Anyone else getting ready to make a Veggie garden?

[SGMCO]

I am so ready, been ready. I had a wonderful garden the last several years
and so appreciate the fresh veggies, they taste so much better.
Got my garden tilled and I'm doing my PH Soil check to see what I need to add. I have volunter snow peas that have come up on there own so I'm working with them. Planting everything from seed but will buy the tomato plants and maybe a couple of basil until my seeds come in good.

I want to plant:
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Basil, carrots, green onions, spinich,
lettuce, and for the first time I going to try strawberries.

What are you going to plant? any universal tips or for a particular region that my help everyone?

I live close to Denver so with the frost danger I had to look up when to plant certain seeds and when. Some plants seeds can be planted directly outside here right now and some I have to wait until end of month beginning of May, some mid-may.

 

[Tweevil]

I've never had one but my father did. I miss him and his tomatoes.....

I think this year I am going to have one. I just have to figure out how to prep the yard and get my butt outside.

 

[SGMCO]

anyone else?

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

I am so ready, been ready. I had a wonderful garden the last several years
and so appreciate the fresh veggies, they taste so much better.
Got my garden tilled and I'm doing my PH Soil check to see what I need to add. I have volunter snow peas that have come up on there own so I'm working with them. Planting everything from seed but will buy the tomato plants and maybe a couple of basil until my seeds come in good.

I want to plant:
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Basil, carrots, green onions, spinich,
lettuce, and for the first time I going to try strawberries.

What are you going to plant? any universal tips or for a particular region that my help everyone?

I live close to Denver so with the frost danger I had to look up when to plant certain seeds and when. Some plants seeds can be planted directly outside here right now and some I have to wait until end of month beginning of May, some mid-may.

You know what you're doing!

Me-I attempted tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and cucumbers 2 years ago, all in containers on my apartment's porch. The tomatoes grew bushy but never produced one tomato. The cucumber vine cannibalized the onions in another pot, but never sprouted (is that the right word?) a single cucumber.
I went out one morning to water and found the cucumber vine stuck in the onion pot, on another shelf. When I tried to pull it out, it wouldn't budge. (And it bite me!)

The pepper pot was on the top shelf, and was starting to bloom. One day, we got tornado force winds that knocked the ceramic pot off the shelf, and shattered it on the porch. I salvaged what I could into another pot.

By the time the peppers started growing out it was late August and I was spent. I stopped watering them and gave up on gardening.

I won't even go into what happened to the grape vine. I'm trying to forget...

Last year, we had our trip to WDW booked for May, and I decided to take a break from gardening. (No one here to water them.)

But I long for fresh, off the vine tomatoes, like my grandparents grew in their garden. So now I'm thinking of buying a grow box. They say it is money back guaranteed for a year. They claim anyone can grow whatever they want in it. It's foolproof.

We'll just see about that...

Good luck with your garden. How I envy you!

 

[java]

Well I am planning on taking it down off the deck.

I need to start seeds. I have tomato and pepper seeds. I hope to add tomato plants.
My tomatoes last year did well but produced late.
I want to add japanese eggplant, an herb pot, and some cuccumbers.

 

[poohfriend77]

I just came in from checking my garden, and I have my first sprouts! I grew tomatoes and cucumbers in containers for a few years and finally convinced DH to sacrifice some lawn for a raised bed garden. He did an awesome job! I'll try to post pics later, but I can't from my laptop right now. We had amazing luck last year (mainly tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and green beans), so we're trying some new early-crop things this year.

Last weekend, I planted peas, carrots, lettuce, beets, and spinach from seeds (peas and spinach sprouted today). I also planted broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce from garden-store plants. I planted tomato, cuke, peppers, and green bean seeds in starter pots inside. Those things can go into the garden in mid-May in our area.

Just a warning, strawberries usually take a couple years to produce well. I planted strawberries last year, but didn't get much. I finally had a few tiny berries when the first frost came along and killed them. The plants look great already, though, so I'm hoping they'll do well now that they're established.

I'm really starting to enjoy gardening, and my DD7 and DD5 love helping. They even fight over who gets to eat the vegetables! Good luck with your garden!

