Gardening, who's planning??

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.

I'd love to listen in and maybe get some tips on how to plant own herbs and veggies.

oh yeah

OMG YES!!! I just moved to an apartment that gives you a little yard and you are allowed to plant basically everything you want and I can't wait ^_^

I think I'm going to go for a Japanese Maple and maybe some veggies (:

I have my winter garden in I live in so.ca, harvesting broccoli already, brussel sprouts taking off, onions coming along nicely, asparagus maybe ready next year, even have a volunteer tomato coming up,(I plant heirloom tomatoes, you can harvest the seeds).
when I compost the soil in a few weeks, I'll plant spaghetti squash, fingerling potatoes', zucchini, eggplant ,corn and lots of different tomatoes, I make my own oven roasted tomato's ,and pasta sauce, which I freeze.

We haven't done a garden in almost 4 years since my eldest was born...we're going to do one with him this year since he's old enough. We're picking up manure this weekend for our garden plot which is actually pretty large due to we live on roughly an acre. We haven't decided what to grow yet though...we'll probably let him pick out a few things and then just go with our garden staples.

I am so ready to get seeds in the ground. This is our first year in CO so I am interested to find out how it will all grow. We have plans for a herb bed and some of these veggies.
Chard, Brussel sprouts, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, lettuce, beets, spinach, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, zuchinni, yellow squash, honey boats.

i cant even FIND my garden beds.
but no. no money for plants. we MIGHT try and scrape something together for some mulch, but i doubt it.

In all honesty, I have way more seed than I will be able to grow this season. Would you be interested in some of them, as friendly freebies?

I'd be willing to to bet that gardeners in your area would be willing to give you some extra seedlings if you put out a request on Craigslist. Most people start extra since sometimes germination rates are low. I always hate the feeling of tossing the extras in the compost.

i cant even FIND my garden beds.
but no. no money for plants. we MIGHT try and scrape something together for some mulch, but i doubt it.

In all honesty, I have way more seed than I will be able to grow this season. Would you be interested in some of them, as friendly freebies?

i dont really have any place that gets full sun. i grow mostly shrubs and such. we also have HEAVY deer pressure and i have no way to keep the deer away. thank you though.

I already started my flower seeds under the grow lights (impatiens, daisy mums, alyssum, coleus, and bunny tail grass). This weekend I'm starting marigolds, petunias, and some other flowers. Then by the end of March I'll start peppers, tomatoes and watermelon. The rest I will plant in the ground around May. I am so excited for this new growing season. Gardening is my favorite thing to do all year. I'm sick of this winter and I can't wait for warmer temps!

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...

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.

bump for later

How do you have room on your balcony for everything?! (see below - learned to quote).

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*