Gardens vegetable, flower or other?

[Grant Fan]

I would not call what I have a "Victory Garden" or any kind of garden for that matter, I am an apartment dweller and have a topsy turvy tomato plant and some basil, I like Italian food. But that is it.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I don't know what it is this year here. I don't know anybody up here that is having much luck with their gardens. I have been having the same problem with my zucchinis that was mentioned earlier, flowers but no zucchinis. I even keep bees and have two hills. So I know it should not be a pollination issue. The tomatoes are the same. Frustrating, I must say.

I have had a little luck with my first year herbs. (We moved just this spring, so everything is a work in progress!) I was surprised when my dill went crazy! We usually do not have luck with dill here, but there it went! (Oh, and mint even here at 9,000ft. with winter until June...is a weed.) Hopefully next year will prove to be a better year all around for my garden, when I have things a little more settled and my compost is ready! I will be prepared for a freeze in June and hail protection will be much better as well! It is all worth it though, I just love to watch things grow!

 

[jamespowers]

It's my fault to be honest. Just not making enough cocktails with mint in them!! [huh]

Yep, I'll have to cut it right back. Other herbs like Basil and even parsley just haven't been doing so well this year.

But...I have been trying CHILLI PEPPERS (yes!! in the UK of all places!!) just inside the house by a large window and they are doing GREAT. Been pulling them, chopping 'em and popping them into my dishes!! yum!!

Got some TUMBLING TOMS (little tomatoes that hang down rather than grow upwards) in my baskets at the side of the house, so they'll be nice for salads, pizzas..etc.

No Mint Juleps?
What I have in my yard that is really a weed is Lemon Balm or just plain Balm. That stuff took over my strawberries last year. Even worse is the fact that it attracts white flies like crazy. :eusa_doh: This year I yanked it out as it popped up all over the yard. It is confined to a small spot this year. I hate to do it as it smells great but lets face it---its a weed.
I did manage to make a few Balm Juleps with it though. It has its uses.

 

[jamespowers]

It's usually about a week after the flowering dies I tend to dig them up. I use a pitch fork to ease them up but then find I loose a lot of them in the soil, so that's when I get "down and dirty" with my hands sifting through for those golden nuggets!

Yes, you don't want them to go to seed. Do you pull some early to get the red/new potatoes and then set them back to get the larger size? That is popular here.
Last time I grew potatoes, I couldn't get rid of them. I always missed a few that grew back the next year. lol

 

[Warden]

Edna & I did a Dig for Victory impression at this years Festival of History held at Kelmarsh in Northamptonshire (UK).

Here is a little clip

[YOUTUBE]fCOMgXl-Q8k[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Mrs. Merl]

That is awesome and adorable Warden!

 

[Warden]

I say, thats sweet of you.

It was a rush job and the images are not great, but that is what happens if you have to rush.

Harry

 

[jamespowers]

I say, thats sweet of you.

It was a rush job and the images are not great, but that is what happens if you have to rush.

Harry

If those images aren't great then I would REALLY have to see what great images look like.

 

[rumblefish]

Long Island pineapple

 

[Mav]

Over in the US there are several companies that market hanging - upside down tomato kits. The picture always has prize winning "maters" on the vine.

Been growing 'em this way for a couple of years. A 5 gallon Home Depot bucket with a two inch hole in the bottom works fine, and costs about 4 bucks.

And, just let me say that Brits crowing about their pepper growth annoys me. Why the hell won't my jalapenos grow in CA? GRRrrrrrr........it's just not right.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

Hello

Hi I have been gardening for year, vegetables and flowers.
This has been a strange growing season but better for me that last years drought in the midwest I really got nothing from my garden. This year I really down sized my garden and moved it in closer to the house and play area I have set up for my two year old son. I have lots of tomatoes and some peppers, peas, cucumbers, beans, lots of herbs.

My tarragon has turned into a forest. Yikes

I have a friend who grew a strawberry plant in a hanging basket last year and it seamed like it has strawberries on it all summer I was super envious. In the fall she stuck it in the ground for the winter then pulled it out in the spring and put it back in the pot. She gave me a runner that when off it and grew and now I have one too. It has been producing well and is my favorite plant this year. Sorry I don't know the variety of plant but I do know it is an ever-bearing variety.

 

[PADDY]

Paddy's Victory Garden (Video)

[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9TQxOxHg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9bwgTQxOxHg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

 

[unaspenser]

I have a rather large garden, though this is our first year in a new house and the garden area was formerly ill-kept lawn with weeds in it, so the garden's a bit of a state. We love home-grown produce and hope to have a garden that can feed us most of the year round. I also keep chickens (we have seven), and love the fresh eggs and occasional meat too.

the current first lady seems to be inspiring patriotic gardeners once again, though this time in the name of affordable and sustainable food and improved nutrition. Seems to really be catching on!

 

[Mrs. Merl]

unaspenser - you sound a lot like us. We just moved this spring and started a garden and we keep chickens, seven right now too. I also keep bees! We plan on expanding our garden as much as possible over the next few years and adding goats. I wonder if the White House garden thing is inspiring to people or if most are just like us, more interested in localism and backyard homesteading as a way of making better communities and healthier families.

 

[rumblefish]

I'd bet everyone who has posted on this thread has been doing it for more than two years.

 

[jamespowers]

I'd bet everyone who has posted on this thread has been doing it for more than two years.

I am sure that it takes at least that to develop skills enough to be able to tell when you are doing something wrong.
I have been gardening with my grandfather and my father since I was about eight. You had to if you wanted anything near an allowance.
My son is doing it now at 3. He'll have many years up on the competition.lol

 

[John in Covina]

I have good friends that are really trying to make a good garden for fruits, vegies and herbs. They have to grow mostly in pots to get anything to go as their soil is about 8 inches deep then you hit a clay like section of hardpan that goes down an unknown depth. We dug down more than two feet thru stuff like concrete and did not get thru that section, Yikes! It won't drain water thru at all.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Yeah, I imagine most people have been. I know I have since I was a kid. Where I live gardening is more popular now, but I believe that it has a lot to do with our states heavy emphasis on local grown and such.

 

[jamespowers]

I have good friends that are really trying to make a good garden for fruits, vegies and herbs. They have to grow mostly in pots to get anything to go as their soil is about 8 inches deep then you hit a clay like section of hardpan that goes down an unknown depth. We dug down more than two feet thru stuff like concrete and did not get thru that section, Yikes! It won't drain water thru at all.

Sounds like a good place to use raised beds. Another two feet of good dirt on top of that would likely solve many problems. You would be surprised what tree roots will go through when the tree really starts to grow after a few years.
The herbs and vegetables will need more friable soil though. Seasonal vegetables allow you to get away with less deep friable soil though as they only grow in it so long.

 

[rumblefish]

I have been gardening with my grandfather and my father since I was about eight. You had to if you wanted anything near an allowance.

Same here,,, but it was also our punishment. My brother and I came home tanked one Saturday morning in August, way before we were of age. We were made to work in the fields all day- All 600 hundred square feet of 'em (well, there and the rest of the yard).
I'm surprised sometimes, I have always enjoyed it.