# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  is your garden in yet?

## hayshaker

mine is still in the green house yesterday i planted some
sweet potato slips the squashes are comming up and i plan to plant some okra for timmestar
just don't know how she'll get'em. planting many peppers hot and sweet.
big bertha produce huge peppers.the vineyard is starting to show some leaves and the orchard is in bloom
as well. and aspearagus i gotta pick some today.

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## Davidlastink

Only doing tomatoes and peppers and goign to make a little carrot box for fun with the kids. I just started my toms and peps inside. Not safe to plant outside around here till memorial day. But these types have always produced well into October for me so far. I also have some left over seeds I will just toss into a shaded bed off the side of my garage and see what pops up. Last year I got a decent sized pumpkin as well as many pumpkin leaves. (The leaves when cooked well are decent)

Although my Oregano is full bore, but that stuff is basically like a weed and needs no care, nice mixed into salads or on samiches but I just used dry for cooking.

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## hayshaker

just picked a bag of aspearagus and planted some sweet potato slips
and the rasberry patch 15x90 is comming along nicley

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## Rollicks

I've got German butterball potatoes growing, started them mid april and I've had to hill them 3 times so far (yeesh). I just got some unknown fingerling potatoes and two types of oregano from my boss that I'm gonna plant today. Got Green onions, brussel sprouts and chili peppers planted last week and I'm about to do some elephant garlic. The weather in washington has been nice, 50's at night, 70's during the day. Oh! I almost forgot about the Goldings Hops, which will be for beer and hop tea. If you have trouble getting to sleep, drink some hop tea.

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## Rick

I've got some leaf lettuce ready to pick. Spinach is a little small yet and radishes are getting tall.

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## canid

I've pretty much got to garden vicariously this year as we are on stage II drought contingency.

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## DSJohnson

tomatoes and bell peppers in buckets.  Green onions in the ground.  No okra or corn this year..

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## Winnie

So far in the ground I have Broad Beans, Peas, Potatoes perennial Spinach, Kale, Broccoli and Asparagus and some dwarf Beans under cloches.
In the Greenhouse I have Tomatoes, Peppers, Sweetcorn, summer and winter Squash, Melon, Leeks and Oca just waiting for the last frosts before planting out. 
The fruit trees and strawberries are blooming. I love this time of year.

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## kyratshooter

Tomatoes, peppers and okra go into the ground tomorrow.

Beans, peas and carrots probably Saturday.  I have to till some old manure into the bed tomorrow.  

I can not keep the chickens out of the lettuce.  They pull it up and eat it faster than I can get to it.  sometimes I think they stand there and wait for it to send up green sprouts!

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## crashdive123

Just doing tomatoes, basil and oregano this year.  They are doing great.  Even keeping the birds out....pics later.

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## hunter63

> tomatoes and bell peppers in buckets.  Green onions in the ground.  No okra or corn this year..


That's gonna be us this year, as well.....cutting back again.
Neighbor just left with 4 wire tomato stands.........promised us some frozen 'maters.

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## Rick

I need some dry weather to finish planting. Just about the time the ground starts to dry out we get another soaker. We are supposed to have rain today through Monday.  :Angry:

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## canid

Hopefully we didn't steal it. We got a half decent rain yesterday. At first it rained a couple drops and then quit and I thought we'd lose one of our allowed days to a rain without measurable precipitation.

I'll trade you one or two of our warm dry weeks for a couple of your showers, so everybody wins.

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## LowKey

The snow here just finally melted in the back yard last week. Everything is a little slow coming on out there.

I have small gardens all over the yard plus the bigger vegetable garden. 
Planted two new strawberry beds, one with plants I got for free with a tree order and the other from runners from the old bed.
Bought a couple cider crabapples, a couple medlars, a half dozen of virus-resistant hazelnut bushes and a dozen beach plums. The beach plums grow well here. I also got 25 xmas tree plugs (1 foot liners) to plant on the side property line. I'm going to lose all my native hemlocks to adelgids, so getting the little fellers started in deep pots so they'll be ready when the dead wood comes down.

The blackberry patch is leafing out and so are the raspberries. Time to go out and chop the runners on both to keep them under control.

I have 8 blueberry shrubs and got 4 more to make it an even dozen. They are just starting to leaf out.

The two tart cherry trees and the peach tree (all on dwarfing rootstock) just burst into full flower yesterday. 

Last weekend I brought in a good load of cow manure and trenched it in. It was slightly more odiferous than usual even though it was "composted." Kinda looked like the guy extended his compost by mixing in some new stuff. Gives a whole new meaning to "the neighbors having a sh*t-fit." I totally expected the lake posse to show up, but they didn't. I'd have had a few words to say about all their lawn chemicals if they did. Once trenched and covered though, there is no smell. 

