Do you have a vegetable garden?

13

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Come to think of it, i have a pear tree in the yard as well...but the pears never ripen. I think something is wrong with it, but I'm not exactly a horticulturalist...

    You may need to plant a second pear tree nearby. Most pears need to cross pollinate.
  • Wen37
    Wen37 Posts: 218 Member
    Yes. I love my garden. It is great therapy. I originally planted lettuce and carrots for my 3 rabbits and added to it big time this year. I have cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, strawberries, beans. zucchini, green & red peppers and thai peppers. I also have a huge pumpkin patch. I'm obsessed with pumpkins. I also have 2 lemon trees, flower beds and a nice little rose garden.
  • DotPett
    DotPett Posts: 181 Member
    Yes!! Love my garden. I am currently harvesting lettuce, but I am growing snap peas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beets, carrots, parsnips, onions, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, jalapenos, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. Strawberries are getting close to ready.
  • krazyforyou
    krazyforyou Posts: 1,428 Member
    My next door neighbor is growing her garden in hollowed out straw bales. She is using a good quality of dirt . Now mind you, you cant grow everything this way but it sure looks intresting. She has tomatos, onions, peppers, cucumbers, herbs.
  • butterrum13
    butterrum13 Posts: 77 Member
    We put one in last weekend for the first time on our own land. We're keeping it small this year as we have 3 kiddos under 5 so we don't want to overcommit and have it get eaten up by weeds!

    We've got 4 3x6 plots with green beans, cherry tomatos, cucumbers, broccoli, sweet peppers, and habaneros (for the hubby). We also have existing beds of chives, rhubarb, and asparagus, as well as raspberry bushes and a plum tree. And blackberries and blackcaps that grow along the edge of the woods that are easy pickings for the kids.
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
    You guys are all so impressive! I doubled the size of my garden from last year to this year and was super proud but my goodness lol. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, brussels sprouts, brocolli, green beans, squash, carrots, and a lettuce varietal.

    I only did the tomatoes, cucumbers, and other veggies/herbs last year so we'll see how everything turns out. I'm not too hopeful for the brussels sprouts and brocolli but everything else has a fighting chance i think :)
  • butterrum13
    butterrum13 Posts: 77 Member
    I see several people grow mint - can I ask what you all do with it? Mint grows wild here, and mostly I just run it over with the lawnmower, but the kids sometimes will pick some to chew.
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,260 Member
    Come to think of it, i have a pear tree in the yard as well...but the pears never ripen. I think something is wrong with it, but I'm not exactly a horticulturalist...

    Not knowing the variety of pear, but some pears need to be just left to ripen indoors, maybe for a month or more

    Or they could just be cooking or perry pears
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,260 Member
    I see several people grow mint - can I ask what you all do with it? Mint grows wild here, and mostly I just run it over with the lawnmower, but the kids sometimes will pick some to chew.

    Normal use is bung it in new potatoes, or a make mint sauce to go with lamb

    I think you can make mint tea as well, but never tried it

    Like most herbs, parsley etc, mainly just used fro flavouring
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
    I tried veggies last year and failed. I don't think I cared enough about them. This year I decided on an herb garden. It's prettier and I'll use the *kitten* out of herbs. I planted:

    lemon grass
    lavender
    chamomile
    chives
    rosemary
    fennel
    thyme
    lemon balm
    parsley
    pineapple sage
    orange mint
    peppermint
    chocolate mint
    spearmint
    dill
    stevia

    Most of it (especially the mint) is for tea.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,010 Member
    Some awesome gardens here! We're living in a rental for the summer so I've planted tomatoes, spicy & sweet peppers, tomatillos, beans, arugula, mesculun, cilantro, and eggplant in large round containers. Between the soil, saucers for the pots, and starter plants (I prefer to start from seed but got a late start), I've spent well over $300! That's a few trips to the farmers market. But it's the experience and example to my kids that makes it worth it :)
  • pahky
    pahky Posts: 14 Member
    I have a notoriously black thumb but this year I've decided to take the plunge and plant my first garden. It's not much, a small container garden. I'm growing tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, sweet peppers, and zucchini. In addition to that I have mature pear and black walnut trees. I've been working on an apple tree, but it seems my seedlings aren't doing very well.
  • gakette420
    gakette420 Posts: 107 Member
    I see several people grow mint - can I ask what you all do with it? Mint grows wild here, and mostly I just run it over with the lawnmower, but the kids sometimes will pick some to chew.

