Vegetable Gardening

[spokewench]

I've been busy playing tennis, but was able to clean out two garden beds (flower beds in front). One more bed left in front, plus some perennial pots on the side of the driveway to go. That will clean up the front!

But, I really want to clean up my back garden beds and get some compost dug in. It is supposed to be really warm this week (unusually so) so I am hoping to get out there a little bit tomorrow on my Wednesday off; but I need to play some tennis and was hoping to get in a small bike ride. Also, have a filthy house! There is just too much to do this time of the year!

Am off to visit my sister for the weekend - its her birthday! So, this coming weekend is a wash. The next weekend is a wash - I'm going to play in a tennis tournament. See, there is just too much to do when I want to garden!

[abejita]

This is my second year planting a veggie garden. I have a 4x12 raised bed garden. This year, I planted 3 types of tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, zukes, cukes, cantalope, watermelon, green onions, cilantro and strawberries. I already have a few little tomatoes!

[spokewench]

This is my second year planting a veggie garden. I have a 4x12 raised bed garden. This year, I planted 3 types of tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, zukes, cukes, cantalope, watermelon, green onions, cilantro and strawberries. I already have a few little tomatoes!

What a difference a few hundred miles makes! I haven't even been able to plant my cold weather crop; might not get it in due to other things in life getting in the way! Tomatoes in March - WOW

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

yeah still freezing cold here- highs only around 40F, lows in the 20's.
Tomatoes...? LOL!!

[abejita]

Yep...gotta love Texas! It is supposed to be 90 on saturday.

[GLC1968]

It was a big adjustment for us coming to the PNW from the south. Not only did we quickly learn that many things that were super easy to grow in the south, won't grow at all here (like okra!)...but I had to learn to plant in an essentially arid environment for the first time in my life. I've never had to use mulch to retain water like I do for the summer months here!

Oh, and we haven't hit 60F yet and it's almost April. That's unheard of around here! Spring? What spring? ;)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well- finally a gorgeous warm sunny day- Spring has fully arrived! :D

I chose one of the three long beds in my vegetable garden and dug it deep with a fork, pulled out old roots and dead stubs, and raked out debris. Will save the other beds for another day so I don't kill myself. I guess it's about 3' by 30 feet.
There is something so inspiring and beautiful about a bed of freshly dug bare earth.
Ok, I can't stand it....going down to town to pick up a few packets of early seed! :cool: The rest I'll order online to get some special types I like.
I can definitely sow some spinach!

[spokewench]

Well- finally a gorgeous warm sunny day- Spring has fully arrived! :D

I chose one of the three long beds in my vegetable garden and dug it deep with a fork, pulled out old roots and dead stubs, and raked out debris. Will save the other beds for another day so I don't kill myself. I guess it's about 3' by 30 feet.
There is something so inspiring and beautiful about a bed of freshly dug bare earth.
Ok, I can't stand it....going down to town to pick up a few packets of early seed! :cool: The rest I'll order online to get some special types I like.
I can definitely sow some spinach!

That's what I thought a week ago - 70 degrees beautiful; today over 1 foot of snow; just spent about an hour outside digging out the driveway and back deck to the hot tub. One of these days, I WILL GET INTO THE GARDEN!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yikes, poor Spokewench! :(

I wound up getting a bunch of seedlings as well as various standard seeds.
I got seedlings of cabbage, bok choy, 3 kinds of onions, red lettuce, and red kale.
I planted several seed rows of spinach and French breakfast radish. More seed to plant over the next few days- romaine, buttercrunch, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi. Do carrot seeds do well in the cool early Spring?
Good to be back in the garden again! We should get some rain by Monday, so the timing is good.

[spokewench]

Yikes, poor Spokewench! :(

I wound up getting a bunch of seedlings as well as various standard seeds.
I got seedlings of cabbage, bok choy, 3 kinds of onions, red lettuce, and red kale.
I planted several seed rows of spinach and French breakfast radish. More seed to plant over the next few days- romaine, buttercrunch, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi. Do carrot seeds do well in the cool early Spring?
Good to be back in the garden again! We should get some rain by Monday, so the timing is good.

I'm soooo jealous; but we are supposed to warm up all week - hopefully, next weekend will be nice and I can go to town in the garden. If it warms like they said, the snow will melt quickly. That's the good thing about spring snow

[smilingcat]

We are still moving from California to Portland area. I been here for the past week and its been balmy 50F and nights been dropping into 30-something I think. Tomatoes can tolerate 40F but not 30-something.

Soil is spongy wet and its raining again today. Forecast is rain for next 10 days. ughhhh!!! I want to till over the grass and plant.

Going to plant some blueberry bushes to create wind break. it will also act as a natural fence to keep our geriatric dogs from falling over a 5 foot drop on our property.

We are going to take a chance with some of our favorite tomato varieties but to be safe, I think I will plant some Russian and German varieties. Early to mature.

Definitely planting spinach, swiss chard, broccoli, turnip, parsnips. Cold weather plants.

On a side note, one of our chicken made a jail break. She dug a tunnel just big enough to escape out of her "chicken run" The other two were too big to wiggle through the hole. My partner found her pecking around our two dogs in the yard. Oui!!!

[spokewench]

Walls of Water are wonderful for getting a longer season with your tomato plants. The will allow you to plant earlier and protect your tomatoes from 30 degree weather at night.

[Kitsune06]

These folks are my heroes... but a farm like that would probably be a full-time job in and of itself.
http://urbanhomestead.org/urban-homestead

As it is, we've only got a balcony, so I grow household herbs (mint and catnip) and a few select veggies.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Last weekend I planted cabbage, bok choy, 3 kinds of onions, red oakleaf lettuce, red kale, spinach, French breakfast radish, buttercrunch lettuce, carrots, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi.

Today I ordered the seeds I can't get at my local Agway. My personal favorites:
pickling cucumbers, Indigo radicchio, Fukagawa Japanese bunching onions, and these lettuces:
Merveille des Quatre Saisons, Divina Butterhead, Flashy Troutback, Outredgeous Romaine, and Jericho Romaine.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, and string beans will be planted later when it's warmer. :p

This year I've opted to not grow turnips, beets, and leeks- that gives me more room for onions and cabbage which I will use more.

