Vegetable Gardens @ my house '06

Wow - those look great. Your countertop and my window sill look like they're related.

Saturday I went through my seeds and found 40 varieties I'd like to do. Now I have to decide which 10 I'm not gonna do as I want only 30 vars this season. I'm gonna grow just a few less than last year so I can have other things like beans, radishes, carrots, herbs, peppers (hot ones on the patio, sweet ones in the gardens) and lettuce. I'm also trying to decide which maters I should grow in the EB I got from Tplant and whether I should leave it on the patio or move it somewhere outside. I think I'll start the maters in about 2 weeks!! (I'm thinking of expanding the strip garden along the back fence- maybe I'll have room for 40 after all - don't tell Alice!)

How are the melon's coming along? I am loving my Brianna - thanks for the seeds! I am pretty sure Alice can count... you are doing only one of each variety? 40 plants or 40 varieties? make that two more thanks to your EB. So I will plan to get mom's plants to her in October.

I'm glad you like the Brianna. They were my favorite from last season and will be in the garden again. I'm thinkin' 40 plants of 40 varieities - I'm also remembering my front yard plot. I may be able to sneak a few there too. Maybe I'll be able to have two of a few.

My Rocky Ford Netted Gem - green fleshed cantaloupe - is doing very well. I've eaten a few, picked 4 more today and there's still 6 on the vine. Also, the Blacktail Mountain watermelon has 7 on the vine. I'm gonna be posting a few pics on the melon thread -http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/597062/

Hey - Do you think any other seeds were mixed with the Mortgage Lifter, Brianna or Omar's Lebanese seeds you gave to me? I didn't think any of those were saved seeds but I have to ask. See my bi-color thread in the Tomato Forum. I am hoping it is Hawaiian Pineapple!

-ME

You know, that mater looks exactly like my Hawaiian Pineapple. If the flesh is streaked? with red then I'll bet that's it. btb - I thought I gave you some of those seeds; if not, I may have put some in one of the other bags. They taste prett sweet and they grew very large - I had 8-10 in the 2 lb range and many others over a pound. (All the seeds I gave to you were from Sandhill, Baker Creek, TGS. I did save a few later in the season.)
me

Your garden looks fantastic, and makes me yearn for the end of September when I can finally get things in the ground here in Phoenix!

I have a few questions for you, if ya don't mind...first, when you use the black weed-barrier, are you just cutting a hole in it for your plants? What about seeds, do you open up a slit in the weed cloth? And then, are you mulching all over with straw then?

My husband and I have been talking about using weed cloth this time, so I'm very eager to hear your method!

Thanks so much.
~Kim (hehe, great name...a truly garden-friendly name ;)

Hi Kim,

We lay out the weed barrier and secure the corners/sides with U ground staples. Then if we are transplanting we cut an X and plant. If we are seeded a row we cut a slit the length of the cover without cutting all the way through to the ends. Sometimes John will add the grass clippings to cover but mostly not. With the beans, eggplants, carrots you can't really see the cloth anymore.

We will be using a cloth again next year but I think we will get a better brand (but still compostable) because this one is breaking up too quickly.

What are you planting for your fall garden?
Happy Gardening!
-Kim

Aaahhh...ok, so you replace it each year then. That makes sense...so I showed Max (my husband) the pictures last night from your gardens & we talked about the weed barrier...and he looked at me and said 'uh oh, you've got that garden gleem in your eye', lol...now is just the issue of restraining myself until it's really the right weather here.

I've tried not to torture myself with early veggie planning...but I typically plant root crops (turnips, beets, onions, parsnips, garlic, carrots), and lots of leafies (arugula, mustards, spinach), and the pole beans and peas & usually edamame...and then when the weather gets even cooler (I use the term 'cool' very loosely here in Phoenix, lol), I'll put in the broccoli, cauliflower & cross my fingers that my brussels actually sprout. (It's gratifying for me even to get one meal's worth off them, lol). Lets see, what else comes to mind...well, I have herbs year 'round, but I need to add in more chives and more sorrel for the cooler months. I'll be tempted to put in tomatoes because they will be in every nursery here soon, lol...(Spring is truly my fave planting time because of the tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, okra, etc)...but often I set a few out in Fall too, depending on the room. This year we're going to put our asparagus bed back in. We had planted one about 6 years ago (when first moving to this house), but our Great Dane (just passed away last week) made it her mission to dig, eat & destroy the whole thing...so now, we should be safe from that! It's sooo hard to resist those tender little shoots the first year though...eek...