 

[Totoro]

I am an avid gardener in the Northeast.

I am no expert but I want to say that broccoli and spinach do better when planted in the early spring. Snow peas are similar in that you can plant when the ground can be worked even before the last frost (mid-May for us).

I have had great success with tomatoes and herbs (basil, parsley, rosemary when I start them from seed 6-8 weeks before the last frost. This site also has a neat instructions if you want to make biodegradable planters from newspaper http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-organic-planting-pots-using-old-newspa/. I don't like my seed planters too big so I found a small 1.5 inch playdoh container that I use as a mold.

Peppers I also start indoors, but I find that it does not matter how early I plant them, they always seem to need heat and sun on my window sill (late March/April) before they will sprout.

Squash and cucumbers, these guys love heat, I have not found any difference in starting them early inside versus just waiting to plant seeds directly in the ground.

I experimented with strawberries last year for the first time. I grew them from seed but I started them in May, which was really too late. I was just starting to get little fruits in September when the growing season ended. The seed packet I purchased says to start 12 weeks before last frost. I covered them with straw during the winter and I noticed that they survived, so I am interested to see if I get any fruits this year.

The tough one for me has been eggplant. Starting them for seed is super difficult--they are a plant that really needs heat and sun. Some years, I have successfully started them from seed but they take forever (over three weeks). The years I have been successful, I was just about ready to throw them out because they would not sprout.

Happy planting

 

[poohfriend77]

This site also has a neat instructions if you want to make biodegradable planters from newspaper http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-organic-planting-pots-using-old-newspa/.

Where were you a week ago, when I bought those little Jiffy pots? I love the newspaper idea! I'll have to bookmark it for next time. Thanks for sharing!

 

[MIGrandma]

DH just rototilled our garden area today. But we won't actually plant the garden until towards the end of May. We plant tomato and bell pepper plants, but the rest will be seeds: cucumber (usually 2 varieties), summer squash and zucchini and then I have a row of flowers (zenias mostly, different types). We have a separate sweet corn plot that we share with the family.

We used to plant things like lettuce, carrots, onions, radishes, potatoes, etc. when the kids were younger and I did some canning and a lot of freezing.

I'm looking forward to getting the garden planted, and my flowers on the porch and deck too.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

i do a container garden on my porch. Basil, cherry tomato, rosemary, and mint. My dad (who lives accross the street) does tomato, cucumber, squash, zucchini, watermellon, cantelope, cabbage, collard greens, onions and peppers. YUMMY. I cant wait until summer. I cut up tons of veg and throw a chicken on the grill several times a week.

 

[emmababy]

We planted lettuce by seed. We will add cukes, tomato, peppers. We do this in a section of our flower bed.

Next year we are going to use part of our yard to make it bigger and add berries, corn, peas and green beans. We have a lot of wildlife problems, so I've been hesitant about adding a big garden.

 

[dhuba]

I would love to have a veggie garden, but wildlife here is a big problem too. I can barely keep a shrub or flower pot around. The deer come right up on my porch and eat from my flower pots. Groundhogs and bunnies are also a problem. I am trying to convince my husband to build me a big screened building type structure to plant in, that I saw on the Martha Stewart Show a long time ago, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere with him.

 

[Feline Princess]

I'm planning on starting one in a couple weeks. We have good soil in our yard, so all I have to worry about is planting the seeds/sprouts at the right time and such. I'm planning on planting herbs, tomatoes, and maybe some strawberries. I've noticed that some stores are selling these upside down tomato/vegetable planters. Anyone know if these are any good? I'd love it if I could grow tomatoes without worrying about stakes, but if this is just some new fad that doesn't even work too well, I'd rather have the stakes.

 

[worm761]

I'm planning on starting one in a couple weeks. We have good soil in our yard, so all I have to worry about is planting the seeds/sprouts at the right time and such. I'm planning on planting herbs, tomatoes, and maybe some strawberries. I've noticed that some stores are selling these upside down tomato/vegetable planters. Anyone know if these are any good? I'd love it if I could grow tomatoes without worrying about stakes, but if this is just some new fad that doesn't even work too well, I'd rather have the stakes.

