Garden is established and on its way

[NetWareHead]

Anybody else gardening this year? My GF and I spent all day in our garden yesterday. Alot of work but hopefully, we'll have some nice fruits and veggies to eat through the fall. We rented a rototiller and tilled a nice sized garden in late march. We had a garden last year in the same plot of land so the tilling was much easier this time due to the soil being already semi-loose and many of the roots and undesireable stuff was already dug out. I had a compost pile which I slowly dismantled and carted wheelbarrow loads of it to the garden site. I spread a total of 25 wheelbarrow loads of compost plus 25 cubic feet of composted cow manure and hummus in the garden. The I rototilled the whole thing, removed some roots that I found and let it the garden sit until planting season.

Mid April was time to plant veggies that could reasonably stand the cold and possibly a light frost:
6 heads of red leaf lettuce
6 brussel sprouts
6 heads of kale
1 dill
1 fennel
1 rosemary
1 mint
1 large grouping is wild chives that came with the house, relocated these to the garden
2 catnip plants
1 oregano
1 bed of spinach
1 bed of parsley
1 bed of radishes
1 bed of beets
Additionally, 5 strawberry and 2 blackberry plants that were started last year were left alone.

This weekend was warm enough to plant the warm season stuff:

12 eggplants
18 tomatoes (6 San Marzano, 6 Jet star & 6 early girl varities)
12 Carmen peppers
4 hot chilis
4 Italian large leaf basil
18 Cucumbers (12 regular & 6 pickling varieties)
2 zucchinis

Still have more room for one more row in the garden. Not a big fan of corn, plus its too tall and would shade the plant rows behind it. We may do string beans. Any suggestions?

 

[spidey07]

Careful with dill and fennel. They harm a lot of plants and inhibit their growth.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Yep -- but living in an apartment kind of holds me back a bit. This is also the first year I've grown anything. I've got: Dill, Oregano, Parsley, (sweet) Basil, Cilantro, Thyme, Chives, Jalapenos, and cherry tomatoes. Everything has started growing pretty well. It's been warm enough (especially in the window) that they are getting at least 6 hours of solid sun a day. (The window I have them in faces the west)

 

[Matthiasa]

My garden consists of one plant on my balcony.
A single Bird's eye chili.
Some herbs would be nice but that will wait for now.

 

[leeland]

Just going to embark on starting a garden with my wife and kids as a family project.

Really haven't got ever done it before, the wife wants to do a raised bed.


Anyone ever make a raised bed? How big did you make it? What kind of lumber did you use?

 

[BUTCH1]

I've got one big tomato plant, that's it, vegetable season is coming to a close here in FL..

 

[randomrogue]

How about planting stuff that is fun to eat while you're in the garden like sweet peas and strawberries?

 

[Elbryn]

the ball is getting started. garden was tilled with amendments about a month ago, then sat until early may. got some radishes put in along with a couple tomatoes and peppers. in the starter boxes i've got peas, lettuce, some chinese cool weather plants, and cucumbers waiting to get big enough to transplant.
still gotta build a new a frame to replace the one that cant eke out another season for the peas and cucumbers.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

nope. skipping it this year. too much other BS to deal with. the beds are getting overgrown with weeds and missed veggies from last year. Found a couple onions and a whole bunch of carrots. the sage is growing like a boss again this year. big and bushy. its the best grower in my garden year after year. that and the chives. cant kill them mofos.

I _MIGHT_ get around to planting a couple tomato plants, but blight has crushed all my maders for the past couple years. may be time to take a break.

we're trying to redo the back yard. my 4 raised beds will become one large ground plot with a brick border. i have WAY too many bricks laying around.

 

[NetWareHead]

Anyone ever make a raised bed? How big did you make it? What kind of lumber did you use?

