Are any of you planting little organic veggie gardens to have free, healthy food available?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

I wondered if during this difficult time (and since our First Lady has started the White House veggie garden) any of you decided to plant, either in your garden, or your balcony, or in an empty lot next to you. Here's an example of a balcony vegetable garden: http://gallery.me.com/istara#100048&view=mosaic&bgcolor=black&sel=84

My sister's son has begun doing something called, "Square Foot Gardening." I don't know a lot about it, but it's a new way to get more plants within a smaller area of dirt. It's perfect for a balcony, too. It's apparently very easy to do. Here's a video of Mel Bartholomew explaining square foot gardening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g

The veggies are yummy! The tomatoes are on the way. They're keeping it organic.

Also, somebody on here put up a post about some heirloom seeds, if any of you are interested. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=213&topic_id=5568&mesg_id=5568

:think:

[XemaSab]

1. Square foot gardening is AWESOME

We built a 4x8 garden last fall, and it's kept us in fresh greens all winter.

I'm going to build a bunch more, and hopefully grow lots of veggies this summer too. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. My sister's family loves their square foot garden too!

It's such a great idea. I can't believe it took so long for someone to come up with it!

:hi:

[XemaSab]

77. I have a degree in soils

His formula is counterintuitive and novel. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

83. Sq foot is definitely interesting. And that from a civil engineer no less!

I have known plenty of civil engineers and most haven't been too friendly or too much into gardening or any sort of living things LOL! :rofl:

[RubyDuby in GA]

176. We decided to do this method this year. We ordered the book from Borders last week.

Can't wait to have all those fresh, locally grown veggies and herbs right outside my door in my own backyard!

[JDPriestly]

247. What is the name of the book?

[MissB]

259. Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew

[JDPriestly]

292. Thanks.

[wroberts189]

192. How did you preserve the greens that long ? thx n/t

[omega minimo]

2. link to Alice Waters thread and lotsa info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5258072

:thumbsup:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Thanks! nt

[marshall]

200. The Mormons have been telling people to plant gardens for decades

I've even heard stories about people in NYC with tomatoes growing out of window boxes.

Fresh veggies are great--I grew up with them.

[omega minimo]

209. Yep, veggies can be grown on stoops in containers, herbs and flowers attract pollinators too

:thumbsup:

[JDPriestly]

249. People in the midwest generally always did this for generations.

My parents were great gardeners. I feel like I am in paradise when I am gardening -- in spite of a pesky raccoon that digs everywhere it can and squirrels that nibble at our avocados. (We have three avocado trees, a fig tree and a baby apricot tree that has about ten tiny apricots on it at this time.)

I grew tomatoes last year. I started a raised bed (on a cement area) this year and had lots of lettuce, arugula, spinach, Chinese cabbage all winter. I am also growing onions an chives in the garden. I hope to plant the tomatoes this coming week. Seasons in S. California are really strange. Takes a bit of getting used to. I haven't have much luck growing anything other than tomatoes during late July through September.

[Sydnie]

3. Bookmarking for later

Have the peat pots but haven't decided what to plant yet. These will come in handy. Thanks!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

Awesome! nt

[msongs]

6. big garden going in this year, 8 varieties of tomatos (comparisons) plus lots more

planting fruit trees and shrubs instead of lawn and flowers. the neighbors will hate to see us coming with more veggies pretty soon.

Msongs
Riverside CA

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. Fantastic! nt

[Raksha]

87. You're in Riverside, huh?

I'm in San Bernardino. Are you a member of this Meetup group?
http://www.meetup.com/Inland-empire-organic-gardening/

If not, maybe you should consider joining. I went to the seed swap on February 21st and it was awesome! My friend from Palmdale had such a great time that she joined too, even though she's about 100 miles away. I know we have at least a couple of members from Riverside already.

[Maat]

117. Thanks for the link.

I'll sign up. I'm in the Murrieta/Temecula area.

Yep; I've got a garden.

[Raksha]

131. Wonderful!

Last time I checked we had 77 members, but some may only be on the membership list and not active--or not active yet anyway. Of course with San Bernardino County being the biggest county in the whole U.S., we're pretty spread out. Not living close to each other makes it kind of difficult to get together, but we interact a lot on the Meetup discussion board.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Have been growing veggies for years

7 fruit trees and grape vines in the yard too

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. My family hasn't been doing it a long time but it's quickly becoming popular with us nt

[XemaSab]

9. more on square foot gardening

What's so amazing about square-foot gardening is how much you
can plant in a small space--and there are no weeds!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. Yes exactly! There are NO weeds! nt

[salin]

10. Last spring I started a container garden with potatoes, onions, tomatoes and peppers

the tomatoes didn't do so well (were a very big hit with the neighbors' cats) but everything else thrived. I can't wait to start the garden again.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

24. Fresh tomatoes are yummy - I hope the cats behave better next time nt

[salin]

33. I have always had problems with tomatoes...

at my Mom's house the plants were targetted by deer and later by a crafty raccoon. But I always get a few (and will keep growing - because I always get enough to pay for the original plants (in terms of money saved from buying tomatoes) but not much. The big thrill for me are the potatoes (I love digging for them - I do it with my hands, gently searching and following the eyes off of the roots, so not to damage the plant and let the other potatoes keep growing) - it feels like I am finding little gems. Also a thrill are the onions they take a while but are so well worth it (I cook with a lot of onions). I grow them in window box containers - amazing how many (and how big) onion plants can be planted in a simple window box.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

42. I never knew onions could grow in a little area nt

[leftyclimber]

49. Onions can grow in a very tiny area.

We get 30+ really big Walla Walla Sweets out of a 5-square-foot area. There are only two of us and we usually give some of them away, but we take the ones we don't eat in season and put them in a nylon stocking with knots in between each onion and hang them in the laundry room of our apartment. Cut one off and you've got a darn good onion when you need it.

You could still get a fairly decent number of onions in a smaller space, especially if you planted something that grows smaller than Walla Wallas, like we grow. All you have to do is plant them a few inches apart and they will go like gangbusters. Just loosen the topsoil around them periodically and they'll keep going. The biggest problem is that the starts come in bigger bundles than are plantable -- we give about half of our starts away after we've planted.


edit: unnecessary article

[Sarah Ibarruri]

54. Wow, thank you for the tips

Had no idea onions were that prolific!

[salin]

75. One needs to buy "seed" onions (as little plants) rather than bulbs

the little bulbs only grow to be 'green onions' (small). Little room is needed for full grown onions. I don't know that it is cost effective in the first year (as one has to buy the containers and the soil), but the soil (and container) can be reused - I think that this year I will realize the savings from the purchase of supplies last year (in terms of what was saved last year as well as this year.)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

105. Very good idea. I might start with onions. I'm an onion nut -

Everything has to incorporate onions!


:beer:

[leftyclimber]

52. Something that helped us with deer, which are rampant around here

is to plant onions on the outside edge of the garden and put the peppers and tomatoes as close to the center as possible (or hang them upside-down). Deer do not seem to like the stinky onions. :)

ETA what veggies can go upside-down

[salin]

82. What great advice!

It doesn't help my urban container garden (the local pets are the culprits of culling the tomatoes before they are ripe), but we have moved both onions and tomatoes into my mother's flower garden. We certainly try moving some patches of onions to the outside and the tomatoes further into the inside. Many thanks for the advice.

Have to ask - what do you mean by "hang upside down"?

[leftyclimber]

149. You can grow tomatoes and peppers (and probably other things, too) in hanging containers.

There are commercial containers especially designed for it, but you can do the same with a five-gallon bucket, like this:

http://www.minifarmhomestead.com/gardening/tomato.htm

It's a great space saver.

[WolverineDG]

174. I didn't have much luck with tomatoes in containers either

so this year I put 'em in the ground & they're going like gangbusters. :)

dg

[BlooInBloo]

11. Nope.

[XemaSab]

12. Food bank

We hope to grow enough this summer to be able to donate a
significant amount to the local foodbank.

[amerikat]

15. Don't forget to visit the DU Gardening group.

Lots of good info and friendly folks in there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=246

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. Oh! I had no idea there was a DU gardening group! nt

[salin]

84. me neither...

:hi:!

[ulysses]

16. here's mine.

Got the seeds in the front half today. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

27. Wow! Yours is so NEAT! Beautiful sq foot garden nt

[ulysses]

47. doesn't look so neat up close.

:) Still, easily the most work I've put into doing a garden right in all the years I've tried. (i.e. I quit trying to amend solid red clay enough to grow something and just did the raised bed thing.)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

53. Sure looks neater than the ones I've seen. The ones I've seen look like

a hurricane hit them LOL!

[AndyTiedye]

17. yes

[Sarah Ibarruri]

28. Awesome! nt

[globalvillage]

18. Yes, a tiny kitchen garden.

Approx 12'X 3' raised bed near the back door. Just tomatoes and peppers, lettuce, scallions and some herbs. Nothing fancy.
Thanks for the video link.

[Laelth]

19. Yup. Been doing so for three years now. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Sarah Ibarruri]

29. Great! Thank you nt

[Laelth]

276. n/p. Happy to kick. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Sarah Ibarruri]

289. Cool! Thanks! nt

[moobu2]

20. I worked in my vegie garden all day today.

I’m so tired, and it feels sooooo good. I've gardened off and on for years, but this year I'm really motivated, and it shows..Thanks for the links.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

32. Gardening is a good kind of tired nt

[we can do it]

275. So True, Fun and Good Exercise

[leftyclimber]

21. Our apartment manager is a gem and lets us all landscape our little "yards."

Last year we put in an 8' x 8' organic garden along with some upside-down tomatoes. Here's the plan for this year:

4 upside-down heirloom tomatoes (beefsteak, Mr. Stripey, Roma, and cherry)
4 upside-down bell peppers (red, yellow, and two green)
Two rows Blue Lake bush beans (these have a great yield for small spaces)
Two rows broccoli of some sort
30 or so Walla Walla Sweet onions (we have a separate 2' x 2.5' area for these)
half a row of shallots and garlic
half a row of something we haven't decided on yet.

We'll also do hanging planters on the fence and plant various herbs, including cilantro, basil, sage, oregano, and whatever else strikes our fancy. Rosemary in a separate pot -- it comes inside in the winter.

The beans and the broccoli produce enough that we can blanch and freeze them for a few extra meals in the fall and winter.

We have a landscaping contest at our apartment complex every year. Most people do flowers or Attack of the Gnomes and Various Lawn Crap sorts of things. Our veggie garden won last year (and got us 100 bucks off a month's rent)! We've also had a lot of people ask us how they can start a garden in their little plot.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. WOW! You're lucky and that's an amazing apartment complex!

How did it turn out that the people at that place all agree on gardening? Just luck?

[leftyclimber]

39. Not sure. We were the first ones with a veggie garden

but we have started a trend!

We've lived here for almost five years now, and one of the first things we were told when we moved in is that we could do whatever we wanted with the little patch of land in front of our place. The complex is pretty old by local standards (1970s) and we're outside of city limits. I think the real deal is that there are a lot of little old ladies living alone here, and a lot of them wanted to keep flowers. We all wander through the complex and admire what everyone else is doing with their little yards (even the incredibly tacky ones, hehe).

Hopefully we will see a lot more veggie gardens this year!

[InkAddict]

81. We had an apt. garden last year too...

Unfortunately, we became unemployed after it was planted and had to move out before the harvest. Spent the summer elsewhere, but came back to the same complex though to downsized apt that still has the patio area. We'll try to plant again this year; flowers on one side; veggies on the other.

