Lets talk Veggie Gardening

I know Babybubbs (by the way, where has he been) is interested in Vegetable gardening, and we have not talked much about growing our veggies. With the cost of food, eating better, veggies tasting better, and for me at least at my small grocery store sometimes "fresh" veggies were fresh last week, I got back into doing my V. garden again.
So this am I got up took 3 OTC pain relievers and gathered up my seeds, tools, gloves and what ever else I needed and got to work before the afternoon thunderstorm was predicted to hit. (at this posting still no thunderstorm.)

I planted some Gray sugar peas, Marketmore cukes, and the Pearl Cukes, I planted 2 eggplants that I started in the basement. The cuke seeds and eggplants are protected by wall o' waters. Hopping to get an early start, I also put in some mixed lettuce seeds.

I'm not finished but it's a start!

Hi, I just got started last weekend. Only have sugar snap beans, cabbage, cukes, Gill's tomatoes, and broccoli. Will add various lettuces and marigolds to the beds this weekend. It won't be big. Then I have my herb garden nearby.....that's another deal.

In the fall, I plan to get asparagus and add them to the beds.

So much for getting peas in on St. Patty's Day, LOL, to cold to be out and bed not ready to plant. I hope to get good crops this year. The V garden was not planted for 2 years, do to illness, so I just used it as a compost and leaf pile. I removed what was not fully broken down to the other compost bin and DH tilled and raked the garden for me.
I still have beans, and squash to get in.
My tomatoes go into containers next to the driveway, and I have some pepper plants that I was thinking of planting in combo pots with flowers.

HA- with my glazed eyes I thought the first pic was lounge chairs, until I enlarged it. LOL
I have
a bed of mized salad greens coming up,
a small bed of chard and radishes coming up- hopefully enough chard, seeing mostly radishes. which I don;t have the best luck with, I better fertilize them
small patch-well one good plant- asparagus, I just eat a spear or two in the garden. And got to get out and pick the d@mn beetles off it already
potatos are in per doccats top of ground method, gave me a good excuse to creat a new garden space on the 'lawn'
some peas- didn't germinate well
will be doing gourds, couple of kinds, not to eat but they go there
tomatos just a few, peppers, several big yellow banana sweet ones
found a spot for yellow squash or zucchini
some onion sets
have been picking spinach from coldframe
AND whatever else can fit until the garden is crammed- okra,cukes, OH green beans! I loved the purple ones I grew last year!

Sally, What is the name of the purple beans? I'm thinking they will be easy to see come harvest time. And do they cook up green?

lounge chairs... That's a good one, lol. I say the indians set up camp with their teepees in the garden.

real time response- they came from pinetree, lets see, heres the catalog...Voila- Royal burgundy bush beans.
They are easy to see to pick, and they are pretty before too, with purple buds and lavendar flowers, if I remember right. But they don't keep the purple color when cooking- they turn green when you blanch them which I use as a hand indicator that they are blanched!!!!!! Aint mother nature fun sometimes?
It sounds like I have a huge veg garden but I only do a little of a lot of things because my family isn't big on eating them and I am not big on canning or freezing.

Thanks for the name & info, Sally. I'll keep an eye out for purple bean seeds in the store. I don't want to order any more seeds this year. If I can't find them I'll try to remember to order some next year with my flower seeds.

hello :)
This season so far we tried corn salad, oakleaf and buttercrunch lettuce to no avail, the seeds were duds or they were planted too deep. We planted asparagus (3 kinds), (have horseradish, rosemary, chives, thyme), planted seeds for mizuna greens, collards, mesclun greens and beets so far.

I have alot of basil seedlings going (thai, lemon, lime, Italian, big leaf), also fava bean, cucumber pearl, tomatillos, tomatoes (brandywine, marianna peace, compost cherry, Juilet, etc) and pepper seedlings (ornamental, Bulgarian carrot, scotch bonnet, white habanero, sweet banana, Jamaican hot chocolate, kung pao, ancho, holy moly, chiltepin, etc) that still need to be transplanted. Plus I want to get some rat tail radish, nasturtiums, arugula, and my favorite okra seeds planted :) asap.

my husband, Harry planting the asparagus in a raised bed :)

I love the raised bed idea Wind. I will show the picture to John when he comes home. I have a feeling that before too long he will be buying lumber and building at least one of those for me to use.

You have planted some very unusual things. Will be interesting to see how all the other things turn out.

A good report from here about the white clematis that you gave me a start of last September. I thought that John had killed it but it is peeking on through. It looks to be about two or three inchies high right now. Yours was absolutely fabulous last year.

