Gardening, who's planning??

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2

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  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    I just ordered my seeds yesterday and will be starting them as soon as they get here. I'm so excited! I got spinach, mesclun mix lettuce, artichokes (never tried growing them before), purple pole beans, three kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers, a bunch of herbs, a few annual flowers, and some catnip.

    My freezer stock is down to the last few bags of soup from last year and I've only got two little jars of salsa left. I usually make a bunch of tomato sauces, soups, salsa, and freezer meals. I also froze a bunch of zucchini chunks (because what else do you do when you have that last wave of zucchini and you can't fathom making another casserole?) and we use them in our green smoothies. It makes them cold and even a little creamy!

    Dreaming of my first BLT this summer...
  • hopefaithlove24
    hopefaithlove24 Posts: 454 Member
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  • wildrosegeo
    wildrosegeo Posts: 27 Member
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    We moved from a zone 2a to a zone 5 last year (Canadian zones), and I'm excited to finally be able to grow stuff.

    We also have a 1/2 lot, so I can have a massive garden. I'm going to try almost everything I possibly can, and if I am successful I might fly out my mom and/or grandma to teach me how to can and preserve a lot of it in the fall.
  • sigsby
    sigsby Posts: 220 Member
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    I planted my first garden last year. I don't yet know what I'm planting this year. Well, I guess I do. I planned it all out at the end of last season. I just don't remember. It's nice to think about because I really do enjoy gardening. Unfortunately it is -6 degrees here today. I won't be gardening soon.
  • jrmommy23
    jrmommy23 Posts: 28 Member
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    bump for later
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
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    I guess I better tell my husband to get busy starting his seeds.
  • electrickazoo
    electrickazoo Posts: 55 Member
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    How do you have room on your balcony for everything?! (see below - learned to quote).
  • electrickazoo
    electrickazoo Posts: 55 Member
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    I am so over winter, it isn't even funny anymore. This year my garden space has gone from a huge yard to a medium sized balcony, so I'm being more conservative with my plantings. So far I have started seeds indoors for:

    Broccoli Waltham
    Chamomile Roman
    Onion Sweet Evergreen Bunching
    Onion Italian red of Florence
    Chervil
    Beets, Ruby
    Beets, Carnival
    Chard, Swiss
    Chard, Rainbow
    Celery
    Tomatoes, Japanese Black
    Tomatoes, Yellow Pear


    Yes, I realize several of these are not recommended to start indoors, but I don't have what you might call patience or wisdom in this regard. Most of my seeds are getting old, since I never planted row upon row of the same thing, so I want to find out how many will actually germinate. I also despise celery, but my parrot will eat it and I have so many dang celery and celeriac seeds that I might as well just go for it. So far only the celery has sprouted, but it has been only 5 days.

    I need to pick up some Japanese eggplant as either seeds or seedlings, as these were my favorite and most productive plants in my old garden. I have several packets of carrot that I want to plant, but will probably harvest when "baby" sized.

    How do you have room on your balcony for everything!?
  • Tdacks
    Tdacks Posts: 136 Member
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    I am so over winter, it isn't even funny anymore. This year my garden space has gone from a huge yard to a medium sized balcony, so I'm being more conservative with my plantings. So far I have started seeds indoors for:

    Broccoli Waltham
    Chamomile Roman
    Onion Sweet Evergreen Bunching
    Onion Italian red of Florence
    Chervil
    Beets, Ruby
    Beets, Carnival
    Chard, Swiss
    Chard, Rainbow
    Celery
    Tomatoes, Japanese Black
    Tomatoes, Yellow Pear


    Yes, I realize several of these are not recommended to start indoors, but I don't have what you might call patience or wisdom in this regard. Most of my seeds are getting old, since I never planted row upon row of the same thing, so I want to find out how many will actually germinate. I also despise celery, but my parrot will eat it and I have so many dang celery and celeriac seeds that I might as well just go for it. So far only the celery has sprouted, but it has been only 5 days.

    I need to pick up some Japanese eggplant as either seeds or seedlings, as these were my favorite and most productive plants in my old garden. I have several packets of carrot that I want to plant, but will probably harvest when "baby" sized.

    How do you have room on your balcony for everything!?

    Haha! This is me holding back and being reasonable, because I would really love to plant a huge garden in my imaginary giant yard. I only started about 5-12 seeds of any variety, and not all of them will sprout. That is why I have so many 2 year old seeds in packets!

    My balcony is 4x9ft. I do Square Foot Gardening, which is a more compact way to plant. I'm going to build a 3x3 ft and a couple 1x4ft boxes instead of using pots on my balcony. That will give me 17 squares, so I can grow 17 kinds of plant. Each tomato will get one square, but the carrots will be 9 or 12 in a square, for example.

    I'm also going to make use of the railing and 9 foot overhead hanging space, because we are allowed to hang boxes on the railing and rafters. Some of the herbs will end up on the kitchen counter top.

