Organic Gardening
Im starting my first garden this year... a big one... and i think im in over my head! Im planning on planting tomatoes, zuchinni, cucumbers, carrots, seedless watermelon, cauliflower, broccoli,peas, asparagus and swiss chard. My plan was to plant a bunch of different things and to see what grows best.... but i have so much more work to do by next weekend , i dont know if i will be able to plant everything :( I already know im planting tomatoes for sure-- our neighbor heard i was starting my first garden and gave me 15 plants! (I dont know if i'll be able to use all of them, so i'm going to do the "Plant a Row" thing, that i think Davedrum mentioned a few weeks ago!) Does anyone know which things grow the best/ are good for first time gardeners? :P Also, do you guys use any organic or homemade sprays to get rid of bugs? If so what brand.. or how do ya make it ? Yesterday i noticed there were TONS of ants and a few other creepy crawlies. I Dont want to hurt them, but i just want to deter them from eating my stuff!
Thanks in advance!
Daniela
I might use bricks instead of something light like wood and furniture. I remember a while back I had brought a huge TV and left it out there on the porch cause I had to make room inside and I figured since it was so big and heavy, no one would even think about taking it. Don’t know if I was unknowingly drugged, but the following day, TV was gone without me hearing a peep. So stacks of brick might be harder to carry off.
old bath tubs
Not too sure people are accustomed to seeing a bathtub on the porch ;D
Pepper Seedlings (purple cayenne, chocolate habanero, and tangerine dream).
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/013.jpg
Serranos
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/014-1.jpg
Habanero
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/010.jpg
thats really hot storm! >:D
As usual, I've seeded way more than I have space to grow. This is my current list for the spring:
Tomatoes:
Black Prince
Sweet Chelsea
Black Cherry
Chocolate Cherry
Ilda Yellow Grape
Cuban Yellow Grape
Matt's Wild Cherry
Sioux
Kimberly
Costoluto Fiorentino
Zebra Cherry
Squash:
Benning's Green Tint
Papaya Pear
Eightball
Crook Neck Yellow
Cucumbers:
Poona Kheera
Crystal Apple
Hot Peppers:
Red Savina
Chocolate Habanero
White Habanero
Ring-o-fire Cayenne
Purple Cayene
Devil Serrano
Jalapeno
Jaloro
Tangerine Dream
Dancing Spirit
Medusa
Sweet Peppers:
Sunbright
Aconcagua
Beans:
Edamame
Lincoln Sweet Peas
Herbs:
Basil
Rosemary
Garlic Chives
Mint
Parsley
woah storm, totally jealous!
I am making a trip to the garden centre later today / tomorrow as we now have 6 rows free ni our garden to plant stuff. Just need to decide what's good to plant in late summer / early autumn.
My garden rocks!
Papaya Pear Patty Pan Squash
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/121.jpg
Eight Ball Zucchini
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/120.jpg
Sweet Chelsea Cherry Tomato
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/115.jpg
Black Prince Tomato
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/114.jpg
Purple Cayenne
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/116.jpg
Red Cayenne
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/119.jpg
Red Savina
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/113.jpg
Fruits of My Labor!
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/125.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/042.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/035.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/124.jpg
amazing storm!! If I remember I'll take a photo (or 10) of our garden when we're down there today. Ours are all still in the seedling / not ready to harvest stage though.
Has anyone heard of the book Square Foot Gardening?? I read this book and knew instantly I had to try it. It does use raised beds and we made ours ourselves for pretty cheap by getting the wood that wasn't "pretty" enough to be sold, at a discount. He also uses a special "Mel's Mix" instead of plain old gardening soil, it has a certain measured combination of compost (of 5 different types), peat moss and vermiculite. It was a bit spendy, but I think it'll be totally worth it. This is our first year having any kind of garden and the weather has made it very difficult to get stuff planted, but we finally made it out this weekend and did our first planting! We did start our tomatoes inside a while back, they're growing pretty well so we'll see! Also, though don't forget about vertical space! It's pretty simple to build a cheap trellis, and even tomatoes will grow vertically on the vine if you help them out a bit...also melons, squash, beans, etc. It saves a ton of space! But since this is our first year, I figured I better take it easy and not get outta control hehehe ;D
My cayennes are turning red just in time for Cinco de Mayo!
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/024.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/023.jpg
Storm I am amazingly jealous of your garden:( I just have huge tomato plants about 6 feet tall, strawberries and humongous carrots that won't seem to get long. They're extremely fat and round but they just won't get longer! I don't know what I'm doing wrong with them. And I use garlic water to keep bugs away from my veggies. I also have lavender, dragon's blood, lemon balm, rosemary, fennel, parsley, and cilantro. I'm creating an herb garden and I don't know what to do to keep the bugs from them. I can't use garlic water because the herbs will soak in the watter and give the herbs a garlicy taste=/ Any ideas?
