Anybody Plant Vegetable Gardens? Pics Of Some Past Ones For Me...

[Critterhunter]

Here's some from 2007...
[attachment 260186 2007garden1.JPG][attachment 260187 2007garden2.JPG][attachment 260188 2007garden3.JPG]

And here's from from 2009...
[attachment 260189 2009garden1.JPG][attachment 260190 2009garden2.JPG][attachment 260191 2009garden3.JPG]

Since then the garden has been expanded a bit in it's length further out into the yard.

Hadn't planted a garden in about 3 years but plan to this spring. I always spaced my rows wide enough to run a tiller down them to get rid of weeds, but just the same it was still a chore. Tried garbage picking bags of grass to spread down to prevent weeds. Worked great but never could get enough to cover the whole thing in time to not fight the weeds. So this year, I plan to put down plastic.

Need to know a cheap source from a chain store for that stuff if anybody knows price/size wise on that. I'm told to use black because any other color will let light get to the weeds and they'll start growing and pushing up the plastic. Also told there are cheap plastic or such stakes to use meant to hold plastic down from wind, so as not to need to use bricks or other items to weigh it down. My garden is too big to find that many bricks or other things to use anyway.

I plan to till well each spring like I always do, then roll the plastic back down. Going to just cut holes for the plants in raised rows, then use a screwdriver to pop holes in the low areas along the rows so rain or sprinkler will drain down under ground to keep the plants happy.

Looking forward to planting again. I always gave away about 90% of my stuff to neighbors and friends. Gives me great satisfaction doing that.

One tip- Don't buy your plants at Sprawlmarts and such. Find a little out of the way farm that grows/sells plants. I can get enough plants to do my entire garden for much cheaper than the chain stores, and much better quality/variety of plants. Anything I can put in as seeds without hassle I just buy seeds for. Corn. Beans. Squash. Cucumbers. Carrots. Radish. Not sense in buying that stuff as plants because it comes up so far, other than sometimes I buy cucumbers and zuchini as plants.

Another tip- I always plant 2 or 3 types of corn and bush beans, so that not only do they mature at different times, but also so that should 1 or 2 types not do well for some odd reason that year I still have 1 or 2 others that do.

Final tip for now- Slugs are the worst for things like Bush beans sprouting up. Tried many methods. Best is those pellets that look like rabbit food. Just sprinkle around parameter of garden and they'll find and eat it and die long before they make it to the plants. When I first started gardening years ago my beans would be missing the first two leaves on them come the next morning. Thought it was rabbits until I learned otherwise.

Great thing to, not only saving a ton of money on vegetables, if when the tomotoes (I plant as many as 27 of various types) start coming in thick, I have just stuck a small tabel in the front yard with a sign on it to sell a few. Rubbermade container on the table to stick their money in. Always surprised me to find cash in there and not see the container get stolen. I figured if anybody needed the money that bad anyway I would have just assumed give them the tomatoes for free, so they could have it. Never been a problem though when I've done that.

If you have any garden pics or tips to share please do...

 

[bossman]

Wally world has it fairly cheap

 

[RustyNTX]

n/t

 

[ralph]

If you blanch sweetcorn (drop into boiling water for about 1 min to kill the bacteria) and put in ziplock bags ,freeze it(even on the cob). It'll taste just like fresh picked in mid winter when removed from bag and boiled 9-10 min. I raise a years supply every year(never need to buy it), beans also, but prefer to pressure can beans. Peppers and many other veg can be put up with little or no loss of taste. I've a squeezo(hand crank) device & put up tomatoe juice in gal milk jugs,(heat it to kill germs then freeze). It's a bit better canned( with water bath method.) Salsa, spagettie sauce also. One would be very surprised how a veg garden(properly managed) will shrink the grocery bill.

 

[Critterhunter]

For sure growing a garden really saves a ton of cash, and also ain't nothing like the taste of veggies out of a garden. As one example, green beans have about a billion times the flavor out of a garden than they do bought in the store, and of course tomatoes as well. A few of my favorites are BLTs or just tomato sandwiches made with toasted bread, and beans made with salt pork. Ain't much this side of heaven that tastes that good. Egg plants fried is like a meat as well.

Far as potatoes go, I prefer sweet potatoes. Hard to find the plants at chain stores but the little family run farm I head to for my plants has them. About 8 plants in one little pot. Simply pull out the stems and stick them in the ground. Some people will use old tires to plant potatoes. Ones the vines get so high they stack another tire on one and them fill that with dirt. By end of summer they've got like 5 or so tires stacked high, all filled with potatoes.

