Gardens

mylittleversailles · April 2016

I know there are quite a few of you out there who have gardens and this is my first year doing container gardening, so I thought it might nice to have a place to talk about them! Perhaps some pictures and updates? I'm so interested in knowing how all your lil plants are doing.

ThePax89 · April 2016

Yay! I'm starting one this year. Starting super small. 4x4. !!!

Spartanrd4 · April 2016

My tulips are just starting to come up, no flowers yet as well as my lillies. Roses look like they are coming back to life too. Want to plant my dahlias and do some clean up in the garden but the weather hasn't been cooperating (it snowed this weekend in michigan and today it's in the 30s) but hopefully will get out there soon!

mylittleversailles · April 2016

After the cat killed ten seedlings and the sun killed another ten, we've got strong looking tomatoes: Tiny Tims, Roman speckled, Pink Brandywine (which apparently grow to 1 kg/2.2 lbs a piece), and Chadwick cherries. My thyme seedlings stopped growing about a week ago, so I think I'll have to buy them. Our sage is really strong and the hot peppers -Jamaican and Chinese Five Colour - are just started to get their true leaves after a couple weeks under a light for the heat. The basil and cilantro is doing a-ok.

We've got plans for dinosaur kale, rainbow chard and Swiss chard, as far as greens go. And every herb, but specifically: rosemary, lavender, lemon thyme, tarragon, chervil, ordinary thyme and garlic chives. We'll buy those as plants because I tried to germinate most of those and failed.

Probably a lot more I'm forgetting, but we're ambitious and determined

Edit:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/4t/4992pla0tj6m.jpg

MWoodside · April 2016

I love gardening so much! This will be our 4th season. We do raised beds and follow the square foot gardening approach. We've had a lot of success in past years and are really excited for this season. I suck at seedlings, so we do mostly from seed direct in the beds and a few starter plants as well.

DH took more of an interest last year and expanded our garden by breaking down our 4'x8' raised bed and constructing 4 4'x4' beds. I love it even more now with the changes since everything is more accessible.

Here is a photo from early in last years season.

For Mother's Day last year I got 6 Berry bushes as well, which I had wanted for years. We have 3 blueberry bushes, 1 blackberry bush and 2 red raspberry bushes. They didn't yield much year one, but I'm hopeful for more berries each coming year. The raspberries were the most plentiful year 1.

Great thread idea! I could talk gardening all day.

Edit: the beds contain: carrots (purple and Orange), beets (red and yellow), kale, spinach, collards, salad greens, 5 types of peppers, garlic, small yellow onions, scallions, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower (those didn't work out great), herbs (mojito mint, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, I'm forgetting one), peas, beans, zucchini, summer squash, acorn squash & spaghetti squash.

MWoodside · April 2016

I forgot to mention my sad rhubarb plant in the front corner. It didn't transplant well and took up too much room in the bed. I think I'll try rhubarb in a corner square this year because it was fun to bake with!

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@MWoodside Very nice! Those berry bushes will grow into something people will enjoy for years and years. I love baking with rhubarb, too, but it's very expensive to buy - especially considering it grows like a weed. I do usually see it in corners of gardens, come to think of it, so I hope it takes this year for you!

Edit: Oh, those veggies! I wonder if you can do Brussels sprouts in containers because that's our favourite to eat.

MWoodside · April 2016

@reneeannemm, thank you! I am sure you can do Brussels in containers. The root ball was larger than a softball and deep so probably just a larger/deeper container. Ours were ready to harvest in October both years. They took quite a while, but it was totally worth it. I'll see if I can find a picture of a whole stalk. They were giant and really neat.

MWoodside · April 2016

My memory failed me. The Brussels were harvested in mid-December!

I also neglected to mention our cucumbers, asparagus and tomatoes (Roma, cherry and yellow pear-shaped tiny ones) in my original reply.

virginiaham · April 2016

this thread. We planted our large planters in our backyard (lots of veggies including a dill Atlantic giant pumpkin plant) as well as these in our front porch pots this weekend. Day 2 and they are all still alive, so that's a newbie win for us

roper2617 · April 2016

Here's a snap of part of my veggie garden last year. I grew cucumbers, mint, cayenne peppers, celery, radishio, iceberg lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, tomatoes (early girl and Roma), butternut squash and Rosemary.

