The Garden Plot topic for Podcast Board DIS'ers: Share your successes and challenges!

[georgemoe]

Please post you vegetable garden experiences and photos for this season. There are a few of us podsters who are new, fairly new, or old hands with a garden. Share your efforts with all of us.

Flower garden sharing is allowed but I'm not eating any of it.

I planted as usual for me here in New England on Memorial Day. Mostly single plants but the cucumber, yellow squash, and zucchini seeds have all germinated in 8 days. I haven't watered either as the rain has been plentiful. My tomatos and peppers need sun though. Hopefully this weekend.

I'll be back soon with my own photos and commentary.

Enjoy, get down, get dirty!

 

[Renysmom]

Great idea George…

We planted our first garden ever this year and it appears to be thriving but now we have lots of how do we know when this or that is really ready to be harvest questions.

I’ve also been taking photos of it each week for fun. I just took some shots last night so as soon as I edit them out of the camera I will be sure to share.

 

[Launchpad11B]

I planted seeds of doubt and discontent. To early to tell if they have taken root. Stay tuned!

 

[jeanigor]

My sunflowers seem to be getting a good start.
The peppers I pot planted took a beating when we hit 90° a couple weeks back. They were still too young to handle that, but with some TLC they are bouncing back.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I have a tiny little garden, only what can fit within my 10'X10' chicken run (to thwart the woodchucks that devoured last year's garden). Have Alaska peas growing well, yellow onion sets, green beans, zucchini, spinach that just isn't doing too much, and Brussels sprouts that are doing really well (LOVE Brussels sprouts!). Also have assorted tomatoes that the garden center was throwing out. They need more sun to really catch up.

I also put a lettuce border on one of my perennial gardens out front, and have been harvesting different sorts of leaf lettuce for a couple of weeks. For some reason bunny is leaving these alone, even though they are not inside a fence.

 

[DVCsince02]

The kids and I decided to grow our first veggie garden this year. We sat and talked about what kinds of plants we would like to grow by looking through a seed catalog. The list became quite long and Chris and I narrowed the list down to ones that would be a little easier to grow and ones we would actually eat.

Found a nice website that helps you plan the actual planting area for free.
http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Page?id=kgp_pp

We are using the square foot method so this site tells us how many plants can be in that 1 foot plot.

I went to Lowes and picked up a bag of soil, compostable seed pots, and lots of seeds. Note to self -- Next time get a cart.

Bought seeds from Ferry-Morse and Burpee
Mesclun - lettuce
Romain - lettuce
Cucumbers
Yellow Beans (bush)
Green Beans (pole)
Carnival bell peppers
Squash
Zucchini
Carrot
Simpson Elite - Lettuce
Silver Queen Corn
Mammoth Sunflowers

I also bought some plants to that I didn't want to grow from seed.
Peppers - sweet and hot
Tomatoes - big boy, roma, cherry, beefsteak and an heirloom I can't remember the name.
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Eggplant

We also have some herbs started by Emma from Girl Scouts.
Basil
Mint
Dill

This may sound like a lot of plants, but we really only have between 1 and 5 of each type, except the corn and sunflowers. We have lots of them.

We built a 12 x 12 raised bed on the sunniest part of our yard and had delivered 3 yards of screened soil with compost mixed in. Also installed a critter fence.

This past weekend we finally got everything planted and done. Some of the seeds didn't grow and I was going to try them again, but after we got everything planted, there really wasn't any room left in the garden. So no carrots, some lettuce didn't make it, and carnival peppers (one survived, but we shall see).

So here it is:

Already the peppers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, and cucumbers have flowers and in the picture you can see a tiny bean growing. The kids like helping water the garden and so far so good.

Now the waiting begins.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Great garden, Jen! May I make a suggestion for next year? Break your garden beds into 3 4-foot wide beds, and that way it makes it easier to walk between them to weed, water, and harvest.

 

[DVCsince02]

Great garden, Jen! May I make a suggestion for next year? Break your garden beds into 3 4-foot wide beds, and that way it makes it easier to walk between them to weed, water, and harvest.

