Way O/T but... who else has a garden?

[Tripper]

Besides fooling around with cars, raising farm animals, woodworking, selling a lil real estate (for car parts) etc... I also love to have a small garden. Currently I'm raising squash, beets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, cucumbers, okra, lettuce & bush beans. I've fed myself fresh lunch out of the garden every day for the last 3 months! Anyone else?!?

BoB

 

[MercuryMac]

Tripper, I am also a gardener [a wee bit]. The frost is out of the ground almost completely now and I can walk in three quarters of the garden, ---- with my shoes on, [the rest is for rubber boots yet]. Our grass started greening up yesterday.
The summer birds are back or are passing through. There are bald and golden eagles, lots of hawks, robins, sandhill cranes, Canada geese and swans, whistler and trumpeter. The Trumpeter swans are very rare and usually nest around here. They talk while they are flying and sound a lot like Canada geese. When I was in school they told us that there were only 32 mating pairs left, in the early sixties. They have recovered quite well since then.

 

[Tripper]

The summer birds are back or are passing through. There are bald and golden eagles, lots of hawks, robins, sandhill cranes, Canada geese and swans, whistler and trumpeter. The Trumpeter swans are very rare and usually nest around here. They talk while they are flying and sound a lot like Canada geese. When I was in school they told us that there were only 32 mating pairs left, in the early sixties. They have recovered quite well since then.

Very cool. We have a big hawk swarm here in the spring & saw the geese headed back up your way a few weeks back!

BoB

 

[26Troadster]

didn't do a garden this year but did do 8 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes.

 

[hankthebigdog]

Only raising "super hot" peppers again this year. Got a dozen or so plants, but the weather/rain ain't been on our side here in OK.

 

[dmw56]

I was thinking about a garden thread! [cl[cl[cl

 

[Willowbilly3]

I garden. It won't be time to plant for a couple weeks yet. I'm not as excited about it as usual for some reason. Always tomatoes, potatoes, beets, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, onions, rhubarb, horseradish, strawberrys.

 

[dmw56]

I have only been gardening here in NM for the past 3 years cause the growing season is so short and the soil sucks here you have to grow in bed or containers. But I have been gardening for years. I've had the plastic containers for awhile. I just bought the stock tanks this year.
I've added two beds this year and a water collection system. I just have about 500 gallon capacity right now and need to add more.
I can't plant intimate at least mid May here. 6800 ft elevation.

 

[dmw56]

This was Saturday April 29 2017! This is why we don't plant until mid to end of May.

 

[Neto]

We keep a garden. Switched to box gardening a couple of years ago. Traditional garden just for raspberries, rhubarb, blueberries, & hot peppers. I just put in a box for the peppermint tea a couple of weeks ago - it tends to take over everything. Maybe we can contain it somewhat. Also have some fruit trees, but they don't do too well. We also had hardy kiwi until last year. It was so hard to control that we tore it all out.

 

[Willowbilly3]

I'm gradually going to more raised beds and landscape cloth. I also use a lot of mulch and grass clippings around stuff like tomatoes and peppers. Weeds are so prolific here they will take over if you don't stay on top of them. I also have about a dozen young fruit trees. We have to keep them caged in woven wire or the deer will destroy them.

 

[Sam_Fear]

We have a garden with the usual garden stuff and several kinds of hot peppers. Also a small herb garden. We also have a few car tires filled with dirt in a low spot. We've were putting vine plants in those, but they've had only about a 40% success rate. Like WB, if you don't mind the weeds for a week, that's about all you'll have.

We have had a terrible time getting to cabbage here. No problems at our old house, but here they mostly bolt. Cucumbers have been mostly failures also, but a lot of that were from cut worms.

When we moved here, I planted a small strawberry patch, a couple patches of asparagus (which is coming in strong right now), a blackberry, black raspberries, rhubarb, grapes, several apple, cherry, plum, and peach trees, and a couple blue berry and huckleberry bushes. Along with a bunch of other trees, bushes, and flowers.

A couple years ago, a converted part of our small shed into a greenhouse for my wife to start seeds early. That has also been hit or miss.

