First off, I'd like to say that I have a lot of respect for what you are trying to do Yogagal!
My husband and I have serioulsly been thinking about having a garden this year. Normally we plant about 8-10 tomato plants to have tomatoes to make home made salsa with. But this year we are thinking of broadening our horizons. I remember helping my grandpa as a child and I remember how much work it was to look after a garden. We live in a sandy climate and would have to have topsoil and organic matter hauled in.
I have decided what I want to grow, now I just need to decide were I need to grow it. We live in a sub division but we only have neighbors on one side of us. We have no neighbors behind us or on the other side of us. So essentially we can get away with planting a garden that no one will see.
Let us know how things are working out for you and I would definitely be interested in swapping info with you. I don't know what advice I could give to you because I live in NC but I can do my best.
I'm branching off from my family garden (we all do an acre garden) and trying to see if I can do it on my own I'm still going to help at the other one though esp since my PawPaw is sick.
I have my seedlings inside and patiently waiting for the beginning of April
Me me me! I am starting a garden this year too we just bought a new home and there is some space that would be perfect for some plants! I want to do tomatoes, peppers and scallions for sure (we use those things a lot) I want to try out some watermelons and cucumbers maybe try some some pumpkins for the kids too.
we are planting a pear tree in the back yard and an apple tree is already there (at least I think its an apple tree lol) and I also want to plant some blackberry or mulberry bushes way out back on our property line which borders a wooded area.
I am curious as to what exactly you are planting as we are in the same zone I believe (I am in CT) good luck with your garden this year! maybe we can both have some fresh garden veggies in a few months
How can I prevent birds from eating? Last summer/spring, all these birds ate my herbs and flowers. If they were red or pink, the birds wouldn't eat it. I'd be afraid birds would eat the veggies/herbs I grow this year
Oh, me me me! I just bought my first house in November and I have had spring fever ever since. I am going to have an herb garden as well as a small veggie garden. It will mostly be for making salsa hehe.. garlic, onions, tomotoes, bell peper, and jalepeno. I may through in some squash though. I'm so excited. Still about another month before I can start on it bc of the weather though.
I have a 2 boxes (4 x 16ft) and a small green house. This is my 5th year I will have a garden. We start planting now, inside in trys and after the last frost usually end of May or beginning of June we transplant from trays to garden or green house.
My usual fair is:
corn
potatoes
carrots
onion
peas
green beans
suisse chard (sorry now sure how to spell that)
lettuce
cabbage
kale
broccoli
cauliflower
zucchini
beets
green house is for tomatoes and peppers ( I get tons of these)
Last year my dad even gave me turnip, brussel sprouts and rutabega to try in my garden with 1 or two plants of each.
This year I'm cutting out the corn and I'll concentrate on this that grow well and what we eat more of.
So this year it will be
broccoli
potatoes
peas
carrots
beans
lettuce
I'm going to build a small box for herbs.
I'll do tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber and peppers in the green house this year.
My dad had a garden all my life and still does though he's more expanded than I am with about 12 boxes and 2 green houses. He does most of my starts for me and we get lot's from him through out the summer. Because we live in Northern Canada our growing season is very short.
Last edited by SnowboundChick; 03-05-2009 at 01:09 PM.
My husband and I have had a garden for 4 years. We've never had the luxury of being able to plant in the ground between our first rental and now a condo situation, but we've always had containers. We grown climbing roses, a grapevine, moonflowers, morning glories, blueberries, all kinds of annual flowers, tomato plants up to the gutters, herbs, hot peppers, and spring bulbs all in containers. We have much less space in our current condo situation and they are very very strict here about appearances, but we will still grow a few things in containers by the side of the house tucked in among the association approved shrubs and on the cement slab in back of the screen porch and on the screen porch. This year we will grow salad tomatoes, plum tomatoes, sugar snap peas, pickling cucumbers (I make pickles and relish), herbs, flowers, hot peppers. This year I am going to make marinara sauce. We use ALOT of that, and I learned to can by making jams and jellies last summer.
Wow.... i knew you veggie growers would be around here!
SO, we have multiple gardens all over my yard...mostly my mother's (I live above their garage so we have separate buildings but share a yard) So anyway...she does miles of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, beans, peas, pumpkins, fruits, peppers etc.
I've been doing my research and have decided to try:
okra, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, purple beans, snow peas, a variety of dried beans, lots of pumpkins, alaska melon, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, parsnips and then all my spices. I've started my okra as it has a long growing time and will start others indoors in the next few months. I've got a space for everything although I"m not sure how much time i will have to develop it so I may end up with a lot of containers here.
I've got a bird that insists on making a nest in my window box on my deck in the middle of my basil every year...but other than that we are ok with birds. We have rabbits so we fence to keep them out, we have a groundhog that comes back every year that we try to keep out, and our biggest problem...moles...tunneling under the garden eating the plants from the roots up! I'm trying to brainstorm how to beat them all this year!
and our biggest problem...moles...tunneling under the garden eating the plants from the roots up! I'm trying to brainstorm how to beat them all this year!
We don't have a mole problem at my house... I keep the bunnies out with fencing but birds and squirrels are a big issue for me.
I have read that you can try to divert diggers by putting the fencing a foot or two underground when you install it... to try to divert them. I don't know how effective it is but it's a thought...
What a wonderful thread. My family is starting a garden this month. We have fruit trees: two apples, a plum, loquats and avocado. My husband grows heirloom tomatoes. Last year he had 50 plants. I love tomatoes and recipes w/ tomatoes, esp. gazpacho in the summer. We have artichokes growing. We are going to make a panter for my kids to care for some veggie plants and let them harvest and cook the veggies, as well. We are going to do a pumpkin patch, green beans, carrots, squash (esp. patty pan because they are so cute), well, all sorts of different veggies. Of course, everything in its season, but I'm just excitable right now. Have fun everyone.
I'm also doing some Square Foot Gardening this year - building the beds this weekend in my new house! I have a ton of seeds from Seed Savers International, all heirloom varieties shown to do well in my area. I have my planting schedule all mapped out and my square feet decided...I just need the last frost date to get here!
Planting:
VARIETIES: Shining Light Watermelon, Waltham Butternut Squash, Calabrese Broccoli, Summer Crookneck Squash, Green Zebra Tomatoes, Genovese Basil, Rossa Bianca Eggplant, Amish Snap Pea, Purple Beauty Pepper, Scarlet Nantes Carrot, Early Scarlet Globe Radish, Seed Saver’s Lettuce Mixture, Copenhagen Market Cabbage, Kentucky Wonder Bush Bean, Five Color Silverbeet Chard, Bush Habit Red Swan Bean
We moved to a new house last fall and I'm hoping to put in a couple of beds this spring (for spinach, lettuce, maybe potatoes, watermelons and giant pumpkins) and some containers for different tomatoes. Still trying to figure out the how and what. I've never done gardening myself (except for the digging) and not sure this will work.
But I'm aiming for the heirloom seeds (particularly tomatoes) -- I found a really great watermelon called "Moon and Stars" for the splotches on the skin. My youngest has decided she like baby spinach (I think mostly to gross out her older sister) so there will be a lot of that.
I'm excited! My friend who is building the garden boxes for us will also be buying, and setting, all the plants/seeds. (I'm doing some accounting work for her and her husband in exchange). This Friday!
we just bought a new home and there is some space that would be perfect for some plants! I want to do tomatoes, peppers and scallions for sure (we use those things a lot) I want to try out some watermelons and cucumbers maybe try some some pumpkins for the kids too. 
