Who's got a garden this year?

[o_mom]

Anyone want to share? http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=357&d=1246999399 Tell us about your garden!

How big is your garden?

What are you growing?

How's it growing?

What do your kids like best about the garden?

Anything else?

[shawnandangel]

My Garden is 8x24. My fantastic DH put in a beautiful wooden fence and gate to keep the dogs out of it for me.

This summer I am growing tomatos, green peppers, banana peppers, squash, zuchini, and cucumbers. Oh! Rosemary too.

Everything is growing great! This is the first year I've done squash, and I let some of them get too big. I didn't realize how much one plant produces either! I have 2 and that's too many for my family so next year I'll just plant 1 yellow squash plant.

I'm excited to get ready for planting in the fall. I've got a book I need to look at to decide what I want to put in, but definately some winter squash! Probably butternut. Can you tell we love squash around here?!

DD is really too young to enjoy the garden just yet. She comes out with me in the morning in the Bjorn to water the garden and I let her touch the leaves and feel the bumps on the squash I let get too big.

[BabyMine]

I am growing

- barbados cherries
- ice cream bananas
- blueberries
- key limes (the small pie kind)
- anna apples
- pink lemons
- sweet onions
- oranges

I have killed

- blueberry
- big beef tomatoe

We are clearing another section to start another garden.

My son likes the bugs and dirt that are in the garden.

[fivi2]

This was my first year attempting a garden. we had a few different areas, so not sure about size. My herb/sensory garden (parsley, basil, oregano, chocolate mint, lemon verbena, lamb's ear, thyme, scented geraniums, moonflowers, and sage) did really well. My banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, and bush beans did pretty well until the heat starting frying things. The cucumbers started out strong, but then something got them. The regular tomatoes were also eaten by something. I had a nice patch of mixed sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos until a neighbor cut down a tree and dropped several branches on that patch... Oh and I have a random rosemary and a lavender plant that are both doing pretty well.

I just planted some pumpkins, but worry it is too hot for them to grow. I am starting to look into the fall season, but think it is too early here!

eta: the girls like watering, but to them that means making a mud pit with their watering cans and playing in the mud. They also LOVE playing with the bugs. occasionally they will rake or dig, but not very often.

I don't like posting where I live (in answer to a downthread question), but it is hot here, and has been for a while. I think the biggest problem is our extreme drought though. I just couldn't save everything! Some plants were fried by the sun (my beans - they were in direct sun for too many hours per day. they look like they were in a fire!), some were eaten by something (cukes and toms), and some destroyed by falling limbs... The things that are thriving are in partial shade (even plants that say they like full sun seem to need partial shade in my yard!)

[o_mom]

We have two 4'x8' raised beds.

In one is green and purple bush beans, yellow squash and zucchini. The other has four tomato plants and six bell peppers. I also planted a sunflower house next to it with mammoth sunflowers, teddy bear sunflowers and morning glories.

The beans and squash are going well. We have had two meals with beans and a couple with squash/zucchini. We did get some bloom-end rot on the squash, but I think that it was from having so much rain in May. So far I haven't treated it and I'm waiting to see if the next set have the same problem (there are probably 20 fruits starting, I anticipate leaving bags of squash on everyone's doorstep later). The tomatoes are huge - they have filled the cages and are setting fruit. One dissappointment is that my Big Boy is apparently not a Big Boy. It is a cherry tomato instead. :( We have picked one Early Girl and half a dozen cherry tomatoes already. The peppers had a poor start from the rain and the two yellow bells had some wilting and leaves dying. I replaced one of them and they are OK, but not great. The red bell peppers have 2-3 peppers on each plant and a couple are starting to turn dark purple. The sunflowers are about knee high, maybe slightly higher. The morning glories didn't do well, but I think it will be fun without them.

The kids love to go out and count the tomatoes. They were really excited about our conjoined squash that somehow grew together. They also like the little garden statues we got them and like to rearrange where they are in the garden. DS3 is going to be very dissapointed that there are not really any teddy bears coming up on the Teddy Bear sunflowers, lol.

I did kind of a Lasagna method to start them and it has worked out far better than I could have imagined. I just remulched last week and we have no weeds to speak of. Even though I didn't follow it strictly, it has still produced very well so far.

[randomkid]

Well, here it is so hot that our garden is just about gone. It was small - my first "real garden". Green beans, tomatoes and a tomato plant that produces what we have always called "tommy toes". That thing grew to be huge - I kept tying it up and we have had a ton of tomatoes from it. We also planted flowers in the garden that did really well. All the plants are pretty much getting burned up now and are finished producing.

DD loved seeing butterflies on the flowers, got very excited when the buds would come on the plants and the veggies first started growing. Initially, she was excited about picking them, but that part didn't last too long.

Actually, this weekend, I am planning on pulling up most of the plants. They're done. We have to have our gardens really early in the year here.

[tylersmama]

We don't have a yard, but I've got a pretty good container garden going on my balcony. I have two window boxes of flowers, plus a couple of additional pots. The edible portion includes:
*A 12" container with herbs (basil, thyme, and dill...but the dill all died)
*A 10" container with mint (for mojitos!)
*A 6x24" container with beans and cucumbers
*A 36" container with serrano peppers, bell peppers, and zucchini

This is all a big experiment this year, and I'm not entirely sure how it's going. My basil looks great, the thyme is ok, the dill (as mentioned) is dead. The cucumbers and beans look pretty good. The peppers and zucchini LOOK like they're doing really well, but aren't producing any fruit. I've had at least 20 flowers so far on my zucchini, but not a single fruit is growing. Same for the serrano pepper. I have one itty-bitty bell pepper that looks like it hasn't grown at all in about 3 weeks. So, I don't know. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. If nothing else, it looks like I'm going to have a bumper crop of cucumbers, so I may have to do some pickling!

DS loves helping me water the plants, but surprisingly hasn't shown much interest otherwise. I thought he would be all about helping me plant them and dig in the dirt, but he really didn't care!

[m448]

I've got 4 7x3' beds plus two blueberry bushes. I'm learning as I go but the kids threw a bunch of seeds into my starter garden from last year and I've been enjoying veggies from their garden too.

We have:

swiss chard
tons of tomato
basil
tarragon
lavender
lemon balm
calendula
rosemary
sage
oregano
thyme
italian parsley
cubanelle and bell peppers
lettuce
canteloupe
zucchini
sugar baby watermelons
cucumbers
green beans
eggplant
marigolds
carrots
onions
mint

I've been tracking progress on my blog and have been surprised at our success.

eta: I'm in central NC and despite a late start our tomatoes have quite a few green fruit plus many blossoms and I have cubanelles as well as blossoms on the bell peppers plants. I am a notorious over waterer but this year I've gotten a handle on that. LOL

My kids love the garden but I'm too OCD to let them loose in the main garden so I gave them the garden boxes from last year to throw in whatever they wanted. Like I said their box surprised me with the bounty of what came up.

[alien_host]

How big is your garden?

About 18 feet by 18 feet

What are you growing?
I have 14-16 tomato plants:
sweet 100s cherry
2 heirloom varieties (a yellow and a green zebra)
yellow pear
super beefsteak
plum
another variety called delicious

zuccini
eggplant
cukes
pumpkins (big and jack be little)
basil
green beans
snow peas
pepper
I forgot, one butternut squash plant that looks pitiful!

3 blueberry bushes

How's it growing?

LOUSY! We've had non-stop rain for about a month. Things are on the verge of rotting and are very small and pale. They got 3 days of sun this weekend but it poured again today.

I have one peach pit-sized tomato and very few flowers. :(

The beans/peas went in late and aren't producing yet.

It's very disappointing so far, I'm hoping a few hot days will make things grow! Ask me again in August how things are ;)

What do your kids like best about the garden?
DD is 4 and loved helping me plant seeds for the green beans/peas/pumpkins. She enjoys checking the progress and harvesting. We've had a few blueberries that the birds/chimpmunks didn't get too.

Anything Else?
We just moved in last fall so this is my first garden here. Things went in a little later than planned (part due to rain, part due to the fact that we had landscaping done and the beds needed to be dug and that ran late). We'll see how it goes!

ETA: I'm in Massachusetts.

[almostamom]

My garden is done for the season. It got too hot for some of the veggies, and I've let the herbs go as we're relocating the boxes to another spot in our backyard for the next attempt.

It was 8 X 4

We grew 2 kinds of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, basil, lavender, mint, and peppermint

It went wonderfully well for April, May and most of June. We had more tomatoes and zuccs than we could consume! I can hardly wait for the weather to get cooler and we can start again.

ETA: I'm in Phoenix.

Linda

[alien_host]

to see how other parts of the country are doing!

Can people post where they are located if it listed under "location" on your "info"?

[kayte]

to see how other parts of the country are doing!

Can people post where they are located if it listed under "location" on your "info"?

I was going to ask the same thing... I live in blazing hot Texas and our garden is in full swing ---yet others are saying theirs is done from the heat... We have had several days over 100 and just harvested over 90 cucumbers from our garden, and our tomatoes are just getting going... I'll post all our info after dinner when I have some more time...

[happymom]

Wow! I am so impressed....and drooling! All those yummy fruits/veggies/herbs growing in your yard?! That is awesome! I don't know what the opposite of a green thumb is, but I have it!! I kill everything I try to grow. DH bought me 2 beautiful hydrangea bushes for my Bday (my favorite flower) in June, and they are both DEAD. No clue why. So so sad.

Well anyways, kudos to all of you, and enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of your labor!:bighand:

[specialp]

I'm impressed! I don't think my big pots of basil, rosemary, thyme, chives, & oregano counts! Oh well! I have a generous neighbor who has given us cabbage, squash & corn thus far and we have wonderful farmers' markets in the area (Southeast).

[kijip]

How big is your garden?

Small! Three 4X4 square foot garden beds, two with a 2X2 center pyramid for deeper roots. Plus some assorted containers. We are in Seattle. Our yard does not get a huge amount of full sun, but it gets more in the morning than I expected.

What are you growing?

Herbs, Broccoli, Strawberries, Kale, Chard, Lettuce, Green Beans

How's it growing?

Pretty well, but our tomatoes all died. I have no idea why. I may buy some potted tomatoes just so I have SOMETHING come August/September. I dunno.

What do your kids like best about the garden?

Dirt. Playing in the dirt. He is a brown child between baths. T loves to water, weed, tend flowers, make plans for stuff to plant later (we can do a fall planting here and we can plant more lettuce etc as we use it).

Anything else?

We love our chickens that we have with friends and the chicken manure is helping our soil some.

Anyone, with any amount of soil outside can garden. We live in a small city town house with a TINY yard. If we have space, almost any yard has space. :D

[Raidra]

Our garden has been so-so this year. We've had tons of rain and very little sun. :(

Our beds are 4'x8', 2'x4', 4'x6', and 4'x12'.

In the 4x8, I had peas planted that took over a month longer than necessary to start producing. In the end, I had to pull them early so I could get the beans planted. Out of that whole bed, I got maybe 1.5 servings of peas. Ugh.

In the 2x4, I tried Swiss Chard for the first time. It took for-frickin'-ever to sprout and grow, and then over the three sunny days we had all in the last month (which was this past Friday-Saturday-Sunday), they've started to bolt. Ugh.

The 4x6 is greens of various types.. lettuce, mesclun, romaine, etc. Aside from the giant hole some animal dug in the bed, the greens are doing wonderful with the cool temps and rain. Woohoo.

The 4x12 has all zucchini and yellow squash, with two pumpkin plants at the end. I've never done pumpkins before, so we'll see. They're growing pretty well so far. Funny story.. I also tried planting watermelon in that bed, and when everything first started to sprout, I got these HUGE sprouts coming up right where I had planted the watermelon seeds. They grew SO fast and I was psyched that they were doing well. I had never grown watermelons before so I didn't know what the plants looked like. Until a week later when I noticed two tiny sprouts that were much more likely to be the watermelon plants. So, I pulled up the giant thing, and it was a POTATO plant. I mean, WTF? There was a giant potato at the end of this big bushy plant. Best I can figure, there was a potato in the compost that never rotted. Oops. :)

We have several big pots on the deck tomatoes (cherry, grape, brandywine, and Big Boy/Girl). Ten are doing fantastic and for some reason, two decided to wither. Hmph. Plenty of green fruits, some of which are getting big.

