I planted too many 'Fill in the blank'...

Squash! I have 29 squash plants now! They multiplied! We also have our first blossom. It's on one of the plants I thought was a goner!

We also have 40 tomato plants.

Anyone want some squash.. may consider shipping!

Hi Qinx,
Do you have a local food kitchen to feed needy people? I'll bet they'd love to have your surplus and, if you have enough, might even send someone to pick it up. Another thought--do you have a farmer's market? Again, if you have enough, you might want to consider renting a booth and selling it. Then you'd have extra cash to buy more garden goodies :-}

Our farmer's markets are geared toward commercial persons. Must provide proof of insurance and tax certificate. They want local farms, but not gardeners to attend.

Qinx, have a yard/garden sale only sell veggies instead of stuff ...lol

I just finished giving away over fifty hot pepper plants and still ended up putting at least 20 in my small garden. I grow 10x more than I need and tend to plant about 40x more seeds than needed. I have brown thumb so I tend to over compensate lol

Giving away 50 plants and having all you need for your own doesn't sound like a brown thumb to me!

Oh I have no trouble starting seeds indoors, it's when they go into the garden the fun begins.

Yeah, but it still may not be "brown thumb syndrome," Dorkasaurus! Once they go into the ground there's so much "competition" from molds, fungus, insects and other critters, weather, etc., the odds of the plants surviving go down exponentially! It's a circus out there!

Yep. I've found a cut worm or something that decided it liked one of my tomatos and it ate through 3/4 of the plant stem at ground level. The worm has since departed... permanently! And I also found 4 pea plants severed... It's all the bugs fault!

Circus eh? Maybe they'll setup a circus in my back yard with a ferris wheel and everything else. See little fleas on the high-wire act or something!

You could give away free zukes as prizes!!

You win locakelly!

Yeah!! Zucchini!! I'm so excited!!

ROFL! I'm so jealous locakelly! But don't offer to share--I have plenty of my own!

No playing with your foods! You're way to excited!

Ha ha, NL. You're safe. There's this girl down in Florida I think I'll be sending them to. Hey, cue_chik - I'm talkin 'bout you!!

Kelly

So I gave 2 tomato plants to my daughter to take to a co-worker.. she returns the favor by adding 5 more squash plants! Gah!

Oh gosh--you'd have been better off keeping the tomato plants! At least you could have canned or frozen them :-}

Quinx, As a seasoned Soup Kitchen volunteer, I'm all for that suggestion. Another thought: I organized a mini Farmers'Market which operated during the social hour between church services. Gardeners brought their surpluses; non-gardeners bought fresh veggies and herbs, and the profits were donated to the Soup Kitchen. People got so psyched that we had people bringing in things like cookies and muffins to sell if they didn't have gardens.

Qinx, you have been cursed with the 'Plague O' Squash' it seems...LOL.

Kelz

This is so funny that I found this thread.
I'm a first time veggie gardener. I have always grown a few tomatoes and peppers in my beds, but with the price of groceries skyrocketing this past year... I've opted to put in veggies in all those sunny spots instead of annuals this year. I even bought the whole water bath canning kit. Sure wish I'd have paid attention when my mom was canning. I haven't a clue what I'm doing.

I found zuke seedlings in a 9 pack, and each of the cells had 2 plants in them. So, I planted all 18 of them. I've since found out that 3-4 plants would have been enough... so, I'm going to have to get creative with what to do with the excess.
I planted radishes before I found out that DH doesn't like them. I'm eating them as fast as they come in... I'm getting sick of them already... sending the next batch of 'em to the neighbors.
Instead of planting 3 Celebrity, and 1 cherry tomato (which was more than enough for the 2 of us)... I planted 6 Celebrity, 4 tomato, and 3 Mountain Pride tomato... they're loaded and looks like they're all going to be ripe at the same time.... kind of scary.
Okra... well... again... I didn't know that 20 would be way to many.

Lessons learned... and I'll be a little smarter next year.

eh, you can always freeze what you dont need to see you thru winter as well. Thats my plan anyways. I have far too many of certain veggies and not nearly enough of others, but thast OK, cuz two of my neighbors are also growing veggies in their gardens and we have all agreed to combine resources with what we have and share our surplus. WOOT, community gardening, I just love it

I plan on freezing some... even been googling for instructions.

