NBR - Gardening

HelgaFunk

Is anyone planning on doing any gardening this year?

We moved into our house the day before we had LO last year and didn't have a chance to plant anything but I've got the fever for some fresh veggies this year.

It'll be my first garden so I'd love to hear any tips from any seasoned gardeners or just ideas on what sounds good.

I'm thinking of sticking with a few basic items this year like a couple tomato plants, zucchini, cucumbers, basil, and maybe strawberries.

Cricket81

We live in an apartment with no real yard, but I am thinking about doing some herbs and tomatoes in containers. Maybe even green beans. The high temp today is supposed to be 30* so I've got some time to figure it out.

WasNotWas

ahh we just planted an avocado and tangerine tree this weekend We have never really put any effort into the curb appeal of our house because we have been transient for the past 8 years, but with 2 kids and a great school district we are staying put.

Florida weather is definitely a consideration when we chose what to plant (I really want an apple tree, but Florida apples taste like tin foil).

cafecreme

Tomatoes and herbs are very easy to grow. I've done peppers and eggplant as well and they took a little while to grow. I've tried planting strawberries and for some reason they never grow for me. This year i'll probably just plan some tomatoes and maybe a rose bush, and that's about it. 

needanustart

I've tried the last 2 years but squrriels and raccoons and foxes keep eating my produce! I'm not sure how much more effort I want to put in on caging an area off and I've tried pepper on the plants to make it too spicy for wildlife but nothing seems to work.
If anyone has any great cheap solutions for keeping creatures away maybe I'll give it a try.
We did lettuce, tomatoes and pepper for veggies and basil and parsley for herbs. The herbs always work well and I make a ton of tabouli and pesto by the end of summer. My best advice is stick with 2-3 things you can do well your first year. Better homes and gardens also always has a nice starter box with specific instructions you can order now. I used that one year and the raccoons ate really healthy thanks to them

WasNotWas

holy crap @subliminalrabbit now I know what to put on my mother's day wishlist!!

WasNotWas

subliminalrabbit said:

@wasnotwas, I was giving awake cucumbers left and right the first year, we had so many.  Those things are magical!

My mom has a lemon tree and she is constantly bringing us lemons...I might need to host a cocktail party to use them all...

No longer the best

Green beans are my absolute favourite!! I have never tasted a green bean as delicious as one I have grown myself!

Tomatoes and zucchini are also always a must for us.  Broccoli and Cauliflower aren't worth it to me even though we eat them all the time, I would rather save the room for something that will give us more return! 

Every year we forget to plant garlic bulbs which makes me sad because locally grown garlic is way better than the shipped from China crap in my grocery store right now  

kh59

I started my seeds two weeks ago--so excited!  Now if the snow would just stop falling...I did a lot of canning and freezing in the late summer and early fall while I was home with LO, though, so we're still eating at least a little something from the garden pretty much every day. 

Cricket81

@subliminalrabbit‌ Those look amazing! Definitely going to try them!

HelgaFunk

Wow, you all are pretty impressive. I did a couple tomato plants last year and there's really just nothing better than produce straight from your own yard. So much more flavor.

Cricket81

Aaaaaand DH just downloaded a $60 video game. Two earthboxes, here I come!

@subliminalrabbit‌

HelgaFunk

So does anyone have a favorite tomato? I'm for sure doing some pear tomatoes,a purple or brown, and sort of big fat beefsteak.

I also love lemon cucumbers. They're so much more mild than the regular green ones.

HelgaFunk

@bonniek10, they're a smallish round yellow cucumber with a really mild flavor. I used to eat them right off the vine as a kid.

HelgaFunk

 @subliminalrabbit, thanks for the info. If I can find them I'm on it.

ASmallWonder

@subliminalrabbit  How much stuff can you reasonably plant in those earth boxes?  Our yard is big but SO rocky that DH was cursing me when I asked him to dig me a garden two springs ago lol  We got some tomatoes from it but everything else kind of shit the bed so I think our soil sucks.  Plus, we have a lot of trees so the sunny spots aren't near our water at all and the idea of this "less water" thing appeals to me.  If I wanted to plant say, tomatoes (couple kinds), peppers and zucchini, how many boxes would I need?  What else grows the bomb in them?

kh59

@CatalinaPink Canning is so much simpler than it sounds before you've tried it.  If you're nervous, just stick to very acidic food like pickles at first or use your canned vegetables as ingredients in recipes you cook at high enough temperatures to take care of any potential problems (like adding canned tomatoes to a pot of chili that gets boiled, for example). 

BunnyLove416

subliminalrabbit said:

@elmoali, the only fail I've had with the boxes so far are sugar snap peas, and I think the climate here just isn't right for them.  And here's the planting guide so you can see how many plants per box -- it depends on the plant:

https://earthbox.com/earthbox-planting-guide

I'll mix sometimes -- for example, I'll do a back row of three pepper plants and a front row of four greens of some sort.  I wouldn't mix a vine plant with another plant because you risk choking or over-shading the other crop, but I've had a lot of luck with adding a trellis for my cucumbers to climb to increase the yield, which might work with zukes.  And you definitely do not want to do more than two tomato plants per box, because they grow into trees.  MASSIVE.  My yield per tomato plant was always significantly higher than I expected!

I'd be lying if I said I didn't read "Ready to grow Kit-Chocolate" on the earthbox product guide and think 'I can grow chocolate in this box?'

HelgaFunk

IIIiiii want to grow chocolate. I'm going to get all Willy Wonka up in here.