BB, I use safer soap and hot pepper wax. Neither works well against leaf miners, but they have helped cut back on the other nasty critters tremendously. I am jealous that you can grow root vegetables. I can't do that here because my soil is basically sand so my garden is technically a container garden.
I'll definitely try that. But where do you find the wax at?
Haha, I live in the South so our dirt is horribly dry so I had to go in and re-do the dirt and add organic dirt that's made for vegetables. It took me about a week just to do that but it was worth it. My little tomatoes are red and they are so sweet and yummy! This was my first time growing tomatoes. I usually grow eggplant. Next season I think I'm going to try a fruit tree. Peaches sound really good.
Damn, I keep forgetting to take photos of our garden!
Today I harvested the first cabbage of the season! My first ever cabbage, in fact. Our carrots are coming along nicely, as are our onions. The leeks do not seem to be doing as well, and yet again our parsnips appear to be a fail.
I also harvested some of the last chillis on our plant - there's maybe another 4 to come.
Our aubergine plant was a definite fail, and our capsicum plant didn't really do much, which is a shame because I've had really good luck with them before.
We're deciding what to do once all the veggies currently in our garden are done, because we're looking to move at the beginning of summer, and it would seem a shame to plant a load of stuff and then have to leave it. Oh well, it's a good few months away yet, and we've certainly got our winter crops going well.
BB, I get it at a local nursery, but you can also order it online.
http://www.hotpepperwax.com/
Shell...WANT photos!!!
Storm!
looks great
I just have clover, mustard and wheatgrass i am tending.
Ooooh our first veggies ever are popping up! Hoooray! We have some broccoli, spinach, radishes poking their little heads out...I'm so excited! :D
BB, I get it at a local nursery, but you can also order it online.
http://www.hotpepperwax.com/
Shell...WANT photos!!!
Thank you!!!
I actually went to a local nursery where all of their products are organic and so are their flowers and they had it there.
He told me what to do with it and how many times to use it. But thank you for the advice:)
Has anyone heard of the book Square Foot Gardening?? I read this book and knew instantly I had to try it. It does use raised beds and we made ours ourselves for pretty cheap by getting the wood that wasn't "pretty" enough to be sold, at a discount. He also uses a special "Mel's Mix" instead of plain old gardening soil, it has a certain measured combination of compost (of 5 different types), peat moss and vermiculite. It was a bit spendy, but I think it'll be totally worth it. This is our first year having any kind of garden and the weather has made it very difficult to get stuff planted, but we finally made it out this weekend and did our first planting! We did start our tomatoes inside a while back, they're growing pretty well so we'll see! Also, though don't forget about vertical space! It's pretty simple to build a cheap trellis, and even tomatoes will grow vertically on the vine if you help them out a bit...also melons, squash, beans, etc. It saves a ton of space! But since this is our first year, I figured I better take it easy and not get outta control hehehe ;D
we are totally doing SFG!!! He is pretty convincing, isn't he? I like that there is no weeding. We only did one box so far, but if we are successful, we might add some more next year. We have kale, lettuce, cilantro, basil, peppers, and i just planted some seeds for other greens. I am hopeful!
Awesome l2a, keep me posted on how yours does! We have 1 full one, another one with only a couple things planted so far (where I am we still have frost danger!) and we have one small box that is going to be just 1 zucchini plant. Our first little plants are popping up and we are so excited! Only bummer is that something (we're not sure what, we have a full fence but it looked like deer prints!) has appeared to have eaten all of our carrot seeds. I think we'd be ok to replant some, we are building that cover system that he uses this weekend. Oooh the joys of gardening! hehe
I am trying a second time to start gardening. Last year I planted cantaloupe, watermelons, and tomatoes in the early spring/late winter, transplanted them, and then moved... I still don't know if anything came of those plants.
this year i started the same stuff, just transplanted it recently, and am hoping to get some food! I have plans to plant a lot more, but haven't had the time yet and I can grow things pretty much year round so no biggie. I am also planning on planting a lot of fruit trees (hopefully about 10). I am definitely going to be starting some greens next week and hopefully some flowers (nasturtium and sunflowers, because i've heard they are great companions to many things i plan on planting). I was having some problems with bunnies, they ate all of my cantaloupe :(, but I plan on trying to do everything permaculture-style.. I'm just kind of learning as I go along. I wish I had a local person who would take me under their wing and teach me everything I need to know. There is a lot to learn.
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