Been meaning to plant some stuff that goes through the winter, like garlic or asparagus. Just have never got around to it yet. About the only thing that stays from year to year is strawberries. The every bearing type are the best, as they'll put out through the summer and not just in the spring real quick.

Mainly for fertilizer I just spray my plants with Miracle Grow in a pump sprayer. Using the hose attachment for that never seems to do a good job of evenly putting it out properly. A couple times a week works for me. Hard to over do with that stuff and so little risk of burning out some plants.

For soil conditioning I dump all my grass clippings in the garden, and also the leafs in the fall. Grass clippings are great too to hold in moisture and keep you from having to hand weed around plants if you put it down about 4 inches thick around them. My soil has a lot of clay in it so I've even added some sand to try to loosen it up and it could still use more. Every spring after I till it and a good rain which then dries, I head in there with a bucket and pick up any small stones I see. Amazing how many still come out of there all these years later. One good thing about the clay is it's limestone based, so the soil is always very neutral and never needs lime.

Another fun way to combine to hobbies is to go down to your local river with a can of whole kernel corn and catch a mess of carp to bury between your plants. I've used a saws all to cut them up for that, but haven't done it in years. Messy job. All the mice traps in my garage I just bury in the garden. Next time I till it up nature has cleaned them for me and they are ready for use again.

Man, all this talk of gardening has really got me anxious to plant again this year. Didn't do it the last few years because I was sick of the constant war with weeds. Not matter how many times I'd till that garden through spring, summer, and fall, still tons of weed seeds in the soil. Putting down plastic this year should finally win me that war, and black plastic should bake all those weed seeds near the surface that tilling has brought to the surface. Numerous holes poked into the low areas along side the rows with a screwdriver should help the rain and sprinkler to do it's thing. Only concern I have is how black plastic is going to perhaps get things too hot for some plants. Anybody got any particulars on that?

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice looking garden there, Critter! Funny, I do the same thing with carp, not only are they fun to catch, but it gives a guy an excuse to go after them as well. I use a machete to cut them up. We use those 3' rolls of cardboard for the weeds, even newspaper works well too, plus it has ammonia in it, so its a nitrogen fixer as it breaks down, beans love it. It keeps the moisture down in the soil too, so you don't have to use a whole lot of water, just where the plants are poking through. you can roll that cardboard over the whole deal, after you till and rake the surface flat. then cut some holes in it for the plants with your shovel, and you don't ever have to till or dink around with weeds. They sell it at the lumberyard or any packing/moving store...probably can get it shipped to you from ULine..where I work there was always a lot of it that was just getting tossed anyway, so it was free. Sure it gets torn and beat up as the season progresses, but who cares? you can patch the tears with some sheets of wet newspaper and toss a shovel full of dirt right on top. Just till the whole mess down into the dirt in the Fall. Love that rhubarb! I take a few sticks with me when I go detecting on hot days to chew on like a cigar, keeps the whistle wet.
Mud

 

[RustyNTX]

I used to compost my clippings but it never got hot enough to cook the weed seeds. Eternal battle.

 

[Critterhunter]

Years ago I almost had the battle with weeds won, until one day I spread fresh horse droppings on the whole thing. Big mistake. I now had new weeds I never saw before, which grow super fast, and I guess the horses love them for that reason maybe. To this day I've been fighting that new variety of weeds. They beat me in the end, but now with the plastic thing I think I can drop a nuclear bomb on them, so to speak here.

The idea about cardboard is a great one, but my issue is I don't want numerous squares of stuff to weigh or anchor down. Just want the biggest sheets of plastic to do the job if I can, and am hoping they sell cheap plastic or metal ground anchors you just stick into the ground to keep the wind from catching it? Again, need info on cheap local chain stores for plastic in large expanses, and also any anchoring jobs to get it done.

Thanks for all the input thus far...

 

[bossman]

Not sure where in Texas you are , I live near Dallas and get my soil and compost at living earth technology. I buy the garden mix which is great. I bought some great compost from them also. This my second year and have expanded a lot 1st garden was 10x18 this year its 55x35 , I have 11 raised beds that are 4x8x10 . I put the heavy duty landscape fabric down each isle and covered with mulch from the same place (18.00 a truck load) building a drip water system this week while on vacation . Hope to just add compost and plant next year . We also planted 2 pear trees have 2 peach trees that produced for the 1st time last year and plum tree we hope makes this year.(sorry for long post but get excited about the garden.
Bossman

 

[Critterhunter]

I used to have a nice large apple tree I kept pruned. Then one year I think lightning hit it. Had a crack down the trunk that was fresh. Died. About 4 or 5 years ago I put a dwarf style apple tree with 5 different apple types grafted to it in the yard. Stupid thing don't look like it has grown much despite my Miracle Grow fertilizing here and there. I suspect I didn't widen the hole large enough to mix with good black topsoil so the roots would have room to grow fast. It does look like it's getting bigger, just not nearly as fast as I was hoping.

