The problem with having a garden

BoxerBrawler
BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
in Food and Nutrition
.... is that most of the raw veggies never make it into my house LOL! I spend so much time picking the vegetables and eating them raw right off the plant, warm from the sun with the nutrients still running through them! Even my corn... pull it off the stalk and eat it raw right there in the garden! So yummy, so healthy :smile: Do you have a garden? if so, what do you grow? what's your favorite thing to eat out of your garden?
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Replies

  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
    What to do with the cucumbers?!? There are too few to make pickles, but way too many to eat. I am tired of cucumber salad.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited August 2016
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Slugs are attracted to beer. Set a small amount of beer in a shallow wide jar buried in the soil up to its neck. Slugs will crawl in and drown. Take the jar lid and prop it up with a small stick so rain won't dilute the beer. Leave space for slugs to enter the trap.

    Diatomaceous earth or even lava rocks or egg shells. Diatomaceous earth is basically the natural fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. Just as with egg shells, soft-bodied pests (like slugs and snails) will not crawl over it… for the same reason humans won’t walk on broken glass.

    Companion Planting: Basically, certain plants planted near each other benefit each other and may also deter certain pests. Plants that deter slugs are: wormwood, rue, fennel, anise, and rosemary.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    My problem is the neighborhood critters...had a whole whack of strawberries that were green, go to look the next day, ALL GONE! Tomatoes? They take a bite of EVERY one of them, then leave them in front of my door...same with peppers, tho they don't seem to like them as much!
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!
  • Dandelie
    Dandelie Posts: 153 Member
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!


    I've had the same problem with my blueberries. I am beginning to think I cannot grow them. The leaves fell off the one I had planted last year and hasn't grown any. I am thinking I may have to switch to peat moss. I did some research and found that blueberries like an acidic soil, so I bought some acid additions for the soil. Try testing your soil and see if that is the cause.
  • Dandelie
    Dandelie Posts: 153 Member
    cushman5279 wrote: »
    .... is that most of the raw veggies never make it into my house LOL! I spend so much time picking the vegetables and eating them raw right off the plant, warm from the sun with the nutrients still running through them! Even my corn... pull it off the stalk and eat it raw right there in the garden! So yummy, so healthy :smile: Do you have a garden? if so, what do you grow? what's your favorite thing to eat out of your garden?

    Peas. I will not eat peas any other way beyond eating them fresh from the plant and within minutes. I am going to plant another set of peas soon to get before winter. My corn got knocked out by a few high wind storms, so I just have four stalks that have about 4-5 ears total. My zucchini and cucumber hasn't started producing anything. I do have beef steak, Cherokee purple, and Roma tomatoes galore. We have also got a few strawberries, but I just put the plants out this year.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    My problem is the neighborhood critters...had a whole whack of strawberries that were green, go to look the next day, ALL GONE! Tomatoes? They take a bite of EVERY one of them, then leave them in front of my door...same with peppers, tho they don't seem to like them as much!

    Blueberry bushes sound like a pain.
    Soil conditions, making sure it gets full sun, making sure the the soil is well-draining, pollination, pests like birds, age, regular pruning, fertilizer.

    I like blueberries but at that point it sounds cheaper to go to the store.
  • jmarie1025
    jmarie1025 Posts: 114 Member
    We have radishes, red yellow and green bell peppers, jalapeños, broccoli, cantaloupe, watermelon, lots of tomatoes (25 plants!) and a strawberry patch which the weevils and slugs took over. I put down slug and snail bait and DE but it didn't deter them like it has in the past.
    Last year we also planted sweet corn and peas. Unfortunately you need a lot of pea plants to get enough peas so we didn't plant them again. And earwigs ate the silks off the corn so we only got a few good ears, it was delicious though!
    It's a lot of work and I always gripe about it in the spring but it's so rewarding watching everything grow then picking the fruits (and veggies) of our labor!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    We have 2 gardens. One for early spring vegetables and fall planting, one for summer vegetables. We grow greens (collards, kale, spinach, arugula, lettuces), sugar snap peas, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli raab, brussel sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, string beans, peppers (hot and sweet), zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, asparagus, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, corn, cucumbers (pickling and slicing), radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries and annual herbs in the garden. We have perennial herbs growing around the back porch and apple, cherry, plum, pear, pecan, walnut, hazelnut, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry and gooseberry trees/bushes growing around our property. And a large grape arbor.

    I don't have a favorite other than whatever I happen to be in the mood for at the moment.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!

    Are you sure critters aren't getting the berries?
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    What to do with the cucumbers?!? There are too few to make pickles, but way too many to eat. I am tired of cucumber salad.

    You could try cold cucumber soup. It's pretty refreshing on a hot day.
  • melodysf10
    melodysf10 Posts: 35 Member
    I grow corn, tomatoes, green beans, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, sometimes sweet potatoes, eggplant, almost always turnips and various winter greens, peppers, collards. I have a few herbs growing. I've done crowder peas, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, snow peas, english peas, and I'm sure some things I can't think of. Corn, okra, yellow squash, green beans, amd spaghetti squash are my favs.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    What to do with the cucumbers?!? There are too few to make pickles, but way too many to eat. I am tired of cucumber salad.