So, yeah, those are the veggies that come to mind so far. When we turn over the soil mid-September, I'll be going crazy with planning, lol....I'll post more when that time comes! :)

Hi, everybody,

This is the most captivating thread I've found yet. I've really enjoyed following bluekat's progress through the season, and I've learned a lot.

Our veggie garden is much smaller, because there's only Kay and me. We concentrate on the "Italian three" (tomatos, eggplant, peppers), and salad. This year, I planted extra eggplant, because last year's crop was poor. We're giving them away to the neighbors. The early rains helped with everything, but now we've been in a drought. The water company wins. $$ :(

Can't wait to see how you all make out next year.

W

Hi Willheim,

Welcome to Dave's Garden! If this year was captivating you should see last years http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/522566/ I had to laugh when I read "most captivating thread yet" I said to myself he has a lot of reading to do because there are *plenty* of captivating threads on DG and sure enough you just signed up today! Are you in Bucks county? We have friends up there.

There is only John and I here but here is a picture of what we do with lots of our veggies. Sell them! We will probably cross paths over in the tomato forum too since you are also growing those.

-Kim

A picture of our jungle last week. Since then the sunflowers are gone and so is the row of edamame in the second bed. Blanched and frozen already. The ferny plants are fennel. I will get some close ups this coming week. My White Wonder Okra is coming in! We made tempura veggies last night all from our garden. Dinner is especially yummy when that happens.

Very, very nice my dear! You've had a super fine season.

I'll be getting you back soon. I just planted 40 mater varieities (6 seeds ea), including the vars I got from you some months back, and 12 pepper types. All of the maters have germinated (95%) and can be found sunning under the indoor lights.

Have a great week,

me
xo

Well things are winding down up here. We may have warm enough temps to get a few more tomatoes - at least I am hoping! This is the garden as of yesterday. There are some broccoli and cauliflower in the top bed and the big mess of dark green foliage in the 2nd bed is okra that is not producing much! As you can see most of the tomatoes are doing fine, except for that whole temperature thing they would be great -LOL. Lots of big green ones in there. I have taken a few out - 3 had something nasty, and the rest were just fading away or I didn't like the taste.

The ones I didn't care for include Grushkova, Gregori's Altai, Black Plum, Paul Robeson (didn't do well for me) ditto for Eva Purple Ball.

I am assuming because we planted tomatoes in a new bed that cut down on the disease factor this year. I have also learned not to plant squash near my tomatoes because the stink bugs lay their eggs there and then have a field day on my maters!

We entered some veggies and herbs in the County Fair this year. No, not any tomatoes - they want really generic types - basically tomatoes I don't have! We did win blue ribbons for my Thai Basil, Red Shiso and Papya Pear squash. We also placed for wax beans, carrots, fennel and patty pan squash. It was fun to see our veggies on display; now we are just waiting for the big check to come in the mail. HA! (there is some nominal cash prize)

Here is a pic of my Thai basil - from seed thank you:) Since it is going back to seed the purple flower heads made a very nice bouquet look.

beautiful gardens, bluekat. Wish I had as much space to garden in!

Kim, looks like you had a superfine year. Great job-your gardens look really nice!
Flipxo

If you have my kind of luck, those Thai basil seeds will plant themselves.

I'm working on the third year of basil (I did not re-seed) - several plants still going strong.

Mustard worked that way for 2 years, but have to replant now,

I won't have your luck this year Bubba - they are in containers that get cleaned out for the winter! Thanks for the heads up on the re-seeding, I have two kinds down in the big gardens.

Bluekat, I have admired your gardens/posts all summer long. Thanks for posting all the photos and encouraging the rest of us!

Well Thank You, I can say the same of you Darius!! All your myriad of talents - carpentry, canning, depth of knowlege and perserverence! I hope to get over to your place one day and we can finally meet :) NC didn't happen, FL - I moved and you were there but now we are closer than ever.

Hugs - Kim

Hey Kim! Your garden still looks so nice....I'm currently working on my Fall garden (DH had to run to the store to get me more weed barrier, hence my messaging time, lol)...so I had to take a quick peek on here for my "inspiration". hehe. I'm really hoping the weed barrier idea works for us here...my kids keep asking why I'm rolling black sheets over the whole garden, lol.
I'll post pictures soon.
~Kim