# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  This Year's Garden

## crashdive123

There's still some work to do, but this year's container garden is coming along.  I did rebuild one of the raised boxes too.

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## hunter63

Very nice...as I look out the window....at the snow melting in mine.
( a little insperation does help)
You seem to favor container and raised boxes and such.

Just curious as to why?

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## Alaska Grandma

that looks very nice! I do a fair share of container gardens and plant in 5 gallon old buckets too. Raised beds particularly work well in AK as they get to an earlier warm up in the spring time and have better drainage in the event of a wet summer.

Snow won't begin to melt here until anywhere from late April to mid May depending on spring temps and conditions. -42 here last night, but warming to -20 during the heat of the day :Eek2:  Hopefully we will get a tad warmer soon.

Looking forward to more folks garden pictures.
Grandma Lori

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## crashdive123

> Very nice...as I look out the window....at the snow melting in mine.
> ( a little insperation does help)
> You seem to favor container and raised boxes and such.
> 
> Just curious as to why?


Mrs. Crash will not let me dig up any of our very small yard.  I did dig up a small section a few years back for sweet potatoes.  Something ate well that year.  Every single one had been gnawed on.  I'll probably pick up some bird netting to build a cover for a few of the containers this year - at least the strawberries anyway.

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## your_comforting_company

Are you going to try string beans this year, or maybe the climbing peas?

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## Cornmonkey

Howdy all, my peas have been in the ground for about 3 weeks. We are getting much warmer days now. Waiting for tater planting time. I have new ground that has not been used for over 30 years, hope it does well. This will be the largest one i have ever raised so far, gona need lots of luck and good weather. I have a feeling of a wet spring and extra dry summer hope i,am wrong on that.

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## hunter63

> Mrs. Crash will not let me dig up any of our very small yard.  I did dig up a small section a few years back for sweet potatoes.  Something ate well that year.  Every single one had been gnawed on.  I'll probably pick up some bird netting to build a cover for a few of the containers this year - at least the strawberries anyway.


I hear ya, looks good though.
I use some containers, but like to plant in the ground as watering isn't as much of an issue.
My hanging tomatoes need watering a coouple of time a day in hot weather.

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## Winnie

Showoff. Looks like my garden could be on hold again. I'll get as much as I can started in pots and hope.

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## COWBOYSURVIVAL

Wow! Crash! Looks great! I lost some ground there was a hard freeze yesterday morning. I haven't surveyed the damage yet. Just a minor setback though most everything is still indoors.

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## crashdive123

Getting blossoms on the maters, squash, egg plant and peppers.  So far, so good.

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## roar-k

My garden will be up to snuff one day.  I have enough supplies for about 7 more self-watering buckets and I have a few extra for some experiments I may try....  Great looking garden!

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## BornthatWay

Well we have had rain which we needed last week and then Saturday night we had snow again and will be cold all week.  i hope we are going to get a garden out in the next couple of weeks.  I love to garden except when it gets so hot and the humidity is feels like it is 100%.  I am planting greenbeans by the pound and plan on lots of tomatoes also.  I hope the weather warms up and stabilizes soon.

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## kyratshooter

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Woke up yesterday to snow on the buttercups.

No garden plans in this area for at least one more month.  We get frost until end of April.

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## your_comforting_company

Lookin good!

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## finallyME

Excellent post Crash.  I am going to try tomatoes in a bucket this year.  I will use your post as reference.

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## crashdive123

Getting closer.

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## COWBOYSURVIVAL

Wow! Crash that looks really good. My garden is finally outside. I'll post pics soon.

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## welderguy

Thats a nice garden. Wish mine looked half that good.

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## Winnie

I'll say it again...Showoff.

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## Rick

If I had a big stick and he was closer I'd just thump him with it.

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## woodsman86

Great looking stuff! I finally have my stuff planted but no vegetables yet.

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## nell67

> If I had a big stick and he was closer I'd just thump him with it.


Make that 2 of us! GGGGRRRR!  Looks good Crash.