I also planted the yellow butterfly bush seeds, but haven't seen anything happening yet., I read that it takesat least 60 and maybe 90 days brfore germination. I might have duds too though. Ought to know before too much longer.

I am looking forward to seeing you next Saturday at Longwood Gardens.

Ruby

We prepared the bed, moved the compost, and fenced off the veggie garden from the puppy (and GROUNDHOG) last weekend, so my plan was to start sticking plants & seeds in the ground this wknd. I'll report back later, when I've got more time.

Glad you started the thread!

This message was edited May 9, 2008 6:19 PM

Oooh, I love veggie gardening!

So far, I have planted:

Kohl rabi
Collards
Cabbage (2 types)
Broccoli (3 types)
Cauliflower
Parsnips
Rutabagas
Onions
Tomatoes (2 types)
Sweet Peppers
Trombocino squash
Buttercrunch lettuce
Brussels sprouts
Cucumbers (3 types)

Still have to plant:
Eggplant
Hot peppers
Beans
Winter squash
Melons
Marigolds
Dill
Basil
Okra

So far, broccoli is the only thing we've harvested, and my son has eaten most of that.

Wind, your peppers sound awesome!

I tried those Royal Burgundy Bush Beans last year and loved them. Will be planting more this season. I actually have a ton of volunteer bean plants out there right now from last year's garden. I'm not sure if they're the the Burgundy or the other variety I tried last year (the name escapes me-- it was a yellow bush bean) but I'm letting them grow until I figure it out.

I never thought to leave any beans to self sow-neat

Just getting in a bunch of veggies myself-I have 6 Earthboxes, 4 of them will have 2 tomatoes each- 3 Sungold, Better Boy, Big Boy, Early Girl, Orange Oxheart & Mortgage Lifter. Out in the beds in the yard, I also have Mortgage Lifter, Old German, & Mr. Stripey. I'll probably continue to pick up tomatoes, to put in any available spot, w/ some sun.

The other 2 EBs have eggplant- 2 Turkish orange & peppers-3 holy mole, 2 thai hot, & 1 jalapeno. I also have serrano, habanero, poblano, & carribean hot peppers planted in the palm bed, w/ thai basil & vietnamese coriander. I'm also planting 4 Ichiban eggplants (2 in self-watering containers, 2 in the ground), 2 cukes-straight 8 & cool breeze, along the fence, some okra, also in the palm bed (gets the most sun)...

I wish that I had more room for a veggie garden, and fewer groundhogs to contend with. So far I have some tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. I also have a full herb garden with thyme, mint, curry, sage, rosemary, oregano, dill, basil, cilantro, fennel, and one or two others I have forgotten. I might throw in some pumpkin seeds as well. I know it is late, but it would be mostly because my son found the packet an really wants to grow them, and at six years old waiting til next years is as good as saying never.

thistle, your vietnamese coriander sounds interesting :) is an earthbox a raised bed?

Have you had any luck harvesting seed from your holy moly or is it commercial seed you are using?

kubileya, you reminded me I really want to plant some kolhrabi... that is the neatest plant I have ever grown, veggie wise! Your trombocino squash sounds interesting too, I never heard of that kind.

hi Ruby! I am so looking forward to the longwood trip too, and look forward to seeing you and John :) My mother built us our raised beds believe it or not. She is a handy-man at heart. When I was a kid, we had the best go-cart in town lol.

Kubileya- I grew trombocino last year- Boy does it grow long vines. The squash had a dryer texture than a regular zucchini- well maybe you should sample one small to see how you like it at that size. I let mine get bigger. Stored very well!

sarazen- I don't think you're late on pumpkins. Have to be in warm soil

Greetings all. Love the description of your mother, Wind. ha-ha She did a very nice job building them.

I hope that each of you will have a good weekend and get to do lots of gardening.

Ruby

Wow, we could have a real feast this summer. I traded some Water Lilies for some Asparagus and Rhubarb plants with a lady that sells Spring plants and hanging baskets from her home greenhouse. Also in the trade was water hyacinth, water lettuce and a heliotrope.
So today I'll plant the Asparagus and rhubarb.
Have to get those in the ground before we leave for Longwood on Friday.
I'll be pretty busy planting in the next few weeks as my basement plants are growing bigger and begging to be outside.

Wind, the earth box is similar to my tomato boxed I have used for 3 years, they are self-watering containers. I bought mine from Gardeners Supply. I grow 2 tomato plants in each one, I have them set up in the drive way near the patio where they get the most sun and are easy to fill with the hose when the reservoir needs filled. I was thinking of setting mine up this weedend.

