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

[SamSam]

It's fun seeing what everyone is planting and the way they plant, thanks for starting this thread. I have a raised garden, two sections - each 4' x 8', that was made years ago with railroad ties. This year I have planted:
2 Juliet Tomato plants (small grape size tomatoes)
1 Roma Tomato
1 Better Boy
1 Parks Whopper

1 Serano Pepper
1 Jalapeno
1 Sweet Banana
1 Habanero
1 Red Delicous Hybrid

I also have Thai basil, parsley, and cilantro planted in a small ledge container up on our deck, along with various flowers and plants in planters.
I can tomatoes each year, usually just a couple of dozen jars so we'll have good tasting tomatoes for soups, etc. year round.

 

[Renysmom]

Garden Help Question #1

So we planted Potato's as John wanted to try growing them. They have all gotten to be about 3' tall, have flowered and now the flowers are gone. How do we know when they are ready to pick??

Thanks

 

[DVCsince02]

Garden Help Question #1

So we planted Potato's as John wanted to try growing them. They have all gotten to be about 3' tall, have flowered and now the flowers are gone. How do we know when they are ready to pick??

Thanks

Oooh ooh, I know this one!

When the greens die back and are brown like a potato.



My turn.

Where can I find those pots like the ones in the fountain garden I posted?

 

[kimisabella]

Where can I find those pots like the ones in the fountain garden I posted?

Have you tried looking at Home Depot or Lowes? Even Homegoods may have decorative pots you could arrange around a water feature, like this one.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_248474-3657...Id=1070873&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Yes_4294822936

You could elevate the water feature, then arrange all the pots around it.

 

[k5jm]

Where can I find those pots like the ones in the fountain garden I posted?

From these guys....

http://www.nelsonwatergardens.com/disappearing_fountains.asp

 

[DVCsince02]

Have you tried looking at Home Depot or Lowes? Even Homegoods may have decorative pots you could arrange around a water feature, like this one.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_248474-3657...Id=1070873&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Yes_4294822936

You could elevate the water feature, then arrange all the pots around it.

I've seen ones that have an asian theme or a santa fe style, that are in the stores and I'm really wanting the terra cotta ones. I've been searching online, but haven't found much.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I've seen ones that have an asian theme or a santa fe style, that are in the stores and I'm really wanting the terra cotta ones. I've been searching online, but haven't found much.

There are lots of garden centers that carry plain terra cotta pots...or used to. We used to get ours from New England Pottery, but I think they're going out of business. I still find lots of their stuff in Ocean State Job Lot...but I guess that's not really helpful where you are.

Check your local garden center.

 

[Renysmom]

Oooh ooh, I know this one!

When the greens die back and are brown like a potato.

My turn.

Where can I find those pots like the ones in the fountain garden I posted?

Thanks Jen.. Guess we have a bit longer before we have taters

 

[Cherinva]

Great thread !!!! I've put in a basic vegie garden...about 8' by 10'. I've planted from seeds.. green beans, zuchinni, and radishes. From plants...grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, egg plant, yellow squash, green peppers and two types of cucumbers. As of last night, I have a number of vegies starting to show...a couple of tomatoes and peppers. And my seeded plants are starting to come up as well. I love fresh vegies.

 

[georgemoe]

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.

Thanks Kelly. To sort of answer your question, I harvest when it looks good or big enough to eat.

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.

Good to hear about those peppers doing ok Todd. I love making poppers and stuff with my peppers. If it has a cavity, I'll stuff it with edibles.

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.

You know now I have to Google Alaska peas. Love green beans but Deb does not. I've always heard they are a lot of work. Had a bad experience with brussels sprouts once and I've not eaten them since. I'd rather try to grow just regular cabbage.

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

My garden was terrible last year Marilee due to all the early rain. There were many of us in my area that had trouble with squash and cukes. My peppers and tomatoes did ok and I did get some egg plant. Hoping for a better year garden wise.

 

[Renysmom]

I've seen ones that have an asian theme or a santa fe style, that are in the stores and I'm really wanting the terra cotta ones. I've been searching online, but haven't found much.

Jen I saw some terra cotta at Home Depot today and told John that they were just what you were looking for. He is like "Jen who" and I go "Jen the sparkly ear'd sister from the DIS" and he knew exactly who I was talking about

Anyway.. I saw some at Home Depot today, they were set up separate from the other planters and only saw them as some flowers caught my eye and walked over to the corner area of the garden center.

