Are there other gardeners here?

rkunsaw

rkunsaw

Well-known Member
Location
Clarksville, Arkansas,USA
We grow most of the vegetables we eat. everything from asparagus to zucchini. ( actually, I prefer yellow crookneck but it doesn't start with a Z.)

What do you grow?
 

I love to garden, but every year the back seems to bite me worse. Last spring I planted lots of flowers, seeds mostly, not knowing we were in for a monumental drought. I also grow lots of different kinds of peppers, such as bell, poblano, jalapeno, and what ever else looks interesting. Peppers are easy to grow and bugs don't seem to attack them as much as some other veggies. Small pickling cucumbers are a staple and I must have my fresh herbs and they get special attention.

The soil here is very sandy and it's difficult to keep things moist without doing a lot of soil amending and yada, yada, yada..so we stick to things that we can grow in small patches of amended soil.

Water is also an issue as we are on a well for our water and with the drought last summer I was fearful of using up the well. My hubby bought a small pump and we were able to run water from the creek to water many of the plants. It was a real headache trying to keep things watered and growing, but miraculously everything thrived in bountiful, even though I was tempted to let it die off.

This year, don't know if I will make the effort, but I say that every year until all those great plants start arriving and I go hog wild.

I did plant an asparagus patch when we moved in 2 years ago. I'm looking forward to being able to finally harvest some of that this year.
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Are you familiar with Baker Seed Company? I ordered some giant celosia seeds from them last year and they just sent me a beautiful catalogue. They have lots of heirloom seeds, if you are interested in those.
 
I have a black thumb really, but when I was working I often had some EarlyGirl or Cherry tomatoes going, with some strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, etc. Soil by me is sandy/clay, and there have been near drought conditions, so no help anymore from Mother Nature with watering. Now that we vacation a couple of times a year, it's not worth it to start a veggie garden at this point in our lives. I do love flowers, but even those are hard to keep going without a lot of care. Have a pot of silk ones in front of the house for a couple of years now, shop at Michael's to refresh them every now and then. :eek:
 

We do have a garden and grow some veggies.. We also have a HUGE problem of not being able to plant anything in the ground till the first week-end in June because of frost.. We live way up north and the weather is very iffy for planting before that..
That means we must plant veggies that grow fast..
By labour day, we have had a frost and it is all over..
 
I was a gardener of a different variety. I bought a pickup, lawnmower and edger back in 1980 and began doing people's lawns and yard work. I was nearly living on a truck at the time, and wanted to quit driving so I could have a life. My very excellent employer agreed to let me drive a gradually diminishing number of days per week, 'til finally I had my gardening business built up and quit the truck driving altogether.

I learned a lot more about business efficiency than horticulture back then, and I loved the work because it was my own! During those years I discovered the Walker brand mower, and started a business selling those, too. In '95 I sold off the gardening business after heart surgery and concentrated on the sales business. When I parted with the gardening business there were about 14 employees, four gardening trucks, trailers, and crew, and a couple of sweeper trucks we used to sweep parking lots at night. It had grown into quite a good livelihood.

The business of gardening was good for me!

images
The Walker Mower.
 
My daughter and I are attempting again this year to grow nice tomatoes. Vegas heat has not been too helpful. This year we will grow ON the screened porch and see how that works.
 
rkunsaw...I saw on another thread that you planted peas today and need some advice.. Are these the sweet pea variety and do you plant the seed directly into the ground as opposed to starting them in pots. Do you have to cover them if it gets frosty?
 
One thing I would like to do when I retire is to grow hydroponic vegetables. It does not need much space and my mechanical/electrical skills will help me possibly do it DIY rather than from a kit.


The other great ting about hydroponics is that it is modular. You can easily start in a very small space and expand later. I will likely end up with about 12'x12' enclosed by screen to keep out pests.


I think that container gardening is another way to do this with limited "acreage".
 