    You can pour boiling water over it to make tea. It is a great eatable garnish for fruit salad or a fruit tray. It can also be put in drinks such as iced tea, lemonade, water or smoothies as a lovely added flavoring.
  • christacb
    christacb Posts: 29 Member
    We have a good sized Garden. I grow all of my plants from seeds by starting some of them indoors under a grow light.

    This year's garden:
    25 Heirloom tomato plants, each plant is a different variety (I am a tomato lover)
    Okra
    Pole Beans
    Bush Beans
    Basil
    Yellow Squash
    Zucchini
    Spaghetti Squash
    Cucumbers
    Cantaloupes
    Watermelons
    Sunflowers
    Corn
    Sweet Peppers
    Hot Peppers
  • rlynnehawk
    rlynnehawk Posts: 71 Member
    I always do! Right now I am eating tons of yellow squash and other types of squash. Some tomatoes are getting ripe...the salad greens are beginning to wilt with the heat right now. Cucumbers are planted in stages so that we can have them most of the year. Green beans are doing great! I love having my own garden and even do my own compost. Have fun!
  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
    We had one a long time ago but not in recent years. I'd like to plant one maybe next year. We had tomatoes, corn, zucchini.
  • piinchi
    piinchi Posts: 172 Member
    I love gardening! This year we have 3 kinds of heirloom tomatoes, 3 squash plants (may thin down to 2, depending on how big they get), 2 kinds of pepper, basil, oregano, and 5 kinds of lettuce. I'm pretty stoked!
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
    I cultivate neighbours with gardens, does that count, mwahahaha! :laugh: Works like a charm, never buy another zucchini or tomato or lettuce during the summer/fall again. Oh yeah, and extra home canned salsa, pickled beets, canned pears, and crabapple jelly made from our crabapple tree (trades).
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    Been doing a garden for a few years now. Fun to grow some food in the yard. Its a lot of work time wise but not normally what I would consider a workout.

    bd86e9f6-1737-48ad-a52d-f9e118c9bd6d_zps11304a70.jpg

    c46325ab-2675-4632-bd5c-fb17b160d029_zps969b221d.jpg
  • Kari_1927
    Kari_1927 Posts: 16
    I see several people grow mint - can I ask what you all do with it? Mint grows wild here, and mostly I just run it over with the lawnmower, but the kids sometimes will pick some to chew.

    I kind of wanted to plant mint in my front flower garden, but may not be such a good idea because I guess it really spreads and takes over everything. I wonder if I could put it on our wood line and it would overtake the poison ivy. Maybe I'll just plant some in the front and try to keep it trimmed. We do have a big yard so maybe I can find a place for it to just run free...

    Seems like a lot of people have tomatoes... We have SO many cherry tomatoes. I have several in our beds, then a pot with a few. And then I took 4 plants and planted them right next to the house, and two more in the back yard right near the house. But I guess cherry tomatoes are a good thing to have a lot of - the kids love them!

    A lot of our stuff is heirloom. All our corn might just go to keeping the seeds. I did some seed potatoes so I think we will have a ton of potatoes. We only have 4 carrots oh well! lol :ohwell:

    Again, thanks for all the replies! It's nice to meet all you fellow gardeners
  • Kari_1927
    Kari_1927 Posts: 16
    Been doing a garden for a few years now. Fun to grow some food in the yard. Its a lot of work time wise but not normally what I would consider a workout.

    bd86e9f6-1737-48ad-a52d-f9e118c9bd6d_zps11304a70.jpg

    P1030998_zps7c71a578.jpg

    nice!

    I only consider it a workout if I'm out there digging and doing a lot of walking, carrying etc. I put a lot of time and effort getting the garden ready and lining all the borders with rocks. All our flowers and veggies and everything are sort of spread out among our yard, and it's just a big hill. So, if I'm back and forth and out there getting my heart rate up I count it. :happy:
  • Kari_1927
    Kari_1927 Posts: 16
    I cultivate neighbours with gardens, does that count, mwahahaha! :laugh: Works like a charm, never buy another zucchini or tomato or lettuce during the summer/fall again. Oh yeah, and extra home canned salsa, pickled beets, canned pears, and crabapple jelly made from our crabapple tree (trades).

