two more plants prolly

[livius drusus]

Does anyone have any experience with Meyer lemon trees? I've been considering getting a dwarf or two in containers so I can bring them inside when it's cold.

[Qingdai]

I know my aunt has a non-dwarf one that does well in San Francisco.

[ravenscape]

I have a Meyer lemon. It doesn't do all that well because other trees have grown and thrown it into shade for too much of the day. One of my plans for this year is to either move it or put another lemon tree on the sunny hillside in the back corner of my yard. But first, I'll need to build a retaining wall.

[ravenscape]

First fruits. In February! This is crazy.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/181649_1595994095905_1117556870_31248576_4522497_n.jpg

[livius drusus]

:hyper: What plant is that?

[ravenscape]

It's a strawberry.

[Qingdai]

I saw my first cherry/plum blossom tree in bloom today. I've sprouted some parsley, but that's it.

[Sonoma Bear]

Parsley, Chives and Catnip up and growing here, but nothing else.

[ravenscape]

All my main herbs except for the tarragon and basil have made it through the winter, including this weekend which dipped a little below freezing. I planted nursery-bought cilantro and parsley last weekend and they are doing fine. I also buried some Yukon golds in one of my half barrels a couple of weeks ago.

My garden window is chock full of seedlings and I have more waiting for their turn to germinate.

[Qingdai]

Oregano, rosemary,sage and thyme make it every year. Still too much freezing to do anything. Can't even dig when the ground is hard. I see some bulbs getting up leaves and that's it.

[livius drusus]

I thought my tarragon was dead for good after the week of ice, but just last week new babies began to grow. I really love tarragon. It's so delicate and pretty but at the same time remarkably tough.

[Sonoma Bear]

The winter here finally took out my old rosemary and thyme plants, so it looks like I'll have to replant. I always plant basil. Holdovers that are doing well are the chives, parsley and the catnip for she who must be obeyed.

[ravenscape]

I would love for my tarragon to make a comeback. I had both Texas and French tarragon last year. It was sooooo good with green beans. I was hard pressed not to strip the plants bare during the height of the bean harvest.

[Qingdai]

I'm a bit afraid of tarragon after the last house we lived in, I planted it and it took over my entire garden box.

:scared:

[ravenscape]

I have a big round raised garden - 5 ft in diameter - where most of my herbs grow. The oregano and mint have migrated outside the walls of that garden into hard clay soil. The new plants are doing great this winter with all the rain. I'll need to make sure they get enough water throughout the summer.

If the tarragon ever gets adventurous I'll be thrilled. It's become one of my favorite herbs.

[livius drusus]

Tarragon makes every fish, chicken and egg dish taste like a 5 star meal. It's magical. Also it makes your gums numb if you chew it, so it's very handy in a dental pinch.

[Qingdai]

It's also delicious in pureed carrot soup. Still it would pop out in unlikely places in my garden.

:zombieglomp:

[ravenscape]

yeah tarragon and carrots go really well together, too. tarragon infused oil or vinegar is nom.

[Chris Porter]

Wow. Tonight I'm gonna have steamed carrots with butter and tarragon. Just because of you guys.

[ravenscape]

I'm trying to decide whether to plant squash as a companion plant in my main bean garden or go with potatoes and carrots. squash is one of the traditional companion plants for beans, but we'll eat more potatoes than squash. can't plant both because squash increase the likelihood of blight.

Planting potatoes and horseradish together is a great idea, but horseradish is huge and invasive. It also was a big hit with the gophers last time I tried growing horseradish.

[livius drusus]

Beets! Beets, beets, beets!

[ravenscape]

I had big plans for planting my hardened-off seedlings this weekend, but today is supposedly the start of 10 straight days of rain.

So, I'll probably wind up repotting some chilie and tomato seedlings that I plan to grow in containers this year and leave the rest for better weather.

Someone has recommended potting chilies in small containers for the first year, but hasn't (yet) explained why.

[roastelk]

other than the rhubarb and raspberry bushes which do there own thing without me. I usually have cucumbers,tomatoes, carrots, peas, beets, and dill. I cant forget to mention my magnificent asparagus crop, I got 5 whole asparagi last year....I'm hoping for 6 or 7 this year. I wont be planting anything for another couple months though as there is still a foot of packed snow over my back yard. I usually plant first weekend in June. I seed indoors in may


I'm Curious about those chilies, how long of a growing season do chillies actually need? assuming i started them indoors, is 10 weeks (of 17-18 hours of sun per day) enough time. normal summer temperatures up here range from 50s-70s. highs into the 80s and lows into 40s are not uncommon though.

we're usually safe from frost mid June - mid September up here. but freak cold snaps with snow in July and August are not unheard of.

[ravenscape]

growing season depends on the chili. the slowest to mature that I plant are the habaneros, which are also my favorite for flavor. They usually don't fruit until August. The other chilies I usually grow all mature faster and produce fruit much earlier - early summer.

