2020 Gardening

[MeAgain]

Who here has a garden or grows fruits and vegetables?

 

[MeAgain]

We are not planting this summer but we are getting soil ready for fall.
We try to stay organic. Yesterday I made compost out of leaves I raked up last fall along with some of our chicken manure I saved from cleaning out pens.We raise hens for eggs but don't kill so no meat birds.I'm an excity slciker who can't kill our pet hens. We have been naming them for 20 years now. Hubby could if he had to he hunted when he was younger.

We built a hugelkulture pile 3 years ago and have had great success with hydroponics.
But we are older now and mostly use raised beds and containers in the poly greenhouse.

 

[C'est Moi]

I have a few flower beds but no veggie garden. I stopped trying to grow vegetables 3 or 4 years ago when I realized by the time I bought plants, fertilizer, bug repellant, etc. it was costing me about $20 a tomato.

 

[Kaila]

I did love gardening, for years.

Do you live in an area, where you can plant crops in the Autumn?

I thought hydroponics would be interesting to learn and to try, but never did.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

I love gardening, but now only do a few items, and shop at the farmer’s market for the rest. Since it is a hobby, more-so than a necessity, it is just something that I enjoy planning and working at.
When it gets hot in the summer, I can’t do much, so spring is my main time to get everything planted and growing, and then go out and keep it all watered in the heat of summer.

My experiment this year is growing potatoes in an old laundry basket. I watched a YouTube video that showed how to build a cage for the potatoes, but I didn’t have all of the necessary stuff, so I decided just to try it with the laundry basket.
The directions were to layer straw and dirt, planting the potato starts at the outside edges in the dirt layer, so they could grow out the side of the basket.

I didn’t have regular straw, but we have lots of pine needle straw, so I used that, and layered it up to the top with straw and dirt, and added a small tomato plant at the top to grow from there.
It is starting to grow and I now have the potato plants growing out the sides of my planter basket, so I am excited to see how this project will end up !

 

[In The Sticks]

I had a veggie garden on my 1/3 acre lot in crowded Northern Virginia for years.

I move to the country, till a 2,500 ft² garden, put an electric fence around it, and the deer still decimate it. I have room for berry bushes and a whole bunch of stuff...just not the security.


From what I've read, I need to put a second perimeter around it. But that involves a ton of mulch or something to keep the grass from growing in between.

 

[Kaila]

@In The Sticks
Wow, yes I have heard they are very athletic animals, the deer!

@Happyflowerlady
That looks like a great project!

Take some pictures to show us how it progresses, from time to time!
Would love to see the tomato plant, on top as well.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

@In The Sticks
Wow, yes I have heard they are very athletic animals, the deer!
@Happyflowerlady
That looks like a great project!
Take some pictures to show us how it progresses, from time to time!
Would love to see the tomato plant, on top as well.

Here is a picture of when I first started it. The tomato was one I started from a seedling, and was just moving it outside; so it was still pretty small when I transplanted it.
The weather here was pretty cold for a while, and it slowed the growing of everything, but it is starting to grow now, and I will update pictures when we see more development.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

I've been gardening for years. I double fenced and that solved the deer situation. We have had such cold weather in New Jersey I still can't plant my warm weather veggies. They are pretty overgrown but I know they will be ok. I've had this problem before. For now they hang out at night in my laundry room and during the day in a sunny spot by the side of the garage.
I'll just plant the tomatoes a bit deeper.
This year I'm trying eggplant which I love and Swiss chard which none of us have ever eaten. We will see how that works out.

 

[In The Sticks]

I've been gardening for years. I double fenced and that solved the deer situation. We have had such cold weather in New Jersey I still can't plant my warm weather veggies. They are pretty overgrown but I know they will be ok. I've had this problem before. For now they hang out at night in my laundry room and during the day in a sunny spot by the side of the garage.
I'll just plant the tomatoes a bit deeper.
This year I'm trying eggplant which I love and Swiss chard which none of us have ever eaten. We will see how that works out.View attachment 105745

Good to hear that the double fence works. I watched a gardening show and the guy said that deer have depth perception problems and the double fence stops them.

Have you ever had broccoli leaves? My neighbors garden and they bring me bags of them. I had never heard of eating these before. It is SO good! Kind of like kale.

