Vegetable Gardening

[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 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 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 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 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 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. 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