[ravenscape]

This weekend, I've been dashing out to do garden work every time the rain stops for a bit. I've spaded and amended about 6 square feet of new bits of garden, expanded the strawberry patch, and started planting some of my hardened-off seedlings.

I have set up a second bean tipi this year, and planted some squash in the same garden. These are Kentucky pole beans.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/199226_1653846342175_1117556870_31331459_7312589_n.jpg

This is my unplanned mint/oregano patch. These volunteers are growing in unamended clay soil. It doesn't appear to be slowing them down.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/196505_1653846942190_1117556870_31331462_5115201_n.jpg

[Qingdai]

Oregano likes bad soil. It does better in the places it pops out, than in my nicely amended pots.


I've planted lacinto kale starts this last week.

[LadyShea]

I have peppers, beans, cherry tomatoes growing, and put some squash seeds in yesterday. My garden is small (an old boat) and I think I tired to much last year.

Oh and I composted in the boat all winter, and some pumpkin seeds I threw out there are growing randomly. I am letting one of them go to see what happens

[slimshady2357]

Oh and I composted in the boat all winter, and some pumpkin seeds I threw out there are growing randomly. I am letting one of them go to see what happens

:freakout: It will take over everything! :freakout:

We grew 4 miniture pumpkin plants last year and they covered half our entire back yard (admittedly, we have a pittifully small back yard, so half is about 6' X 10'). And they only produced about 10 small pumpkins between them.

[slimshady2357]

Weird, why doesn't my post show?

edit: And now it's there... :freakout:

[Chris Porter]

We are renting a tiller next week, and will be tilling up a patch of grass next to our driveway. It will host hosta/spearmint this year, and then next year, 4 blueberry bushes. This year we are prepping and acidifying the soil and planting low plants, because the blueberries will be about 5-6 feet tall.

And on the other side of the driveway, our experiment in square-foot gardening will commence within the last week of April. I've got to get the planter built. Will post pictures when it's set up. We have tomatoes, brussels sprouts, bush green beans, and sweet peppers. We will probably add some carrots, and maybe a potato plant or two.

[Kyuss Apollo]

Cool beans, Chris. We tilled the weekend Spring sprung. First people to rent a tiller this year from Home Despot (HOOAH!), and planted some spring rye that will get get turned over in a month and a half just prior to the main planting, and the peas and some other early crops went in.

The rye I noticed today is just starting to coming up, though no sign of the peas &c yet. Will post pictures of the ryes!

[LadyShea]

Oh and I composted in the boat all winter, and some pumpkin seeds I threw out there are growing randomly. I am letting one of them go to see what happens

:freakout: It will take over everything! :freakout:

We grew 4 miniture pumpkin plants last year and they covered half our entire back yard (admittedly, we have a pittifully small back yard, so half is about 6' X 10'). And they only produced about 10 small pumpkins between them.

It seems to be growing at a freakishly fast rate! WTF is it about pumpkins?

[ravenscape]

I have some huge strawberries ripening. The beans I started in the garden window apparently feel the great outdoors is a bit rough, but the potatoes, squash, cilantro, tomatoes, tomatillos and chilies are all liking their new roomier surroundings. I have more tomatoes and peppers to plant, and I'm going to start some more been seeds. I'll plant half of them directly in the garden and start the other half indoors again.

[Qingdai]

I planted 4 kale and one Italian parsley. The slugs seem to be enjoying them, not much action otherwise. I just did my annual spring strawberry weeding, they aren't doing much either.

[Vivisectus]

I'm sowing my carrots today, and a few rows of onions. I grow strawberries in raised beds, but they are so damn aggressive they are trying to colonize the next raised bed over. If Strawberries were people they would wear shiny boots and march in step.

I plant Camomile, Thyme and Rosemary in between to try to confuse the bugs, but I find it isn't very reliable. As far as I can tell it did not fool a single cabbage-white last year.

[ravenscape]

so yeah, the snails. I'm literally drawing lines on the ground with organic snail bait. I think they came from the yard behind our back fence, but now they are hanging out around my gardens. Early in the morning it looks like a tiny slo-mo stampede -- an inexorable and unstoppable multitude of mollusks crossing bare soil and bearing down on the leafy greens. It's hilariously terrifying.

Last night we had a storm front come in, and the outside temperatures dropped to the high 30s. I dragged all my bucket- and planter- plants into the garage for the night. In a day or two, I'll know how the veggies that are planted in the ground fared. I'm a little worried about some of the chilies and the tomatillos.

[Qingdai]

My dad got me a dwarf peach tree that is hardy in zone 15-16. I live in zone 5. Maybe with climate change it will work out, maybe not.
Here's hoping!
I wish I could send it to you, ravenscape.

