In spirits of starting new threads:
Do you garden? What do you plant? Where do you get your seeds?
I've been playing around with our fenced out planter - it isn't huge, but holds some stuff... We have deer problem, so inside fence is the only place to grow anything. We had a sudden freeze in the post-planting time, then a rain deluge for a month, then superheat, so at this point, whatever's left - it is growing there In Spite of everything. I pull weeds, and water when we have dry spells, but that's about it.
I do it for kids, too, they love the idea of growing something to eat.
We had great success with small batches of potatoes, carrots, beets, yellow squash, tomatoes... We grew 2 (two) ears of corn - those were the survivors of freeze/deluge, and they looked hilarious. Kids think the best one was the sugar peas - they ate a bunch every day while the plants produced, with shells on, and loved those. We planted the second crop, after the first plants died out.
I also have these runner beans going nuts - they are so pretty, and attract humming birds... but I wish I realized they were climbers, and planted them by a wall, so they could go up on it more.
Oh, and this guy - just an eye delight, but the seeds will be edible. This is a mammoth kind, and it is twice as tall as I am (i'm 5'3")
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My mother had a garden every year and let me help her plant it one year. She never let me help again. She said the people in China would appreciate the zucchini, I had planted them so deep.
So it's a good thing we don't have to survive on what we grow. Over the years I have gained an enormous respect for farmers and the hard work they do.
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me, I also gardening. Unfortunately, I live in a flat (apartment), but I have garden in a weekend house. It is 70 km far away and it is not easy to keep it , but it gives lot of plasure when I see changes from weekend to weekend. :-)
I love to garden!! I planted my first one 3 years ago and fell in love with growing stuff that we can actually eat lol. This year bc our business took off so quickly I had to really slim down my variety and keep it more manageable for the time I have to work in it. I have 5 tomato plants 4 on purpose and one was a suprise from last year lol, 2 zucchini plants, 2 jalapeños plants and 2 cucumber plants. I had to plant a little early bc May was booked solid so my harvest has been plentiful the last few weeks which is a bit early but that's ok we've shared ours with our neighbor's and friends so when their gardens are ready they'll share with us. I also love planting flowers and I have one sunflower left that the bunnies didn't eat and it's super tall. Next year I'll put a fence around my sunflowers until they grow big enough to keep them critters out. Here is last years garden all beat and tidy this year it's a mess but it's growing well so I'm ok with it lol.
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Love the sunflower by the way!! I would love to have a pretty little flower garden off our deck what a nice view!!
if by 'gardening' you mean purchasing produce at the store -- yes I garden vigorously and rigorously 
but I do have a sweet story --
right before I got married I planted a large garden -- had a farmer come with a tractor and plowed up a big, big patch -- got it all sowed, weeded, tended then got too busy to harvest -- gave the whole shebang to my neighbor no strings attached -- and she canned stuff for me that year -- made strawberry jelly I guess the following year when the berries came in -- that was so sweet --
and I still have the seeds I bought last year...just any minute....
i admire you guys -- the ten foot sunflower is gorgeous and the long distance garden and last year's gardens are wonderful --
best harvesting to all
Wish I could post some pix but alas I can't get the pix off my camera to the 'puter :(
For the past 3 yrs I have lived in an apt complex for low income seniors. There are 42 units and we share 6 planter boxes about 3'x5'. At 1st we had to share one box with 1 or 2 others but This yr it ended up 1st come 1st served so I commandeered 1/2 of 2 of the boxes. I start early - living in central CA we have very mild winters - especially last winter - didn't have any 'bad'/cold weather...then for the past couple of months it has been triple digits w/today 109. I started with some 3 or 4 kinds of lettuce, parsley, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, peas, and beets. Later I added pattypan squash, lemon cucumber. 1 bellpepper and 1 tomato but the pepper didn't make it. The lady who got the other 1/2 of the box planted crookneck squash, eggplant & 1 tomato. In the other box there was swiss chard and gr onions still leftover from the previous yr to which I added more beets, kohlrabi, peas, and radish. I give away most of what I grow. We have a place in the complex where we can put anything we don't want out (including clothing and household goods) and it's up for grabs to whoever gets there 1st.
In another box there is 2 kinds of squash (zucchini and something similar acorn but is a cream color) , cucumber, beans and tomato. The lady who grows this is spanish speaking only so we can;t communicate.....the other boxes have rosemary, tomato, tomato, tomato and HOT peppers, hot pepper, and more hot peppers. Very little of that is shared :(
In addition to all that I have 2 'potted' plants in my apt......they sit on the window ledge - of basil and sometimes lettuce.
If the people who run this place would let me I'd plant a massive garden (in the ground) that would feed everyone here but alas they think it would take too much water and run up their bill!! :( Doesn't matter that they overwater the lawn (that has died in our extreme heat this yr) and got fined by the city for using more water than allowed.... still I'm not allowed to garden :(
I get my seeds from the $1 store mostly;) Others I save from the produce I grew or bought in the store. Plants come from WalMart usually, some from Home Depot.
