Hey Gardeners!

jb_2011

Let the season begin! Time to start our gardens in preparation for another glorious year of harvest and preserving. Along with the benefits of homegrown, organic veggies, we get to spend time out there dig dig digging, building muscle and burning calories!

Here in NW Oregon we plant our onions, broccoli, cabbages, brussels, kale, carrots, peas, chard, spinach, lettuce, green onions, leeks and potatoes in March and April. My hubby and I have a couple of big plots of ground at a nearby community garden and we've been planting for the last month. Yes, it's been rather chilly, but these are all cool weather crops and so far everything's doing well! We have to put little chicken-wire cages around the young broccoli plants to protect from the rascally Canadian geese.

In our backyard greenhouse we have all of our tomatoes, eggplant and peppers that we started from seed under lights in Feb. They'll be ready to get planted in the first week or two of May. Starting from seed is a major money-saver. It takes time, but it's not difficult.

I noticed the leaves are starting to bud on the oak trees.....the old wives tale says to "plant corn when the oak leaves are the size of a mouse's ear". Sounds funny, but we've followed the rule for the last 3 years and have had the earliest corn of anyone we've met. Interesting! The soil is still quite cold. Maybe next week it'll warm a bit. I'll keep my eyes on the oaks.

Time to go turn the compost pile. Turn and burn! Happy gardening all, hope you're getting excited like I am.

Onesnap

I'm in zone 6, New England. In March we start our seeds indoors (except for beans, those like to go right in the ground). By late May (yep, I have to wait until after the last frost date) we've got healthy wee plants ready to go in the garden.

A decade ago we tore down our money pit above ground pool and used that dirt circle to plant a 400 sq ft veggie garden. After a few years we realized it's impossible to weed (we garden organic) so we put down the black fabric by Garden's Alive and cut holes for the plants. It was only supposed to last 5 years, but it's still going strong.

kent4j

YEAH! Love to garden but since I live in New England I usually wait until around Mother's Day. There have been some nights when it's still below freezing here. But soon, very soon!

popsicle33

Hi!
I live in New Mexico. We can grow beans really well here. This year I am planting green climbing beans. Last year we had great success with bush beans.

Also, jalapenos, serranos and Big Jim (Anaheim) peppers, green "fancy" leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and lots o' herbs! We have fairly late cold snaps here because of our elevation, so the planting has just begun. I usually start the herbs, lettuce and beans from seed, but the other veggies we just buy little babies.

A dream of mine is to do the corn/squash/bean trio since the grow up so well together and the beans can just climb up the corn. Unfortunately we have gopher problems, so everything grows in containers that my boyfriend builds out of wood scraps (very cool planters!).

Share some photos of the progress! I'll post some of mine soon.

jb_2011

@Popsicle, Don't you just love growing peppers? We make our own diced green chilies with the Big Jims, and can them in the pressure canner. They freeze well too, roasted on the grill first. Recently we've started drying and grinding peppers for red pepper flakes and chili powder. Do you do any canning? Jalapenos are great pickled, and we just love pickled serranos as well.

Your planters sound great! I don't see why you couldn't grow the "three sisters" in a planter box if it was about 4x4x2. Plant corn in a 2'-3' circle, leave 5-7 plants after thinning, put a couple of bean seeds at the base of each corn, and put a few squash seeds in the middle of the circle. If the squash are the trailing (winter squash and pumpkin) type, they'll sprawl over the edge of the planter and down to the ground. That would look great!

@Onesnap, the ground cloth idea must be terrific for not having to do much weeding. Great idea and good going using your old pool spot for a garden. You can grow tons of food in 400 sq ft. Our community garden plots are huge, one is 1000 sq ft, the other about 1250. We have lots of berries, and they take up space, but boy do we have room, lol! It's a lot of work taking care of it through the season, weeding and all, but after 6 years in the same spot we've ammended the soil a thousand (it seems) times and the weeds are not nearly as bad as they were. There's a saying about weeds....1 year seeding, 7 years weeding. I know this is true!

@Kent4J, Yay, soon it'll be time to plant! It's still chilly here too, but I can certainly tell the weather patterns are changing. What kinds of things do you grow?

