Anybody garden here?

[MrBoat]

I'm one of those people who believe our real estate should pay us back in more ways than just living on it. I have, over the years, adapted from ornamentals, to edible landscape. I use an organic method geared towards water conservation. Anybody else?

 

[TheWarrior]

Study companion farming. For example, Tomatoes and Basil not only taste good together, but the scent of basil is a deterrent to the caterpillars that like wreck tomato crops.

I'll get my massive new back deck finished this year, and with bench seating i was going to include raised beds and get back to gardening. Last time I did it, I went away for 2 weeks and it apparently rained the entire time. Almost everything developed a fungus and died, but damn the peppers were good!

 

[j_garcia]

I used to when I had land, but now live in an apartment. I still have quite a few plants, some of which are herbs and ornamental/fragrance, but I only have so much space and sun.

 

[highfigh]

Study companion farming. For example, Tomatoes and Basil not only taste good together, but the scent of basil is a deterrent to the caterpillars that like wreck tomato crops.

I'll get my massive new back deck finished this year, and with bench seating i was going to include raised beds and get back to gardening. Last time I did it, I went away for 2 weeks and it apparently rained the entire time. Almost everything developed a fungus and died, but damn the peppers were good!

Did the raised beds have good drainage? I installed mine a few years ago and dug fairly deep, put a layer of 2"-3" stone and filled it with gravel before the soil went in. I put a layer of landscape fabric over the gravel. Unfortunately, my neighbor put green fuzzy crap in the chain-link fence, to keep the dog from going nuts whenever it saw movement in my yard, so that blocks the sunlight. I set it up so it's North to South, which didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I plan to move it so it's East-West. I want more herbs and spices, as well as peppers and tomatoes.

I don't use any chemicals for my veggies/herbs, just compost- we have curbside pickup for bagged material, but I don't do that. Grass always goes onto the pile and I don't rake often in fall. I developed a hatred for doing that as a kid and since it's usually windy, it's just a waste of time and effort so I use my mower to mulch the grass and leaves, dump it on the pile and when I run out of room, THEN, I lay it at the curb so the city can suck it up with their truck.

Free dirt is good- been doing that for over 20 years.

 

[j_garcia]

I compost too. I have a 5 gal sand drum with a lid that I ventilated that I throw all my old veg scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc... into with some soil in it and just turn it regularly. Seems to work really well for not having a yard and the plants love the compost.

 

[TheWarrior]

Did the raised beds have good drainage? I installed mine a few years ago and dug fairly deep, put a layer of 2"-3" stone and filled it with gravel before the soil went in. I put a layer of landscape fabric over the gravel. Unfortunately, my neighbor put green fuzzy crap in the chain-link fence, to keep the dog from going nuts whenever it saw movement in my yard, so that blocks the sunlight. I set it up so it's North to South, which didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I plan to move it so it's East-West. I want more herbs and spices, as well as peppers and tomatoes.

I don't use any chemicals for my veggies/herbs, just compost- we have curbside pickup for bagged material, but I don't do that. Grass always goes onto the pile and I don't rake often in fall. I developed a hatred for doing that as a kid and since it's usually windy, it's just a waste of time and effort so I use my mower to mulch the grass and leaves, dump it on the pile and when I run out of room, THEN, I lay it at the curb so the city can suck it up with their truck.

Free dirt is good- been doing that for over 20 years.

No raised beds just manually churned/amended soil. GA is mostly dense clay so water drainage is an issue. (Lesson learned)

My yard (like most here) was a previous chemical yard so organic components are slowly being reconstituted. Grass gets mowed and not bagged in my yard. Hoping this year healthy grass will take over and be dense enough to control weeds/clovers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Maybe some day I'll make a concerted effort but I don't think my thumb is very green at all....tried some peppers and tomatoes in the pre-existing planter box last year and the crop was....disappointing .

 

[TheWarrior]

Maybe some day I'll make a concerted effort but I don't think my thumb is very green at all....tried some peppers and tomatoes in the pre-existing planter box last year and the crop was....disappointing .

