WARNING for those as totally inexperianced as myself.

My mom told me uncooked vegetables were not edible. I am now wondering if she told me that so I wouldn't eat them on my way from the garden, or if she really believed it. I don't ever remember eating raw vegetables as a child - except for salad stuff.

Mothers are crafty people and can come up with all sorts of things to keep the kids in line. I think you need to admire her for her ability to save the garden for the table LOL.

Rebloomnut, in our family the boys didn't do anything wrong. ( I was girl #1) When they thought it was me sneaking the truck out at night, I was going to be grounded. They found it was boy #3 and no more was said. They never did catch my sister, child #2 when she did it first. I'm not sure boy #4 ever took it. I never did it at all because I knew, somehow, they would catch me.

Honeybee, which one would you have eaten if you didn't know any better?

I had to pick green beans, so I avoided the garden in my spare time. Besides, I was too busy sitting in the apple trees in the Catholic Church yard across the road, sampling.

rebloomnut - you might be on to something there - I remember eating lots of fresh fruit straight from the bushes - maybe she was just protecting the veggies for the table as you said.

She ran an in-home guest house during the summer, so it would make sense that she needed as many veggies as possible for the visitors.

I also remember selling excess pole beans (scarlet runner) to the neighbors.

I like the fact that Billy loves veggies, raw or cooked. His Brother who does not live with us came one day to spend the night, he is 6.. I fixed pork, mushrooms, Asparagus and bell peppers. Billy helped himself to all of them raw his brother NO WAY... Then it came time to sit down for supper, Billy ate everything on his plate in a matter of minutes, but yet one hour later, his brother still had not tried the mushrooms or the peppers. Wasn't to hot on the asparagus... Caught Billy munching off his plate.... LOL

Now offer him a hot dog.... He will eat the bread, and feed the hot dog to the dogs, he does not like them even in Mac N Chez...

Chloe is so cute. She deserves a few nibbles of the asparagus.

That is funny with the kids. Some people won't eat cooked veg's and some won't eat raw. I like the anyway you serve them. Except Okra-the gummy feeling is too much for me.

Billyporter I think you need to sneak the truck out tonight even if you are all grown up. Don't tell anyone and just go for 15 minutes. When you get back the family will think you lost your mind when you tell them why but oh well. I am glad you didn't get grounded.

Honeybee, Chloe is adorable! We had a Cocker Spaniel that liked to nip off the asparagus heads too :o) We ate everything at home too, but Mom never grew peas or eggplant. The beets, she pickled. I never liked acorn squash. As a kid, carrots and tomatoes would have ben my choice to sneak.

MissJestr, good for Billy!!He's the kind of kid you just like to watch eat! I hope his brother comes around. Funny how one day a kid can like something and a week later he doesn't, and vice versa. I remember doing that as a kid. Maybe there is hope for the brother yet!

Rebloomnut, ROTFL! It wouldn't be hard. It's sitting in the pasture, but I think it would make it around the block!

Oh my - I laughed when I saw this thread pop up!!

Love your Chloe Honeybee. My pup loves carrots. Better have the gate to the garden closed when you're pulling them or hold onto your hat, uh, carrots! He'll snatch 'em right outta your hand! And if he sees you eating one you will have to share or he will bug you relentlessly...

Would ya know it, got both gardens planted and tubs for containers and it snowed the other day...Out in the snow Billy and I were covering up the gardens, using everything I could find to keep the plastic off the plants, lol it looked real funny but I only lost one plant.... Now it will be in the 80's this week....

My first year I spent LOTS of time, money & energy on new plants, weeding, watering, etc. One day I noticed plants spouting from my "compost" - an area where we threw scraps. My tenderly loved "store" veggies were overcome by the ferocious growth of the accidental veggies. This year, I planted tomatoes around the pool then it rained 14 inches in 2 days. But that compost...sure enough, it's exploding with veggies and with zero effort.

MissJestr, snow, oh no! Billy is a big help!

Smb, ROTFL!! I had compost tomatoes that were better than those in the garden too!