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## crashdive123

What the stick? :Crying:  :Scared:  :no way:  :Sweatdrop:  :Surrender:

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## rebel

That's a nice garden Crash.  We had snow again this week.  I made some raised beds to put out when the time is right.  I had a mess of peanuts last year, I hope I can do it again this year.

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## crashdive123

The tomatoes are coming into their own now.

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## Winnie

There's a name for people like you, Crash. But I'm too much of a lady to use it. :Lol:

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## crashdive123

> There's a name for people like you, Crash. But I'm too much of a lady to use it.


Charming?  Ruggedly handsome?  Witty?

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## Winnie

> Charming?  Ruggedly handsome?  Witty?


Nope. Not even close.

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## crashdive123

At the risk of being beat up by those who choose to live in cooler climates (remember - my garden will soon feel the stress of the summer heat), here is today's haul.

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The jalapeno and tabasco peppers will soon be ready.  A few of the onion tops are starting to brown, so it shouldn't be too long.

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## LowKey

Nice stuff Crash. Mine's just going in. My tomaters are only about 3" tall, still in the cold frame...

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## crashdive123

My squash are about done (got 15 pounds so far from two plants).  Once they are done I'll put in some heatwave tomatoes.

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## grrlscout

Nice haul, crash!  :Punk: 

Since we're moving, I've got pretty much nothing -- some herbs, mildewed swiss chard, and artichokes:

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I let the first one bloom. The second biggest one, I harvested this morning. I'll probably pick the two babies too. There's also a fifth one, starting to come up around back.

I've already started digging a hole for it at the new house. I hope transplantation doesn't kill it.  :Frown:

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## 1stimestar

Wow nice.  I don't put plants in the garden until June 1st.  I can hardly wait!

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## oldtrap59

Nice haul Crash. Getting some maters,crooknecks,peppers,cukes and green beans here.A few small eggplants on but not ready yet. Real happy with the taters so far. Dug two short rows(about 30 feet each) and ended up with right at 40 lbs. Figure we got about 4 lbs for each lb of seed. Would have gotten more but these wanted to dig early to use as new taters. Grrl hope your artichokes move ok. Good luck to all the gardeners among yall.

Oldtrap

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## woodsman86

Great looking stuff! I can't seem to keep my peppers alive, but my beans are going wild.

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## crashdive123

The stalks of the pepper plants that I've planted seem to be very fragile when the plants are young.  They are also rooted fairly shallow, so as they grow I put a single stake next to each plant so that they do not get blown over in stronger winds.  I'll snap a pic this afternoon.

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## woodsman86

I just staked everything the other day. I used the cheap bamboo poles and the green stretchy tape to tie everything off. There has been few days of 50+mph winds that claimed a bunch of beans by either stripping the leaves or breaking the stalks.

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## BH51

My stuff ain't no'where close to harvesting anything except spring'time greens...
Ain't seen enough sun or warm temps...well behind schedule...Mother Nature ain't
been very co-operative this season.....I'm envious, Crashdive.....................BH51.

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## crashdive123

> I just staked everything the other day. I used the cheap bamboo poles and the green stretchy tape to tie everything off. There has been few days of 50+mph winds that claimed a bunch of beans by either stripping the leaves or breaking the stalks.


That'll work.  For the pepper plants I use old fiberglass tent poles.

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## rwc1969

> At the risk of being beat up by those who choose to live in cooler climates (remember - my garden will soon feel the stress of the summer heat), here is today's haul.
> 
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> 
> The jalapeno and tabasco peppers will soon be ready.  A few of the onion tops are starting to brown, so it shouldn't be too long.


I know where you live! LOL! At least I think I do.

Man, our 'maters have just recovered from the shock of transplant two weeks ago. Some years we can't even plant safely until June because of frost.

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## crashdive123

The squash is done for the year.  Got just over 10 lbs from 2 plants.  There are two eggplant plants remaining in that container that are still producing.  Had eggplant parmigiana last night.  Yummy.

Don't know why I never did this before, but I am weighing everything that we pull from the garden.  I wanted to see how much yield we get from our containers.

