Who has a vegetable and flower garden?

[TRose]

There was a time when my garden was an ambitious project. We would grow all sorts of edibles-peppers&tomatoes of multiple varieties,cucumber, edamame, melons,squash. It was great but required a significant commitment of time and energy.

As demands on my time and energy changed I’ve dramatically downsized my garden. I changed to the square foot garden technique per Mel Bartholomew’s writings with good results.

This year I’ve only planted my tomatoes in containers, many of them on my back porch. IMG_1620412031.308718.jpgIMG_9963.jpgIMG_7491.jpgA dozen tomato plants will supply us with all the fruit we can eat. I’ve got a few pepper plants as well. All the other space has been planted with flowers. They are not just nice to look at but attract the pollinators. I have neighbors who’ve not planted flowers and their tomato plants have not produced.

While readying my boxes for planting I disturbed two Dekay brown snakes. They appeared to be mating. Of course, I apologized and promptly covered them back up. According to what I’ve read they can lay 30+ eggs at a time. Should be interesting.

Anyone else planting a garden( big or small)this year?

[thomasinaz]

We put in a small box garden on the back deck this year. A couple tomato plants and peppers, along with one strawberry plant. Several flower pots are out on the deck too. It's our first attempt at gardening in the new location, so we'll see what happens. There's plenty of room in the yard but, until I can build some kind of fenced area all I'd be doing is feeding the wildlife.

[ssstewart]

very nice gardens TRose

[ghostnote]

We have a small garden plot in the back yard that gets planted every year - not sure what I'm putting there this year. I also plant a variety of tomatoes and peppers in containers in a different spot in the yard. I usually have about 15 containers or so, and I was just working on those today. As for flowers, we have them in little areas all over the property. We try to have something new blooming as soon as one variety drops its petals - works out pretty well once you've had a few years to see what actually blooms when.

[TRose]

Originally Posted by ssstewart

very nice gardens TRose

Thanks ssstewart. I’m hoping I get some good maters for my effort. [emoji3]

[TRose]

I just realized the Dekay brown snake do not lay eggs but deliver their offspring live- known as viviparous. Oviparous snakes lay eggs.

[sayheyjeff]

Been building and maintaining the a big garden since we moved into this house in ‘91. We grow cherry tomatoes, a variety of peppers, tomatillos, celery, kale, and lettuce. Tried chard, but haven’t been too successful with it. Full sun is a little hard to come by with big trees in our yard and more on the block (we didn’t qualify for financial help for solar panels due to a lack of sun). Grow a lot of herbs too. Figs are often the best for us. We get 2 crops a year and there are so many we have to give loads away. A real favorite. We grow grapes too but they haven’t tasted so good yet and are mostly to attract birds. Our little plum tree had 4 plums last year. Hoping for mor this year, but the tree is covered up right now as we prepare for the cicadas. Put in a nice small fish pond about 25 years ago. Has a little water fall, fish, cat tails and Lilly pads and more. Special. My wife just graduated from a master gardener and a master naturalist class while we were locked down. I am the master lawn guy, shoveler, and raker. Pretty favorite pastime here and something we like to do together.

Jeff

[JonWer]

8 tomato plants, Celebrity and Rutgers, all stakes and caged. Bell, banana and jalapeño peppers for salsa. Planted a zucchini, not sure why, as they get out of control. We have a half acre full of perennials, full sun to all shade. When you sit at a computer all day, gardening is it is a wonderful escape from technology, the phone and spam.

[TRose]

Originally Posted by sayheyjeff

Been building and maintaining the a big garden since we moved into this house in ‘91. We grow cherry tomatoes, a variety of peppers, tomatillos, celery, kale, and lettuce. Tried chard, but haven’t been too successful with it. Full sun is a little hard to come by with big trees in our yard and more on the block (we didn’t qualify for financial help for solar panels due to a lack of sun). Grow a lot of herbs too. Figs are often the best for us. We get 2 crops a year and there are so many we have to give loads away. A real favorite. We grow grapes too but they haven’t tasted so good yet and are mostly to attract birds. Our little plum tree had 4 plums last year. Hoping for mor this year, but the tree is covered up right now as we prepare for the cicadas. Put in a nice small fish pond about 25 years ago. Has a little water fall, fish, cat tails and Lilly pads and more. Special. My wife just graduated from a master gardener and a master naturalist class while we were locked down. I am the master lawn guy, shoveler, and raker. Pretty favorite pastime here and something we like to do together.