Last year, we had planted peas against the fence and got a meals' worth, a few tomatoes, a few peppers, zucchini and dill. Our ex-neighbor shared a few of the zucchinis w/us. Don't know how the rest made out--The plot is still there, but I don't know what plans the new occupants might have for it...I did notice that a certain type of fly seemed to be attracted to the dill heads???

Today, we cleaned out the area where we'll try to plant at our new unit. The previous residents landscaped with marble chips...fun to remove, yeah! Next step will be to get the square foot frame in place and dig/amend soil. Then await the veggie trucks to come in since I haven't much luck with or the space for starting seedlings indoors...besides, the kitty eats anythng green I bring in the house. LOL!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

130. How do you get onions to start growing?

We love onions and are doing a big garden this year.

[leftyclimber]

153. We bought starts. I have no clue how to do them from seed.

Ideally you want your soil to be as loose and fine as possible when you plant. Take the start, poke a hole in the ground up to about your second finger knuckle, and plug in the start. We plant the starts a couple of inches apart, then eat some of the green onions to thin out the bulbs we want to grow larger. If you keep the soil loose around them and keep the soil moist, you should end up with some nice onions. Enjoy!

[ima_sinnic]

298. use "sets" or, as poster above says, "starts." They are tiny, marble-sized onions

--I get them at the local Ace Hardware or any gardening or feed store. They can be harvested early to use as scallions, or just let them grow into the fall for giant onions. Plant about 3" apart. I did 2" one year when I had very little space, but many grew together so I ended up with very large onions with 2 or even more "cores." Many of those did not mature well--the tops never fully dried--so they did not keep over the winter. yes, btw, harvest the onions when the tops have turned brown and are falling over.

I believe that some onions can be left to "go to seed"--i.e., they will produce a "flower" at the top of their single stalk that is a bunch of tiny "sets." But I have never tried this and might be wrong.

You can also buy onion seeds and start them indoors like any other long-season crop such as broccoli and tomatoes (I live in Maine and we either start certain seeds indoors in Feb. or March, or buy seedlings at greenhouses).

[proud patriot]

22. yes

I just planted onions , squash , lettuce and some various herbs chives , basil etc.

:hi: I have a bunch more to plant

[Sarah Ibarruri]

36. Yum!! nt

[Gormy Cuss]

217. Those chives will last forever here.

My patch is on year 9. They die to the ground in December and come back in early March. I have a small patch in a container on the patio and a bigger patch out in the garden. It's such a luxury to be able to snip up some chives on a whim.

We're eating our baby lettuces. It's our way of thinning -- some we'll let grow into full heads.
We have onions going too.

I started my tomato seeds two weeks ago and have a tray full of baby plants. I love Spring.

[KoKo]

23. Yep...since my Daddy did his Veggie Victory Garden after WWII

and had all his kids and relatives into it too!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

37. Victory gardens!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Victory-garden.jpg

[Indiana_Dem]

26. Yes, I've been learning gardening for about 4 years now!

I have lots of gardening links on my blog listed in my sigline below.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

40. Great blog! And you have a video of the Square Foot Garden guy, too nt

[greenbriar]

30. Tomatoes Cucumbers, Jalap peppers

maybe onions and okra

[Sarah Ibarruri]

44. Mmmmm! Yum! You can cook up a storm with that! nt

[paulsby]

91. i really enjoy growing

dill, rosemary, oregano, stuff like that.

i tell ya, you put fresh herbs in your morning eggs, with a little olive oil and garlic?

hell ya!

[Le Taz Hot]

165. I LOVE my herb garden!

I've had one for years and the recipes I've concocted using fresh herbs are just the best! My Rosemary and Thyme plants finally bit it lat year (don't know why) but I ended up having to buy herbs for some of my recipes. I can't tell you how bad it hurt to have to spend over $3.00 for a small bunch of organic Rosemary. Ouch!

This years' herbs:

Rosemary
Thyme
Marjoram
Oregeno
Dill
Chives
Celantro
Parsley
Basil
Sage

[JDPriestly]

250. Herbs are the best because they make simple, cheap food taste exquisite.

Great for hard times. Basil is my passion. Rosemary second. Then Sage and Oregano. Chives are great. I haven't had any luck with parsley or cilantro. Dill -- have the seeds but haven't tried yet. I have mint in pots.

Any tips on growing parsley. I wonder if the climate here in S. California is not right.

[Le Taz Hot]

300. I find that I have to start herbs with starts

and not from seed. Parsley and cilantro are sort of the same kind of critter and seem to grow well in the small, squat, round pots. However, they don't like a lot of direct sun and can wilt easily. I'm in Central California and I'm constantly having to go out in the summer and move them before they fry. I'm growing Savory this year for the first time and other than putting it to Herb d' Province, I'm not sure what else to do with it. And yes, you're right, it's amazing what you can do to cheap meats and just plain pasta, potatoes and/or rice with fresh herbs from the garden. Mmmmm!

[femmocrat]

31. Absolutely!

I have always been a gardener, but I am expanding this year. We are putting in a large raised bed and converting our old smaller garden to a pumpkin/zucchini patch. I am also going to do more container gardening.

I am going to try some veggies that I haven't planted in a few years, like peas and beans. I've never had much luck with anything that grows below ground, though (carrots, radishes, etc). Seems like some kind of bug always gets them.

I am so excited about my garden this year! I can't wait for it to get warm enough to get out there! Thank you for the great links. :hi:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

46. Welcome! I was watching them work on the potatoes the other day....

Apparently when the tiny plants begin to show, you add more dirt, and when it shows again, add more, etc. Very interesting. It's all about learning the secret life of plants!

[customerserviceguy]

35. Thinking about it

but not sure how successful I'll be with very little sun on the back porch of our townhouse condo. I'd love to do tomatoes, and potatoes, especially the yellow varieties that we're so fond of. Last Thanksgiving time, I hauled about twenty pounds of Yellow Finnish potatoes from the Chehalis Valley in my backpack on the airline, my checked bags were full of Northwest ales!

Good to the last potato!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

48. Potatoes are sooo delish -

My brother, who lives in a condo in Europe, recently set up a square foot garden in his tiny balcony. He's so excited about it.

[LWolf]

38. Probably not.

I grow six acres of volcanic rock, sand, and cheat grass each year, and battling the rocks, the cheat grass, and a couple of alien invasive weeds keeps me busy.

I have the materials to build a raised bed, and I may get to it this summer. We have a really short growing season, with frost possible 365 days a year. I need to level the ground, dig out the rocks and cheat, and build the bed. Then I plan to fill it with manure, complements of my horses and sheep, and compost right in the bed, planting the following year.

Meanwhile, though, I have a small flock of free-range hens and their faithful rooster, and they keep me supplied with organic eggs. I did plant some fruit trees a few years back, and when spring conditions are favorable (meaning that frost doesn't kill the blossoms,) I have fresh, organic apples and peaches.

Edited to add: When I lived further south, I grew a large garden EVERY year. My neighbor has 6 acres in garden. He also has the cash to have the place "derocked," which involves bringing in heavy equipment to plow out all the rocks to a certain depth, allowing for soil preparation, planting, and irrigating.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

50. You sound like an expert on such things

However, it sounds like you're trying to grow one on Mars LOL!

As for roosters - I'm such a city girl that I nearly passed out when I found out roosters usually have a concubinage of hens going! LOL! I thought it was all so unfair.

:silly:

[LWolf]

63. Mars, lol.

Just high desert in a volcanic area. I have a very thin layer of sand, with volcanic rocks jutting out everywhere and extending many feet into the ground. They freeze and thaw, and a new crop erupts out of the ground every spring.

Hence the bed full of compost, to mix with the native sand. And raised beds built on the soil surface, so I don't have to try to dig out all the rock by hand.

Planting trees, shade or fruit, is fun. You won't get more than 12 inches down with a shovel, moving the small and medium sized rocks out of the way. An auger? You might get 24 inches. Any more than that requires blasting or a really big backhoe.

Makes fencing a fun task, too. ;)

[DKRC]

188. You're looking at it all wrong

It's a female co-operative with a single approved sperm donor. Like lion prides. Females doing all the work, why on earth would you keep more than one, maybe two males around, to feed?
:evilgrin:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

245. hahahaha! Aaaah so that's how it works!

And I suppose they make him do *the nasty* even if he protests and stands firm against it (no pun intended)?

:rofl:

[L. Coyote]

41. Whose plantig fruit trees? They just keep giving back, year after year.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

51. I have a question about fruit trees....

My acupuncturist (born in Shanghai, and he lives here in Florida) has an Asian pear tree that doesn't give any fruit and it's already big and huge. Does that have something to do with the male-female tree thingie?

[msongs]

our asian pear variety is self-pollinating. some need winter chill too. FL? maybe too warm nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

73. Maybe his tree is not self-pollinating. Or maybe it's the hot weather here in S. Florida

I'll let him know.

[proud patriot]

62. I have baby fruit trees so the yield is not huge yet

lemon , lime , orange , peach and apple .

I also have a very mature almond tree in the front yard .

[roody]

114. I planted 2 pears, one apple, one self-fertilizing almond,

blueberries and raspberries one year ago. They are enjoying today's rain.

[MountainLaurel]

157. We planted a lemon and a tangerine last year

It looks like the lemon will be bearing fruit this year, but it may take the tangerine a couple years.

[noamnety]

195. I have fruit trees

red pears, liberty and freedom apples, sour cherries, pawpaws, and persimmons. We had plum and peach but they got taken over by scales, and we aren't huge on spraying. If it's a struggle to get them to make it, I'd rather just go with something else.

I also have red currants and gooseberry bushes.

Protecting the cherry trees from birds:

[we can do it]

277. I'm Thinking About It Is It Easy To Do Organically?

[dysfunctional press]

43. we have a HUGH garden every year- but we have awhile to wait before we can start planting...

we can get frost all the way up to mother's day...BUT- we can harvest brussel sprouts and sometimes broccoli, all the way thru november.

we've also got an acre to work with, so we don't have to worry about sqare-foot gardening...my favourite are the beets, and the hemp.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

56. You're lucky. Some of us have to make do with a balcony or a window sill! nt

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69831034@N00/2591664199

:toast:

[noamnety]

266. I love beets

Most of the foods I hated as a kid, I still hate. Beets are one of the very few exceptions - few things are better than roasting one up with a bit of oil, salt and pepper fresh from the garden.

[dysfunctional press]

290. i've never liked beets until i tried the ones from our garden.

they're amazing.

[Fire1]

45. I'd like to but the 'critters' will come along and eat them

[Sarah Ibarruri]

57. Cats? Rabbits? nt

[Fire1]

61. Cats, rabbits, raccoon, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, possum,

skunks, you name it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

67. Yikes! You have a zoo out there lol Maybe you can garden inside....

an enclosed porch or something??

[Fire1]

74. I thought about an herb garden in the kitchen. I'll settle for that.

[L. Coyote]

69. Elk and bears, and the chickens. The bears even climb fruit trees to get the apples.

It takes an 8 foot fence to keep the elk out.

[Fire1]

79. I've seen fox in the back but no elk or bear, thank goodness!

[smalll]

65. Around my part of the county, gardening is hopeless because the deer will eat it all.

And all the arugula-eaters coming out of Whole Paycheck would never let people shoot at bambi, God forbid!