Re: companion farming, depending on the type of pepper that may have been the problem if they were in one box together. But other factors may have played in too.

It's a learning process for sure, and sometimes the weather doesn't care how much you've learned!

 

[lovinthehd]

Re: companion farming, depending on the type of pepper that may have been the problem if they were in one box together. But other factors may have played in too.

It's a learning process for sure, and sometimes the weather doesn't care how much you've learned!

Jalapenos, and got more of them by a good bit than the tomatoes....think sunlight on the box was the bigger difference, and I put the tomatoes in the sunnier part; I also have considerable shade from several large trees, too....don't know if the owner who put the box in was ever successful, the gal I bought the house from wasn't using it, she had it covered to keep some cats out who thought it was their litter box (the flowers she maintained in a better spot in the yard I haven't managed to quite kill off yet, maybe if I try again I'll do it there instead .

 

[highfigh]

No raised beds just manually churned/amended soil. GA is mostly dense clay so water drainage is an issue. (Lesson learned)

My yard (like most here) was a previous chemical yard so organic components are slowly being reconstituted. Grass gets mowed and not bagged in my yard. Hoping this year healthy grass will take over and be dense enough to control weeds/clovers.

My lawn sometimes looks like a University of Wisconsin Ag Dept experiment, to see how many different weeds can survive in close proximity, but they're always dead by fall and I keep the grass relatively long, so it never really turns brown in the driest weather. My area has a lot of clay, too- I planted a trio of birch trees and it happened to be one of the hottest, most humid days of the year. After three hours, I called it 'done'- I was rode hard and put away wet.

 

[MrBoat]

I use self watering containers, most of which I make myself. I have had some pretty impressive results. Cabbages to 10+ lbs, 2 lb heirloom tomatoes etc. Purple carrots, lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples, watermelons etc .

Here's a haul of sweet potatoes. All organic nutrients and zero pesticide. The greens are edible as well.

Here is some cabbage grown in the same boxes. Again, no chemicals. I have instead created an oasis for the brown anoles, who devour any insect that comes near. These only get fertilized at the beginning of the grow and that's it. Uses about 10% of the water vs. conventional methods.

This head of cabbage topped the scales at 11lbs plus.

 

[MrBoat]

I like to cook. I used to watch the cooking shows on tv, where the chefs would just walk over to a pantry and grab these beautiful ingredients. I could not find these in the normal stores so, I set out to make sure I had better than what they could get, or that I could afford at least.

There is nothing that tastes like a carrot pulled fresh from the ground. I grow a couple pots of these every year. My grandkids prefer these over junk food.

I typically grow 4 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes in the same system on a specialized, portable trellis. Mostly for tomato sandwiches. It's something I have become known for around this neighborhood. This is all dead simple to do.

Asian long beans. I do work a full time job, which is a testament to how well this works. I can usually eat something from the garden for 7-8 months out of the year.

 

[MrBoat]

This is done in a way to where my neighbors find it attractive. It also helps that I share the bounty with them. A few neighbors became interested and have some minor plots of their own.

This on the way out the door to work yesterday morning. This is breakfast sometimes. All of this started when my doc told me my cholesterol/bp was a 'little' high. I really didn't want to go down that road. I found that if these things are right outside my door, I will eat them often.

It's just more of that DIY thing.

 

[MrBoat]

This will give an idea to what this consists of. If anyone is interested, I can provide some links. Especially those who live in smaller spaces. It's not something I invented, although, I have customized the process somewhat to fit my needs.

The plastic cover keeps the rain from washing the fertilizer away and helps conserve water. Other than that, I use the university's ag information pages for the best planting dates for our state/zone and what to plant.

ETA: I raise composting (red wigglers) worms. Which is one of the not so secret ingredients. They devour cardboard, veggie scraps and paper etc.

 

[TheWarrior]

My lawn sometimes looks like a University of Wisconsin Ag Dept experiment, to see how many different weeds can survive in close proximity, but they're always dead by fall and I keep the grass relatively long, so it never really turns brown in the driest weather. My area has a lot of clay, too- I planted a trio of birch trees and it happened to be one of the hottest, most humid days of the year. After three hours, I called it 'done'- I was rode hard and put away wet.