The iceberg and radishio lettuce as well as butternut squash were fails.

This year I'll omit the iceberg and radishio and sub in zucchini instead of the butternut. I'm also going to try carrots in a planter this year.

I love seeing everyone's gardens and garden plans!

Edited because spelling

DinosaurJumper · April 2016

Love this! It's very warm down here. Hit 85 as a high today, but we are still freezing in the morning (Crazy AZ climate!) So I am still waiting until mid april to get my warm season veggies going. @MWoodside That garden looks lovely!

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@MWoodside I don't know if our growing season is long enough for Brussels sprouts! They're so beautiful. Sometimes I buy them from the market like that just because I love the way they look. I think some people do them in their gardens, but the latest we can harvest in late October. I will do some research.

@virginaham So pretty! We're not planning on doing many flowers, but I do have some sweet peas to climb up the trellis-like walls of our deck.

@roper2617 Did you get a lot from your tomato plants? Zucchini usually has a high yield! Do you preserve food or just eat it all fresh?

MooFish2364 · April 2016

I love this thread! DH and I are buying our first home and should close on May sometime. Probably too late to start a garden but we will begin planning for next year! I am going to do flower beds in the front and stuff like that. My DH used to do landscaping during college so I plan on putting him to work!

dpjennifer · April 2016

Yay for everyone's gardening! Definitely love this thread!

@reneeannemm Brandywine tomatoes can definitely get huge, and they can split when they get big. I use these for sauce. But your seedlings look so cute! (The ones the cat didn’t get!)

@MWoodside I love your garden beds. Super cute! Also, I love the berry bushes! Berries… mmmm..

OK, I've attached a few photos of my stuff. The first are of some of my sweet potato slips I'm growing (from sweet potatoes I grew in the garden last year). The second are of a few of my strawberry plants from last year. The third is of my seedlings this year (well, some of them... the blank spots are where the peppers and marigolds should be shooting up in the next few weeks since they are late germinators). The final one is a photo of my garden last year. I also have some berry bushes that I hope will do well this year, rhubarb I got at the end of last season that I hope returns and does well, and we'll see what else I come up with!

roper2617 · April 2016

@reneeannemm I was literally giving away gift bags of tomatoes to all of our guests! So. Many. Tomatoes! We ate them fresh but this year I'd like to try my hand at preserving. The first year I tried zucchini they all rotted but I had a lot. It turns out they were ready to eat, but I thought I was growing a variety that produces very big ones so I was waiting for them to get bigger. Whoops!

Edit: spelling

dpjennifer · April 2016

@roper2617 Tomatoes can take over! But if you are interested in canning sauce, it is super easy. Canning the tomatoes themselves is a little more work, but not that difficult. I can always help ya out!

Here's an image of one set of canning I did last year.
There's tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, and strawberry jelly (made with tomatoes... and if I didn't tell you that, you'd never know! Creepy but sooo good).

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/ep/rh0197ip1z9u.jpg

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@dpjenniferTomato jam is awesome, so that strawberry jelly isn't a leap for me!

And I'm a big preserver, so hoping I get to preserve something I've grown this year. I've dabbled in the past, but really found myself addicted to the process this past year. It's one of my greatest pleasures. Here's a Ted Talk on that feeling. This is just some of what's leftover from this fall; I've given the majority of it away.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/1p/aufsksys5mhi.jpg

@roper2617 Second volunteer to give help with preserves! I'm actually making meyer lemon marmalade right now, as I type and wait for my water canner to boil!

dpjennifer · April 2016

@reneeannemm It may be strawberry jam (sorry, I intermix Jam and Jelly all the time, even though as someone who loves baking I know that I really shouldn't. *sigh*)
I canned a bunch of things this past year by using a hot water bath. But, I got a pressure canner for my wedding several months ago and I am super excited to try it out this year, since I will be able to can potatoes and sweet potatoes and all kinds of things I couldn't before!

catiecatp · April 2016

I typically have a bit of a container garden on our porch. I've tried tomatoes but I never have any success - I think the season is too short here in Calgary - or I don't have enough sun. Lately I've stuck to basil and cat grass... And then hit up the farmers market every week.

