Gardening thread 2016

[connyro]

Anyone out there do any gardening? What do you have going? Any big plans for this season?

I've still got some snow around here (Lake Superior region) but I do have my greenhouse erected (plastic pop-up 5'x5') and filled with starts (and heaters) - about 130 plants. I'll be giving most away but I'll be doing 3 types of peppers, 4 types of tomatoes, brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc. I've also got a small hoop house with lettuces, kale, onions, snap peas going too. Pole beans save a lot of space verses bush beans. Carrots and beets do well here too and use very little space.

My garden/yard is VERY small, so space efficiency is key to success for me. The fun and challenge for me (besides eating good food) is to grow enough to freeze and can for the whole off-season.

[MikeK]

Wow that's awesome. Preparing food like that for the whole year is a bit of a lost art. It's good to know that some people still do it. There's been an urban movement lately for people to make gardens on rooftops and in small spaces in the city. I have the space, but not the motivation. I'm happy to support the small farms within an hour of me because they honestly do it better than I can. Problem is, I don't can or have a root cellar, so I use a lot produce from Mexico, California and Florida (and other parts unknown) during the winter.

[Woodserson]

Love the gardening, but living in a rental and keep thinking that we're going to move and so don't start one... yet we never seem to move. The rental did come with raspberry and strawberry plants galore however (and one rhubarb plant). We eat them like crazy when they come up and freeze what we don't. They don't last long. Orchard up the road supplies us with peaches and apples... I used to can my own applesauce to carry me through the winter but have stopped as of late. Another unfortunate victim to the unpredictable housing situation. Feel free to post pics of your space-efficient garden as it comes along.

We're big fans of growing our own lettuces, tomatoes, squashes, and beans. We tend to avoid peppers, never had much luck for some reason. I certainly miss having a garden.

[satsuma]

Since this isan area that grows peas, beans, apples, cherries and potatoes commercially, I concentrated on higher "value" crops. There is plenty of free squash and zucchini available. Snow peas were planted in late March, rhubarb at the same time (I moved to this house last spring). Tomatoes going a raised bed this weekend. I will probably plant a pear tree this fall.

It's also very dry here in the summer, best crops are those that mature early or require little water, as one cannot rely on rain much longer.

Peppers are typically a hot weather crop; New Hampshire (on the above post) may be too cool. It is slightly warmer here and they will grow here, but I can't eat raw peppers any longer. They grew very well where I used to live (Louisiana).

[lowangle al]

I really enjoy watching my neighbors wife pull weeds. Both front and back, and I don't mean yard.

[anrothar]

My gf and I are making our first attempts at growing food this year. We started over the winter, just to get some practice. So far we've grown a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a a few salad greens. Planning on a bunch of root veggies and more salad greens over the summer, maybe some other veggies if we get ambitious.

[connyro]

Peppers are typically a hot weather crop; New Hampshire (on the above post) may be too cool. It is slightly warmer here and they will grow here

It's a colder climate here than NH and I think the soil stays too cold for them to do well in the ground, plus the slugs love to eat the hell out of the plants. Peppers do well only if they are grown in containers where the soil can warm more and allow for moving them in/outside during cold snaps, extending their growing season. In containers, we can usually get poblanos, habaneros, serranos, and marconis to do pretty well.

[connyro]

My gf and I are making our first attempts at growing food this year. We started over the winter, just to get some practice. So far we've grown a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a a few salad greens. Planning on a bunch of root veggies and more salad greens over the summer, maybe some other veggies if we get ambitious.

Nice A! It's pretty fun to grow fresh stuff during the winter. Plus it helps cheer up an otherwise gloomy and long winter. I used to try to grow tomatoes and greens inside during the winter but ran into a serious whitefly infestation each time I tried. Did you have any pest problems with your setup?

Root veges seem to do well here with the cold soil and they are great to stash for use during the off-season. Beets are a rather space-efficient crop to grow because you can harvest 2 types of food from them: the beets are great but the greens are even better IMO!

[anrothar]

We had a lime tree get ruined by scale, but so far no issues with the tomato or greens.

It was immensely satisfying to harvest the first big bowl of salad. The taste difference versus store bought is huge with leafy greens. so much more flavor.

[connyro]

What is it with lime trees and scale? I've got a big rampur lime tree that I've grown for many years in my sunroom and I've battled scale the entire time. Big, fat, oversized, healthy scale. Those things are hard to kill without super-nasty systemic insecticides, which I refuse to use because we like to consume the limes.

I agree with you on the home-grown greens. They just don't compare to store-bought. Home-grown have that slight sweetness that you only get when they are eaten hours (or minutes!) from harvest, not days or weeks like store-bought.