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## huntermj

Its still too wet here to till the garden, flooding has been an problem Containers are maybe all i can do to save my starts. As your most likely heading  into the hot season for your zone what plants will grow best there this time of year?

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## crashdive123

Out of the things we planted this year, tomatoes suffer the most.  I'm going to experiment this fall with installing a removable screen canopy to provide some filtered sun during the hottest part of the day to see if I can get a longer season out of them.  There are some heat tolerant varieties that I've tried.  Can't complain - we've pulled about 30 lbs of tomatoes so far this year and the plants are still going strong.  We move them from time to time to get them out of the sun.

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## crashdive123

Strung up a few hundred Tabasco Peppers to dry.  Might try my hand at bottling some hot sauce with the next batch I pick.

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## your_comforting_company

I bet those would be good pickled with some okra :wink:

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## crashdive123

I've never tried okra unless it was in gumbo.  I'd be happy to send you some of these peppers if you think they will survive the mailing.

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## Rick

We take a small decanter with a glass stopper and cut up some hot peppers and toss in it and add some vinegar. Then just stick it in the fridge to mingle flavors. That stuff is great to add to things like Navy beans or soups or stews. Just add more vinegar as you use it. It looks a lot like...

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## crashdive123

> We take a small decanter with a glass stopper and cut up some hot peppers and toss in it and add some vinegar. Then just stick it in the fridge to mingle flavors. That stuff is great to add to things like Navy beans or soups or stews. Just add more vinegar as you use it. It looks a lot like...
> 
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I like that.  I'll try it.  That reminded me that a lot of the local "fried fish" places have bottle with Tabasco peppers and vinegar.

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## your_comforting_company

Thanks for the peppers Crash! I can't believe they survived the mail!!

If I make you a jar of pickled okra with a few and send it, do you think the jar will survive shipping? I haven't tried them flavored with tabasco pepper. I did open another jar of okra on monday, and it's a little on the salty side, but I've adjusted the recipe since then. The first batch was done with jalapeno, second with chiles, and one jar done with Thai dragons. I've tried Wickles with tabasco and they are good, so..

on another note, the stuff Rick is referring to above is what we call peppersauce here, and it's as common as salt and pepper on the dinner table. Just about every house has peppersauce on the table. Great on greens that lack flavor. I like it on rudabagas and turnips especially as it adds some kick, and I put it on all sorts of stuff, from beans to broccoli. If you're watching calories, it can make a great addition to salad too, having significantly less than Ranch dressing. Great as a marinade on steaks too. We like to use old whiskey bottles tho, or other old bottles, like the funniest peppersauce I ever saw was in one of the old blue-glass Milk of magnesia bottle.. too funny!

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## crashdive123

If you send it, I'll try it.

I picked up a decanter like the one in Rick's picture.  I've got Tabasco and Jalapeno peppers in it now.  Planning on adding some carrots and onions....We'll see.

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## Rick

You just added a new word to the Midwest lexicon. "Care for some peppersauce"? (well, the family lexicon anyway)

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## your_comforting_company

'round here it's more like: "pass me the peppersauce" lol.
Add a few lilly petals (or yucca or anything for that matter) for decoration, chives and/or garlic, and you'll have yourself a fine dressing. I tasted a bit of one of the peppers.. YUMMY!! Good job growing those babies Crash. They'll make a fine addition to any meal (or sauce). If you make your own barbeque sauce, try substituting the peppersauce for the vinegar, usually doesn't take much. Adds a nice bite to your steak or ribs! And the flowers in there make it more appealing to the better half to leave sitting on the table.

One or two things I might mention, let it sit for about a month for the flavor to get into the vinegar.Maybe even split a pepper or two to get extra heat. I'm not sure, but I've always been told that if you ever put it in the refrigerator that's how you'll have to store it from then on.. I leave mine out and it never seems to go bad. When it runs out of vinegar, add more, let it sit for another week or two, and carry on. One jar will last a LONG time.

