How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Roy Tucker]

We had a bit of a dry spell too and my lettuce and spinach are just ok. I don't ever remember having to water this early.

I have a couple early girls in-ground with my walls of water around them. Covered with a frisbee on the frost nights. OUReds, I am in awe of your tomatoes.

[OUReds]

There's time to plant lettuce and get a good crop before the real heat hits happily.

Thanks Roy, though don't be too in awe, they aren't even in the ground yet! Last year was a great year, some of the plants topped 8 foot. Nothing makes life worth living more then a home grown tomato in August.

[redsmetz]

My wife has the spinach in and she planted the broccoli last weekend. I think this Saturday I'll turn the beds and we'll try to get more in. We have a number of zucchini volunteers that we're going to see how they go. We're having our porch rebuilt this weekend and we've asked him to put wider railings on so we can put our herb window boxes there. Anxious for the basil to come in.

[Redsfaithful]

Anyone ever have a landscape consultant out to tell you what to plant for landscaping? i.e. what would do best, etc. My front and back yards are pretty filled in, but I'd like to add some things and maximize the likelihood the plants will survive. Can't decide if it would be worth the expense though.

[gonelong]

12 ft x 12 ft garden is fully in now ...
* Planted 4-5 rows of Jade Green beans
* 6 Yukon Gold potatos
* 2 Beefsteak Tomatos
* 5 various peppers
* 1 Rhubarb
* 1 Zuchinni
* 2 cucumbers
* 2 onions
* "volunteer" lettuce that must have seeded from last year that is being harvested
* A metic crap-load of strawberrys are hanging off every plant. [dools]

Garden is a bit tight this year, we'll see how that affects growth/output

I also have some strawberrys alongside the house in between the flowers as ground cover.

GL

[Roy Tucker]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

Anyone ever have a landscape consultant out to tell you what to plant for landscaping? i.e. what would do best, etc. My front and back yards are pretty filled in, but I'd like to add some things and maximize the likelihood the plants will survive. Can't decide if it would be worth the expense though.

Lots of times, they'll do this for free. Especially in off-season times. I'd call around and see if anyone does. We had one out when we first moved into our house (21 years ago). She sketched out a plan for us with shaped beds and suggestions as to what to plant where.

I've got a built-in consultant though. My wife has worked at Greenfield Plant Farm off and on for the last 15 years. Our yard is slowly going from a sun yard to a shade one. The spindly little trees we planted 21 years ago have matured into very nice (and shady) trees. Just got a winter king hawthorn for the last open spot.

[lidspinner]

we put out 30 tomato plants, different types....most Mr Stripey, Cherokee Purple and Beefsteak.....around 10 broccoli and 10 cauliflower....6 yellow squash, 6 zuchinni, 6 cucumbers, 6 huge wide rows of bush beans stringless, 8 melons, a small strawberry bed, some lettuce, celery, eggplant and carrots....we have some acreage in another part of our county where we plant about 2 acres of sweet corn...usually bodacious and silver queen....tried a small plot of "gotta have it" from guerneys this year...

we love to can beans, corn, and make strawberry jam, we eat all of what we grow and give tons away to the neighbors....I have been trying the get the wife to let me turn the front yard into a veggie garden, I think outlining the front yard with corn would look sweet, then throughout the yard plant green beans and some cover crops for wheats or ryes.....kind of like going green so we wont have to mow the yard anymore....but she doesnt see it that way..lol

[lidspinner]

has anyone here grown horseradish? been thinking of trying to grow some of that but I only have a small spot for root veggies that grow well...right now I use that spot for my asparagus and carrots....potatoes are grown above ground on newspapers with straw and horse manure and dirt....anyone that has ever grown potatoes in ground or in bags truly needs to try this method that I am using....you will pick more potatoes than you ever imagined possible.

anyhow, the horseradish, I know it grows underground but I am kind of wondering how deep it needs to go? I have one spot for root veggies that I keep very well maintained with compost and try to keep that dirt fluffy like powder and I hate to take up room with the horseradish if its tough to grow or needs alot of care. any tips growers?

