who's got green thumbs?

[headsup]

In my world, north of the 49th parallel, it's traditional we wait until after Victoria day (Queen Victoria's birthday/memorial Day in US) to plant our garden to avoid frost. (we still get it on occasion).

who out there gardens?
what's you best and most favourite produce?
what's your secret (so we can steel it)!

[Riverbend]

Here's one of our helpers, a mini greenhouse that my wife picked up at a garage sale for $1.00. I've seen them retail for around $4o bucks. Our frost calendar is similar here in the Great Lakes region, and Memorial Day is our traditional date for planting non-frost resistant species. It's a huge advantage come planting time to have the headstart afforded by this little greenhouse. We have one garden that's just over 400 sq. ft., and another that's at 200 sq. ft. that's mostly potatoes, peppers and a few extra tomatoe plants scattered amond 6 dwarf fruit trees. We're 100% organic, compost regularly both green manure and the stinky stuff. And we have a very strict aversion to things Monsanto, ie., we stick with heritage seeds and refuse to use the copyrighted genetically modified stuff that's trying to control our food suppy. We've had some excellent yields...with a lot of work, of course, but we are then able to eat out of our freezer for a significant part of the entire year. We also patronize our local organic farmers for a lot of our food.

[tuffythepug]

My grandson, Frankie, and I plant a vegetable garden every spring.   He's a good helper and he looks forward to this every year.   I have no great secrets except to use the best soil you can get,  mix in amendments every season, rotate the crops, water and fertilize as needed, and keep the weeds under control.   Here's a few pics of our little vegetable garden:

Planting day in early April..



First harvest....  picking some  radishes



Frankie with the bounty from the first harvest May 19



Last years' tomatoes were perfect !



This morning the garden is looking good.  warm weather has gotten everything off to a good start



It's  always nice to have a great helper !

[unclrob]

In the past I've grown tomato's,herb's and other stuff.I've been wanting to start a little bigger garden but time always gets away from me.Hopefully next year.

[GA-ME]

My wife and I usually have a nice sized garden with greens, mostly Swiss Chard, tomatoes, especially Sun Golds which are divine, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, cucumbers, hot peppers, and bell peppers. We also usually plant some thyme, a couple different types of basil, mint, and oregano which we use fresh and  we dry it all season to have for winter stews and soups and mint tea. However, last year and this year we haven't done the garden. We moved into a new home last year that has lots of landscaping to attend to and we had the birth of our son a few weeks after moving. So, we are just to busy to keep up with a garden right now.  I believe we will be back at it next year though and can't wait. Few things are tastier than garden fresh cucumbers with a fresh mint and honey- lime dressing topped with some nice chunks of goat feta.  Tuffy, I can't wait until Jun is old enough to be my little garden helper. Those shots were fantastic. Family first every time. Frankie will cherish those memories as he grows into a man.

[bluesman67]

I've got a green thumb but have no garden.  I moved a couple years ago and my new place doesn't have a good spot.  I am however, headed to the farmer's market this Sat, does that count?

Lynn, you're pics are great.  They bring back many good memories of me and my father and grand father doing gardening together.

[Parlor Picker]

Interestingly, here in the UK we say "green fingers"!

Love Tuffy's pics.

[bluesman67]

Interestingly, here in the UK we say "green fingers"!

Now that's just silly! 

[headsup]

Nice stuff, here, thanks!
being an old hippy, I've done the huge self sufficiency garden thing, many years ago.
last year I planted some new things, water melon, brussel sprouts, with great results.
the white thing in the basket pic is a puffball, a volley ball sized mushroom that grows wild in the fields.
I also have chanterel mushrooms growing wild, and fiddleheads.

[tuffythepug]

Kevin, there's nothing like a good watermelon ripened on the vine.        We try for a good variety of veggies that we eat all summer long.    This includes Zucchini, yellow squash, Armenian cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, "burpless" cucumbers, bell peppers, Italian sweet peppers, New Mexico chilie peppers, Fresno chilie peppers, cherry tomatoes, early-girl tomatoes,
Ace tomatoes, Beefsteak tomatoes, radishes and carrots.   Frankie and I also grow a few pumpkins which we pick and carve into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.
Even a small garden like ours is plenty to feed our family and still have extra to share with the neighbors.    Since our swimming pool and flower beds take up most of the backyard I put in my raised-bed veg. garden in the front next to the driveway.   It's there for everyone on our cul-de-sac to see.  I was afraid that neighbors would raise their eyebrows at this at first but now  I get "thumbs up" signals from everyone as they pass it on the way to the mailboxes.  And everyone enjoys the baskets of fresh produce we share with them all summer.   