I can send you a jar of the salty stuff from the first batch, or I can make you a special batch with the tabasco, but you'll have to let it sit for 3 weeks to fully pickle before you can try it. I've got to pick okra again today and might just have enough for another batch. If not today, then by Saturday I should have enough.

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## Rick

We generally split our peppers only because the neck of the decanter is small. But you will notice quite a difference if you let it sit to mingle flavors. 

YCC - I seem to remember mom leaving hers out but we've always had it in the fridge. No particular reason for it being there. Vinegar doesn't go bad and since it's acidic the peppers will stay good. We've just always put it in there. We also use it the same way you do. Use it, refill with vinegar, let it sit, use it again and so on. The peppers last a very long time like that. I changed the peppers in the decanter last year and they were probably five years old, maybe older. The only reason I changed them was to add a stronger flavor.

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## crashdive123

I still want to add more peppers and a few other things, but like the way it looks.

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## your_comforting_company

MMMMMMMMM!
The wife says "how pretty" and I say "Looks delicious!"

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## crashdive123

Well, in addition to the squash being done, the tomatoes have succumbed to the heat.  The egg plant are pretty much through as well.  The onions - well we ate them all.  Peppers and strawberries are still kicking.  I want to experiment with building a translucent shade cover to try and cool things down and get some more life out of things.  Will have to make new homemade earthboxes as well - the totes are not UV tolerant.  We got three years out of them, so for the money - not too bad.  I'm glad I weighed things this year.  I am pleased with the output of our small container garden (onions were in the ground).  We got 106 pounds of tomatoes, 23 pounds of egg plant, 18 pounds of onions, 37 pounds of bell peppers, 13 pounds of banana peppers, and 2.5 pounds of hot peppers (jalapeno, tabasco, cubanel).

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## Rick

Man! That's a haul. You do well for container gardening. The next time someone asks about it I'm going to point them to your post. You've figure it out pretty well! Unless you had 100 tomato plants. :Confused:

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## crashdive123

Started with 12 tomato plants.  One didn't survive, and one produced very little so most of that was from 10 plants.  We didn't do any large tomatoes like the Beffsteak variety because the medium varieties have so much better flavor IMO.

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## crashdive123

Well - it's that time of the year again.  Rather than start a new thread.......

I haven't built the shade covering yet, but I did construct some new homemade earth boxes to replace the worn out set.  Below is a How To on building them.  I went with a smaller, UV resistant container this year.  I'm experimenting with a couple of things that I'll explain.

The old boxes served us well, but were breaking down and had developed a few cracks, some of which weeped last season.  Here are the two remaining egg plants from last year.

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With the dirt removed you can see how the boxes were constructed.  The outer containers are 18 gallon Sterilite and the inner are a smaller Sterilite that has been cut down and inverted.  The basket in the center is a pond basket and there is a 1-1/4" pvc fill tube.  The design of the boxes is to water the plants from the bottom.  Water is added through the fill tube and sits in the bottom reservoir.  The pond basket (you can make your own) allows water to be wicked up through the dirt that fills it.

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The new boxes are 10 gallon Rubbermaid containers (same material that their trash cans are made of) which should hold up a bit longer in the sun.

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The pond baskets are re-used.

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The inverted container that has been cut down is re-used as well.

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Fill tube us re-used.  The bottom end of the fill tube is cut at an angle to prevent clogging.

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Hole is drilled through outer and inner container.  This prevents over filling the containers.

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Lid is drilled and cut to accommodate fill tube and allow access for plants.

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The experiment part this year was going to the smaller containers.  In doing so, and re-using the parts that were not UV distressed, there was considerably less "dirt room" on top of the platform (inverted box).  I think there is still enough space for the plants to thrive, but on one of them I cut the pond basket and the platform down a bit to allow more "dirt room".  In cutting the basket, it was now too small to support the area around the center hole.  I was concerned that the weight of the dirt would collapse the platform some, so tied on the wider section that was removed so the platform would still contact the basket.