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Lots of times, they'll do this for free. Especially in off-season times. I'd call around and see if anyone does. We had one out when we first moved into our house (21 years ago). She sketched out a plan for us with shaped beds and suggestions as to what to plant where.

Thanks Roy. We decided to mostly just go with what we have now and add more of the same to blank spots. I am looking into planting a tree between the sidewalk and road though (we have one, I'd like another), and I'll probably have a nursery do it.

[Hoosier Red]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

Thanks Roy. We decided to mostly just go with what we have now and add more of the same to blank spots. I am looking into planting a tree between the sidewalk and road though (we have one, I'd like another), and I'll probably have a nursery do it.

Another decent way to get free service is to ask around at the Master Gardner classes. A lot of times the people interested in that certification need to do a few plans in order to show off their stuff.

[OUReds]

You know that crazy neighbor who is constantly trying to foist tomatoes and zucchini on you. That's me.



First raised bed with 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Stump of the World, 1 Daniels, and 1 Pruden's Purple.



This is my second raised bed, new for this year, with 2 Aunt Ruby's German Greens, 2 Persimmons, 1 Lucky Cross, and 1 JD's Special C-Tex.



In ground tomatoes, which I will raise next year if all goes well. 1 Sungold, 4 Big Beef, 1 Black Krim, and 1 Jaune Flamme.



Aunt Ruby's German Green cluster. This plant today won the race to reach the top of the Texas tomato cage.



Black Krim cluster. My most productive setter so far this year, there's probably 20 greenies hanging out on the plant.



My pepper patch, they need tied up after the storms here.

[redsmetz]

OUReds, what's the pepper you're growing there? I see it says "Garden Salsa," but I'd like to hear more about it. And is that cantaloupe in the last picture? We've got a couple of plants growing that are likely cantaloupes. They were volunteers that starting growing when I put compost in the garden, so we'll see how those go.

My wife's been picking green beans and froze the first bag this weekend. When the power went out last night, with the possibility that it wouldn't be back on until tonight (it's back on now instead), I took everything from our freezer and refrigerator and moved it down to a walk in cooler here where my office is (3 blocks away), so we saved all that. We've also been getting the broccoli and I need to cook some of that this week. I also picked the first basil which we'll use in a potato & green bean salad, making a pesto that it's tossed in.

[OUReds]

Garden salsa is a relatively mild hot pepper hybrid bred for use in, you guessed it, salsa. Heat is supposed to be maybe half that of a jalapeno. I've never grown it, so I'm afraid that's all I know about it. I like to put different kinds of peppers in my salsa so I'd thought I'd give it a shot.

The final picture is a cucumber plant.

Sounds like you're having a good growing season so far redsmetz, hope it finishes as well as it began!

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by OUReds

Garden salsa is a relatively mild hot pepper hybrid bred for use in, you guessed it, salsa. Heat is supposed to be maybe half that of a jalapeno. I've never grown it, so I'm afraid that's all I know about it. I like to put different kinds of peppers in my salsa so I'd thought I'd give it a shot.

The final picture is a cucumber plant.

Sounds like you're having a good growing season so far redsmetz, hope it finishes as well as it began!

Hmmm, I sent your cucumber picture to my wife. I'm wondering if that's what we have growing. I'll post a picture of the one we have when I stop up at the house to get my car in an hour or so. Let me know what you think.

My wife gets the overall credit. I do some digging and help her plant stuff, but it's really her baby. And I love to eat it.

Tonight we'll be using some of the fresh green beans to make the potato & green bean salad with pesto that I mentioned. We'll have that with some of the fresh broccoli and with a vegetarian BBQ (or Sloppy Joes as most folks call it). My wife's vegetarian, so this I came up with to still have BBQ sandwiches, as we call it around these parts.

[redsmetz]

Well the mystery plant is bearing some fruit, so the question is, what will it be? My wife researched based on the leaves and thought perhaps it is a cantaloupe. OUReds plant looks much like this (although our leaves may be a different size) and that's cucumber.

So here's the pic of the early growth. What do folks think?