It has been years since I did any preserving - we simply don't have the space - and the fresh produce at the market is so expensive. When we lived in Kelowna I made a TON of canned peaches and dabbled with different jams. When I lived in Ontario we had a crab apple tree with huge fruit and a great yield every other year. Crab apple jam with turkey is still the stuff of dreams now - much better (in my opinion) than cranberry jelly.

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@catiecatp DH is very tragically allergic to basil but I'm growing it anyway for a friend this year. I'm gonna make so much pesto.

MWoodside · April 2016

I love canning! Strawberry jam is my favorite classic item to make. And I am also obsessed with this bacon onion marmalade recipe. It's divine.

https://myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/onion-marmalade-sweet-savory-sticky/

catiecatp · April 2016

@reneeannemm - that IS tragic - I think you mentioned he has a lot of allergies and/or sensitivities. I can't eat gluten but after nearly 8 years I've adjusted to that. My DH avoids nuts most of the time - his mom is allergic and he gets tummy aches - he doesn't want to trigger an allergy so he avoids it when he can.

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@catiecatp It's a sad one, but we're used to it. They're mostly true allergies - anaphylaxis and all. He also has something called allergic esophagitis, which means his esophagus will get super irritated by things his body things are trying to kill him, like raw vegetables and some fruits. He's allergic to all nuts, the majority of legumes, oats, barley, stone fruits (avocados, apricots, peaches, etc), sesame and some other weirder stuff, like maybe some food dyes. I suspect it's from the crap air he grew up with in Hamilton, which is a gross city with amazing amounts of air pollution, but who knows. His parents didn't believe him, so he thought that pain meant he was full in the past. He's working with an allergist now, but I don't think there's much they can really do about most of it.

I can sub basil pretty well for the most part with tarragon, chervil and star anise depending on the context. We do fine and being vegetarian is still a total breeze for him because I can cook.

catiecatp · April 2016

@reneeannemm - with that many allergies how does he eat out? or do you eat out?

I wonder if there is a higher rate of allergies in Hamilton. I know that when my brother moved from Toronto to Kanata my nephew's asthma and eczema cleared up and they credited it to a decrease in pollution...

mylittleversailles · April 2016

@catiecatp We can/do eat out, but not with any regularity. My food is just so much better, it's not often appealing.

I think probably. They do have higher rates of cancer, as far as I know. Toronto's air is supposed to be exceptionally clean, though. The way Hamilton's pollution travels bypasses us and goes straight to New York state or something. My lifelong eczema cleared up when we left Montreal for Hamilton, so I really don't know.

My little seedlings are happy happy happy! It's below freezing this weekend, but we're still fast approaching the time to start hardening them off. We got to get all the rocks and planters and soil to prepare for transplanting! My sage is looking a little wild, I hope it's getting enough sunshine. The greenhouse it's in is too big to go on the windowsill and it's sharing it with hot peppers which need a lamp for heat.

roper2617 · April 2016

@dpjennifer and @reneeannemm I will definitely take you up on the offer(s)! I'll be sure to let you know if I have any questions

mylittleversailles · April 2016

We're just starting to harden our tomato plants. They've grown up so strong and straight; I'm really excited about them. The sage is still pathetic and one cat ate all the pepper plants in four seconds flat. My indoor cilantro looks like cilantro and the basil finally has its true leaves. I have a tiny lavender I didn't think would germinate, which did and a very slow-growing thyme plant, too but I'm not holding out hope for them.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/a5/sncf8go1cofs.jpg

emmaleighbug · April 2016

Yay for gardening!! This has been my little obsession over the last few weeks, which has been good because it's a nice distraction from the TWW at the moment.