 

[georgemoe]

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.

Looks awesome Jen! Can't wait to see more pictures when the plants start maturing. My first year I tried using one of those Burpee seed starter kits for peppers and a few other things. It didn't yield good results. Pepper plants were real tall and thin. Kind of difficult to explain.

Some day I'll start things from seed again. Maybe set up something in the cellar with a grow light. Need to keep things away from the cats.

 

[georgemoe]

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.

Love it Dodie. The grape tomato experiment looks pretty cool. I'm going to steal that idea for next year.

 

[georgemoe]

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,

Sounds pretty cool Karen. Post some photos and I'm sure the plant professionals can help you out with the weed ID'ing. When in doubt, pull it out!

Ask and you shall receive

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

Thanks Andrea. Another idea to go with! I'm going to make a composter for next year. Just need to find a drum like your dad did.

It's fun seeing what everyone is planting and the way they plant, thanks for starting this thread. I have a raised garden, two sections - each 4' x 8', that was made years ago with railroad ties. This year I have planted:
2 Juliet Tomato plants (small grape size tomatoes)
1 Roma Tomato
1 Better Boy
1 Parks Whopper

1 Serano Pepper
1 Jalapeno
1 Sweet Banana
1 Habanero
1 Red Delicous Hybrid

I also have Thai basil, parsley, and cilantro planted in a small ledge container up on our deck, along with various flowers and plants in planters.
I can tomatoes each year, usually just a couple of dozen jars so we'll have good tasting tomatoes for soups, etc. year round.

Nice selection.

Great thread !!!! I've put in a basic vegie garden...about 8' by 10'. I've planted from seeds.. green beans, zuchinni, and radishes. From plants...grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, egg plant, yellow squash, green peppers and two types of cucumbers. As of last night, I have a number of vegies starting to show...a couple of tomatoes and peppers. And my seeded plants are starting to come up as well. I love fresh vegies.

This is very close to what I've planted. Looks good Cher.

 

[DVCsince02]

Looks awesome Jen! Can't wait to see more pictures when the plants start maturing. My first year I tried using one of those Burpee seed starter kits for peppers and a few other things. It didn't yield good results. Pepper plants were real tall and thin. Kind of difficult to explain.

Some day I'll start things from seed again. Maybe set up something in the cellar with a grow light. Need to keep things away from the cats.

I was trying to get the kids involved as much as possible in the early stages, so I thought having them fill the pots with dirt and planting the seeds would help them become interested. They really liked watching them peek out from the dirt and grow.

Maybe the cats would like some home grown catnip.

 

[georgemoe]

Maybe the cats would like some home grown catnip.

The cats enjoy anything they don't have to get themselves.

Kind of a wasted weekend with all the rain we had on Saturday. Still drizzly here and there today with no sun. I was at least able to get out and do some weeding today.

If you don't have one already, you need an action hoe. No silly not that kind. This kind.

Works great for weeding around plants close up.

Once all my plants are established, I use Preen. Just sprinkle in between plants to prevent weeds. It works pretty well.

 

[georgemoe]

Pepper Time!

This year I went with seven plants. Four hot and three sweet bells.

 

[georgemoe]

One more pic for the tomatoes. I plant 4 to 8 plants and no more. Deb's fave is the grape variety. Since I only started with five plants I might go out and get an heirloom to try. I haved a little room reserved for extra.

 

[dpuck1998]

Missed this until now, here is one photo for now. I am seeing how posting from the new phone works.

 

[dpuck1998]

Coolio, posting pics from the phone worked great.



Anyway, so here is a shot of the gardens, each kid has a small raised bed. We put weed guard under and filled them with garden soil.

This first one is the day we put everything in the ground.

The rest are from today

You can see here they are really taking off.

Trace has some peppers in his garden already.

Lily has some tomatoes on the vines, still small and green, Brady planted catnip for the kitty.

Things seem surprisingly well so far. My concern is those giant leaves are pumpkins. They are HUGE already. I'm afraid they might over run the other plants. Also, the cucumbers are also super big too. But this is more for fun and educating the kids, so anything beyond is a plus. So far they take a look almost each day and water and weed the beds.

We have some other fun plants, cabbage, broccoli, lots of corn, sunflowers, etc. Its pretty tight in the beds, hopefully we didn't over plant...but again, just for fun

Sidenote, all the photos from today are with my new phone, it takes some nice photos hu