[CJ]

We're about 2 hours SW of Chicago and maintain a 25x40 garden ... the drought was brutal last year. Typically we plant Blue Lake bush green beans, Clemson Spineless okra, roma and cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and radishes. Last year only the okra produced well. Also have raised beds of asparagus, strawberries, blueberries (oh what a pain), rhubarb, and just put in a bed of wild flowers. Still trying to decide where to plant the silver dollar (?) seeds.

The okra seems to draw the attention of the cops driving by - since it gets about 6' tall here and no one else plants it ... later in the season when the japanese beetles set on the large okra leaves and eat the foliage between the webbing, it bears striking resemblance to marijuana plants. Except for the lovely pale yellow blossoms and 6" okra pods.

The corner is parked out around a red bud tree, with bench, surrounded by hostas and sedum which attract lots of butterflies.

The house before this one had an enclosed front porch with a swing and lots of potted and hanging plants which the wife used daily when school let out for summer. When the school district downsized, we had to sell the house and bought this place as a fixer ... my first task was to turn the patio/yard between the garage and our L shaped house into a park like place for her to lounge during summer mornings ... mostly I just re-located existing hostas, sedums and shrubs to the courtyard, edged and barked it in, planted a few bulbs, sand cherry, french lace shrub and suspended a sail cloth over head for shade / color. Also built her a 4' cedar swing ... labor of love it was.  

She hated this house and yard when we bought it - it was truly a wreck. And now she loves it - often when we go out for an errand she wants to drive around the house just to admire it.

Which reminds me - gotta get out there and plant the beans and okra today ... finally got a break in the rain and the soil - tilled on Monday, is dry now.

Thanks for asking!

[headsup]

I heard a story once about a particulary good farming area in Ohio, or somewhere, where you had to ALWAYS lock your car.

If you didn't, you might return to it and find a basket of Zuchinni in it......


last year I had so much produce, I advertised on FB that on an upcoming gig, I wpuld be giving fresh produce away to any one who comes out to the gig. I took in bags and a could huge bins of greens, and every one came around for some fresh produce.

[tuffythepug]

Zuchinni has to be the most prolific vegetable you can grow.  One plant is more than enough for your family and two is too much for the neighborhood.   

And, as everyone finds out eventually,  it might be 4 inches long on Monday but if you don't pick it on Tuesday it will be 2 feet long weigh 4 pounds on Wednesday.

[C-10-4-me]

Zuchinni has to be the most prolific vegetable you can grow.  One plant is more than enough for your family and two is too much for the neighborhood.   

And, as everyone finds out eventually,  it might be 4 inches long on Monday but if you don't pick it on Tuesday it will be 2 feet long weigh 4 pounds on Wednesday.

My wife makes an incredible zucchini bread. Spread a little butter on it while it's still warm from the oven and wowzers!!

I switched to square foot gardening a few years ago and find it's very productive, especially for a small family of 3. I always end up taking several bags of produce to work to give away and everyone seems to love it.

[Strings4Him]

Great thread.  Tuffy those pics with your grandson are great!  Like GAME said, you are creating memories that will last both your lifetimes--and beyond.  Keep up the good work man!!

[CJ]

[carruth]

Great thread. Tuffy is on to it. The best thing you can give your children and grandchildren is your time.

[CJ]

CJ - please tell me these are last year's efforts . . . we're still getting overnight frosts!

Last years. 

Wonderful thing about gardening is all that it teaches the gardener. 2 years ago, there was a heat wave that lasted 2 weeks. Despite daily watering the bean plants produced not a single bean. When the heat wave moved on, the plants resumed production until the end of the season. Apparently during times of excessive / prolonged heat, they go into a kind of self-preservation mode. This year found our asparagus bed attacked by the 'common asparagus beetle' which I'd never seen before. So the natural method of eradication is catch the little buggers and drop them in a jar of soapy water to drown. But! They saw me coming and simply dropped off the asparagus spears into the mulch and lay low until I went away. Next up, the chemical method: hose the buggers down with Sevin.

We have lots of rabbits, so the garden is completely enclosed with chicken wire. That works really well, except for when the gardener forgets to check the garden for rabbits before closing it up after tilling and planting. Imagine a middle-aged man chasing a rabbit around the garden for 20 minutes before running it out of the open gate? I'm so glad my neighbor - a Marine during the Korean war - didn't see that! 

[headsup]

GREAT STUFF HERE!!!

where does one get those plants that look like bunnies???