I didn't start any seeds indoors this year, because I NEVER have any luck with them, and I have a lot of other work to do to prepare the garden. I live in zone 5 so I have a little bit of time yet (although no frost is in the forecast, which extends past the average last frost date, so I COULD probably do more now).

My husband and I bought our house last May and had a ton of projects we needed to get done right away, like floors and painting and general fixer-upper kind of things, and since the house didn't have a vegetable garden plot already dug out, I just put it on hold until this year. So far I've dug out three smallish beds leaving room to walk between them for weeding and harvesting, and I have my cool weather crops in (peas, radish, onion, and carrots, which are in a container since our soil is gravel-y). Lettuce and spinach are going in a pallet on the patio and I haven't done that yet :-/ I have SO MANY PLANS though - I'm so excited. I'm planning to grow for the first time:: potatoes, beets, bush beans, and some herbs - dill and cilantro, which I have seeds for, and more which I will choose at the nursery. Other things I'll be growing that I have grown before:: cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers (sweet and jalapeños), basil, and marigolds.

I'm also planning to start some raspberry bushes, next to the garden, which I grew up on, as well as getting some lilacs, hydrangeas, lavender, and some bulb perennials established in different parts of the property. I still have a lot of top soil and manure to buy and spread before I start sowing most of the veggies, and it is going to be my project this weekend

A friend told me that you can get toxoplasmosis from garden soil though, so I am planning to get some good solid gardening gloves and some rain boot style boots too (which I need anyway), in case I get my BFP this weekend!!

rainbowturtles · April 2016

Great thread!!! I'm starting to garden a bit, too! We're in the process of moving (which I can't wait to be done with!) so I'm going to start with an indoor herb garden and then work on the outside stuff once we've moved! My mom brought us the first plant for our collection yesterday: a lovely lemon balm plant!

Everyone's gardens look great!!

Spartanrd4 · April 2016

My tulips finally decided to bloom this past weekend!

emmaleighbug · April 2016

@Spartanrd4 pretty!! I love tulips, they're on my list!

Here red is the only progress in my garden so far from what I've already planted, radishes popping up after a week and a half!

edit:: not sure why the picture isn't showing...sorry!

Spartanrd4 · April 2016

Thank you @emmaleighbug! I love tulips, I have dutch heritage and went to the Netherlands last year on vacation. Just had to order some tulips from there! So sad that they only bloom for a short time.

mylittleversailles · April 2016

I buy tulips every week in the spring. They make me happy every time I walk past them.

catiecatp · April 2016

I'd buy tulips if my cats didn't eat them... someday I'll have a work office and will buy them for there - and have them planted in flower beds too...

rainbowturtles · April 2016

Photo of tulip fields near where I live. This was taken just days ago and they were all harvested when we drove by today

Spartanrd4 · April 2016

So beautiful @rainbowturtles ! I saw a lot of these in Amsterdam. You're lucky they are so close to you!!

cooaladolly · April 2016

Ooooh! I've become a lurker, sorry, but this thread is fantastic!

mylittleversailles · April 2016

We've spent the past couple of days hauling soil, gravel, containers and various soil additives to our apartment. Today we cleaned up the deck and we're set to start transplanting soon! I found one herb I'd been looking for, lemon thyme by accident while looking for gravel today, so all in all feeling good about this garden.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/fk/q9pjoohmyzib.jpg

MWoodside · April 2016

I worked outside in the garden all day today and it was so lovely! We have 4 raised beds- I turned all soil over, added compost/peat moss/vermiculite to one bed and mixed it, sectioned that bed off, made our tee pee for peas from bamboo sticks, and planted peas and beans. I need to get more compost before I csn do the other 3 beds, so that is the plan for next weekend.

Garlic and asparagus are already coming up since they are perennials!

mylittleversailles · April 2016

Anyone gardening in a metropolis? A raccoon came and scooped my thyme seedlings straight out of their soil and left them sitting tidy beside. Apparently they like to scoop dirt looking for bugs to eat. Does anyone know how to repel the smartest raccoons in the world?

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