I have the day off today so the vegetable garden is going in. The broccoli plants are already out there and the peas and onions went in before the ground was thawed. They're up and doing well. The garlic is a foot tall (planted last fall).

The tomatoes, sweet potato slips both started back in February, and the bean seeds go in today. Gonna wait another week for the cukes but I'll put in their trellises and plant the radishes down the center. I'll plant the pumpkin seeds in pots this year. I grow the hulless ones and those seeds are just as tasty to the ants and chipmunks as they are to me. I want more plants this year. And I have to pull the rest of the over-winter leaf mulch out of the cranberry bed and feed them. They get fish emulsion and blood meal. Then the bed has to be sanded to give the runners good ground contact so they'll root. You don't need to grow them in water. The water is just used to facilitate harvesting and to protect the plants from freezing in winter. It's totally possible to grow them on dry ground and pick them with a blueberry rake.

The mayapples are up and almost full size but haven't quite flowered yet. They seem unhappy where they are growing. Might be too much sun.
Last year I had a volunteer bed of tiny alpine strawberries give fruit. I waited and waited for them to turn red but they didn't. Ate one and found out they are the yellow type. Very tasty. No idea where they came from. This year the patch is about 4' around. They seem happy so will encourage them to keep spreading. Easier to grow than grass in that space. 

I'm trying a low maintenance grass seed this year. It's more erosion control than "lawn." I don't do "lawn." Just trying to keep the front yard presentable until the shrubs get larger. A mix of deep rooted low-growing prairie grasses. Or so it said in the ad. Low-growing may be a relative term, though they promised a manageable 6-8". At least it came up, which is more than I can say for Scotts or Pennington...

Well, it's 7am and the neighbor has gone to work so I can go out to the garden now.

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## hunter63

LowKey, sound like a heck of a garden/system.....shades of ours 20 year ago.

Over the years we have backed off, kids gone, we don't eat as much and the labor, seems like labor, instead of fun.

I hear ya on the manure, neighbors had to move their Mother's Day back yard party into the front yard, one year....I'll never do that again.

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## 2dumb2kwit

I'm not doing a garden, but I did plant a few 'mater plants and a few pepper plants in the flower beds, yesterday.

 (Home Depot had Anaheim and New Mexico chile plants. I thought they were the same, with the exception of where they were grown, so I got one of each, to see if I can tell a difference.) Hahaha.

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## canid

Essentially the same (as the no 9 strain) at their point of differentiation (obviously) but with the anaheim being _substantially_ tamed.

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## 1stimestar

Nope, still too early here even though we are having an early spring.

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## LowKey

H63, it sounds more extensive than it really is. The raspberry bed is maybe 10' x 24'. The blackberry bed about the same or a little bigger. The 3 strawberry beds are about 8'x8'. I got a really good yield on the blackberries last year. The trees are planted all over the place, except on the leach field. Most are dwarf. The shrubs, I have to keep the blueberries out back so the birds don't decorate the neighbors' cars but otherwise they are making decorative hedges in various parts of the yard.

The vegetable garden is pretty big though. It would be bigger if I wasn't having a lot line dispute with the side neighbor and could cut down 3 big oak trees out on the back lot line...

It's just the right amount of work to get me out in the yard at night when I get home and on the weekends. Once the garden gets planted, there's nothing really much to do until stuff grows. LOL. So I get to go fishing on weekends and a little light weeding at night after work.

I was a botany/wildlife major in college. Love growing and working with plants. Hope to do it all my life.

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## hunter63

A well planed garden, that take advantage of companion planting, crop rotation, orientation to sun light (tall stuff in the back) and mixes of early, then later, in same areas .......add trellis's and intensive planting....and a lot of soil amendments.
Your use of trees, hedges, volunteers, and natural planting.....sounds like a heck of a system....
Got Pic's? 

I used to brag, that nothing left the yard......was composted and reused.....LOL

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## LowKey

Will try to take some tomorrow. Nothing much up in the garden yet.
Here's one from last year I took after clearing that space down front to plant the second batch of broccoli. The tall things in the background growing up through the cucumbers are Asian radishes. The pods taste a lot better than the roots! The grass weeds got away from me a bit as I was incapacitated for 3 weeks last June-July.
photo-2x.jpg

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## LowKey

Found the "Before" picture.
photo-1x.jpg

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## hunter63

Very cool...thanks....Nice......


