We bought a place in the country a few years ago and I've been mostly working on pulling out overgrown shrubs and planting flower gardens around the house but I just talked my husband into a veggie garden (late as it may already be) and I am thrilled.
I'm the sort that LOVES to plan but if I get a notion to do something I also embrace Nike's motto, "Just do it!". So within seconds of my husband consenting to the garden we were in the car heading for the garden shop to by plants (we live in Zone 5 and so it is too late, I'm told, to start with seeds).
Our property used to be a horse farm and before that a dairy farm (all that is left is the King of the Farm, Pumpkin, an orange tabby cat who used to rule the barn but has fulfilled his cat dream of becoming a house cat). We were going to put the garden out in an open field but it just seemed like it would have stuck out like a sore thumb -- so now we are going to tuck it around a pond, near the manure shed. My in-laws (who used to own the farm) are here and are a tremendous help. We already have blueberries near the pond and wild raspberries near the manure shed. We will add additional berry bushes near the blueberries and then I have corn, watermelon, cantelope, eggplant, cucumber, green peppers, jalapenos tomatoes (and I'm sure others I've already forgotten) waiting to plant. Have to clear a brush pile, a wood chip pile and then rototill the ground but my in-laws assure me with 4 of us working, it won't take long.
All advice is appreciated.
I am so blessed!
My first veggie garden and I'm so excited I can't stand it!
First, thank you for allowing Pumpkin to fulfuill his dream :)
Sounds as if you are making a great start. I must admit that my garden definitely carries a strong resemblance to a sore thumb, so you're ahead of me there. But, I love my thumb, and I don't mind so much. My neighbors don't seem to care very much, if they even notice.
I hope you'll keep this going as your efforts continue, I love to hear how gardens grow...
Congratulations! With this much excitement, I'm sure you'll be hooked for life. Once you taste the fruits of your labor, you'll know the work was worth it. I'm like you with the Nike motto.
My first year was sort of like yours. I had moved into a house and was very overwhelmed with the overgrown, poorly planned landscape. Although I wanted a veggie garden, I didn't think I had the time. Then I went to a nursery and saw some tomato plants. Picked up a six pack of paste tomatoes and a single grape tomato, went home, dug up the sunny part of the backyard, and stuck them in the ground, along with some pumpkin seeds and watermelon seeds. I got sturdy stakes and strung plastic mesh around it all to keep the deer out mostly and it did work for the most part. It was on a slope and that first year was hard on my back. The next year we built raised beds cut into the slope, an irrigation system and heavy duty fence to keep out the critters. The third year, I lined all the paths with weed cloth and wood chips. That's how it's been more or less since and now we're on the sixth year.
Things get rearranged a bit each year. I have a row of containers that I've added because whatever room I have, it's never enough. I had some overhanging trees taken out from behind the garden last week. Now I'm looking at that room and thinking, I could have made it bigger! Thankfully, my husband is very tolerant of my zealous gardening style, so I get lots of help. If I didn't have his help, I probably wouldn't have done even half of it. Just think what you can do with 4 of you!
LOL this is what happens whan you get bitten by the Garden Bug .
Field Garden Has Come To Life,
Ok Folks I Have had time to clean the field Garden up and Get it looking good for its presentation so here it is hope you enjoy it. My Neighbor and myself have put together a “Market Garden and it is cleaned up and weeded I have put photos in my Blog take a look and let me know what you think. It is an 80 X 150 Plot
Thanks,
The Serg. & Friends
Oh my! Tell the Pumpkin King hello for me. "Fred" likes to pretend that he's a barn cat but after a while the humidity makes his hair frizz up and he comes back to the air conditioning. You should post a picture of Pumpkin.
So, Hi!!! I started my first veggie garden (late) this year too and I know EXACTLY how excited you are! You'll be running out there every time you get the chance to see if anything has grown a centimeter. And you won't even care when things aren't doing so great. I bought a lot of plants too because I was late for this area. Then some of them got eaten by a donkey and some of them I killed with fertilizer and some more of them drowned. I didn't have time to do much soil prep so it's an on-going experiment. The soil here is very acidic and part of the garden is too wet. But, I have a horse farm next door so I'm working on an amazing compost heap to dish out next spring. Some of my plants are doing good, some not so much. The thing is, you started it! What did you plant? I'll bet your soil is much better than mine and your veggies take off like rockets.
I sure am jealous of blueberries. My parrots love blueberries more than anything.
Sgt. Yates appears to be the "real deal" when it comes to veggies! When I grow up...I'm gonna be just like him.
Keep us updated! I'm glad to have a newbie veggie partner!
I showed DH your garden pic Sgt. and told him we need to expand next year.
did he faint or just git scard lol
Kinda just got scared! ^_^ He made me 4 raised beds this spring 4 x 8', but it's not big enough. Big enough, I guess, to get me started, though, and not be overwhelmed.