[LadyShea]

My dad got me a dwarf peach tree that is hardy in zone 15-16. I live in zone 5. Maybe with climate change it will work out, maybe not.
Here's hoping!
I wish I could send it to you, ravenscape.

Where the hell are zones 15-16, at the equator?

[ravenscape]

My dad got me a dwarf peach tree that is hardy in zone 15-16. I live in zone 5. Maybe with climate change it will work out, maybe not.
Here's hoping!
I wish I could send it to you, ravenscape.

will it grow in a large container? could you bring it indoors in the winter?

[Qingdai]

Zone 15-16, northern California coast with moist cool summers.
I think we are both too cold and too hot. Or maybe that's just me :wink:
Sounds like Norton's Empire to me. It might make, depending on how hardy it is. It's a dwarf so I could take it inside if it likes the dark. My houseplants aren't really making it because we have no East facing windows, so little sun.

I saw my hops starting to bud into little vines. I think I'll plant some peas this week. After I lay my grid for the square foot box.

[ravenscape]

I'm west of the Oakland Hills, so we get quite a few hot, dry days in the summer. :D

I don't have any east-facing windows either, unfortunately. I do have a west facing garden window in the kitchen. It's a great place for starting seedlings. My most successful indoor houseplants are all bamboo.

[Vivisectus]

Planted all my herbs from the windowsills out into the raised beds today - parsley, broadleaf thyme, sage, oregano, and chives. The coriander will have to wait until the evenings are warmer. Oh and lots of sunflowers in between. Some of the onions I forgot to harvest last year are peeking through as well - I am planting around them to see what they will so. It looks cure and kind of whimsical.

Handy tip of you have raised beds and want to fend off the slugs - get a strip of copper-tape, about an inch wide, and make a barrier along your beds. Slugs won't cross it, and you don't need to put out nasty slugpellets.

Next week I will plant my peas, beans and carrots.

[ravenscape]

thanks for the tip re copper tape.

I found pasilla bajio chilies and chocolate sweet bells today at a local garden center!!

[Qingdai]

I priced copper tape here, and decided to do something else.
Hey, maybe because the economy sucks it'll be reasonable again!

[livius drusus]

My grandmother used cups of beer. Slugs are apparently huge drunks.

[Qingdai]

I used beer, then beer got expensive.
So I used the yeast-y dregs of beer and yeast mixed with water is also an attractant. They are lushes and poor swimmers.

[Ymir's blood]

Most people don't realize that Carthage had a horrible slug problem. Fortunately, the ever resourceful Romans helped them out with that.

[Qingdai]

The Portuguese king also helped José de Mascarenhas da Silva e Lencastre, 8th Duke of Aveiro, with the same problem.

[livius drusus]

Francesco Antonio José de Lorenzana y Buitrón, Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, Ambassador of King Charles IV to the Holy See, on the other hand, never needed any help.

[Qingdai]

Sure it's always about Francesco Antonio José de Lorenzana y Buitrón, Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, Ambassador of King Charles IV to the Holy See. Never about José de Mascarenhas da Silva e Lencastre, 8th Duke of Aveiro, with you people! It's like you never think of Portugal at all. Galling!

Plus I think Spain has more snails than slugs, IIRC.

[ravenscape]

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/217336_1681060502512_1117556870_31364758_3653132_n.jpg

I don't remember the sage putting out buds so early last year.

[ravenscape]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/222707_1713749279711_1117556870_31408060_3521610_n.jpg

big honking swiss chard that I planted last fall.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225385_1728109238701_1117556870_31429850_3580875_n.jpg

The tomatillos have really taken off.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222368_1728111078747_1117556870_31429855_2000549_n.jpg

Figs are perhaps my single favorite fruit. It's one of the first fruits I remember helping myself to in my grandmother's garden. She used to preserve freakin gallons of the stuff. I have really enjoyed rediscovering that particular art and flavor. One of my favorites is a fig habanero jam that is definitely not my grandmother's recipe. :D

[Qingdai]

I envy your fecundity. Also my sage is budding too.

[ravenscape]

speaking of fecundity I have a zillion unplanned tomato seedling coming up in my box garden. I'm pretty sure they are offspring of the currant tomato plant that just about choked out one end of the box garden last year. I'm pulling them up like weeds, but will probably leave 2 or 3 to see what they do.

[LadyShea]

I have some lovely yellow squash, but I have no idea when to pick them. I don't want to leave them too long. Is there a good rule of (green) thumb? Kiddo asked if he can make ratatouille with them

Also, I have lots and lots of green beans! Yummeh! And my cherry tomatoes are a-coming. I have no idea how many times this tomato plant will fruit though. I hope it's not a one time thing.

[Qingdai]

As soon as the flower starts wilting is about when I think of picking yellow squash (is it summer crook neck, if so those babies rapidly go from baby to inedible in a day).