Compost tomatoes

I was reading somewhere today that I could plant potato's in pallets and old hay...I have both just laying around, I think I just might..
Yes Billyporter, My Billy bob is a big help cause he knows in his garden he can eat what ever he chooses when it finally comes up...
the last of the okra and corn and beans will be planted today, then in 2 weeks we will start seeding so we have a stagger in the harvest...

I grew potatoes on top of the ground and straw thrown on top one year. Best crop of potatoes I ever had with the least effort,. Usually I am lucky to get 2 potatoes per hill LOL.

Please tell me more rebloomnut, did you worry about bugs??

MissJestr, what a great way to introduce new food to him too. I just started planting the pineapple tomatillo. When they drop to the ground, they're ripe. We just ate them like a cherry tomato, but it's also used for fruit salsa. I've never made any of that myself.

Rebloom, did you cultivate first so the sprouts could roots easier? I've never tried it either, but it sounds like you could sneak a new potato a lot easier!

LOL yes they are easier to sneak,. We plowed the bed as always and spread light layer of fertilizer then layed the potatoes on top and covered with about 6" of straw and watered them down. Never did another thing to it.

Never had bugs much that I can remember but it may be our location too as not as many here as south of us.

Rebloom, that sure seems to be the thing to do. We might get a few wire-worms, but scab is worse since we have alkaline soil. How much closer can you plant them since you won't be digging into them in the fall?

Here is the link,..
http://www.gardenguides.com/102706-planting-potatoes-pallets.html

If I quickly get them in there now, I can collect in August and start again late august for december

This message was edited May 4, 2010 12:40 PM

I planted potatoes under straw two years ago. Got a few, but nothing great. Last year there were a few the grew in the same spot, but I never really bothered with them. This year, in the row between my hay bales, I found a plant. I'll give it some time, and see what happens. I'll need to mark it somehow, as that "aisle" gets mowed when the spirit moves my Tractor rider...

Billyporter I don't think I planted them any further than about 1' apart. I just read MissJestr link and it sounds a lot like this. Catmad did you put down any fertilizer as the are not underground where they get more nutrients.

No, I haven't done anything to them. I've been doing bale gardnening for several years, and this was a form of the same principles. I use hay, which seems to supply more nutrients than straw when it decomposes, an all I'm planning on using is a foliar feed. Well, I WAS planning on using it, until the raccoons chewed up the bottle. Not sure how much is left :(.
Actually, that "no fertilizer" may not be true. While I didn't fertilize while they were growing, when I initially planted the 'taters I had put down a good layer of compost. I also add a compost mix when I put things into the bales.

MissJestr, thanks for the link. I bookmarked it to watch more videos. I wish I had a nice sunny bed with a lot of room to plant long rows. My dirt is a sandy mix, not too much sand, not too much clay. It's not perfect, but better than my Dad's gumbo.

Billy I too live in desert rocky soil but I moved the hay to another spot and I am thinking I can put the potato's in that spot since the hay pallets sat there loaded with hay in the same spot for about a year. So under the pallets I will move should be some decomposing hay worked into the ground. Will see on Saturday when I build it.

MissJestr, what a great way to make a new bed with a little added effort!

What kind of potatos had everyone raised? I started planting potatoes quite a few years ago. But, since I don't have much room, it's not a yearly planting. We like reds and russets. I did plant Kennebeck one year since a friend gave me leftovers. So many that I gave my leftovers to my dad:o)

I have grown Red and Gold and white of different varieties/ The Yukons did not do very well but the reds and whites did good.

Which has more weed seed Hay or Straw?? I can never remember and I don't need any backtalk about my age LOL

How did we shift the topic from tomatoes to potatoes?

Actually, this began as focused on vegetable gardens, so I think anything is fair game :). It's gone in many directions. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants are so closely related that it's easy to wander from one to the other.

rebloomnut, hay has more seed, but I don't know about weeds. I've found odd things in my hay bales (yesterday a blackberry plant) but most often they seem to have come up through the bales, rather than starting in them. I confess I don't know where the turnipish things came from...