Jan23,
In his defence there are four Familys that work the 80 X 150 Field Garden it is Huge and two folks would go crazy.... not to mention the amount of equiment that is used to keep it up as well as the pre seed planting for seedlings and setting we have close to a 100 plants growing now getting ready fot setting not counting the fall plants that are being preped . for other fields
Thanks for the info. Think I'll keep it smaller. He is making kitchen cabinets for a kitchen reno. Kinda think I want that first ( especially since we have been planning it for years) The appliances have already been ordered and sitting at the store.
Just trying to save Hubby's sanity . LOL a little biger plot is not bad but steady as she go hun finishing the lil things first is a good thing .
Nike was the Greek goddess of victory so keep thinking Nike...!!
I've also just started growing veggies this year, in containers for a start but I have been bitten by the bug, definitely. Lizamouse is totally right - you will be checking to see if anything has grown even 1cm and it's totally worth the excitement. I have now had peas twice for dinner and they were delicious! Really hoping my other stuff tastes as good - and, of course, that it actually grows something I get to eat! Best of luck!
Its nice to go out to the garden and shop for the days menu instead of going to the store acrost town and rubbing butts with half the town to get something that taste like cardboard now is it not ;) and at leat you know what you put on your veggies and its not Ecolie lol or wax or a spit shine just fresh from the garden.
as for me i'm as real as it gets folks not hidden nothing met several folks on here and making friends show my home garden and the field gardens allover here there are a few folks that have my address to do some seed traden and swappen and given . i do my best to do right by folks and them by me . if you need something i'll try to help youif i can. or tell ya what works for me anyway.
BY The Sarge.
Meet Trixy the 4 Paws of Claws of the House
Fred says "howdy little lady" to Trixie.
ROTF they look alot alike funny thing Trixy is in Heat ...So Fred is a No No No LOL ... This lil girl is Grounded and cant come out and Play . But he is Cute . Might let him Court her for a while though. LOL we'll See He has to Have Good Manners . She is A Southren Gal Ya Know !
Sarge
He's a Southern Louisiana small town gentleman and neutered to boot. Can't have much better manners than that. He can catch a squirrel for breakfast or pluck a crawdaddy out of it's hole for dinner. Besides, his mama is from Memphis. He comes from good stock.
I gotta go to bed. It has been a LONG day! Nite nite Trixie & Sarge!
YEEEHAAW He's hired when they gitten hiched it will cost ya 5 bushel of crawfish cajun hot style LOL
have a good one hun see ya later .
Sarge
Veggie Gardening forum, meet Pumpkin, King of the Farm
OOOO Pretty Kitty Even Trixy Kitty Had to Come from Her Purch to Check Him out LOL Nosed the Screen ROTF.... and gave her mmmeeeooowww of approvallll he he he
Sarge
Keepen it fun Folks ! ! !
Update ... so, concern over a particular neighbor raising a stink about us planting a garden in a "wetland" caused us to abandon the idea of planting around the pond or in the original "sore thumb" area. Instead we are in the upper field (which, unfortunately has a pretty good slope to it except for about 15-20 feet running the length of the field). And the few 8x10 raised plots originally envisioned has transitioned to a full 15'x200' tilled plot of land.
So the first obstacle (again because of concern about the neighbor) was putting in a hay covered silt fence along the length of the field to protect the "wetland".
Second obstacle is the thickness of the root system of the grass that used to occupy this space. We rented a 3-point hitch rototiller to pull behind the tractor but despite going over the plot again and again and again and again (you get the idea) it really didn't get below the root system so I am a bit concerned. We are having to dig down by hand where we are putting in each plant and I'm afraid that the grass may come right back once the sun hits it.
Third obstacle is the sun, or lack thereof. It's been raining and raining and raining. So today we worked through the rain and we will do likewise tomorrow. Then we will need to take a break to take a short trip down to Florida to visit sick mother-in-law.
Question for you all: Spent some time yesterday at a nursery talking to the vegetable gardening expert and he painted a horrifying picture of what the deer, woodchucks and raccoons will do to the garden in a single night. I've heard of a liquid fence and step mother-in-law had heard of a hot pepper wax that can be sprayed on the leaves. Do you have any recommendations for handling these critters?
Thanks much!
Solor Powered Electric Neting Fence its Awesome and Not expencive either .
i would see if the land was classed as a "wet land on the county regester in not fill and grill plant and harvest if its your land .
Sarge
Sgt Yates, I am insanely jealous over that picture. It is neat and tidy and was that taken this year??? That is amazing.
Liza, can't wait to hear reports back on your new garden.
Jenhill, got any pictures? I was mentioning to hubby about the progression of your garden so he could start getting the long term vision.
Jan23, wished I'd had your wisdom and stuck with a smaller undertaking but once that rototiller got going we all said, why not? And I think I failed to mention that the in-laws are only visiting for 2 weeks and after that we are on our own. Hubby doesn't like to do any physical labor and oh, did I mention that I business travel 4 days a week? I know, I'm nuts.