[L. Coyote]

71. Here it is the elk. Gardens are all fenced.

[noamnety]

321. We had 6 deer in the back yard this evening

checking to see if the asparagus was up yet. Actually, 5 were checking that. One they sent over to keep an eye on us - we were eating dinner, looked up, and saw him staring in the back door, making sure we weren't causing any trouble.

[Rhiannon12866]

55. K&R. I've always wanted to do this...

I like to cook and a lot of recipes call for fresh herbs which are hard to find in my neck of the woods. And there's nothing like fresh vegetables, especially tomatoes! :9

I've considered getting one of those counter gardens, but they're kind of pricey. I'm good with indoor plants, but never have had a garden so don't know where to begin... I also live in the Northeast, so everything's seasonal around here... :shrug:

My cousin has one in her backyard, lettuces, broccoli, peppers, all sorts of wonderful fresh veggies, and she's in Connecticut so it is possible, but I don't know how she did it... :shrug:

So thanks so much for the information! :hi:

Bookmarking, since we still have snow on the ground here. :-(

[Sarah Ibarruri]

59. You should give it a try - my sister's family LOVES cooking up their veggies....

And tossing their veggies for salad. Nothing tastes as good as something you have grown with your hands. I can vouch for that! yum

Apparently the Squarefootgardening website has videos and all to help those who are starting out.

[Rhiannon12866]

90. I ate lunch with my cousin and most of it came from her garden. It was awesome!

Fortunately for her, she has three kids who like to help. Me, I have just one small dog who likes to dig and still will pick up every manner of vegetation off the ground and try to eat it... :eyes:

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I'd be happy with just the tomatoes... :D

[Sarah Ibarruri]

103. LOL! And would that happen to be your digging doggie in those photos? LOL!

How CUTE is that doggie!!

[Rhiannon12866]

109. It certainly is... ;)

He got sick more than once when he was a puppy from eating something inedible, not counting the five-dollar bill *sigh*, so now I have to watch him like a hawk, inside and out... x( And he's going to turn three in just a little over a week... :shrug:

Here's Jack! :loveya: :hi:



on edit: Oops! typo. :blush:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

115. Oooh and he looks like he's the kind that when he gets his eyes on something, watch out!!

Jack is adorable!

I had one of those investigative reporter doggies
:7

[Rhiannon12866]

129. He is very... determined.

And a stubborn little guy, has been since I adopted him, which was at five months. I pull inedible stuff out of him mouth several times a day, yet his dinner still sits there and I've already tried adding a bits of chicken, broccoli and havarti cheese to his all-natural food, to tempt him... :eyes: He was a "pet shop rescue," couldn't be sold because he wasn't "perfect." *sigh* He had a hernia which was repaired when he was neutered, but it sure never slowed him down... LOL. Nothing does. :D

Here he is, in action. Notice the attempts at "grazing..." x(

http://www.dogster.com/video/373080/Jack_running_in_circles

[Sarah Ibarruri]

132. hahahahaha! omigosh

First he convinced himself he was a cow, then he was going how many mph? LOL! Then he made that other, larger dog clearly very nervous.




B-)

[Rhiannon12866]

187. He likes to run in circles.

I have one video of him running in huge circles around the living room, using the back of the recliner as a trampoline, pushes off with his back legs and across the room, does it over and over again, finally got it on video. But I don't have it on this computer... :-(

The bigger dog is Charlie, my BF's 100 lb. Airedale, Jack's BFF. He and Jackie bonded from day one. They played constantly and Charlie, despite his size, was very good with him. We lost Charlie last month and Jack's quite lost without him. It's been tough for all of us. ;(

Here he is at five months and eight lbs., playing with Charlie. My BF says that Charlie let him win, but I believe otherwise... ;)

http://www.dogster.com/video/373080/Jack_vs_charlie

[Sarah Ibarruri]

243. Awwwww! They loved one another.

I'm sorry about Charlie.

:cry:


They were definitely pals, tho Jackie was clearly the boss :-)

[Rhiannon12866]

267. They sure did. And thank you.

Jackie was with him, but he's still confused. They do have relationships, especially these two. Charlie was big, but very sweet and gentle, thought he was a lap dog. Jack is small, but the vet tech who placed him with me said that he's a big dog in a little dog's body... ;)

This is one of my favorite pix, Jackie as a puppy, looking up at his big BFF... ;( :loveya:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

280. Awwwww! The gentle giant with the headstrong little one :) nt

[Rhiannon12866]

334. That's exactly the way it was...

Calling Superman to turn back the clock... Nobody can tell me that dogs don't have relationships... We all miss our Charlie, was an integral part of our "pack," and Jackie is lost without his "big brother..." ;(

[safeinOhio]

58. Too much work

I forage. Asparagus then mushrooms. Later it's nuts and wild grapes, along with the pawpaws. All free for the picking and yum. I have also enjoyed fresh road kill.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

60. That all sounded so good till I got to the roadkill part....

That's where I nearly passed out!


:crazy:

[safeinOhio]

80. Sorry,

I use to hunt. Now "fresh" is the key word and I don't feel that pang in my heart when I pulled the trigger. About my only other source of forage protein is to swipe a few dry beans out of the farmers fields.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

Oh! That's protein too. I'd forgotten. But really, is that the only protein you usually get?

Are you getting sufficient protein?

[safeinOhio]

110. Yes Dear, like those that garden

I supplement my diet with store bought. On nice days I love long walks and foraging along the way is fun.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

118. hahahaha! I didn't mean to sound so obnoxious!

I just kept imagining you suffering from kwashiokor or something!

:wow:

[Raksha]

64. I joined an organic gardening meetup and have been germinating seeds for months.

All kinds of things--vegetables, herbs, perennials, annuals...and lots of citrus seeds! (I have no idea what I'm going to do with those citrus seedlings when they get bigger.) Even in the dead of winter in SoCal, most of my seedlings survived and they are really starting to take off now that it's finally spring.

I'm on a big corner lot, and I'm working towards kind of an edible landscape. I'd much rather have a formal "potager" (kitchen garden), but code enforcement wrote me up a few months back for "lack of landscaping" so I'm trying to make it all look like a "landscape." I'm starting with my parkway because there's no Bermuda grass to deal with there, and not too much oxalis. I've got Bright Lights chard and calendulas planted in the parkway, and turnips growing in front of my irises in the front corner next to the driveway.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

76. "Lack of landscape?" Sheesh! How obnoxious is that, to write you up for that?

So do you now have to sit down and design a landscape with your veggie garden? Sounds like you have a lot!

[paulsby]

66. i've had one for years

and i totally agree about square foot gardens. that's how i have my garden set up

i like growing my own stuff. it's very rewarding, and i also love pickling some of the stuff i grow.

so far, it's been organic

i wish i could grow and process my own olives, though. olives are insanely expensive, and one of my favorite things on earth to eat.

i could eat over 1 lb a day easily, but at $9 a lb, it's a bit spendy.

that's over 3k a year. for olives.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

78. You'd eat yourself into explosion if you lived in Spain or Italy! LOL!

Olives are delicious!

[paulsby]

85. seriously. if i was "filthy rich"

there would be just a few luxuries i'd engage in.

i've always been a live below my means type of guy and am not into cars or "stuff" but...

i would get a 1 1/2 hour massage every day
i would have smoked salmon for breakfast every morning
i would eat a lb of olives a day
and lots of really expensive cheese.

otoh, that would be metric assloads of sodium every day...

massage and olives are my two must haves!

i also make a pretty fricking good gravlax. it's quite easy, and unlike smoked salmon, you don't need a smoker.

it's very good.

my insurance plan is actually pretty sweet in that i get 60 massages a year covered at 90%.

i'd prefer 365 a year :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

92. 60 massages isn't bad at all!! That's 5 a month!

And now you have me dreaming of smoked salmon!!

[paulsby]

100. check out some gravlax recipes online

it's really quite simple, and i actually kind of prefer it sometimes to nova lox.

it's basically salt brined. i like to use salt, brown sugar, allspice, dill, a little vodka, and a little citrus.

my problem is many of my favorite foods i make are fermented or brined, which means NO instant gratification.


i make my own
pickles (tomato, cucumber, etc.)
kimchi (cabbage and cucumber)
gravlax

i wanna start doing sauerkraut as well.

if it's fermented, brined, or pickled - IM ON IT!

did you know corned beef is basically a pickled piece of beef?

dig that too

[Sarah Ibarruri]

102. NO WAY. OMG that's right! Corned beef is pickled beef! How odd that I didn't

make the connection.

Well now, do you work in the business of pickling, fermenting, brining, etc.? Or it's just your hobby?

I'll ck out gravlax. Sounds like some Scandinavian dish.

[paulsby]

104. it's just a hobby

gravlax is a scandinavian dish, correct.

"back in the day" they used to brine the salmon by burying it in sand iirc.

no need to get that extreme.

it's a very sublime taste.

throw it on some rye with some capers, red onions, and cream cheese and it's about as close to heaven as a salmon can get.

i just found , over time, that many of my favorite foods turned out to be either fermented, brined, or pickled.

and where i live, you simply CANNOT get good deli (pickles and lox), so i started making my own.

also very difficult to find a decent bagel. but baking is not my thang.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

106. Amazing! I always marvel at people that say, "I'm going to figure out how to do this"...

and then they do it!

If I tried to pickle something, I'm sure it would end up looking like something from the La Brea Tar Pits by the time I got through with it.

[paulsby]

111. you can do it.

i have to admit i am a hardcore foodie, and have tackled some complex recipes that i thought would totally suck, but ended up well.

it's just when you see exotic ingredients or cooking methods listed that you have never tried, they SOUND hard, but it really isn't rocket science.

brining stuff is quite easy. seriously. you don't even need heat for the gravlax. a salmon, some citrus, some fresh dill, pepper, sugar and salt. that's it.

the brine does the cooking for YOU.

i swear.

i experimented the other day with a new breakfast sandwich.

two slices whole wheat bread (toasted)
lightly spread cream cheese/chive spread on one piece of toast.
place two over easy eggs on top of the toast.
slice some gouda thin over the eggs.
microwave for 20 seconds to melt gouda.
thinly slice (lengthwise) dill pickle and place over gouda.
grind some pepper and salt on top.
on the other slice of bread, lightly spread some hot/sweet mustard (chinese style).

this frigging rocks.

made it a few days in a row.

i may try it with added bacon, but that might be overly decadent :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

116. WOW! When guests stay with you, you probably have to threaten to call the police

to get them to leave!

YUM!

[paulsby]

122. i AM

the police, so that's never a problem.

but i find a nice breakfast of chicken livers and onions will convince them it's time to leave.

if that doesn't work, i move to the headcheese!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

127. LOL! How convenient is that? nt

[JDPriestly]

251. Wow! I guess all that experience handling bad guys comes in handy

when guests stay too long. Better not invite me. I love chicken livers and onions, and used to make my own headcheese.

[paulsby]

253. i love you already

here in the pacific NW, i have found the palates to be less educated than where i used to live (hawaii).

people look at me like i'm nuts when i eat headcheese and stuff like that.

it's getting better here (foodwise), but still impossible to find good deli where i live.

i end up making so much stuff for myself because i HAVE to.

chicken livers are such a delicacy. "affordable luxury".