...and I just ordered a couple more packages of bees to add to the two hives we already have.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Last year was the first time I tried cabbage and they did great, also kohlrabi. I can't grow radish, don't even try anymore. Planted peach and pear trees last year. The pears blossomed already but I don't think the peaches made it. I have one nice 6 year old plum, never made fruit so I planted a couple more, they don't self pollinate. I have one raised bed where the dill and cilantro come volunteer. Grapes. chokecherrys but about every other year a late frost nips everything and 2 years ago the coons cleaned out the grapes in one night.

 

[Sam_Fear]

It might be too cold for a peach tree in your area. They have a hard time surviving our winters.

We do some kohlrabi too - I use it when canning green tomato chutney.

Last night the temps dipped down to 33. No frost on the windshield in the morning, but it's a reminder you can't get too impatient to plant.

 

[bob w]

I usually put in a half dozen Marigolds.

 

[TIMOTHALE]

cold country garden

I should be working up the garden spot, We still have some frost on the windshield in the mornings. Someone tried stealing gas out of the 1950 Massey, there was only about 1 1/2 gallons in the tank so they pulled all the wiring loose and I haven't figured out where they all go.
Has anybody ever put sugar in the gas to mess up the theives engines. Does it really work to seize an engine with carbon?
we went to a free garden seminar, the guy sold trace minerals and the formula on how to mix your own fertilizer. we raised the best cabage and broccalie ever. The guy had built and underground system to use geothermal heat for his greenhouse. I have a backhoe so when we get our retirement duplex done might try one. Youtubes at LDSPREPPER. He is about 35 miles south of us. The last few years we have had a bad spring freeze that killed all the blossoms on our 25 fruit trees.
here;s a youtube of how he built the air heating system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4fhHH83RA

 

[von-zipper]

Free food is always good. My wife is an avid gardner and it helps with the budget when you're retired and spend all your money on car parts! [ddd

Zipper

 

[Willowbilly3]

I usually put in a half dozen Marigolds.

I always plant a tub or 2 of them around the garden, supposed to ward of bugs. Must work, don't have much bugs.

sis has horses and I compost the horse poo and wet hay from around the hay feeders for garden dirt. I don't use much commercial fertilizer but use the stove ashes, coffee grounds and epsome salt ('maters love the magnesium)

 

[Skip]

I should be working up the garden spot, We still have some frost on the windshield in the mornings. Someone tried stealing gas out of the 1950 Massey, there was only about 1 1/2 gallons in the tank so they pulled all the wiring loose and I haven't figured out where they all go.
Has anybody ever put sugar in the gas to mess up the theives engines. Does it really work to seize an engine with carbon?
we went to a free garden seminar, the guy sold trace minerals and the formula on how to mix your own fertilizer. we raised the best cabage and broccalie ever. The guy had built and underground system to use geothermal heat for his greenhouse. I have a backhoe so when we get our retirement duplex done might try one. Youtubes at LDSPREPPER. He is about 35 miles south of us. The last few years we have had a bad spring freeze that killed all the blossoms on our 25 fruit trees.
here;s a youtube of how he built the air heating system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4fhHH83RA

Sugar will just clog up the filters. If you want to trash someone's engine use a gallon of cheap red wine.

I heard that somewhere. [ddd

 

[Undercover Customs]

Up until last year we were pretty serious gardeners. Had 2 greenhouses and used about a 1/3 acre of our 1.5 acres for veggies. Usually 70+ tomato plants, some peppers, tomatillos ( wife makes a mean salsa), various squash, beans and lettuce. We would usually sell about half our take if we had a good summer weather wise. We lived at the base of Mt Hood in Oregon, basically rain forrest with 75 plus inches of rain a year. Some years we'd have to harvest green tomatoes if the weather didn't cooperate. This place had a 2000+ sq ft shop for the car projects too. We also sold eggs from our 80+ chickens. Last year we downsized and moved to a small city in northern Washington, much different weather. Now I just have a 2 car garage for the cars but I'm actually getting more done on them. Anyway we still wanted to garden here at our new place but our back yard that faces south was all gravel so I've spent the last 3 months putting our raised bed deer protected garden in place. We're doing lettuce's, onions, tomatillos, peppers, beans, peas, artichokes, squash's, brocolli and cauliflower. We have much more sun exposure here so hoping for some hotter peppers here.