Garden thread

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Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
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    This is lovely! What are the sides made out of?
  • Heidijens123
    Heidijens123 Posts: 289 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    This post just reminded me that I need to remember to fertilize my garden very well this year. We just moved to a new house and after having a huge successful garden every year in my old place I could hardly get anything to grow here. Even my zucchini that I usually end up with massive amounts of wouldn't grow in my new garden.
    Things I enjoy growing are zucchini, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and anything else that will fit.
    Oh, the people here before us planted rhubarb and that did beautiful this year, I even got 1st place at the fair. Unfortunately I hate the taste of it. 😂

    Assuming you have enough sun, how fertile is your soil? In my county we have people selling horse, chicken, and donkey & sheep manure in bags on the side of the road, but you can also get 50 # bags of Black Kow manure at Home Depot for under $6.

    My mom started with really poor soil in 1993 but every fall composted with leaves and added tons of horse manure and her garden has been amazingly productive for quite some time.

    Thanks, There should be plenty of sun. It gets as much as my last garden did. Thats my plan to make sure I fertilize the garden well this spring and fall. We have chickens and my in laws raise beef so no shortage of manure here, just have to get it in the garden.
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,257 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    This post just reminded me that I need to remember to fertilize my garden very well this year. We just moved to a new house and after having a huge successful garden every year in my old place I could hardly get anything to grow here. Even my zucchini that I usually end up with massive amounts of wouldn't grow in my new garden.
    Things I enjoy growing are zucchini, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and anything else that will fit.
    Oh, the people here before us planted rhubarb and that did beautiful this year, I even got 1st place at the fair. Unfortunately I hate the taste of it. 😂

    Assuming you have enough sun, how fertile is your soil? In my county we have people selling horse, chicken, and donkey & sheep manure in bags on the side of the road, but you can also get 50 # bags of Black Kow manure at Home Depot for under $6.

    My mom started with really poor soil in 1993 but every fall composted with leaves and added tons of horse manure and her garden has been amazingly productive for quite some time.

    Thanks, There should be plenty of sun. It gets as much as my last garden did. Thats my plan to make sure I fertilize the garden well this spring and fall. We have chickens and my in laws raise beef so no shortage of manure here, just have to get it in the garden.

    Just make sure you compost that chicken manure (I don't know about steer). Chicken manure is "hot," quite literally, I think. It shouldn't be directly added, although maybe at this time of year in the N hemisphere, it's OK?...

    I'm going to get asparagus for the first time next spring. I put the crowns in three years ago and have patiently tended them. I always do leeks, onions, potatoes (and more potatoes), tomatoes, winter squash and then something I've never done. This past year, it was shishito peppers. Wow. So easy to prepare, and so yummy. I used to grow between 15-20 tomato plants, but it was just too much to care for. Now, I only do favorites of heirlooms and cherry varieties. I have put in one dahlia for the past three years. Next year, I'm going to do at least five. And zinnias-tons of zinnias. I have the last little bouquet in my kitchen from this year.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    6ux3ogt5fnqy.jpg

    This is lovely! What are the sides made out of?

    It's a corrugated metal roofing product! The guy who built it is a commercial carpenter so he took some scraps from work to make it. It's lined with untreated wood to eliminate any possibility of leaching etc.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    6ux3ogt5fnqy.jpg

    This is lovely! What are the sides made out of?

    It's a corrugated metal roofing product! The guy who built it is a commercial carpenter so he took some scraps from work to make it. It's lined with untreated wood to eliminate any possibility of leaching etc.

    Thanks! That's what it looked like to me. It's nice.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    i wouldn't mind putting together some sort of drip system. as it is now, i use a sprinkler.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    Same here. I'd really like to install a drip system and I'd also like to collect rain water but I just haven't. But I think it's fun to go out and water the garden anyway, so does my toddler. Well he mostly sprays me with the water while I try to tend to my plants.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    I had a small raised bed for a couple of years but I just built myself an enclosed monster that I'm super excited to get filled and planted. I built it over an unused sprinkler head so I will run drip tubing when I get the dirt in. I plan to use the older bed container for composting, my chickens will have access to it so they can do some turning and extra fertilizing :smile:
    I had to go fully enclosed because we have mad squirrels and tree rats because of the animal feed, and while I have them more or less under control it only takes one a couple hours to make a mess of your edibles. The no brainers for me are more tomatoes (I have some planted in an old water trough but they're a big crowded) and jalapenos. Not decided on the rest yet. Here's a pic of it mostly done...0ku0maxl0gn9.jpeg

    I also have a herb patch that needs some attention. Got a lot of rosemary, thyme, some garlic chives, sage and stuff there.