[EFerrari]

68. A lot of us only have the option of patio or container gardening. n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

93. Absolutely! Some of us only have 1 square foot to work with!

(I'm not that person with the 1 square foot.... I have about.. oh, about 2 or 3 square feet)



:rofl:

[EFerrari]

128. LOL! I have a bunch of containers already with dead stuff in them

from my divorce. I don't mean *he's* there, lol. I just went for about a year without wanting to go out there.

But, that leaves me with some planters and other containers where I could do something more practical than climbing roses.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

133. Okay, when you said, "from my divorce" I thought... uh oh this isn't THAT kind of gardening! lol

:smoke:

[salin]

94. Last spring I started a container garden on my very small patio

I own, so it isn't because I have land space issues - but I have clay earth problems, and I work 12+ hours a week. Last Spring I decided to try a container garden. I bought big plant containers and window boxes (I saved NO money last year per the cost of supplies and plants and soil), and it was very gratifying. This year, as I have very few costs (paid them last year), I will probably reach savings per that which I grow and do not have to buy when I cook. I had read and contemplated container gardens for a few years before starting one. I am so glad that I did finally act. This year I expect the joy I experienced last year, and some savings (that I didn't realize last year.)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

96. Sounds great! I think having no weeds makes container gardening so ideal nt

[EFerrari]

126. Very interesting. What did you decide to plant, salin?

[bikebloke]

70. I wish

I have a small patio, but it faces the north, with trees and scrub a couple meters away. Very little sunlight. Grass has a hard time growing out there. There is a community garden a few blocks away, but I'm also am toying with the idea of finding another flat elsewhere.

I'd like to experiment with permaculture techniques like no-dig planting and just generally get the feel for growing food. I see that as the future. I also see community gardens having midnight raids as times grow tougher.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

97. I hear you about the midnight raids :( Maybe putting gardens inside the house is best? nt

[GoCubsGo]

304. That's my problem, too...

I live on a wooded lot, so I don't get enough sunlight. I also have squirrels, opossums and raccoons. I tried for about five years to grow tomatoes, etc., but pretty much have given up. No community gardens here, so I have to rely on the farmer's market and the kindness of friends with gardens. I have considered removing trees, but they save me more on my power bills than a garden would on grocery bills.

[madokie]

72. I am

I'm taking 5 inch wide plastic flower bed edging and cutting it into 11 foot or so pieces then tying the ends together with wire to make roughly 42 inch in diameter circles and filling them with 8 to 9 year old compost made from sawdust. I garden every year but this year I'm trying something a little different. Its been getting hard for me to keep up with a regular garden as good as I like too so I've decided to try raised beds. I took my little toy sized tiller, honda fg 110, and tilled the top three inches up and then removed it then took the tiller and tilled the ground under it up another six inches or so deep then put my circles over them and then fill them with the compost. I have around 8 to 10 inches deep of the compost in each circle. I'm placing these throughout our yard in sunny spots. The plan is to use weedX and mulch to keep from having to spend my summer pulling grass and weeds. I took whats called a cow panel, which is a 52 inch wide by 16 ft long panel made with 1/4 inch wire on about 6 inch or so centers and taking one end of it and put it into a circle and then bend it up and over and put the other end into another circle for my beans and cukes to vine on. I have a couple more panels that I plan to make another or two whatever I need. I have seven circles now and working on making about that many more. It should be enough space for us to grow all the veggies us and our kids can eat.
Instead of mulch on a couple of the circles I plan to use creek gravel and see how that goes. I can get the creek gravel for free and looks to me like it will work just as good as mulch does.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

89. What a good idea for you (the raised beds)! Thank you for the instructions!

My nephew built a raised square foot garden for the mom of a lady my sister knew. That mom is 94!! She has always been a gardener but because of her age she can no longer bend to garden. Well, now she's gardening again because it's up at her level, and she's so happy!

[kestrel91316]

86. I had an awesome garden from 1992 to 2007. I'm in an apartment now,

and also got tired of the worsening weather conditions, no spring or fall, 119F in the summer just as the tomatoes ripen and the corn tassels......hot as hell until it suddenly gets too cold to grow......rain enough to water the plants only about 6 times a year.

The San Fernando Valley is truly a vegetable gardener's hell.....

[Sarah Ibarruri]

98. No chance of using a little corner of your apt to plant something in a

container?

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

173. Can't grow veggies indoors. No sun. My windows all face north.

Besides, the cats would have a field day, lol.

I tried to grow stuff on the balcony last year, but there was no sun there until the weather started to heat up, and after a month it hit 117F and killed everything. I just have some primrose and chrysanthemums now, and expect them to be dead by June. I also have an upright juniper that was my mini-Christmas tree - maybe IT will survive the summer.......

I might try a basil plant soon as the days get longer. But they need sun to grow, and once that heat hits, all bets are off.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

244. LOL! Your cats would think it's a toy for them nt

[noamnety]

268. You could grow sprouts

You'd only need enough space inside for a reusable coffee filter set in a used cottage cheese container. And they don't need light.

[kestrel91316]

306. Growing sprouts is like growing sourdough. NOT a gardening

endeavor in my book.

[noamnety]

320. I can understand feeling that way.

Still, in winter, it's nice to have any veggies that are fresh and cheap, so I figure if I couldn't grow anything in summer due to space, I'd probably do that. Sprouts are just so much cheaper to grow than to buy at the store, just like any plants.

I changed the way I sprout seeds for my garden after sprouting beans for a while - I realized I can start any seed easier without any soil at all by sprouting them in reusable coffee filters. I have way better luck with that than starting them any other way.

[prolesunited]

88. Grew up with a garden in the back yard

and I've had one on and off for years. We're still enjoying the bounty from last year's garden and farmer's markets. I even taught myself how to can last year.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

99. I'd forgotten that canning was an option too! nt

[prolesunited]

112. I just do the hot water bath canning

because I don't have a pressure cooker and they're pretty costly. I lucked out and found a bunch of pint and quart jars at the resale shop and got others on sale. Of course, I did tomatoes, salsa and strawberry jam. I made apple sauce and apple maple butter in the crock pot. Let's see, I also made dill pickles, cucumber relish, corn relish and chow chow.

There's lots of good info and recipes on the Internet and even instructional videos on YouTube. I was nervous, but everything turned out great and no one's died. :-) I also found a dehydrator at the resale shop and did some fruits and herbs. Other stuff, I just threw in the chest freezer. It's amazing how much money you can save in the long run and it's wonderful to open a jar of summer in the middle of winter.

I'm not expert by any means, but don't be afraid to try it. It's quite fun and satisfying.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

120. Phew! Nobody died. Good. lol

Maybe I'll try some fruit jam one day if I get brave.


:9

[noamnety]

210. I got a pressure canner for $20 used

I've been using it for about a year and love it. I got it for the canning, but quickly found out it's a quick (and therefore energy saving) way of cooking all sorts of things.

Nobody's died here either, and I haven't blown the thing up - but the first time I used it I was stupidly afraid of it as it was getting up to pressure - hiding around the corner. :)

Now I'm just stupidly afraid of whether or not I should fully trust it. So I canned things from the garden - applesauce, salsa, cherry jam, currant and gooseberry jam - but then I put all the jars in the spare fridge in the basement. So that part's really wasteful. So far everything we've eaten from it's been fine, and I guess if the jars weren't sealed right they would have spoiled over the year ... right? I don't know if I will have the guts to just can it and put it on shelves next year.

We have a dehydrator from a resale shop as well - apple fruit leather from the apple trees was great in it. spiced squash seeds are great in the dehydrator as well.

[jillan]

95. Second year gardener here.

Every nite I get to go out and pick my salad for dinner. It's a great feeling.
Also have onions, carrots, lots of basil (grows like a weed, green peppers.

Tomato plants are huge, just starting to flower.

It's not only healthier, it's good for your soul.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

101. It's like the Garden of Eden, only without the snake lol nt

[roody]

107. Today I planted peas and transplanted collards. My yard is

full of arugula, or rocket, which reseeds each year. Last fall, I walked around with dried seed pods and threw them everywhere. Radish is everywhere---it has been reseeding for 9 years. I planted three berry plants and lots of clover. There are fava beans all over also.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

121. Fava beans? The real fava beans? I make a mean favada bean soup!

Typical Castilla La Vieja/Leon type of soup.

Fava beans are expensive. (If they are the ones I'm thinking of)

[roody]

137. I have not bought the seed for 8 years. They make lots of seeds.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

139. I should do a search for them online and see where they're avail. nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

108. I've planted veggies and herbs on my small deck for many years. Patio tomatoes,

jalapeno peppers, lettuce, chives and various herbs. In fact, I just ordered herb seeds today. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

125. Such a great idea. I can't wait to get started on my tiny space garden

It anything grows, it'll be the first time I get to eat something I grew myself.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

152. Have Fun and EnJoy!!!!

:hi:

[OnionPatch]

113. I have for years and will again this year.

There is just no substitute for home grown tomatoes. I'll also plant winter squash, green beans, cucumber, peppers and potatoes, oh and can't forget the herbs....basil, parsley, dill, the perennial herbs are already coming up, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, sage. There are also the fruit trees and chickens to keep us in eggs. It feels great to raise so much good food right here on our own little acre. This year especially, I'll be doing a lot of canning, drying and freezing.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

124. Hey, even your name tells everyone that you're a gardener! nt

[Raksha]

119. For those of you in apartments who want to grow your own vegetables,

here's something that might work for you...
http://hyperlocavore.ning.com/

Yardsharing! I just found about this yesterday and I'm tremendously excited about it. It's not the same as a community garden, nor is it a CSA. I want do it THIS YEAR...right here and right now! It's true that I'm on a big lot, but I'm a single middle-aged woman with no power tools and no money. I'm so broke that there are times when even buying a bag of potting soil is a problem.

But I have an extensive seed collection and I've learned a lot about germinating seeds over the years. And I get tremendously greedy every year when I get the Seed Savers Exchange catalog and the Tomato Grower's Supply catalog. I want to grow at least 16 different kinds of tomatoes, and there's just no way I can do that here. So sometimes when I pass by a house with a weed-grown flower bed, I feel like asking the owner: "Would it be okay if I planted a couple of tomatoes and peppers in that bed? You haven't done anything with it in two years."

It looks like someone's been reading my mind!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

123. That is a wonderful idea! I'm going to share this website with people - thanks! nt

[robinlynne]

134. how beautiful!

marking to come back and read calmly.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

135. Thanks - pass the info. on so others might have a chance at a tiny garden nt

[robinlynne]

136. will do. Thank-you! Since reading your post have been watching all the videos in your links.

seeing someone do it, just like me, makes it look doable!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

138. Yes doesn't it?! I can't wait to try it! nt

[earth mom]

140. We've got our heirloom seeds & are just waiting for soil blockers & a few other things

we ordered from back east. My dh is looking forward to trying the soil blockers which will save us money every year from now on instead of using peat pots or cow pots which can get spendy.

Here's more info on the soil blockers from Martha:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/from-my-home-to-yours-seed-starting?autonomy_kw=soil%20block%20maker&rsc=header_1

Neat blog (not mine) with soil blocker info 1/4 of the way down the page:
http://inmykitchengarden.blogspot.com/

[bvar22]

141. Our 3rd year.

Planted 30 HighBoy Blueberries, 4 more apples, two more peaches, 2 raspberries, 2 boysenberries, and 4 grapes over the Winter.

Adding 3 more 2 X 8 beds Strawberries, June Bearing and Ever Bearing.
Doubling the garden size and moving corn, field peas, okra, and melons (Cantaloupe & Watermelon) outside the boxes to tilled rows.
We'll be planting fewer tomatoes and more leafy greens, beans, squash, and herbs in the raised boxes.

