How does your garden grow?

[Hosakawa Tito]

I just spent the last few hours preparing our vegetable garden for planting. It's not very big, maybe 10x20 feet, but after clearing last years' debris and roto-tilling in some fertilizer I'm bushed. Roto-tilling that compacted heavy clay excuse for soil we have really kicks my :daisy:.
I am looking forward to the fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers though. We're going to hold off putting in the plants a few more days till the frost danger is past, supposed to get down near freezing tonight.

Anyone else plant a garden? What do you grow?

[Tristuskhan]

Potatoes, rhubarb and chili peppers for me. Everything is going neat, especially potatoes (Belle de Fontenay, small outcome, fragile, but so tasty). My garden is not big either (8x4 meters),and was not used for seven years. It's also compact clay so I had to prepare it with a hoe and my bare hands (one hour for one square meter, really), everyone in the village now admires me.

I was afraid of such heavy soil (and it lacks some depth in my opinion) since I grew up in a very sandy place before moving where I am, but it's incredibly rich and has a very good water reserve, it won't need fertiliser for one year or two, then I'll incorporate the thick layer of weed-roots I spent so much time destroying. Kicks my *** too!

[InsaneApache]

Got a couple of apple and pear trees. A strawberry patch and some rhubarb. I get the missus to do most of it. It saves on my back! :whip: :beam:

[Rhyfelwyr]

I had to cut the grass at my Gran's house on Satuday because she didn't like the last council job, that's the closest I've ever got to gardening.

[PBI]

We were recently given a small tomato plant, and kits for growing thyme, basil and chives (i.e. pots, seeds and compost). All are sprouting and coming up nicely.

It's not so much a garden as it is a windowsill, and my "gardening" efforts have so far mostly consisted of watering, but it's quite fun to watch something we planted actually grow.

[Ja'chyra]

Garlic, onions (red and white), carrots, parsnips, spring onion, green beans and lettuce in our two small patches. First time we've tried but everything looks good so far.

[Samurai Waki]

My wife has put the pressure on me to build a greenhouse. I've tried reasoning with her, that the foliage around our house is too thick to adequately grow a decent garden... unless we were to get into the Mushroom business... and I really, really don't want to try and till our soil, considering its all granite bedrock.

[miotas]

Tomatoes, lettuce, capsicum, zucchini, snow peas, beans, grapes, onions, carrots, and the best of all: Radishes. Don't believe me, try it, fresh grown radishes are to die for. My dad is quite an avid gardener, he has built 4 2x3 metre gardens, and one long one about 0.5 x 8 metres. I'm sure there are some veggies I've missed. Back home, except for about a month in the very middle of winter you can grow anything all year round. and even then you can grow some colder climate veggies.

[Hooahguy]

dang rabbits.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Mom's started growing tomatoes, beans and corn in the balcony. :jumping:
.

[Lemur]

We've just gotten it planted. It's kinda huge, and a real pain to maintain, but it feeds us for a long time. We seal and freeze a lot of veggies so we can have home-grown deep into winter.


https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/GardenOverview.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/GardenInteractive.jpg

[Samurai Waki]

We've just gotten it planted. It's kinda huge, and a real pain to maintain, but it feeds us for a long time. We seal and freeze a lot of veggies so we can have home-grown deep into winter.

I can't say that this doesn't make me just a little bit jealous. Time to sell the home deep in the forest and move to suburbia! :laugh4:

[Lemur]

I can't say that this doesn't make me just a little bit jealous. Time to sell the home deep in the forest and move to suburbia! :laugh4:
Hey now, to be suburban you must have an urb to which you are subbed. This is small town America, son.

[Samurai Waki]

Hey now, to be suburban you must have an urb to which you are subbed. This is small town America, son.

Forgive my insolence! I'm so far out in the boondocks that a wide spot in the road is considered a small town.

[Rhyfelwyr]

dang rabbits.

I caught a rabbit in a bandinet once, I have a hunters instincts.

[HopAlongBunny]

The garden is looking good this year.

Carrots, tomatoes, sage, rosemary, parsley, garlic, onions and other stuff I'm sure I'vce missed.

Garden used to cover the back of our corner lot; ~75' wide, 10'-20' deep; much of that has now been taken over by trees (thank god!)

The heavy clay soil has been slowly transformed by compost, peat moss, and a lil bit of sand. One odd thing though_anywhere you plant a spade you find earthworms, except one small section where the best tomatoes grow; kind of worrying because the worms keep the soil healthy.

ps: don't start me on rabbits! or squirrels! Odd though, had a Parks worker renting next door for a few years...not a "critter" in sight while he lived there.

[drone]

Used to grow hot peppers, but the yard doesn't really get enough sun and it got to be too much work for my limited time schedule. I used to have cayennes, serranos, and habeneros galore (jalapenos didn't really grow well for some reason :inquisitive:).

[Hosakawa Tito]

That's a nice looking set up for a garden Lem. Makes weeding much easier and you're not stepping on stuff. Nice to have helpers too.

@ Wakizashi - Try raised beds if your soil is too rocky. You can start small and gradually add to it year by year till you get to a size that suits you.

@ miotas - I love radishes and eat them quite regularly for lunch at work. However, my compacted clay soil doesn't work well for growing them or carrots.

