Anyone else getting ready to make a Veggie garden?

[missysid]

We tilled the garden last week and planted out potatos already - 244 hills to be exact. That is about 60 more than last year so I hole we have a great crop. Our garden is 1 acre in size for veggies plus the fruit trees and berry patches so I am looking forward to a bit warmer weather.

We started our plant seeds indoors March 1st and currently have 48 pepper plants (5 different kinds) and 79 tomato plants about half are heirloom. I tried for the first time this year starting leeks, brocolli, and egg plants and so far the seedlings are doing well. We had a germination rate of about 93% and use heated grow lights to promote early growing.

I started canning about 3 years ago and just love having fresh produce that I grew to work with. We do practice organic gardening which is a bit more work but we think the rewards are great.

We grow everything from leeks, onions, tomatos, potatoes, blackberries, red raspberries, apples, pears, onions all 3 colors, sweet potatoes, chives, basil, sweet corn, pumpkins, gourds, mangles, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, green beans, wax beans, great northern beans, winter squash, purple beans. Oh I know there is more I just can not think of it right now.

Gardening for me is a great past time that helps slow down the busy rat race of working full time and running kids everywhere. We have a frost warning tonight so I have to cover the berries and fruit trees.

 

[dhuba]

I may have talked my husband into screening an area outside for a veggie garden, since we have so many deer out back. Now, how do I amend the soil at first. I haven't a clue. Any help for a beginner would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[phins_jazy]

I'm off to find a kiddie swimming pool this weekend.

 

[Totoro]

One of the the PP is right about fruits and pollination. Last year was brutal in New England because of all the rain. The rainy June chased away the bees and so there wasn't a lot of pollination. One of the local weather personalities had the same problem with his tomato plant. He had this beautiful plant, but it only produced one tomato.

 

[CTdiznymom]

We'll be starting our garden this weekend. We did a raised bed last year, and hope to make it better this year. We plan on planting basil, stringbeans, lettuce, peppers, cherry and reg. tomatoes, squash and eggplant.

I found this site to be extremely helpful in plotting out the garden. The bed is 4x8 so I'm going the square foot route! Check it out at...www.gardeners.com.

 

[sasywtch]

Gardening has become my fav pasttime in the last 4 years. I have one medium sized inground and 3 raised beds and 2 hanging tomato plants in 5 gal buckets. I have 9 tomato plants 12 squash (zuchini spagetti patty pans crook neck) bell peppers lemon cucumbers (YUM) regular cucumbers, 2 eggplants one whole raised bed of strawberries. Each year I buy more as they don't die off. It has taken 3 years and they are now growing good berries. (for a previous poster asking how to protect them from critters I wrote a post on another thread---put in stakes 2-1/2 feet high stapled chicken wire then bf make a top out of pvc (I would rather have had wood but he was doing it in kind so I'm pleased. When I want to weed or pick a berry I just lift off the pvc/chickenwire . No birdies got my berries last year.)

I love going out to the garden after work and seeing what there is to pick and eat for dinner.


My biggest tip is I put wood chips all over the garden so the weeds stay at a minimum and the ground stays moist.

 

[Colleen27]

One of the the PP is right about fruits and pollination. Last year was brutal in New England because of all the rain. The rainy June chased away the bees and so there wasn't a lot of pollination. One of the local weather personalities had the same problem with his tomato plant. He had this beautiful plant, but it only produced one tomato.

Tomatoes are a little different case. They're subtropical plants and don't do well with the wet, cool summer much of the country had last year, but they don't require bees to pollinate. They have "perfect" flowers that contain both male & female parts so the flowers are self-fertile - bees help the process along but they'll fruit even in their absence so long as some movement takes place to trigger the release of pollen. That's why they're so good for greenhouse growing; artificially pollinating is a matter of shaking the plants, rather than going flower-to-flower the way you have to with plants in the squash & melon families.