I was born in Sheboygan, and still have family all over the state. More than the humidity, it was always the 100 degree temp swings that region sustains that drive me nuts! Summer could be blistering, and winter kinda goes without saying.

Only tree planting I've done so far is Green Giant Cypress and a Cedar that was given one year when my sis recycled the xmas tree. Many more cypresses will go in the future. I don't really care for 10' fences, a green fence will do just fine!

 

[TheWarrior]

Jalapenos, and got more of them by a good bit than the tomatoes....think sunlight on the box was the bigger difference, and I put the tomatoes in the sunnier part; I also have considerable shade from several large trees, too....don't know if the owner who put the box in was ever successful, the gal I bought the house from wasn't using it, she had it covered to keep some cats out who thought it was their litter box (the flowers she maintained in a better spot in the yard I haven't managed to quite kill off yet, maybe if I try again I'll do it there instead .

The only thing I know about planter boxes is to not use a full screen mesh on the bottom. It allows for too much drainage - Something I picked up when designing my deck boxes. A solid bottom with a hole is really all you need, but you also may be talking about a different type of box.

Keep trying! The ability to grow food is sadly going to become more and more relevant, me thinks!

 

[lovinthehd]

The only thing I know about planter boxes is to not use a full screen mesh on the bottom. It allows for too much drainage - Something I picked up when designing my deck boxes. A solid bottom with a hole is really all you need, but you also may be talking about a different type of box.

Keep trying! The ability to grow food is sadly going to become more and more relevant, me thinks!

It's a brick box on the back of the house, didn't dig down to see what's at the bottom but added a good layer of soil as it was not "full", and used starter plants from the nursery rather than starting with seeds....

 

[slipperybidness]

I have personally given up on the gardening. It's just too dang hot in TX for that! Too hot for me to want to work outside that is.

The GF typically maintains a meager garden each year.

I have made my decision--The next time that I pursue gardening, it will be an indoor hydroponics setup! That way I can work in relative comfort. And, hydroponics has the advantages of precisely controlling the light and nutrients to the exact needs of the plants for each stage of growth.

But, my current home is too small to make that a realistic goal, without compromising something else that is higher on my priority list.

 

[Midwesthonky]

We do the raised bed garden. We have 3 beds right now and do it without chemicals. So it can be a bit hit or miss. Had hornets nest in the strawberries last year. Then chipmunks sometimes tunnel in and do damage. Then the chipmunks suffer from lead poisoning. Had a great green pepper crop last year. We ended up cutting the excess peppers into strips and freezing them. Still eating them in fajitas, tacos, etc.

I need to raise the bed we use for carrots. Our carrots tend to be mutants as big as your head or end up pornographic like the one below.

 

[highfigh]

The only thing I know about planter boxes is to not use a full screen mesh on the bottom. It allows for too much drainage - Something I picked up when designing my deck boxes. A solid bottom with a hole is really all you need, but you also may be talking about a different type of box.

Keep trying! The ability to grow food is sadly going to become more and more relevant, me thinks!

I built a planter on legs for my herbs a couple of years ago, but didn't take the time to do anything with it last year. I used a sheet of 1/4" thick PVC with about five holes in the bottom and it has a payer of landscape fabric under the soil. It worked pretty well. I used a molded concrete pavers that are about 24" x 24" with 4" holes for grass to grow, as a way to keep each plant separate because some like to creep. Looks good, easy to maintain and it keeps the soil cooler.

I was taking with a friend about what would happen if the electrical grid goes out, even for a couple of days- a lot of people will be totally helpless and will have no way of sustaining themselves, other than by receiving, stealing or buying from others. Since they have no skills for many kinds of work, they'll be useless. All someone needs to do is go for a long walk in their area and they'll find all kinds of food that grows wild, even in residential areas. The banked area at the 18th hole of a golf course where I play has Raspberries, Strawberries and lots of different herbs growing right next to the cart path.