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Dirt and the fertilizer strip are added.  The dirt is just topsoil with a little peat moss added.  The placement of the fertilizer strip and plants are done following the recommendation on the Earth Box website  http://www.earthbox.com/earthbox-planting-guide.asp

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A cover is formed using 6 mil plastic.  I use clear (white works as well) due to the heat.  In northern climates black is recommended.  Another option (maybe next year) is to holes in the lid for the plants instead of removing most of the lid as I did.

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Plants are added.  These are mild Jalapeno Peppers.

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We also have some Yellow Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Strawberries, and several varieties of tomatoes working.  Mrs. Crash is in charge of the tomatoes again this year.  We weighed everything last year and were pleased with the yield.  For the tomatoes this year we are using the 5 gallon containers again, but are using on Earth Box (2 plants) to compare the performance.  I'll keep you posted.

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## Rick

Slick setup. Container gardening can be done just about anywhere and the method you've used makes it pretty simple, economical, and convenient. Nice job!! A little rep for you.

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## grrlscout

Nice! Love those earthboxes. I was on a kick for a while, trying to convert various containers to self-waterers. They sorta worked. I really need to make them from scratch, as you did.

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## crashdive123

The plants are doing well.  Hopefully the shallower containers work out OK. 

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## Rick

That's it. Rub it in. 34F last night.

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## Durtyoleman

No pics to show but this year I've got tomato's (beefsteak, betterboy, and cherry) onions, chives, pineapple that should fruit, a dozen tobacco, sweet red bell peppers, rapini (tastes like broccoli), honeydew melons, basil, parsley, and four fresh started carumbola. The spinach and rosemary were cooked by the early heat and I might lose my garlic too from the looks of things. Most of this is container gardening but not earth containers. Never thought I'd say it but am gettin tired of tomatoes and it ain't even summer yet...lol, Ate about a half bushel in the past three weeks.   For some reason the black berry , blue berry and yellow bells did not sprout....seeds to old I am thinkin.

Oh forgot about the cayenne peppers, eggplant and butternut squash.
D.O.M.

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## kyratshooter

> That's it. Rub it in. 34F last night.


Same here.  I was even tempted to put my tomatoes out a week ago.  Last night would have killed them!

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## Chris

I find crash's tutorial useful, shoulda been a separate thread (so easier to find) useful.

I save all those big containers trees are delivered in, I have quite a few by now, too bad there are holes in the bottom. free is even better than cheap. I'm doing peppers (bell) again this year, in a container of some sort. First time in awhile, typically I don't get a lot of yield. I am determined to do better, and its hard to argue with 42 pounds (then again, living in Florida is cheating).

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## Winnie

This year I am not envious of Crash or the rest of you at all! I have no garden to prepare, fill and tend, so I reckon between Crash and you more northerly types I can have a virtual harvest for months :Thumbup:

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## 2dumb2kwit

> This year I am not envious of Crash or the rest of you at all! I have no garden to prepare, fill and tend, so I reckon between Crash and you more northerly types I can have a virtual harvest for months


 Hey, lady...don't you give up that easy!
How about a window box, to grow some herbs? (Pronounced erb's.)LOL

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## backtobasics

I ussually can't put my plants out until june, but this year I'm trying something new for me anyway. I'll put them out early and if frost is in the forcast I'm gonna try putting 2 leter bottles with bottoms cut out over them and then remove them in the morning.

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## Rick

Don't forget to empty the 2L bottles first. Just sayin'.......

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## backtobasics

Yes after I empty them of the homemade wine rick.

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## crashdive123

:wine:   :wine:   :wine:   :wine:

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## shaner

great posting for sure, i got lettuce and swiss chard goin here in ohio, still leary as they are callin for 28 tonite and 26 tomorrow night, had snow showers  this afternoon. i do containers anymore, gave  up the 50x50 ft plot i had when the 4 kids were home, knees and shoulders say  no way old man ,hahahaha still love my fresh veggies,  do your peppers produce well that close togather?? iam  goin to try egg plants this year myself,  thanks

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## crashdive123

The peppers did well.  I started with two boxes (12 plants) and ended up with 8 (IIRC) plants making it.  We had 37 pounds of bell peppers.  I use the earthbox planting guide for the position and quantity of my plants.  http://www.earthbox.com/earthbox-planting-guide.asp

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## Rick

We're under a freeze warning and you're talkin' about peppers. That's just plain wrong.

