What do you grow?

[Pogo]

That's what I did last year, got all ambitious. Not this year, I just bought some tomato seedlings and a couple of herbs and that'll prolly be it. Way too much work.

But -- excellent use of the PGA Tour DVD though

 

[Mertex]

Well, I think I may have lied. I said I was only going to grow tomatoes and peppers this year, and I went ape shit and bought all kinds of plants/seeds.

I'm growing:

Squash (yellow)
Zucchini
Okra
Eggplant
Green beans
Cantaloup
Peppers
Tomatoes
Brussel sprouts (first time, hoping they do good)
Radishes
Edamame (saw these at Home Depot and decided to try them out...I love the fruit in salads).
cucumbers
Asparagus (this bed remains year after year, just harvest them and spread compost material on the bed)

This is the way it looked one week ago....I already have several little tomatoes on my tomato plants...

And, I did finish putting rocks in my paths...lots less work pulling weeds...although there is some sort of grass that is managing to come through the newspaper, black cloth and rocks...damn, some strong sort, for sure.

This is how the paths look now.

I've also hayed almost all the beds to keep the weeds down.

All my plants are doing well.....here is a picture of my tomato plants on May 1, 2014...they've grown quite a bit and I counted 18 tomatoes today.

 

[sameech]

Hello, all. I am having some results with my garden but I got a late start. Mine is very small this year compared to most years as I had some family issues to deal with. I plant the usual suspects--tomatoes, spring onions, sweet onions, sweet bell and banana peppers, couple egg plants, a few green beans, lettuce varieties, beets, a hand-full of leftover blue potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and some Christmas beans so far. Sounds like a lot but I do high density planting in smaller spaces with very mixed results depending on what the weather is like and how hungry the deer are.

 

[Mertex]

Hello, all. I am having some results with my garden but I got a late start. Mine is very small this year compared to most years as I had some family issues to deal with. I plant the usual suspects--tomatoes, spring onions, sweet onions, sweet bell and banana peppers, couple egg plants, a few green beans, lettuce varieties, beets, a hand-full of leftover blue potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and some Christmas beans so far. Sounds like a lot but I do high density planting in smaller spaces with very mixed results depending on what the weather is like and how hungry the deer are.

Hello sameech,
Good to have you share. Considering the many things you grow, it doesn't sound like your garden is small....you must have had a huge one before!

I've never tried growing onions, I may have to try those next year. My tomatoes are doing really, really well, in fact, I have about six that are ready for me to harvest. They are not red yet, but they are big enough to make some mighty fine "fried green tomatoes".

My squash plants have blooms, but no squash yet. Last year I only got a few squash, then the plants just gave up the ghost. We don't get enough rain, and I probably didn't water them as much as they would have liked.

Post some pictures of your garden/plants if you have any, and thanks for sharing. Keep us posted on the progress of your plants.

 

[sameech]

Hello, Mertex. Thanks. No it really is small this year--maybe 40X35 or so--haven't really measured. I have never planted this densely before so I expect problems along the ways--I doubled up on my row widths and narrowed my spaces between them. I usually plant the area I did this year, another spot about 35x35 and a third area maybe 120x40. I will put up some pics when I have something worth showing. I am in the edge of zone 7 in Virginia so our season is really just starting with all the spring rain and snows having kept it too cold/wet. My tomatoes are barely hitting on a foot still and my greenbeans are just starting to leaf out some. Have had a little lettuce and spring onions.

 

[Mertex]

Hello, Mertex. Thanks. No it really is small this year--maybe 40X35 or so--haven't really measured. I have never planted this densely before so I expect problems along the ways--I doubled up on my row widths and narrowed my spaces between them. I usually plant the area I did this year, another spot about 35x35 and a third area maybe 120x40. I will put up some pics when I have something worth showing. I am in the edge of zone 7 in Virginia so our season is really just starting with all the spring rain and snows having kept it too cold/wet. My tomatoes are barely hitting on a foot still and my greenbeans are just starting to leaf out some. Have had a little lettuce and spring onions.

