I posted in the Gardening Group, too.......
This year's garden is approximately 45' x 20'. It was tilled last weekend and today, we planted:
2 kinds of corn
12 tomato plants (4 beefsteak, 4 roma plums, and 4 century) We'll probably add a few more.
8 pepper plants (4 long peppers and 4 bell peppers) We'll probably add a few more
6 broccoli plants, but we'll need a few more
3 cheddar cauliflower plants (called cheddar because the heads will be yellowish in color) We've never tried to grow cauliflower.
9 cucumber plants (two hills have 3 plants each, we tried a bush-type cuke plant, too) Love my pickles!
1 pack of green beans
1 pack of yellow wax beans
1 pack of red beets (Our beets did not do well last year, but I'm trying again)
1 pack of carrots (We tilled the soil again and added a bit of peat moss to help the carrots grow through the soil)
12 June-bearing strawberry plants
We still must buy some zucchini plants (we'll plant them in amongst the corn like we did last year; they did very well in the corn rows) and I'd like to try some onion sets. We're going to plant a few potatoes, too, but in a large planter on the deck, just for the fun of it more than anything, as our garden isn't big enough for potatoes. I'd like to get some lettuces, too, if there's enough room.
Still didn't get the blueberry bushes. We went to the store for blueberry bushes, but then we bought some knock-out roses instead; they were on sale at 50% off. (That happens to us...we go for one thing, but come home with something else. But I wanted roses for around that fountain by the pool, so it was good anyway.)
We also got the fence around most of the garden....must buy a bit more fencing, since we enlarged the garden this year. And we have the holey garden hose around the tomatoes and peppers. We put a bunch of holes in an old garden hose and we snake the hose around the garden. Then when we want to water, we connect the good hose to the holey hose and turn the water on. That way, water gets directly to the plants and the soil instead of evaporating into the air. It worked out well last year and we found another old hose that leaks, so we're going to put holes in that one, too, and add it to the garden area.
With the strawberries, I was told to pinch off any flower blossoms that might grow on the plants this year....that will help the plant become stronger and next year, we should get a nicer yield. Oh, and these strawberries propagate by runners (some do, some don't). When the plant shoots a runner out, I can stake it to the ground about 12 inches or so away and the runner will grow another plant. Good way to propagate the plants. I'd like to have a nice patch of strawberries eventually....well, between me and the birds, that is!
We had a hard time finding strawberry plants and it's getting too late for them. Thankfully we were able to find the 12 that we purchased.
We're working on a grape arbor, too, and would like to grow some grapes. I don't know if we'll get it finished and ready to go this year or not. We need to get the arbor finished first. Last year, my sister ended up with a ton of grapes and we made almost two dozen jars of grape jelly for my BIL. I've always wanted a bit of grapes in the garden; my grandmother grew grapes and I have fond memories of sitting at the base of her arbor, eating green grapes....and then getting a bellyache!
And this year, I'm doing a garden diary. I drew a diagram of the garden and am including the prices we've paid for everything related to the veggie garden. That should be interesting. As we harvest, I'll include the information for that as well. (Thank goodness, I'm not including how many hours we're working in the garden.) Last year, we bought the food dehydrator and the pressure canner, so I'm good to go there....all I need are some extra canning jars and the lids and I'm ready to go. Believe it or not, we've used most of the stuff we put in the freezer. And all I have left from our canning is a couple jars of salsa and some honey-glazed red onions. And one jar of Chow Chow, which I'm opening on Memorial Day for our picnic.
Rick's grandfather was an avid gardener; he tended a gigantic truck patch in his back yard. And my grandmother was the same way. Her vegetables were the best veggies around and her flowers were always beautiful. We like to think that, in a way, they'd be proud of us for keeping up with tradition.
This year's garden is approximately 45' x 20'. It was tilled last weekend and today, we planted:
2 kinds of corn
12 tomato plants (4 beefsteak, 4 roma plums, and 4 century) We'll probably add a few more.
8 pepper plants (4 long peppers and 4 bell peppers) We'll probably add a few more
6 broccoli plants, but we'll need a few more
3 cheddar cauliflower plants (called cheddar because the heads will be yellowish in color) We've never tried to grow cauliflower.
9 cucumber plants (two hills have 3 plants each, we tried a bush-type cuke plant, too) Love my pickles!
1 pack of green beans
1 pack of yellow wax beans
1 pack of red beets (Our beets did not do well last year, but I'm trying again)
1 pack of carrots (We tilled the soil again and added a bit of peat moss to help the carrots grow through the soil)
12 June-bearing strawberry plants
We still must buy some zucchini plants (we'll plant them in amongst the corn like we did last year; they did very well in the corn rows) and I'd like to try some onion sets. We're going to plant a few potatoes, too, but in a large planter on the deck, just for the fun of it more than anything, as our garden isn't big enough for potatoes. I'd like to get some lettuces, too, if there's enough room.
Still didn't get the blueberry bushes. We went to the store for blueberry bushes, but then we bought some knock-out roses instead; they were on sale at 50% off. (That happens to us...we go for one thing, but come home with something else. But I wanted roses for around that fountain by the pool, so it was good anyway.)
We also got the fence around most of the garden....must buy a bit more fencing, since we enlarged the garden this year. And we have the holey garden hose around the tomatoes and peppers. We put a bunch of holes in an old garden hose and we snake the hose around the garden. Then when we want to water, we connect the good hose to the holey hose and turn the water on. That way, water gets directly to the plants and the soil instead of evaporating into the air. It worked out well last year and we found another old hose that leaks, so we're going to put holes in that one, too, and add it to the garden area.
With the strawberries, I was told to pinch off any flower blossoms that might grow on the plants this year....that will help the plant become stronger and next year, we should get a nicer yield. Oh, and these strawberries propagate by runners (some do, some don't). When the plant shoots a runner out, I can stake it to the ground about 12 inches or so away and the runner will grow another plant. Good way to propagate the plants. I'd like to have a nice patch of strawberries eventually....well, between me and the birds, that is!
We had a hard time finding strawberry plants and it's getting too late for them. Thankfully we were able to find the 12 that we purchased.
We're working on a grape arbor, too, and would like to grow some grapes. I don't know if we'll get it finished and ready to go this year or not. We need to get the arbor finished first. Last year, my sister ended up with a ton of grapes and we made almost two dozen jars of grape jelly for my BIL. I've always wanted a bit of grapes in the garden; my grandmother grew grapes and I have fond memories of sitting at the base of her arbor, eating green grapes....and then getting a bellyache!
And this year, I'm doing a garden diary. I drew a diagram of the garden and am including the prices we've paid for everything related to the veggie garden. That should be interesting. As we harvest, I'll include the information for that as well. (Thank goodness, I'm not including how many hours we're working in the garden.) Last year, we bought the food dehydrator and the pressure canner, so I'm good to go there....all I need are some extra canning jars and the lids and I'm ready to go. Believe it or not, we've used most of the stuff we put in the freezer. And all I have left from our canning is a couple jars of salsa and some honey-glazed red onions. And one jar of Chow Chow, which I'm opening on Memorial Day for our picnic.
Rick's grandfather was an avid gardener; he tended a gigantic truck patch in his back yard. And my grandmother was the same way. Her vegetables were the best veggies around and her flowers were always beautiful. We like to think that, in a way, they'd be proud of us for keeping up with tradition.
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