You can use pretty much any wood, but the best kinds obviously are woods that are harder and more resistant to rot like Douglas Fir or White Spruce (no experience with them, I've just heard those work well). It also may do you some good to apply a coat of water seal for outdoor wood like Thompsons water seal. You could always use pressure treated lumber as well, but many people I've spoken to dont like to go this route, although I've heard from some lumber yard guys that pressure treated wood of new is not as toxic as the stuff from years ago.

2x10 board are a good size, they give a good height to the raised bed. With a board length of 8 feet, you just cut it in half and make 1 4x8 bed with 3 boards. You can use metal corner brackets or a 4x4 posts in the corners to join everything together with some exterior galvanized screws.

Otherwise I've also seen raised beds made out of leftover bricks or concrete blocks.

 

[Leymenaide]

You can use pretty much any wood, but the best kinds obviously are woods that are harder and more resistant to rot like Douglas Fir or White Spruce (no experience with them, I've just heard those work well). It also may do you some good to apply a coat of water seal for outdoor wood like Thompsons water seal. You could always use pressure treated lumber as well, but many people I've spoken to dont like to go this route, although I've heard from some lumber yard guys that pressure treated wood of new is not as toxic as the stuff from years ago.

2x10 board are a good size, they give a good height to the raised bed. With a board length of 8 feet, you just cut it in half and make 1 4x8 bed with 3 boards. You can use metal corner brackets or a 4x4 posts in the corners to join everything together with some exterior galvanized screws.

Otherwise I've also seen raised beds made out of leftover bricks or concrete blocks.

Building out of Ep Henry wall stone today. Rather large 12 by 30.
No wood to rot .

 

[jaha2000]

Yep going to plant in a week or two, we still are having some hard frosts here..

 

[Leymenaide]

Anybody else gardening this year? My GF and I spent all day in our garden yesterday. Alot of work but hopefully, we'll have some nice fruits and veggies to eat through the fall. We rented a rototiller and tilled a nice sized garden in late march. We had a garden last year in the same plot of land so the tilling was much easier this time due to the soil being already semi-loose and many of the roots and undesireable stuff was already dug out. I had a compost pile which I slowly dismantled and carted wheelbarrow loads of it to the garden site. I spread a total of 25 wheelbarrow loads of compost plus 25 cubic feet of composted cow manure and hummus in the garden. The I rototilled the whole thing, removed some roots that I found and let it the garden sit until planting season.

Mid April was time to plant veggies that could reasonably stand the cold and possibly a light frost:
6 heads of red leaf lettuce
6 brussel sprouts
6 heads of kale
1 dill
1 fennel
1 rosemary
1 mint
1 large grouping is wild chives that came with the house, relocated these to the garden
2 catnip plants
1 oregano
1 bed of spinach
1 bed of parsley
1 bed of radishes
1 bed of beets
Additionally, 5 strawberry and 2 blackberry plants that were started last year were left alone.

This weekend was warm enough to plant the warm season stuff:

12 eggplants
18 tomatoes (6 San Marzano, 6 Jet star & 6 early girl varities)
12 Carmen peppers
4 hot chilis
4 Italian large leaf basil
18 Cucumbers (12 regular & 6 pickling varieties)
2 zucchinis

Still have more room for one more row in the garden. Not a big fan of corn, plus its too tall and would shade the plant rows behind it. We may do string beans. Any suggestions?

Save for more lettuce in two weeks
Potatoes. I have some nice baking potatoes sprouting in the pantry will plant this week.
More Basil
More Dill
Sweet Banana peppers make great white salsa
Yellow tomatoes for the white salsa
Leeks are real rewarding they sit for a long time and you just keep using them.
Shallots are great also
If you are in it for the long haul Asparagus

 

[Sentrosi2121]

I built a nice L shaped garden last year. 12' along the outside walls, 8' inside and 4' across. I also built a 4'x4' garden alongside of it to plant herbs in. In the L shaped garden we grew tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, carrots and potatoes. In the herb garden we grew rosemary, parsley and basil. It was a bountiful garden but very crowded. We had planted 16 tomato plants which got overgrown pretty quickly. The zucchini and cucumbers grew all along the garden and then spilled over. But both still were producing til mid November.

