lets see your veggie garden.

[swampdank]

i know its off topic but some of the best gardeners can be found here. i am about to do my spring planting in a couple weeks and would like to see some of my fellow organic fanatics veggies. i am having a dilemma as to whether or not i should build a raised bed or till the ground and add ammendments. my previous garden was a raised bed but now i have a larger plot to work with and i am trying to find out if it would be worth the extra expense to build a huge raised bed. my ultimate goal is to be totally produce independent.(no grocery stores). if you have some good info or pictures. i would love to see em. i know only true fanatics will post because this thread isnt about pot. is that a sin? anyway, if you grow veggies for your family, i would love to hear your expiriences. peace.

 

[Wait...What?]

I'd post pictures but it would give me away.

I have the best luck with plants in the solinaceae family (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant specifically) and have the worst luck with cole crops (lettuce).

I start my growing season with radishes. They are far and away the easiest thing ever to grow. 25 days from sowing seed to slicing onto a salad. They're also super duper cold tolerant so I can start them as soon as the ice thaws By the time they're done, its time to plant the shallots. Onions are too cheap so they're not really worth my time and effort, but the price of organic shallots makes it worth-while. I'm still looking for a decent variety of carrot. They usually go in at the same time.

I've tried several varieties of lettuce but they all bolt on me as soon as it gets warm. That makes the taste bitter and keeps them from forming a head. Perhaps you would have better luck than I do here in zone 5. Celery is another plant I find nearly impossible to grow.

I'll probably have 60 to 75 varieties of peppers (mostly hot, some sweet) and about 15 varieties of tomatoes going this year. The girlfriend likes eggplant but the stuff doesn't do a darn thing for me. I just find it easy to grow. Peppers and tomatoes (and probably eggplant too, but I don't put a lot of effort into them) want much less nitrogen than pot, and tomatoes want much less magnesium. The tomatoes want calcium. With the first fruit set of tomatoes, you may find they are rotting on the bottom - this is blossom end rot, aka BER. It is a calcium deficiency, but not in the ground. Adding more calcium to the growing substrate will not help becuase its actually a problem of calcium mobility within the plant itself. With the exception of roma tomatoes (paste tomatoes), the plant generally grows out of it. Roma tomatoes are particularly prone to BER. If your peppers get BER you are stressing the living snot out of them. For both plants, consistent watering is the key. Also, no foliar feeding or spraying water on the tomato plants once they've set fruit. Thats what makes tomatoes crack and split.

In the fall, its time to plant the garlic. The problem I ususally have is with the squirrels looking for buried walnuts in my garlic bed. They don't eat the garlic, they just dig it up looking for nuts. VERY annoying because good garlic planting stock is expensive.

It helps to rotate the crops so you're not growing the same thing where you did last season. Not just due to nutrient depletion, but also for disease prevention. Beans and peas are nitrogen fixers so they can go where the peppers and tomatoes were last year. And sugar snap peas and snow peas are super tasty right off the vine. Half of them don't even make it into the house... Pole beans yield better than bush beans, but not everyone can deal with a 15' tall vine where you need a ladder to harvest. That old story about jack and his beanstalk going into the clouds was no joke!

As far as herbs go, I grow thyme, basil, tarragon, peppermint, dill, parsley, and oregano (cilantro tastes like dish soap). Thyme is a perennial so just chop 2/3 of it off before winter and it will roar back in the spring.

I'd like to try growing asparagus, but that is a serious commitment - it takes 3 years before you get any usable yield out of it, and an asparagus bed will last an easy 20 years (so pick a variety you like, you're going to have it for a while)

I think everyone should grow a variety of plants, just to keep a good frame of reference on the pot growing. The closest thing I can think of that would be like growing pot would be sweet corn. You have to wait all season until its done.

 

[swampdank]

mmm. something about fresh homegrown veggies makes me daydream. i am lucky to have a season starting in the end of feb.(right now its 76 degrees out side) through mid dec. i picked up a nicelittle orange tree this morning. its blooming and the smell of the blossoms sold it. 75 bucks i didnt need to spend but i did want an orange tree. i like the ida of crop rotation. thanks for the heads up on the selection.

 

[Guest]

Edited for secure a tea.

 

[swampdank]

nice one bongsong. good to know you dabble in other cultivation as well. it looks as if you are going the indoor route. thats awesome. most people wouldnt put thier veggies inside. that shows dedication. i like it.

 

[pseudostelariae]

cool thread! after i started growing cannabis i really started to enjoy not depending on a source for something. then it clicked..why stop at growing my own herb? right now i'm starting veggies to be transplanted to the great outdoors, as well as setting up an indoor veggie room with a few different hydroponic systems. i'm thinking tomatoes, snap peas and peppers in DWC, some heads of lettuce on a small FRC, and of course the myriad of organic soil crops i will have going. once i get everything situated ill post a picture of the entire room. should be nice and green in a month or two

 

[swampdank]

sweet. it makes sense to use your skill as widely as possible. last years cucumbers out of my raied bed were so sweet they were almost melon like. i have never bought a cucumber (organic or otherwise) that tasted that good. my veggie garden is a primary source of joy in my life. notmuch unlike my ganja garden. home grown organic herbs are amazing as well. my salsas and spaghetti are top notch. i love using my veggies and its good to know there are others that do the same. i might start a small outdoor crop this summer(you know). i have alot ofwork ahead of me this spring. tilling, soaker irrigation etc. but the rewards are felt at summer cookouts and taco night hehe.

