| jogran
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I would love to trade Ideas combining two of my obsessions, newbie veggie growing and successful South Beaching
I had a combo of containers and small veggie garden last year. I was able to grow most of the veggies I consumed on the SB WOE
I had a salad garden in containers on my deck
plus rhubarb, hot peppers, tomatoes, zuchini, eggplant, cukes, beans , sno peas, spinach, etc. in a little 12X14 foot garden
It was amazing to me that I was able to have so much produce at my fingertips with very little effort. (even enough to supply small baskets to my friends at times)
so far I have already planted a few 'cold weather crops' spinach, sno peas, and onions.
I am concentrating on getting the ground ready to plant one 4X4 square foot garden |
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Thu May 03, 2007 3:27 pm |
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| Lynt
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| With ya! I think growing vegetables is hugely satisfying, and I absolutely love wandering out to my garden in summer just before dinner and picking the selection for the meal just a short time before eating it. We have a big garden now, because we bought an extra quarter acre from a neighbor so we'd have the garden space. Before however, ours was small, and much of it container grown. It is amazing what even small space and container gardeneing can produce! We just finished roto tilling, and got the peas planted..the rest has to wait until Memorial day around here. |
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Thu May 03, 2007 11:09 pm |
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| jogran
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ditto on Memorial day here in southern Michigan,
what zone are you in?
Have you ever done a square foot garden?
I will baby an early girl tomato on my second floor deck, It gets a lot of sun and I can drag the container inside if we get a hard frost.
what do you plant? |
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Sat May 05, 2007 12:41 am |
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| Lynt
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We're in Zone 3b..challenging, that!
We grow all sorts of things! Tomatoes, peppers of various kinds, peas, potatoes, zuccini, crookneck, and scallop squash, acorn squash, trying spagetti squash this year (trying to start seed indoors) green beans, cucumbers, beets, chard, spinach, various lettuces, broccoli, cauloflower and brussels sprouts. We can't get full sized eggplant to harvest here..too short a growing season, but some of the little oriental eggplant will grow long enough to eat. Also have two apple trees. |
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Sat May 05, 2007 1:01 pm |
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| Lynt
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| What's your zone, and what is a square foot garden? |
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Sat May 05, 2007 1:03 pm |
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| blu.
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We are huge gardeners! DH grew up on a large farm. Unfortunatley, we moved 2 years ago and now we have a lot of shade and have to fight off the deers. We grew asparagus fro the first time thie year and it seemed to do well ( you can't eat it until year 2). Other things that grow well for us are lettuces and spinach. They are in the ground and some have even started to come up. I love the satisfaction of watching it grow.
Luckily, my fresh produce is supplied by my DH's family, all year long. Next to his eggplant parm., I really think the farm is another reason I married him!! |
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Sun May 06, 2007 8:35 pm |
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| jogran
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some charts put me in zone 7... but I guess I should look that up
I did the oriental eggplant last year and really liked thier size for grilling
I will plant both this year, as I didn't get as great a yield as the previous year.
my sno peas and spinach were peeking through this a.m. when I checked out my little space.
Lyn and Blu I want to raid YOUR gardens mine is tiny but productive.
Square foot gardens are 4X4 divided into 16 squares and planted to maximize yield. The object is to kind of crowd the plants into smallish squares rather than rows to better maintain and rotate them. This is my first year, and I think it makes sense for a single person who loves to sow and reap but .....maintain? ... not so much :lol:
however I do have spinach and snow peas in rows because they are early and I often don't get as far as the kitchen before they are eaten :twisted:
Lyn You met Meryl Streep 8) tell us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Sun May 06, 2007 9:04 pm |
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| jogran
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For more info on square foot gardens check out book
(same name) by Mel Bartholomew,
also thegardenersforum.com ( I think)
That is another really good informative and friendly forum. |
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Sun May 06, 2007 9:12 pm |
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| Lynt
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| Meryl Streep? Her country place is not far from the village where my DD lives, and she shops for herself sometimes, and attends some children' interest events. I met her casually at one of the latter. People locally let her be pretty much..she lives a family centered low key lifestyle and doesn't court publicity as so many do. OTOH, she has genuine talent, so her status doesn't depend on her publicist, unlike alot of them either. |
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Sun May 06, 2007 11:37 pm |
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| JSCsMom
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I love gardening too! We live in a small rural community in NE Ohio, Zone 5, so we have some decent growing weather most of the time.... We always plant tomatoes, peppers, spinach, green beans, peas, onions, zucchini, etc... This year we are also going to plant spaghetti squash and eggplant!
We have radishes up now (for some reason DH planted them), peas, onions, spinach and buttercrunch lettuce up as well. We normally don't plant the tomatoes and peppers until Memorial Day... That's when it is supposedly "safe" from frost around here! |
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Mon May 07, 2007 12:39 pm |
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| Lynt
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| The spagetti squash I started inside is coming up! I've never had a lot of luck with indoor seedlings, so i am really tickeled! |
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Mon May 07, 2007 10:51 pm |
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| A-Rod
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okay gardners, for the first time i have enough space to plant pots ... i have a few herb pots thus far that are doing well.
i always figured that veggies took up too much room to be able to grow sufficient quantities in large pots, but apparently i'm mistaken - any suggestions for good growers in small spaces? i'm in zone 5, btw. |
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Tue May 08, 2007 11:26 pm |
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| Lynt
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| Cherry tomatoes and cucumbers can even be grown in hanging baskets. I have big oak barrels for my herbs, and used to grow tomato plants in barrels, lettuce in an old wheel barrow in the back yard, and DH has even grown zuccini in barrels. There are sites online for container gardening, but I can't remember which ones. I reached them five years ago by search. Now we have more than enough land for a regular garden, but for many years containers were our "veggie farm". |
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Wed May 09, 2007 12:17 pm |
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| peacefulpath
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Hi all! Thought I'd chime in here. I've got the bulk of my garden planted, although I still have to put in my tomato and pepper plants (eggplant possibly if the nursery has some), plus I dedicate an entire row (8' long approx) to sunflowers. I love them - ADORE THEM! - and would plant my entire yard with them if it weren't for the various foraging creatures (deer, ground hog, porcupine, moose) who dearly love to chomp all my hard work. (BTW, we have about a 10x10 foot section fenced off to keep out the intruders. I've laughed hysterically watching the ground hog up on its haunches trying to figure out how to get into the giant "salad bar")
In the meantime, I've already jumped the gun and planted my seeds for green beans, cukes, zukes, and summer squash, and put in basil, chamomile, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, strawberries and catnip (gotta keep my kitties happy!), and my thyme and sage came back from last year, as well as the very hearty chives (they keep popping up faithfully year after year) and lavendar. And the mint.......OMG, do not EVER plant mint, unless its in a container. Oh well, I was warned its invasive. Little did I realize just how invasive........ |
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Wed May 09, 2007 8:05 pm |
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| Lynt
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| Oregano is wicked invasive too, peaceful path..started with four timy plants, and a year later had a 10'x10' patch of the stuff rapidly headed for Canada! |
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Wed May 09, 2007 8:42 pm |
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