Thanks Mindy! That's a great compliment from someone with experience.

We thought about breaking it up, but the area in the yard has some exposure to the front and street, so we decided to keep it more compact. I doubt we will change it as moving 3 yards once was more than enough.

Chris kept telling me it was too big. I kept telling him it wasn't. I love being right.

 

[corky441]

Last year's veggie garden was a bit of a disappointment, too cool at night, too much rain, not enough sun in it's formitive stages. I also think my dirt was getting tired...

This year I've decided to let half of the plot go unplanted - I've boosted the soil quality of the entire garden with some fresh garden soil and compost. Next year I'll let this year's planted half take a rest.

So, planting this year has been scaled back a bit. I have only planted a few varieties of regular tomatoes, sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and zucchini.

I'm excited about the tomates this year - I've put in a few heirloom plants.

Also have little pots of herbs on a plant stand on the deck

 

[k5jm]

No Veggies this year, but lots of Herbs,Flowers, and a water garden! Jan did a great job back there this year (with lots of help from her manual laborer!!)...

Russi did not want to help...

 

[georgemoe]

No Veggies this year, but lots of Herbs,Flowers, and a water garden! Jan did a great job back there this year (with lots of help from her manual laborer!!)...

I see a keg.

 

[k5jm]

I see a keg.

Isn't that essential for any garden project?

 

[DVCsince02]

Has anyone noticed the terra cotta fountain display at DTD? I really want to do a smaller version of it in my front yard. I have the perfect place for it.

Here is a few pics.

So what are your suggestions for doing this in a smaller scale?

 

[Dodie]

Great idea for a thread! I don't know how I missed it!

Sorry for the poor quality iPhone pictures.

I planted our yearly two tomato plants (one yellow, one red) on the south side of the house by the rose garden about a month ago. With all of our rain and the early heat, they're doing great!

This is our grape tomato experiment! Saw this at the State Fair last year. No need for those "topsy turvy" tomato gadgets. Just popped the starts through the drain hole and put weed block on the top of the pots to keep the dirt from splashing out everytime it rains. They've already tripled in size so maybe we'll have lots of grape tomatoes later this season!

Also planted the container flowers on the patio a couple of weeks ago. This is later than usual, but, they're looking pretty nice too.

 

[georgemoe]

Death Star composter.

http://www.woot.com/

Good lord I might buy this.

 

[DVCsince02]

Death Star composter.

http://www.woot.com/

Good lord I might buy this.

 

[klam_chowder]

What a great thread, George!

Wow, so inspiring to see how ambitious others have been - everyone's sounds and looks fab! Good job, Jen! and just awesome, Mike!

As for me, I'm planting veggies for the first time this year and only have:

• cilantro in the ground and their large leaves are growing in after transplanting
• organic mesclun which will be transplanted this weekend from container to outside
• goji berries - of all the seeds I set, only one plant is looking secure and one is hanging on.

I'll pick up a tomato plant this weekend.

I have potted basil year-round and may do indoor windowsilll herbs at the end of summer.

My real issue is figuring out what in my landscaped beds are flowers vs. weeds - I know it's in the eye of the beholder but I don't consider morning glory a "desirable plant" I'll post some pics and see if any of intrepid gardeners can help identify them as "save" or "be gone"!

cheers,

 

[kimisabella]

Death Star composter.

http://www.woot.com/

Good lord I might buy this.

My father actually made a composter for their backyard, it is actually quite impressive - and it was much cheaper than that!

 

[georgemoe]

My father actually made a composter for their backyard, it is actually quite impressive - and it was much cheaper than that!

You know we need pictures don't you?

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the topic and apologies that I'm not able to reply to most of the replies. Been nuts this week. I'll respond as well as provide my updates over the weekend. Waiting for the sun to show it's face this week.

 

[kimisabella]

You know we need pictures don't you?

Ask and you shall receive

My father made it from a 55 gallon drum - he is the original McGuyver, lol!!!