My garden, I think is only 20X40 or 20X50, not exactly sure which, so yours is way bigger. I usually plant my tomatoes too close to each other, this year I tried to spread them a bit further, but now that they've grown, they're looking pretty crowded. Yep, you're in a colder zone than we are, (we're zone 8) although this year the winter lingered and my garden had a late start. My radishes are not doing so well, I usually get nice big ones, this year they are small, but very tasty. I planted them in a bed where I haven't worked in really good soil, so that may be one of the reasons. I lived in Virginia (Fairfax) some years back - had a small yard, but was able to grow nice big tomatoes in my flower beds...

 

[September]

I plant seeds in people's minds, watching them grow into something beautiful. Some need to be watered more than others. In some, there is even fruit to pick afterwards.

Some even grow poisonous and become a danger to life around them.

 

[sameech]

My garden, I think is only 20X40 or 20X50, not exactly sure which, so yours is way bigger. I usually plant my tomatoes too close to each other, this year I tried to spread them a bit further, but now that they've grown, they're looking pretty crowded. Yep, you're in a colder zone than we are, (we're zone 8) although this year the winter lingered and my garden had a late start. My radishes are not doing so well, I usually get nice big ones, this year they are small, but very tasty. I planted them in a bed where I haven't worked in really good soil, so that may be one of the reasons. I lived in Virginia (Fairfax) some years back - had a small yard, but was able to grow nice big tomatoes in my flower beds...

I did things like plant the spaces between my tomatoes with georgia sweet onions to try to fill in the void. I guess I will see how well this works. in a few months. I used to live in Fairfax near Mason and then moved down Braddock to the Kings Park area. I hated that place. Way too much traffic. I live in the south central part of the state now (Danville area where they are dredging that Duke Energy coal ash spill out of our water supply as we speak) Radishes are hit and miss for me. Seems like the longer ones do better than the round ones, but I am not a big fan of them either way.

 

[sameech]

Got the rest of my garden planted today just as it was starting to rain so it worked out perfectly. Will throw some pumpkin seeds down round July 1, but otherwise for the rest of the season it will be weeding and eating.

 

[sameech]

Got the rest of my garden planted today just as it was starting to rain so it worked out perfectly. Will throw some pumpkin seeds down round July 1, but otherwise for the rest of the season it will be weeding and eating.

Correction--I thought it worked out perfectly. The rain cut a gully through one of my rows so who knows where my poor Okra may have ended up. I may end up it a hill with lots of okra instead of a row of it

 

[Marianne]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

 

[sameech]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

What is the secret to getting rosemary to grow? I can get many things to thrive, but the second I touch rosemary, it croaks.

 

[Mertex]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

What is the secret to getting rosemary to grow? I can get many things to thrive, but the second I touch rosemary, it croaks.

I don't know....maybe it is too wet in Virginia for Rosemary. It seems to do really well here in the Hill Country.....but we are fairly dry. I have so many Rosemary plants all around my yard, the creeping kind and the one that grows straight up....it's like a weed around here.

This is a whole hedge of the creeping one:

And this is another hedge of the one that grows straight up:

 

[Mertex]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

Hi Marianne...Welcome to USMB, and thanks for sharing about what you are growing. I love tomatoes and bell peppers.

I just harvested 4 green tomatoes yesterday to fry...I love green fried tomatoes. My bell pepper plants produced so much last year, this year I planted fewer plants. They are now blooming, hope to have peppers in about a month.

We'd love to see a picture of your plants, if you care to post them....

 

[Mertex]

My garden, I think is only 20X40 or 20X50, not exactly sure which, so yours is way bigger. I usually plant my tomatoes too close to each other, this year I tried to spread them a bit further, but now that they've grown, they're looking pretty crowded. Yep, you're in a colder zone than we are, (we're zone 8) although this year the winter lingered and my garden had a late start. My radishes are not doing so well, I usually get nice big ones, this year they are small, but very tasty. I planted them in a bed where I haven't worked in really good soil, so that may be one of the reasons. I lived in Virginia (Fairfax) some years back - had a small yard, but was able to grow nice big tomatoes in my flower beds...

I did things like plant the spaces between my tomatoes with georgia sweet onions to try to fill in the void. I guess I will see how well this works. in a few months. I used to live in Fairfax near Mason and then moved down Braddock to the Kings Park area. I hated that place. Way too much traffic. I live in the south central part of the state now (Danville area where they are dredging that Duke Energy coal ash spill out of our water supply as we speak) Radishes are hit and miss for me. Seems like the longer ones do better than the round ones, but I am not a big fan of them either way.