[LadyShea]

As soon as the flower starts wilting is about when I think of picking yellow squash (is it summer crook neck, if so those babies rapidly go from baby to inedible in a day).

I have no idea, but that doesn't sound familiar. SO there's no way to gauge by like size or color or anything?

[Demimonde]

IIRC if they are yellow they are nomable. It has more to do with your desired size. Also, the more you harvest the more they will produce. That can get really crazy at peak season.

Summer squashes, including zucchini (also known as courgette), pattypan and yellow crookneck are harvested during the growing season, while the skin is still soft and the fruit rather small; they are eaten almost immediately and require little to no cooking.
wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_%28plant%29)

[LadyShea]

Thanks :). They have smooth skin, but are a yellow summer squash. One will be ready to harvest this week it looks like

[Demimonde]

I love that Kiddo is eager for the veggies. It reminds me of my bro, who as a kid had a squash plant that he and mom planted in the side yard outside his bedroom window. Every morning he had to peek outside and would be :eager: to harvest it.

[livius drusus]

My dad just started planting his garden over the past two weeks, thank you New England weather. He's doing the big heirloom tomato thing again this year, replanting his favorites from last year (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23558) plus three new breeds, one he got from a roofer who was working on the house earlier this year and turned out to be a major heirloom tomato hobbyist, much to my father's delight, and two from me.

He has upwards of 50 thriving seedlings in the trays. He's trying to give the surplus away (his original plan was to have 15-18 plants from 6 or 7 breeds), but I don't he's going to find a good home for all 30+ heirloom tomato seedlings. He's not going to want to just toss them out either. At this rate he's going to have to build a whole new garden just for the tomatoes.

[ravenscape]

I always wind up putting a few extra tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets because my eyes are bigger than my gardens. This year I did it intentionally, because I think they do better in a bucket than they do in the garden, and they are definitely easier to care for and harvest.

Home Depot usually has their ugly orange Homer buckets on sale for around $2.50.

[Qingdai]

I get free 5 gallon buckets from my husband's bakery, if he's feeling generous. I'm looking forward to my dad bringing me a bevy of starts this Saturday. Then I can start catching up to you all.
It's been an long cold spring, with night time lows in the 30s to 40s lately.

[ravenscape]

I get free 5 gallon buckets from my husband's bakery, if he's feeling generous. I'm looking forward to my dad bringing me a bevy of starts this Saturday. Then I can start catching up to you all.
It's been an long cold spring, with night time lows in the 30s to 40s lately.

*jealous*

we almost have all the kinks worked out of the drip irrigation for this year. I'm really looking forward to having everything on one circuit, and that one circuit programmed, so it's not the first thing I have to think about when I get up every morning.

I picked up some purple basil starts at the farmers market today. I need to find some space in the garden somewhere for it. I may press my last two empty rectangular planters into duty.

[Qingdai]

I now have two tomato starts, two squash, and a cucumber to plant. Here's hoping the slugs don't attack.

[ravenscape]

I'm FINALLY getting a little more than herbs, greens and a couple of strawberries when I go out and check the garden. I pulled up a red onion for a salad yesterday, and I won't be buying shallots for 2-3 months.

The cherry tomato has produced some fruit (still green, but YEAH!), and I have some baby banana and poblano chilies on a few still-growing plants.

[Qingdai]

I've got, Kale? Whatever, I'll take it.

[Sock Puppet]

Can I ask a fruity question here? As in fruit trees? If not I'm gonna ask it anyway 'cause I doesn't afraid of anything.

I just planted a Hale Haven peach tree. Other than a "full sun" designation (and yes, I planted it where it should get plenty), I don't have much info on it. I can't seem to find out whether I should dig a little moat for it or not, for watering purposes. I associate the moat more with citrus trees, since you need to water the hell out of them to get them to be fruitful and multiply. How do I water this thing? With wild abandon, stingily, or what?

Also, I have cedar mulch down, mostly just to match the rest of the backyard periphery. Is this a horrible choice? Am I gonna kill this thing? I bought it at around 7 feet, and staked it with a long pole :bunnythrust:, which I may reinforce with a wooden stake attached to the nearby fence in case the wind gets nasty.

[Qingdai]

You need another peach tree to pollinate it if you want fruit. Any one except Halberta or Indian Blood cling will do (so sayth The Sunset Western Garden Book). If your general neighborhood has some peach trees in it (say within a mile or so) then don't run to the store to buy another.

Peaches are not my favorite tree as they take some work, they tend to get peach curl leaves and need a fair amount of dormant spray along with fertilizing and pruning. Copper and lime sulfur are relatively non-toxic dormant sprays.
Trees need a fair amount of water, especially early on. I would build a little moat and plan on at least a gallon a day. A 5 gallon bucket with a hole in it works pretty well as a drip watering system.