Our first year, we built raised beds, and used Square Foot as our guide, but have evolved our own system now. Some of our stuff simply needed more room and ventilation, and Sq. FT. made it difficult to rotate crops.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x5729

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x7979

The only way to know for sure is to grow your own!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

158. Wow, beautiful!!! nt

[Lugnut]

142. I've had one for years.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as eating fresh veggies from your own garden.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

159. I feel like having a fresh tomato right now - I need to get my garden started soon nt

[Lugnut]

170. It's way too early here.

I'm getting really hungry for a fresh tomato myself. I never put tomatoes in before May 15th because of the danger of a late frost. It makes for a short growing season but it's too risky.

[ClayZ]

143. Small yard? Plant a keyhole garden!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjcjCCx3BWY

[Sarah Ibarruri]

162. What a great idea! It's even beautiful! I'm going to send the video around. Thanks! nt

[WhollyHeretic]

144. I'm going to have to look into this. Thanks for posting

:hi:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

215. Welcome! I figure if others are planting in tiny apartments, so can I! nt

[grofys]

145. Luckily I have a large city garden

I just realized today what I loser I am that I was excited to have gotten the garden up to almost 1700 square feet. I'll probably be selling tomatoes and herbs directly from the yard this year...$.80/pound for tomatoes sound reasonable?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

216. omg that sounds DELICIOUS and inexpensive! nt

[Missy Vixen]

146. We're trying the square foot garden this year

We're also doing a little research on how to keep the deer away.

The seeds are ordered: We're doing the Burpee "Money Garden" vegetables, and we'll probably plant some more tomatoes. Can't have enough tomatoes!

Burpee "Money Garden" -- $10.95 for an estimated $650 of vegetables: http://www.burpee.com/product/id/112011.do

[Sarah Ibarruri]

218. What? $11 for $650 of veggies? OMG well worth it! nt

[Missy Vixen]

286. If there are those here interested, they need to order NOW

There was an article in the national news over the past three days or so re: seed companies are running out of product due to demand.

Even if we got half the number Burpee predicts with the seeds in the "Money Garden", it's a huge bargain, not to mention the fact we'd have enough to share with the neighbors or the food bank.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

291. OMG I hadn't thought about that - people might be buying seeds up like crazy right now! nt

[snot]

147. I'm interested; but I also hear from knowledgeable gardener friends

it's NOT a cost-saver, to raise your own.

I'd be interested in any details to the contrary . . . e.g., are some veggies more economical to raise yourself, some not? etc.

[eppur_se_muova]

181. People who use lots of fertilizer and pesticides lose money.

If your only input is seeds and sweat, you save money. Of course you're trading sweat for it, but how much depends on where you live.

(By 'fertilizer' I mean artificial, not manure, which is usually paid for by the effort of collecting it.)

[we can do it]

279. Make Your Own Compost - Pull Weeds

[Vinca]

148. I've had a garden as long as I can remember. I do it for more than food.

My mental well being needs to see things grow. Sometimes I sit in the middle of the garden and watch the butterflies or my cat stretching out in the sun on the straw between the rows. Despite the snow on the ground, we ventured out to a bare spot on the edge of the garden and picked a few leaves of catnip left over from last year. I'm chomping at the bit to get planting.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

219. I keep hearing that gardening is emotionally healthy! nt

[wildeyed]

150. Here is a picture of mine from last summer.

You can grow quite a lot in container gardens if you don't have the time/space/energy for a regular garden. You can see cukes, tomatoes, basil and itty-bitty eggplants here.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

220. I think I'm jealous. Wow that looks great! nt

[wildeyed]

151. dupe

[NNN0LHI]

154. No I live in the country

By the time my stuff would be ready to harvest there are dozens of little farm stands all around me where they are selling tomatoes and other vegetables for ten cents a pound all you want. Its so cheap most of the vegetable stands are on the honor system for paying. Just take what you want and put the money into the jar.

I can't grow the stuff that cheap. So I don't mess with it.

If I want to see stuff growing I just look out the back door and look at the corn, beans or winter wheat. Whatever the farmer is growing that year.

Don

[bvar22]

193. The problem:

Many small scale farmers use MORE pesticides and herbicides than commercial farms, especially if a crop is threatened.
This includes Farmers Markes...and they will tell you to your face tat their stuff is "organic"...whatever THAT means.

We don't trust them.
My wife is a cancer survivor, and one of the motivations for moving to the country and growing our own was avoiding pesticides and herbicides.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

221. You are too lucky, however, I keep hearing gardening is emotionally healthy too nt

[formercia]

155. Instant garden (almost).

Get a cheap plastic laundry basket. Take a plastic trash bag, thinner is better, that will fit in the basket, use a sharp object to poke a bunch of tiny holes in the bag for drainage. Put the bag in the basket and fill it with growing medium. I've tried the topsoil that is sold at garden centers but it tends to be heavy and doesn't contain much in the way of usable nutrients.
Having the basket easy to move allows several to be set on a deck without risk of collapse and allows you to move the basket to get optimum lighting.

This technique works great if you live in-town and don't have a yard with tillable soil or your landlord might object.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

222. Wow what a great idea you had! I think I'll try it nt

[formercia]

299. Another handy thing

If you have to move, you can take your garden with you. Just let them dry out to make them easier to handle.
I had 8 baskets on my patio. It kept me in veggies all Summer and into the Fall. Now I have a bigger yard and a permanent location, I dug up my front lawn and turned it into a real garden.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

309. Wow you're a genius! That's exactly what I'm planning to use or my balcony garden then

It's convenient!!!!

[formercia]

313. Not a genius. I just love to garden.

A couple of points on soil-less potting mix:

Pro Mix, Miracle Grow, Peters and many others are very good but expensive. I used to use them for starting seedlings and re-potting but, with an ever-expanding garden, the cost per year began to mount, so I started looking at ways to save some money and still use a mix of equal or better quality.

I start with Peat Moss and screen it through 1/4 inch hardware cloth to get out the 'chunks.' I save these larger bits to put in the bottom of pots to improve drainage.

Next, I mix in sterile play sand. You can buy it in 50 pound bags at Home Depot or Lowes for around $3 a bag. I prefer Lowes. They're a bit cheaper. We know what troglodytes Home Depot management are.

About 1/3 sand by weight compared to dry Peat Moss works well but it can be adjusted depending on the plants preference for drainage. More sand gives better drainage but more weight.

The Peat tends to be acidic, so I add ground Limestone to offset that and raise the Ph. For a bushel of mix, I start with about a half-cup but tweak the amount depending on the particular preference of the plants.

or Starter mix, I dampen the mix with hot, weak soluble fertilizer solution. The mix might seem a bit over-watered at first but the peat soaks up the solution and will seem to 'dry' out with standing. The hot water helps the solution soak in.
For Potting Mix, I add granular fertilizer mixed with ground Limestone 1to 2 ratio. The ground Limestone combines with any Phosphate and forms Calcium Phosphate, which dissolves slowly and is chemically similar to Bone Meal but a lot cheaper.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

322. I printed it all out. Omigosh you sound like a scientist - I hope some of this comes out ok

I'm such a ditz when it comes to such things!

:dilemma:

[formercia]

328. Not a very good scientist.

I majored in Chemistry/Forensic science. Too many other neat things to do.

It helped me understand gardening and cooking better.

You can do it.

Use Pro Mix or similar to start.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

333. Will do. I can't wait to see what extraterrestrial thing my plants end up looking like lol

:eyes:

[earth mom]

156. List of Organic seeds, Heirloom seed, un-treated seed, seed saving, seed suppliers

Paid ads are at the top of the list, scroll down for the complete list:
http://www.greenpeople.org/seeds.htm

Click on your state or province
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/organic_seed/

[Sarah Ibarruri]

223. Those are great! Seed sellers listed by STATE! Thanks! nt

[Fireweed247]

160. Of course!

Last summer was a little cold even in the greenhouse, but I am hoping for some tomatoes this year. Alaska is amazing for the cabbage family with the long summer days and the colder weather. Just don't cut any brocoli if there is a moose within a mile...they smell it and come over and eat the whole patch. I have to pull up the entire plant and bring it inside.

If you are raising tomatoes...grow some basil. They just go together, they are companion plants that like being planted together, and they taste fabulous together....and homemade pesto is the best!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

224. What is it that makes it better to grow certain veggies together? nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

161. yes

and the surplus goes into the freezer or gets canned!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

225. Lucky! nt

[Le Taz Hot]

163. Going the square foot garden route this year.

I've tried the traditional row garden and yes, I got a lot of harvest but it was an ENORMOUS amount of work. People started talking about the SFG in DU's Gardening Group and I got the book and have become a convert -- at least until my first harvest. We JUST made 3-4'X 4' yesterday but today it's raining and we can't finish them yet. One of the 3 is 12" deep so I can grow potatoes, carrots, parsnips and turnips. One of the many cool things about SFG is you don't need a lot of space which I don't have. If all goes well this year I may put up 2 or 3 in the front yard as well as we're planning on getting rid of most of our grass and sprinkler systems in order to conserve water.

And just for the record, SFG has been around since the 70's -- it's just making a comeback.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

226. My nephew is sold on it. It works for him so well and it really doesn't tire you out nt

[Mrs. Overall]

164. Yes. I have three large raised beds and I just need to get my two teenagers to do some weeding...

I haven't planted a garden in two years, so everything is terribly overgrown with huge weeds. Yuck.

[wiggs]

166. Absolutely. In the ground already:

In the ground:

Some early tomatoes, potatoes, alpine strawberries, artichokes, fennel, onion, garlic, beets, radish, fig, plum, pluot, blood orange, greens. Plum and pluot are six years old.

Still to go:

lemon cucumbers, crookneck squash, italian climbing zucchini, persian cucumber, eggplant, italian peppers, maybe a canteloupe and a pumpkin

Love it. Check out the huge movement...the DU of edible gardening: www.freedomgardens.org

[Sarah Ibarruri]

228. Ok we're coming to your house for dinner! lol nt

[slackmaster]

167. I put in 12 tomato plants two weeks ago, and harvested my first fresh garlic of 2009 yesterday

Six Early Girls and six Supersteaks, using organic compost including my own Ficus rubigosa leaves and fruit, and my homemade compost (which is what happens to all of my food scraps).

My desert tortoise even has his own tomato plants this year. He "planted" them earlier than mine, and they're doing extremely well.

http://members.cox.net/slack/images/critters/bonus+tomato_plants.jpg

[formercia]

177. My Garlic is still covered with 2 feet of snow.

but we're still eating fresh carrots and squash from last fall.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

230. LOL! The tortoise is into veggie gardening too? nt

[noamnety]

168. Here's mine (pre-growing season)

I started with the proper sized paths, but I was scavenging wood from craigslist and toward the end of the setup I went to a place that had "scrap wood" and it turned out they had parts of shipping crates that were perfect containers, so I started cramming them into my walking areas. The green box was one of those (I used it for spuds), and the box directly in front of it, and the one off to the right:



The front stuff growing there is early season perennials - rhubarb and asparagus.