This week I put in a couple rows of dill and a second planting of spinach, and a second row of gladiolus bulbs. I stagger the gladiolus plantings 2-3 weeks apart so that I can have a succession of blooms through the summer. I do love a big giant bouquet of flowers on the table in the summer!

freerange

Got my tomatoes and cabbage started indoors, here in Denver our last frost date isn't until the end of May, so I have awhile before full blown garden goes in, I think I will start my spinach tomorrow in my cold frame.

kent4j

I live in the city so space is limited but I do try to sneak in as much as I can. Usually tomatoes, cukes, peppers (several varieties of hot), rhubarb, blueberries, strawberries, most herbs, squash, lettuce. This year I'm going to try asparagus.

Arielnesika

@jb_2011 Are you in Eugene by any chance?
I just planted my first starts of the season yesterday and I'm pretty excited about it. Last year in the Pacific NW we had so many false starts to our summer that I'm feeling cautious about planting too early again. But I can't wait... Yay for springtime!

forkeeps

Hi!
I live in New Mexico. We can grow beans really well here. This year I am planting green climbing beans. Last year we had great success with bush beans.

Also, jalapenos, serranos and Big Jim (Anaheim) peppers, green "fancy" leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and lots o' herbs! We have fairly late cold snaps here because of our elevation, so the planting has just begun. I usually start the herbs, lettuce and beans from seed, but the other veggies we just buy little babies.

A dream of mine is to do the corn/squash/bean trio since the grow up so well together and the beans can just climb up the corn. Unfortunately we have gopher problems, so everything grows in containers that my boyfriend builds out of wood scraps (very cool planters!).

Share some photos of the progress! I'll post some of mine soon.

I'm in Southern Arizona and I just planted my Butternut Squash and Artichokes in my containers as well as my herbs. This is my first year doing veggies...I'm thinking of getting some peppers, eggplant and tomatilloes to plant too. But I can't decide between rigging a raised bed or just getting more containers. And of course the budget is tight!

forkeeps

Hi!
I live in New Mexico. We can grow beans really well here. This year I am planting green climbing beans. Last year we had great success with bush beans.

Also, jalapenos, serranos and Big Jim (Anaheim) peppers, green "fancy" leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and lots o' herbs! We have fairly late cold snaps here because of our elevation, so the planting has just begun. I usually start the herbs, lettuce and beans from seed, but the other veggies we just buy little babies.

A dream of mine is to do the corn/squash/bean trio since the grow up so well together and the beans can just climb up the corn. Unfortunately we have gopher problems, so everything grows in containers that my boyfriend builds out of wood scraps (very cool planters!).

Share some photos of the progress! I'll post some of mine soon.

I'm in Southern Arizona and I just planted my Butternut Squash and Artichokes in my containers as well as my herbs. This is my first year doing veggies...I'm thinking of getting some peppers, eggplant and tomatilloes to plant too. But I can't decide between rigging a raised bed or just getting more containers. And of course the budget is tight!

jb_2011

@Arielnesika, I'm up near Portland. Yeah, last yeah the weather was horrible, the gardens really suffered. Ours did amazingly well even though we had such a late start. I'm having a real good feeling about this year though! I know, "only fools and newcomers predict the weather" LOL! What things did you plant??

DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo

The weather has sucked royally here in Zone 7 9 as well as most of the country with cold & rain) so though I normally direct seeding everything outdoors, this year I have resorted to started seeds indoors.... my broccoli and carrots and lettuce are doing well.... my onions are also doing OK.... and though I know peppers are slow growers, it is frustrating watching & waiting for them to germinate....

Im adding in brussel sprouts tomorrow.... going to direct sow snaps peas, beans, corn and collards later in the spring/early summer

frostiegurl

I'm in the Sacramento Valley and I've got a slew of herbs going in containers (Garlic, Rosemary, Oregano, Chocolate Mint, Spearmint, Cilantro, Basil, Thyme and Sage). Started some strawberries in containers but thinking of putting them in the ground. I've started a vegetable garden for the first time this year and decided on a few different kinds of sweet peppers, three different kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, beets, radishes, cucumbers, onions and chives. I've had a flower garden since last Summer and it's doing fabulously. I love sitting on my front porch while watching the hummingbirds and bees partake in the bounty of nectar and pollen. We also have a variety of fruit trees in our back and side garden (Apple, Feijoa shrub, plum, naval orange, orange, grapefruit, apricot and lemon). We also have a number of banana trees that are popping up everywhere but I doubt they'll ever produce fruit. We'll see, though.