HERE (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/TCfi5Cb0zGI/AAAAAAAAC6w/go6KJ64gPU8/s1600/KohlrabiLettuceCounter.jpg) was a photo I took last Fall of the beautiful things I brought in one afternoon from the garden:
Romaine and butterhead lettuce, purple kohlrabi, and the Japanese bunching onions. I still remember that perfect salad, it was so sweet and crunchy and lovely!

[skhill]

Yesterday I got to eat from the garden for the first time this spring-- just some spinach that needed to be thinned out. It didn't even make it inside; I was popping it in my mouth as I went. Yum!

Between our incessant rain and being allergic to the pollen my maple tree is spreading everywhere, it's tough right now to get much done in the garden. But the spinach and mustard greens are doing great.

[NbyNW]

I'm in Seattle this week and was going over my back yard to assess what needs to be done to get it back in shape, as it got very overgrown in our absence.

I planted 5 asparagus crowns about 6 years ago and only one survived. The spears were only ever just a few mm thick so we always just let it fern out. But this week I found some nice thick spears coming up! Woohoo!

[smilingcat]

My new place is in a town called Troutdale just outside of Portland. The town has a reputation for being extremely windy.

To protect my veggie garden, we are planting lots of berry plants in hedgerows to form windbreaks. Blueberries, raspberries, Marion berries, Logan berries. Hopefully, two years from now, we will be up to our eye balls with fresh berries. I also purchased about 50 strawberry plants to help with erosion control. Two varieties are Mt. Hood and Rainier strawberries. Neither are good for commercial because they just don't hold up as well as commercially viable ones like Seascape, Quinult (sp), Gaviota... And my partner loves Rhubarb so we also purchased a rhubarb plant. I picked one which has multiple buds and one which can be divided later this season.

It will be an interesting year starting out from scratch. Have to tear out the useless lawn first. I plan on using poly tunnel to jump start my veggies and toward the end of growing season, plan on using taller poly tunnel with solar heater to extend my growing season. We are going to experiment with year round growing in Portland.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nby- did you eat the little asparagus spear(s)? How cute!

Smilingcat- my big veg garden got started in the summer too, 2 years ago. At first I felt cheated when things got delayed and that I couldn't get things planted that Spring, but then I realized that I could sow an entire Fall garden of veggies from seed that would do great if sown in mid to late summer. That first Fall I got carrots, turnips, lots of lettuces, scallions, all kinds of stuff.
Here was a photo of the brand new garden that I planted from seed in mid July 2009, even before the garden fence was put up and completed:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/SmJVGFx5heI/AAAAAAAACaA/VvbZhSC-52s/s1600/posts-up.jpg
Same garden, by mid Sept:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/Sq0WgDOS41I/AAAAAAAACgY/KriCPAzLoGg/s1600-h/garden_1.jpg
Mid December, I was still harvesting turnips and carrots:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/Syf7xFYuwlI/AAAAAAAACoU/QMFJ599dq2U/s1600-h/Dec09-carrots-turnips.jpg

So, a whole lot can be done with a veg garden started in mid summer :)
That whole garden space had been useless backyard lawn since 1941.

Sounds like you will have lots of berries on your property! You might want to look into putting up some native/solitary bee nesting blocks in your yard- they will pollinate your berries like gangbusters, with only a little effort in return. You might actually get double the number of berries if you attract lots of pollinating mason and leafcutter bees to nest there. Very sweet to have them buzzing around too, they don't sting unless you accidentally squeeze them.

[mudmucker]

Who are you people who have been gardening already! :D

The snow finally just left my house here in MA - up to a week and a half ago my gardens weren't even exposed. Only today I've just turned the raised beds and other plots over by hand. I would be planting peas, beets, lettuce, and chard this weekend except I've decided to take the plunge and I'm getting some trees cut next week and thought I'd wait a weekend until I know the heavy machinery has enough room. Five trees in all. I don't like to cut trees but I live on a woodlot. Three are quite big, about 3 feet dbh. It'll be a costly endeavor overall, but divide it up per tree and my quote is pretty cheap compared to some areas. These tree guys are hard up for work so it's a bit competitive. I've got a company with good insurance. Four of the five trees are very close to the house, some not in the best condition and if they were to split and break off they'd easily crush the house and whoever might be in it. Also, four trees will open up the garden to a lot more sun and I'm very excited about that part. Strategically done. After the tree guys are done, I'll plant the peas, beets, lettuce, and chard seed. Radish too. I have brocolli, napa cabbage, and savoy cabbage seedlings under my grow lights ready to be put out as well. Cloches are ready. My other seedlings for the warmer weather such as the tomatoes, eggplant, parsley, winter cabbage, leeks, winter squash, and basil are doing well under the lights and will be ready to go out at the end of May. At that time I'll be planting the rest of the warm weather veg seeds such as cucumber, potatoes, summer squashes, and more lettuce. Carrots a little before hand.

In the meantime, I still have potatoes and onions going strong in the root cellar but this week the temps have gone up in the mid-40's in the root cellar and will go higher. The root cellar is reaching perfect temperatures for storing my homemade cheddar cheese (https://picasaweb.google.com/103731528026043392922/MakingCheddarCheese#).

Also, I finally finished off my top bar beehive (https://picasaweb.google.com/103731528026043392922/Bees#) that I built over the winter and I'm ready for my bees, which are expected to arrive next weekend April 23.

After all that, I will be building my chicken coop to house 3 hens. After that, I'm taking a break from projects.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wow, nice looking top bar hive- very nicely built!
Good luck hiving your bees. :)
I too have another nuc coming in about 10 more days, added to the hive I've had since last year. Fun!

Wish I could keep a few hens, but they are noisy and against my zoning laws so ...alas....
Bees are easier to keep under wraps in back of the garden fence! ;D

[NbyNW]

Nby- did you eat the little asparagus spear(s)? How cute!


Not yet -- this morning I count 5 spears making their way up -- I'm going to wait until they're a little bigger to harvest them.

[Koronin]

Since we just bought a house we'll be planting a garden next year. (In process of moving, this week painted the rooms that needed painted.) We did plant my two blueberry bushes, which had been in large pots for about 4 years. We knew we wouldn't be staying in that home, just didn't know we'd be moving across the state. But we plan on staying here for a long time. So they are planted and bought two strawberry bushes today (half price at Lowe's) that will get planted either tomorrow or next weekend. Couldn't pass them up at half price, esp since I've wanted strawberry bushes for a long time.

