Since there are quite a few gardening threads, a couple pics of my garden. Pic heavy.

[Fuzz]

This is not this year, too early, but soon.

I also have potted plants and grow tomatoes on the side of the house.













One days bounty of just tomatoes and cucumbers.

[lamp_shade]

1. Really nice garden you have there. A lot of backbreaking work, eh?

[Fuzz]

2. Yeah it is.

Last year I was pretty sick and my garden suffered. :(

[kestrel91316]

5. I have done plenty of raised beds. The only backbreaking part is your

initial prep of the soil. I "double dug" my soil and had a hell of a lot of Bermuda grass roots and rocks to remove. From then on, everything is either done with a hand trowel or a digging fork. Weeds are much easier to control in a raised bed. And he's got the pathways nicely mulched to keep weeds down.

I give this garden an A.

[wuvuj]

24. Not backbreaking....

...or expensive. I can put in a 4' x 4' bed by using rough sawn 1" x 6" oak boards for around $8 per bed. I just place them on grass...leaving a push mowers width in between. Around $8 of 50/50 cow manure and "top soil"...fills one.

Then put 4 tomato plants in one 4 x4...with 4 wire cages over them. I also...earlier...plant lettuce in a + shape where the tomato plants WON'T be...so I have much lettuce before the tomatoes get too large.

I like the Celebrity tomatoes...good producers right up to frost.

After a couple of years...the earthworms will come and if you dig down to where the grass used to be...it will be a very loose organic type soil.

Build it....and THEY will come. :woohoo:

Keep It Simple Stupid.

[kestrel91316]

28. Celebrity is an old reliable. But if you want tomatoes to die for,

grow Brandywine. Died-and-gone-to-heaven good. World's best BLT slicer.

[SpiralHawk]

3. The wise householder will emulate Fuzz - and install food systems now

The whole food-farm thingy is going to get progressively stranger. Anything any one of us can do to help produce clean food is going to be a help...

The Land is Calling. Who will listen and respond?

http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com/

[ClayZ]

18. Keyhole Gardens for everyone!

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

[fight4my3sons]

22. thank you for posting this

I had never heard of keyhole gardens. these are really cool!

[ClayZ]

34. Did you see the animation of the KeyHole Garden.

We are beginning construction on ours tomorrow! We have quite a few raised beds. The KeyHole design facinates me! I love the composting in the middle!

[Mugu]

4. Now all you need are a few

Nice garden. I'm sure that you'll enjoy it very much.

[kestrel91316]

6. Oh, a word to the wise in hot, dry climates. Raised beds may NOT be

the way to go. Mine always dried out really badly. It turns out, the Native Americans in the Southwest used SUNKEN beds that kept the soil moister and cooler. No frames to construct (and spend $ on), either.

[Fuzz]

7. I'm going to kick, because it took a while to post the pics.

;)

[etherealtruth]

8. I'll give you an other one (Kick that is)

Gardening is still a few months down the road ... so, for now, I'll live vicariously through you :)

[Fuzz]

9. too early here too, this was a couple years ago, but it's still there

[bevoette]

10. i REALLY want to do this this year...

we're going out tomorrow to look at supplies

i'm still not committed, but i'll decide tomorrow, it'll be blazing here before i know it :)

[Lex]

11. Fuzz, it's magnificent!

You should be very proud of your work!

I hope you post more pictures throughout the season. I would love to see the progress every week.


Lex

[bvar22]

12. For more Veggie Porn, try the "Gardening Group".

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

Nice garden!

Did you pre-register your garden with the government in case any of your vegetables cross the state line?
Oh wait. That hasn't passed yet.
My bad.

[flvegan]

13. Inspirational. Thanks for posting.

[Fuzz]

14. Thank you!

[amborin]

15. looks wonderful!

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Very nice! k+r, n/t

[flygal]

17. Love it!

I'm still in the learning stage. I'm not much of a gardener - but I know I need to be. The bounty pic is beautiful. Good job.

[wroberts189]

19. Nice... have you tried corn and carrots ? If so how they come out? nt

[Fuzz]

25. Corn no, need much more room imo. Carrots yes.

They take a long time, and the results weren't spectacular. I like to concentrate on stuff that you can't get in the store super fresh, or things that just taste much much better right out of the ground. Root vegetables, for me, are fine from the store. Plus, with all the time the carrots take to grow, I can use the space for something else that can turn over once or twice.

The only exception I have made though is asparagus. I have turned the back left bed into only asparagus and wow, fresh asparagus is unbelievable right out of the garden. If you can do it, I'd highly recommend it.

[wroberts189]

31. Thx .. I keep failing on them. I will try asparagus..good idea. nt

[Fuzz]

32. I failed to mention, once you get an asparagus bed going,

it can be good for 10 years of more.

[Vinca]

20. Your garden reminds me of my ultimate gardening fantasy -

it involves a lottery win and having someone build me a huge raised bed garden similar to yours only 3 or 4 feet high. It would be right next to the commercial grade, glass greenhouse for winter gardening . . . that also has a lap pool.:thumbsup:

[Fuzz]

26. OMG, a greenhouse. That's next!

:)

[rucky]

21. How much stuff can you grow in 4 raised beds like that?

Seems like a good solution for smaller yards.

Does doing it that way help with weed control?

[Fuzz]

27. I still get weeds, but yeah, it helps. We have a lot of trees that drop

the helicopter seeds and we're constantly picking those out.

I've learned to plant my lettuce in batches giving me lettuce throughout the season. I plant my cucumbers a few weeks apart for the same reason.

I get so much some years, depending on how well I maintain it of course, that the kids go around to the neighbors giving out veggies all summer because we can't handle it all. That's not the entire garden either, there is more on the side of the house and in containers.

[fight4my3sons]

23. these are beautiful

We left raised beds like this at our last rental. At least I am friends with the person who moved in and know that she will plant again this year.

[Mojorabbit]

29. Are the bottoms of your bedsss

on the dirt? For the past five years I have put industrial plastic weed guard at the bottom of mine, along with cardboard and newspaper and still the grass pushes through. It is like bionic grass.

[pacalo]

30. I'm envious! There's nothing like homegrown tomatoes.

My dad, who was raised on a farm, had a small garden when I was in grade school. I remember that he grew tomatoes, cumcumbers, squash, turnips, & potatoes.

I used some of those homegrown potatoes for cooking french fries in my electric toy oven (made of metal & much stronger than the later Easy Bake model). Let me tell you, there is no french fry that tastes better than one made from a fresh-from-the-garden potato. I remember that well.

Your garden is beautifully made & I can picture how beautiful it's going to be with the greenery & color from the veggies when they bloom. It's going to be a visual asset to your backyard. You must be thrilled!

[Touchdown]

33. Where did you get the slide and playhouse seeds?

I can't find them anywhere!:crazy:

Two things money can't buy. True love and homegrown tomatoes.

[tnlefty]

35. Too cool! The only food plants that I've set out thus far this

year are strawberry. When my boys were younger I had some everbearing strawberry plants as a ground cover in a flower bed and for years they delighted in finding the strawberries, would pick them, wash them and eat them as they found them.

The tomato, squashes, peppers, eggplant and herbs will have to wait a little longer. :thumbsup: