Do you have a vegetable garden? Or any fruit plants/trees?

[Corie]

Do you have a vegetable garden? Or any fruit plants/trees?

What are you growing? How did you pick what to plant? Do you
like tending to your garden/plants, etc.? Do you eat everything?

[sewarsh]

I did my 1st garden last year and it went great so i really expanded my selction of veggies this year.

My garden this year includes: beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, regular peas, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, spinach, lettuce, dill, cilantro, basil and parsley.

I started from seeds this year also for first time and they seem to be doing great. i also did seeds for marigolds, zinnias and cosmos.

I just picked based on size (no big plants like squash, or fruit bushes, and what my family enjoys). Note, kids won't eat 1/2 this stuff!!

fingers crossed its good!! :)

how about you?

[chozen]

we plant things we eat the most and cost the most to buy.

[Jo..]

Corie, are you turning farmer on us? First chickens, now this????

I moved here 3 years ago, and our property had one peach tree and one mulberry tree. I have since planted 2 cherry trees, one plum, 5 apple trees, 2 nectarines, 6 blueberry bushes, 3 blackberry, 2 raspberry, 3 grapes, and a fig tree. I have a fairly large strawberry bed that has grown/spread on its own form a few plants that I originally put int the ground.

I also planted some a row of evergreens for privacy and a windbreak. I grow a few flowers to attract bees and repel pests. Mostly wildflowers and marigolds.

I swear, if and when we move I am pulling everything up and bringing it with me.

I have a large raised bed veggie garden (due to terrible clay soil) that I expand every year. I put WAYYYY more time and money into it than I get back, but I enjoy it, and LOVE the super fresh vegetables.

Yesterday, I snapped a few fresh asparagus spears off (started 3 years ago) and ate them on the spot. I grow most of the common herbs (Oregano, chives, garlic chives, sweet basil, lemon basil, parsley, cilantro, dill, sage, rosemary, thyme), and herbs are easy and almost impossible to kill.

I also grow beets, carrots, tons of tomatoes, beans, peas, soybeans, greens (spinach, lettuce blends, chard), radishes, cucs, squash...I grow what I love to eat.

This is one of my favorite topics, and despite my black thumb I persevere. I LIVE on the garden web forums.

[MamaSnoo]

We have herbs--basil, chives, thyme, rosemary
Usually I do 2-3 patio tomatoes in big pots (easier for me than preparing a full bed). We always eat them up!
Last year I had a zuchinni and a yellow squash. This was harder to use, but we found some new recipes.
We also have 6 blueberry bushes. This is year 3 for them; they were still small last year, so we only got a bowl full; I have big hopes for this year! They tolerate very wet/poorly drained soil.

I would love to have more, but I do not have time for a full on garden at this point.

If you are interested in container gardens, the earth boxes are nice/good yields.

[Corie]

I did my 1st garden last year and it went great so i really expanded my selction of veggies this year.

My garden this year includes: beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, regular peas, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, spinach, lettuce, dill, cilantro, basil and parsley.

I started from seeds this year also for first time and they seem to be doing great. i also did seeds for marigolds, zinnias and cosmos.

I just picked based on size (no big plants like squash, or fruit bushes, and what my family enjoys). Note, kids won't eat 1/2 this stuff!!

fingers crossed its good!! :)

how about you?


WOW! Your garden sounds fantastic!! :)

I definitely want to start a garden once we move to Ohio. The kids & I
are already planning what we want to grow!

[Corie]

Corie, are you turning farmer on us? First chickens, now this????





I don't know if I could be a farmer. I'm horrible with plants. I don't have
a single plant in my house. I end up killing them all.
DH is very outdoorsy and loves to landscape, etc. He would love to do
a garden. He'd like to do the garden with the kids. We also want a pumpkin patch.

The chickens would be so cool. I eat hard-boiled eggs every day. I've
tasted the eggs from my friends' chickens and they are absolutely delicious.
Much tastier than store bought eggs.

[billysmommy]

Yesterday, I snapped a few fresh asparagus spears off (started 3 years ago) and ate them on the spot.

Fresh asparagus is one of the yummiest treats!!! We all fight over who gets it first :)

[Jo..]

Adam is hell bent on growing pumpkins this year....I am afraid. I have no idea how to grow pumpkins

[chozen]

Adam is hell bent on growing pumpkins this year....I am afraid. I have no idea how to grow pumpkins

they take alot of space so try to plant them near things you harvest early.

[DietCokeLover]

Usually I do 2-3 patio tomatoes in big pots (easier for me than preparing a full bed).

If you are interested in container gardens, the earth boxes are nice/good yields.

Do you plant your tomatoes in earth boxes? Or, what kind of pots do you put them in? I want to grow some tomatoes this year, but they will have to go in pots or some sort of container and be on my back porch/ deck. Would love to know what you have found that works well.

[boltfam]

I'm planning on starting a garden this year as well as planting blueberry and raspberry bushes.

[tylersmama]

I had a small balcony garden last year and hope to do the same this year. My herbs did very well. My zucchini plant LOOKED awesome, but apparently I got a male plant. Lots of flowers, no fruit. :rolleyes: I also had beans, which did pretty well, although not a ton of yield, and peppers, which didn't do so well. Typically Colorado summers are perfect for growing peppers (hot and dry), but we had a really mild and wet summer last year. A friend sent me a bunch of seeds, so it looks like I'm going to give salad mix a try this year, as well as the herbs she sent me.

[MommyAllison]

I just planted berries last week - 4 blueberry bushes, 5 raspberries, 2 blackberries, and 20 strawberries, and also a rhubarb plant. Last year we planted 50 strawberry plants and I'm excited to harvest them this year. :)

We bought our house last year and it had a huge garden space that is perfect for vegetables. I planted in there last year, but ended up missing part of the season when we installed a sprinkler system and re-seeded the lawn. This year, I'm going all out, esp since I'll have the sprinklers to help me out. :) I'm planting asparagus, corn, squash, pumpkins, watermelon, a couple other melons, green & yellow beans, peas, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, sweet & hot peppers, chard/spinach/lettuce/other greens, tomatoes, garlic, broccoli, and cauliflower. I'm planning to freeze some things, store potatoes & onions & garlic, and can tomatoes & pickles. Anything we can't eat goes to the food bank (fresh vegetables go unbelievably fast at our local food bank!), but my kids like almost everything on our list when we grow it ourselves.

And I can't keep a houseplant alive either, except for aloe vera. I think the gift for houseplants must be separate from gardening outside!

[larig]

We have herbs--basil, chives, thyme, rosemary
Usually I do 2-3 patio tomatoes in big pots (easier for me than preparing a full bed). We always eat them up!
Last year I had a zuchinni and a yellow squash. This was harder to use, but we found some new recipes.
We also have 6 blueberry bushes. This is year 3 for them; they were still small last year, so we only got a bowl full; I have big hopes for this year! They tolerate very wet/poorly drained soil.

I would love to have more, but I do not have time for a full on garden at this point.

If you are interested in container gardens, the earth boxes are nice/good yields.

The Barefoot in Paris cookbook has a great recipe for tian. YUM! it's a great way to use roma tomatoes (romas/zuccs/potatoes you want about same diameter) and zucchini (you also need a potato, gruyere, onion and thyme--dried is fine). You slice all of it really thin (like mandelin thin, but I do it by hand). slice the onions and saute them. put them in the bottom of a shallow dish (I use a big round stoneware pan, like for deep dish pizza). arrange the slices alternating the 3 vegetables (T, Z & P) drizzle with olive oil and put in some time. You bake it covered for a long time, then put some cheese on it and bake a lot longer. Man, it is the best vegetable dish ever.

[larig]

they take alot of space so try to plant them near things you harvest early.

this is a timely tip. We're going to plant a couple of pumpkins for DS!

[baymom]

A couple of years ago, we (unsuccessfully) tried a container garden in our back yard, but much of the produce was eaten by cats, squirrels or birds. This year, we got a plot in our neighborhood garden, which has very tall tennis-court-type fence around it. It is our first "real" garden and hopefully this time the critters won't be able to reach it! We planted tomato, bell pepper, corn, sunflowers, carrots, squash, cucumber, radish and watermelon. We are keeping our fingers crossed--the kids are enjoying watering and weeding so I really hope something comes of their hard work!

[larig]

We will have our first garden this year. DH has been working furiously to turn over 1/2 of our front lawn (south facing!) and putting in raised beds. Here it is very in-vogue to have a vegetable garden in your front yard, so we will fit right in with the non-lawn-having neighborhood. In the mean time I've started some tomatoes in our Aerogrow garden seed starter tray (first time using both the aerogrow and the seed starter--an adventure).

We're going to have peas (petit pois, my fave), tomatoes, potatoes, corn, zucchini, onion, carrots, cabbage, thyme, oregano, basil, some flowers to attract bees and stuff.

I have no idea what to expect in terms of yield, it's hard to plan a garden when you don't know that. It's been the biggest question for me so far.

[Jo..]

We will have our first garden this year. DH has been working furiously to turn over 1/2 of our front lawn (south facing!) and putting in raised beds. Here it is very in-vogue to have a vegetable garden in your front yard, so we will fit right in with the non-lawn-having neighborhood.

There are some GORGEOUS pictures of front yard potagers on Garden Web. Also, you can just do a web search to find some pics. If I could make a garden that beautiful, it would go in my front yard for sure!

I love this one.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/potager/msg091325598270.html?10

He has a whole blog about it too.
http://allanfamilygarden.blogspot.com/

[Corie]

We will have our first garden this year. DH has been working furiously to turn over 1/2 of our front lawn (south facing!) and putting in raised beds. Here it is very in-vogue to have a vegetable garden in your front yard,


Another good friend of mine has a big vegetable garden in their front yard.
I have never seen a vegetable garden in a front yard before! They were on
the front page of our local newspaper for their pumpkin patch. It got kinda
out of control in their yard!

[AnnieW625]

We have a lemon tree. I hope to do some tomato vines this summer.

[JoyNChrist]

We usually plant a garden every year (although not this year, since we knew we'd be selling our house).

We always do tomatoes (beefsteak and cherry), squash (yellow and white), cucumbers, carrots, spinach, bell pepper, and eggplant. I also do a small herb "garden" in my kitchen window.

The only thing we've had problems with have been our carrots - they're always pretty scrawny for some reason. We also planted asparagus three years ago but it never showed. :shrug:

I really want to put in fruit trees and a big berry patch when we move (we're hoping to buy 3-4 acres).

[larig]

Another good friend of mine has a big vegetable garden in their front yard.
I have never seen a vegetable garden in a front yard before! They were on
the front page of our local newspaper for their pumpkin patch. It got kinda
out of control in their yard!


There are some GORGEOUS pictures of front yard potagers on Garden Web. Also, you can just do a web search to find some pics. If I could make a garden that beautiful, it would go in my front yard for sure!

I love this one.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...598270.html?10

He has a whole blog about it too.
http://allanfamilygarden.blogspot.com/

these are very inspirational, I can't wait to dig into the blog. I listen to a weekly radio show on our local NPR, one of the women who is on the show has a blog (digginfood.com) and she mentioned that she had posted pictures of a friend's front yard garden. I just loved it. (the show is a great podcast by the way, even if you don't live in the Pacific NW--kuow's "weekday gardening panel")
http://www.digginfood.com/2010/01/an-edible-front-yard/

[tmphilo]

Last year my neighbor and I put in a series of raised beds on the city property just outside our fences (small town and the area was just a place for weeds to grow - looks much better now). We have 12 raised beds of varying sizes so we experiment with lots of things out there. We grew strawberries, squash, zucchini, snow peas, cucumbers, potatoes, kale, Walla Walla onions, cantelope and watermelon. There are also 6 blueberry bushes. I also grow tomatoes, dill, cilantro, jalapenos, lettuce and green onions in the raised bed in my back yard. Oregon had an unusually warm summer last year and our cantelope and watermelon did great. We had too many cantelope (they all pretty much ripened at the same time, and what are you going to do with 18 cantelope?) and way too many cucumbers. My daughter loves to go and pick the blueberries, strawberries and snow peas.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Wow, we are underacheivers. :)

We planted 1 cherry tomato, 1 red pepper & 1 green pepper.

2 strawberry plants have emerged from last year's debacle (they got overgrown by the zuchinni and the squirrels got the rest).

We have soybean seeds to plant.

Our raspberry bush, planted last year, is growing up a storm! Hopefully we'll get some berries this year!

Our dwarf lime tree is sadly neglected and may or may not come back after freezing this winter.

Our neighbor's orange tree hangs over our driveway and we can have as many oranges as we want.

We just don't have time to dedicate to gardening. Maybe we should plant a watermelon vine, though, because DH LOVES watermelon.