[Jolt]

Smilingcat- my big veg garden got started in the summer too, 2 years ago. At first I felt cheated when things got delayed and that I couldn't get things planted that Spring, but then I realized that I could sow an entire Fall garden of veggies from seed that would do great if sown in mid to late summer. That first Fall I got carrots, turnips, lots of lettuces, scallions, all kinds of stuff.
Here was a photo of the brand new garden that I planted from seed in mid July 2009, even before the garden fence was put up and completed:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/SmJVGFx5heI/AAAAAAAACaA/VvbZhSC-52s/s1600/posts-up.jpg
Same garden, by mid Sept:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/Sq0WgDOS41I/AAAAAAAACgY/KriCPAzLoGg/s1600-h/garden_1.jpg
Mid December, I was still harvesting turnips and carrots:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/Syf7xFYuwlI/AAAAAAAACoU/QMFJ599dq2U/s1600-h/Dec09-carrots-turnips.jpg

So, a whole lot can be done with a veg garden started in mid summer :)
That whole garden space had been useless backyard lawn since 1941.


That's good to hear that even with a late start you can still have a pretty good garden--that's the situation I will likely have this year as I am moving around the beginning of June and if I get the apartment I hope to get, the building has a spot in the yard where it sounds like I could put in a garden (I asked the landlord when he was showing me the place, since the spot in question is where a swimming pool was filled in and isn't all that attractive as it is now, and he said he's all for anything that improves the property!).

[Kitsune06]

Got the garden started this past weekend, still at work sprouting some seeds and fine-tuning the setup, but our balcony necessitated some 'creative' use of space. We have a vertical plot with kale, a couple types of lettuces, spinach and a couple types of peas, and an upside-down cherry tomato.

Along the rail, we've got the beans and carrots, now with the lavender and rosemary in between bean containers. The catnip has its own box, and another box will house our pak choi and fennel.

Here are some early pics from last week... more as the garden develops...
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5144/5638870991_b8cf4e4bbc.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5228/5638871069_b8072d679f.jpg

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Kit that is very cool. :)
looking forward to more updates and pix!

[Xrayted]

So what Kit didn't mention is she used a linen shoe rack, an unused lean-against-the-wall type of bike rack, a small piece of pvc, a few U bolts, a small 1x3 board, duct tape (cuz there had to be some duct tape in there somewhere, right?) and made a vertical garden. Then she took a 2 liter pop bottle and made an upside down cherry tomato holder. A "recycled garden". :cool: :D Even the water run off gets recycled.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r155/cbmickey/Photo0190F.jpg

[spokewench]

I finally got into my backyard yesterday, 5 hours later, my garden beds are all cleaned out and I raked a bunch of pine needles and bagged them to be picked up by bulk pickup. My aching back!

Now, manure, compost and I'll be ready to plant soon.

Last week, my front beds all cleaned out, planted some pansies for color; and got lucky at the nursery. They had overwintered gallon plants (perennials) mostly all around $20 plants, for $5. Of course, most of them had not sprouted yet, but that's okay. I planted a bunch of bleeding hearts and a thing called rodgerisia in my shade garden; a campanula bellflower and some type of ground cover in a sunny spot; and a couple of nice alaskan burdette (that's not right) supposed to be cold hardy. ANyway, i'll look up hte name again for you, but it has beautiful foliage. What a find!

[smilingcat]

Kit,

Love your vertical garden. You should submit your idea to Mother Earth, Organic Gardening magazine as a short article.

It's fantastic!!

[FlyingScot]

Do any of you have a Mantis tiller? I'm thinking of getting one because I can't really hand-turn my Ohio clay due to my left-sided weakness. They have an electric one which intrigues me as I hate doing the gas oil mixture thing and I suck at pull-starting anything. I've rented tillers before but who wants to put a filthy, oily think inside their car...definitely not me.

[Kitsune06]

Well, X gives me too much credit. I'd seen the idea of using a shoe rack somewhere, the biggest thing was just figuring out the execution. It's lurking on instructables.com somewhere.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

This morning I saw teeny baby sprouts poking up from the soil of some of the seeds I planted last week- Swiss chard, kohlrabi, lettuces, and radishes. It's always so exciting to see the newborn babies push up through the earth! :p

[tulip]

Do any of you have a Mantis tiller? I'm thinking of getting one because I can't really hand-turn my Ohio clay due to my left-sided weakness. They have an electric one which intrigues me as I hate doing the gas oil mixture thing and I suck at pull-starting anything. I've rented tillers before but who wants to put a filthy, oily think inside their car...definitely not me.

Yes. It's great, but you cannot till with one finger like in the ads. It takes some doing, but it's much easier than the huge tillers. I find it very useful for planting perennial plants and shrubs. Digging the hole with the tiller is much easier and than with a shovel. I also plant my bulbs with an auger bit on my electric drill. I can plant about 100 bulbs in about 15 minutes that way.

But the best way that I've found is to build up, not down. Lay down newspaper--lots--and pile on soil and compost--lots. I add a few wheelbarrowsful of compost to each bed every season, and things grow wonderfully. I've found that adding a cup or two of dehydrated chicken manure really kickstarts the plants.

Kitsune, I love your vertical garden!! That would be a great way to do herbs near the kitchen.

I've taken some photos of my garden, but I'll have to download the photos and that ain't happening tonight.

[FlyingScot]

Thanks for the info Tulip. I think I'm going to go ahead and get one. As for the newspapers. I have stacks of them just waiting for the purpose you described. In fact, I used them this winter/spring to kill the grass where I'm planning to garden. Worked like a charm! Now I just have to dig the area out deep enough to add some good soil and compost.

[tulip]

If you build up, you don't have to dig down at all. My raised beds are 3'x6' that I made with some posts that the previous owner of my house had left in the yard. I just put down the paper and then filled up the box with compost and soil. No digging, no tilling.

The Mantis is still alot of work, but it's quieter and lighter than the gasoline tillers. Still alot of work, though, especially for large areas like gardens. Great for digging holes for shrubs, though.

[NbyNW]

I ate my one asparagus spear this morning with my breakfast. Tasty! :p

[FlyingScot]

If you build up, you don't have to dig down at all. My raised beds are 3'x6' that I made with some posts that the previous owner of my house had left in the yard. I just put down the paper and then filled up the box with compost and soil. No digging, no tilling.