That was last year, my first year trying that method. It was far better maintained than earlier years, where sometimes I abandoned it because of the frustration of megaweeds. But I also have a lot of veggies (squash, tomatoes, herbs, strawberries) in the nonsquare foundation plantings around the house - and I noticed the flavor of the tomatoes there was a thousand times better. The tomatoes grown in "Mel's Mix" were bland. With more years of my own compost added in, perhaps that will get better, but I think the regular ground organisms add to the flavor. The same tomatoes started as hydroponics in winter, then were transplanted, and the difference in flavor from the same plant was startling when it got some real dirt.

This year I might expand out the garden during the summer, but try some boxes without any weedblock beneath so it's more like regular raised beds, to see how that affects flavor.

I also have some meadow areas where we've ripped out the original lawn (not visible in these pics), and I dug asparagus roots into that randomly last year. It isn't up yet, but I noticed last year that my official vegetable garden asparagus was up before the wildflower area got tall, so I'm thinking the asparagus will be visible before the other plants get big enough to hide it. (I hope).

I also had some barrels I cut to control invasives like horseradish and jerusalem artichokes.


I had never tried jerusalem artichokes before, and didn't realize I would become addicted to them. This year I'm going to put them outside the barrel and just let them invade as they wish. They can take over one of our meadows and just be a big old sunflower area from the soil up, and an addiction enabler from the soil down. The first time I planted them in the barrel, I shoved them all under the dirt, came out the next morning and they were all neatly lined up on top of the dirt - some animal had taken them all out. I'm hoping I can grow enough loose to feed both me and the gophers and mice.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

231. Beautiful! That seems like a northern state nt

[noamnety]

252. It's the detroit area

(which explains how we can afford that house.)

I planted peas and spinach today in the proper garden, rainbow chard and more chives from saved seeds in the foundation planting. I want to expand out the chives to make a full border for the front since it's short. The chive blossoms make for the prettiest oniony-tasting pizza ever (this is with sage set into the border, before going into the oven):



The rainbow chard was in the veggie area last year, but was so decorative I decided it can work in the flower garden.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

261. Gorgeous house! nt

[WyoHiker]

169. Researched it last month. Decided No.

This part of Wyo (7000 ft up, very arid, Snows in June and September, frost to late June and beginning again in mid August, pure clay soils with potato pebbles quartzite stones, quite windy, etc, etc.) makes gardening a one-try-per year, multi-year process as you build up wind breaks, condition the soil, get your frost protection mechanisms worked out, find some way to keep the hungry critters away, and so on, and so on.

Add to that that I'm a renter whose not planning to garden during summer 2010 as I will be moving that July. So, I couldn't see developing the compost piles, etc.

And when I looked at the pure dollars and cents figures, it was a long time before I could break even.

Still, I might "bucket garden" some tomatoes that I can keep indoors, by the window. Then, all I'll need to do is scavenge some buckets, and "liberate" a bit of semi-real soil from the nearby creek valley.

Back in Nebraska, at my Grandma's house, the garden was a BIG deal. Later I learned (by missing it), that we had an undeclared, subliminal, quasi-sacred, "harvest day" type of celebration / get-together. Wonderful.

Bountiful harvest to all who do plant this year!!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

232. Do bucket gardens do well? Plastic buckets, right? nt

[WyoHiker]

329. They Can

But calling them gardens is a bit of a stretch. Its much more like a half-dozen or so extra house plants.

Its been a very long time since I've done it, so I've forgotten quite a bit about how to enhance the dirt, etc... I'll need to do some research there.

As for the buckets, I'd use basic 5 gallon drywall pails, or similar / smaller. Since I want to do this on the cheap, I'll look for them at one of the few construction sites nearby.

[sendero]

171. I'm definitely going to try..

... the square foot (ok, square meter) gardening!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

234. My little nephew's garden is beginning to look so good! nt

[Bushfire]

172. Had my first garden on my own since childhood last year

and planted everything from basil, rosemary, thyme, yellow squash, broccoli, red peppers, mixed greens, carrots, and cucumbers. This year I'm adding spinach, and kale while dropping broccoli which didn't grow that well in our soil.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

235. I guess it's a matter of trying things out and seeing what works best in your area? nt

[watercolors]

175. We have been gardening for years

Love having fresh veggies and herbs. we have fruit trees, citrus, bananas, avacardo and fig. We live in Fla. but have always had a garden. Not only healthy , but a great stress buster!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

214. Why do people all say that gardening beats stress? nt

[intheflow]

178. The food still isn't free.

There are initial start-up costs (pots, soil, seeds, roto-tilling if your soil is hard), not to mention maintenance costs like water and fertilizer/netting/fencing. I'd love to do this, but really and truly do not have the capitol to start the project. :(

[Le Taz Hot]

180. We did 3 square-foot gardens

this year for about $400.00 total. However, those are initial set up costs and you wouldn't necessarily need 3 of them just to start out. They're all 4' X 4' so they take up a minimal amount of space. We eat lots of veggies and I use herbs for cooking so in three months, it will easily pay for itself.

Square foot gardening does not use soil or fertilizer, only 1/3 compost (you can make that yourself), 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat moss and you don't have to keep buying it. Once a plant has played out, remove it, add about 2 cups of compost and plant another plant. You can plant the same thing in the same space over and over because you're not using soil.

As for fencing, we used dear netting (very cheap) and devised a dome for the gardens to keep the cats out so there was no great expense for fencing.

Watering: The idea is that you are supposed to hand water to keep in touch with what is happening in your garden but you could easily and inexpensively set up a drip irrigation system on a timer. Using these methods requires very little water and there is absolutely no waste.

If you're interested in learning more, the book is called, "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. Here's the website: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

[noamnety]

184. Don't underestimate the power of craigslist

my containers were free from craigslist. I don't recommend rototilling because it stirs up weed seeds - you'd be better off doing lasagna gardening and building your own compost (free) on top of the soil you have. One of the lessons from sq. foot gardening is that you only need about 6 inches of good soil to grow most crops. I don't use fertilizer. Some netting might be needed, I was able to scavenge some and had to buy some. You might be able to get free window screens off craigslist at some point and recycle that. And there are groups that save heirloom seeds who will send you seeds for free. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/exseed/msg0216591332661.html?83

It's common for a seed pack to have more seeds than one person needs - do you really need 100 lettuce plants? If you go into it with a few other people and all share their seeds, it becomes really cheap. If you stick with nonhybrids, you can then save your seeds from one year to the next.

Lasagna gardening: http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

Some cities also have a composting program from collected yard waste, and the compost is free to residents. Here's one from Jackson, Michigan: "city residents are entitled to one free cubic yard of compost each year, delivered to their home."

[iamthebandfanman]

179. i plan on trying to grow a few things this season

maybe some corn , peppers, and carrots(for my bunny)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

212. I'm very much looking forward to it too! nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

182. I'm glad you asked.

Started a little 6 x 12 foot garden with chicken wire around it on the back acre.
Just moved to the country this winter. living in a little town on 2 acres. Back acre is like a park. Front acre is yard around the house.

Finding out about the thrills of weed-whacking and hoeing.

I am NOT a ho! I use a hoe! :D

Growing squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, okra, and we have a patch of wild asparagus on the back forty.

The only one of those that I eat is squash. :D

[Sarah Ibarruri]

211. hahahaha! Okay, hoe-user! Squash sounds so good nt

[Maru Kitteh]

183. We've had an organic garden for the last 9 years. Couldn't do without it.

Well, I could, but I wouldn't want to. Mmmmmmmmmm tomatoes.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

213. Yum!! nt

[DKRC]

185. Our order came in last month

and the dining room is covered in seedlings til it warms up.
Also, bought a hanging planter for cherry tomatoes to use the most space since we only have a balcony.



Anyone have any experience with this kind of planter? We saw it at WalGreen's for $10 which was about 1/2 what I'd seen it listed for in my seed catalogs. I may hang some bell peppers if this works out.

[merh]

186. I'm planting the upsidedown tomatoes

and intend to plant more - still reading up on the gardens.

[moobu2]

189. This is a photo of my potatoes I took today

You can barely onions growing on the upper left. Mmmm I can already taste them.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

207. Mmm.. how delicious! What kind of potatoes and onions? Looks great!

Mmmm even potatoes fried with onions sounds great! :7

[moobu2]

257. Red and yellow onions and red potatoes

I love some potatoes and onions.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

262. Mmmmm! A couple of eggs and voila! nt

[Liberty Belle]

190. We've had gardens for years. In CA our weather is warm enough to grow

some crops nearly year-round. I've got about a 600 square foot plot that includes 2-raised planter beds plus ground area for squashes.

We train a lot of things up tomato cages or a fence around the garden patch to maximize space - cucumbers, beans, etc. Also grapevines.

In addition, we have orchards with about 14 different fruit trees (plums, nectarines, oranges, sangria/blood oranges, kumquats, lemons, grapefruit, macadamia nuts, avocados, and tangerines), plus a small herb garden and our most exotic item, an allspice tree.

For those without much space, I recommend a book called Postage Stamp Gardening (or something like that) on small space gardens. I've done that elsewhere and it's amazing how productive a tiny garden can be if you amend the soil properly and maximize space by growing vertically. Some people even train cantelopes to grow up a fence, supporting the weight of the fruit with a nylon stocking. :-)

Ours is all organic.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

205. Postage stamp gardening? LOL! It gets smaller every time!

Wow you have LOTS of space!

[Name removed]

191. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Javaman]

194. My wife and I saw the writing on the wall about 4 years ago...

we have a roughly 12 by 12 square foot garden, We are growing, kale, beets, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, a host of herbs, lemon tree, fig tree, black berry bushes and a grape vine.

We are planning several other things for this summer and fall. This is just the back yard. Next year, the front yard starts doing duty.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

204. Wow! She has a sharp eye for things!

How many meals do you figure you get from your veggies right now? And how many seasons do you have veggies?

[Javaman]

301. We've been doing pretty well on the veggie front. this is the first year

we have tried fruit and berries.

We basically have a constant supply of lettuce. We can our beets, tomatoes, squash, dry out our herbs for later and cellar away the turnips. (built a small cellar in our yard under our tool shed.) I'm trying potatoes for the first time this year.

We also have been expanding our flowers for bee and butterflies. We hope to put in seed producing Sunflowers by next spring.

In the front yard we currently have two giant Arizona Ashes that are nearing the end of their lives (25-35 years old). One in particular. When that one goes, in goes the apple and olive trees. The very long term plan is to replace the grass with a native variety and put in some cactus so I can make nepolitos (a personal fav, yum!)

As for the back yard, the last two big things we are thinking about now is a small bee hive and about 3 chickens, but I have to get more info on the bees. The chickens will probably happen, just not this year as I was hoping.

We don't have a lot of land, just an 1/8 of an acre in the middle of suburbia. :) I got my inspiration from that guy out in Pasadena, California that has the Path to Freedom website. Homesteading in the suburbs. :)

We have 5 rain barrels and hope to get more along with a composter, which I'm about build to replace the two small ones I have now. (the old ones were two galvanized trash cans with some holes drilled in).

On edit: I realized I didn't really answer your question. LOL well, meals, hmmm, you have to start thinking in different terms. You have to think at least one season ahead. Given we are having a really bad drought here (austin, texas) right now, we didn't get the kind of yield we hoped for last season.

If all goes well and we get enough rain, I think we could take care of about 30-50% of our food budget regarding veggies alone.

We don't eat a whole lot of meat, so if we got the chickens, we could probably do pretty well for a while, meal wise.

Learning to can and preserve are really important. You can grow all kinds of stuff but if you don't have a way to keep it etable, it just becomes compost really quick.

