Vegetable Garden

[NMframed]

How many others enjoy growing a garden? For me its a love/hate relationship. I love having a big garden, love the work ethic and responsibility it teaches my son, and can’t beat the fresh veggies but hate when the weeds get ahead of us. This year we’ve done pretty good and have already been enjoying fresh squash, zucchini, onions, potatoes, carrots, and sweet peas. Just starting to get ripe tomatoes, green Chile, okra, and green beans, and still have a while to wait for the corn, melons, jalapeños, etc.

Please post pics of your garden. I know there are a lot of people growing gardens this year and just curious to see how others are doing.

 

[FLAK]

Oh yeah!!!
This time of the year mine is on the downhill side with the heat and humidity down here.
We did have quite a few Peppers (love to fry them), Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Zuchinni, Butternut Squash, and a few melons.
We're still eating a few peppers and tomatoes.
And I also dehydrated quite a few peppers for future use.

You have a fine looking garden BTW.

 

[Wapiti1]

That looks great. You're way better at weeding than we are.

We just picked the peas, peppers are on and the first round of wax beans. Tomatoes look good. The cucumber is slow since a deer decided to eat the leaves off most of it. But the spaghetti squash and acorn squash are doing well. The beets look OK, but the weeds got out of hand on a couple of rows. We'll see how they fair.

Love our garden.

Jeremy

 

[TomJoad]

Our small urban beds have been gangbusters this year. On round 3 of the leafy greens, radishes, beets and carrots. Tomatillo, tomatoes and peppers have taken over.

 

[Panhandler80]

Planted my first one ever this year. Did a hay garden and it turned out pretty good. Will be building some elevated boxes next spring and filling with actual soil. Planted several type of greens, tomatoes, jalepenos, squash, eggplant, okra, strawberries, bell pepper and some herbs. Managed to kill the squash... too much fertilizer, I think. Tomatoes have absolutely taken over. Strawberries were a disaster. By in large, I think we over planted. At first all veggies grew large. Now there is so much growth out there and everything is stunted. Feel like maybe too much competition for limited resources.

I also took delivery of 21 pullets on April 1st. They're about 4 more weeks out from laying. We're about to be egg rich!

 

[Panhandler80]

Some more coop construction... I had started it prior to covid nonsense.

 

[Panhandler80]

Had ordered only 15 chickens, but they sent 21. I think I received one of the hatcherys last shipments, if not the last one. They got a ton of orders when covid started settling in, and I think once they were about to sell out (they are still back logged months), the just went ahead and shipped everything before shutting her down for a spell. Coop is 8 x 8 and run is about 450 square feet. So, coop a bit on the small side, but they have 32 feet of roosting perch, external nesting boxes and 24-7 access to the run. There are three feeding stations and four watering stations. I think that plus the long thin design of the run fives them enough space to distance from each other and eliminates the need to compete for space / food / water. It is 100% critter proof (raccoon and cat really only thing I need to worry bout here), and so far zero bullying and all seem happy. My first time with chickens and so far so good. Water and feed systems are pretty slick, if I do say so myself. We try to interact with them frequently, but I did not want to have to feed and water them daily. They can go about 2 weeks without needing anything with this set up. Egg retrival is just on the other side of the side gate of house, too. Means won't hvae to walk in anywhere to get eggs. On, and FWIW... if you haven't cut about a quarter mile of hardware cloth... you REALLY aren't missing much. Real pain in the ass, but it's tough! Every seam is sandwiched with wood, and it goes about 12" under ground. Nothing is getting in, so long as I remember to keep door closed!


goes the

 

[FLAK]

I tried a dozen or so RIR a while back. Lots of work.
And eggs are cheaper than chicken feed.
But enjoyable nonetheless.
Bobcat got in and murderized most of them.

 

[TomJoad]

Very pro-chicken keeping here.

We just started up another small flock after a hiatus of 3 years due to moving states. If you are only keeping a smaller flock food is next to nothing so long as you free-range adequately (they eat bugs all day long) and feed them all of your scraps (they become your dumpster). If you are doing the deep bed method you have no odor, great compost annually and very little maintenance. The taste of free-ranged eggs is worlds apart from supermarket eggs. If you just give your chickens feed there will not be much difference but if a significant portion of their diet is scratching for bugs and bolstered with dinner table scraps its a whole different story. Finally the meat... Assuming you butcher your birds you have so many options beyond supermarket bland. Every bird you can buy in a supermarket is a 6mo old bloated Cornish cross with breasts so big they can barely stand (I'm a leg & theigh man myself ). Raising your own birds you will notice how distinctly "chickeny" they taste. Chicken meat has a real flavor and it is delicious. You can slaughter a super young bird and have something delicate and sublime with a super light cook (hot/fast) or harvest an old hen at the end of her laying cycle and have a bird that can stand up to a proper 4 hr coq au vin braise that would destroy a supermarket Cornish Cross.

