Any gardeners out there?

[austinado16]

For the first time ever, we decided to put in a garden.  Thought it would be fun for our 8 year old daughter, and us too.

Anybody else?  What are you growing?  Got any tips for a successful first time?

We did a raised garden since the soil here is so bad, and put in some nice gardening soil from the local landscape supply.

[butterflyfish]

This year we ahve tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon and basil and parsley.  Nothing big and everything in pots (not sure how the watermelon's gonna go in a pot...)  We have tomatoes already and flowers on the zucchini and watermelon.  

One year (up north) we did a huge raised bed garden.  Grew peppers, several differetn kinds of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant and asparagus, lettuce, brussel sprouts and I don't remember what else.  We had so many veggies we couldn't give them away.  It was nice to have so many fresh veggies, but difficult to keep up.  Then once we had our first son and he was so sick, the garden was never redone.  We did continue to have asparagus, though.  And then it became a lower maintenence flower garden.  I do miss the big garden, but not the work since I really don't like to garden, but DH does.

[butterflyfish]

Here's a link you might enjoy from FamilyFun.com Gardening fun for kids

[austinado16]

Thanks for that link.  That will be fun to hunt around on.  One year we got her the living butterfly kit.  That was really cool for all of us to enjoy, and sure enough, in a couple weeks the caterpillars had spun webs as hammocks, eaten their fill, hung from the jar lid in a crysalis, and then hatched into painted lady butterflies.

So far we have planted black berries, olala berries, sunflowers, white corn, green beens, honey dew melon, cantelope, a giant pumpkin, cucumbers, carrots, 4 different tomatoes, 1 artichoke, a yellow bell pepper, mint, basil, rosemary, parcely and a boat load of Sequoia strawberries.  

I put in a drip irrigation system on a timer, so no one has to stand around watering.  The garden is 9' x 21' so hopefully we can have fun with it, and not feel enslaved.  I'd like it to be something we do each year.....but we'll see.

[AZsix]

We grow tomatoes, zucchini, radishes, onions and this year we have watermelon. Here in AZ I have found that some things just won't survive the heat of summer. We plant tomato plants in Feb and have had them produce until Dec.  Radishes are easy and quick but don't get as big in the summer heat. We already have all of our onions out of the ground. They are very potent though they don't get very big. There is nothing better than picking vegetables to throw on your salad. I look forward to my garden each and every year.

My advice is plant as many different types of things that you have room for. some may grow well, some may not. Gradually you will learn what you can and can't grow. When we first started growing tomatoes we would get some that turned black on the bottom and always wondered why they did that. After an on-line search I discovered that it's a sign of over watering.

Good luck and enjoy.

[brainpause]

Got some tomatoes outside in an earthbox, and some nasturtiums in a flower box. Had some other flowers, but a frost killed them.

I also have some peppers in the basement, but aren't big enough to set out yet.

New house, so I haven't decided where to put a garden. I need an outbuilding for mower/ATV, and we also plan to build Jessie a playground.

Larry

[ScouterMom]

Before Jon was born, I had a good-sized garden - 4 - 4X8' raised beds.  One was all strawberries, and the other three were various veggies.  Beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers worked the best for me.  various years I tried sweetcorn, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower and broccoli, and an assortment of herbs.  Weeding was a chore, until I learned to put down landscape fabric or newspaper arond the plants - then it wasn't a problem at all.

"Preen" works well to feed the plants and keep the weeds down - if you ae transplanting plants like tomatoes and pepper plants.  But it doens't work if you start your plants form seed. Preen keeps seeds from spouting, and it can't tell the difference betwen a weed, a flower and a vegitable.

 I did have a bit of a problem with rabbits and critters eating  my goodies - esp the strawberries - until I fenced in the garden.

After having Jon, getting divorced , and moving to my own home and going back to work, I just didn't have time for more than a tomato plant or two - maybe some flowers and my roses.  

This year, however, I have a couple of tomatoes, a couple pepper plants, cucumbers and beans.  We'll see how they do.

Laura

[butterflyfish]

We have a bunch of tomatoes already, but none are turning red and it is starting to worry me since one or two look like they have been nibbled at...  We also have 2 watermelons one is about the size of a quarter and the other is about the size of a silver dollar.  There are also a bunch of flowers on the plant so hopefully it will produce a lot of fruit.  We've never grown melons before so hopefully they don't succumb to pests...  Our zucchini is doing well also.  There are several tiny ones and more flowers growing.

[sacrawf]

My wife has vegetable and flower gardens, and landscapes and mows our nearly 2 acre property.  She also has a hobby greenhouse that she keeps heated and growing all winter, as well as a lot of houseplants.  Each of our camping trips involves checking out what local greenhouses/nurseries/arbouretums/gardens are near the campgrounds.  The most interesting are the small family run ventures that have unique plants.

[vjm1639]

I have lots of flower beds all around the yard but this year the only other things we have are my herb (dill, oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme) garden in pots and three cherry tomato plants in pots.   I use the herbs all the time in my cooking but we found that we have such wonderful farmers markets that with only the two of us and Mom (who's limited on what greens she can now eat because of her meds) that it just doesn't make it worthwhile to plant much of anything else anymore.   I do love planting flowers though.  DH says I just plant them so I can play in the dirt.........he's pretty much right!  

[PattieAM]

Back in my gardening days, I had a 20x30 or so garden for several years running, with 3-5 years of strawberries, did some corn, peas, watermelons, cantelopes, green beans, limas and brussel sprouts as well as cabbage.

As I live in a fairly rural area, the deer and rabbits were my problems - all bird issues were taken away by fake owls, which the bobble-headed plastic owl finally got rid of the rabbits.  (I'd started with inflatable owls and they only worked for the birds)

I did my tomato plants separately from the garden - more container style, and had great tomatoes - beefeaters, cherry and plums.  My side lot used to have an old shack on it with a chimney, and when it was torn down, I used the chimney blocks as a landscaping wall on my steep hill (flooded/washed out regularly), so my flood block became my tomato garden!

We had a tree next to the house split, and after hearing it groan in a slight breeze, we had it removed - my kids enjoyed watermelon on the patio and would have seed spitting contests to the tree stump......and we had some county fair winning watermelons for a few years.

[spicetrader]

We tried one two years ago in a raised bed and failed miserably.

This year we tilled up the ground (at new house) and added a BUNCH of organic matter, and the plants are doing well.

We started small with one squash and one cucumber mound.  then two tomatos and two peppers and two short rows of beans, onions and lettuce.  I think we missed out on the lettuce...its too small and already nuked by the TX sun!!!

My rosemary is still alive, but just not as big as the plant my sister in law planted, that was the same week time frame and the same original size as mine...any suggestions?

[sacrawf]

A problem we have had is watering plants while we are camping.  We have tried putting container plants in a shaded area together, and setting sprinklers on timers on the grouped container plants,vegetable garden, and flower gardens.  We have also made an extra trip home during long weekend trips to water plants, and for further or longer trips, had to hire someone to tend to the plants and pets.