Even though we have been doing this for 4 years, there has been a lot of trial and error. We started off small, 4x4 garden. Experiemented. Tried one way, then ripped the whole thing out and are now trying a new way. (the new way, I believe and so does my wife, is a lot better) A much shallower garden. 6" raised garden (easier on the back. LOL). I put a pvc pipe/chicken wire cage over the 2 4x4 gardens (the can be lifted off easy), to keep away the damn squirrals. And I hooped the 16 x 4 long garden with pvc and will be covering that with 60% sun block cloth in the hot months, but will also do double duty in the winter with clear plastic sheeting to get a jump on the spring plant. I'm debating whether or not to make sun boxes for the winter (our winters are mild).

Hoped that helped. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

325. It certainly helped! You know, I never realized how much food one can get from a very small space

Now that even city folks are growing veggies on tiny balconies and window sills, I feel confident I can maybe get something going.

[Stephanie]

196. Got a garden for a low-light windowsill?

I have about three square feet I could plant... Maybe radishes.

[we can do it]

197. Yes As I Always Do. Though Its Not Exactly Free

[Sarah Ibarruri]

203. No you're right. For example, I have to get everything - I have nothing,

no containers, no seeds, no soil, no anything. It's going to cost me some $$ to start out!

[we can do it]

273. Look at GardensAlive.com for Organic Pest Control and Soil Amendments

also MonkeySee.com has some really cool organic gardening videos in the home and garden section.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

282. cool thanks! nt

[BelgianMadCow]

296. the taste of a self-grown tomato or salad is incomparable!

plus, you also have to count in the fun time looking at things grow, and the physical excercise you get for free :D

On the excercise - my 80 yr old neighbor laughed at me (AFTER the facts) because I was digging the ground (to loosen it & get in compost / fertilizer) standing on top of the (remainder of) the row I was digging. You have to make one ditch for starters, and then go stand IN it when tackling the next row.
lower back strain is divided by two as you stand lower lol.

But you are right, I also spent quite a bit at the start - only after a while you use your own compost, the soil has been through a couple seasons and it does get better each time...

[maveric]

198. My wife and I were just discussing what plants/seeds to buy this week.

We're planting Roma and Beefsteak tomatoes, green and red peppers, zucchini, cukes,green beans, oregano, cilantro, basil and parsley. About the same as what we planted and ate last year.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

202. OMG you get to eat some really delicious veggies every year!

How many meals would you say you get?

[maveric]

206. We managed to eat at least one garden veggie with every...

evening meal for about 5 months. We're in San Diego and have a longer growing season.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

240. Wow! That's a lot of veggies! Thank you. I'm probably going to get started in about 4 weeks nt

[JDPriestly]

199. Yes, and I live 5 miles from downtown L.A.

Our seasons are not like those in other parts of the country, so it's touch and go.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

201. Awesome! A downtown garden almost! nt

[JDPriestly]

293. We have a not large, but nice back yard with quite a view.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

294. Wow, nice! Me, I'll have a small balcony. That will be my backyard nt

[leftofthedial]

208. I've been trying to find a good supply of commercial pesticides and herbicides

for my garden. I can't afford grocery store veggies anymore and I miss those waxy, toxic coatings they put on everything in Mexico and the Honduras, where all the real vegetables come from these days. Any idea where I can load up on some of that?

[Le Taz Hot]

302. I'm not sure about the "icides"

but I have a homemade deterrent for a lot of bugs, including tomato worms. In 2 quarts of water, add about 12 cloves of garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, let simmer for about an hour or so. Let cool. Remove the garlic cloves and pour the remaining liquid into a spray bottle and spray your plants thoroughly ever 3 - 4 days. Non-toxic, cheap and doesn't add and "icides" to Mother Earth.

If you have a situation in which grass/weeds are growing up in between bricks, paving stones or driveway cracks, wet the weeds/grass, physically pull them, then pour boiling hot water into the cracks -- this kills the seeds. To make sure, do the same thing again in about a week. My back yard is covered with stepping stones (got rid of the grass) and this technique works great in keeping the growth to a manageable level.

[leftofthedial]

312. great hints! Thanks.

:thumbsup:

[Bluenorthwest]

227. Always have

My father raised all our produce in suburbia, back when such things were considered crass. So it is in my bones. Dad would have LOVED Michelle doing the garden, I mean he would have swooned. He'd have gone on about Eleanor, and supermarkets, and agra buisiness, although that word was not in use...
I also love the White House garden. And the First Lady for putting it in, and Alice Waters for pushing the idea year after year.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

239. Yes!! I think Mrs. Obama starting the garden will get LOTS of people gardening too nt

[dpbrown]

229. I have 140 square feet in raised beds in a Square Foot Garden

I would like to get a few harvests this year.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

238. Oh My Gosh. You must get bushels of produce! nt

[dpbrown]

255. First year, but I'm hoping!

:thumbsup:

:hi:

[FedUpWithIt All]

233. Plant a little extra to donate.

http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=par/index.html

:hi:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

237. Donate at the food banks, right? nt

[FedUpWithIt All]

281. The link provides information on local food banks that will take fresh produce.

:hi:

[uppityperson]

236. Taking a break from digging in the dirt, prepping garden.Just planted kiwi

a self fertile hardy kiwi, gives 1-2 inch long kiwis. Dug manure into the bean bed, weeded the paths. I have enough small spuds left from last yr's crop to plant this yr. My really exciting thing is a brassica that grows 5-6 ft tall. The leaves go to the chickens, and I'll end up with a tall stem with cabbage type leaves at the top. Not particularly edible, but fun

[Sarah Ibarruri]

260. kiwis? In the U.S.? I had no idea. Of course, I know almost nothing about gardening

Will have to learn everything.

[BelgianMadCow]

241. Yep. DU IS green :-) so am I

My vegetable garden is growing since 3 years - each year, I conquer a bed more on the aggressive weed I have to deal with :D so now i'm at 30 x 30 foot, and a greenhouse 10 x 8.

This year I hope for:

vegs:
- potatoes - early, middle and late because those last long in winter. Am envious of the plants already out in a post above :D
- salad - normal, iceberg, rucola (nutty flavor) and "picking salad" where you just harvest leaves continually. Learnt last year: sow smaller quantities with intervals - not everything at once.
- spinach - the new zealand variant (tetragone) can be harvested multiple times and grows / spreads like mad.
- leek (says babelfish :-))
- carrots - will grow those under net together with leek.
- tomatoes - in greenhouse, 8 plants and we can't eat it all. Different kinds, gonna put basil in between
- paprika - also in greenhouse, but tough - hot but not humid :-/
- onion and the smaller variant
- cucumber (real easy, like pumpkin)
herbs:
- garlic (just plant some parts in oct-nov, and wait :D)
- parsley
- oregano (winterhard)
- thyme
- mint (warning: grows like a weed, best contain it)
- basil
- chive (winterhard)
fruit:
another neighbor young single girl can't keep up her back garden - if I tend to it a bit, the fruit is mine - apples and pears - hv enough jam for the family :D
- planted berries just now. Yield about 5 kg a plant, took red, white (sweeter) and green.

Many vegs like a bit extra K (kalium) - you can use wood stove ash for that)

Speaking of weeds - planting potatoes at a good foot's distance destroys most of them - the canopy potatoes make doesn't let enough light through :-) Over here, around a new-built house on an empty plot, they would saw nothing but potatoes the first year.

Walking around in your garden, checking things here and there, or watching seeds sprout - it's simply BEAUTIFUL.

Also, call me paranoid, but I have bought at least 2X more seeds than needed because I really expect food troubles...otherwise, they do stay good for years if you stock em cold and dry.

Those that want to go really organic - read up on combinations of plants that do well together. Tomato benefits from Basil :D Alternating rows of carrots and onions keep carrot root fly away (to a large extent). There are many known good and bad combinations. Obviously, crop rotation is also a good idea. Working all of that out in a garden plan has made me lend a couple books and gave me many a pleasant evening :-)

In general, to protect you organic veggies, consider growing under insect netting, with a fine mesh. I just got a couple drapes (the semi-see through kind) from my 70-year farmer neighbor. Works perfectly well, at first they are on the sown bed to protect against cats and such, also against direct hard sunlight.

If you really want to save doing gardening, you should try and start early and keep it up till autumn at least. You gain most in spring and autumn as then prices are high, as opposed to summer time. Spinach, carrots, leek all have winter variants.
This year I'm gonna use plastic tunnels to speed things up and keep em long - just bought 15 x 6 foot for 5 euro, but you can make em yourself too. These are also good against birds - they will especially come and eat young plants as they stand out from the sky :-/

Finally, what it all starts with - soil. Knowing what type you have is important - light / middle / heavy, wet / dry, acid or not. Mine is light, rather wet and acidic. So since fertilizer (bio) seeps out rather quick, better to do it a couple times superficial for me. If I use raised beds, the wetness is no longer an issue. I throw some calcium every year for the pH.
And most of all, learn to make compost...don't just make huge piles of all kids of stuff (I know :-/)
Local farmers often can tell you what (variant) works and which one doesn't.

Soil prep and sowing indoor are winter activities - if you want to be early, don't start mid march as I did ;-) from seed to outdoor ready plant takes a month easily. Seedlings don't like hard sunlight! Burnt a couple tomato seedlings just now...


Happy gardening DU! Gonna bookmark the thread, thanks for the OP Sarah

ps: I didn't want to make it sound complex - basically, with love and care things work out pretty well - or, you learn stuff for next year :-) (don't ask about my cauliflower)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

256. How did you learn so much? nt

[BelgianMadCow]

297. two things: picked elderly gardeners' minds and borrowed a great 70s book

The reading and planning is, as for a holiday, a big part of the fun.

And you can't believe the tricks old people have. One, for tomatoes: stick a thin copper wire through the stem at the base of the plant - much less prone to disease. Logical really, influence of trace elements like copper and iron is well known and the wire gives off those ions. I'm an engineer ;-)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

308. How amazing!!! Maybe you ought to write a veggie gardening book - I know I'd buy it! nt

[Blue Diadem]

242. yep. We have every year for I don't know how long.

When we lived in the city and had a little itty bitty yard, we used to perimeter garden along the fence. We have two areas for the garden now that we have 1/2 acre. One is being taken over by what started out as just a few strawberry plants my daughter bought a few years ago. It looks like we'll be tilling up another area for more garden space soon.

I'd like to get some fruit trees and bushes. I grew up with cherry trees, apples trees, pears(pears were awful though) and blackberry bushes...I miss homemade blackberry jam. We've planted blackbery bushes a couple times but they always die within the first few months, usually from too much rain. :(

[BelgianMadCow]

246. on blackberries

I think you mean black currant? With a structure similar to raspberry? they should not be that demaning, the thorned races esp himalaya are best for wet ground (have a total wild one on a ditch side).

If it's blue berry (just round shape) - they are notoriously difficult -
- like acidic ground, water-retaining. You can mix peat into the soil to get that. I have a bag of soil for acidic plants as well - but that's hardly a long term solution and costly. If the leaves of your plnats turned yellow, it was the (lack of) acidity problem.
- they dislike heavy fertilizing - like compost though. No fertilization for the first years.
- first berries only after 3-4 years.
Because of that, I took red, white and green berries which aren't that demanding.

[Blue Diadem]

254. They look like a raspberry but are larger and black.

I'm not sure why we've lost the plants. They were new starts but purchased in those box like containers from a garden center. They end up producing a few leaves then turn black and rot, but each time we've tried them we've had quite a bit of rain within the first month or so of planting and it's pretty much clay soil where we planted them.

