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Okay gardeners - what are your plans for this year?
So it's almost gardening season. How does your garden grow? Or how do you hope it will grow?
I bought the supplies to put in 3 4ftx4ft raised beds this year. I'll be planting corn, 2 types of pumpkins, watermelon, honeydew melons, 8 different tomatoes, bell peppers (purple and orange), artichokes, carrots (purple and normal), brocolli, leeks and garbanzo beans. Not sure they'll all take, but it should be fun trying!
Re: Okay gardeners - what are your plans for this year?
.: Diary of a Recovering Runner :.
I think that I hope it will grow like yours! It sounds absolutely awesome!! Yummy and colorful.
I was just talking to a coworker about his raised plant beds, they really liked their's last year and I think I'd also like to try it. Something, possibly one of our dogs, dug up half of the little bit I planted outside last year.
I guess it is time to start seeds, I usually do it around my birthday, which is next week! I'll update when I know what I'm planting, but I'm sure I'll do tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchini like last year. If I make room outside I'd like to do carrots, radishes, and lettuce.
Duff, I have always grown my tomatoes in pots in my sunporch and they do really well. Start the plants in trays then transplant them just like you would into the ground outside. My posts are probably 18-24" deep, but the roots don't penetrate that far. Just make sure you don't put the plants to close together, I usually put 2 plants in my 24" pots, they look tiny when I first plant them, but they grow quickly.
Good luck.
Duff: I grew tomatoes in containers when I was an apartment dweller. It's not that hard - you need a pot at least 12 inches deep. Other gardeners say tomatoes grow roots 14" deep, but I never saw it in my containers. The biggest thing is watering - containers dry out FAST. Containers also will discourage the dog. Not as much fun or as easy to dig a flower pot as it is to do to a yard. The one thing I find really useful is getting a tomato cage or 2 to support the plants.
Herbs are really easy and great in containers. Basil, sage, thyme and parsley do really well for me. So that's something else to consider.
Claire, I'm just hoping it all grows. Technically, I don't have nearly enough rooms for the corn or pumpkins/melons. But I figure I may as well try. Plus, I don't mind having a yard compeltely overrun by vines and veggies. It amuses the neighborhood guard cat.
I'm really excited about the raised beds. I'll see how they do this year. It has taken years to convince Nikhil to let me try them, so I really need dthe raised beds to be a hit!
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
Alright, I'm being ambitious! DH agreed to help me make raised beds, I sketched out a building plan for them and I just ordered seeds/plants!
The plan is: in the sun porch - 3 types of tomatoes and cucumbers, outside - bed 1 - water melon and cantaloupe, bed 2 - lettuce, radishes, and carrots, bed 3 - rhubarb and strawberries, outside in large pots (from last year) squash variety (mostly zucchini). I got free seeds with my order - sweet banana peppers, I also decided to try cilantro and thyme, I'm not sure what I'm doing with those 3 things yet (suggestions?).
Looks like I will be spending a lot of time in the garden this spring! We better get to the lumber store tomorrow.....
I'm excited!!!
Did you order from Parks Seeds too? They sent me free banana peppers - that's a pretty random plant so I wondered if we're hitting the same seed company.
I used to grow sweet banana peppers back east. They're the common pepper in mist Italian dishes - not as bitter as bell peppers and more mild. They're amazing in stir fries, for suffing, etc. Grow them like any bell pepper. Youneed a foot between plants and they liek water.
Cilantro always bolts to seed so fast for me, I admitted defeat on that one. With your higher elevation, you might have more sucess. I would recommend planting it in waves. So maybe sow new seeds evert 3-4 weeks do you have a steady cilantro supply.
Thyme is almost a perrenial to me - it can last between seasons if you mulch it well. It like well draining soil.
I did
That was what was recommended to me by the friend with the raised planters, so I figured I'd give it a try. I should check my order status, did your seeds come pretty quickly?
Thanks for all the tips! I'm kinda glad they included what seems like a semi random plant to me.... it will be fun to try something different.
I bought some wood yesterday to start making some raised garden beds, then decided I wanted a different size, so now I need to go get some more. I was thinking 4'x4', but once I got home with the wood and looked at it I realized that is really small, so now I'm thinking 6'x4'. That is for the strawberries and carrots/lettuce/radishes I think for my melon bed I'm going to have it long, but not raised as much.
Now to figure out where to get a couple hundred cubic feet of top soil.... (I have mostly composted manure for the bottom of the beds, if you need any feel free to make a trip to LA and I'll give you some
)
We are planning on planting tomatoes, zucchini, and carrots. DH isn't big on veggies, so I just plant a few things for me.
When I was young, my parents used to have two huge gardens, and I can remember complaining about having to pick all of that produce. I hated tending the garden, but I LOVED eating everything that it bore.
Happy gardening!!
Katy-
I hated having to tend teh garden as a kid, too. Mostly, I hated the canning, drying, freezing, etc. Now I love all that!
I grew up on Parks Seeds - they were only a few hours from my house. I ordered my seeds last week and they shipped a week ago. Still no seeds, yet. I really need the plugs for my seed starter more than the seeds I ordered (peppers).
I may take
you up on the manure offer. I took the lazy route and ordered teh raised bed frames from Parks. Now I need to mix soild to put in the raised beds. And composted manure is always good.
I ordered some of those dehydrated peat moss starters too, I like those a lot for seed starting.
Darn, I was hoping that the seeds would arrive super fast! Oh well, hopefully I'll have them next week. I have my hands full with this raised bed I'm building. I'm doing one right now and both cars have been moved out of the garage to accommodate all the wood that I'm trying to seal. I'm thinking that you were smart to order some. Did you order the window boxes? (those are the only ones that I could find)
I too hated taking care of the garden when I was a kid. My parents had a huge garden and we were out there weeding almost everyday.
I was wrong about the ship date - the started blocks for my Parks BioDome shipped a week ago. The seeds shipped Wednesday. I really want my starters. my Dad got me hooked on them years ago. And they work so well in the little domes - happy seedlings.
I got by 4x4 raised bed frames from them. (Here's a link to the beds - http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=96582&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=raised%20beds&OfferCode=W1H ) My brother (who is still back in SC) was up at their demo garden getting some landscping ideas for an architecture project he's workin on and saw them. So had a discount coupon he sent me. And I figured since I don't have tools, by the time I bought tools, wood, drove to get stuff and drove around the money savings of DIY was a wash.
I still want window boxes. But I'm afraid to ounch holes in my stucco. So I need window boxes and holders. Which is not in this year's garden budget. Next year, maybe? Although I think next year will be heat pads and grow lights....
This beds look nice, how many did you get? Wood is expensive, and the cedar will be nice
Maybe I'll do something like that for my melons, hopefully the rabbits would leave those alone... Want me to send you a pic when I'm done with mine (probably Sunday)?
I didn't even know that they made heat pads for plants! Sounds like some serious gardening!
I got three. The backyard is only 12'x27' so I don't have a lot of real estate back there. And I love how cedar ages. I'm hoping these planters last a LONG time!
I would love a picture of your handy work. I'm actually just planting my melons and pumpkins directly in the ground. I grow them up the side yard that is all gravel - that way the melons & pumpkins don't rot.
They make heat pads to fit under seedling flats/growers. That, plus lights, gives you bigger seedlings and faster growing ones. Definitely too many gardening toys out there!
That's a good tip about planting the melons near gravel, I'll have to think more about where I want them.
It sounds like your garden is big and bad already, even without the heat pads