The Mantis is still alot of work, but it's quieter and lighter than the gasoline tillers. Still alot of work, though, especially for large areas like gardens. Great for digging holes for shrubs, though.

Good point. I hadn't thought of doing raised beds but I bet they'd be more successful than the poor plants struggling in clay. Plus my senior citizen father likes projects (lucky me). However, he tends to overbuild things so I'd probably end up with a self-watering, self-weeding monstrosity that actually picks and cooks the veggies automatically :-)

[spokewench]

Good point. I hadn't thought of doing raised beds but I bet they'd be more successful than the poor plants struggling in clay. Plus my senior citizen father likes projects (lucky me). However, he tends to overbuild things so I'd probably end up with a self-watering, self-weeding monstrosity that actually picks and cooks the veggies automatically :-)

Oooh, send your senior citizen father my way! My hubby will do projects, but he hates garden projects, so I have to do them all by myself! I'd love a father-built raised bed!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

i ate my one asparagus spear this morning with my breakfast. Tasty! :p


=8-)

[skhill]

It looks like my lettuce has drowned in all the rain of the last few weeks (we had 13 inches in April, and 1.75 inches so far in May). But those mustard greens seem to be indestructible.

Homegrown asparagus, yum! I got some at the farmers market last Saturday, and it was wonderful. Someday I might just have to put in an asparagus patch...

[Koronin]

Do blueberry bushes and strawberry bushes count? That's all we're getting this year. Actually moving into our new home this weekend. The blueberry and strawberry bushes are planted already. Hubby wants to build a raised garden and that is one of his projects for this summer/fall. The main project before moving in was painting kitchen (now tan, was hot pink) one bedroom (was light green, now light blue) and the bonus room (was two tone green, now bottom carmel and top a lighter shade that has a bit of an italian type feel to it). The bedroom color was ok, but having been a kid's room was pretty scuffed up, so it got repainted. The other major project was making two rain barrels which are awesome.

[smilingcat]

Do blueberry bushes and strawberry bushes count? That's all we're getting this year. Actually moving into our new home this weekend. The blueberry and strawberry bushes are planted already. Hubby wants to build a raised garden and that is one of his projects for this summer/fall. The main project before moving in was painting kitchen (now tan, was hot pink) one bedroom (was light green, now light blue) and the bonus room (was two tone green, now bottom carmel and top a lighter shade that has a bit of an italian type feel to it). The bedroom color was ok, but having been a kid's room was pretty scuffed up, so it got repainted. The other major project was making two rain barrels which are awesome.

Sure. why not? We are nearly finished with our move. Our animals are moving next Monday. Already at my new place, I have about 10 blueberry, 6 raspberry, 3 marion berry, 2 logan berry, 50+ strawberry plants are waiting to be planted. The berry plants will be formed into hedgerow to give us wind break for our veggie garden. strawberry will be used as ground cover to control erosion.

Since our move has been taking longer than I want and the weather in Portland area has not been conducive to growing, we are planning on making a solar heated poly tunnel to make up for the late start for our heirloom tomato and rest of our veggies.

We are looking at the weather for the move. not too hot and not raining. Next Monday looks like the day for the final move.

[Brandi]

Does anyone know how to harvest lettuce when it is young to keep it producing? I just planted a mix of baby lettuce plants but I am not sure when I can start to harvest. It looks good enough to eat now! Also how about swiss chard? Can you eat baby swiss chard?

[Koronin]

Sure. why not? We are nearly finished with our move. Our animals are moving next Monday. Already at my new place, I have about 10 blueberry, 6 raspberry, 3 marion berry, 2 logan berry, 50+ strawberry plants are waiting to be planted. The berry plants will be formed into hedgerow to give us wind break for our veggie garden. strawberry will be used as ground cover to control erosion.

Since our move has been taking longer than I want and the weather in Portland area has not been conducive to growing, we are planning on making a solar heated poly tunnel to make up for the late start for our heirloom tomato and rest of our veggies.

We are looking at the weather for the move. not too hot and not raining. Next Monday looks like the day for the final move.

Congrats on your move. I so know what you mean about it taking longer than you want it to. We're hoping to have everything moved by the end of the weekend. Then will need to clean (hire people to do carpets and spray for fleas as required by the rental company, and are going to hire a person to do cleaning as well, lady we are hiring knows exactly what the rental company inspects and will make sure it passes the inspection.)
Sounds like you have a great idea for your garden.

[Blueberry]

Also how about swiss chard? Can you eat baby swiss chard?

Definitely! I like it better when it's small. I usually take the outer leaf or 2, and leave the rest for the plant to use:)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lots of blended or mesclun lettuce seed mixes are intended to be cut-and-come-again. Once it's over 2" tall just start giving it haircuts and using the longer tender leaf tops- it'll keep growing! Just don't cut it too close to the ground so that it can't recover.
Swiss chard is slightly different- don't give it a 'haircut' but rather cut and use the whole outer leaves as often as you like, even when small and tender.

[Brandi]

you don't pluck lettuce? You cut it?

[hebe]

I have potatoes, radishes, carrots and spring onions in tubs outside, all are coming through now except the spring onions. I have mint, basil, coriander and parsley inside on the kitchen windowsill. The Mister has promised me raissed beds if I can find someone to build them (he is open to the idea of less lawn to mow).

I love the vertical garden!

[Blueberry]

I have potatoes, radishes, carrots and spring onions in tubs outside, all are coming through now except the spring onions. I have mint, basil, coriander and parsley inside on the kitchen windowsill. The Mister has promised me raissed beds if I can find someone to build them (he is open to the idea of less lawn to mow).

I love the vertical garden!

You could also look at these (http://www.gardeners.com/Grow-Beds/VegetableGardening_RaisedBeds,34-381RS,default,cp.html). They may not be pretty, but they're fairly cost effective (when I priced them against lumber) and they definitely work. They're easy to put together - particularly the 3x3's.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

you don't pluck lettuce? You cut it?

You can't really cut head lettuce and have it grow a new head, so you harvest the whole head and that's it.
Leaf lettuce will continue putting up new leaves if you either cut off whole outer leaves or give the whole plant a little haircut and take maybe the top half.