My respects to everyone's beautiful gardens! And those with different color thumbs - it's ok.
I do find it strangely satisfying to eat what we grow.
Here are my garden gnomes. [postimage id="4774" thumb="900"]
And my spinner (scares birds). It's a theme i guess. They double for Haloween decorations )))
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I love the garden gnomes!!! I always tell people nature keeps my garden growing and I pull the weeds (this year I've started weed whacking them haha) I seriously can't keep a plant alive indoors I kill them every time. So if my involvement is kept at weeding, picking and the occasional watering it will grow the more I fiddle the worse off it is. I even have a compost can that I had a great plans with but unfortunately I've never made compost I have a can full of crap bc I couldn't roll it properly without the lid popping off and trust me you don't want to pick compost contents up more than once. I've always dreamed of having a small flock of chickens too. My husband says I just need a farm.
I would seriously love to live on a farm and have some animals, a garden, a front porch for sitting and a wood burning stove but for now I'm plopped right here in the city :p
@kakeladi I am sorry they don't let you expand. I think a productive garden is much better than the over-watered dead lawn. The worse case of over-watering I've seen was once visiting someone in the hills of San Diego. Never mind that nothing initially and naturally grows there, and the water needed to be piped up to these subdivisions, but everyone has some semblance of a struggling mini-lawn, surrounded by completely paved rest of the subdivision. The lawns are so small, not even useful really, but everyone has a bunch of sprinklers on for hours. The water just rolls down to the gutters or down paved streets.
I have such a wide selection this year, of what we planted. Some made it, some didn't, some were surprises from last year, too. I think the sugar snap peas and potatoes are everyone's favorite so far. And yellow squash. I love beets, too. Potatoes are so good, compared to the store kind!!! I mean, absolutely can tell the difference. They even cook differently, like, if I saute them, they never get mushy, turn golden-crunchy on outside, soft inside, and keep their shape. Tomatoes got big, but just won't ripen yet! They are starting to topple over, despite supports, from all the weight. The storm just passed a day ago, and the vines went flat onto the ground, I had to pick those up and prop them some more.
I am also learning about what I will plant next year, based on hit-or-miss this year. I love herbs, as well, so I always plant those. This is my second year doing this, since the kids are a little bigger, out of diapers, and I finally have a little time to spend on this. They love to help, too. Especially - with eating ))).
My MIL keeps a larger garden, we help there too sometimes, hers is also just as "organic" as they go. We plant, pull weeds, and then kinda just see whatever comes up.
I do recommend planting potatoes. I've been very impressed by the crop. I have seen people plant potatoes even in trashbags! Like, heavy trash bag, filled with soil, and potato plants growing! I ordered my seed potatoes on-line, they were a 2-in-1 variety, some red, and some German Butterball. All plants came up, and produced at about 1:5+ ratio (1 planted = 5 produced)
Flower garden is my dream, too. In fact, I have a dream of having an Inn, with few cottages, flower and vegetable garden, a celebration venue, and a kitchen/bakery. I even have a very detailed design (and all infrastructure, business hours, personnel needed) of it in my head. It is so beautiful in my dream... It was driving me crazy, so I even made a mock "brochure" for it, with breakfast and light fare menu and all... :-) So I can look at it, as something I can hold in my hand. All I need is winning the jackpot, to get that place up and going )))
@kayra850 - I love the picture you posted! Such a serene and uplifting place it must be! Worth a drive out to the country!
lelekb, I will be a frequent visitor to your inn sounds lovely
@-K8memphis I can send you the "brochure" to look at - just for giggles, if you are bored/interested
huh... can you not attach things in private messages?
Our lone sunflower bloomed this weekend I was sooooo excited after seeing yours I couldn't wait for mine to be pretty lol.
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Awww. Lovely! Are you planning to harvest tge seeds?
I am beyond a newbie gardener and had no idea I could harvest them lol. I now know you can dry them and eat the seeds but I don't know anything about that process yet. I bought the seeds on a whim at the urging of my 6 year old son who wanted to plant with mommy this year and pick his own flowers out. So he wanted sunflowers :)
next year I want the whole section of chain length fence there to have sunflowers I absolutely love them. Every day we would go out and check the sunflower and watch it grow so they are dear to me now. How do you harvest them?
Sure thing you can harvest them. Here is a good link that explains the process. http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/sunflower-harvest-seeds-zbcz1309.aspx I previously have soaked-dried-roasted sunflower seeds from MIL's garden, and they are a delicious snack! I mean, you have to shell them, they don't fall out of the plant looking like supermarket-packaged thing.
