Vegetable gardening

Have not started yet! This week.

Victor, we got a big down pour last night, and assume your garden did too. Perfect planting time. I need to plant more basil seeds, but sort of done. Crowing!!

No corn here, but we did love having the very few ears we got many years ago when we tried to grow it. Too much space required which has to be fenced because of the deer. Plus we have a farm just down the road that grows great corn. But Celeste is right about the joys of growing your own. I love Silver Queen.

Started eating lettuce from the garden last night. Patti

Yes, we have had good rain lately.

was wondering how do you know when to harvest lettuce?

If it is loose headed - I just pull leaves as they get big enough to be worth eating.

ok, thanks

Well, I have only a 6X12-ft raised bed that the last owner built here, whereas I used to have 16 raised beds 6X6 !
Not really much room to expand where there would be enough sun, so ... Another exercise in downscaling!
Last week's 100-degree days left me with lots of baked lettuce. Next year, I may build a brush arbor to protect them.
I have a few Yukon Gold and a few Russet potato plants that are already blooming. They'll be finished and dug in time to put in bok choy for Fall.
Still finding lots of volunteer onions from the previous owner's planting. Have 16 hardstem garlic doing OK.
A few Rainbow chard; it didn't germinate very well.
Lots of French breakfast radishes. Carrots once again failed for me. I just can never seem to grow them.
2 rows of peas; growing well but not yet blooming.
Will be putting in New Jersey, Lime Green Salad, Black & Boar, Golden Egg and Silvery Fir Tree tomatoes (although the Golden Egg seedlings are not looking very good!)
Also 1@ Viserba and Ping Tung aubergines.
Orange Habanero, CGN 22155 and Ancho ciles and New Ace sweet pepper.
1 small watermelon plant; 4 Little Leaf cukes.
Planting marigolds, parsley and basil around the edges.
That's it! I'm anxious to see what works!

sounds like a good variety

Jim, welcome. Boy you don't have much room, but you
have some very interesting varieties. Direct seed carrots
In August for a good fall and winter crop. We had sweet
Carrots until early May this year. I am hopeless at onions though we
have many ornamental ones that thrive for us. Go figure.

I planted Rainbow Swiss chard in front on the veggie bed and in
an herb bed for color. We gave up starting plants inside and either
buy starts or direct seed. We travel too much to care for seedlings
properly. I am about to seed more basil, radish, and some late summer
Flowers. But not today. Spent all day out working in the rain in the perennial
Beds weeding and dividing up a bunch of plants (a car trunk full)which took and planted as a gift in a friends new garden at his new rental. He came home for
Lunch and caught us in the act. We looked like drowned rats. He was so happy with our plant surprise. Patti

That was a kind thing to do! My peas are blossoming, but I never get a good catch of chard......my son does though, so I can pick in his garden......

Nothing - yet.

This is a pretty cool idea for staking tomato/pepper plants
http://goo.gl/i8q7u

2011 - 98 tomato plants, 2012 - 63 tomato plants and 2013 - 4 tomato plants. 1 cucumber hill, 1 zuchinni hill & 1 yellow summer squash hill. TaDa

Yep....hard to do physical work & garden, too......

7 rows of corn ~ each row is 100' long, back of my legs hurt. :)

Both newer and experienced vegetable gardeners (I've been growing vegetables for over 50 years) may be interested in a new book I just bought:
Jo Robinson, Eating on the Wild Side.
Based on an extensive analysis of a vast array of nutritional studies from around the world, she talks about the nutritional content of most vegetables and fruits and gives lists of the most nutritious varieties. I'm learning a lot I never knew while reading this, finding some of my favorites included, and already making plans for next year's garden!

That's a lot of corn!!

My veggie garden is a mud pit ....more heavy rain tonight....only the peas are loving this weather.

JB - I am eating lamb's quarter quiche for lunch this week. Talk about nutrition! (Also it grows itself.) I will look for the book you recommended.

I enjoyed your quiche at Louise's RU, Memory!

