Vegetable Gardens

[Gator Bait]

Anybody planning a spring garden? I'm starting to plan one now and looking for tips and ideas. What are you growing?

 

[Colleen27]

I grow a big garden every year. The lineup changes and I haven't even looked at the growing pile of seed catalogs on my desk to make decisions for 2012 yet, but tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions, corn, popcorn, carrots, green beans, some sort of melon, and peas make it every year. The I think we're going to try an experiment in sugar beets this year too, because the kids think it would be neat to make sugar.

My biggest tip is that raised beds make everything a world easier. It is an investment up front but then you know you're starting with healthy soil and the beds are so much easier to work than in-ground beds where the weeds creep in from the adjacent lawn.

 

[Gnomegirl]

No planning yet but I should be. We have to put in raised beds and finish our fencing. We have dogs that run right through the garden and/or eat the veggies off the vine. We also have deer and the neighbors horses who get out frequently.

Our garden is decent sized - 52 by 32 feet. We also have pear, apple and mulberry trees outside of this.

I love Pinetree seeds from Maine but there are so many great companies out there.

 

[Gator Bait]

So you grow popcorn corn? I've never talked to anyone who did that! This might seem like a silly question, but do you actually make popcorn with it?

 

[Gator Bait]

Gnomegirl, I'm at the same point. I've done some small beds in the yard in the past, but I'm going big this year. I'm building raised beds in the corner of our cow pasture and need to fence the corner off to keep cows (and deer) out of the garden. I need to get busy!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Mine is pretty simple. I have 2 raised garden beds 4' x 6'. They are easy to weed, water and fertilize.

I grow 6 tomato plants. I will probably up that to 10 next year so I can have extra for making salsa.

I grow 6 pepper plants - 1 jalapeno pepper, 3 green pepper, 2 red pepper.

I did a few beets last year but since I'm the only one who likes them, it's easier just to buy them in the store if I want some.

Then I grow 1 cilantro plant, 1 basil,and 1 chive plant. Usually that leaves me with 1/2 a raised bed that I put flowers in for cutting.

I've tried corn and onions and those barely grew. Green beans grow well but the kids don't like them so they are a waste of growing space. Carrots also don't grow well because of the clay soil even in the raised beds. Those are cheap at the grocery store anyway.

 

[pat fan]

I am pretty excited about my garden this year! I finally talked DH into building me a small root cellar so I am going to grow butternut & acorn squash, carrots, sweet & white potatoes to put up in there. Then I am going to grow some green beans for canning Dilly Beans (I hate "fresh" beans!) and cukes for making pickles. I am determined to put stuff away this year! Stuff to eat fresh, I will get at the farmers market.

 

[SDSorority]

Count me in! I have no idea what I want to grow this year, but I'll be doing it!

 

[Gator Bait]

I have an herb garden and a pepper garden going now, with 2 basil plants, cilantro, parsley, chives, green onions, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, habanero peppers, and green peppers. I've done container tomatoes in the past, but I'm putting them in the ground this year.

I'm planning the layout now, and I was wondering if 4' wide for a raised bed is a little too wide to weed easily. I haven't done a big garden in years, and it was not a raised bed garden.

Also, seasoned gardeners... do you mulch? What do you use?

My herb/pepper garden is small (2' x 10' around the corner of the back porch) and it is killing me with weeds!

 

[Gator Bait]

I am pretty excited about my garden this year! I finally talked DH into building me a small root cellar so I am going to grow butternut & acorn squash, carrots, sweet & white potatoes to put up in there. Then I am going to grow some green beans for canning Dilly Beans (I hate "fresh" beans!) and cukes for making pickles. I am determined to put stuff away this year! Stuff to eat fresh, I will get at the farmers market.

What are dilly beans? I'm guessing they are pickled. Maybe if (I mean when!) my garden is a success, you can give me some tips on canning. I stink at it.

 

[mdrob214]

I have a small garden. It is comprised of raised beds (made with landscape timbers) There are 3 beds and each is 4' x 8' If you can get to both sides of the bed, a 4' wide bed is good. It's a stretch to reach the back of the bed for me (I have to lean over chicken wire, which is there to keep the &*#@#@ rabbits from eating my plants). =l <<that's how my beds are organized 2 lengthwise, butting against each other and one long on the ends, so I can only reach from the outside.

I do mulch. I use newspaper in the spring around all the plants--a couple layers. It's a great weed barrier. On top of the newspaper I use grass clippings. It helps with moisture retention. Check with your county extension office. They'll have great recommendations for your local area/climate/soil/etc.

 

[Gator Bait]

I was thining 4 x 8 beds with a path between each one so I can get to both sides. I won't even try leaning all the way over it, because my clumsy self will be falling right in the middle of my plants.

I was reading about newspapers as a ground layer. Sounds like a good plan to me!

 

[pat fan]

What are dilly beans?

