Hi all - new to DG...I've been chatting in the organic gardening forum - most of the people I've talked to are faacing very differnt climate/growing seasons then me. I see a lot of flower gardeners posting here. Are there any organic vegetable gardening newbies or experts out there?
EC
Any vegetable gardeners out there?
Yes, Post-Oil-Living, I grow veggies and proud of it. Also a flower nut, but am trying to grow every vegetable we eat this summer except for corn and eggplants (I have a friend who likes to grow those and we share). I also want to do some canning and freezing again this summer.
Like your name, too.
Welcome to NE Gardening Forum, everyone here is so nice. Our Victor runs the joint, and he makes us all think we're the best gardeners in the world!
Daisygrrl
Welcome aboard to the DG - NE forum - POL. My second year having a GH - green house. Not big just 15x20 and 80% veggies and not organic as they are fertilized. I see changes from last year and I am no where near an expert. I do think the weather has something to do with it. I also think the economy has a part.
I could not get my 3" peat pots, they were on back order for 2 weeks. That was April 15 - 20th. It set me back 5-7 days. This tells me that more people are planting veggie gardens this year. They would rather grow the tomato then pay $$ at the store. Same with me when I started last year, just buying a plant for 2.50.
The weather up here in NH is different then last year. There has been spurts of warm, rain and now cloudy and cool. Very little sun in the past week.
Daisygrrl you can probably help here. This is my second year with GH. My green bell peppers are not maturing correct. I think it is too much water but lack of sun is hitting me also. I will take a picture.
You people really get me going, you really get me so I Love it here. Again welcome aboard Post_oil_Living ..... POL
Welcome POL to DG and the Northeast forum!
.I have been growing a veggie garden for over 20 years but am by no means an expert!! I do NOT use any chemicals.....the only thing I put in my garden is pure cow manure from a farmer we know well. He raises cattle and feeds them all organic food only. My big garden is approx. 25 X 50 and I have a smaller one that holds my pumpkins and squash. Then I also have 3 rows of peas, 50 ft. each row. Ask away and im sure someone here can help answer your questions.
Hi POL and welcome to DG and the NE forum. I don't run the forum, or anything - just try to help when I can. I too grow veggies organically, but am limited mainly to 2, 4 X 8 ft 30 inch high raised beds. I am looking to find more area to grow more veggies. I will probably mix them in with my beds this year. (I am trying to sneak onto pixie's property and use some of that great soil of hers!)
that sounds like a great plan Victor.... welcome POL.... I am a newbie gardener all around... started with tomatoes & cucumbers last year... but mostly growing flowers.... hoping to build some raised beds this year to expand my planting area for next year
Allison
I'd like to hear more about the 'post oil living', EC. I have solar panels for one year now. Took care of well over 50% of my needs. I also use a pellet stove for heating. Unfortunately, pellets have become a hot commodity so the cost savings is not guaranteed. Have used cf bulbs for over 12 years.
Hi POL.....and welcome to our zany corner of the gardening world. I, too, do a vegetable garden every year in NH and in Fla during the winter. I'm no expert either, but I've had a lot of trial and error experiences to share. This year I'm shifting my tomatoes, onions and peppers up to a section of the garden that gets more hours of sun, since the tall trees have begun to steal some sunshine the last couple of years. My green beans, cukes & broccoli do ok with a bit less sun, so they'll have the honor of staying in the 6-hours-of-sun section of the garden. Last year I almost succumbed to the gallant soldier weeds with their many generations in one summer, so I'm holding my breath to see if I have successfully defeated them this year. I have also decided to plant fewer tomatoes (6 plants of different varieties instead of 18 last year) & peppers this year. What are you planting in your garden?
Hi POL.....I grow mainly heirloom tomatoes and peppers. One night last summer a bunch of us in the Northeast forum were running outside to take pictures of our gardens. Here's my tomato garden at midnight:
http://usera.imagecave.com/Hist/midnightinthegardenoftomatoes.jpg
I use best practices which last summer meant organic. But I'll use Daconil and similar products if conditions appear ominious. Swatted back mildew (a real problem for me) with baking soda last summer but burned a few plants doing it. Going to try potassium bicarbonate this summer as the first line of defense.
