OT -- Any gardeners out there?

Chubbs

Sea2Ski said:

I am lucky to have a quarry about 20 miles away. They sell it by the the square foot, not the ton. If you can find that, you are golden. You only need something 2-4" thick, depending on overall surface size (the larger the thicker). If I can do it, so could you.

I need to see if a quarry near me sells to individuals. All of the garden centers are so overpriced. You can can get good stone in NC but by the the time I get it back here it will be a fortune too.

Chubbs

@Firemanyz man that's a big plot. I had weeds when I went right in the ground. Now that I do raised bed I get very little. Enough that it is easy to pick every other week or so in 5 minutes. Might give raised beds a try

Sea2Ski

Chubbs said:

I need to see if a quarry near me sells to individuals. All of the garden centers are so overpriced. You can can get good stone in NC but by the the time I get it back here it will be a fortune too.

I would be surprised if they wouldn't if the operation is on the smaller side. In this case, the smaller it is, the better luck I think you would have.  ha ha ha..

I am envious of all you others who can raise veggies!

NDG

Great Post . . I will be doing my own this coming year.  I bought this thing from Amazon few months ago, still in box and still have to stain it.  My thought was to get it high away from our dog/rabbits . . but hope it gives me enough space?

Shipment Details

Gronomics REGB 24-48 24-Inch by 48-Inch by 30-Inch Rustic Elevated Garden Bed, Unfinished  Sold by Amazon.com LLC $135.32

Sea2Ski 

NDG

@chubbs etc. . . any veggie/herb garden books or other resources to recommend?

fishlessman

started 3 small 40 inch diameter raised beds last year, might connect them this year. the tomato plants looked horrible, dry leaves, yellow, but pushed out lots of tomatoes, one plant pushed out 40 something tomatoes
  i have 8 blueberry bushes rowed up along the river, an asparagus bed that doesnt produce much, a small cranberry bog that is starting to produce well, a mint garden for the drinks and lamb  from some smuggled in mint from lebanon from 3 generations ago, horseradish hidden here and there. 2 asian pairs, a huge cherry tree, a row of nanking cherries, a yellow delicous apple, a couple pole apples planted last summer, concord and cataba grapes. some herbs in an old weber. containers i have fig, keifer lime, rosemary, and bay

tarheelmatt

Something I have wanted to do was Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholemew.  A guy at work let me borrow his book, but with a newborn baby at the time, I didn't have much time for reading.  

http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Second-Edition/dp/1591865484

saluki2007

Lots of good info here guys.  Thanks.  Have I have dabbled with it in the past, but we have been moving so much it has been hard to get something set up.  Our house should be done being built end of May beginning of June and plan on putting several raised beds in.  Like others have mentioned, love making home made salsa from fresh veggies.  Love to put the veggies on the egg for a "smoked salsa".

NDG

tarheelmatt  . . . I will put my tax dollars to work and rent Mel Bartholemew's book from my library this week.

tarheelmatt

NDG said:

tarheelmatt  . . . I will put my tax dollars to work and rent Mel Bartholemew's book from my library this week.

You can grow a TON of stuff in a very small space.  Little to no weeds and there isn't a need to water as much.  His Mel's mix is some good stuff.  

AlbertaEgger

Love all the pics, makes me miss summer a lot more now. Cant wait till we can start ours again this year. I keep telling the wife we need to expand it, have plenty of room, but I dont think thats going to happen. We end up pickling alot of the garden anyways. Give most of it away to family and friends. The pic of the canning was from one weekend, I think we ended up with 5 times that by the time we were done. We also grow pappers in pots in the rock garden. Cant beat fresh veggies for supper.

The deer and the moose are the biggest issue with gardens out here.

 

tkleager

Funny, the wife and I started planning out the garden yesterday afternoon.  We are approx 56x56.  We have three 12x12 raised beds, and 2 6x6 raised beds within that 56x56.
Last year we didn't do so well with it.  It was a new garden, and I think the compost that I got out of the corrals was a little nitrogen hot.  Really hoping that things will be better this year.

Plans for this year include: asparagus, sweet corn, potatoes, onions, garlic, beets (keep the MIL happy), Brussels sprouts, cabbage, bush beans, snow peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes (Beef Steak, cherry, romas) cucumbers, pumpkins.

Rhubarb was there when we moved in, and we planted raspberries, blueberries and a cherry bush last year that will hopefully do something this year.

This was last year before we got the beds built.