Ozarkgal said:
rkunsaw...I saw on another thread that you planted peas today and need some advice.. Are these the sweet pea variety and do you plant the seed directly into the ground as opposed to starting them in pots. Do you have to cover them if it gets frosty?
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Yes these are sweet peas, also called green peas or English peas. I've never had much luck with them before and discovered I wasn't planting them early enough. They prefer cold weather and don't need to be covered.
I couldn't find inoculant so I planted them without it. Time will tell.
 
R. Zimm, keeping out the pests is good but some things need pollinators to produce. It sure would be great if we had a way to let the bees in and keep other pests out.
 
R. Zimm..I thought that was a great idea about the screened in garden patch. But rkunsaw is probably right, we do need those pollinators. Bugs are the bane of my gardening experience. I have never seen so many and such weird bugs until I moved to Arkansas.

Thanks for your reply about the peas rkunsaw. I am going to get some in the ground soon.
 
Cut the seed potatoes and tilled the garden and made rows for planting today. I plan to put the taters in the ground tomorrow.
Peas still haven't come up. I hope the seeds weren't too old.( like me )
 
Sweet peas! My favourite.

Dozens of different varieties are available nowadays. But you can't beat a good mix - Bright 'n breezy or Frangrantissima, two of the best.
That being said, I wouldn't be without my Hi-scent. Not the most inspiring bloom and not the prettiest white, but the strongest scented of all the sweet peas. Exquisite.
 
You can't beat growing your own vegetables. Fresh produce, right outside your back door - and you know what's gone on it....Nothing (no chemicals/pesticides) in my case, as I'm a 100% vegan organic gardener.

It's easy. Prepare the soil, water as needed, stick if required. Mother Nature doe the rest.
Runner beans, tomatoes, lettuce, seed potatoes - all no-brainers and ideal for novices.
 
I don't think we are going to plant much this year. Last year was a disaster with the drought, and we worked our fannies off trying to get enough water to the plants. Between the heat and drought we ended up with not much to show for all the effort...I will probably do my pickling cukes and a variety of peppers. They are easy to grow and don't seem to be bothered with as many bugs.

I would love to be able to organic garden, but I can't figure how to keep the armies of Arkansas bugs off the plants.
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Ozarkgal;6912 I would love to be able to organic garden said:
http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Animals/caterpillar.gif[/IMG]
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Hey, dem bugs gotta eat too! If you don't feed 'em they might come to my house.

I planted the taters yesterday and then planted Swiss chard and two kinds of radishes. I've got some carrots I need to plant too but got busy suckin' up sweet gum balls with the cyclone rake.

Raining this morning so I might not plant today.
 
Ohhh..don't get me started on those sweet gum balls. They are a constant part of the nature collection in my schnauzers' beards. What is a cyclone rake? Might need to get me one of those!

Since I'm not planting much of a garden this year, I'll be by in August with a big basket:playful:
 
Ozarkgal said:
Ohhh..don't get me started on those sweet gum balls. They are a constant part of the nature collection in my schnauzers' beards. What is a cyclone rake? Might need to get me one of those!

Since I'm not planting much of a garden this year, I'll be by in August with a big basket:playful:
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Bring a really big basket.You can have all the gumballs you can carry.;)

http://www.cyclonerake.com/information4.php

We just got our cyclone last summer and just started using the power vacuum pickup Sunday.
 
Hey............
You guys are talking about planting and we up here are still in the middle of winter..
There is about 5 feet of snow on top of our raised gardens and much more snow to come before the ground thaws..
We don't put anything in the ground till the first week-end of JUNE !!!!!
Frost for sure before that date..
Just about everything must be out by Labour Day or another frost will do you in....

We do plant but only veggies that grow within the time frame we have..
 
I'm going to try to have a little garden this year too! No idea what I'll plant other than the beans - the ones with the lovely flowers that grow up a tree or bamboo pole. We have snow here too Steve although I'm hoping we won't get any more big storms.
 
I intended to plant carrots and beets today but the wind is so cold and strong I put in a short row of carrots and quit.

Steve. That is an awfully short growing season, but there are still a lot of good things you can grow.
 
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