Ouch but I love it!

[PixelRabbit]

Gardening blisters, ouch but I love it, it's a small price to pay for fresh produce right outside the door!
We are behind a bit but we avoided a bad frost that got a good portion of our grapevines but didn't kill the apple crop this year like it did last.
We added a few things this year so we are up to peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers sweet and hot, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, radish, beets, lettuce, potatoes, corn and carrots, I think that's it!
It should all be in by Friday, bring on the green IMHO!
Anyone else have their garden going?

 

[esselle]

That sounds like a very robust garden! Living in Florida, the soil isn't all that great, but I will grow tomatoes in large pots, and buy soil for them. They don't grow too big, unfortunately, but it's nice still to have something I've grown, myself.

I've never known anyone to grow their own beets, that's interesting.

Happy gardening!

 

[tirediron]

Veggy-tables... isn't that what food eats?

 

[PixelRabbit]

Ha John, I hope not! That is a bunny, deer, etc... free zone!
Esselle, that's awesome that you grow in a pot So many just say meh I live in X area or an apartment and I can't do it but you totally can and it is so worth it!
We are crazy lucky, our garden is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 an acre and I would say the beets (and cabbage forgot to list that lol) are both European influences, my family is Slovak and always had large gardens with lots of root veggies to get through the winter with, the beets will also be pickled, yum!

 

[esselle]

Ha John, I hope not! That is a bunny, deer, etc... free zone!
Esselle, that's awesome that you grow in a pot So many just say meh I live in X area or an apartment and I can't do it but you totally can and it is so worth it!
We are crazy lucky, our garden is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 an acre and I would say the beets (and cabbage forgot to list that lol) are both European influences, my family is Slovak and always had large gardens with lots of root veggies to get through the winter with, the beets will also be pickled, yum!

Now, I'm officially jealous. :mrgreen: That's a very large garden, you are blessed!
I try to eat organically, but with the soaring prices of food, it can become challenging. I think if you can grow A LOT of your own food, you're not only ahead of the game in terms of health, but also in terms of $$ savings.

I meant to say that the tomatoes themselves, don't grow very large. Not the plants. lol The plants grow kinda tall, but the tomatoes are often on the small side.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Ha thanks! Yes VERY blessed, we try to eat locally and our land is certified organic.
Food prices are getting insane, especially whole foods and it isn't going to get any better any time soon IMHO, we spent $80 on seeds and that will turn into literally hundreds of dollars in savings, our goal is to be self sufficient food wise in 5 years (we have 20 acres so room for things that moo and cluck etc...)
Keep at the tomatoes, often the fruits don't get large if the plant is struggling in some way to survive whether it is putting energy in growing taller/wider to get more sun or need more/less space, more/less water, make the plant want for nothing and you will be rewarded

 

[sm4him]

Last year, I had a great garden: tomatoes, cukes, squash (yellow & zucchini), broccoli, turnips, swiss chard, peppers (banana, green, japapeno and habanero) and a few rows of corn. Oh, and some thornless blackberries, but since I planted them last year, there were no berries.

This year, it was just too, too late before it ever stopped raining enough for my son and brother to get the yard tilled up. So, I'll have to rely on my brother's smaller garden for the normal veggies...but we did till up about 80% of the backyard and planted ALL of it in corn--should have enough corn for everyone in the family to enjoy plenty of it.

And of course, I should get my first crop of blackberries--in fact, the berries have already set on, just watching for them to ripen and then try to grab them before the birds get there first. Those birds start eating my blackberries and I might just shoot 'em with something besides a camera. :lmao:

 

[sm4him]

Ha thanks! Yes VERY blessed, we try to eat locally and our land is certified organic.
Food prices are getting insane, especially whole foods and it isn't going to get any better any time soon IMHO, we spent $80 on seeds and that will turn into literally hundreds of dollars in savings, our goal is to be self sufficient food wise in 5 years (we have 20 acres so room for things that moo and cluck etc...)
Keep at the tomatoes, often the fruits don't get large if the plant is struggling in some way to survive whether it is putting energy in growing taller/wider to get more sun or need more/less space, more/less water, make the plant want for nothing and you will be rewarded

Yep. One tip for container gardening, with tomatoes--watch your plants carefully for "suckers." These are the little tiny "offshoot" branches that start to grow in between the stem and an existing branch. Pinch those little suckers off, because otherwise, they will "drain" your plant of the energy it needs to produce fruit. It'll spend all its energy growing branches and leaves and have little left for the fruit.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Well boo Sharon but it sounds like you won't go without totally, that's great! We are definitely late because of weather this year, we had it all in by now last year but the drought really made it rough. A lot of people had to replant after that late frost I mentioned, it wiped out all of the young sprouts so I don't feel too bad for getting it in now, Mr Rabbit was able to till the garden between the rain and I'm getting some sections in now. We will surely be sowing late on almost everything but only by about 2 weeks (gardens here normally go in late May and finish in early June so we aren't that far off thank goodness!).

 

[sm4him]

Well boo Sharon but it sounds like you won't go without totally, that's great! We are definitely late because of weather this year, we had it all in by now last year but the drought really made it rough. A lot of people had to replant after that late frost I mentioned, it wiped out all of the young sprouts so I don't feel too bad for getting it in now, Mr Rabbit was able to till the garden between the rain and I'm getting some sections in now. We will surely be sowing late on almost everything but only by about 2 weeks (gardens here normally go in late May and finish in early June so we aren't that far off thank goodness!).

I admit it, I was a little bummed about it; I love to garden, and of course I *really* love to (literally) reap the benefits. But you know, I believe there's a reason for everything, and already I'm seeing that the way things are shaping up this year, I may very well not have time to devote to a garden anyway, so it's probably just as well that I didn't get a big one planted only to have it overtaken by weeds and neglect before July.

 

[PixelRabbit]

I totally get that! I'm really new to this whole BIG garden thing, last year was our first year on this scale and the drought really killed a lot of the joy We were so gung go and looking forward to reaping those rewards but much of it just didn't make it (for the whole area actually). We did get tons of tomatoes though and a few peppers that Miss Gabby the great pepper thief didn't purloin before they got fully ripened lol some peas and beans and not nearly enough potatoes but the whole garden looked pretty darn sad lol. This year is round two at it and it looks like we won't have the same issues so we can learn about others that arise lol

 

[terri]

We kept a garden for years when we lived in Georgia...adding a little more every year, it seemed. I now have a back yard full of trees - love trees, but they aren't conducive to the 6+ hours of sunlight needed. I am missing it badly this year, too - especially the tomatoes!! We practically lived off them for a couple of months every summer; I die a little whenever I hand over 6 bucks for a little bucket of locally grown here. We also had peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash and okra. All I'm doing now is herbs. No room for anything more, and at least I save a little there - use them constantly.

But oh, I envy you your veggie garden! Enjoy!!!

 

[Kazooie]

I got pumpkins, cantaloupes, watermelons, and green onions planted like 2 weeks ago, and all my strawberries died from frost because we never covered them this year. :er:

 

[David8]

I keep a small garden in pots on the balcony. It's mainly a herb garden, rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano and parsley. But I have some strawberries and a lemon tree that have never fruited. And whenever something does fruit a possum comes along and eats it before it's even ripe. I have to cover everything with a mosquito net every night, but something still eats everything, I think caterpillars get into the fruit also. I also don't have the time to maintain it as much as I'd like, but one day. Hopefully.