Jeff

Jeff,
That’s sounds fantastic. I bet the side of the pond is a great place to relax.
My childhood home had a fig tree in the yard. I love figs. I wish we had more room for fruit trees and bushes.
You sound like you have a great set up. If I lived with a master gardener and naturalist I would simply do as I’m told! Sounds like she made the best of the lock down. Good for her.
If you are able post some pictures of your pond, etc.
Thanks,
Tom

[TRose]

Originally Posted by JonWer

8 tomato plants, Celebrity and Rutgers, all stakes and caged. Bell, banana and jalapeño peppers for salsa. Planted a zucchini, not sure why, as they get out of control. We have a half acre full of perennials, full sun to all shade. When you sit at a computer all day, gardening is it is a wonderful escape from technology, the phone and spam.

Hey Jon,
Are the Celebrity the red cherry tomatoes? I’ve planted them before and they put out lots of tomatoes. That’s historically been a good plant for us.
This year I planted Sun sweet( yellow cherry also known as sun gold- best tomato I’ve ever eaten ), Black cherry tomatoes, Mr Stripey, Cherokee purple, Park’s whopper, and Jet star tomatoes. The last two are new for us so we shall see how they do. They are supposed to produce big slicer tomatoes ideal for sandwiches.

I agree. Gardening can be a nice escape. There’s some therapeutic value in that dirt.

Let’s post some pictures of the tomatoes as they grow.

Best,
Tom

[sayheyjeff]

Send me an email or a cell phone and I’ll gladly email or text you some pictures. Love to show the garden and it’s a great place to relax.

Jeff

[JonWer]

Originally Posted by TRose

Hey Jon,
Are the Celebrity the red cherry tomatoes? I’ve planted them before and they put out lots of tomatoes. That’s historically been a good plant for us.
This year I planted Sun sweet( yellow cherry also known as sun gold- best tomato I’ve ever eaten ), Black cherry tomatoes, Mr Stripey, Cherokee purple, Park’s whopper, and Jet star tomatoes. The last two are new for us so we shall see how they do. They are supposed to produce big slicer tomatoes ideal for sandwiches.

I agree. Gardening can be a nice escape. There’s some therapeutic value in that dirt.

Let’s post some pictures of the tomatoes as they grow.

Best,
Tom

Celebrity is a can’t miss high production tomato, not a cherry. They are typically 7-10 oz. Cherry is great, tons of fruit, fun to grow.

[RedJoker]

We love gardening! We expanded our garden last year and kept it the same this year. We still have some canned tomatoes from last year but everything else is gone. We have kale and spinach all winter long from one of our raised beds and some indoor plants. Beats and carrots were still being pulled from the ground until January when the hard freezes came.

We're also doing more timed planting. Every couple weeks, we plant a bit more zucchini, corn, cucumbers, etc so we have a longer availability of fresh food.

[TRose]

Originally Posted by JonWer

Celebrity is a can’t miss high production tomato, not a cherry. They are typically 7-10 oz. Cherry is great, tons of fruit, fun to grow.

Thanks Jon.
I was thinking of the Celebrity 100. That’s the cherry variety. Yes, tons of fruit.

[TRose]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

We love gardening! We expanded our garden last year and kept it the same this year. We still have some canned tomatoes from last year but everything else is gone. We have kale and spinach all winter long from one of our raised beds and some indoor plants. Beats and carrots were still being pulled from the ground until January when the hard freezes came.

We're also doing more timed planting. Every couple weeks, we plant a bit more zucchini, corn, cucumbers, etc so we have a longer availability of fresh food.

Wow. That’s fantastic.
Sounds like you have optimized your efficiency.

I have not done any winter gardening but hope to explore that at some point. I’d like to grow a variety of garlic but I haven’t committed space to be occupied from fall through late summer- as is the requirement from what I’ve read. I’d like to try beets as well.