All lettuce tends to get bitter as it gets older, so it;s good to keep planting seed at intervals and discard the older lettuce plants once they get spindly and send up flower stalks, if you haven't used them already. Lettuce is best when young, sweet, and tender. Never sow lettuce seeds all at once. :)

[Brandi]

You can't really cut head lettuce and have it grow a new head, so you harvest the whole head and that's it.
Leaf lettuce will continue putting up new leaves if you either cut off whole outer leaves or give the whole plant a little haircut and take maybe the top half.

All lettuce tends to get bitter as it gets older, so it;s good to keep planting seed at intervals and discard the older lettuce plants once they get spindly and send up flower stalks, if you haven't used them already. Lettuce is best when young, sweet, and tender. Never sow lettuce seeds all at once. :)
So head lettuce you mean like ice berg? Most of my little lettuce is red leaf, butter, romaine (I think) and a frilly green one. It was a 6 pack. I should try the seeds. I have them in containers because the snails are so bad here. right now they are all about 3 inches tall and looking very pretty.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

My 10 little baby blueberry bushes that we planted last Spring are flowering for the first time, and I can see some baby blueberries forming! Our first blueberries, so exciting! Looks like we might get a few dozen. (And yes, I already bought some excellent bird netting that we'll put on just before the berries start turning blue) ;)

Got the 13 tomato plants in. Planted the cucumbers and the bush beans too.

Salad-wise, we are already harvesting lots of lettuce, bok choy, kale, spinach, scallions, and radishes.

[Reesha]

I was just outside in the rain planting 30 radicchio plants. I find that managing the garden at school keeps me much more on track than if I tried to do it at home. I like gardening for the cafeteria and we also sell to my friend's restaurant. It keeps me on my gardening toes!

The tomato plants we planted a few weeks back still don't seem to be taking, but there are a number of plants I kept under the grow lights inside that are much heartier and will probably succeed with more oomph when I plant them out there.

I started the carrots from seed and they seem like really slow starters-- then again, this is the first time I've ever grown carrots. The seedlings were extra tiny for weeks and weeks and now they are just starting to increase in size. It could be a function of the clayey Missouri soil... I have a mind to make two new raised beds with a sandier peatier soil exclusively for carrots and other root veggies that like things loose and limber.

The zucchini is ridiculous right now-- if I can keep the ants away, I'm going to have loads of it to sell! But the crookneck squash is having a tough time adapting to the outdoors after being started inside. We'll have to see.

Now if I could just keep the squirrels from eating my cucumber seedlings straight away, I'll be a happy woman!

Some pictures!

English pea trellis:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/femmeke830/20110414_1072.jpg

The garden prior to planting this March:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/femmeke830/20110414_1077.jpg

I'll try to get some current pictures up soon!

[tulip]

Nice, Reesha!

Here are some of my recent photos. I harvested a bunch of sweet peas this morning. Mmmm. My tomatoes are about 3-feet tall and producing fruit, and my potatoes have started to bloom. Lots of lettuce and kale still, too.

[Reesha]

Oooo beautiful lettuce tulip. I love your landscaping too! The herbs amongst the pavers is especially darling.

I have big plans for my back yard, but I think I want new wheels for my bike more... hmmm

I ran out and took some pictures of the garden and my set up at school. It is too much fun to get paid to do this. First you see the grow light set up in my classroom (just after planting radicchio, hence empty tray), the zucchini box, the wild sugar snap pea tangle and some lovely rained-on lettuce that is still too tiny to harvest.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wonderful gardens everyone! I love the fresh greens and the shady stones.

In a way, it felt good to get a break from gardening all winter. It enables me to come back to it all excited and refreshed each Spring. I lived in Puerto Rico where there was no enforced 'winter break' for gardens and after a several years I lost that sense of seasons and big Spring excitement.
Sort of like the old country western song- "How can I miss you if you never go away?" lol!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I went on a 5 day trip and when i got home my veggie garden was bursting with perfect lettuce- far more than we can eat. Not surprising since I tend to plant more lettuce seed than we need- i love to experiment with the various colors and types, and lettuce seed doesn't cost much. Lettuce varieties are so pretty!

So just like last year i harvested a whole bunch, washed, bagged it in several gallon ziplock bags and brought it to my town's silent food pantry, where i volunteer several times a month. My 'thing' is bringing my extra garden produce there all summer when I have a surplus.

For dinner my husband and I had a big fresh salad of lettuces and radishes with chevre cheese, out on the kitchen porch overlooking the garden in the golden late afternoon sun. Our honeybees were all over the catmint in full bloom...so lovely!

[Reesha]

That sounds heavenly, Lisa!

Today I took my summer school kids out to the garden where they happily ate all of my English and Sugar Snap peas. We didn't really have enough to sell but the kids enjoyed them tons!

I've got 4" zucchini out there, can't wait to harvest them at 8 inches!

I think I'm going to try to plant baby greens under a screen... just have to figure out how to put up the screen!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Reesha, those kids will never forget going into a garden and eating peas right off the vine. :)

[spokewench]

I went on a 5 day trip and when i got home my veggie garden was bursting with perfect lettuce- far more than we can eat. Not surprising since I tend to plant more lettuce seed than we need- i love to experiment with the various colors and types, and lettuce seed doesn't cost much. Lettuce varieties are so pretty!

So just like last year i harvested a whole bunch, washed, bagged it in several gallon ziplock bags and brought it to my town's silent food pantry, where i volunteer several times a month. My 'thing' is bringing my extra garden produce there all summer when I have a surplus.

For dinner my husband and I had a big fresh salad of lettuces and radishes with chevre cheese, out on the kitchen porch overlooking the garden in the golden late afternoon sun. Our honeybees were all over the catmint in full bloom...so lovely!


What a wonderful evening dinner! It sounds so peaceful. I finally got my garden in last week. Planted eggplant, tomatoes, squashes of various types, cucumbers, winter savory, basil, thyme, seeds of green beans, chard, lettuce, parsley.

Also, got my seed bed for flowers in; sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, naturtiums, and also put in some lettuce and herb seeds in this bed as well. Hopefully, it will be as pretty as last year's flower bed. Put some 4 oclocks and tall marigolds in a pot and planted some new hollyhocks in the perennial bed next to the vege raised beds.

[Brandi]

I think I am going to have to give up on my swiss chard. I can not find what is sucking the life out of the leaves? Been using Safer spray on them and it's not working. Ugh! My lettuce looks wonderful and my beans are starting to go up the poles!