Also, make sure you don't burn them when roasting. Like some other things, it seems like it takes them some time to heat up, but then if you step away - they will burn, and taste will be ruined.
I also want more sunflowers next year. I plant the big ones (like yours, too) for the seeds, and some other smaller variety, for the color and to pick for the kitchen vase, in front row - so they look like a "bottom tier" next to the big ones. The seed packets (if you are at the store) usually say the variety, and if edible. This is one of my small sunflowers, there are many more kinds on the market.
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Thanks for the tip bc I sure would have ruined them. I have a hard time with things that require me to stand still (pastry creams and curds kill me lol) bc I am just busy busy busy all the time. I get a look on my face apparently and my husband will say just go do it haha he knows I'm thinking about doing something and it makes me fidgety to not do whatever it is I'm thinking about. I think there is a medical term for that haha!! Sooooo anyways I am totally planting the two rows next year what a great idea thanks!! I love the photo with the bees I actually love going out to the garden when the bees are buzzing I like to work alongside them. There is something about nature that just calms me and that's not normal for me :p
@MBalaska Gorgeous cauli! I am struggling with anything cabbage - I have what appears to be 2 Brussels Sprouts plants, but looks like some bug or caterpillar is eating them. Don't know what to do. I love home grown potatoes. We are eating ours already, and I am feeling sad - almost done with the whole box of them!
@Webake2gether Oh man, so me - not being able to stay still. It is almost clinical, like, if I am not actively engaged in something - I am wasting time, and therefore shame on me. My family sometimes tells me "stop doing things!". I often eat my food on my feet while making food for others. I can't take naps, even if tired and miraculously have a moment for it, because my head will start telling me that "this time could be used for something productive". I had to get up many nights, and go do something quietly - anything at all, like, packing lunches for husband and kids. Just so that my head will think "A task was just finished, perhaps we she can get some sleep now". Sooo weird.
I have been making buckets of spaghetti sauce and pizza base (to freeze) from a ton of tomatoes that all ripened at the same time. It is delicious!!!
long long time ago I had a friend who was ever industrious like this and she had a heart arrest it wasn't a heart attack but just her heart's reaction to her steady high activity level-- no es bueno, mix amigas
that got posted too fast --
so the rest of the story is she was ok but had to learn to be ok sitting quiet sometimes and if she couldn't do that she'd be headed for the full blown heart attack -- which helped me learn that lesson too -- I didn't wanna have a heart arrest or a heart attack --
you want to consider what is propelling you to be like this -- the underlying cause and myth bust it into smithereens -- direct your hyper activity onto it and heal thyself
she was very young mid twenties or so
@-K8memphis - good cautionary tale. I know I need to work on slowing down this running around thing. My husband has a brain tumor, and I am in my 40s, while my kids are 7 and 4... I must try and stay healthy, for them at least...
So far unfortunately, I found that the only way for me to stop doing things, is if I am removed from everything I can possibly take responsibilities for. Like an all-inclusive beachfront resort, all travel arranged by someone else (because otherwise the well-being of accompanying travelers is immediately MY responsibility)... Or at least, a change of scenery for a day or two, in a less expensive location. With small kids, I am always "on duty", even on vacation... Funny, when my second one was born, I considered the 2-day hospital stay - a short vacation! I didn't have to do anything, but deliver a baby!!! :-) Yeah. THAT sad.
@LelekBolek I am the same way and I know why I'm like this and my personality is type a for starters and my nature is to take care of everything and I enjoy it. My mom was this way as was my grandma the women in my family are just do-ers. However the negatives to being naturally busy are inadequate sleep I can go on 4-5 hours of sleep a night for weeks but once it catches up to me I'm down for a day or two, I have less than desirable eating habits bc I often eat while working i sit down for dinner and that's it I could eat once a day and be totally fine bc I'm too busy to worry about food, relaxing doesn't really happen bc I can always find something to get done. I was joking with my 8 year old son about him becoming more independent and becoming an adult and how I won't always be here to take care of everything and I said "you better hope you meet a good woman who will take care of you" and he said "nobody will ever do for me like you do mom" lol. Having said that we have chore charts and certain responsibilities my boys are in charge of and I've died more and more to my need to do it all bc they need to learn life skills. I guess I'll slow down when I have to but I hope I never do. I'm send you a pm :)
i love cauliflower @MBalaska and wanted to grow that and broccoli but just didn't plan well enough. I grew lettuce and spinach last year too much cleaning for me to do it this year I was probably washing wrong lol.
@Webake2gether - i could have written that. Sleep 4-5 hrs, and all. Trying to delegate duties, while cringing internaly at the thought "it would have been done better, if i did it myself". Getting mad at slow-paced workers, talkers, thinkers, walkers, schedules falling through, etc. My 16-yo niece was here fir a week. She said "auntie, i feel that your future daughter-in-law has her work cut out for her" - she meant that as a compliment )))
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