This message was edited May 22, 2008 11:37 PM
Hi POL and welcome to the NE forum. We have a nice vegetable garden (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, peas, green beans, snow peas, lots of lettuce, Asian greens) and a separate asparagus bed along with a row of berries.
That soil looks great, Arlene!! What do you add to your soil each season?
Louise
Pirl, your veggie garden looks practically like mine! Take a look. Great minds think alike! LOL
wow is that close.... guess they do think alike
Hello POL. here a pic of our garden from 2006 - tried the red plastic for t-plants with no noticeable difference. Garden is about 25' deep by 75'. Also have herb garden in boxes like Victor uses. Wish I had land for a separate squash set up.
Not organic here and have real trouble with t-plants and wilt. My in-laws are my veggie weeders as i built the garden for my italian father-in-law. dacronil helped with the wilt last year. hoping for better results this year. start all plants from seed. they will be put to the test this year as i left my cold frame open for a couple night we had frost. some died, some are yellow, any showing signs of life get planted this Sunday.
daisy - they are similar! I like your green shed better than ours.
This year, for the first time, we didn't add any compost to the soil. There are many tons of compost from the last 16 years in there. It's so nice to work in that soil.
Edited to add that the photo is from 2006. We don't plant our tomatoes until the soil is fully warmed up.
This message was edited May 23, 2008 5:01 PM
I have done tomatoes with and without the red plastic and did not see any noticeable difference.
Oh, wait, Pirl. Now that I see your whole operation, I see my little patch is amateur hour next to yours! Beautiful!
Thanks, Daisy - as we get older the vegetable garden seems to grow larger. It's more than we need but we have neighbors who love the extras.
I vegetable garden too. That is mainly what we do. Love to share and see the differences in your gardens. The beautiful black loam makes me jealous although our less than perfect clay is full of nutrients. We can't grow anything with deep roots (carrots, parsnips, etc). We are organic as are some here. We do not do raised beds... heat/water/summer temps are an issue. Your challenge is a prolonged, cool, wet Spring. Please post photos of your garden in progress. I'd love to compare and share.
Laurel
Laurel - this crop of gallant soldier weeds was my best crop last year......don't you love how the little yellow flowers brighten up the garden? LOL If these suckers return again this year with their 7 generations in one summer, I'm quitting the veggie business!!!!
Help, I'm lost. Gallant soldier weeds...what are those? Can I grow them/eat them. Enlighten me.
Laurel
I don't grow vegetables (yard is small and 90% shade), but I just wanted to say that my hat is off to all you guys! That looks like a ton of work! A client of mine (I'm a decorative painter) has a huge organic veggie garden and when I'm lucky enough to be working for them in the summertime they are always shoving bags of freshly picked vegetables at me to take home, and after I taste them I can see why they go to all the trouble.
It's worth the work. We know enough people who won't plant any vegetables because they have nearby farm stands. So do we! The nice part is eating broccoli, snow peas, asparagus, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes or spinach that were growing ten minutes before we're eating them. Eating cherry tomatoes straight from the vine is a slice of heaven.
Fresh is the best. We raised a black lab for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. He loved asparagas. He would eat it raw as soon as it was up. I got into the habit of checking first thing in the morning before I let him out. He's been gone over 15 years but when I found 1 short stalk of asparagas yesterday. I quickly ate it raw. The first of the season. So delicious, crisp and flavorful.
It is! Nothing store bought can match it.
I totally get ya Pirl... nothing better than an afternoon weeding or working in the garden and plucking the cherry tomatoes in between
How much space does asparagus need? They don't bloom for a couple of years, correct?
Only as much space as you want to devote to it, Victor. Many gardeners plant them in 10's or 12's, as they're sold in April. Start with two year old roots and you won't have to wait as long. The first year you just let them go. Second year you can pick one to taste test. Third year have recipes handy. We must have had 300 so far this year as roasted, in salads and in soup. Pretty wispy foliage after harvesting season is over but you might need stakes around the bed to keep the foliage from flopping on your grass or any pathways. After Thanksgiving they're just cut to the ground.
