This veggie garden thing...

hoffse · April 2016

@short+sassy, I think green bell peppers are probably the variety that will grow best since you don't have to wait for them to turn color, and I'll be honest - I wish we had planted a few more plants (we only did 1 this year). Ours definitely fruits, but once the peppers get to a certain size it seems to pour all of its energy into one pepper at a time and the others kind of pause until I pick the one that gets to a good size. Then the others kick into gear again. I wish we had 3-4 plants going at once so we could pick multiples. Mine haven't gotten as big as the ones in a store, but what I have gotten has been delicious.

The jalapenos, on the other hand, have like 8 on the same plant that are close to size right now. We are thinking of pickling them or something, because we don't need that many!

I can already tell our cilantro is going to grow like a weed. We put ours in the ground only a few weeks ago, and it's nearly tripled in size already. We might actually transplant it out and stick it in a large pot just to contain it.

The papaya idea is really interesting. There are a number of tropical and citrus fruits that produce after just a couple years, so we would like to try a couple of them. I have read that some varieties still need to be in pots around here, but it's really only for January and February, and they can get full sun outside the rest of the year. I think we are going to start with limes and then maybe give Meyer lemons a shot. Our Costco was selling really mature lime trees the other day for like $20... I am also trying to get my H to let me grow a satsuma tree! He thinks it's silly, but I really like how they taste!

maple2 · April 2016

MommyLiberty5013 said:

maple2 said:

Wow. I must live in a really different area than many of you. Our peppers are still in pots indoors and I don't plan to plant them in the garden until June! I generally don't have good luck with peppers, eggplant, or even full sized tomatoes because our growing season is too short. We get lots and lots of cherry tomatoes, though, and snap peas are my absolute favorite thing to grow. We also get plenty of cucumbers and zucchini (until the mildew gets them) and green beans. We usually plant bush beans so we don't have to worry about more trellis space.

Since last year we have been starting most of our seeds ourselves indoors, and I don't know if I can ever go back to buying them. It is so much cheaper to buy seeds than plants. Plus it gets all the garden excitement going earlier. I did have to buy some broccoli this year because our baby plants didn't survive, but that's probably all I will buy. Every vaguely west facing window in our house is full of seedlings right now!

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).

Thanks for the suggestions on seed companies. I will check them out. I usually buy from FedCo, which is a Maine company that specializes in cool climate varieties. It's also possible that I don't start my seeds indoors soon enough for certain things since we have a pretty low budget seed starting operation--just windows and heaters instead of grow lights.

Xstatic3333 · April 2016

maple2 said:

MommyLiberty5013 said:

maple2 said:

Wow. I must live in a really different area than many of you. Our peppers are still in pots indoors and I don't plan to plant them in the garden until June! I generally don't have good luck with peppers, eggplant, or even full sized tomatoes because our growing season is too short. We get lots and lots of cherry tomatoes, though, and snap peas are my absolute favorite thing to grow. We also get plenty of cucumbers and zucchini (until the mildew gets them) and green beans. We usually plant bush beans so we don't have to worry about more trellis space.

Since last year we have been starting most of our seeds ourselves indoors, and I don't know if I can ever go back to buying them. It is so much cheaper to buy seeds than plants. Plus it gets all the garden excitement going earlier. I did have to buy some broccoli this year because our baby plants didn't survive, but that's probably all I will buy. Every vaguely west facing window in our house is full of seedlings right now!

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).

Thanks for the suggestions on seed companies. I will check them out. I usually buy from FedCo, which is a Maine company that specializes in cool climate varieties. It's also possible that I don't start my seeds indoors soon enough for certain things since we have a pretty low budget seed starting operation--just windows and heaters instead of grow lights.

Look into Fruition Seeds, too. They're based in upstate MY and specialize in "regionally adapted" varieties. I bought some starts from them last year that did so awesome!

brij2006 · April 2016

So jealous that you're already getting fresh produce.

We go through tomatoes like they're going out of style, and I can a ton of them for pasta/pizza sauce and diced/crushed tomatoes. We never have enough.

Green beans are another one we eat a ton of. I've tried freezing them, but they're almost too woody and get chewy when I do. So I've only planted what we will eat through the summer/fall.

Lettuce may be a good one for you if you eat that often. You can cut it and it will grow back. It does better in cooler climates though, so around 70 degrees.

Butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers are all viney and can produce a ton once it starts.

short+sassy · April 2016

hoffse said:

@short+sassy, I think green bell peppers are probably the variety that will grow best since you don't have to wait for them to turn color, and I'll be honest - I wish we had planted a few more plants (we only did 1 this year). Ours definitely fruits, but once the peppers get to a certain size it seems to pour all of its energy into one pepper at a time and the others kind of pause until I pick the one that gets to a good size. Then the others kick into gear again. I wish we had 3-4 plants going at once so we could pick multiples. Mine haven't gotten as big as the ones in a store, but what I have gotten has been delicious.

The jalapenos, on the other hand, have like 8 on the same plant that are close to size right now. We are thinking of pickling them or something, because we don't need that many!

I can already tell our cilantro is going to grow like a weed. We put ours in the ground only a few weeks ago, and it's nearly tripled in size already. We might actually transplant it out and stick it in a large pot just to contain it.

The papaya idea is really interesting. There are a number of tropical and citrus fruits that produce after just a couple years, so we would like to try a couple of them. I have read that some varieties still need to be in pots around here, but it's really only for January and February, and they can get full sun outside the rest of the year. I think we are going to start with limes and then maybe give Meyer lemons a shot. Our Costco was selling really mature lime trees the other day for like $20... I am also trying to get my H to let me grow a satsuma tree! He thinks it's silly, but I really like how they taste!