Cedar mulch should be ok, it's not particularly good for fertilizing, but can help some of the water from evaporating off. It might help prevent the peach tree borer, which attacks the roots.
See peach trees are fucking babies, delicious babies.

[Sock Puppet]

Hale Havens are self-pollinating (http://www.arborday.org/treeguide/treeDetail.cfm?id=76), akshully. But thanks, I'll go ahead and moat it (yes, that's a verb now 'cause I say so), and give it some good soaking.

[Qingdai]

Excellent, I always go for the self pollinating if I can.
I tried to look up your brand o' peach, but I got J.R Hale and I've heard of Havens so I took a shot at the information the Western Garden Book (circa 1994) had to say. Damn botanists always changing plant names on me.

And here is what I was talking about with a drip bucket (so simple a sock puppet could do it! Now with minimal cursing!)

http://www.shelterrific.com/2010/09/21/neat-trick-iowa-watering-hole/

Some of my neighbors painted scenes on theirs for a festive look.

[Chris Porter]

All right then! I've just finished planting our vegetable garden, late as it is. We have a 2 ft by 8 ft raised bed, divided into 16 squares. I'm growing brussels sprouts, bell peppers, bush beans, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce and beets. We'll see if anything grows, though I know the tomato plants will, I bought baby ones, a cherry sweet, early girl, and big boy.

[ravenscape]

watch out for blossom end rot on the early girl tomatoes. :(

I've had better luck with the big boy/better boy varieties.

[Qingdai]

Blossom rot can be minimized by regular watering and adding minerals to the soil, I've had problems mostly with Roma varietals and blossom rot.

[Chris Porter]

There were all kinds of tomato plants at Steins, my sister kept asking if we could get the strange variety, like the purple ones, the creased ones that looked like pumpkins, the yellow ones, the strawberry shaped ones, etc. I just want something I can harvest for salads and have tried growing before; I'll try the exotics/heirlooms when I feel confident enough that I can raise plants.

I've really not had stupendous luck at this sort of thing, very hit or miss.

[Vivisectus]

I am having an awful year so far. Weeks of wind have wreaked havoc on my peas, there is not enough sun for tomatoes. Just carrots and herbs for me this time around, looks like.

On top of that my roses are getting the shite kicked out of them and my grapevine will never get anything going with this miserable cloudy and windy bullshit weather. I need to move to somewhere with a better growing climate.

[livius drusus]

:hoot: @ the Emerald Isle

[Qingdai]

Cucumbers, slugs love them more than any of the greens I planted. Grr..

[Chris Porter]

It's 4 days after planting. It looks like the beets are sprouting-I'm getting a 4x4 arrangement of tiny leaves in each of those squares.

[livius drusus]

Beets! Beets! Beets! :hyper:

[curses]

:amethystpoop:

[ravenscape]

the section of the garden with tomatoes, tomatillos and chillies has made that amazing and sudden transformation from merely disorderly to a jungle. And I've launched the 3rd offensive of the growing season against the slavering hordes of snails

[Chris Porter]

It's less than a week since planting. The broccoli is up, the lettuce is up, the beets (of course) are up. The beans, peppers and brussels sprouts are planted a bit deeper in the soil as per instruction, but I'm tempted to dig around to see if they've sprouted as well.
(I've got window screen over the entire bed, to fend off squirrels and children. It's working)

The beets have me confused. In the packet of seeds are a bunch of roughly roundish-cubical type things that I took for seeds. I planted one in each designated hole. But coming up in each place is not one seedling, but two-four of them. I'm wondering if the thing I took for one seed was somehow a plants method of bundling seeds.

Anyway, they are coming up far quicker than the packages state, and I suspect that's because we started so late.

[livius drusus]

Are you sure they're not just different stalks attached to the same beet? I've never seen them grow so I have no idea what they should look like, but of course when you buy them whole they have lots of greens.

[Chris Porter]

No, I'm not sure. Each looks like a typical baby seedling-a single stalk with two rounded leaves at the top. Just that there are several of them in the place of the "seed" that I planted. If this is the way baby beets grow, it's different from other plant seedlings I'm familiar with.

These are chioggia beets, btw. :pleased:

[livius drusus]

Yay stripes! :cheer: But no :amethystpoop:. :sadcheer:

[Chris Porter]

I planted seeds on 5/28. On 6/4, six days later, all the types of seeds had sprouted, though the brussels sprouts have the teensyist leaves. The beans, not showing at all two days ago, are now pushing up against the screening, so I may have to remove the screen in a day or so, or risk twisty bean plants.

I am so happy!

[ravenscape]

May was unusually wet, and early June is also quite wet. The tomatoes probably haven't gotten enough sun, but they sure have taken off with all the unscheduled long duration deep watering.

My yukon gold potatoes didn't do too well now that we're a couple months after planting. The russets have done fine. I think it may be a soil issue, so I'm going to do some deep amending in the yukon plot before I plant anything else.