If all goes well with my small veggie garden this year, I'll definitely look into preparing a larger plot in the side garden.

jb_2011

This is great. How good to hear you're all into growing some of your food. It's easy to preserve fresh herbs, too. Last year I experimented with freezing along with the regular routine of drying. Cilantro especially, since it doesn't retain its flavor when dried. I put it in the food processor with a dash of olive oil, then bagged it up in quart zip-locks, just a thin layer like 1/8" thick, flattened over the entire surface of the bag. Very easy to pop open and break off a piece for use in recipes during the winter months. I did the same process with basil and Italian parsley, too. Much more fresh tasting than dried.

Happy gardening!

robynrae_1

I live in wisconsin so we are zone 4/5. We had snow last weekend. I am hoping to get my veggies in the first week in May.

I have never thought of planting corn and beans together, what a great idea. DUHH I haven't planted corn before but have been thinking about it for a couple of years....I think my garden just got bigger. Someone want to go tell my husband to get digging??!!

I love to garden.

xraychick77

i just planted my first garden. i've got all sorts of stuff. i started them from seeds and transplanted them. half are sprouting up just great. i know nothing about this stuff, and i guess its just trial and error.
i planted them in an area that has had plants and soil conditioning before. i live in NC with the nasty red clay soil. but i planted them with miracle grow soil..i hope that helps.

i have no clue when to 'harvest' them either. i dont know what else i should for them. perhaps some of you can give me some pointers. you can message me or friend me.

thanks!

peacehawk

I live in Michigan. We just got snow last week as well. It topped my daffodils and tulips, but they shrugged it off by the afternoon. I'm a bit of a lazy gardener. I haven't finished clearing all my beds yet from last year. Those that did get cleared have a fresh thick layer of compost on them, just waiting to nurture my tomatoes, peppers (hot and mild of lots of varieties), carrots, beets, lettuce, kale, chard, and each year we try something that we don't always plant- parsnips, turnips, eggplant all have been visiters. Four years ago we built some raised beds out of cedar. My partner has a couple of fake joints, so bending isn't such a good idea. Between the beds, we put down weed barrior cloth, then pea gravel. We have a small greenhouse that seems to get blown apart with every strong wind. We have a little bench out there with a buddah sitting between the bench and greenhouse. Right now, my chives are growing beautiful and green. I have to dig some up every year and give them away because they grow so strong and tasty that they start taking over in the middle of our pea gravel paths! I'll try to remember to post some pictures on my profile.

jb_2011

We had a full day of sun and 70 degrees yesterday here in Portland. Finally, a breath of spring. Of course it's raining again today, but that's fine, it'll water in the rows of scallions and beets and cosmos that I just seeded. I saw a few potato plants peeking their little heads out of the dirt yesterday, we planted in around the 1st of the month. I always save some potato seed for putting in later, around mid-June when some of the garlic comes out. We plant about 200 cloves in Oct, harvest in June, then dry and braid them. Yeah, we use a lot of garlic. I make gallons of marinara sauce in the late summer and fall when the tomatoes are ripe, so that of course uses up lots of garlic. Our onions are doing fab this year, all 150 of them, geez, overkill, lol. Walla Walla sweets for eating fresh and giving away, and lots of red and yellow storage onions that we keep in the garage on wire racks. I usually don't have to buy onions until late January. Last year however, we lost the entire crop due to horrible weather in May, June and July. Mold and mildew and just plain fruit rot. Oh well, such is life.

Don't forget to log your gardening time in your exercise calories. "Gardening - general" is in the MFP exercise database. I try to be honest with it and not log time when I'm just sitting there taking in all the glory of springtime. :bigsmile:

jb_2011

i just planted my first garden. i've got all sorts of stuff. i started them from seeds and transplanted them. half are sprouting up just great. i know nothing about this stuff, and i guess its just trial and error.
i planted them in an area that has had plants and soil conditioning before. i live in NC with the nasty red clay soil. but i planted them with miracle grow soil..i hope that helps.

i have no clue when to 'harvest' them either. i dont know what else i should for them. perhaps some of you can give me some pointers. you can message me or friend me.

thanks!

Basically, plants need food and water, just like we do. But be careful not to overdo it, too much plant food isn't good. Miracle Grow soil probably has fertilizer in the mix. Certain things like lots of water and others need a deep soak only once a week. Most plants like a bit of mulch around them to help retain moisture. You can Google any specific plant and find gardening info websites for your area.

FarmerLynn7

I planted all of my veggie gardens up in Wisconsin today (I'm in a little warmer spot and am in zone 5b) I've got some expansions in the works so I still have some herbs and edible flowers left to do, as well as the potatoes once I finish digging that bed.

runlorirun

I planted mine yesterday. It's a small backyard garden, tomato, snap peas, yellow squash, carrots and cucumber.