Prior to this tree I put in a peach and another apple tree, and both of them I ended up killing by punching holes in the ground and pouring 12/12/12 fertilizer grainuals into the ground. Much cheaper than tree spikes (those things are insanely priced), but I guess I just over did it with both. Now I won't dare try it, and am sticking to Miracle grow spraying the leaves and roots. Very hard to over do it with that stuff.

I've got a neighbor with two large pear trees. Great thing about pear trees, or at least the ones he has, is they never need sprayed and yet don't get any worms in them. I guess due to the thicker skin compared to apples. I've made some fantastic wine out of those pears, and it bottles fast in about a month. First two attempts at wine making ever, and turns out a friend with bottles we gave him from both batches took them to two different ameture wine tasting contests and they won both times. Not a real "official" event by any means. Just a bunch of guys getting together, but just the same that really surprised me to hear.

A neighbor years ago grafted either a peach limb to a apple tree or vise versa, and to this day his daughter still raves about how good that fruit was, even though the tree is long since gone.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I love to garden. Or should I say I love the results. Fresh home Grown tomatos can not be beat for taste. I have grown a small garden in my back yard for years. Currently have cabbage, broccoli and onions growing. I need to get busy and get the rest of my plants in the ground as it will be too hot here in a couple of months for things to grow properly.

 

[Steve O]

A fellow gave me some heirloom tomato seeds he had purchased from Italy. The tomatoes were big and shaped almost like a pear, man were they delicious. The only problem, was the skin was very thin and the insects were able to get through with ease. I believe he purchased them online mail order from a seed company in Italy.
I gave some of the seeds to neighbors and they said those tomatoes were the best they had ever tasted. Last year I saved hundreds of those seeds from the tomatoes.....But.....

My veggie garden is on hold this year because a 120' tree came down and smashed everything (Sandy), arbor w/ gate, fencing and raised beds. The top, with all the branches of the big oak is what hit the garden.
Just now got everything cut up and onto the wood pile.

Iv'e grown veggie gardens since I was a kid. A season without a garden at the homestead will be missed.

 

[cosmic]

I till and the cover my entire garden with landscape fabric, then cut holes and plant .. Just a few weeds once in a while mostly grasses at the bases.. But mine is small 14'x24'... Hoping my strawberrys slept well this winter..

 

[RustyNTX]

I see they have a yard not far from here. I tried some bulk compost from a local rock dealer a few years ago. It smelled like Creasote. I think it was made from ground up telephone poles. Ha.

 

[GateKeeper]

Planted some cherry tomatoes and some jumbo super sauce tomatoes a week ago. Thet just started coming up yesterday. Love making spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes.

 

[Steve O]

We have what is called "voles" here in Pa. Last year when it was time to dig up the potatoes, 95% were gnawed/eaten by the little ba$t@rd$. I never had that problem on my property until this past season.

Does anyone know of a tried and true remedy for vole problems? Oh, I have a little dog so I don't want to use anything toxic to him. Thanks.

 

[Critterhunter]

Only two things I've heard- There is poison called "Peanuts" or something that you stick down in the holes, but with a dog yea I wouldn't risk that.

Other method I heard is harbor tool & freight sells a small windmill that puts a signal down into the ground. Not sure if that's junk science or if it actually works.

Just remembered one more- I think I heard that you put human hair down into the holes and when they get it on them they scratch themselves to death. Again, myth or fact here?

I bet if you google "how to get rid of voles" you'll find tons of info on that.

 

[Steve O]

Thanks Critter.
I'll try Google, and the feed store around the corner called Agway.

 

[GateKeeper]

I've got some experience with Voles. Had them 3 years ago, and this year. I found where they were tunneling, and the holes they were using. I bought 12 mouse traps and used some ham. Within 3 days, the Vole problem was conquered.

 

[Steve O]

Thanks Gate!

Was that deli ham or little pieces of a big roast ham with the bone in it? I'd have a tough time giving up roast ham. Ha!,, I'm half kidding. My mouth is watering as I write this.