[Vivisectus]

My strawberries have invaded the poland of my spring onion patch, and are now considering a pre-emptive strike on the flowerbed. I will have to wait for them to try to move into the herb garden, as I will have to lure them in there while scorching the earth behind me so I can let them run out of resources in the merciless russian winter. If I face them head-on their advance columns would probably blitz me and cut me off from my supply lines.

[LadyShea]

My squash all died. Just dropped dead in like two days :( I suck at this feeding my family gig

[Qingdai]

Yeah? No water?

I found a replacement cucumber. It's bigger and it's dryer now, so suck it slugs!

All my neighbors have much more verdant lush gardens than I do, but I have blueberries.

[ravenscape]

I'm having terrible luck with basil this year. same thing last year, actually. snails. I think next year I'll try setting up a snail-proof area just for the basil.

[Qingdai]

Ring of copper? Those copper scrub pads, one of my neighbors was using those around their peas, it worked pretty well, and they're cheap enough.

[ravenscape]

Yeah, that's kinda what I have in mind.

[ravenscape]

I stuck my hands in the dirt and potatoes jumped into my fingers!

[Qingdai]

Raspberries, lots and lots of them! Finally something, that and some peas. The green went right from too tiny, to bolted and bitter.

[BrotherMan]

I stuck my hands in the dirt and potatoes jumped into my fingers!

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070924092707/uncyclopedia/images/thumb/d/d8/Whats-taters-preciousss.jpg/250px-Whats-taters-preciousss.jpg

[Corona688]

The beets have me confused. In the packet of seeds are a bunch of roughly roundish-cubical type things that I took for seeds. The internet is cryptic on what this means in the end, but apparently "beet seeds" are actually a fruit.

[Pinecone]

I have planted my very first crop in my entire life. 12 radishes. Yes, I started my very first garden and I have 12 radish sprouts only a few days old. Yes, that's ALL!!

Shut up. I'm feeling all "Master Farmer" here now with my 12 little sprouts so no laughing!! :glare:

I also started my mini-orchard. All baby trees right now. One cherry with maybe 11 cherries on it. Two pear trees, one has three little pears, and two apple trees with no apples. 5 raspberry twigs which might yeild 7 or 8 rasperries between all of them.

My first compost bin is set up and composting stuff from the kitchen plus cardboard scraps. :farmer:

[ravenscape]

you're doing great, Pinecone! My very first vegetable garden was in some flower pots. I got some useful oregano, 3 teensy habanero peppers, a Cubanella AND THAT WAS ALL!

It's a wonder I tried again on a larger scale the next year. And my first real dirt garden was the best I've had so far. I have at least 5 times the amount of square footage now, and I still haven't come close to the useful output of that first real vegetable patch.

[Corona688]

That's better than my first garden. They couldn't tell my two square feet apart from the weeds and rototilled it. :fuming: I found one surviving carrot among the carnage.

This year I didn't dare start before they rototilled, and they rototilled two months late.

[godfry n. glad]

I cut down my iris blades so the 'mater bushes I planted in my 'mater patch can get some direct sunlight. Boy have they been happy ever since. They gained nearly six to eight inches on the iris with their trim and I salted everybody with healthy doses of bonemeal. Although they'd already started blooming, this should, hopefully, kick things into high gear.

That's the extent of my 'vegetable' gardening....which is really 'fruit gardening'.

My star-jasmine is in full bloom, though. As are my grapes.

[Kyuss Apollo]

In the Spring Garden the peas are prolificatin' and some are even starting to go by, the pole beans are coming in, some carrots too. We didn't have the $ to rotor till the Summer Garden Memorial Day weekend, which had an annual rye growing in it, and thus still does. Nonetheless, there were some compost tomatoes, cukes and pumpkins that came up on their own that we moved in with the peas and beans, so the the summer crop isn't a total loss. The herbs are doing ok, chives, thyme, sage, cilantro, oregano are harvestable --and basil coming in under the pumpkin and there's some kind of mint out there too I think. And sunflowers.

In other news, the morning glories are getting carried away, we may have to designate them as weeds in the Spring Garden if they keep going.

[ravenscape]

I would love to have a garden big enough to justify renting a roto tiller. :sadcheer:

[Corona688]

I cut down my iris blades so the 'mater bushes I planted in my 'mater patch can get some direct sunlight. Boy have they been happy ever since. They gained nearly six to eight inches on the iris with their trim and I salted everybody with healthy doses of bonemeal. Although they'd already started blooming, this should, hopefully, kick things into high gear.

That's the extent of my 'vegetable' gardening....which is really 'fruit gardening'.

My star-jasmine is in full bloom, though. As are my grapes. I suppose you tend not to plant things your chickens would bother. They don't destroy tomatoes?

