The Official Gardening Thread!! Spring is coming!!
Posted by _Dalida_ on Feb 15, 2009 · Member since Jan 2009 · 966 posts
Hey Fellow Vw'ers!
Spring is just around the corner, so I'm just starting to do my seedlings and pick out what I'm planning on growing for Spring... I've already got my herbs started.. I think I will do a mix of indoor windowsill/kitchen , container & outdoor (possibly raised bed) gardening. What do you guys have planned? I'm for sure not a gardening pro, but I'm trying to relearn what urban man has forgot and be able to grow *some* food or at least herbs & garlic... So, everybody feel free to contribute anything pertaining to indoor or outdoor gardening please!! ;)b
I seeded my spring crop last weekend and listed it all in my blog, but here it is again:
Flowers
Candy Cane Zinnas
Cosmos
African Daisies
Poppies
Scarlet Marigolds
Jaguar Marigolds
Dwarf Bolero Marigolds
Nasturtiums
Herbs:
Mint
Basil
Sage
Tarragon
Garlic Chives
Savory
Greek Oregano
Curly Leaf Parsley
Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
Rosemary
Tomatoes:
German Queen Heirloom
Solar Fire Hybrid
Red Fig Heirloom
Yellow Pear Heirloom
Paul Robeson Heiloom
Red Lightning Stripe Hybrid
Jelly Bean Grape Hybrid
Matt's Wild Cherry Heirloom
Hot Peppers:
Orange Habaneros
Chocolate Habeneros
Peruvian White Habaneros
Red Savinas
Satan's Kiss
Bhut Jolokia
Fatali Peppers
Greek Pepperoncinis
Purple Cayennes
Dancing Spirit Peppers
Holy Mole Peppers
Portugal Peppers
African Fish Peppers
Serrano Peppers
Lemon Peppers
Limon Peppers
Thai Denchai
Datil Peppers
Goat Weed Peppers
Cow Horn Peppers
Wild Boonie Peppers
Other Vegetables:
Moth Beans
Lima Beans
Sweet Peas
Dundoo Zucchini
Poona Kheera Cucumbers
Wow, that's awesome Storm! ;)b
Do you have a greenhouse for housing all the seedlings, or do you dedicate areas in the house for this? That is really impressive (I'm quite the beginner gardener!) I think you mentioned earlier that you container garden exclusively-- I think that's what I'm planning to do mostly as well, except for some non-edible flowers because of sketcky soil. Any general tips are totally appreciated!
I also wanted to post this video that came out on the news a looong time ago, but I think this family is awesome! Maybe you've seen this?
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4863733&page=1
yay gardening! Last year I did TOO MUCH. so this year I am only doing strawberries, black berries (wont give me berries until next spring) tomatoes, basil and some other herbs. I might do potatoes, garlic and onion, but I think i missed the time for that. One neat thing about living in Texas is being able to garden year round.
Wow, that's awesome Storm! ;)b
Do you have a greenhouse for housing all the seedlings, or do you dedicate areas in the house for this? That is really impressive (I'm quite the beginner gardener!) I think you mentioned earlier that you container garden exclusively-- I think that's what I'm planning to do mostly as well, except for some non-edible flowers because of sketcky soil. Any general tips are totally appreciated!
I also wanted to post this video that came out on the news a looong time ago, but I think this family is awesome! Maybe you've seen this?
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4863733&page=1
No greenhouse, I use Park's biodomes and/or the Jiffy mini greenhouse domes. There are windows at each end of my utility room so that's where I put the domes. Then they go outside on the herb bench to harden off and then the transplanting begins. I garden in containers due to the poor soil as well. The only tips I really have are don't over-water and keep adequate space between the pots to discourage molds and fungus. Somewhere I recently heard that you should bury a banana peel near the bottom of your tomato pots. I'm going to try that once my babies are ready for transplant. So far, all of my flower seeds are up, all of my tomatoes are up, the lima beans, moth beans and poona kheera are up, but only the serrano and royal black african peppers are up. Of course, some pepper seeds can take weeks to germinate.
In all honesty, I'm going to have to give some plants away, I seeded way more than I can reasonably handle and the soil gets pretty damned expensive. I seeded two of everything and will give away one of most of the varieties, with the exception of the first 7 peppers on the list. Those I'll keep both of if both germinate.
