Anybody planting a garden?

[Benjamin]

I’ve been working the dirt! So what are you guys going to plant? We start early in AZ.

So far I’ve planted four kinds of green beans. Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder, Roma-Italian beans and Royal Burgundy a purple green bean that turns dark green as soon as you start cooking it, these are easy to find and pick and taste good too, but the Roma are my favorite.

Corn- I planted Golden Jubilee and Silver Queen right next to each other in two blocks because last time I did that the corn in the center were white with yellow dots or yellow with white dots and everything in-between.

Also tomato (of course) can’t wait to sink my teeth into some garden grown tomatas. I’m thinking about making some large batches of spaghetti sauce and canning it.

Spinach- both crinkle leaf and bloomsdale; I’ll be pulling up a plant chopping up a tomata and in a bowl in goes, my mouth is watering thinking about the salads for lunch.

Butternut squash, radishes- Icicle and red, half long carrots, peppers-jalapeno and bell, cherry tomatoes, and herbs are all in the works.

Planted some Dwarf nectarine and Bonanza peach trees a couple months ago and they have fruit on them already. I have nine citrus trees that are loaded with fruit ready to pick.

I’ve been too busy the last couple of years to plant a garden and boy am I ready for a change from that store bought food. My garden is 40’x 80’ and I got a 20’x 40’ area left yet to figure out what to do with.

 

[Deacon]

It snowed lightly again two nights ago. There's no planting here in South East Pennsylvania till the first or second week in May ...but I have planted my tomatoes indoors.

I have a couple flats sitting under lights in my basement. Enough to share with my friends and family if they all make it. Come by and I'll even share a few with you!

This year I've planted two heirloom varieties of tomatoes called, Cherokee Purple {a vine tomato) and Striped German (a yellow and red striped one).

I mostly plant flowers but hide vegetables in their midst. Too many critters like to eat my crop before I can get to it.

Rob

 

[Dina]

I did!!!

I ususally only do 2-4 pots of Tomatoes, but this year I wanted more. We tend to eat alot of salad and vegetables (raw and grilled) in the summer, so I wanted to see what a garden would do for us.

It took about a day to pull up the sod in a 12 X 16 plot of land. St. Augustine grass is a pain to pull up. Then we mixed about 6 bags of garden soil and 3 bags of top soil to the dirt already there. After repairing the spinkler pipe, I jabbed a pitchfork through it, we were set to start planting.

We planted: 2 Big Boy tomato plants, 4 Beefsteak Tomato plants, 2 green/red peppers, a row of Green/Yellow onion-depending on when I pick 'em they will either be the green onions like scallions, or big yellow onions. I planted enough that I can have both. We did cantaloupe, 3 kinds of lettuce-chinese cabage, sweet mesclun mix and Giant Ceasar-cucumbers, 3 kinds of squash-yellow, green and spaghetti-and sugar/snow peas.
We also planted a tangelo tree. Will be adding another in a week or so.

This is a HUGE experiment and if it goes well, we are thinking of expanding it next year to include carrots, strawberries, okra, cabbage, broccoli, green beans, garlic, acorn squash, butternut squash, spinach and whatever else I can think of between now and then.

I am also thinking of doing an herb garden closer to the house. So far the only herb that I KNOW I will use is Cilantro. I am not sure of what else to plant in the herb garden, but I will think of something.

Benjamin-Where did you get your dwarf trees from. I am thinking of doing a dwarf tree or two, but can't find them here and am not sure of "ordering them". I am interested in Peach.

 

[Deacon]

Groundhogs LOVE Cilantro!

Rob

 

[Benjamin]

Dina,

The nursery I got the dwarf Bonanza peach used to be called Tip Top and I can’t remember what they call it now, but will be going there again tomorrow and will let you know. I did see some at Home Depot but the ones at the nursery looked better.

Ah, forgot about spaghetti squash! The beefsteak tomatoes don’t do well here because of the heat, but I have Big Boy, Early Girl, and Celebrity. The herbs I plant are marjoram, oregano, thyme, and basil which I will use in the spaghetti sauce; I pull up the whole plant, wash it and hang it upside down to dry.

Deacon,

Yep, we have cotton tails that go through the chain link fence holes, but this year I wrapped around the fence with rabbit wire. Prairie Dogs dig under my netting, but rat traps set in their holes takes care of that. It’s the birds that I have the most trouble with, hope to build a green house to keep some things away from them and also to have some winter crops some day.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Lets see

1. 2 rows of sweet corn
2. Eggplants (I just like the way they look
3. Tomatoes early girl and arkansas traveler
4. Cucumbers
5. winter squash
6. cantelope
7. onions

I don't know if its global warming or what
but it seems that the growing season is a good
200 days plus here in N.W. Arkansas.

happy cultivating

Aslanspal

 

[TaterTot]

We have a smal garden this year but lots of variety. We have planted:
green beans
bell peppers (yellow and green)
tomaters - big boy and roma
cauliflower
cabbage
strawberries
eggplant
squash
cucumbers
lettuce
and lots of flowers

 

[Dina]

I'll be checking out some local nurseries here in the next week or so, so I'll look for a dwarf tree there.

Does Florida have groundhogs? I have no idea. I will be doing cilantro in pots in the house. I don't think we have any wild bunnies to deal with where we are. Just those little tiny lizards, and they eat the blooms from my maters. But I have no idea how to keep them out, so I over planted, hoping that will work.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Just curious as we are heading down the road
of robotics and you have some robots that can
now mow your lawn...vaccum your carpet.