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## flatlander88

Hey crash,

What are the tubes for that are sticking out of you suspended containers? Just an air supply? Watering hole?

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## crashdive123

> Hey crash,
> 
> What are the tubes for that are sticking out of you suspended containers? Just an air supply? Watering hole?


They are watering tubes.  Those planters are "bottom watering".

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## Darkevs

Love to see others gardens! So much work, but Oh so worth it all to know where and how your food is grown.

my 2012 garden is coming along.............

here are a few pictures of my garden and produce from the last few years.....
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## Rick

Those are jim dandy. We're under another freeze warning tonight (sob)

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## Darkevs

we got a frost a couple of nights ago.....................a few of my plants were shocked to feel the frost, but luckily they all survived.

Hopefully there will be no more heavy,killing frosts this spring as my fruit trees are starting to flower.

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## crashdive123

We got mid 90's a couple of days ago.

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## crashdive123

> Love to see others gardens! So much work, but Oh so worth it all to know where and how your food is grown.
> 
> my 2012 garden is coming along.............
> 
> here are a few pictures of my garden and produce from the last few years.....
> 
> Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.


I'm curious.  You described your off grid power as solar from "6 2 volt batteries, a 1500 watt inverter and 2 solar panels" with "2500 watt generator for backup power" yet you say you run a freezer and in the above picture you have an electric stove, electric coffee maker and electric toaster.  It doesn't sound as though your system will support these types of consumption.

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## Wildthang

I am going to start tilling my garden this weekend. It is just now getting warm enough to plant here on lake Eerie. Since my garden has a lot of clay, I am going to get a couple of truckloads of manure hauled in, and till it into the rows. The clay gives the plants a good flavor, but they just do not get as big because of the lack of nutrients, and the clay packs so the roots dont get enough oxygen.
Growing a garden in clay is a pain! I am going to start tilling in leaves every fall and turn that clay into dirt one of these days!

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## Darkevs

crashdive123, A friend of mine who has a house on the beach, on grid,  invited me down to can a whack of beets and dill pickles and party on the beach for the day. So I did.   :Smile: 
My kitchen consists of a propane stove and fridge and a sink that drains out to a rock pit. As I have no running hot water, I heat water from my rain barrel on my wood stove then fill up my sink by hand. 

Wildthang, my land is quite clayey too, the first year my garden was.awful, I had to add lots of manure and sand to lighten it up! It was a lot of work, but so worth it!

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## Wildthang

> crashdive123, A friend of mine who has a house on the beach, on grid,  invited me down to can a whack of beets and dill pickles and party on the beach for the day. So I did.  
> My kitchen consists of a propane stove and fridge and a sink that drains out to a rock pit. As I have no running hot water, I heat water from my rain barrel on my wood stove then fill up my sink by hand. 
> 
> Wildthang, my land is quite clayey too, the first year my garden was.awful, I had to add lots of manure and sand to lighten it up! It was a lot of work, but so worth it!


I have read that tilling in leaves in the fall will really start to form good topsoil in a clay garden, so next fall I'll be getting all of my friends leaves and tilling them in!

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## Darkevs

I have a few acres of yards that I mow and then put the clippings on my garden as mulch........the mulch breaks down over the winter and has added lots of humus to my gardens soil. I try to put as much seaweed on as i can too, but it means a trip to the beach. There is also a few gravel'sand pits around that i shovel buckets full to add to the garden too.

It is a lot of work for sure, but I enjoy it all and it is paying off now, my garden soil grows veggies like weeds now!   :Smile:

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## grrlscout

> Those are jim dandy. We're under another freeze warning tonight (sob)


We got up to 102 yesterday  :Sweatdrop:

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## Rick

I hope your zucchini melts!