We're just chatting till Dyson has time to start his new thread:o)

But I'm learning things too :o)

Dyson should write a book, as his sense of humor outweighs any gardening murders, and makes us all laugh, not necessarily at him but also at ourselves.

Go, Dyson!!

Just read this thread and laughed throughout. So much of it sounded familiar. I foster for the local Humane Society and my canine residents use to think I grew red ball bushes for them instead of tomatoes for me. Use to get volunteers in the strangest places the next year. And yes, both times I "borrowed" family vehicles I got caught - once because a freak blizzard came up and the other time because we ran out of gas - about 10 minutes before my folks happened to drive by. I think God was out to teach me a lesson. But the part that really cracked me up was finding out that our bugs weren't the only ones blamed for my crimes. I use to eat the red flowers off of my Mom's cannas. She loved those cannas and could never figure out what would only eat the flowers. (They were pretty good, by the way. Hope they weren't poisonous.)

Evelyn, ditto!

Muttlover, ROTFL&L!! Another good story! Stories.

May the Good Times Roll ROTFL!!!

Dyson, I had to take a second look at the poster name to make sure it wasn't ME who wrote all that! I just signed up today and it could have been me writing it - almost word for word! This is my second seasoning gardening and I signed up because I need help! LOL! I'll learn from some of your mistakes. At least I know I'm not the only one out there killing plants!

Thanks for posting the tale of your gardening woes!

Ha ha ha, lots of funny stuff.

I'm still very much a newb gardener. This is the 1st year I've had volunteer tomatoes grow in my yard- my compost pile to be exact. It was real frustrating- humbling, really- when I saw fruit on these tomatoes just a few days ago...then realized how lush and green the volunteers were compared to my pampered main crop of tomatoes in pots (which have *zero* fruit btw out of 8 plants!!!) Mind you, I don't care (as in feed, prune or otherwise nurture) at all for the volunteers. I don't water them or anything. Plus, they get shade for at least half the day! Yes...I have much to learn.

Also, has this or something similar happened to anyone else?? I was out in the backyard this past Fri evening doing normal garden stuff. Then, I heard this helicopter…and it was getting closer. It seemed to loiter in the general area for awhile and I thought, wow, they (the cops) must be looking for someone; maybe they’re searching the fields behind my house? Then the chopper (which was blue, not very big) proceeded to circle my house 2-3 times and by that time I thought ok, what’s going on?? So, I looked up and noticed a small, bright red light inside the helicopter. Then it dawned on me…oh, these guys probably think I’m growing weed or something! LOL!! I guess the tomato plants could be mistaken for pot (no fruit yet, of course.)

People walk their dogs, ride horses and whatever behind my house all the time. My dog will almost always charge to the back fence to bark at another dog, and so I'm guessing someone's dog got real close to my fence and when the dog-owner walked up to get there dog they probably took a peek into my yard and thought they saw some funny business going on...then tipped off the DEA, LOL!.

The helicopter was light blue and appeared to be Houston PD although I live in the 'burbs and technically not Houston. Anyway, that's how I interpreted the situation. My family and friends got a laugh. My buddy said my neighborhood watch program doesn't mess around!

John, real good thing you were just growing maters! It was good for a laugh tho!

I thought the story was going to end with it being a model plane. We've been fooled by the bigger one's. That's a good laugh too! Especially when you've been fooled twice.

I think it would be beyond stupid to grow pot in mass quantities out in the open like that. The cops would lock you up and throw away the key I imagine.

Part of me is glad that there are people who are observant and vilgilant but on the other hand, I am a little annoyed that someone was looking into my back yard under unknown circumstances!! Oh well, I guess there were good intentions so that should be the bottom line.

John if your Maters come up missing you have some undercover cops raiding them. LOL

John, they would if you weren't a criminal. Everyone else gets probation. Yeah, your 'maters, when ripe, might look too good to pass up. Look for saltshakers in the grass.

LOL Funny stuff here... I am taking the camera out to the gardens this afternoon, well maybe if I get all the weeds out first, so that might be a few days from now, but it is coming along nicely...