I cooked half of it down in olive oil with crushed red peppers, a little bit of salt, then at the last minute the tiniest pinch of sugar, just to take the edge off.

Last year I had a ham bone in the freezer so I made navy bean soup, and when it was done I wilted the rest of the leaves in it.

All just so tasty.

Regarding the cold: it got up to 58' today. This day last year, the low was 70'
We got frost after Mother's Day, which is unheard of here. That's been the "You're always safe if you wait until then" day.

 

[old medic]

We will be picking our 1st squash in a few days....
5 8X4 raised beds planted,
grape vines, fruit trees include apple, peach, pair and plums....
Corn and taters in a garden...

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

Have you ever had broccoli leaves? My neighbors garden and they bring me bags of them. I had never heard of eating these before. It is SO good! Kind of like kale.

I cooked half of it down in olive oil with crushed red peppers, a little bit of salt, then at the last minute the tiniest pinch of sugar, just to take the edge off.

Last year I had a ham bone in the freezer so I made navy bean soup, and when it was done I wilted the rest of the leaves in it.

All just so tasty.

I think that is what I'll have to do with the Swiss chard. I just hope it won't be to bitter.

 

[In The Sticks]

I think that is what I'll have to do with the Swiss chard. I just hope it won't be to bitter.

I've never cooked with chard. A quick look at a recipe shows to cook it with oil and garlic but no sugar or anything to take the "bite" out of it.

 

[gennie]

I live in an area with year-round growing weather. I garden in pots and grow simple salad ingredients - tomatoes, cucumbers, several types of peppers, herbs, etc. And a lot of flowering plants just grown for their beauty and the joy of watching and bringing a seed to flower to fruit.

Pot/container gardening is new to me so I'm still learning what likes the climate and also my limits in maintenance ability.

And yes I could buy all the eatables at the market cheaper but its a hobby that keeps me moving and my brain active and I love the fresh.

 

[Kaila]

@Ruth n Jersey
The swiss chard: Harvest it, gradually, even a meal at a time, and cook and eat those swiss chard leaves when they are fairly little, young and tender, and not large or old yet, and then they aren't bitter, and more of them will appear and grow very quickly! You don't have to wait till the plant is large, to start taking leaves off, and it's best if you don't!
They like growing during the cold chills too, so they should do well in your region, for you, and not have to wait too long before planting.

The eggplant: They love and need very warm weather, in order to thrive, so wait as long as you can to put them put, and then, choose a sunny spot, with hopefully some wind protection.
There are various types of eggplants, so you might have smaller ones or larger.
The plants themselves, both their unique leaves and the blossoms, are lovely too, to enjoy all summer, till the beautiful eggplants develop, late.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

@Ruth n Jersey
The swiss chard: Harvest it, gradually, even a meal at a time, and cook and eat those swiss chard leaves when they are fairly little, young and tender, and not large or old yet, and then they aren't bitter, and more of them will appear and grow very quickly! You don't have to wait till the plant is large, to start taking leaves off, and it's best if you don't!
They like growing during the cold chills too, so they should do well in your region, for you, and not have to wait too long before planting.

The eggplant: They love and need very warm weather, in order to thrive, so wait as long as you can to put them put, and then, choose a sunny spot, with hopefully some wind protection.
There are various types of eggplants, so you might have smaller ones or larger.
The plants themselves, both their unique leaves and the blossoms, are lovely too, to enjoy all summer, till the beautiful eggplants develop, late.

Thank you Kaila, I do have the swiss chard in now and it is looking good.

 

[Don M.]

Our local weather is not allowing me to get my garden started.....we are over 7 inches above normal rainfall for the year, and we are supposed to get another 2 or 3 inches of rain in the coming week. My garden is a mud pit, and I doubt I will be able to do much before early June....if then.

 

[Aneeda72]

We are not planting this summer but we are getting soil ready for fall.
We try to stay organic. Yesterday I made compost out of leaves I raked up last fall along with some of our chicken manure I saved from cleaning out pens.We raise hens for eggs but don't kill so no meat birds.I'm an excity slciker who can't kill our pet hens. We have been naming them for 20 years now. Hubby could if he had to he hunted when he was younger.

We built a hugelkulture pile 3 years ago and have had great success with hydroponics.
But we are older now and mostly use raised beds and containers in the poly greenhouse.

I’ve thought about chickens but I think they would be a lot of trouble and work. Is this true?