Can anyone see like I see a robot in the garden
in lets say 5 years.
Kind of being used as a sentry, take soil samples,
applying a fertilizer cocktail to anyplant in
need.

Also other things it could do

1.Vaccum up pesking bugs like japanesse beatles
2.Swiffer off mites from your tomato plants
3.Be able to video image to your in house
computer.
4. Onboard weather station.

I don't like using pesticides kind of a shotgun
effect...but a robot could do surgical removal
of bugs that do harm...it may not get every one
but it would reduce the number significantly
and the garden would flourish. A gardenbot could
pinpoint gophers or rabbits that invade your
garden and sound an alarm or send and alarm
to your computer.

It could operate 24/7 with it having a charger
it would back up on to.


I think its an obvious fit for robots since
we all layout our gardens in grids x,y,and z
and robots understand that language.


some links
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=8523&ttype=2

http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~kyg/siggraph95.gif

not that I like this idea that
much since it seems to take away from the bueaty
of the flowers but the concept is correct using
telescoping technology and x,y, and z coordinates.

http://www.automation.hut.fi/IMSRI/workpartner/information.html

I like this concept could invision
it going up and down garden rows.

sincerely

Aslanspal

 

[Benjamin]

Dina,

Several years ago I planted 11 fruit trees and with the advice of a gardening book tried to keep them small so I could cover them with nets, but the trees would grow through the large expensive nets and it was difficult trying to keep it tight to the ground and the birds from going under it.

So then I decided to let the trees get big and produce a lot more fruit so that I might get the scraps. Next thing I knew there were bird nests everywhere and more birds, same thing with the prairie dogs; those things have litters of ten or so.

One time the birds had not gotten to the apricot tree much and I had a big harvest to collect quickly before they got them. I watered the tree that day and planned to pick the fruit the next evening when the sun was going down. Came out with a big basket and as I walked up to the tree I saw that not one apricot was left. Couldn’t believe it, no sign of anything... I left scratching my head wondering if someone was playing a joke on me.

A couple weeks later as I was walking by some prairie dog holes I saw large piles of seed pit shells lying outside the holes, the nut inside had been removed. They must have been brought to the tree from the water; busy little guys.


Aslanspal,

If I could get one of those surgical bug shooters to work from my computer and turned my son loose on it my bug problem would be solved.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Wow! after eating all your fruit from your trees
I bet they were rollie pollie prairie doggies.

I have got some gopher problems my neighbor
gave me a bunch of poison horse sized pills
to put down into the ground, couldn't bring
myself around to use them...so any advice
about doing it in a passive more natural way
would appreciate it.

Yeah I am my own best robot out
there with a swiffer and sharpened rod extension
to skewer japanese beatles but its frustrating
I cannot do that 24/7 to really put a dent
in the varmint bug population.

I could never bring myself to do the shotgun
approach and pesticide my garden,cause when
I see just one ladybug I rejoice!

 

[Thankful]

I worked in too many gardens when I was a child. Now I go to Albertson's.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Originally posted by Thankful:
I worked in too many gardens when I was a child. Now I go to Albertson's.

Modern day grocery stores are miracalous but
if you have a farmers market nearby. I would
encourage you to get your fruits and vegitables
there.

Major stores like Wal-mart superstores and
Albertsons like to put the mask of freshness
on things and the appearance is amazing with
the use of waxing and spraying water.

Thank God for the farmer and what he does
if one day, people were to walk in and all
grocery store items were gone, I sincerely
wonder if they could survive. Sometimes I think
they think it is grown and made in some back room
at the store.

sincerely
Aslanspal

 

[SaggyWoman]

Except that my neighbor just tilled me a spot, I wouldn't be.

Tomatoes.
Zuchini.
Maybe green beans.

 

[WallyGator]

We just planted a small garden this year close to house. In past years we've planted as much as half acre. About 6 Beeksteak tomato plants, 6-roma tomato plants, 4-cherry tomato plants. 6-green peppers, 6-yellow pepers, 4 bannana peppers,2 hills each yellow and zuchini squash, plus numerous herbs.

 

[dianetavegia]

The first garden Jim and I planted after we married was in Aurora, Illinois. We had a long and narrow back yard so we rototilled up a big rectangle and planted all sorts of things. I was SO bright. I planted 40 tomato plants all the same day. I also happened to be very pregnant at the time. About the time they all ripened, I went into labor! All my plans for canning and freezing went awry when I ended up being kept for 6 days after giving birth because of a milk fever.

Jim and little Scott loaded up the wagon with tomatoes and went up and down the street giving them away.

I still was able to put up some tomatoes and all the other veggies waited for me but I got smart after that! Stagger your plantings!

 

[chipsgirl]

Well it's not a big garden but does planting in pots count? I'm decorating my boyfriend's patio. It's going to be so pretty when I am done.

I have had a yucca and bananna (both in pots) for a year now and both fared well through winter indoors. I went ahead and put them out and they are looking great now. I never can figure out how much water they need. Anyone know anything about either of these?

 

[SaggyWoman]

Okay.

I have out tomatoes, pole beans, zuchini, and bell peppers. Thanks for asking.

 

[Alcott]

Have only planted garden beans and hybrid purple corn so far. I think I will try cantalopes one more time, but they don't seem to grow well in my small space. 2 years ago they grew only about to the size of large oranges, and had no sweet taste.

 

[Dr. Bob]

We had 80F on Monday and mowed the lawn for the first time this Spring. Been snowing most of today.

We don't dare plant much before Memorial day. 88 day growing season doesn't produce much.