Yes, they are a pickled green bean. My grandma used to make them, it's the only way I will eat "fresh" beans. Well, I guess after they're pickled you can't call them fresh, but you get the idea

We'll have to start a thread early summer with our canning recipes! But other than that, buy yourself a Ball Blue Book for canning/freezing.

 

[Gator Bait]

We'll have to start a thread early summer with our canning recipes! But other than that, buy yourself a Ball Blue Book for canning/freezing.

Yes! You can all laugh at me when I miserably fail! My mom and her mom canned every year when I was growing up, but I tried to do some jelly a few years back and it just didn't work. The concept is so simple... I still don't know what I did wrong!

I have an old family recipe for summer squash pickles that is pretty good.

 

[mdrob214]

Yes! You can all laugh at me when I miserably fail! My mom and her mom canned every year when I was growing up, but I tried to do some jelly a few years back and it just didn't work. The concept is so simple... I still don't know what I did wrong!

Sur-Jel. And real sugar, not the low/no sugar variety.

 

[Gator Bait]

Sur-Jel. And real sugar, not the low/no sugar variety.

The jelly came out great, but the cans wouldn't seal. I think I just wasn't patient enough.

 

[budafam]

I plan to have another garden this year. Ours isn't that big but I'll probably have 2 big tomato plants, 2 cherry tomato plants, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, chives (if my husband didn't kill them all this year), strawberries (if they choose to come back), a few melons, cucumbers, zucchini & probably a few eggplants. My mother in law has an acre garden and they grow EVERYTHING (including their own popcorn - yes, we pop it ourselves and it is delish!) They grow corn, raspberries, kiwis, pumpkins, squash and all kinds of other stuff. Whenever we go out there, we load up the van and bring it all home to freeze. I haven't been brave enough to try canning yet but I do have a book on it. I should really attempt it.

 

[Colleen27]

So you grow popcorn corn? I've never talked to anyone who did that! This might seem like a silly question, but do you actually make popcorn with it?

Yep. I use a variety called strawberry something, and the ears are about 2-3" long, red, and berry shaped. I dry most of mine in the oven to use in the air popper, but always leave a couple-few on the cob to microwave pop cob and all.

This is the article that got me started with the basic how-tos - http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/grow-your-own-popcorn-zmaz79zsch.aspx

I'm planning the layout now, and I was wondering if 4' wide for a raised bed is a little too wide to weed easily. I haven't done a big garden in years, and it was not a raised bed garden.

Also, seasoned gardeners... do you mulch? What do you use?

I think 4' is perfect if you can access the beds from both sides. I have two 4' x 16' beds and two 4' x 20' beds, with a wide path on the short side between the two pairs and narrower foot paths on the long sides for working from.

I do mulch. I use newspaper in the spring around all the plants--a couple layers. It's a great weed barrier. On top of the newspaper I use grass clippings. It helps with moisture retention. Check with your county extension office. They'll have great recommendations for your local area/climate/soil/etc.

I use newspaper too. The soy inks that most use now are safe as they break down and it makes a great weed barrier. I also work comported manure and yard waste into the soil spring and fall to keep it rich and healthy.

The jelly came out great, but the cans wouldn't seal. I think I just wasn't patient enough.

Timing is everything when canning. For me, jam/jelly is always a little tricky and I've come to prefer freezer jam methods over water bath canning for fruit spreads. I'm much better at salsa, chili sauce, BBQ sauce, marinara sauce, and other tomato-y products... which is good because we go through a LOT of that stuff in my family. Last year I had 20-some tomato plants and still bought three bushels of tomatoes from the farmers' market for canning.

 

[pixiewings71]

We have a very small garden space. This year was our first year doing it and we did great! next year I will plant many of the same items but some different. We do tomatoes in containers (clay pots) and they do amazingly well, they are covered now so hopefully they survive the winter (we had a pear tomato plant that survived last winter so we are hopeful), if not we will replant in the spring. We will plant sugar snap peas in the spring (they like it colder and they did amazingly well this year), some carrots, cucumbers (different varieties, some from plants some from seeds) squash, zucchini and possibly some peppers. I'd love to plant a jalapeno plant, I could do so much with fresh jalapenos so I might try that this year. Our yellow & red bells didn't do so well so we may skip them this year to try something else. That's really about all we have room for, our garden area is about 2 feet wide by 6 feet long so we don't have much room. Part of the reason we do tomatoes in the containers.

 

[poohguys]

When we bought our house 15 yrs ago there was a nice big garden. When I had DS I let the garden go. I wanted to put one in the same spot as the old one was last spring. I am so glad that I never got around to it. That area of the yard spent most of the summer under water with all of the rain and hurricane Irene! I am going to make one this year in a different spot. One that I know did not flood last year.

For those of you who have the raised beds do you have a fence around them? I really think I would need one here with all of the deer.