 

[fisher15]

Nice one swamp! We've got a nice variety of veggies lined up to grow along with our favorite herb this year. Plenty of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, beans, onion, garlic, lettuce and other good stuff. Taco nights are so much better with homegrown organic veggies...

 

[swampdank]

i just picked up a long skinny planter that fits on the railing of my deck. right outside the kitchen. perfect for the herbs. this weekend i shall get the tiller out and make my plot. im thinkin 20x20 should handle my melons and cucmbers. oh yeah, after reading the post by wait,what i am rethinking what all is going in there. now i believe i will put only those veggies that cost a ton to buy in the store. this way my garden will be very much worth it. i never thought about that before but its a good point. i have afarmers market within walking distance from my home and my neighbor has sugar cane and collard greens so my garden will be full of things that are either hard to get or expensive to buy. thanks everybody for posting. this is a fun thread to read through. i will post some pics when i get the plot going. thanks everybody for stopping by.

 

[Guest]

Are you a cigarette smoker, other than weed this'll save you more dollar for dollar than any other plant.

I just got some plants today going to seed em out in greenhouse for next year crop. Worked out 6 m2 will be enough and save me $2000 a year.

 

[swampdank]

are going to run tabacker? that would awesome

 

[plantbeaners]

what no veggie porn

 

[Dignan]

I'd love to post mine up after having busted my ass for three days this weekend tilling virgin ground (sand and rock, then more rock) and then spreading 2.5 tons of manure.

But alas, I cannot risk posting pics of my home property on a cannabis forum!

 

[Guest]

sorry no pictures as my garden is just a messy yard right now but i already have the seeds to start next month.
About 15 types of tomatoes, 15 types of peppers, honeydew, and sweet corn.

 

[Mayor Uhana]

Yes, this is some good talk. Food and vegie prices will be on the rise this summer and the people are realising this. I visited home depot the other day and many of the organic seeds were sold out!

Swampdank, with a larger plot you may want to think about renting a large tiller, and extensivly tilling the whole garden space. Adding manuer or compost will help your yeilds and overall quality. Tilling the whole garder will also help by burying most of the weed seeds that would otherwise give you a major headake later down the road.

I worked on an organic farm last year and our strategy was to hoe up rows and plant on top of those. This will help to keep your soil fairly dry in the event of a wet period. Running a drip tape over the top of these rows will help to simplify the watering process, and covering the rows with black plastic mulch will take care of the weeds and also help to keep the soil moist.

This summer, I will be doing a garden of my own, about 40 different fruits and veggies. I wont name all of them, only my favorites that i wish to pass on to you.

Sungold is a large grape tomato that you harvest when they turn well, sungold. They are just so dank I used to eat em like candy. Also, Cherokee Purple is another superdank heriloom that turn, you guessed it, purple for harvest. You can find these varieties at Johnys seeds...just google them for the site.

For all other vegi and fruit seed needs, I like to recommend High mowing Seeds out of Vermont. They are %100 organic and have lots of good flowing vibes about them.

 

[yeknomssa]

speaking of other plants, i have a Dracaena Massangeana (indoor tree) that i rescued from home depot lol. i seem to have stopped the leaf tip burn, but i'm not sure what else this plant wants. by the wa, here's a pic of the same type of tree, but not mine as i don't have pics of it at the moment.

 

[guest123]

hey great to see other vege gardeners around ... u know someones keen when they garden for a living and also for a hobby ,, hehehe ,, i just cant get enough of it ..
ive been growing some thai veges here , figured they would do better than the european ones , we only get a short season with them before it gets too hot..
the thai veges are going great ,,, specially the chillies and cucumbers ,, wow sweet ,, like u said swampdank ,, almost melon like ..
im trying a few other things from thailand ,, gee they grow some unusual stuff ,, but im really enjoying trying them out ...
my vege garden is quite large , one 11 x 6 metres and the other 6 x 6 metres , and im adding an 11 x 6 metre greenhouse aswell ... should be enough to feed an army soon , hehehe ,,
sorry i cant show any pics at the moment ,, but ill try sneak a way of doing it descretely later if i can ...

 

[Guest]

Here's spinach along side my SSH male (killed off now. He done his "thang".) I have 18 4" pots of it. Outside on my porch now since spinach can take a lot of cold...and in fact needs cold weather to taste right IMO. I'll be able to take cuts off it in a day or so. As long as it's cool, it will continue to thrive and put out new leaves. Nothing like a fresh spinach salad!!!

Wally, I live in an apartment now. One thing I miss about owning a home. I had a great veggie garden. Most in raised bed garden boxes with hand mixed soil. I also had nice annuals every year. I raised roses to show for a while too. Had 2 kinds of blueberry bushes. YUM YUM!!!!!!!!

I love growing stuff and have for many years!!!

pedro

 

[EatShitake]

Oh right on! You just CAN'T beat the flavor of REAL vine-ripened veggies, not that sorry-assed stuff that passes for veggies in most stores.

I grow a few things outdoors. The weather isn't the kindest in the desert southwest US, but we actually get 2 seasons in a year to compensate. Plus, there are things that do grow well here.

I was messing around with my newer cam a few weeks ago. Here's some young 'maters and some broccoli from the winter that I let flower, and a custom seeded plant finnishing up:














Post up!!!

 

[Suby]

Well if the 4 feet of snow still left in my BY can melt I will be doing some raise beds and pots of veggies this year so I can do some good canning for spagetti and pasta cooking.

Plus I have all this soil to recycle, it will be nice to ne out in the sun again.

S