    I honestly almost bought a blackberry bush at the garden center. *Must Control Self*
  • RhineDHP
    RhineDHP Posts: 1,025 Member
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    I've been wanting to get into gardening for some time. There's a class coming up that I want to enroll in. I love the idea of working with my hands.
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
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    I just ordered my seeds yesterday and will be starting them as soon as they get here. I'm so excited! I got spinach, mesclun mix lettuce, artichokes (never tried growing them before), purple pole beans, three kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers, a bunch of herbs, a few annual flowers, and some catnip.

    My freezer stock is down to the last few bags of soup from last year and I've only got two little jars of salsa left. I usually make a bunch of tomato sauces, soups, salsa, and freezer meals. I also froze a bunch of zucchini chunks (because what else do you do when you have that last wave of zucchini and you can't fathom making another casserole?) and we use them in our green smoothies. It makes them cold and even a little creamy!

    Dreaming of my first BLT this summer...

    Dehydrated zucchini is yummy too! Sbcanning.com has some really good recipes. There's a roasted red pepler recipe that is awesome in homemade hummus. I've started pressure canning dried beans. It makes thdm super easy to use.
  • Gohomebay
    Gohomebay Posts: 116 Member
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    Hard to imagine when Ontario is frozen over. We do tons of veggies. Would love tips on broccoli tried a few times with little success. Going to try beets this year yum.
  • GodMomKim
    GodMomKim Posts: 3,632 Member
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    I love to garden and have a 14' x 14' garden bed - but with the N. Calif. drought I am going to have to be careful. I will do tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil .... and I would really like to do cucumbers

    My winter garden has chard and garlic...

    I have a lemon, a peach and pomegranate trees, grape vines - I also have oregano, chives, thyme
  • redambition
    redambition Posts: 39 Member
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    I'm on the Southern Hemisphere, so our summer is just ending. This weekend I'm starting all my autumn and winter growing: checking up on the chilli, sowing spinach, lettuce, carrots (and if I can find the seeds... Kale).

    This summer was my first go at planting and growing edibles, and I made a lot of mistakes but also learnt a lot. Everything I grow is in containers, and I think I was a bit too ambitious for a first go. I had so many different plants and my yields weren't very good. This winter I'm going to focus on just growing a few things so I can give them extra attention!
  • sabbyfairy
    sabbyfairy Posts: 53 Member
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    I never early grow, since I don't have room under the grow light (it's taken over by massive tropical plants).

    Pre-planned garden for the summer, though:

    Green bell peppers
    Long hot peppers
    Pickles
    String beans (purple and white and green, oh my)
    Carrots (little and big)
    Radishes
    White onions
    Zucchini
    Tomatoes (various species, because... JERSEY TOMATOES)
    Buttercrunch lettuce
    Blueberries (if they grow back after this horrid winter)
    Strawberries (same deal as blueberries)

    Then the herb beds
    Oregano
    Basil: regular, columnar, and purple
    Parsley
    Chives
    Mints: peppermint, spearmint, chocolate, orange
    Rosemary



    It makes me sad how careful I have to be with the vegetables I plant to prevent bugs from spreading to the tomatoes. I might grow potatoes at my boyfriend's apartment (we have one started!) and make an attempt at spinach and maybe kale this year. I just want this winter to be over so I can get to it.
  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
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    I think that this year I'll just stick with kale, herbs, sweet peas, and sunflowers.
    I should get those peas in ASAP! Spring is coming:)
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Hard to think of gardening with 12" of snow still on it. Just doing some herbs and salad greens this year. I may do a zucchini or 2 but am putting them in containers this year. They took over the whole garden last year.
  • cerumens
    cerumens Posts: 45 Member
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    We grow all of all vegetables and fruits for the year, and I just can't wait to get started for the year. I keep telling myself that all this cold weather is good for my fruit tree and for killing the bugs...We won't be planting outside here until the end of May for most things :(
  • pepper176
    pepper176 Posts: 16 Member
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    I'm going to try container gardening again. I tried a couple years ago and didn't live in a place very conducive to good gardening. I didn't have my own porch, not a lot of sun...it was a disaster. This time though, I live in a better place. I bought cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, chives, and cilantro. I'm excited to get started :) According to the almanac, I can't really start putting the veggies outside until April/May. I want to start the chives and cilantro inside asap though.

    Last year I did a little container garden and had great results with cucumbers and green beans. I did cherry tomatoes, but where I live the growing season is sometimes too short - by the time the tomatoes are ready, it freezes! But they did well in their container and grew! I really love zucchini and summer squash but they failed on me - maybe I need a bigger container for them? Anyway, I was surprised how much I liked doing the container garden, and it worked out well for my two-person household!
  • Anonycatgirl
    Anonycatgirl Posts: 502 Member
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    I need to sketch out a plan. We have five raised beds and are planning to put in five more. Still enjoying frozen and canned veggies (and pesto!) from last year's garden. I've started shallot seeds, but it's a bit early to start much of anything else. I do have a flat of mixed baby greens and one of pea tendrils to add to the dismal supermarket salad greens, so I'm already harvesting a tiny bit. So looking forward to getting started outdoors with peas and hardy greens like kale and spinach. That usually happens in late March.

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