    That's beautiful
  • Safari_Gal
    Safari_Gal Posts: 888 Member
    Wow!!! I’ve been reading through the thread and you guys are super inspirational! I love plants indoors and out. I’m kinda addicted to greenery all over the place - even here with my place in NYC.

    This year we only had tomatoes and an herb garden. In spring I hope to plant 🌱 a ton of mint for tea, basil for everything and spinach. I’ve been thinking about blackberries——I may eat them all though. Haha
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Thank you! It's taken me all summer, working on it weekends early/late when it's been cool enough. I am blue eyed and redheaded so working in the full Cali sun is not for me. I'm going to pick up the first dirt today, maybe toss some waste hay and goat poop in the bottom.

    Oh and drip irrigation is incredibly simple, you can get *almost* everything you need just at a Home Depot or a Lowes. The house we got 4 years back has about half and half sprinklers and drip outside, so repairing the odd things here and there taught me a lot about it. The only thing I'm not clear on would be where I connect a whole new branch from if I had to start a brand new section, because eventually the pressure would be too taxed I think if just adding on and on to existing lines?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Any highly recommended books about gardening that people want to mention? I want to do some studying in the next couple of months.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Any highly recommended books about gardening that people want to mention? I want to do some studying in the next couple of months.

    Great idea. And no I don't have any,.
  • spinnerdell
    spinnerdell Posts: 230 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Any highly recommended books about gardening that people want to mention? I want to do some studying in the next couple of months.

    Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" has lots of good information for growing vegetables efficiently. This book has been around for many years but remains a go-to for me. I also rely on local Extension Service information for specific planting dates and types of plants for my area.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    That looks helpful, thanks!
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
    edited November 2018
    I have large grow bags in the easement between my apartment and the driveway. I just grew tomatoes this summer (#YOLO), but I'm planning to do more next year -- tomatoes, sure, but also eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, etc. Anything that's delicious and does well in a hot climate, basically! The grow bags are surprisingly efficient and plants do really well in them, given good soil and adequate water, so I'm really looking forward to expanding my apartment garden.


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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited December 2018
    Bumping so this doesn't get lost.

    So I'm going to do some major planning over the next few months, but this is my situation:

    Small yard (30x125 city lot, which includes my house and garage) -- nothing like the impressive areas some of you have

    Right now the back yard is edged with perennials (not food, flowers, in addition to bushes and trees). The rest is grass, except I have one non-garage parking space (also a one-car garage), that I could reclaim for growing things in a box or boxes -- this would be only after I know I'll grow enough to make it worth losing the parking space.

    The side is just strips along the house with flowers and easy maintenance perennials. (Also the grape vine.)

    The front yard (smaller) has small evergreens and other easy maintenance perennials right in front of the house and then grass to the sidewalk -- this I'm not changing, I want my vegetable garden in back. On the other side of the sidewalk to the street is land that belongs to the city but I can plant if I want to (it has a small ginkgo tree but is otherwise grass). One of my neighbors has a flower garden on that area and there is a neighborhood initiative to include milkweed if possible, since we are apparently trying to attract monarch butterflies.

    In front of that, where you would normally be able to pull up in front of the house, there's basically another area for plants (the city calls it a buffer). This has become in essence a neighborhood garden area, but it's mostly my responsibility since it's in front of my house. The former resident and another neighbor planted it with a mix of flowers and easy to maintain plants (like hostas), and are planning to add the milkweed, but my neighbor is also open to redoing it.

    My thought right now is to leave everything basically as is but add vegetables (as a replacement to part of the grass in my backyard). Is it better to just add a box and not plant directly in the ground? Or does it depend on the plant (I assume).

    I am doing planters on my back porch with herbs.

    I've been really successful with tomatoes in my container garden, and want tomatoes, but also want to branch out.

    I'm thinking the back should be mostly vegetables and I should use the options in the front for flowers if I want them, except might as well keep what exists. I don't care about grass except it is easy maintenance and my time is limited (although I am hoping to get into this as a hobby).
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    I have this book on my amazon wish list. obviously I haven't read it so I can't say whether it's good or not, but it has really good reviews
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/160342475X/?coliid=I17HNV5J1QOTGC&colid=2IT9U8VZUWZCV&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it