[smilingcat]

May be the problem with the swiss chard is its below the ground or around the base. If the leaves are not chewed by bugs and still wilting, it may be soil isn't quite right. Or the weather is too hot and too dry.

[tulip]

Swiss chard will grow all summer and all winter, in my experience. I've found it hard to damage--it just keeps on coming. You could try planting some in another bed; maybe there is a soil issue in the current bed.

I've been accepted to be on a city Kitchen Garden tour in July! Hopefully things won't be too wilted by then!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been having a good year in the veggie garden!
Earlier this week i made 15 quarts of dill pickles, and yesterday I made some great red cabbage cole slaw and picked the first tender green beans... :D
Tomatoes and onions are looking good, with lots more beans and cukes on the way!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FtubabqRsPA/ThtSckG3cNI/AAAAAAAADVU/WiMieb1E5H0/s640/2_DillPickles-july2011.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DOxkcIovAhg/ThtScrV0MBI/AAAAAAAADVM/JSNbpuM-rIg/s640/3_DillPickles-july2011.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-081UmAcuPto/TiCSEFQKNeI/AAAAAAAADWg/aLni6vk-gPI/s640/2_coleslawJuly2011.jpg

[OakLeaf]

Wow, green beans already!

Admittedly I got a late start due to the wet spring (and other stuff), but mine are only getting their first buds.

I've already had my first failure-to-pick-zucchini accident, though. :cool: Ate half of it sliced and grilled (yum), will probably shred the rest and turn it into fritters.



... and my chard is just about ready for picking, no thanks to the rabbits who ate it all to the ground last year, and have already torn through the netting that I've got over it this year. :mad:

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've already had my first failure-to-pick-zucchini accident, though. :cool: Ate half of it sliced and grilled (yum), will probably shred the rest and turn it into fritters.

Last year I waited way too long to pick my green beans, and they were too big and tough. This year I'm on top of it! :D
(but am sadly neglecting my swiss chard!) oh well! Getting some good stuff anyway from the garden anyway, you do what you can!

[withm]

I got green beans today in my CSA box. We also got them a couple weeks ago.

[badger]

I went away for 3 weeks, and when I came back, I noticed that my chard bolted. Is there any way to salvage them, or are they done once they've boted and are flowering?

and I also found that all my worms in my compost bin died :( Not sure what happened to them, but the bin is just soup now. Very sad.

[grey]

I went away for 3 weeks, and when I came back, I noticed that my chard bolted. Is there any way to salvage them, or are they done once they've boted and are flowering?

and I also found that all my worms in my compost bin died :( Not sure what happened to them, but the bin is just soup now. Very sad.

Nothing you can do once the greens bolt. They're terribly bitter after that. Just enjoy your flowers and then get the seeds for the fall!

Bleeker, I love your kitchen! It looks so cheery. And is that a six-burner stove I see? *jealous*

I made salsa yesterday, today the rest of the red tomatoes are going to be sauce, and sometime this weekend I'll make green salsa - I have 2 plants that produce an heirloom green tomato with excellent flavor (green when ripe). I'll mix it with the yellow and white varieties, some jalapenos (I will wear gloves this time, I have learned!) and a heavy dose of cilantro. Should be yummy!

[tulip]

Sadly, each time my tomatoes start to ripen, critters help themselves. I think squirrels are the culprits. I had three amazing heirloom Mr. Stripey and four Bradley tomatoes that were nearly ready to pick...just one more day...but in the morning, one was across the yard half eaten, two were hanging on the vine half eaten, and the rest had disappeared completely.

My kale, however, is still going strong. But with the 100+ temps, I suspect they will soon bolt.

[Blueberry]

The *$&% birds keep pecking our tomatoes. We're losing about 50% of them right now. Grrrrr....

[Owlie]

Every time we tried to grow tomatoes (or strawberries, or cukes, or pretty much anything edible) the wildlife would help itself, and we'd get maybe one fruit out of it. Same goes for...pretty much anything currently in the yard (none of which are veggies). I think we may have some kind of neon sign reading "SALAD BAR" somewhere...

[OakLeaf]

Electric fence doesn't keep the rabbits out. :confused: Netting has kept them out of my beans enough to let the beans grow, but they've broken right through the netting to get at my chard. :mad: :mad:

It's hit and miss this year ... tonight's dinner was pasta with broccoli, zucchini and arugula. :)

I picked the zucchini tonight just after a rain, fairly small, knowing it would be a ball-bat if I waited until morning. The blossom had closed for the night. I held the squash in my hand and felt this ... vibration ... like it was an appliance that it resembles physically. :p I opened the blossom and SEVEN honeybees flew out. :) :)

Last year I saw not one honeybee on my property. Not one, all year. I am soooooo happy they are back - at least for now.

[grey]

Sadly, each time my tomatoes start to ripen, critters help themselves. I think squirrels are the culprits. I had three amazing heirloom Mr. Stripey and four Bradley tomatoes that were nearly ready to pick...just one more day...but in the morning, one was across the yard half eaten, two were hanging on the vine half eaten, and the rest had disappeared completely.

My kale, however, is still going strong. But with the 100+ temps, I suspect they will soon bolt.

I have to pick mine early and let them ripen in windowsills - if I wait for them to turn red or even a good orange, some critter will take one little bite and waste the rest of it. :mad: I grow a lot of heirlooms (including Mr Stripey!) some seem to attract the critters more than others - so I grab them soon as I start to see orange developing. Have to check vines twice a day in this weather. :rolleyes:


tonight's dinner was pasta with broccoli, zucchini and arugula.
Oh YUM! Can I come over?

[tulip]

My Mr. Stripeys were beautiful! Do they taste good? They do to critters. I will take your advice next year. I might still get some this year, too. We usually have tomatoes into September, even October.

[sgtiger]

Our front yard gets the most hours of sunlight in a day, so we decided to incorporate some of the veggies there.