Sarge,
In-laws, when they owned the farm, had a run-in with this neighbor who tried to land-grab from them. When the in-laws didn't bend over and let him get away with the land grab, he accused them of violating some wetland law (which they hadn't and it was eventually proven out in court that they didn't but it was a very costly defense). Now I'm the sort who thinks if we own the land we ought to be able to do anything on it we want and the govt ought to butt out of our business BUT we also don't have money to spend on a lawsuit so we are trying to be prudent.
oh btw, have I mentioned that Pumpkin gets jealous of me typing ... I believes he think I am scratching the keyboard and that means I'm not scratching his ears. He likes to jump on the keyboard which causes me to type thread messages over and over!
puananiloa,
LOL that is just the shot of the Beans yes that is this year ...ye go through a lot of battrys so i dont reset the date or time ..i dont think i know how to tell the truth.lol
my blog has a bunch of the field garden comes to life pic's in it ....
heres another shot
Sarge,
How tall is your fence and would you have had a deer problem if not for the fence?
IF you own the Land! and it is NOT regustared as A WETLAND with the State then you do Anything you want with it the court case in-laws fought is on record at the court house and you can get a copy or the case and ruleing. and the decree/judge's rule.... it should say if it has been declared as a wetland .. but also chack with the EPA for the Phycal Address being Listed as an wetland if not you can do as you wish. trust me benn here done this even have the T shirt .LOL... And there is NO law Suit to be Filed at All and the Naighbors are none the wiser LOL ;>) until it's too late to do squat.he he he ....
So Said the Sarge
Has no fence ! Has Dogs ! Has .243 with 12 X 24 X 50 Star Lite Scope!
And 2 rolls of Onions planted to the outside of garden all the way around
puananiloa, I have the same grass issues. We tilled it under last year and this.Keeps growing, seemingly enjoying the challenge :(. Last year I gave up, because nothing was growing BUT the grass, the whole year's garden efforts sucked. This year I determined to keep up with it, and it's about half successful. I have had to dig out the individual plants, and it's miserable. Now that we're consistently in the 90's, I'm done sitting in the rows *G*. I know I've left enough root bits that it'll be back, but I'm going to try some things over the winter. We try to stay with organic controls, so no weed killer allowed...
I did reach a compromise with the Morning Glories that also try to take over. They may climb the perimeter fencing, and a couple with the peas and beans. The rest must go.
I agree with Sarge, if the court has already issued a decision on the matter, it's done. They lost...end of story and you may do as you wish with the garden.
I've got some things doing well and some things just kind of sitting there. But it is H-O-T down here and Sticky with the capital "S". I'm losing another tomato plant to the heat. Started with 8, killed one with fertilizer and now another is receiving last rites. The corn that Charlie didn't eat is growing pretty well. Tomatoes may have to be a fall crop for me this year since I missed the early spring. I'm going to have lots of jalapenos though and that makes me really happy!
Pumpkin looks every inch the Pumpkin King sitting there on his perch like that! He might give Fred a run for his money in courting Trixie. But Fred does have the crawfish as sort of a dowry so I dunno...
Grass wars. I stumbled blindly into success there. My garden isn't mulched, although I'd like it to be, and even though I have uber thick bahia grass (a true nightmare unless you're a horse) I'm not having to fight it much. I think the reason is that it wasn't tilled. I tried. But the roots were too long and the grass was too thick. I'm glad now that I wasn't successful because the guys who dug the garden for me came with pick axes and basically excavated all of the sod out of the 21x21 square. I keep the area between the rows clean with the Mantis and run it around the edges every week.
You tell those neighbors to back off or you'll put a flock of pink plastic flamingos in the front yard and make a flower bed out of old tires spray painted pink to match!
LOL
Double LOL
Hay LM ,
I'll send ya some beer can planter plans there kool ROTF
that will make them Happy
~ ;>0)
Sarge
We belive in recycleing he he he
Save us all
So are you saying the flock of flamingoes in the front yard are annoying them?? :)
LOL i think so i see a pink project what was that address I think i seen a close out sale on Pink flock of flamingoes He he he
Sad to say, it COULD be the flamingos. Some people just don't appreciate the intricate detail of classic art.
Listening to Mike McGrath's You Bet Your Garden one morning, he was telling someone who had invasive grass NOT to till, because that just breaks up the roots and spreads them, and makes it worse. Probably the best thing you could do to discourage grass is to put down some sort of cover, like black plastic, which would kill it, but that would take a while. We don't till; we try to layer mulch over our garden rows to discourage weeds. Not that it totally does the job - I still fight them - but remembering the way it used to be I have to say we've made progress.
I wonder if you could use a sod cutter (rental) to take out the grass? Like this...
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200357663_200357663?cm_ven=Aggregates&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Grounds%20Maintenance%3EEdgers%20%2B%20Trenchers&cm_ite=260050?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=260050
I do have pictures, but you'll have to excuse the untidiness of my garden. Things aren't exactly "picked up". I usually take pics to remind myself of how big the plants were etc.
Here is the first, hubby and I building the boxes. April 2006.
This message was edited Jun 15, 2010 10:42 AM
This was in 2007. Before the wood chips...
This message was edited Jun 15, 2010 10:42 AM
As it stands now (actually picture is from end of May)...
View from the other side...
