Does anyone grow their own vegetables?

[Juliev]

older homes also seem to have narrow doorways, which mine does. There is also an ornate window in the master bedroom.. stained glass.. if you were to stand in front of the house, it looks victorian in architecture. I think a lot of it depends on where you are.... different parts of the country had different styles, even in the same time frame.

 

[Claire]

Gotcha beat, Julie ... 1854.

This has been my first summer growing veggies, third for my herb garden. I grow any herb I can, and they are abundant. Take in my Rosemary and my Bay Tree for the winter.

For veggies, I cut a patch next to the kitchen door (next to my herb garden) and grew tomatoes. made the mistake of too many plants, will know better next year. It was a huge success. Our season is sort of short here, so I also will only buy "Early Girl" next year. In Hawaii and Florida I found varieties of cherry tomatoes were much more successful than the regular sizes (so much disease, fungi, and predators that full sized tomatoes rarely made it).

Hot peppers are always successful anywhere I've lived, here is no exception. My favorite are the big cayennes. zucchini, eggplant. Two batches of lettuce here (I like to make up a mix) in the summer, in Florida in the winter. In the winter in Florida also brussels sprouts, onions (from sets) and brocolli. Swiss chard. Cucumbers here (didn't do well in Florida). Green beans everywhere. THe latter are a must if you're growning a child's garden. Very quick gratification. I grew beautiful heads of radiccio this summer, but they were literally too bitter to eat. Won't bother next year.

Growing in a 4 seasons climate is a totally different thing than in Florida and Hawaii ... believe it or not, easier.

 

[crewsk]

I didn't plant a garden this year. I usually just plant a couple of tomato plants. I did have 2 strawberry plants but I only got 2 or 3 real small berries from them this year. I replanted them in an old tire & they have grown a lot(I think they were getting root bound)& they are blooming again! I had a tomato plant come up out of the blue in our brush pile & it was huge! I got a lot of tomatoes off it. Usually I plant my tomato plants in bales of hay. I had some dill, basil, oregano, garlic chives, parsley, & cilantro in containers on the back porch & they all did well. I hope to get a tiller for Christmas so I can have a garden next year.

 

[WayneT]

Wayne T. That's a heck of a good use for old Tyres (Tires, here in the US).
Alas. Cost of water, lousy sandy soil, pests, and nematodes precludes me from having a cost effective garden.

I believe one can use straw or straight mulch instead of soil in the tyres/tires. I guess you would just distribute some all purpose fertiliser granules through the straw. I am using a mix of layers, soil and mulch. I was thinking also that one of the seaweed solutions would be good as they promote root growth. We have Seasol and a couple of other brands, they are purely for root growth not a fertiliser/fertilizer (getting with the lingo now) Although for roots Seasol is watered over the entire plant.

 

[southerncook]

darkstream, i have a approx. a 4 meter by 10 meter garden, in which this year i grew: tomatoes (roma, big boy, early girl, grape, and a variety of macedonian heirloom my neighbor gives me seeds for), beets(detroit dark red, early wonder), zucchini, yellow squash, giant pumpkins, peppers (jalapeno, habanero, cayenne, hot cherry, red giant bell, corno do toro, and regular ol green/red bell), radishes (icicle, early scarlet), cucumbers (burpless, straight 8), carrots (danvers half long, scarlet nantes), roquette/arrugula, sugar snap and snow peas, and lettuces (mesculun mix, big leaf mix, romaine).

i also grew, in a seperate herb area, approx 1 meter by 5 meters, i grew: basil (sweet, genovese, purple ruffle, thai), english thyme, flat leaf parsley, cilantro, sage, celery root, and a wild variety of mint. oh, and i can't forget the catnip. my neighbor's entire yard became catnip after i palnted some in my garden, lol.

i had great success with everything his year, because i took last year off, and the previous fall i spread several cubic yards of compost, another several cubic yards of peat moss, and organic bird poop fertilizer, and lime. i also started this year with several cubic yards of compost and worm castings. my compost pile was not disturbed for a year, just added on to, so the worms did a great job on the bottom several feet.

the only recurring problem i have is with powdery mildew, because i have a huge apple tree, and i compost the apples. too much moisture helps create the problem with the mildew. it usually gets my squahes and pumpkins, but i fight it with applications of powdered sulfer.

i also have problems with a maggot that attacks peppers, burrowing in thru a tiny hole, then eating the pith inside, which rots the pepper. i have yet to identify the pest, and find an organic way of fighting them...

with that, ....there are two thingss...both are nasty. go get the spray by orthro, and don't eat anyting. sorry I lost everthing but my oranges, and
m about to spray them to. If I don't I'm going to lose the trees.

 

[buckytom]

thanks coutherncook, but my garden has been totally organic since i took it over 8 years ago. before that, my fil worked it to death with chemicals for 40 plus years. the soil looked like poor sand when i came in to the picture, not even good enough for the beach.

i just put up with the losses from disease and pests. i've found if i pick my peppers earlier than i would like, i can beat the bugs to it. i still lose about 40 percent of the harvest, so i overplant peppers, and i re-plant squash seedlings when the first plantings die off. it grows very quickly.

the other day, i saw a groundhog eating the tops of my carrots. fortunately, they were ready to be harvested, so i let him feast. besides, winters comin, and he has to eat too.

 

[SizzlininIN]

tancowgirl....do you own or rent?

 

[Claire]

Agree. I live in a Federal that is almost shotgun in the floor plan. Many of my friends live in Victorians (Galena is a town where the vast majority of homes are a century old) that were built within 20 years of ours. It is ironic that we think of 20 or 50 years difference in age as being a huge gap now, but when we think of 1854 (when mine was built), and say 1890, we think they were built in the same time period!

 

[tancowgirl2000]

We're renting for now.....I'm gonna have to ask her today the year of the house......

 

[SizzlininIN]

Thats what I was going to suggest was to ask your landlord. I absolutely love old homes. I would love to find one that has all the old oak woodwork, oak pocket doors, oak mantle fireplace, built in oak china cabinets, and oak staircase still there......that someone hasn't painted. We looked at one but the owners really didn't keep it up and it was going to take at least 40,000 just to remodel......on top of the 95,000 they were asking for it.....priced 15,000 to 20,0000 too high anyway. The oldest I've lived in so far (owned) was built in 1912 I believe.

 

[Darkstream]

I grew mostly herbs last year. I will again next year, plus a number of basils

I have an Alpine border out front which is coming on and some herbs in that (it gets the sun).

Next year I will try again for some more vegetables. I used to grow a lot, but the garden got shadowed by neighboring trees.

Still I will have a go and see what I can cut/get cut off my neighbours trees.

What I was really interested in was whether anyone out there was growing Lima Beans or Tomatillos. I'd like to talk about that with them if any body is there.

And I hate old houses.

 

[Dina]

I just found out I'm growing Cayenne peppers in my garden. LOL I really thought they were Thai peppers. I also have some habanero and anaheim peppers growing out there. They're so good in all my dishes, especially when I roast them. I can't wait to plant some more veggies in my garden come February.