[Kyuss Apollo]

One interesting side-effect of the morning glory infestation is that they are helping to hold up the tomatoes without need for us to tie them to the posts/strings.

[ravenscape]

god damn gopher. I don't mind sharing some of the bounty, but this guy is hogging all the good stuff. :(

[ravenscape]

first figs!

[ravenscape]

I've been harvesting 2-3 figs a day (and having them for breakfast) for about a week now. Today I had over a dozen ripe figs, so Ima make my first batch of fig jam this season. I like to make 3-4 different varieties of jam. Since my habs aren't producing yet, this first batch will be a fig orange recipe.

Last night, I roasted baby potatoes with garlic and rosemary, all straight from the gardens. Home grown potatoes are a little denser than store-boughten. Although this isn't necessarily the ideal climate for growing potatoes, I still get a pretty decent harvest.

[Qingdai]

Ohh! Ohh! I made 6 jars of raspberry jam, and six of gooseberry jam from my berries, but am jealous of the figs. We might, might get them in late September, if it's been mild enough.
I am getting kale, herbs, burned through the peas already, chives and starting to get a few yellow crookneck squash. Maybe some pickling cucumbers. I think cucumbers are going to be my Waterloo.

[ravenscape]

I love figs, and we're fortunate that the fig tree has always been prolific. As well as eating them raw, baking them (usually with blue or feta cheese and almonds), and assorted fig jams, I make a couple batches of fig infused dark rum, which we usually enjoy between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If I had to choose how to use a scanty harvest, I'd probably go with baking them and making the holiday rum.

[Angakuk]

You two are a couple of right bastards talking about figs right in front of me! The home I grew up in California had a fig tree in the back yard that was like a perpetual motion fig producer. Lucious purple figs as big as my fist. I used to gorge myself on them all summer long. Alas, no more. I live in Iowa where they not only don't grow but are apparently impossible to purchase as well. Of course I don't actually recall ever seeing fresh figs sold in a grocery store, anywhere. My folks have a fig tree at their home in Phoenix, but they are sad little puppies compared to the ones that grew on our tree in California. That, and I never visit my folks when the figs are in season. I mean, seriously, who is going to visit Phoenix in the summer time for any reason less compelling than a court summons.

And please, don't anyone talk to me about dried or canned figs. I do not want to hear it.

[ravenscape]

I feel for you, Angakuk. When I was a teeny preschooler, my grandmother's best friend in the neighborhood had a huge (well...huge to a teeny preschooler) fig tree in her back yard. I was picking figs and eating them standing right there under the tree as soon as I could reach the low hanging fruit.

Once we moved, I didn't have a source of fresh figs until years later when as an adult I bought our current house, with its (then) tiny little fig tree tucked in the corner of the yard. The tree didn't really start producing mass quantities of figs until about 3 years later. Since then, we keep pruning it back and it keeps producing more figs.

have you looked into internet/mail ordering a fig tree? and do you know how it would fare in your climate?

[Angakuk]

When I was very small I didn't like the skin on the figs. I would pick a fig from the tree and take it up to the house. My grandmother, who lived with us at the time, would slice it in two and sprinkle sugar on it. I would then eat the meat out of the skin with a spoon. Eventually I learned to not dislike the taste of the skin and would just pick a fig off the tree and eat it until nothing was left but the stem.

The tree was not particularly large, but it was very prolific. It was probably a mission fig (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_fig), but I don't know that for sure. All of the neighbors used to stop by and fill bags with figs but the tree never seemed to run out figs during the summer. It was right up next to a low picket fence and a back alley, so there was plenty of unauthorized harvesting going on as well. No matter, it still never seemed to run out of fruit. There was a water spigot under the tree that always dripped a bit and I think that the constant source of moisture added to the productivity of the tree and probably to the size of the figs.

My father, who is into making jams and jellies, would make fig jam every summer. He used to make some really awesome homemade fig newtons as well. When they moved to Phoenix he took a cutting from the tree and planted it in the yard of their new home. It grew well, but never produced any ripe fruit. He finally dug that tree out and replaced it with a cutting taken from a local tree that was producing fruit. The figs are not as large or juicy as the ones from the tree in California, but at least it does produce ripe fruit. I have often wondered if the failure of the California tree to produce ripe fruit in Phoenix was due to the absence of the right variety of Fig Wasp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_wasp) in the neighborhood or the absence of the right species of male fig in the area.

I am pretty certain that perfect fig tree of my childhood in San Diego County would not tolerate Iowa's winters. There may be some varieties that would do well here, though I don't know of anyone around here who has a fig tree. I will have to do some research.

[ravenscape]

I have always had this idea that fig trees date back to the earliest times of domesticated trees/early agriculture. I was right. Fig Trees - Early Domestication of Fig Trees (http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/a/fig_trees.htm)

It's right up there with olives in terms of early domestication. When you cut open and look at a fig, it's kinda meh, maybe even a little scary looking, especially if you pick it before it's fully ripe. Our ancestors weren't picky about how fruit looked, I guess. and an underripe fig is not nearly as traumatic as say...an underripe persimmon.