So they get tall after harvest? How tall? And the space that each takes?
I'll take photos for you of the individual plants but my guess is the foliage gets to about 3 to 3.5'.
Thanks.
Our asparagus beds are over twenty years old. We are done picking for the season. The plants are now about five feet. Very attractive except they tend to flop. They reseed readily, but I think it takes about five years from seed to have edible stalks. That's why you're advised to start with three year old crowns. Fresh garden stalks can get huge and still be tender as opposed to store bought.
Laurel
Pirl, we have a popular farm stand here too, that is primarily for corn....which doesn't hold a candle to the corn my client gave me. I guess there is fresh, and then there is FRESH! If it wouldn't look totally ridiculous, I'd grow corn in my sunny front yard, lol.
I found seed for corn called Ruby Queen while wintering in Florida. I have it planted in a starter pack and will transplant it into 5 gallon buckets. I plan on growing it on my deck so I won't have to share with the racoons and woodchucks.
I don't know if it will work but sure worth a try.
Mittsy, corn needs to be block planted for proper pollination of the ears. It's usually recommended to block a minimum of four rows. Maybe it would be possible to hand pollinate? I can't advise here.
Laurel
Laurel - gallant soldiers are horrible weeds that constantly spread thousands of new little weed seeds that germinate and grow instantly, so that the spread in the garden is several generations in one growing season. Once they form blooms it is practically impossible to control them. Last year I was away from the garden for a week, and when I came back it was too late to stop the takeover, as the nasty little things had formed seedheads in my absence. I ended up with very painful sciatica as well as tendonitis in my right hand and arm from pulling so many of those devils.
I think we may have brought these weeds up from Connecticut. We had them there too. My introduction to DG was through a despairing search on the internet for and ID and info about the weeds. The photo I showed was the one that helped me get the name of the weed. YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THESE WEEDS PERSONALLY!
I underscore what Pirl said about the freshness of the veggies being SO WORTH the work that goes into a vegetable garden. Some of our friends don't understand why I spend so much time growing vegetables, but once they eat our garden fare, they get it. LOL
The other great thing about growing your own veggies (and fruit) is, you can often extend the season past what the farm stands do, with creative covering and such. I grow arugula and other greens in metal pans on my patio and have those as early as later March!
And when you grow your own, you often have enough to also freeze and nothing is more fun than pesto in January, freebie corn from a freezer bag in February, 'mater sauce in March. A friend of mine has a really hot pepper plant that she loves so much she treats it like a perennial (apparently its a perennial in Mexico), digs it and pots it up and brings it inside in the fall, where it bears until Christmas week. In March, she came over with a salsa that used the last of the Christmas-picked peppers she had stored in her crisper. She also brought me the seeds from the pepper just for fun, and don't you know each of them sprouted!
Anyway, it's all fun, tasty, and if you're really careful, you can sometimes even save money on it.
Ah! Pesto in January is heaven.
Good luck, Mittsy. You have nothing to lose by trying to grow the corn. I wish you luck.
Noreaster - you could start a new trend and maybe you could make a maze of maize.
Louise - the other very nice thing about growing your own veggies is that at the end of the day, after the shower, when you think about dinner you don't have to go to any farm stand but just to your own garden for produce you know hasn't been sprayed or been on hold for a week somewhere.
Tried to get a shot of the whole asparagus bed, but would fall off the hill doing that with our narrow stepped gardens. I was not able to hold a spear up and shoot, but they are taller than me, so must be at least six feet! I'm growing zinnias and winter squashes will ramble through the ferns.
Laurel
Ok - guys and gals. My 2nd year with a small GH. 15x20'
I have worked my butt off and lovin it.
I am tired.
I gave 120%.
I spent $750.00 for supplies and heat.
I took in $1276.00 in 3 days. Little extra cash and a free garden. Yeah!!!!
I am pooped and past pooped and have to go to bed.
Love ya and see you tomorrow or Tuesday.