My son has a raspberry patch and that portion of his yard actually floods a few times a year from a nearby river and his just keep growing strong.

[BelgianMadCow]

295. Hmm that's peculiar indeed, but maybe this 'll do the trick

(and thanks for the pic, I see what you mean - black currant, like the Himalaya strain)

If the raspberries (sweeter in taste and pit a little smaller) at your son work, well, they can be multiplied:
in autumn, after the leaves have fallen, you dig out a root from one plant and try to separate the root in two. It's called "shearing" if that's the right word in english. If it's hard to separate like that, use two forks against each other or cut a part of the root deposit loose. Or get a whole plant from him :D

About blackcurrant: When I wander in woods over here, I find a lot of blackcurrant in the wild - and you can find naturally formed rootlings (self-invented word ;-)) close to a big plant. It just looks as if one branch is lying on the ground, but when you try and lift 'em you see they have roots.
That can be done on purpose as well: you take the top of that years' new growth, and bend it towards the soil. You fix the top IN the soil really, use a herring or something like that so you get a branch bending underground and coming up out a bit.
The top then starts to make new roots at that point. Next spring, the new plant can be cut loose from the mother, or you can also wait till autumn as the new one will be even stronger. I'd try both :-)

Neither raspberries nor blackcurrant are demanding of the soil - but indeed, a period of flooding can make them rot. Your son's soil is maybe really different - try and lighten yours with peat or compost (I find mixtures of the two called fumelite here). You can also put in small pebbles called japanese split to increase drainage. Raising your bed will also make it dry out a lot faster - a raised bed actually has a 5° c temp diff, and also more surface plus logically draining to the lower surrounding. My soil is wet as well and I really see the difference with ditches around beds of 5-10 inch.

I'm not an expert at all though, find lots of great tips on fora specifically about home vegetable gardening. The ones I have favorited are in dutch so :-/

If it wasn't so far I'd sent you parts of my waay to bushy wild one growing on a wet ditch side. Be sure to get the thorned type! And gloves ;-)

Finally about garden centers - pretty often I find the plants sold relatively cheap in outlets that don't specialize ie have limited seasonal offerings don't work or bad. Those with year-round offerings may be more costly, but in the end...and if you find how to multiplicate, you have more for the same price.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

248. You have lots of land! How lucky you are! nt

[Blue Diadem]

271. I always wanted more, just enough for a hobby farm.

I'm having some mobility issues so 1/2 acre is just fine now and sometimes too much.

[lumberjack_jeff]

269. Can't grow blackberries? Holy Moly!

Here, "blackberries" are synonymous with "weeds". Keeping the thickets under control is the big problem. They are like kudzu with self-defense skills.

[Blue Diadem]

270. Tell me about it!

My parent's plants crept in from a neighbor's patch who got them the same way from another neighbor. When they finally tried to get rid of them it took years and years to do it.

I thought they'd be a walk in the park to grow but I was wrong. When it comes to blackberries I have a black thumb. Maybe I should go find some wild ones and try growing those.

[grofys]

258. I'm a garden geek

I live in Pittsburgh and have extended the garden, front and back, to just about 1700 square feet. I have no raised gardens in the back, but am building a few in the front. I am just beginning to pitch-fork the garden this weekend. I tend the garden myself(I tended the garden myself even before my "husband" left, so I'm used to the work). I grow all types of beans, including soybeans and dry beans, peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, brassica, herbs, lettuce and greens...and on and on. There is always a spot for winter squash, melons and pumpkins, and root crops, of course.

I like to grow either heirloom, open-pollinated or native vegetables. For instance, the melon is o'odham ke:li ba:so and the winter squash is lakota. I will probably be selling tomatoes and herbs directly from the yard. I was thinking 80 cents/pound. I'll also be donating them.

We have two antique-type apple trees, a peach and sour cherry tree, black and raspberries, currants, grapes and strawberries.

I am building a chicken coop for a few layers(not meat), and will be constructing a cob bread in the upper yard.

We rarely eat potatoes, so for the first year I won't be growing them...I think. I'm still tempted.

[grofys]

264. correction

i am constructing a cob bread oven in the upper yard.

[FedUpWithIt All]

283. It is my dream to build a cob home.

:hi:

Have you ever worked with cob before?

[grofys]

314. i built a cob fireplace in the livingoom

i, too, dream of a cob home...or a tree house. i saw a video of a woman who lives in a ~900 square foot house she built of scrap wood. it's on wheels and she lives in her friend's yard with full water hook-up and heat. that would be great too. her heating bill in the winter was either 4 or 6 dollars/month.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

284. By native you mean local? nt

[grofys]

316. seeds first nations grew

hopi, etc. I grow hopi beans (black, pinto) and tarahumara types as well. even though the beans are grown in high/low desert, and are usually planted in a depression to collect moisture, they do well where i live. but i have always chosen early types. cherokee black beans accompanied the cherokee on their "trail of tears". there's also aztec black corn and others, along with other teocinte and grasses...sunflowers. of course, i include native mexican crops in this group as well.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

324. How interesting! It's like time travel, going back to the stuff they used to eat! nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

263. I'm building a greenhouse.

A few years ago, I traded a truck for a bunch of building materials, a large part of which was new or almost new windows.

I've stored them all this time, never quite sure what to do with them. So, we decided to build a greenhouse out of them after reading about (and becoming fascinated by) aquaponics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

The greenhouse is 120sf, because that's the biggest that is allowed without getting a building permit, but it will be adjacent to a 600sf normal garden. In the summer the fish effluent will be used to water the garden. In the winter it will feed plants (hopefully tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and spinach) growing in the hydroponic media (pea gravel) in the greenhouse.


This is the south-facing side



Pardon the mess. I have a few cedar logs that I will mill into siding, and haven't yet rototilled the garden spot. There's another big window which will be installed in this end of the greenhouse - after I bring in all the dirt I'll need. I just finished the roof and installed five of the windows today. :thumbsup:

The fish tank will either be 250 or 500 gallons (I have three 250 gallon tanks - I'll either use one or two) filled with Tilapia.

Best estimates indicate that I should be able to produce 125# of fish and LOTS (on the order of hundreds of pounds) of vegetables each year with this setup.

One of the beauties of aquaponics is that it is organic by necessity. If you put poison on the plants, it poisons the fish. IDEALLY, you can grow worms (vermiculture using garden scraps and compost) to feed the fish.

[noamnety]

272. What happens to the fish in winter?

I'd love to try something like that, but I'd be afraid that either they'd fry in the greenhouse during summer or freeze in it during winter.

[lumberjack_jeff]

278. The weather here is relatively mild - this year being an exception.

The fish tank will be in an insulated box, partially buried (to get the optimum relative water level) just outside the greenhouse door. Tilapia are an african species which is pretty tolerant of a wide range of temperatures.

I'm going to try to set up passive water heating (black poly pipe collectors up in the ceiling under the corrugated roof), but if that doesn't provide adequate warmth, I may have to heat the water circulating into the tank to prevent freezing.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

285. Amazing! You're doing that alone? Sheesh! It looks great! nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

303. Thanks Sarah. Compared to building the house, it's not that difficult. :)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

323. Uh... you built the house?? Excuse me?

Suddenly I feel so dumb! Kinda like Bush! Well, maybe not that dumb!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[southernyankeebelle]

265. Yes

I live in a rural area. I just had my garden plowed in two different places. My neighbor lives on a farm and has a nursery and cattle. He has a tractor and I asked him if he could plow me my garden area. He did and I told him he could use our back fields because we don't use them. He will use the fields and in turn he will keep it cut down. It works for both of us. I am planning to grow tomatoes, peppers, pototoes, corn, water melon, and canalope. A couple of years ago I had so much I couldn't even give it away. This year I am hoping my sons friends come over and give us alittle helping hand. I am getting older and have medical problems. I hope some of them take me up on it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

287. I hope you get some help so you could continue to have veggies! nt

[RushIsRot]

274. I started some tomato seeds in peat pellets today. Got 80 yellow

onion sets. I also hope to grow some cucumbers.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

288. I'd love me some onion! nt

[NeedleCast]

305. I Started One Last Year

It's not exactly square foot gardening but I'm trying to get maximum results from my space. My planter is about 12 feet by eight feet. I have a trellis over the top of it for tomatoe vines. This summer I'm going to try and build a "2nd tier" above the back quarter of the planter. I'll try to get a picture if I pull it off without knocking over my garage.

Last year I grew tomatoes, carrots, tobacco, some flowers and several types of sweet and hot peppers.

[8 track mind]

307. Can anyone recommend any links

On how to get started? This is something i would like to do, but i need an instruction manual. :)

Thanks in advance!

[grofys]

317. there are a lot of instructional videos on youtube

and there are many how-to sites. seed sites have instructions. you can even ask me if you want; i have been gardening since...forever...

[MISSDem]

310. My handyman, Jeff, built one for me last year but I didn't have much luck.

The cats have made a litter box of it. What can I do to stop this?

[grofys]

319. since the cat poop in my garden

comes from my neighbor's cat, i just pick it up with a shovel and fling it back in his yard. maybe you can just make a special hole for it and let it decompose.

ps., i wish i had a handyman to do work for me...like clean the litter box and do the dishes...

[CAcyclist]

311. I started one last year

But this year, I got a little too enthusiastic about dahlias and ordered enough tubers to fill half my plot.
Oh well, the world needs pretty flowers,too.

I just started my seeds - I've got chocolate cherry tomatoes and isis gold cherries (tomatoes), a peach mid-sized tomato and red,yellow and choc bell peppers.

If anyone here is in the bay area, I'll probably have seedlings left over to find homes for.

[Touchdown]

315. "Veggie"? How old are you?

If your over 15, you should be using Vegetables. :eyes:

[grofys]

318. "veggies" is okay

it's just a word. she started a very good thread, after all.

[REP]

326. And you should know the contraction of "you are" is "you're"

"If you are over 15..." is what you meant, so "you're" is what you should've typed. Additionally, the "v" in "vegetables" did not need to be capitalized.

You're welcome.

HTH HAND

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

332. If you are over 11, you should know it's "you're," not "your"

[Matariki]

327. been doing square foot gardening for two years

the cost of building raised beds and all the soil the first year takes a few years to pay out. Figure every head of lettuce I got so far has cost me about $10, LOL

[quaker bill]

330. French intensive raised beds

the "square foot" approach is a bit to regimented for me. I have been using the French intensive approach on fully organic raised bed plots for a few decades now. I am currently growing a variety of heirloom tomatos, peppers, squash, peas, lettuces, broccoli, and a variety of kitchen herbs. I always save a small chunk of the garden for butterfly plants, fennel for the black swallowtails, and Asclepias tuberosa for the monarchs.

[ipaint]

331. I use sub-irrigated containers.

I don't have a yard so I have a container garden on my patio. I make homemade sub-irrigated boxes like the ones on this site-
http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2008/07/sub-irrigated-grow-box.html

Here is my blog with pics of my garden-
http://aneyeful.blogspot.com/search?q=container

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MCfnMhIdIog/Sb-xexFQKfI/AAAAAAAAAOM/JFuapiSnfVE/s400/container+garden+3-17-09+2.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MCfnMhIdIog/Sb-yLLmcQHI/AAAAAAAAAOc/F8yqu9_gSnU/s400/container+garden+3-17-09+1.jpg