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## crashdive123

The garden is progressing, but I'm not happy with the new containers I made.  I don't thing there is enough soil, and it stays too wet.  With the larger volume of soil, the water that is wicked up is spread out a lot more.  Here's the progress.

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These tomatoes were started about a month after the others.

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There are quite a few peppers on the plants, but the plants seem a little "tired".  In a couple of the boxes one or two of the plants just gave up.

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Watermelon and Honeydew melon in the raised bed.

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This box was a complete bust.  The soil was very wet.  

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Built a new one today.  Used the larger container - same size as the older boxes.

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## Darkevs

I never had much luck with container growing..my tomatoes usually got blossom end rot.

Nice looking Eggplant!

I just transplanted my Tomatoes and peppers into my greehouse. I think the danger of frost has passed for my area now. I hope.   :Smile: 

In the grarden the peas, fava beans and spinach are up. Potatoes still not up.

The onions, leeks, celery and herbs I transplanted out too the garden are growing well now!

I took a picture of my Cabins Kitchen today...........
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## grrlscout

> I hope your zucchini melts!


Ha! The zucchinis are just getting ready to bloom  :Smile: 

Looks like there's a storm coming tomorrow though.  :Frown:  High winds. I need to add more support to the maters, as they have outgrown the cages by about 3 feet.  :Oops:

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## crashdive123

Well, I guess I'm going to have to call the new, smaller earth box style planters a failure.  There just isn't enough dirt in them.  I've already picked up some more 18 gallon, UV resistant totes to make a  new batch.  I'm going to let two boxes continue to see what they produce, but one has already been replaced and a second needs to be replaced.

Here's the one that I'll replace next.

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Here's what plants should be doing in an earth box.

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Some of the other containers....

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## Rick

Those plants should grow they just won't get as large if the container is too small. Just like a house plant if it becomes root bound it won't get any larger until you transplant it. It looks like one died and one is terminally ill. There must be something else at play there. Maybe give them some fertilizer to feed them?

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## crashdive123

There is a fertilizer strip in the box.  I believe the issue is twofold.  Not enough space as you have stated, but also the soil is too wet.  With a large wick to the water reservoir and not enough soil, I believe it is just too wet.  In the box I already replaced the cucumber seedlings I transplanted died right off.

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## Rick

I hate that. You go to all the work and expense of making something like that and then it doesn't work. I guess with failure comes knowledge.

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## crashdive123

Yeah, I suppose that Thomas Edison had it right when he said 


> I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

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## crashdive123

Here's some of the progress.

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I have never grown melons before.  I planted one cantaloupe and one watermelon plant.  They have gone from this.....

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To this.....

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Some of the cantaloupe and watermelon vines are "cohabitating"  Not sure if I can untangle them, or if I need to.  There are a lot of watermelons coming out.  Is it best to leave them on the ground or have them supported by some sort of platform (have one on that white table)?  The cantaloupe vines are climbing up the chain link fence.  Good?  Bad?  I imagine they will need to be supported (stockings or pantyhose) at some point if the continue on the fence.

Thanks for your advice in advace.

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## your_comforting_company

A fellow beekeeper has pumpkins growing on a fence and they do not need support. I would imagine that the lopes will be fine without support too. If you can get a piece of wood or something under the melons just to keep them off the ground, you'll run less chance of those nasty worms getting in them. If you had several acres of w-melons, it wouldn't be an issue, but only one plant means you will get 2 or 3 melons (the plant will abort the rest on it's own, according to the farmer who wanted me to set bees on his 50 acre field).

The tomato plants in the last set of pics has some bad signs. That looks exactly like the tomato blight we get here every blasted year. I know that the local U-Pik produce market keep all their tomatoes staked and bundled so they can get the sprayers between the rows, and I know they spray at least once a week. I'm told that a bug carries and transmits the blight (wilt virus).

I sure hope you get it worked out. We usually get one or two tomatoes per plant, then it dies. I'm a little biased against all the chemical sprays, especially since I have 4 beehives 50 feet away...