[Angakuk]

Yup, figs and olives and probably pomegranates too, since they are mentioned in the myth of Persephone. Don't get me started on pomegranates though. I probably like them as much as I do figs. At least pomegranates have finally started showing up on the store shelves here in the midwest.

[Qingdai]

That figs grow here at all is part of the magic of the early Italian immigrants. They had to try hybridizing various varieties until they could get one that produced anything, they are green turning rarely red/black. Most of the fig trees you see in Portland are clones of the original successful tree. They definitely don't grow well out of the city, where there aren't enough to pollinate and produce fruit. We get them every few years.

[ravenscape]

A lot of fig cultivars are self-pollinating. Some cultivars are supposed to do well in cold climates. They reportedly do ok as container plants, and can also be trenched over the winter.

I'm seriously thinking about starting a cutting from our fig tree in a container to see how it does.

[Chris Porter]

These are my tomatoes. They are unruly.
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/gallery/files/7/5/3/tomatoesamoksm.jpg

This is the rest of the garden that has survived squirrel attacks.
Beets, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/gallery/files/7/5/3/otherthantomatoessm.jpg

These are my first chioggia beets.
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/gallery/files/7/5/3/chioggiasm.jpg

I would like to know if the leaves are edible steamed? I hear that some beets are grown for their leaves.

[BrotherMan]

:medal:

[Qingdai]

Next year I'm breaking away from the garden boxes and going big. The tree that fell down in our front yard left a big sunny space, perfect for gardening. I wanted to do that anyway, but I was reluctant to turn all the soil over there, for fear of disturbing the tree roots. So no tree, no problem with roots. Roto-tiller here I come.

[ravenscape]

next year, I'm emptying out the 6x18 box, putting down wire mesh at ground level and then shoveling all the dirt + amendments back in. the gophers have turned that garden into a maze of tunnels to all the juicy stuff. :(

I don't want to kill them. I just want them to share.

[ravenscape]

I'm making fig-habanero preserves today.

I tried a couple tablespoons of my first batch of fig preserves in a cup of plain yogurt today. really yum.

[Pyrrho]

Wife is commencing to boil down several pounds of home-grown paste tomatoes into sauce. I'm talking the big heirloom Polish varieties now, not your basic Italian wannabes. Touch of home-grown basil and home-grown garlic and a pinch of salt and it's pure bliss.

[Qingdai]

Sigh, I ended up with three or five bushes of cherry tomatoes. Sure I got tomatoes, but I can't do much with them.

Also I got about 5 Delicata squash. The cucumber produced 4 cukes then died.

To answer your question of last month, Chris Porter. Yes you can eat beet leaves of any sort. I do all the time. Om nom nom.

Herbs I have plenty of, the rhubarb is strange. It flowered this year, (WTF?), now I am getting some reasonable not very red stems, but it's leaves are being eaten by something. I thought slug, but it's been too dry or them. And the chickens aren't acting poisoned so also, WTF?

[ravenscape]

My tomatoes haven't produced much at all so far this year. Basically enough to make caprese salad or a couple sandwiches once or twice a week over the last month. But, there are about 2-3 dozen assorted tomatoes on the vine, still green. It's a mix of celebrity and assorted heirlooms. And I have a bunch of currant tomato plants that sprang up from nowhere. well from seeds dropped by the one currant tomato plant I had last year. Lots of yellow blossoms, but nothing edible yet. And it looks like I might get a decent tomatillo crop sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. they are too small right now - they don't come close to filling their husks.

the thai dragon chilies and my pasilla bajio chili plant are producing pretty well. still waiting to see if the habs are going to flower at all :(

all in all, it's been a disappointing growing season. It's a good thing I'm not a subsistence farmer.

[Vivisectus]

I have produced a LOT more herbs than I use this year - they have really run riot. Also I am now good for Sunflower seeds for the Forseeable future. Those feckers got up to 10 feet tall with flower-clusters bigger than my serving-tray.

Also, I am very pleased with the way my cut flower bed came out. I will definitely do that again next year. The carrots are just about ready, and should keep me in fresh carrots for the next few months.

The peas were a disappointment - I did not support them properly, and the yields was just a few measly meals. Damn sweet and tasty though!

[Chris Porter]

I have received my six blueberry bushes today. I will plant them this weekend in the special "acid bed" we've made for them along side the driveway. Put in 2 full bags of soil acidifier to get it down to 5. Will put more acidifier in, in the spring.
Elliots, Patriots, and Northlands. They've come dressed for fall, in scarlet leaves.
Some of them even have berry buds on them, ready for next year!

If fruitful, this fulfills a dream I've long had, to have my own blueberry patch.