TN_Sister_State

Im putting in a 4x12 foot raised bed in next weekend. Plan on growing heirloom varieties. My first house where I could have a garden worth having. Hard to grow too much living downtown in a condo building, although I did successfully grow some ghost chili plants there.

texaswig

If everything goes well,the house we're buying has plenty of room for a huge garden. It already has 10 or 12 pecan trees. And I'm planning on adding fruit trees, rhubarb, and other things that come back year after year. sooner or later a small green house.

Chubbs

texaswig said:

If everything goes well,the house we're buying has plenty of room for a huge garden. It already has 10 or 12 pecan trees. And I'm planning on adding fruit trees, rhubarb, and other things that come back year after year. sooner or later a small green house.

Nice. I am looking at a small greenhouse as well. I have an area behind my shed where I make compost and would be nice to have a greenhouse there as well. Plenty of sun yet secluded from the house.

Randall_Lee

Really enjoy growing veggies and herbs,do most all planting in pots and a small raised bed. The collards and kale have done well over the winter, planted some Ga. Sweets onion a couple of days ago. Ready for the weather to turn so I can start planting peppers and tomato's

Nothing better than a late afternoon, a water hose and a cold beer to wind down the day.

Chubbs

My seedlings are a few old indoors now. My tomatoes have purplish leaves. Anyone have experience with this? I have read it could be a phosphorous deficiency, too cold of water when watering or too cold of growing conditions. Stumped

Randall_Lee

Ran across this sounded like what you are dealing with. 
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2180477/tomato-leaves-turning-purple-help

Chubbs

Randall_Lee said:

Ran across this sounded like what you are dealing with. 
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2180477/tomato-leaves-turning-purple-help

Thanks man. Yeah I read something similar so much be legit. I fed them with a half dosage of mild fertilizer to try and offset it some and will see what happens in next 5 or so. 

oldgeezeystax

Excellent gardens everyone!

I hope to one day build some raised beds but for the time being I am limited to containers.  Last year I grew some tomatoes, bell peppers, habanero, lettuce, and various herbs but the only thing I really had success with was the habanero.  I probably didn't take nearly as much care of everything as I should have but last year was SUPER busy for me.  I'm not gonna give up and will try again this year.

Question: The potting soil that I was buying was super spendy.  For those of you that grow in containers, what type of soil do you recommend that won't break the bank?

Chubbs

Sorry to bump my own thread but wanted to post a pic of the tomatoes I have growing inside. Not pictures are poblano, jalapeño, bell, basil, cucumber, squash, zucchini, rosemary, thyme, scallions, sweet onions. Ready to get everything in the ground 

Legume

Looks great @Chubbs, ours are going in the ground this week, just need to amend the soil and reorg the drip.

Eggcelsior

Where's the wacky tobacky?

Chubbs

Legume said:

Looks great @Chubbs, ours are going in the ground this week, just need to amend the soil and reorg the drip.

Nice. I gave my drip irrigation a test run this weekend and need to replace a few ball vmalves and she will be ready. I am adding a new 40 sq ft bed this year so need to prep that one with compost and top soil. 

Chubbs

Eggcelsior said:

Where's the wacky tobacky?

In my greenhouse

Jeremiah

That's great man. Can't wait to get ours going as well... I built these a couple weeks ago... Wish now I would have started inside like you did. I'll be paying top dollar at lowes for those Bonnie starters again this year. 

Chubbs

Jeremiah said:

That's great man. Can't wait to get ours going as well... I built these a couple weeks ago... Wish now I would have started inside like you did. I'll be paying top dollar at lowes for those Bonnie starters again this year. 

Those are some nice beds. Need a friend to help you move those to place. I made mistake of building mine on driveway when wife out of town and it was fun carrying them to backyard by myself. Nice craftsmanship on those. I wish I had a little ledge to sit on

billyray

getting ready for the plantinglanting.

jimithing

You guys have some nice setups going.  I've just got 1 raised bed - it's about 10 by 4.  I thought about making another this season but we'll probably be moving in a couple of months so I think I'll wait until then.  I need a more strategic place that I can easily fence off to keep the dogs out of the garden.  They like to dig in the nice soft dirt. 

I originally started doing this because I wanted my kid to understand that food doesn't just magically appear in a grocery store.  She's 5 now and loves working in the garden with me.  We started our tomatoes and peppers inside about 6 weeks ago and just put them in the ground yesterday.  We'll directly sow some squash, zucchini okra and maybe green beans in the next week or so.

Firemanyz

 Just tilled the garden today and added some chicken manure. It's going to rain tomorrow so I wanted to let the poop seep down.