I love the idea of the Topsy Turvy tomato planter but from everything I have read... the roots get hot and dry out, then the plant dies. If you want to plant this way, they suggest you use a paint bucket. Cut a hole in the bottom and feed your plant through then plant herbs or small plants in the top of the bucket.
http://unoacres.blogspot.com/2008/05/its-topsy-turvy-world.html
http://www.practicalhomeandgarden.com/how-to-make-your-own-upside-down-tomato-planter

 

[luv2nascar]

we plant a garden every year. We wait till at least Mother's day to avoid frost. We grow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, red peppers, parsley, dill, basil, and sweet banana peppers.

 

[2Eskiedogs]

I started my seeds today. I planted green pepper, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes. Also I planted marigold seeds. I had an envelope of seeds from church that I planted also - no clue what they are. I've also been growing some lettuce in a couple of flower pots in my house and I'm close to harveting. Yum!

I also will sow directly in my garden lettuce, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers and onions.

My husband is thinking about moving my garden from one side of the yard to the other side, and then fence it in. No more feeding the bunnies!
This buffet is closed!

I've tried growing strawberry plants but didn't have any luck, same with eggplant, carrots and radishes.

 

[Evi]

I'm getting ready to put everything to dirt =)

Im in NE my best advice plant early indoors and put out hardy little plants. Water and feed often hehe.

Lets see this year I'm doing cherry tomatoes, Heirloom tomatoes, Patty-pans, Zucchini, Broccoli, Green Peppers, Peas, Hot peppers, sweet paprika peppers, Potatoes, onions, garlic, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavander, and sunflower seeds. I think I got a few other things but I can't remember them off top of my head.

The Zucchini and patty pans do well but I always get worms so I'm trying to plant them with garlic this year. Last year though everyone I knew had tomato plant rot mine did fine I'm also hoping they do well this year. Broccoli did extremely well but my peppers never really get big and seem to be doing best once the seasons coming to an end. My herb garden never really takes off lol I don't know why and this will be my first year doing potatoes, garlic and onions.

Wish me luck

 

[bigtinklover]

Gonna attempt a garden this year. Where I live, I have a TON of alkali in my soil...when it rains, the ground turns white....UGH...didn't think about it the year I did plant one..but, then decided, maybe...I didn't want alkali in my veggies...so, didn't plant for awhile. This year, I got the idea of using one of those hard plastic pools.

I am gonna plant zuchinni, summer squash, spaghetti squash, cukes and green beans. Gonna try the topsy turvey tomato thing too.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

 

[MattMatts-Momma]

I have also planted a garden for several years. Last year our garden was awesome. Some of the best tomatoes we've ever had. I try to stick with the heirloom varieties. Last year I grew a tomato that was huge, it weighed 1.77 pounds:

My husband tilled the entire garden this year and remade the rows, it looks great. We have a horse and a pony so we added the manure to the garden before he tilled it.

So far, I have planted tomatoes, onions, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash and peas. I have several heirloom tomatoes started, but they aren't ready to be planted yet. I have an asparagus bed, strawberry bed and a patch of walking onions. I have some bell pepper plants that I need to plant today. I am not planting corn this year.

Our local news mentioned this week that the prices of tomatoes and bell peppers are going to soar, due to the frost in Florida this year. I have a hard time paying .97 cents for a green bell pepper now.

 

[Sagginit]

since i have been home from college i have slowly been taking over a corner of the yard. at first my mum protested but she loves tomatoes and they do amazingly well in our yard its gotta be that famous NJ soil that loves them. i grow herbs and jalepeno and pablano peppers as well. zuchinni did well the first time and last year i planted it again and it died but i think i need to give it more space. we have bunnies so to be safe i planted leafy greens in a flowerpot and those did very well so im going to throw in a few seeds this week. my herbs are already popping up so i need to start cleaning up and plotting where i will put my plants. i love fresh salsa, pesto, and grilled veggies in the summer.