Thistle, I've grown ichiban aubergines and like them a lot. I need to find some starts - hopefully Behnkes has some. Right now, I have one standard round eggplant.

If this rain ever stops, I thought that I'd plant my red brussels sprouts, beets, eggplant, cucumber, yellow squash and honeydew this weekend. Still haven't decided whether to plant out the tomatoes and basil plants, but think that I may go for it.

I have tons of seeds to sow, including a selection of green, runner and Italian beans, celeriac ... don't have a complete list in front of me right now.

I normally would have planted cool season plants such as peas, salad greens, and spinach by now, but I chose to wait until after the Oaks dropped all of their carp as it's impossible to keep it out of the salad greens ... and is NOT very delicious. Yuck.

I have fall-sown sopinach- it bolts so fast in spring for me. We've had several delicious batches-it tastes soooo good- with maple bud carp instead of oak carp LOL

Handy-man-women are super!

Wind, I've never tried kohlrabi before. This is the first year. I planted Chancellor and Early White Vienna. Both had great germination and are growing like crazy right now.

sallyg, I never meant to leave any beans to self-sow! My garden suffered quite a bit of neglect last year while my son was tiny. He's a toddler this year and can 'help' in the garden some (mostly that means he'll play quietly in the mud for 10 minutes at a time) so hopefully the garden will be better tended. I have tomatoes, lemon cukes, serpent cukes, sunflowers, beans, and some kind of squash that self-sowed from last year's fallen fruits. I grew the Trombocino last year for the first time and loved the way it tasted. And they get so big and crazy-shaped! I didn't get much of a yield last year, though. This year I'm going to try trellising the vine.

thistle, I'm trying the Turkish Orange eggplant this year-- they've actually just germinated. I love, love, love eggplant, so I'm also growing Black Beauty, Louisiana Long Green, and Thai Green Egg.

I hope the rain stops soon so I can get some work done out there! I'd like to get some eggplant and marigolds in the ground and sow some Black Turtle beans and winter squash this weekend.

Kub- LOL the beans. Did you plant any peas? Thats one that my kids love to eat right in the garden. plus they are wrapped up nice and clean until you open the pod to eat. You can get some really interesting things from fallen squash-pumpkin family things.
My trombocinos didn't climb my trellis readily- you may have to tie them. I didn't feel I had a lot of fruit either but maybe if I picked them small I would have.

kub- kolrabi is like living art in your garden, so cool the way it grows, and it is good for you too! you're going to love it

don't do what we did; we had no idea what to do with it after we grew it! start looking up recipes now :)

it comes in diff. varieties ~ I really want to try the purple kind

How are your veggie gardens doing? With all the chilly weather mine is not growing in leaps and bounds. If it wasn't for my wall o' waters I'd have only a few planted, Some cuke seeds have started in the wall o' water and eggplants seem to be happy in them to.
Next year I want to do my peas like they showed at Longwood gardens to me their way is better then rows.

good question? I'm hoping to get out there today and see what's growing. I know we have mizuna greens ready to pick. Have NO IDEA what to do with them. I guess I'll google some recipes, any ideas? Steam them? not sure, they were from seeds from a DG swap, first time we're trying them.

We had rain all day yesterday so I never ventured out to our veggie garden. Your photo looks awfully familiar :) I posted the same exact one on the cottage gardening trellis thread!

It does look like a good idea, I want to try it too. I grew peas like that last year but without the string tied around the posts. I didn't think to use the string (I used bamboo poles for the t-pee). I'm sure they would have climbed much fuller had I done it like they show.

my pearl cucumber seeds are dying, first they turned yellow, maybe too much moisture or lack of nutrients in the pots I have them in? not sure

Never heard of mizuna, I guess you use it in fresh geen salads.
I did find this recipe, looks interesting. http://recipe.aol.com/recipe/grilled-peaches-and-baby-mizuna-greens-with-blue-cheese-vinaigrette/76536

Don't know how my pearl cucumber seeds are doing, I hope it clears up later this afternoon so I can go out to play. It is rainy and d*** damp outside.

Chris

Ladygardener, Is that picture of the bean towers from your garden or from Longwood Gardens? It is really cool looking, so artistic.

That picture is from Longwood Gardens, I think it would save some space in the garden, and more picking in one spot. I do beans on a teepee but no winding strings, the strings would give more support to the peas, I'm thinking.

My sugar snap beans are doing good, of course. They like the cool, wet weather. I just could kick myself for not starting more cool weather crops earlier. They'd be flying high, now what with this cool, wet weather!!!!

