Money Matters
hoffse
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
This veggie garden thing...
H and I planted a raised bed for the first time this year, and I think I'm getting a little obsessed. We just "harvested" our first few peppers this weekend and made a delicious guacamole with them. Now I want more!
I'm seriously thinking of branching out (no pun intended) into berry bushes and citrus trees. We are far enough south that there are a few varieties that will grow here in the ground, and many more varieties that can be grown in pots. It only goes below freezing a few weeks out of the year.
We have a very sunny (and hot) back patio that is mostly uncovered. We toyed with the idea of doing a screened in porch back there because we just never used the space prior to this spring, but I'm starting to think we should just embrace what we have (sun!) and grow things instead. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper, and whatever we plant in pots can go with us when we move. We realized our veggie garden has gotten us out there a ton in the last couple months, so maybe we don't need the screened porch to enjoy the space. See how I'm rationalizing it, lol?
P.S. I just learned that the guy who did virtually all of the gardening for Southern Living for years opened a shop locally. I am absolutely dying to go see what it's like...
Re: This veggie garden thing...
We just bought a house and I found a rhubarb plant. Do you know if there is a way to tell if it's ready to harvest? They were in the house for 50+ years, so logic tells me the rhubarb has been there a while but I have no idea. I have a major black thumb but we have a ton of perennials and the rhubarb so I am desperate to not kill them all
Beans! I completely forgot to look into beans. We have one of those permanent clothes lines in our backyard and I want to try using it as a trellis. I had a pretty frustrating tomato year last year. I felt like I was constantly mixing up vinegar and herb concoctions to try to get rid of one bug or another, so this year I'm just doing cherry tomatoes since they don't need to get as big. Thanks for the suggestions!
We have rhubarb. It's ready when the stalk is red. I have never gotten ours to look like the stuff at the store though. Just be careful with the leaves. They have something in them (an acid maybe) that isn't safe to eat. I put them in landscape waste - do not compost them. FYI - rhubarb freezes well. Just cut it in small pieces and freeze in a single layer.
Nice! We love the hot peppers too. I freeze them to use all year. This year I'm doing six plants in containers. Bell peppers were a dud for us. Last year most of them rotted on the vine before ripening. I may try again in the future, but for now I'm taking a year off. Just stuck a bunch of Cilantro seeds in the ground. I've had medium success there. Last year the flea beetles made it tough to get herbs growing, but this year with row cover I'm hoping for better luck. Basil is a good idea, too.
You all are great inspiration! Especially @labro and @hoffse, since I know you all live in the same climate I do. I'm gung ho to put in bell peppers now, because those things are spendy and I love them. Nice to know they grow well and abundant in the South.
I have the luxury of large backyard that allowed me to put in a long raised garden. It gets full sun all day. We've had amazing luck with cilantro. It dies off for a few months in the winter but, the rest of the year, it grows into a gigantic 3' x 3' bush. We also grow basil, strawberries, tomatoes, and radishes. Our front yard is small, but we have a rosemary bush out there.
Radishes are new to our garden this year and have been growing great. I don't like them, but my H does. We've been growing enough that he grabs a handful every few days.
@hoffse, one type of fruit tree that grows really well in our climate is papaya. I don't have one, but where I used to live, my neighbor did. It was very healthy and produced fruit every year during the season. The other thing that is nice about papaya trees is they only take about one year after planting to produce fruit. I've been meaning to plant one myself.
If you buy seeds from a company like Johnny's or Territorial, you can specifically buy short season varieties of all of these plants. Short season means they grow and produce in a shorter period of time. For example, many potatoes take 90 days to mature. But if you buy short season potato varieties, you can get ones that mature in 75 days. This is what you have to do in climates with shorter growing seasons (like me here in Minnesota).