I digress, this is supposed to be a garden post, just wanted to stand-up for my ladies!

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

We expanded our garden this year because we wanted to put some more veggie away for the winter. The disruption to the food chain helped a bit with that decision. I put up the light weight fence which has been great since we have a healthy rabbit population.

We did peas, carrots, 4 kinds of tomato, okra, green beans and red and white potatoes in the garden plot . Some canning and table cucumbers, jalapeno, habanero and sweet potatoes in raised beds.

Beans are about done and I have a plan to plant some more when the potatoes get dug in a week or two. maybe some greens again once the weather starts to cool a bit.

Our strawberry patch was mowed off too late in the season last year so we lost the entire season.

It has been such a joy to tend to the garden this year and my oldest has taken to helping me and my wife pick veggies. He loved eating the peas right off the vine.

Several nights a week we do nothing more than few venison steaks green beans and onion. It's pretty cool knowing where all of your food comes from.

We added 3 chickens which spend most of their day roaming around free range then back into the small coop at night. The kids love the chickens like they were pets. 3 eggs a day is enough to keep us from buying.

 

[hunterjmj]

We plant potatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumbers tomatoes and this year we tried corn but it's coming in slow. Our family weeds every Sunday rain or shine. It's way easier to keep under control.

 

[MeatBuck]

Would it be in bad taste to show off a guys herbs?

 

[Conrad101st]

 

[Panhandler80]

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I like the height of these beds. Would make for easy lawn care right up to the bed, as well as less bending over to harvest.

This thread has got me excited about improving our first crack at a garden, and I plan to build some this fall or spring once it cools off a little bit. In doing so, it's got me questioning a few things. Perhaps you can help:

1. Do you put any kind of barrier down on the bottom to first kill weeds and then prevent them from working into the bed? Or does the depth of those beds take care of that issue? It sounds like some folks plop cardboard down in there.

2. Speaking of depth, is that all soil, top to bottom? I read one quick little thing about people alternating soil with other substrates like cardboard and wood chips. I should have quite a bit of semi decomposed hay (current garden is hay bail garden) as well as a bunch of dead / dying veggies and other organic material soon. Plus I may start composting the pine shavings out of my chicken coop.

3. Do you worry about bed orientation? It seems line in N. America for high-sun plants, you'd want to run the beds W/E so that as the sun got up just a little ways, most of the plants would have sunlight for the majority of the day. Then for plants that want a little bit of shade, run them N/S so one half gets it for half the day, and the other for the next half.

4. Materials... I'm all about doing things right the first time and being as hassle free as possible going forward. Would modern day ground contact treated pine last quite a while? Or are organic folks going to claim that this isn't safe / healthy? I want it to be nice, but framing with cedar seems a bit silly. I think with the new stuff I'd just risk it. I'm thinking that and then t-posts with cattle panels for trellises.

5. What's the go-to watering system? Right now I have a hose that just kinda seeps about its entire length. It's just laid on top of the hay bails and works fine.

I really like the bed idea. I guess you can also fertilize and adjust PH for each individual bed according to what's going in.

Pretty good introductory ready I just came across. https://journeywithjill.net/gardening/2018/02/13/7-common-mistakes-in-raised-bed-gardening/

She also has a free soil composition guide if you want to provide an email address. https://journeywithjill.lpages.co/raised-bed-soil-options/

Like everything else, I'm sure this can be as simple or as complex as the gardener chooses, but considering what the entire project will cost in total time, a few hours of research to avoid some of the pitfalls sure can't hurt. I went into the chicken coop building process blind, and looking back, I probably should have bought (or at least drawn up) some plans. A little research would have also shed light on some tricks that would have saved a lot of time.

 

[TomJoad]

I like the height of these beds. Would make for easy lawn care right up to the bed, as well as less bending over to harvest.

This thread has got me excited about improving our first crack at a garden, and I plan to build some this fall or spring once it cools off a little bit. In doing so, it's got me questioning a few things. Perhaps you can help:

1. Do you put any kind of barrier down on the bottom to first kill weeds and then prevent them from working into the bed? Or does the depth of those beds take care of that issue? It sounds like some folks plop cardboard down in there.

2. Speaking of depth, is that all soil, top to bottom? I read one quick little thing about people alternating soil with other substrates like cardboard and wood chips. I should have quite a bit of semi decomposed hay (current garden is hay bail garden) as well as a bunch of dead / dying veggies and other organic material soon. Plus I may start composting the pine shavings out of my chicken coop.