Storm, I am so very jealous of your gardening skills! :o Especially the chiles. My seasons are opposite, so it's late summer/fall here and we only started harvesting chiles a few weeks ago that we planted around August. Several of the plants still don't have any fruit, but they're getting bigger so hopefully they'll survive the winter and produce something next year.
I got a really good crop of cherry tomatoes over the summer, but all my plants have died now. I'm also growing parsley...and that's all that's actually producing so far.
On my non-producing (yet) list, I have passionfruit, goji berry, 2 plum trees, 3 mulberry cuttings, stevia, lemongrass, curry leaf tree, coffee, and a mushroom plant (has anyone tried this? The leaves are supposed to taste like mushrooms but have the nutritional value of other leafy greens). All of these are too young/too small to have fruit/eat leaves yet. I'm also getting fig cuttings, but I read that you're supposed to take them in winter.
I am buying a plot in the community garden so I can learn to garden this year! I figure I will take what I learn and then try it in my own yard. So far, the only thing I know I will grow for sure is kale (my true love). I'm still thinking about other things. The cool part is, they teach you how to do all this stuff, and also provide starter plants!
I've had my first few waves of the garden itch already too. Based on learning that I don't get enough light in my house to start my own plants, I'll be buying them from a greenhouse this year.
I'm sad but sorta relieved about that because it's a lot of work to baby those seedlings! My carrots also didn't work last year so more emphasis on that this year - I really missed having fresh garden carrots!
I had decent luck with pumpkin and squash (top notch taste!) but they took up a lot of space, so this year I'll be digging out chunks of my front lawn for the squash family so the vines can crawl where they want without crowding my other veggies.
Storm - do you sell your produce? Looks like you have big plans. And hey, you wouldn't happen to be 'garden girl' now would you?? The way you garden has me curious....
Dalida - You're very lucky to be able to grow year round! I'm just a Canadian with climate envy ;)
Permanentgrin - I'm also envious of your climate - lemme guess: Australia? All those tropical fruits...must be nice.
Storm - do you sell your produce? Looks like you have big plans. And hey, you wouldn't happen to be 'garden girl' now would you?? The way you garden has me curious....
Actually, I give a lot of my harvest away to family, friends, and co-workers. I never really thought about selling it, though I suppose I could. I grow organically.
I am not garden girl. Is this someone from gardenweb? I am on there, but my ident. is Stormflakes (Storm was taken). I spend most of my time there in the chile pepper forum (no big surprise).
This picture is already posted in the raw thread, but since a lot of people don't go there I'll post it here too.
This is my herb bench and where I put my new sprouts to harden off.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/P2080024.jpg
wow, that is impressive Storm. I hope one day I have enough space/time to grow alot of my own food.
I've grown a few herbs in a pot before (basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley) and my mom gave me 2 small pots of wild strawberries last summer, which I hope will grow back even though there weren't many berries on them. I'd really like to start with tomatoes and other (relatively easy) veggies like zucchinis and potatoes, but for now I have no garden space so I'd have to do them in pots. I'd also like to grow a larger variety of herbs, like some mint plants and thyme and stuff.
can't wait for spring...
Hi Storm,
Ooops. I clicked on your profile and can see from that clearer pic that you aren't the garden girl I was thinking: http://www.gardengirltv.com/
It's just your gardening fervour and thumbnail blurriness that had me going...
Something I'd love to consider if I was growing that much food is bartering: I offer my tomatoes, Suzy cans them, keeps 25% and gives the rest back to me all prepped for winter storage :)
The prep takes so long and it's usually all at once : /
Gosh, I am so jealous! I want to garden but I am now allowed to where I currently live. I guess I could at least grow a few indoor things like herbs. I can't wait until I can have a place where I can attempt (and fail - at least at first) gardening. I hope that all of your gardening goes well.
Well, I'm going to have to drag all my babies into the utility room tonight.....it's supposed to hit 38°F! This has been such a weird and unusually cold winter in Florida. I'm sitting here with a sun burn from working in my garden on Saturday, and tonight I'm going to have to crank the heater! Grrrrr! >:(
I've added a few more varieties to my planting list.
Manzano Pepper
Rain Forest Pepper
Burkina Scotch Bonnet Pepper
India Jwala Pepper
Depp's Pink Firefly Tomato
Rouge D'Irak Tomato
I got my seeds!! I'm so excited. I still haven't figured out flowers and other decorate plants, but for edables I've got..