[Raidra]

Well, I don't know if we're going to do anything this year, because I don't know if/when we're moving. But we have a couple of raised beds and lots of big pots on our deck.. we usually plant beans (bush and pole), greens (spinach, some lettuce, chard), summer squash (zucchini and yellow), carrots, and tomatoes. We try out one or two new things a year, and they're usually flops.. acorn squash, cucumbers, pumpkins - didn't get more than one or two veggies from each plant, such a waste. I'm giving up on peas and broccoli this year, too, because the yield isn't high enough to justify the resources.

Last year we planted two raspberries, four or six blueberries, two apple trees, and two peach trees. The trees barely grew at all, same with the raspberries. My husband ran over *all* of our blueberry bushes, despite the fact that they were clearly mulched. I tried planting sunflowers to hide/pretty up the chicken coop, but squirrels dug up all the seeds.

Maybe I need a year off.. :)

[codex57]

We're pretty horrible.

At our old house, we had tomatoes, cucumbers and other squashes, sweet basil, and I think one other veggie.

Other than the tomatoes, and really just the cherry tomatoes, we didn't eat anything. We tried to pick them to give away, but a lot of the times we were too late.

Now, we're trying for fruit in the new house. Dunno how things are yet since I just got them in the ground this past weekend. We've got one Giant Utah cherry tree, and another cherry tree hybrid with 4 different types of cherries on it, including bing and ranier. Couple of blueberry bushes since DS eats them like candy and they're super expensive at the store. Pomegranate tree and a doughnut peach tree is in the mail apparently.

[Meatball Mommie]

I love to garden although I am fairly new to having a large garden to care for. This will be our 3rd year in our current location (we had containers at all previous homes/apts). I am actually taking a veggie gardening class through our local adult ed program and it's great so far! The best advise the instructor offered, was to plant what you eat and don't underestimate the power of small spaces! A lot can grow in a small garden if you succession plant and lots of cool things will do very well in containers (even potatoes!)

We grow:
tomatoes (lots and lots...mostly paste type as I can sauce and crushed tomatoes)
peppers (red bell for roasted red peppers - they freeze soooo well!; and hot peppers for relishes)
eggplant
peas (sugar snap and snow peas)
beans (I really want to try soybeans, but probably won't happen this year)
beets
carrots
parsnips
zucchini and summer squash (a little goes a long way)
butternut squash (a great keeper)
potatoes
lettuce
spinach

herbs:
basil (lots and lots - we love pesto!)
oregano
thyme
mint

fruit:
strawberries (my patch needs some work this year though)
blueberries (we planted 6 bushes 1 year ago, so not bearing yet)
apple trees (several)
plum treees (several)
Asian pear trees (several)

My in-laws have a mature peach tree and a mature sour cherry tree (great for jam) and a dozen blueberry bushes that are probably 50 years old.

[pb&j]

Not yet, but soon, I hope!

We can't have anything edible b/c of the deer superhighway running through our yard. And what the deer don't get, the bunnies do. So I finally broke down and am hiring someone to build raised beds and a deer fence.

It's late in the season here to start some things like peas, but still hoping to have plenty of time to get in tomatoes, cukes (for pickling), zucchini, carrots, herbs, greens, garlic, corn, soybeans (edamame), and beets. I also want to plant a couple of blueberry bushes, but frankly I am afraid it will attract bears. I literally almost bumped into a bear the other day while out for a run about 1/2 mile from my house. And bears looooooooove berries.

Anyway, I am hoping that we eat everything, and have picked stuff that I like to eat. DH and DC are such picky eaters that I am planting only to my taste, and am not even bothering to consider their. Unless I can grow a pizza shrub or a chocolate milk tree, there's no pleasing everyone.

I am hoping to can pickles from the cukes, and will probably find creative ways of freezing most other stuff that we can't eat right away. Also, I think our local food bank accepts donations of fresh produce from home gardeners, so if we run into a surplus, I'll definitely be looking in to that.

[fivi2]

Another good friend of mine has a big vegetable garden in their front yard.
I have never seen a vegetable garden in a front yard before! They were on
the front page of our local newspaper for their pumpkin patch. It got kinda
out of control in their yard!

There is a book - Edible Landscaping, I think - that has some nice ideas for front yard gardens (among other things).