In our side yard, we planted two peach trees and two apple trees. It should be interesting.. the yard isn't that big but supposedly you can just keep them pruned small and still get a decent harvest.

I planted five blueberry bushes, four of which died for no apparent reason, and one of which got run over by the lawnmower (thanks, DH!). Oddly, the one that got run over is doing the best.

I also planted two raspberry bushes, and those seem to be doing okay. I've never done them before so I have no idea how much progress they should have made so far, but they look green and leafy, so..

We have a huge strawberry patch as well that is probably 6'x8'. I harvested about 12 pounds of strawberries before the endless rain started and ruined my harvest.

Our compost heap is growing beautifully thanks to the chickens that we got this year.. it's so nice to have 'free' fertilizer and I can't wait to have fantastic compost next year.

[brittone2]

We have 2 4x4 foot square foot gardening beds, and an extra tomato plant or two in the yard.

I think the spot we selected doesn't get enough p.m. sun. It is more convenient than the other side of my house, which gets a bit more sun (we are surrounded by trees...big lot, but not a lot of sun!). I think we need to relocate there.

We got lots of radishes early in the season. The beets and carrots were like microsized for some reason (same thing happened to my dad in his sq. foot beds). We have had a bunch of cukes and more on the way, and have gotten a few ripe tomatoes. Sunflower is up with lots of heads, marigold did well...mint and some other herbs doing well. Pumpkin will hopefully make it.

My dad gets more sun at his house and did sq. foot beds this year. He produced enough chard and lettuce that he was giving bags away to the neighbors (and us!) even w/ just his small bed.

We share a CSA share with my parents, so we just grow a few things for the experience for the kids.

[lizajane]

i have a 10'x20' bed.

i need to whack some limbs off a nearby tree that has grown a bit too much since my last garden (i took last year off) because half of it doesn't get as much sun as the other half.

i have:

carrots (never tried this before. when do you harvest them??)
cucumbers
squash
zucchini
green beans
yellow grape tomatoes
red grape tomatoes
roma tomatoes
big boy tomatoes
mixed bell peppers
broccoli
oregano
thyme (in pot)
rosemary (in pot)
basil
sage (separate spot)
dill
cilantro
and mint and lavendar in a different spot

and i have some bulbs to put into the ground... um...2 months too late.

i have tons of grape tomatoes, beans, cucumbers coming along but we had lot of great rain and then NONE while i was out of town. so some of the stuff looks a little funny. and the squash is mad! we will see if it comes back to life.

i compost and used it a little early, so i have a volunteer watermelon and a few volunteer cantaloupes! whoo hoo! we will see what happens. :)

[Raidra]

i have a 10'x20' bed.


carrots (never tried this before. when do you harvest them??)


We harvest ours in late September. We're in MA, so I don't know if it's different for you. They can stay in the ground a long time. I usually plant them in late April/early May (right before the last frost date) and by September, the greens are really bushy, but the carrots are never more than 6 inches long, and I've got a 12" deep bed of super loose soil. Hmph.

[gobadgers]

I have only a few containers (on my condo balcony). I told myself I would only do two tomato plants this year, and did OK. I ended up with:

three tomato plants (one hybrid something or other and two heirlooms - Dr Wyche and Stupice)
one jalapeno plant
herbs (rosemary, sage, parsley and basil)
and a few flowers.

I'm in the 'burbs of Chicago... the tomato plants have lots of blossoms but no fruit yet. It seems like I should be getting some fruit by now, but I've never grown any of these varieties so its hard to say. The herbs are rock stars, but the pepper plant doesn't look like it's ever going to be taller than 12". It seems like it should have taken off by now.