SITB
I've been thinking about planting one of those also. I've heard they grow a lot of fruit once they get going. Last season, my coworker and his fiancée went to her uncle's house to pick satsumas. They spent an hour just picking up the satsumas that had fallen to the ground and had over 100. Her uncle does live out in the country, so he has a number of those trees, but still!

Someone, I think it was you, mentioned avocados earlier. 90% of avocadoes are grown in CA and 50% of CA avocados are grown in a medium sized town called Escondido. I graduated from Cal State San Marcos, which is in the city next to it. Escondido is in north San Diego County and is about a 20 minute drive from the coast...so a bit inland. Temps in the summer are usually in the low 90s, but don't get much hotter than the mid 90s. However, it gets a lot hotter than that in Mexico, where avocados are also grown.

I think for us the bummer would be the winters. Escondido doesn't get much colder than the low 50s in the winter time.

blondie42107 · April 2016

brij2006 said:

So jealous that you're already getting fresh produce.

We go through tomatoes like they're going out of style, and I can a ton of them for pasta/pizza sauce and diced/crushed tomatoes. We never have enough.
Green beans are another one we eat a ton of. I've tried freezing them, but they're almost too woody and get chewy when I do. So I've only planted what we will eat through the summer/fall.

Lettuce may be a good one for you if you eat that often. You can cut it and it will grow back. It does better in cooler climates though, so around 70 degrees.

Butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers are all viney and can produce a ton once it starts.

Do you blanch your green beans or freeze raw? Blanching makes a huge difference.

brij2006 · April 2016

blondie42107 said:

brij2006 said:

So jealous that you're already getting fresh produce.

We go through tomatoes like they're going out of style, and I can a ton of them for pasta/pizza sauce and diced/crushed tomatoes. We never have enough.
Green beans are another one we eat a ton of. I've tried freezing them, but they're almost too woody and get chewy when I do. So I've only planted what we will eat through the summer/fall.

Lettuce may be a good one for you if you eat that often. You can cut it and it will grow back. It does better in cooler climates though, so around 70 degrees.

Butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers are all viney and can produce a ton once it starts.

Do you blanch your green beans or freeze raw? Blanching makes a huge difference.

I've tried both ways and neither had a good texture.

blondie42107 · April 2016

brij2006 said:

blondie42107 said:

brij2006 said:

So jealous that you're already getting fresh produce.

We go through tomatoes like they're going out of style, and I can a ton of them for pasta/pizza sauce and diced/crushed tomatoes. We never have enough.
Green beans are another one we eat a ton of. I've tried freezing them, but they're almost too woody and get chewy when I do. So I've only planted what we will eat through the summer/fall.

Lettuce may be a good one for you if you eat that often. You can cut it and it will grow back. It does better in cooler climates though, so around 70 degrees.

Butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers are all viney and can produce a ton once it starts.

Do you blanch your green beans or freeze raw? Blanching makes a huge difference.

I've tried both ways and neither had a good texture.

Oh that stinks. I've never had a problem.

hoffse · April 2016

@short+sassy, I'm going to tell H that I know somebody else who likes satsumas, lol.

Yeah the avocado thing would probably be a bust outside of California. A lot of other fruit trees will apparently fruit just fine if kept in pots, but I don't think avocados can grow large enough in pots to fruit. Sad, because otherwise our climate would be great for them!

Xstatic3333 · April 2016

hoffse said:

@short+sassy, I'm going to tell H that I know somebody else who likes satsumas, lol.

Yeah the avocado thing would probably be a bust outside of California. A lot of other fruit trees will apparently fruit just fine if kept in pots, but I don't think avocados can grow large enough in pots to fruit. Sad, because otherwise our climate would be great for them!

They do grow into pretty cool, tropical-looking house plants though!

jtmh2012 · April 2016

Not sure if you can get these anywhere else, but we have one of these on our back porch for basil, green onion, and a few other things.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/easy-grow-elevated-garden/prod13081052.ip

Xstatic3333 · April 2016

jtmh2012 said:

Not sure if you can get these anywhere else, but we have one of these on our back porch for basil, green onion, and a few other things.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/easy-grow-elevated-garden/prod13081052.ip

Those look awesome! Right below that, I saw the kit we used for some of our raised beds. Yes, they're only 8", but we dug down much deeper than that when adding soil. A pretty good value and have now survived two New England winters without warping. I'd like more, but am not a Sam's member and last I checked they weren't on Amazon anymore.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/garden-kit-dsv-collect/prod9360606.ip?origin=item_page.rr3&campaign=rr&sn=CategorySiloedViewCP&campaign_data=prod13081052

The other type of product I've used are these. Not the most attractive-it was pretty much a financial decision. The startup costs on our veggie garden were so much higher than I expected. It also only works with plants that don't have super-deep root systems-basically ones that would also be happy in a container.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/331805570084?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

I'm really excited that this year I'll be getting half a yard of free compost from a farmer friend in exchange for a day's work on his farm. Bringing in good compost is so expensive, especially when you'd need to rent the home depot truck to pick it up in any great quantity. Last year I bought bags of the stuff from Home Depot and it was such a poor value.

hoffse · May 2016

Update: this weekend H removed some railroad ties and large rocks from our front yard that were a pain to mow around. We ended up with these old pieces of wood and rocks in our garage, so H decided to make a planter yesterday. I was skeptical, but he promised it would "look like Pinterest" so I left him alone to come up with something. Pics below! It is the same height as our counter tops, so no bending over. The bottom has slats for drainage, and we lined it with leftover weed fabric from a mulch bed we made last year. Total cost: $0!

We did have to buy some dirt and plants of course, but we kept the cost pretty low for that side of things. We have planted strawberries and a few additional herbs in it.

Now I know what we're going to do when it's time to replace the fence in our back yard...

This veggie garden thing...

Re: This veggie garden thing...

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