Poll: vegetable garden

[FoBoT]

are you planting one this year?

if so, do you do it for fun or because you really like fresh food or to sharpen your survival skills or what?

 

[dullard]

I'll have a simple garden. Main reason: fruit/vegatables in the store are usually pumped full of water to increase their profits, waxed, and/or are artificially ripened. All of which lead to lower quality taste. A homegrown tomato which is one ounce has more flavor than an artificially ripened water filled 3 oz tomato in the store. More concentrated flavor is a very good thing.

I live in Nebraksa, the weather is still below freezing at night until ~May 1st. Thus I won't plant until around then.

 

[Ryan]

I've already started mine - I've got abotu 4 varieties of tomatos growing, peppers, and peas right now - just some simple stuff. I was thinking of growing a few stalks of corn just for the hell of it.

I just like doing it - plus, I usually give the tomatos away as gifts to friends 🙂 Plus - if you're eating with people, it neat to tell that that you grew some of the food 🙂

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: rbloedow
I was thinking of growing a few stalks of corn just for the hell of it.

Just a few stocks is usually quite disappointing. If you don't have at least 100, output is minimal due to lack of fertilization. Or if you live in a rural area near corn crops you'll likely get seed corn fertilizing your own stocks if you don't have 100+.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: rbloedow
I was thinking of growing a few stalks of corn just for the hell of it.

Just a few stocks is usually quite disappointing. If you don't have at least 100, output is minimal due to lack of fertilization. Or if you live in a rural area near corn crops you'll likely get seed corn fertilizing your own stocks if you don't have 100+.

I wouldn't be growing it for food - I'd be doing it just for the hell of it 🙂

 

[OutHouse]

yip i plant one every year. This year im doing a lot of bell peppers, (green, red and yellow) im tired of getting robbed when i buy them from the grocery store. I will also do tomatos, maybe a plant or two of some hot pepper like a Thai. and im sure the kids will pick out something that will be tasty.

what sucks is that we live in Colorado and cant plant anything until june 1st.

 

[FoBoT]

i tilled up a spot about 20x30 last fall, i need to go over it a couple more times and need to spray it with round up to kill all the grass (it was part of the lawn)

the family wants to do it, i grew up with large (.5 to 1 acres) gardens so i know how much work they are to weed and stuff, but i don't want to discourage them. i told them we are going to start small so they don't get overwhelmed.

 

[ondarkness]

Is growing stuff like basil, rosemary and other herbs similar to growing veggies?
do they depend on the same season/ground quality/etc...

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: ondarkness
Is growing stuff like basil, rosemary and other herbs similar to growing veggies?
do they depend on the same season/ground quality/etc...

It just varies from vegetable to vegetable - depanding on where you live, and you're climate. I've found that some plants will tolerate the sandy soil here in FL perfectly, while others throw a fit.

I haven't started any herbs this year - it's a good idea, though 🙂 Maybe I'll stop by my local nursury today 🙂

 

[Bryophyte]

I've got artichokes, rhubarb, tomatoes, peppers started in the greenhouse, tilled the garden lightly once a few weeks ago to start getting the winter crop of weeds under control, and have 13 feathered weed eating rototillers working and fertilizing the garden full time until I plant next month. Going to start putting in raised beds this year (one 4x10 12 inches high to go in this week for my strawberries.) I've got about 1/3 acre devoted to garden, orchard, and small fruits (raspberries, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, etc.)

 

[apoppin]

i'm planting hardy citrus trees - Mandarin Orange and Rio Red Grapefruit this weekend - digging the holes now . . . my area does get frost but these can stand it down to 24-28F . . . any colder and i'll string Xmas lights to keep 'em warm. 😉

Also planting a Fuji apple and possibly a dwarf Meyer lemon for a container.

Lettuce is WAY late . . . going in TODAY and tomatoes also.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: dullard
I'll have a simple garden. Main reason: fruit/vegatables in the store are usually pumped full of water to increase their profits, waxed, and/or are artificially ripened. All of which lead to lower quality taste. A homegrown tomato which is one ounce has more flavor than an artificially ripened water filled 3 oz tomato in the store. More concentrated flavor is a very good thing.

I live in Nebraksa, the weather is still below freezing at night until ~May 1st. Thus I won't plant until around then.

Around here every grocery store has a large organically farmed food section. It's a bit more expensive but they don't do any of that stuff to the food and it tastes way better.

I'm gonna grow some chives and peppermint on my apartment windowsill and that's about it.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Around here every grocery store has a large organically farmed food section. It's a bit more expensive but they don't do any of that stuff to the food and it tastes way better.