The front yard went from this:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ob52OrhTd2w/TkNZfgarh4I/AAAAAAAAB94/Mzk_o2s2dIY/s640/IMG_0102.JPG

To this:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LGUKkyaOJKM/TkNcUq5UaaI/AAAAAAAAB_8/jt2Q0nGl56E/268799_10150233814037405_575922404_7150400_1874845_n.jpg

The herbs, carrots and radishes are grown right along with flowers in a raised bed:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TUe1R5JPySo/TkNcVzMxD0I/AAAAAAAACAI/YyGJOxeUPBc/228175_10150166612792405_575922404_6620533_1426560_n.jpg

Tomatoes:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7EH8tx0Ktv0/TkNcVX3mZ8I/AAAAAAAACAA/c18KlU_sqtk/284258_10150257629667405_575922404_7380192_468671_n.jpg

The carrots we harvested today:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z4ntuc7blqE/TkNcVvZ--rI/AAAAAAAACAE/w1o_WUlPZUs/226153_10150257629232405_575922404_7380191_517557_n.jpg

There's a couple of pumpkin vines and a strawberry bed too. I think planting them among accepted landscaping plants helps camouflage them a bit. At least the neighbors haven't complained yet...

[grey]

WOW sgtiger! WOW! I love it! I've wanted to do something like that myself, integrating ornamentals with produce in my front yard since it gets more sun than my backyard, but DH pooh-poohs me (and we're moving at some point anyway, might as well keep the easy-care perennials out front). Maybe if I show him your incredible pics he'll be ok with it for our next house. :-)

[badger]

here in the PNW, I've not had a good season. My beans and snow peas did really well, but none of the tomato flowers managed to bear any fruit. They've also very short, too.

My banana and acorn squash that came out of my compost have borne some fruit, but they soon turned yellow and dropped off. My basil's still only about 2" tall and my cilantro only managed to be about 6" before they started blooming. Never quite got the big leaves, just went straight to flowers. It's been rather disappointing.

[spokewench]

I held the squash in my hand and felt this ... vibration ... like it was an appliance that it resembles physically. :p I opened the blossom and SEVEN honeybees flew out. :) :)

Last year I saw not one honeybee on my property. Not one, all year. I am soooooo happy they are back - at least for now.

That is way cool!

[buffybike]

Our front yard gets the most hours of sunlight in a day, so we decided to incorporate some of the veggies there.

There's a couple of pumpkin vines and a strawberry bed too. I think planting them among accepted landscaping plants helps camouflage them a bit. At least the neighbors haven't complained yet...

I'm using part of my front yard to grow herbs and eggplant, as well. I've also grown beans, peppers and tomatoes because it's our sunniest spot. There's a great book called Edible Landscaping if you want more ideas.

[buffybike]

WOW sgtiger! WOW! I love it! I've wanted to do something like that myself, integrating ornamentals with produce in my front yard since it gets more sun than my backyard, but DH pooh-poohs me (and we're moving at some point anyway, might as well keep the easy-care perennials out front). Maybe if I show him your incredible pics he'll be ok with it for our next house. :-)

Google "edible landscaping" and you'd be amazed at how beautiful your front yard can be with some vegetables/fruits thrown in! I'm a huge fan of growing veggies/herbs/fruits in available space. When it comes to landscaping, if I can't eat it, I'm not real motivated to take care of it.

[Serendipity]

WOW sgtiger! WOW! I love it! I've wanted to do something like that myself, integrating ornamentals with produce in my front yard since it gets more sun than my backyard, but DH pooh-poohs me (and we're moving at some point anyway, might as well keep the easy-care perennials out front). Maybe if I show him your incredible pics he'll be ok with it for our next house. :-)

Grey, we've been gradually replacing ornamentals with vegetables. As my DH says, it takes just as much work to look after the ornamentals as the vegetables so why not have the fresh veggies. Last fall we added two raised beds to our front yard and planted carrots, beets, onions, swiss chard, peas, and random dill in the beds. That's my DH picking swiss chard in the rain!

So far, the neighbours have been intrigued more than anything else by the gardens in the front yard. My goal eventually is to replace all of the lawn with a mix of vegetables & ornamentals - but one year at a time!

[smilingcat]

I haven't had any complaints from my neighbors when I turned my front yard into a veggie garden. But that was California.

We now live in very progressive area of Oregon. So I don't expect to have any complaints from my neighbors when I turn the ugly lawn into a veggie garden mixed with native berry plants and evergreen.

In retrospect, maybe having an ugly lawn to start off was the key. Anything else was better than a ugly burnt, weed infested lawn. Lesser of two evils to some :p

[jobob]

We have 7 (was 8) heirloom tomato plants growing in what used to be our backyard. Most of the tomatoes are finally ripening, here's our first large haul from a few days ago.

We'll be canning crushed tomatoes and making lots of ketchup & tomato jam soon. :cool:

from L to R: Brandywine Black, Aunt Ginny's Orange, Texas Star (that's the single tomato), Amazon Chocolate, Hawaiian Pineapple. Still to come: Hugh's, Love Apple.

RIP: Black from Tula (it suddenly started to shrivel up badly so we cut our losses and dug it out; we'll figure out what to do with the dozen or so green tomatoes we salvaged).

[skhill]

A nasty groundhog has been destroying my garden this summer. Any ideas on how to get rid of him? I think he's living in my neighbor's shed.... I've tried scattering some used kitty litter along the fence, but it's not working. In the past, my dog kept the back yard well marked, but he's retired these days, as he can't manage the stairs from the back door.

Luckily, my squash/pumpkin patch is in the side yard, and the @#$%@# groundhog hasn't found it yet. There's also a single, volunteer tomato plant there...

Lots of folk have vegetable gardens in their front yards in my neighborhood-- but then I live on the edge of a really poor neighborhood. On some streets, the yards are really small, and the best light may be in front. There's even one family that's planted okra in the strip between sidewalk and street!

[spokewench]

Well, doesn't look like anyone has posted this year re their garden. I will have to send out a picture. I was a bit worried yesterday since we had a big thunderstorm and some parts of Flag got about 1/2 foot of hail. We were lucky, looks like it rained well, but not too hard and not too much hail. I lost my garden to hail damage completely last year.

So, I'm all happy that there is no hail damage this morning when my cat goes racing out the back door (before being fed, really weird) all slunk down low and moving fast. I thought that my husband left the gate open and that the neighbor's dog might be in the year which happens some times. Well, then the cat goes around the house and comes racing right back in his cat door and back to the back door. He is real low slung and I think wow, there really is something back there.

So, I go back there and two big havelinas are running around in my back yard! It is completely fenced.

I go down to my garden and thankfully, they only ate two squash plants in a pot that I have down there; the rest they have left alone! Thank goodness.