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## your_comforting_company

This is the pic that looks to me like the blight




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## Rick

There are actually two blights and it's important to know which you are dealing with. Early Blight is a fungus and Late Blight is a water mold. Late Blight can occur early in the year if conditions favor over wintering. To my knowledge, there is no effective treatment (spray) for either. Heavy on the effective part. Take a sample of the plant to your county extension office and find out precisely what you are dealing with. It's important to know because some wild plants can host spores from either one (different plants for Early and Late) and you might benefit by removing some of those plants from your surrounding garden area. Late Blight is what caused the great Irish famine so potatoes can be affected as well. 

Also, closely examine your tomatoes if you buy them because many will already have Early Blight symptoms. Avoid buying any plants from that store if the tomatoes show signs because the spores could well be on surrounding plants. If you buy cukes from Store X and go to store Y and buy your tomatoes because Store X tomatoes showed signs of Blight the cukes could well infect the tomatoes and you'll be in the same boat. 

Also, there are many look alike diseases that can be mistaken for Late Blight. Buckeye fruit rot is one. It's caused by tomatoes that touch the ground or very close and will only be present on the tomatoes. It's a spore that has to come in contact with the fruit and it does so by direct contact or rain/water splash. Gray mold and Septoria Leaf Spot are a couple of others. 

If you are infected and need to destroy plants then do so in full sun on a no breeze day. You'll be less apt to disperse spores and those that do get dispersed will be killed by the suns UV light. Obviously, don't toss in the compost bin. Also clean the soil area of any loose leaf litter because they can live on the litter until next growing season. And if you use any tools be sure to clean them before moving to other plants or you'll transfer the spores to the other plants and can reinfect any new tomatoes if you do replacement planting.

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## Cajunlady87

Well that certainly was an interesting thread.  I was going to compliment your hard work and what appeared to be you having container gardening down to a science until I saw your second attempt which you weren't thrilled with.  Yep, go back to what was working out the best.

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## Jimmyq

well our official frost free day was last weekend so I have planted out much of this years crop. I made a brief video tour of it: http://youtu.be/ucJDNjZAOIw
I am a landscaper by trade so like the mechanic who has the worst running car on the street, my yard is a mish mash of orphaned and volunteer plants as well as random finds at the nursery. As I live in condo so I dont like to plant much in the ground cuz when I do it becomes strata common property, the pots are MINE.  :Smile:

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## crashdive123

Made some new containers for this year.  Still need to build new frames and shade covers.

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## crashdive123

Here's the progress report on the new earthboxes.

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## Davidlastink

I bet those containers would work well in an aquaponic wicking bed setup.

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## rebel

Just had fresh from the garden. Broccoli, beans and greens.

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## shaner

nice outfit there!!!!thanks for the detailed pics

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## kylemorenatural

hi 
Im new to this site its very good giving ideas a LIKE come and have a look at the tunnel we put up made a stove in it to keep it warm in the winter lovely photos you have 
DSCN1654.JPGpats new tunnel june 2013 011.jpg

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## kylemorenatural

thought you might like this thrid bee.jpg

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## crashdive123

Here's the progress for this year's garden.

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## woodsman86

What are you feeding them things! I thought you got started behind me, but wow that sure has taken off.

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## Winnie

I always envy you this time of year, your toms look great.
Mine aren't nearly as big, but I have flowers. I do covet your peppers and/or chillies. I'm struggling to grow them over here, even in the greenhouse they take forever.

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## hunter63

Very nice, Crash........I am a big fan of vertical gardens as well.

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## cabingal4

wow! crash nice garden.beautiful plants and everyone loves fresh veggies.
we are moving to retirement where its high desert and only about a month of 
no chance of frost.
so we need to be learning alot of garden growning skills .probably in a green house.
thanks for sharing your beautiful garden.its wonderful.
right now in town we are getting blueberries from our yard,apples,tomatoes,kale,broccoli,
and onions,plums and raspberries.strawberries are over.we are still getting rhubarb.
and today i am picking in the wild.blackberries.

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