There is a big problem that causes. It isn't tastier since it is organic (ie no fertilizer, no insect repellants, etc) - it is tastier since it isn't mass produced with lowest expences possible. Unfortunately the organic lovers tend to mix those two concepts. Organic here is often more than double the price. So it is just nicer to plant your own and forget the high priced organic stuff.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: silverpig
Around here every grocery store has a large organically farmed food section. It's a bit more expensive but they don't do any of that stuff to the food and it tastes way better.

There is a big problem that causes. It isn't tastier since it is organic (ie no fertilizer, no insect repellants, etc) - it is tastier since it isn't mass produced with lowest expences possible. Unfortunately the organic lovers tend to mix those two concepts. Organic here is often more than double the price. So it is just nicer to plant your own and forget the high priced organic stuff.

Where is "here"?

in So Cal . . . . you can expect to pay 20-50% more . . . .

and organic is generally tastier than commercial (period)
(it better have some selling point besides 'no chemicals') 😉

 

[MrBond]

My Mom and Dad always plant a garden, I love fresh tomatos. The problem with tomatos in the store (organic or not) is that in order to ship them, they've got to be picked green. A tomato picked green doesn't taste like much of anything. Pick them ripe, and they're going to get destroyed in shipping.

They used to plant sweet corn too, but it's not even worth the effort anymore. Unless you put up the electric fense, racoons get into it and strip the crop before it's ripe enough to eat. If you do put the fense up, you have to maintain the grass/plants around it so they don't touch it and short it out.

I thought about planting some potted tomatos, but I only have west facing windows and because there's a hill with a tree line on top right outside my windows, I don't get much direct sunlight

 

[dullard]

Here is Nebraska. Crop prices may be a bit different in the midwest than the rest of the country.

I can see buying an organic tomato for flavor reasons, but organic iceberg lettuce? Neither one has much flavor at all. Thus I save a bundle and buy the non-organic. I have tried the organic iceberg lettuce and it really had no taste advantage.

 

[Lola]

i am so excited... we are just buying our first house and there is all the makings for a nice veggie garden... i cannot wait to start it!

 

[Iron Woode]

I miss planting a garden.

Hopefully I get to try again this year.

I usually plant tomatoes, onions and zucchini. The zucchini is the most productive of the bunch. I grow the variety Gold Rush. Its a hybrid that is disease resistant and is a bush variety so it doesn't vine all over the place. The yellow zucchinis look way cool.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: dullard
Here is Nebraska. Crop prices may be a bit different in the midwest than the rest of the country.

I can see buying an organic tomato for flavor reasons, but organic iceberg lettuce? Neither one has much flavor at all. Thus I save a bundle and buy the non-organic. I have tried the organic iceberg lettuce and it really had no taste advantage.

i can't imagine ever choosing iceberg . . . . i thought it was bred to be tasteless 😛
(it's a "showcase" for salad dressing) 😉

i usually pick Organic Romaine as i make a mean Caesar Salad - sometimes the commercial lettuce is bitter. i grow all varieties - except iceberg.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: apoppin
i can't imagine ever choosing iceberg . . . . i thought it was bred to be tasteless 😛
(it's a "showcase" for salad dressing) 😉

I love dressing, so all I want is a showcase. Iceberg for me! This weekend I was at a wedding. My 6 year old niece sat right next to me and we were served salads which were 100% spinach leaves. All I heard was: "this salad tastes like grass" and "this lettuce tastes like trash". I guess she will be an iceberg person too.

I like a couple other things thrown in on occasion - especially romaine. But I want most of it to be iceberg so I can really taste the dressing.

 

[dphantom]

YES!!! Spring is finally here. In about a month I'll have my garden in. Yes, I am really far up North. 😉
Corn carrots zucchini tomatoes, peas lettuce and peppers.

Did some canning for the first time last year with some unripened tomatoes. Made great relish.

 

[apoppin]

i used to eat salads for the dressing - so i can relate. Unfortunately, MOST commercial dressings are hi-calorie, fat, chemical and/or sodium laden. So i now go for the taste of the veggies - they had BETTER taste good; so it's 'organic' or homegrown organic for me and more "simple" dressings (except Caesar).

 

[DougK62]

I dug up a 4x4 spot in the yard that I'm going to plant a whole bunch of cucumbers in.

 

[PanzerIV]

Hmm...this is the second Spring I have lived in my first home and I was thinking of growing a garden this year and this thread may have just made up my mind. Tomatos freshly plucked from the vine have no other equal in nature. I love 'em sooo much. 🙂

 

[FoBoT]

tomatoes are usually pretty easy to grow, just don't put them in shade
also zucchini if the soil is good. i have never had good luck with cucumbers, i think they need constant water or something? they either don't get big or they are bitter