Sugar snap peas
de Bourbonne Pickling Cucumber
Eight ball zucchini
Gentry summer squash
Bush variety delicata squash
Cream of Saskatchewan melons
Falstaff Red Brussels sprouts
Swallow Eggplant
Turkish eggplant
3 varieties of Kale
Thennn for tomatoes...
Cosmonaut Volkovs
Mark Twains
Green Zebras
Peacevine Cherry tomatoes
and an Heirloom MYSTERY MIX!
Then for herbs...
Italian Parsley
Sweet and Aromato Basil
Greek Oregano
I've also got a rosemary plant that I brought in for the winter, and I'm going to buy a thyme plant when the co-op opens the garden shop again. I'll also be getting some blueberry and honeyberry bushes.
Oooh this thread is a good idea! I feel the inspiration flowing over me already.
I want to grow a lot as much as possible, but I am going to be moving halfway through the summer, so my plants need to be portable. Last year I successfully grew afew herbs in pots, but I didn't ever end up using them.
Any suggestions of herbs, vegetables, or plants in general that do well indoors/in pots?
Indoors I'm not so sure about, but I grow everything in containers due to the poor soil conditions down here. Most sweet and hot peppers do quite well in pots. Window box roma tomatoes, husky cherry tomatoes and sweet baby girl cherry tomatoes all do quite well in pots. There is also a cherry tomato called Tumbling Tom that can be grown in hanging baskets! I've never had any luck growing any kind of root vegetable in pots, even though some radishes, green onions and thumbellina carrots supposedly can be. Later, when it gets warmer, okra grows really well in pots.
Time for garden updates guys!
Most of my plants are doing beautifully. My zinnias got fungus pretty quickly and had to be pulled and the nasturtiums never came up. My German Queen tomato and Juliette Grape tomato are loaded with buds and my two husky cherry tomatoes are loaded with little green tomatoes. Most of the others are still in growth phase and not budding yet.
I had some germination problems with some of the peppers, perhaps due to older seed...some of it was from 2007 though I've had seed that was 6 years old come up in the past. The following didn't germinate:
Red Savinas
Greek Pepperoncinis
Purple Cayennes
Portugal Peppers
Thai Denchai
My cow horn pepper has seven peppers growing (yes, I counted) and my hot cherry pepper has too many tiny green peppers to count. The orange habs are both budding as are the Ancho and goat weed peppers. My Satan's Kiss was hit heavy by aphids...it must be particularly tasty because it seemed to attract every critter in the yard. I tried washing them off by hand but everyday there would just be another bunch of aphids on it. Finally a couple of lady bugs showed up and munched the whole lot of them, but I think it may be too late to save the plant. It looks pretty sorry, though it is trying to put out new leaves.
Cow Horn Pepper
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/017.jpg
Husky Cherry Tomato
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/018.jpg
Juliette Grape Tomato
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/Garden/019.jpg
Not that I have any gardening to be able to do, but spring is not anywhere near me! >:(
i was working out in my garden today. i looooove it. i mowed it yesterday. took out an old overgrown bed, mowed it down, the dirt underneath all of the weeds was SOOOO nice. and i actually found out that there werent many weeds growing in the bed. after i mowed there was a distinct dirt patch. so thats exciting. i made a neat trellis for my watermelon and cucumbers. i layed out a new bed. i just have to go get some more cinder blocks. my wood raised beds are not working. the wood is bending and weeds are growing up underneath. booooo.
i should get some pictures taken.
this is what i've got so far this year:
4 different kinds of tomatoes
cinnamon basil
blackberries
strawberries
watermelon
cucumbers
jalapeno peppers
a mystery pepper plant.. i couldnt resist the mystery
okra (these were from seeds... i dont know if they're going to come up. we'll see)
oregano
mint
i would like to have more plants. but i'm still new to gardening. i dont want to overdo it. and i've been working a lot in my front flower bed. which is nice. when we moved in the front flower bed was half grass and half weeds/bulbs. i've been slowly killing off the weeds/grass while replanting the bulbs in front of the bed. it looks nice.
I think I waited too long to transplant my seedlings to larger containers to plant outside, and they all kind of didn't make it :'(
I was really looking forward to having lots of herbs at my disposal for cooking and such.....I think it might be late to start seedlings again, no?
I am a bit nonplussed by gardening at the moment and my lack of a greenthumb >:(
Pages