    I have a feeling my neighbors and family will get a lot of tomatoes from us, and maybe potatoes too.

    And I can't wait to make dill pickles to share with friends and family. First year ever I planted my own cukes and dill to use
  • butterrum13
    butterrum13 Posts: 77 Member
    I kind of wanted to plant mint in my front flower garden, but may not be such a good idea because I guess it really spreads and takes over everything. I wonder if I could put it on our wood line and it would overtake the poison ivy. Maybe I'll just plant some in the front and try to keep it trimmed. We do have a big yard so maybe I can find a place for it to just run free...

    It really spreads, it is all over in our woods, on the wood line, and in the front yard. But the poison ivy is still there too. I didn't grow up here but my husband tells me there used to be a farmer near town who grew it commercially and that's where all the mint came from.
  • butterrum13
    butterrum13 Posts: 77 Member
    Been doing a garden for a few years now. Fun to grow some food in the yard. Its a lot of work time wise but not normally what I would consider a workout.

    bd86e9f6-1737-48ad-a52d-f9e118c9bd6d_zps11304a70.jpg

    c46325ab-2675-4632-bd5c-fb17b160d029_zps969b221d.jpg

    Lovely! I'm sure it was a workout putting in all the raised beds! I don't normally consider it a workout either, unless it's something major like breaking sod by hand.
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
    Argh, phone not posting properly.
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
    Come to think of it, i have a pear tree in the yard as well...but the pears never ripen. I think something is wrong with it, but I'm not exactly a horticulturalist...

    Not knowing the variety of pear, but some pears need to be just left to ripen indoors, maybe for a month or more

    Or they could just be cooking or perry pears

    We rent, and my fiance had the house before i moved in, kept telling me how annoying the one tree in the backyard is because it drops little hard things for months starting in August...turned out to be pears lol. They seem to get biggest and closest to ripe in October, i was thinking bosc..they're also brown-skinned? Unless that's just whatever is wrong with it manifesting itself in the skin as well. I tried to let them ripen indoors but only got one that was even close to edible, and that took 2 weeks. My cousin has a bachelor's degree in agriculture and said it may just need some food spikes...the one sort-of-edible pear i got was actually quite good, but still hard. Maybe they're supposed to be hard? Although i thought pears were usually supposed to have some kind of softness to them.

    I also have a crabapple bush/tree that I'd like to utilize, if i can figure out what to do with them.
  • PrincessTinyheart
    PrincessTinyheart Posts: 679 Member
    Yes, I have a full garden - 4 types of squash, 4 types of tomatoes, 7 types of peppers, 2 types of melon, 2 types of beans, 2 types of potatoes, 2 types of peas, 3 types of cabbage, 3 types of onion, brussel sprouts, corn, kale, collards, chard, beets, parsnips, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, garlic, basil, cilantro, oregano, chives, thyme, rosemary, parsley. mint.

    fruit trees/bushes/vines - apple (wild and planted), pear, plum, cherry, blueberry, blackberry, gooseberry, grapes

    nut trees - walnut, hickory, hazelnut and pecan

    We also have a greenhouse for growing some vegetables year round.

    Makes my efforts look kinda puny. :embarassed:
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,260 Member
    Come to think of it, i have a pear tree in the yard as well...but the pears never ripen. I think something is wrong with it, but I'm not exactly a horticulturalist...

    Not knowing the variety of pear, but some pears need to be just left to ripen indoors, maybe for a month or more

    Or they could just be cooking or perry pears

    ..the one sort-of-edible pear i got was actually quite good, but still hard. Maybe they're supposed to be hard? Although i thought pears were usually supposed to have some kind of softness to them.

    I also have a crabapple bush/tree that I'd like to utilize, if i can figure out what to do with them.

    Depends on how brown the pear skins are, sort of russet? Like russet apples? And not all pears are soft, guess yours maybe pear equivalent?

    Crab apples, depending on size, crab apple jelly? Wine? I made apple wine [not cider] years ago lovely red colour from the skins
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
    The pears look like ones in the store, shape- and color-wise. Maybe they are just hard. Too bad because my kid loves pears but can't eat anything hard like that because his 2 front teeth are mostly fake.

    I have pretty big crabapples....crabapple jelly sounds good. I'll have to try that this year.
  • lindsaymarcin
    lindsaymarcin Posts: 81 Member
    yep! Green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, green peppers, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes! :)