I chase them slowly out the gate and close it. They were pretty cool!

It wasn't too long ago that havelinas did not come up this high, 7,000 feet, but in the last 10 years they have been coming up higher and higher.

[OakLeaf]

Electric fence is the only thing that keeps out groundhogs and raccoons. Probably would work on javelinas. A 4 volt solar charger is enough for most gardens and not too expensive.

[snapdragen]

I planted a small garden this year, after doing nothing for a couple of years. I tried a couple of Earth Boxes (http://www.earthbox.com/)for some tomatoes and tomatillos; they didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I think my tomatoes in the regular raised beds are doing much better. I'll use the Earth Boxes for flowers or herbs next year.

I have 4 pounds of tomatillos waiting to be made into salsa verde :cool: The tomatoes in the raised beds are about to burst forth - I will be overloaded. I'm sure Chloe will begin stealing 'maters off the vine very soon. I grew eggplant for the first time - Rosa Bianca. They are delish! Another first time for me was baby bok choy, a new favorite.

[spokewench]

Electric fence is the only thing that keeps out groundhogs and raccoons. Probably would work on javelinas. A 4 volt solar charger is enough for most gardens and not too expensive.

I don't think they can get in the back yard as long as my lovely husband remembers to close the gates! Maybe I need an electric prodder for him to remind him!

[spokewench]

I planted a small garden this year, after doing nothing for a couple of years. I tried a couple of Earth Boxes (http://www.earthbox.com/)for some tomatoes and tomatillos; they didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I think my tomatoes in the regular raised beds are doing much better. I'll use the Earth Boxes for flowers or herbs next year.

I have 4 pounds of tomatillos waiting to be made into salsa verde :cool: The tomatoes in the raised beds are about to burst forth - I will be overloaded. I'm sure Chloe will begin stealing 'maters off the vine very soon. I grew eggplant for the first time - Rosa Bianca. They are delish! Another first time for me was baby bok choy, a new favorite.

Very nice Snap! I did not plant a lot of different stuff this year as I started the garden late due to being out of town a lot earlier this year. I have had eggplant, yellow crook neck squash, acorn squash (a lot more on the vine) this is the first year I have been successful with winter type squash, a few tomatoes so far, green beans are just about ready.

[badger]

I thought it might be fun to bump this thread.

I was rooting through this thread to find the name of a tree that I've since forgotten. There were some awesome gardens here a couple of years ago - how are they doing now??

I really wanted a real garden, so last year I painstakingly turned a neglected part of the back area of my workplace into a garden. It was full of ivy, blackberry bushes, and rocks. It was also contaminated with oil (it's in the maintenance shop area where fire trucks are repaired). The soil donated by the parks board was completely sterile and I doubt there was even bad bacteria in there. My beets and radishes just grew leaves and that was it. Zucchini just grew long and nothing fruited. Runner beans and herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, chives) were the only things that grew much.

So I over-wintered the garden with hairy vetch and decided to limit this year's crop to potatoes and beans. So far they are both thriving and am hopeful that by next year the soil will have more nutrients in it to support more vegetables. Still probably isn't the healthiest with so much exhaust nearby...

[Trek420]

We have chard and kale, chives, sage, oregano. Tomatoes and strawberries are starting to fruit. We planted a persimmon tree and it's leafing out. But that may take years.

[Eden]

Peas, beans, tomatoes (early and cherry) peppers, broccoli, chard, lettuce, parsley, basil and cilantro in here. The peas are going gangbusters - in fact I need to go out and pick some right now. I had bok choy and radishes, but they bolted for some reason.

[OakLeaf]

Green beans, lima beans, cannellini.
Two varieties of bell peppers, an Italian roasting pepper, a poblano, and jalapeños - although all the peppers have some kind of a disease :( about half of them seem to be recovering. Zucchini, butternut squash, small Hubbard-type squash, cucumbers, Charentais melons.
Chioggia beets, three varieties of carrots, parsnips (although the first row of parsnips I planted drowned; the second row I marked as parsnips turned out to be carrots :rolleyes: and the third one, only three came up ... so I'll be planting another row probably tomorrow.
Red Russian and lacinato kale.
Romanesco cauliflower (if it heads ...) and broccoli.
Five varieties of tomatoes.
Genovese basil, lime basil, Italian parsley.
And my little strawberry patch, which didn't produce much this year - needs some attention.

I lost most of my perennial herbs to the polar vortex this winter. Oregano survived in spades, bee balm either survived or reseeded itself or both, thyme I thought was gone but when I went to pull it out there was a tiny little sprig of green. Peppermint and spearmint and lemon balm survived, no big surprise there - I actually tore all the peppermint and lemon balm out of my herb bed, figuring it'll come back when I least expect it. :rolleyes: Spearmint I was smart enough to plant originally in a couple of remote locations in the lawn. Everything else was kaput. So I replanted lavender, winter savory, tarragon, sage, and another thyme plant I bought before I realized I had a survivor.

[snapdragen]

Couldn't do much this year, I got two small beds prepped and planted tomatoes and eggplant.

[smilingcat]

Our weekly grocery bill at TJ is down in the high 20's to low 30's. Mostly milk, avocado, yogurt, tofu and some junk food. And our visit to farmers market is to buy occasional meat, cherries in season and apricot in season. This weeks total grocery bill was bit high at just over $50 maybe $60. Growing lots of loose leaf lettuce, bok choi, rappinni, zucchini... peas and beans... freezing excess strawberries and soon blue berries along with logan and marion berries. Our fall/winter veggies are growing nicely, broccoli, kale, cabbage. We'll start seeds for cauliflower, napa cabbage, carrots, parsnips, delicata squash, acorn. We also raise our own chicken for egg and meat.

We are's on about 1/3 of an acre and we do intensive ag. on a very small scale. This is a run-up or practice to when I buy myself a small farm around 2-5 acres. Style of farming is called market gardening or micro-farm.Once I get a farm, I'll have a heated greenhouse to grow meyer lemon, bearss lime, ginger. And we will also be growing year round. This style of farming has very low $$ entry point and reasonable return on investment. Net income from my envisioned farm would give us reasonable lifestyle and we would NOT be enslaved to our farm.

Right now, we are starting new seeds every two weeks. rappini, bok choi, lettuce of all sorts. I lost track of all the things we are growing :D :confused: ;)