3. Do you worry about bed orientation? It seems line in N. America for high-sun plants, you'd want to run the beds W/E so that as the sun got up just a little ways, most of the plants would have sunlight for the majority of the day. Then for plants that want a little bit of shade, run them N/S so one half gets it for half the day, and the other for the next half.

4. Materials... I'm all about doing things right the first time and being as hassle free as possible going forward. Would modern day ground contact treated pine last quite a while? Or are organic folks going to claim that this isn't safe / healthy? I want it to be nice, but framing with cedar seems a bit silly. I think with the new stuff I'd just risk it. I'm thinking that and then t-posts with cattle panels for trellises.

5. What's the go-to watering system? Right now I have a hose that just kinda seeps about its entire length. It's just laid on top of the hay bails and works fine.

I really like the bed idea. I guess you can also fertilize and adjust PH for each individual bed according to what's going in.

Pretty good introductory ready I just came across. https://journeywithjill.net/gardening/2018/02/13/7-common-mistakes-in-raised-bed-gardening/

She also has a free soil composition guide if you want to provide an email address. https://journeywithjill.lpages.co/raised-bed-soil-options/

Like everything else, I'm sure this can be as simple or as complex as the gardener chooses, but considering what the entire project will cost in total time, a few hours of research to avoid some of the pitfalls sure can't hurt. I went into the chicken coop building process blind, and looking back, I probably should have bought (or at least drawn up) some plans. A little research would have also shed light on some tricks that would have saved a lot of time.

A few thoughts on your queries:

1. I always put a weed barrier down (low grade non-woven landscape cloth) but it likely does nothing at those depths, just cheap insurance that makes me feel better!

2. I have 2' high beds and run the same soil top to bottom. Preference would be one foot of fill soil and one foot of amended soil but with the qty of beds I build the second delivery cost outweighed the benefit of the slightly cheaper fill soil. A note on soil: Do by the highest quality soil amended with compost available. Your success will likely hinge on soil quality and watering program.

3. Bed Orientation: I do think about this but location relative to shade on your property is critical. Also important to think about the vegetation in your beds: 6' tomatoes and climbing peas will shade everything behind them.

4. Materials: I always roll with cedar, its more money but worth it IMO. PT has gotten better with no arsenic but still nasty stuff with the copper

5. Watering system: Low pressure drip is the best. not expensive to set-up but does need a regulator. I run 1/4" line with 6" drip spacing, 3 lines per 4x8' bed.

Our Beds: AKA Veggie prison camp

 

[Vids]

I got a late start this year. Due to moving into a new house in early March, I couldn't start seedlings until a couple weeks after I moved in and also had to build the planter bed. Thankfully my Dad started some tomatoes early for me which explains the tall ones. Everything else is lagging behind but some things are taking off. I usually grew tomatoes in the past, but am excited to have a bigger yard now where I can make a couple of large beds if I want for more variety. I'm going to relocate it to a sunnier spot next year and build a couple of beds something like 4x12.

This year I have: various tomatoes, various peppers, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, squash, zucchini, corn, scallions, shallots, onions, green beans, peas, strawberries (from previous owner), chives, and tomatillos. Hopefully enough time left for a limited harvest, though I've already eaten a few ripe tomatoes. Also had failed attempts at carrots, cauliflower, pumpkins, and my broccoli is trying but ain't gonna make the cut.

I still have more learning to do before next spring. I was a novice this year about when to start certain things so some like carrots and onions got started way too late, and cucumbers that were unnecessarily started indoors died when I transplanted them. I'm also engaged in a battle with a squirrel who robs my strawberries when they ripen, gotta figure out how to stymie the little jerk.

 

[cnelk]

I have 2 gardens. One has potatoes and onions and the other has tomatoes and jalapeno / Anaheim peppers

Everything I need to can up some elk stew.

 

[snuzzo29]

Weeds have taken my area over and I didn't get enough work done in it to plant. Plan on brush hogging it this fall and then covering it with landscape fabric and pallets for the winter to weed it.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

We started a small veggie garden out at my father in law's about 8 years ago. It has since grown into this.

The majority of my kids' baby food was home grown here. Now they are old enough to help plant and harvest. Need to work on getting them weeding.

The weeds got away from me in June. Getting it back under control.

After 3 years, we finally got a decent asparagus harvest this spring.

It looks like we are going to have a huge crop of purple potatoes this fall.

We grew enough tomatoes last year that we were able to use home made sauce on our weekly pizza night for the past nine months. Hopefully this year's crop does just as well.

We didn't grow any cabbage or pickling cucumbers this year. We still have a decent number of jars of sauerkraut and spicy dills put up. The naturally fermented have a great flavor.

 

[Stonebear]

I wasn't able to plant this year, but already starting the prep for next year's harvest. Thanks for the pics everyone - this thread is great motivation.