I lived in Arlington, too, then came back to Texas...then ended up in Va again. This time in Fairfax and later bought a townhouse in Vienna, just a few blocks away from where we lived in Fairfax. The traffic was horrendous. I worked in DC, and if not for the subway, it would have been a nightmare.

I've never tried the long radishes...maybe I should try those. I've harvested quite a few now, but they are all rather small. I have to work some good soil into that bed, it's one I didn't use much before.

 

[Hossfly]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

What is the secret to getting rosemary to grow? I can get many things to thrive, but the second I touch rosemary, it croaks.

[MENTION=48997]sameech[/MENTION] For Rosemary try cutting bananna peels in inch long pieces. and spread them around the base of the plant. I use a concoction of bananna peels, coffee grounds and egg shells and old outdated spices and put them in a blender and puree them with an equal amount of water. There's all kinds of magnesium, phosphorus, calcium etc in this mess and it makes very fine fertilizer. One other important thing is to never put any chemicals in your garden that kills worms. Worms are the secret to a productive garden. Just ask [MENTION=43625]Mertex[/MENTION].

 

[sameech]

Thanks. I will give it a try.

 

[Mertex]

Tomatoes,peppers, and herbs like sage and rosemary in containers and a few flowers in the planters and flower beds in the front yard.

What is the secret to getting rosemary to grow? I can get many things to thrive, but the second I touch rosemary, it croaks.

[MENTION=48997]sameech[/MENTION] For Rosemary try cutting bananna peels in inch long pieces. and spread them around the base of the plant. I use a concoction of bananna peels, coffee grounds and egg shells and old outdated spices and put them in a blender and puree them with an equal amount of water. There's all kinds of magnesium, phosphorus, calcium etc in this mess and it makes very fine fertilizer. One other important thing is to never put any chemicals in your garden that kills worms. Worms are the secret to a productive garden. Just ask [MENTION=43625]Mertex[/MENTION].

We compost, so everything that is not meat or dairy or has been cooked goes into the compost...I actually don't have to do anything to my Rosemary plants. I make cuttings from the older plants, put a little root starter on the stems and then plant them in little 4 inch pots, they take off easy...then I just plant them in the ground.

I guess you mean worms in the ground....yep, they are very good. You do not want the worms that like to eat tomato plants....those have to be dealt with.

 

[sameech]

I lived in Arlington, too, then came back to Texas...then ended up in Va again. This time in Fairfax and later bought a townhouse in Vienna, just a few blocks away from where we lived in Fairfax. The traffic was horrendous. I worked in DC, and if not for the subway, it would have been a nightmare.

I've never tried the long radishes...maybe I should try those. I've harvested quite a few now, but they are all rather small. I have to work some good soil into that bed, it's one I didn't use much before.

Been there done that. I used to work on the Hill and took the Vienna metro in. When I moved, I could use the Springfield station which was better because I was going in the opposite direction of rushhour traffic each way. The traffic was why I left that area. 70-80 minutes each way got old fast.

I think our heavy clay soil may be the reason the round ones never do well. They just do not have the umph to fight the clay on the surface the way the longer radishes do.

 

[Hossfly]

What is the secret to getting rosemary to grow? I can get many things to thrive, but the second I touch rosemary, it croaks.

[MENTION=48997]sameech[/MENTION] For Rosemary try cutting bananna peels in inch long pieces. and spread them around the base of the plant. I use a concoction of bananna peels, coffee grounds and egg shells and old outdated spices and put them in a blender and puree them with an equal amount of water. There's all kinds of magnesium, phosphorus, calcium etc in this mess and it makes very fine fertilizer. One other important thing is to never put any chemicals in your garden that kills worms. Worms are the secret to a productive garden. Just ask [MENTION=43625]Mertex[/MENTION].

We compost, so everything that is not meat or dairy or has been cooked goes into the compost...I actually don't have to do anything to my Rosemary plants. I make cuttings from the older plants, put a little root starter on the stems and then plant them in little 4 inch pots, they take off easy...then I just plant them in the ground.

I guess you mean worms in the ground....yep, they are very good. You do not want the worms that like to eat tomato plants....those have to be dealt with.

Yes, I meant good old fishing worms -earthworms. Also I plant rosemary where they don't get a lot of water. It has to be watered occasionaly but they are like azalias - they don't like to get their feet wet.( That's what an old gardener told me)