It's fun to hear how much is growing in other parts of the country - I'm still holding out hope here

[MontrealMum]

How big is your garden? I have 7 containers on the front balcony and 6 on the back. We live on the 2nd floor, so it's container-gardening only. We are lucky in that we get sun on the front in the am and on the back in the pm.

What are you growing? Strawberries, tomatoes, various spices, red and orange bell peppers (an experiment!), begonias, lobelia, ornamental grasses, delphinium, cosmos, and pansies.

How's it growing? Somewhat more slowly than usual considering all the damp, cold weather we've been having. However, since I'm so preoccupied, I'm happy I don't have to water it so frequently. And, that if I forget, everything won't die instantly :)

What do your kids like best about the garden? DS is enjoying eating the strawberries. I was feeding him the ripes ones, but when I stop, he just chomps down on whatever's hanging there. Pink, white, green...the kid must have a cast-iron stomach. He did check out the tomato plant for fruit too, but it doesn't have anything yet, so he's been avoiding it. The pepper plant is on the back and we usually don't let him out there - but I'm sure it will be interesting if we do!

Anything else? Usually I have a huge container garden going. Maybe 14 hangers on the front and the same on the back. This year I really scaled back because it's hard to manage (mostly the watering) and we do let DS play on the balcony. I was afraid he'd use a planter as a way to launch himself off. I thought I'd be sad about scaling back because gardening has always been a huge part of my life, but actually, it's not that bad. I'm looking forward to next year when maybe DS can help a bit :)

[bubbaray]

Growing tomatoes and peppers in containers. Planted zucchini in one of our front flower beds (so if we have water restrictions, I can continue to water out front b/c there are vegetables there).

[GraceH]

How big is your garden?
3 pots on my deck...10 or 12 inch diameter, thanks to the @$%! deer, options are limited...
What are you growing?
roma tomatoes (x3), jalapeno peppers (x3), greek oregano, cilantro, basil
How's it growing?
Alright, though I'll have to water soon if the weatherman keeps lying about rain...
What do your kids like best about the garden?
DS is young yet, so he just likes to touch the plants
Where am I?
Chicagoland
Anything else?
Anyone have advice about for-real gardens in deer-zone? - the darn boogers love vegetables!

[eidean]

The peppers and zucchini LOOK like they're doing really well, but aren't producing any fruit. I've had at least 20 flowers so far on my zucchini, but not a single fruit is growing.

You may need to hand-pollinate your zucchini if the flying insects aren't doing it for you. There are actually both male and female flowers. The male are on a long stem, and the female bloom out of the end of a very tiny fruit (the same for pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, etc.) Males usually appear first, so if there's no females yet, just wait. When a female flower opens, preferably the first morning, take a male flower, remove its petals to better reach its parts, and touch the stamen (the center bit with the pollen) all over the pistil of the female flower. Yes, you're helping your plants to have sex! I do this with all of my squash-like plants because I don't trust mother nature to get them all for me. It's odd that your cucumber are doing it on their own but not the zucchini, but who knows?


My garden:
About 8'x15' crammed with:

tomatoes--ginormous and just starting to bear fruit
beets--doing okay
snow peas--getting a nice crop now, yum! (started late)
corn--either cats or squirrels have chewed down half my stalks-grr!!!
strawberries--squirrels eat them before they're ripe-again, grr!
zucchini--just starting to flower
carrots--pretty thin this year
green beans--thin at first by starting to come in well now
garlic--looking great!
spinach--not so much, only a few clusters
red and green onion--doing well
simpson and romaine lettuce--lots and lots, I foresee a ton of salads in my future
radishes--did a lot better than I expected, usually the bugs eat them the second they sprout. we'll see how the second crop does
cucumber--pretty dinky this year
pie, giant, and jack-o-lantern pumpkins--some looking good and starting to flower, some pretty tiny still, we'll see

Yes, it's a lot in a small space. I love reaping the benefits. DS is too young yet, if I have him outside with me he just tries to eat the bindweed in the lawn. I'm hoping I'll be able to puree some of the fruits of my labors to feed him though. I'll probably make it be his job to turn the compost tumbler for me in a few years.

Oh, and I'm near Denver.