So this year we only planted 9 tomato plants instead of 16. Gives the plants more room to grow and flower. Mother in law put in the zucchini and cucumber seeds in this weekend. They should grow along the inside border and overflow into the walkway instead of being chewed up by my lawnmower like they did last year. Also put in 6 peppers and 4 basil plants over the weekend. The only thing left for our garden will be the eggplant.

From that garden came the most delicious salsa I've ever eaten along with some fried zucchini flowers my MIL made for us. We are planning on building another L shaped garden in the next couple of years to compliment the one we already have making the 4'x4' cube in the center and having a place for more pot-friendly vegetables (like the zucchini and cucumber plants) in the areas that will be opened.

 

[NetWareHead]

Save for more lettuce in two weeks
Potatoes. I have some nice baking potatoes sprouting in the pantry will plant this week.
More Basil
More Dill
Sweet Banana peppers make great white salsa
Yellow tomatoes for the white salsa
Leeks are real rewarding they sit for a long time and you just keep using them.
Shallots are great also
If you are in it for the long haul Asparagus

Excellent ideas. Not so big on potatoes...My GF and I just dont eat them often enough and I'd rather dedicate the space to better and more exciting plants.

We already have 18 tomatoes, 3 varieties, so if we do an odd tomato color, its probably last on the list. Actually we may add more tomatoes since the garden centers around here have sales, last year I picked up fully grown potted tomato plants loaded with fruit for $5 and set it on the side of the garden.

As far as leeks and shallots, I was just thinking that we need some more root plants. We had some grocery store onions that were growing in the kitchen so we decided to plant them. Maybe carrots could be added too.

I forgot about the asparagus, which we had planned for. We reserved a nice area at the end of the garden for asparagus. Just need to decide on a variety now and pick it up or order it.

 

[blackdogdeek]

my wife has the green thumb. she was in the backyard planting and putting down mulch all this past weekend.

i move the big bags of mulch and soil for her.

 

[basslover1]

I started yesterday with attempt number two at getting an herb garden going. Attempt one everything died because it stopped raining and I forgot to water them.

I've got Sage, Thyme, Chives and Sweet Basil going now, bought them from Lowes. I'm attempting to grow Rosemary, Cilantro, and another Sweet Basil from seeds. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Kwatt]

This year I have planted 14-DIY Self Watering Containers, 2-4'x4' raised beds and 6-5 gal bucket planters.
The tomato seeds put out in March are 3-4 feet tall with blooms. Probably have to start side dressing in 3 weeks.
SWC's:
4- with 2- Big Boy tomatoes each
4- with 2- Steak Sandwich tomatoes each
2- with 3- Mammoth Jalapenos each
1- with 3- Okra
1- with 3- Hot Chili peppers
1- with 3- bush cucumbers
1- with 2-Peperoncini and 2-bell peppers


Raised beds:
During the fall and winter Collards and Turnips.
Now:
1- with 6-Watermellon and 4- oregano
1- with 5-cucumber


Excess are put up by freezing or canning and used in soups, chili, stews and sauces all winter.


These are for my sister to keep at her house.
6-5 gal bucket planters: 1- plant each
4- Big Boy tomato
2- Mammoth Jalapeno



.

 

[NetWareHead]

The tomato seeds put out in March are 3-4 feet tall with blooms.

Where do you live? I'm in NH and the weather just got warm this past week to put in warm weather plants like tomatoes. This is actually still considered early by New England standards.

 

[vi edit]

I've got spinach growing out my ears. Been picking away at that the last two weeks. My head lettuce is starting to come up.