    Give them to friends or donate to a local homeless shelter (you might even get a tax deductible receipt for the value at a shelter)
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 427 Member
    The book "Carrots love Tomatoes" is a great book for companion planting. This year I planted lettuce- which is about 5 feet tall at the moment. I never know it could get that tall! Tastes fine though. Cukes, peppers (hot and sweet), peas, beans (none of them came up!) and kolrabi on accident.
  • Rhumax67
    Rhumax67 Posts: 162 Member
    This year, the neighborhood critters are very fat. We got a bird feeder. (no good deed goes unpunished) That attracted the squirrels, who take a bite out of every tomato, eggplant, squash and leave the rest. It wouldn't be so bad if they ate the whole thing but they just take a taste.
  • driving_miss_crazy
    driving_miss_crazy Posts: 36 Member
    Tomatoes, okra, eggplant and bell peppers. So small compared to what I grew up with, but it makes me so happy to my little boy eagerly running out each day to pick the cherry tomatoes. He eats them so quickly that I have only gotten to try one this season❤️
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    This time of year I have a different problem.

    Zucchini.
  • kateowp
    kateowp Posts: 103 Member
    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    What to do with the cucumbers?!? There are too few to make pickles, but way too many to eat. I am tired of cucumber salad.
    Pinterest to the rescue
  • anewghost
    anewghost Posts: 27 Member
    I have 4 scallop squash(two were savaged by worms,but still holding on), two tomatos, two ghost peppers, 3 scotch bonnets, a habanero, 2 thai peppers, 3 criolla sella peppers, 3 swiss chards, 3 kales, 2 kai lan, 2 green apple eggplants, three 8ft rows of green beans(pretty much done for the season) and a bunch of herbs. Everything except the peppers have been having off and on spider mite problems, probably because we had very little rain this year.

    I have way too many peppers. I made 7 jars ghost pepper jelly, a jar of jerk sauce and a bunch of hot sauce. I love using the fresh thai peppers to make basil pork/basil chicken but everyone complains about pepper fumes
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
    We didn't do so well this year. Couple different types of tomatoes, which are doing fantastic, but ripped out all the cucumbers as they were dying. I have bell peppers and hot peppers I should really check, as well as lettuce and collard greens.

    I lot of my herbs just didn't come up this time.

    The lettuce was really easy and good. I like a wild loose mix.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    edited August 2016
    We have some limes growing, which I've been using them in place of lemon and lime juice, and a fig tree that's been pretty barren this year.

    I'll give it a look right now. I would like to grow some vegetables, but I have to wait until August is over for improved weather.
  • dothefreddy
    dothefreddy Posts: 29 Member
    edited August 2016
    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    What to do with the cucumbers?!? There are too few to make pickles, but way too many to eat. I am tired of cucumber salad.

    Refrigerator pickles! They're super easy to do and a great way to use up cucumbers where you have too many to eat all at once but not enough to do traditional canning.

    This year's garden is starting to wind down and I has a sad. This year we did bush beans, cucumbers, several varieties of tomatoes (roma for sauce & ketchup making, sunsugar & sugary hybrid for salads & snacking, regular cherries and red brandywine), strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, kale, swiss chard, bell peppers, hot peppers (this variety is called Tabasco and maaaan are they hot little buggers!), eggplant, chives, basil, several varieties of mint (peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint, pineapple mint, juliep), butternut squash, black seeded simpson lettuce, carrots, blueberries & blackberries.

    I plan on really expanding our growing next year to include broccoli, more lettuce varieties, pumpkin, corn, beets and maybe a few other things.

    We also took out our poor diseased apple tree and are putting in a peach tree instead. Am real excited about that!

    Oh and a grape vine, but that hasn't produced yet. Only in it's 2nd year, hoping next year we'll see some action then. Poor thing had to be treated with Neem oil a good bit this year- Japanese beetles attacked the thing!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    We have too many tomatoes.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    We have too many tomatoes.

    Yeah, I usually have that problem, too. My go tos are making salsa and freezing it, caprese salads and pasta, ketchup..if nothing else, they're versatile little suckers. :smile:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    dragon_girl26 wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    We have too many tomatoes.

    Yeah, I usually have that problem, too. My go tos are making salsa and freezing it, caprese salads and pasta, ketchup..if nothing else, they're versatile little suckers. :smile:

    They usually go bad and we end up composting them, lol. I used up all the last ones making ratatouille though (but I had to actually buy the rest of the veggies, which kinda sucked).
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
    Canning peaches next week and tomatoes the week after - sooo much work, but so nice in the middle of winter. Thanks for the cucumber suggestions. We may have enough to do 1/2 gallon of fermented pickles. (I have been reading the book Wild Fermentation.)
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!

    Blueberry plants need another blueberry bush of a different variety close fro cross pollination. Either plant another or get a neighbor to do so.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    StealthHealth wrote: »
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!

    Blueberry plants need another blueberry bush of a different variety close fro cross pollination. Either plant another or get a neighbor to do so.

    Super valuable information, thank you! I'm going to purchase another before the next season!
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    StealthHealth wrote: »
    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    Well, I'm having a problem with slugs eating my strawberries, but my blueberries nothing touches and they are just out of this world good this year. I have some tomatoes in progress. I had raspberries, but I went on vacation during a vital part of their fruiting, it didn't rain enough, and never completely developed. :neutral:

    Any hints on the blueberry plant? I've had mine for three years, and not a single berry, but loads of foliage!

    Blueberry plants need another blueberry bush of a different variety close fro cross pollination. Either plant another or get a neighbor to do so.

    This, and I'd also recommend some netting to put around them. My mom''s first year with them, she saw several berries growing but maybe only got to pick about, like, 3. Darn scavangers! Heh

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