Couple of years ago...before surgery...
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Few years ago....this is one pic that was published in Mother Earth News....
For the tomato stand DIY

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## LowKey

Nice! Looks like a fun space.
Those Rhubarb things get BIG, don't they? LOL. I have two plants next to my cold frame and they grow like some kind of dinosaur plant. 
Yep surgeries do suck. I'm hoping I'm all good now for a couple years before the next thing falls apart.

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## BornthatWay

Got my garden in. I have pickling cucumbers coming up. My peas are growing but we were so wet they did not get in when they should have. I planted some old bean seed, 3 years old and they are coming up just fine. Sort of a test to see how long the seed is viable. I have cabbage and corn and beans then about half my garden dedicated to tomatoes. I can lots of them as well as juice and I also can spaghetti sauce. I prefer canning just in case we would lose power. I have only two zuchinni and two yellow squash as they usually produce enough to feed an army. Also have peppers of all kinds growing to make relish. I am trying hard to use companion planting and think I have succeeded pretty well. My garden is about 100 ft by 50 ft. Keeps me busy and well fed. I have been gardening all my life and even in years when I could not have a garden due to my health it feels good to see the garden coming along to know I still have the touch.

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## tundrabadger

My radishes are coming along nicely,  and I have a few peas that escaped the local squirrels and birds and managed to sprout.  Onions are doing well,  still need to get my cukes in,  and I WAS going to grow squash,  but its looking less likely

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## 2dumb2kwit

As of today, three of my four 'mater plants have maters on them. The first one to have 'maters on it suddenly had three. (Not even golf ball size yet.) It kind of surprised me. That plant isn't big enough to hold up a full size 'mater, yet. Hahaha

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## Winnie

I started planting out the tender stuff yesterday. So far the squashes, pumpkins, beans and some of the corn. Still have some runner beans, more corn and cucumbers to put out. Tomatoes are in the greenhouse and I still have to plant up the polytunnel. 
Had a bit of a disaster with the melons. They look like they've been waterlogged (but they aren't), all yellow and haven't grown any. *Sigh* was looking forward to some home grown melon.

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## Rick

I'm battling spider mites and blister beetles this year. I sprayed soapy water on the beans and peppers to off the spider mites and picked up some diotamaceous earth last night to put out. Unfortunately, we have rain moving in today so I have to wait for dry weather. If the diotamceous earth doesn't work then I think I'll try spinosad. Gotta stay organic. Everything is finally in and my Hungarian Wax plants even have peppers on them. Yea!

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## crashdive123

Been eating 'maters for several weeks now.  First one is always dedicated to a BLT.......and it was good.  Canning sauce this weekend.

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## Rick

You, sir, are despicable.

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## Winnie

> You, sir, are despicable.


What he said.

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## LowKey

My garden is mostly all in. Only harvesting lettuce right now but the broccoli is starting to form heads. Haven't had any real rain for about 4 weeks but got a good two day soaker this week so everything is taking off. Including the weeds.

Picked up a couple galvi build-a-beds. Going to put one together over a couple pieces of weed block and plant my jerusalem artichokes in it. They're in pots right now and about a foot tall. Got the roots at a local farmer's market out of the bargain bin, about a pound for $2. They sprouted right up. Kinda surprised me. Actually got the galvi things for potatoes for next year but figured I'd try one out.

Winnie, are you still using the gutters to grow seed then planting the whole row at once?

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## Uinta

I have spinach, kale, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and radishes in.  We had a mild winter here so been enjoying spinach and kale for about 2 mo now.  just harvested some garlic this week.  zucchini and yellow squash are in too.

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## 2dumb2kwit

> I started planting out the tender stuff yesterday. So far the squashes, pumpkins, beans and some of the corn. Still have some runner beans, more corn and cucumbers to put out. Tomatoes are in the greenhouse and I still have to plant up the polytunnel. 
> *Had a bit of a disaster with the melons. They look like they've been waterlogged (but they aren't)*, all yellow and haven't grown any. *Sigh* was looking forward to some home grown melon.



 Ummmm..............uhhhhhhhh.............never mind.  :Innocent:

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## Rick

[slowly backing away from the thread with the mule. We ain't as dumb as we look.]

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## crashdive123

Uh oh........somebody almost made a boob out of themselves.

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## Winnie

I don't think there's another site that can make smutty inuendo out of innocent remarks quite like this one. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Rick

We are good like that.

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## hunter63

Huh?....What?.....Ohhhhhh....Never Mind.......

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## crashdive123

If the F.A.R.T.s are not delving into the realm of smutty innuendo, then something stinks.

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## hunter63

Alright.....Stopped by city yard waste/disposal site this morning....filled up 8- 5 gal buckets with compost.
Mixed 50/50 with garden soil....planted two cherry tomato plants, and six climbing purple beans plants, up against the fence.

That's it so far.......LOL

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