 

[Totoro]

Tomatoes are a little different case. They're subtropical plants and don't do well with the wet, cool summer much of the country had last year, but they don't require bees to pollinate. They have "perfect" flowers that contain both male & female parts so the flowers are self-fertile - bees help the process along but they'll fruit even in their absence so long as some movement takes place to trigger the release of pollen. That's why they're so good for greenhouse growing; artificially pollinating is a matter of shaking the plants, rather than going flower-to-flower the way you have to with plants in the squash & melon families.

Thanks for correcting. You learn something new everyday.

The suggestions people are making regarding critters and keeping them out with fencing. Have people found this to prevent little mice that like to dig holes in ground? Last year, I had a mouse that would would cut dill at the stalk and then would haul it through the hole.

 

[redlawyer]

Sounds more like a vole than a mouse. They ate my parsley, chives and broccoli last spring. Then I bought these battery operated posts that you stick into the ground. They made a beeping sound that the critters don't like. The voles haven't been back since I put the beepers in the ground. Now I've got clear plastic over the raised beds trying to warm the soil and kill off the bacteria that got my tomatoes last year.

 

[jfoofj]

I did tomatoes in containers on my deck last year, and my neighbor said I had a pretty good crop for it being such a rainy year. I really know nothing about gardening, but I am planning on trying some more container gardening this year. My deck/yard gets great sunlight in the morning, but not afternoon. I don't know if that affects anything or not. I also want to try a little pumpkin patch this year too.

 

[chickflick]

You guys are so motivating, I need to get planning!

 

[Alice1386]

So we started making our square foot garden beds today. It was kind of discouraging because we are having to terrace a hill with the beds (only place that has enough sun and a fence-to keep my dogs and other things away). It was very difficult to get through that red clay. I just try to remember how it will all be worth it for all those great veggies! I hope! Does anyone else here do the square foot gardening and if you do what type of store bought compost did you use in the soil mix?

 

[swilshire]

Already planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach and okra. This weekend we'll put in corn and a few beans.

We have more peppers, tomatoes and squash plants started.

I wanted to plant chickpeas for my daughter, but can't find any seeds locally. All the online stores charge way too much postage to order just this one thing. I'm not sure we have the right climate here for them anyway.

Can't wait for the good food.

Sheila

 

[2TxAgs]

I planted 2 tomatoes, 3 pepper plants, a squash plant and some cantaloupe seeds three days ago. SOMETHING (birds?) has eaten the leaves off the squash and one of the tomatoes already.

Tomorrow I will be going to buy some netting and more plants!

 

[CTdiznymom]

In todays HOME DEPOT circular they have a 4x4 raised bed kit for $29 for anyone that is interested in getting started and can't make their own frame. Also advertising BOGO veggie plants on Sunday only.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Sorry if this has been asked, I didn't read through all the posts....

When planting from seeds do you have to put the seed pots in sunlight?
I don't have a place in the house that I could use for that....my living room window has a couch in front of it.

 

[Colleen27]

Sorry if this has been asked, I didn't read through all the posts....

When planting from seeds do you have to put the seed pots in sunlight?
I don't have a place in the house that I could use for that....my living room window has a couch in front of it.

Some plants benefit from light to speed germination, but most will sprout just fine without it. Once they sprout, however, they do need a light source. It doesn't have to be natural - I use shoplight fixtures with one "cool" and one "warm" florescent bulb to give a full light spectrum without the expense of "daylight" bulbs.

 

[momz]

can you tells us how you did the tomato plant in the kitchen?

The tomato plant was grown hydroponically (think "Living with the Land"). I had it in a 5 gallon bucket of a pH balanced water with nutrient added. The plant was contained in a plastic "mesh" bucket in the lid then the roots dangled into the nutrient. I used an aquarium bubbler to add oxygen to the nutrient. Also, I used a full spectrum grow light that covered the entire light spectrum from red to blue. The nutrient solution needed to be monitored for pH balance, and needed to be changed completely about every 2 weeks. To do this, I just prepared another 5 gallon bucket as before and moved the lid containing the plant to the new bucket. The plant reached the ceiling and then some!!! I had to support it with a nylon trellis. It was still producing when I sacrificed it. Really, I just got tired of maintaining it.