None of my neighbors grow anything... rarely even see them out working in their yards... I live in a very boring neighborhood.
BUT, they sure do love to see me coming with a bag full of goodies.

DH even bought me a used fridge to keep veggies while I'm canning.
He's not so helpful in the garden, he just likes to eat.

surplus veggies should never be considered a problem. what you can't use/can/dry/freeze can be given away, there's always someone who can use food.

This message was edited May 31, 2009 1:47 PM

Yes, I know... and I've been scoping out a few alternatives.
There's actually a man with a produce stand not far from me who will buy my excess to resell... better than sitting down there in the heat to sell it myslelf. I'm considering doing that with some of my cherry tomatoes, at least. Last year, the 1 cherry tomato plant I had produced a bumper crop all the way to late fall.

Hi, all. This is my first time on this forum, because for the first time, I'm trying more veggies than just 3 or 4 tomatoes. Well, like everyone else, I went a bit overboard with seeds. I've enjoyed reading about everyone's bumper crops.
Just thought I'd add this: a friend of mine taught me to freeze tomatoes whole, even the huge beefsteaks. To use, just drop them into the soup or stew pot. The skins slip off easily once heated, and are a cinch to remove.
I have okra seedlings! I'm very excited (Dad was from SC). Dreaming of lots and lots for fresh and PICKLED to add to Bloody Marys - yes! - a treat I had in New Orleans.
Any expert advise on this plant?

This won't be any help at all but...

My dad often grew okra (I'm from Tennessee) but I only ate it battered and fried or sometimes I'd eat it raw off the plant when I was watering but I've never heard of pickled okra. If it goes into a bloody mary it can't be all bad...

My granddaughter has love pickled okra her whole life... she's 16 now, and we consider it a green veggie where she's concerned... she can eat a pint jar all alone...

I know I'm going to have extra okra this summer... so I'm planning to dry some of the pods for dried arrangements this fall... they're really pretty in wreaths.

I have a very large extended family who loves my zucchini bread - lol. What I do with the buggers I can't sneak onto the neighbors' doorstep or give away is grate them and freeze them in the amounts I need for various recipes. When I'm ready to use them I thaw a little and pop them in whatever I'm making - delicious!!

Kelly

bj, your granddaughter knows good eats!
loca, I freeze lots of veggies and herbs,too, and use them all winter long. What would we do without freezers?

Here's a pic of an average sized zuke from my bounty. This one's for you, Qinx!!

Thanks so much! lol

So far we have harvested a couple yellow squash. No zukes yet. We have a butternut squash growing on the trellis too!

We've picked lots of peas and strawberries so far. Beans are flowering now and the tomatoes are large and green!

I'm so envious of all you in the warmer climates. I was getting stressed last year trying to keep up with the freezing and pickle making....so I put in even more of everything this year! But with my tender little bean and cuke seedlings just coming up, and anticipated temps of 45 Wed night, I'm wondering if I'm ever going to see a harvest of anything but peas and lettuce! I'd almost give a limb to have my garden as advanced as all of yours. I'm crossing my fingers that in a few weeks I'll be wondering "what the heck I was thinking?"

Awww. I've never had a garden that I can remember that far North. I lived a long time in GA and FL and now that we're in VA it seemed late to me for our planting. Hopefully we get all we want frrom our garden and some extra for friends.

You are right, as it warms up for you,you'll probably have all you can handle and then some!

Best of luck patterntracy!

I've been giving extras away on Freecycle.

Freecycle rocks!!

Hi all. First time here. I am in Alaska and just started my seeds, as I do each June. I know last year we had 8 tomatoe plants, it was so cold and cloudy last summer that we only harvested 4 tomatoes that were about the size of a large golf ball. LOL This summer it has been very warm for about a month now, that I hope I didn't wait to long. We are building a new Cabin and I will transplant the plants to the new property in a month. Wish me luck. I love this thread.
(Last year we went for winter to fall instead of having spring and summer added in there.)