Thank you. I'm also eating it steamed on top of grain for lunch. I really have a bumper crop this year. LOL!

AYankeeCat: I remember gather Lamb's Quarters with my Mother when I was knee-high to a grasshopper!
Lamb's Quarters and horsemeat hamburgers --- that's how poor we were then!
All grown up and better off, I don't guess I've eaten either food in 40 years (I still gathered Lamb's Quarters in the late 60s & 70s, when "back-to-the-land self-sufficiency" was all the rage, but I think the poor folks' horsemeat markets had all been driven out of business by then!)

Had to look up Lamb's quarters. It sounds like a good thing to eat, nutritionally. I will have to get out my old copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons and see what he does with it. Patti

http://goo.gl/j3onb

Hat's off to you who are a zone or maybe a half below my 4a & b. of VT. VT. Camp 20 mi. away where we live 6 days of the wk. each summer, are considering planting my down-sized veggie garden. All in more shade than sun by mid. Aug.as the sun no longer rises above the 100 ft. ancient pines. However, moved my tomatoe plants (after 4 yrs. of early blight) into sterilized self-watering pots & all kinds of Gardeners Supply new soil will be for the 2nd yr. in new area (no blight last yr.). They came early May from Burpees/Grafted Big Boy's on whatever stock as rather fat 4 inches. in lg. pots & well protected through the May frost, & the May 2 days in the 90's & sitting in water, they are a now huge 21 inches w/blossoms. Will bury them to about 6 inches showing & keep that water going in the "hole" at bottom. Welcome to my $5.00 EACH tomatoes. Carrots, beets, chard & Bush beans planted in ground some time ago & are doing OK as most of those do under all kinds of conditions once the soil has "sorta" warmed up. Enjoying all N.E.glanders garden info. Continued good luck for the summer to all. Enjoy all before it's time to plant bulbs . . . . too soon . . . . soon!

ckl from the "cap" of VT.

Sounds like you solved your blight problem....fresh tomatoes are worth it....I planted 15 tomato plants this year, I usually make & freeze stewed tomatoes with the excess......right now the garden is so muddy, you can't walk in it.....

Husband and I spent all day yesterday getting the Veggie garden laid out. We have one bed finished now I need to figure out how to fit in 8 Tomato Plants and 2 Pepper plants. I have been making a chart on Google Drive and was hoping for some opinions from you more experienced veggie gardeners. The beds are 4' x 8' https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoUfWLnXmGNbdF9OcjNUMmh0VnN1TGdzazZxVE9UWnc&usp=sharing
I read that planting the Peppers with the Toms can benefit them by shading the fruit which is good. So what do you think of my plans? The colored in ones are the ones I am thinking will work best. Thank you everyone who looks. :)

I hadn't been able to finish off the garden, the grass started to grow into the garden thru the chicken wire...I need to edge it with something...while I was cleaning out the grass, I saw something scurry away...I thought it was 1 of the huge black crickets...ended up being the biggest spider I've ever seen in my yard....man it was huge!

Yuck!

Plans should work, Meredith. Jen, hopefully the spider has moved on!

I walked toward it to see what it was and it just kept backing up to hide, so I said to it..."ok you stay there you don't bother me I won't bother you"

I hate spiders!
looks good Meredith!!

Corn is up!!

Thanks Robin and Pixie! I wish I had the room to do a 3 sisters garden.

this will show how much of a newbie veggie gardener I am...BUT when you harvest lettuce, does it then grow back? or is that 1 bunch done after you cut it?

Some growth is possible if you don't cut it too short, but it will be just a few leaves.....

It depends on the type of lettuce as well. The loose head lettuces keep growing if you just pick the leaves off a couple at a time.

yes, I have several kinds that bush out after cutting them.

oh sorry it's arugula

Veggie Garden is almost done! I have toms, cukes, peppers and lots of herbs planted. Probably late to most people but this is the earliest I've planted stuff since I moved to this house in 2006!

Looks great!!!