My tomatoes are....poorly. The variety of seed I got did not really do well even under the lights. I transplanted only 3 that looked like they had half a chance and one has withered already. I doubt if the other two will get to fruit-bearing stage. That was Gill's All purpose. We picked up 3 Celebrity tomato pots from Home Depot last weekend. Hope they will compensate. They are healthy so far.

The only other plant I actually have in the bed at this point is a cabbage that my son started in school. The rest are still seeds in pots. I have Pearl cukes, too.

I like those teepee trellises. Looks like you can't go wrong with those!!

We're all in the dumps with too much rain and cool! I so wish I had done some more spinach seed, but every NORMAL year it would get too hot and it would bolt! This would be one year I could have done it.
I haven't got anything ready for warm weathe growing. It just feels like April still! Maybe with Mem Day weekend being nice I'll just do it all- beans, zuke, anything. I am coming back from a Swap with some goodies! I'll fill up the veggie part and any leftover space wil be floral
I did get a radish today woo hoo

Confession time: I planted my tomatoes out on April 20th. What can I say, I like gardening on the edge! They're doing pretty great -- Early Girls & Romas are nice and bushy and covered in blossoms. Mr. Stripey looks good, but is a little smaller.

Everything else seems to be struggling. Well, except for a couple of volunteer squash from last year that are looking good (Patty Pan, I think). Our forecast is calling for a week without rain and temps up in the 70's. Can it be true? I hope so!

I haven't planted the first veggie of any sort. All flowers so far. I will be bringing home a couple of tomato plants tomorrow from the DC swap. My favorites are Romas, but I didn't see anyone offering them.

I am kind of losing faith in my ability to grow food stuffs. It almost seems that I have worse luck with each passing year. That is why I haven't planted anything yet.

Weekend is here. Have a good one all.

Ruby

Ruby, I've always had an easier time with flowers. I think veggies sense my fear that I don't know what I'm doing, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. My dream garden is a potager with gorgeous flowers and jewel-like vegetables sharing one beautiful space. They say if you dream it, you can do it.

I managed to get mine started, and critter-proofed, but these cool temp's haven't done a thing to help my plants along! =)

It's a strange, cool & wet spring that we're having, none of my veggies already in the ground have died, but they're not doing much either. I picked up a few more things to add to the garden (alpine strawberries in a container, & squash- supersett yellow crookneck & Aristocrat zucchini, 1 more pepper-ancho villa poblano). I hope we have good weather this Memorial Day weekend & that I can get all my plants in pots in the ground (not just edibles, but hostas, perennials, palms, & a couple of annual containers)...

Sounds like you have a lot going on, Thisle. Same as here. I spent a couple of hours earlier planting some things that
I brought home frome the swap. I received one rather large tomato plant and a few which are just wee little babies. I am not sure where I will plant them, so they will wait another day or so to go in ground.

I usually try to plant a couple of green pepper plants and haven't done that yet. Ought to write a note to self to get one this week. As soon as I figure out where to put the veggies, I will plant and hope for the best.

Ruby

Love those pictures of successful gardens. This is the first time in many a year I planted a veggie in the ground. I bought a whole pound of sugar snap pea seeds at Southern States, and planted only about a dozen seeds around St Patrick's Day. About a week ago I tore them out because they were still so little, I didn't think they were going to do anything. Today I saw that the 2 pea plants I didn't tear out have flowers all over them. DH and I may yet get a couple of peas for a salad garnish. Guess I'll try again in the fall-lol.

well, we used our first harvest of some mizuna greens for a salad last night ~ it was delicious! I think mizuna is one of the types of greens used in mesclun mix. It wasn't at all bitter like I thought it may be.

We have been out in the garden all day today, in fact I hope I haven't over done it with too much sun. I just came in for a hat.

All our tomatoes are going in the ground today. We are also planting 3 fava bean plants that were winter sown and may get some peppers planted too before the day is out.

Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day :)

finally time for some digging, and got a row of beans in, okra, lima beans, tomato plants from swap and zinnaias and marigolds in the veg for fun, inbetween sunflowers that self-planted from last year. Oh also pumpkin seeds in.
Starwberries getting ripe and radishes and salad mix getting big enough.
As if my life depended on this nonsense!!!

With the cost of gas, the price of groceries, the emphasis on eating healthy, I'm surprised there is not a push for people to return to growing their own veggies. Remember the Victory Gardens? I would think that TV would have more gardening shows on now instead of shows like "My House is Worth What? I wonder how many people on those shows are looking at foreclosures?
Now if only our town would let me raise chickens. Wouldn't mind gathering a few eggs. LOL