Yesterday I got my beds weeded and tilled. Got one row of green beens in, some butter crunch lettuce, summer squash, and cucumbers. My tomato starts are doing great inside and will get moved outside shortly. Also have some pepper starts that I'm working on and will move out shortly.

I have some volunteer cilantro from seeds that fell off last year in a random flower bed that has turned into a small cilantro....shrub? That thing is going apeshit.

 

[Kwatt]

Where do you live? I'm in NH and the weather just got warm this past week to put in warm weather plants like tomatoes. This is actually still considered early by New England standards.

Georgia Zone 7b.
Had a freeze warning early on I just put a 5 gallon bucket upside down over the plants in the planters. The rest were in seedling trays (cups) in one of those 4 shelf 18"x24" (?) greenhouses HF had on clearance 2 years ago for $20(?). That little greenhouse some starting mix and some 16 oz. cups with a few holes in the bottom is good for a six - eight week head start. A pack of seeds for ~$3 and I can have 20 tomato plants. I now start all my plants from seeds, around here a single seedling goes for $3-$4 each.




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[Imp]

Get a dog, gun, or both.

People are assholes and will steal your fruits and vegetables.

 

[iRONic]

Where do you live? I'm in NH and the weather just got warm this past week to put in warm weather plants like tomatoes. This is actually still considered early by New England standards.

Is your garden fenced? Unpossible to have a backyard garden here due to the critters considering it their free buffet.

We do containers on our deck. Put in yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, basil, and parsley yesterday.

 

[NetWareHead]

Is your garden fenced? Unpossible to have a backyard garden here due to the critters considering it their free buffet.

We do containers on our deck. Put in yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, basil, and parsley yesterday.

Well we are in what is technically a city. Its the outskirts of the city so the lots are still big, there are plenty of trees, we benefit from the heat island effect and the animals are pretty much non-existant. But if you venture a few miles out from where we are, its full on NH wilderness.

 

[NetWareHead]

Update:
Everything is planted and all long term fertilizer has been put down. There are still some odd and ends pieces left but at least the hard work is mostly done and now begins the wait until harvest. I still water if the week is a dry one and apply a fish emulsion liquid fertilizer every week. The garden also looks much neater since I mulched for moisture conservation and weed prevention reasons. I bought 2 bales of heated treated chopped straw/hay mix and mulched around each vegetable and in between the rows. Tomato cages are also in the ground and I've begun to train the branches to grow as I want them to.

Some stuff such as red leaf lettuce and kale are already being harvested and eaten. Herbals are ready to use (rosemary, oregano, basil, etc...) Parsley, broccoli, brussels sprouts and spinach are coming up nicely. Radishes are almost ready to harvest. The only plant not doing well is my dill, I'll try to salvage whats left of it but I can replace if needed. Animals are also becoming an unexpected issue. Our cats (along with some neighborhood cats) have decimated every catnip plant I've planted so I threw a net over it to keep the cats off and let the plant regrow. We also built an enclosure for our row of strawberries using short bamboo stakes which we then draped netting over. This way the birds/squirrels won't eat them. Already lost a few strawberries to animals.

I had some empty spots in the garden which we filled up with red and yellow onions, celery and leeks. Also purchased 16 (8 Jersey Knight and 8 Purple Passion) asparagus crowns and started a bed. Last year, I noticed a raspberry plant growing, the birds must have eaten from my neighbor's raspberry bush and dropped the seeds in our yard. I pruned and fertilized it and this spring it is going nuts. We will have a nice crop of raspberries from this unexpected plant.

Stuff left to do:

-Trellises for cucumbers and string beans, these plants are still small but I want to grow them vertically so they don't turn into big space wasters.
-I bought some last minute plants: 1 rhubarb and 2 horseradish plants. Those will go in a corner of the yard where they can grow big and not encroach on anything important.
-It may be too late but I've always wanted to run a soaker hose setup to make watering easier. Maybe next year...
-Buy more catnip plant(s)!
-Take some pics and post.