@ HAB & drone - When I was a kid we had a big garden ~ 75' x 30' at least, and we used to can & freeze a lot of what we grew. My Mother made several kinds of pickles and my Dad had to have his favorite hot cherry peppers, along with tomatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, rhubarb, etc... We had horseradish root too, and ground our own horseradish. That's way too much work for me now, but I do miss some of that stuff. I'm still working on my soil with amendments and hopefully it will improve and be easier to work.

The critter that causes me the most grief, the varmintcong https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/hoppy84/gofer3.gif

[Samurai Waki]

@ Wakizashi - Try raised beds if your soil is too rocky. You can start small and gradually add to it year by year till you get to a size that suits you.


I had looked into that, actually. But it seems that we might sell the good ol' Estate by the end of Summer and physically move into town. And they Don't Call Missoula the Garden City for Nuffin'!

[Rhyfelwyr]

:laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:

I can't stop laughing at that dancing squirrel thing and I have no idea why, lulz. :laugh4:

[drone]

I can't stop laughing at that dancing squirrel thing and I have no idea why, lulz.

:inquisitive:

[bad scottish accent]I want you to kill all the golfers on the course.[/bad scottish accent]

[HopAlongBunny]

Might be me...I can never think of rhubarb as a garden vegetable. There are 2 patches in the yard, that simply have always existed. The only care they require is restraint! Love it though...snack, pies and preserves :)

Hosakawa Tito, your mention of canning reminded of the most important item planted in the garden; beets. Sliced beets, beet relish, pickled beets is there anything more regal and useful!?

[Lemur]

Beets. Beets. BEETS! The one root vegetable with which I cannot co-exist peacefully. BEETS! (Imagine William Shatner shouting "KHAN!" and you'll get the idea.)

[miotas]

We've just gotten it planted. It's kinda huge, and a real pain to maintain, but it feeds us for a long time. We seal and freeze a lot of veggies so we can have home-grown deep into winter.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/GardenOverview.jpg

You're garden looks remarkably similar to my dad's. Except his has a fence around it, the dogs kept eating everything, so last time I was home I spent a weekend helping him put the fence up.

[Lemur]

My mother-in-law designed it, so all layout credit goes to her. Then wifey dear demanded it, and your friendly neighborhood lemur got to dig it out, frame it, haul a hundred-odd loads of dirt and build the :daisy: thing. It's all good though, the amount of food it generates is staggering.

[HopAlongBunny]

Beets. Beets. BEETS! The one root vegetable with which I cannot co-exist peacefully. BEETS! (Imagine William Shatner shouting "KHAN!" and you'll get the idea.)


*makes soup*

*hides*
:hide:

[Yoyoma1910]

Beets. Beets. BEETS! The one root vegetable with which I cannot co-exist peacefully. BEETS! (Imagine William Shatner shouting "KHAN!" and you'll get the idea.)

Your wife's a chef, maybe you should see if she'll develop a way to prepare them which you'd enjoy.

I say this as a former fellow beet despiser. You see, I have countless memories growing up having to eat canned beets, which are "blech." But, my father always insisted of including a copious amount of this horrid creation in our hurricane supplies. So every year in the late summer or autumnal months, at some point, either because of a Hurricane, or the lack there of that season (leaving a giant pile of unused canned goods in the pantry), I knew the beets were coming out. "Blech." I couldn't stand these things... the texture... the flavor... what hell born plot of land did such a horrid beast come from?

However, I have to say, we used them at the last restaurant I worked at, and I have found the key to a good beet is how you roast it. You can wrap it with your favorite spices, and it takes on a brilliant flavor. As a life long student of the cajun sciences, I will tell you: you can eat it (this pretty much goes for anything) if you just change the flavor and texture until it is a delicious and religious experience.

And, if you eat a lot of them, it changes the color of your pee! Which should be great fun for you in the snow covered wintertime.

So come on Lemur, cher, don't fear the beet.

[Lemur]

Oh, trust me, the wifely chef has tried many preparations, unwilling to believe that I just. Don't. Like. Beets. She even snuck them into a salad without telling me, which caused me, according to her, "To eat it like a meerkat gulping down a acid beetle."

After that episode she stopped trying to slip me the beets.

Strange thing is, the green leafs of a beet are tasty as heck sauteed. Love 'em. It's just the root itself that I can't work with.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Gosta eat your vegetables to set a good example for the kids, Daddio.

The first time I had fresh beets, not the canned ones, a friend prepared them on the grill. Just like baking a potato, wrapped in foil with a pat of butter, salt & pepper. I loved them. The next time I tried to prepare them myself at the in-laws in Washington DC. Being a novice & idiot I tried peeling them first like a potato and ended up with beet juice stained hands for about a week. I ate so many of them that when I took a pee the next day I freaked myself out because my urine came out red like blood. Took me a moment in my hung-over state of mind to realize I wasn't bleeding to death.
On our way home from the in-laws I stopped to pay the toll. The "southern belle" taking the toll money took one look at my beet stained paw and exclaimed, "Why I do declare you must be a Yankee, you done peeled your beets." We just laughed and as I pulled away she shook her head and I swear she muttered "stupid Yankee". :laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:

I'll take all the beets you don't want.

@ HAB - Would that be borscht you're making? Yummy!

[miotas]

My mother-in-law designed it, so all layout credit goes to her. Then wifey dear demanded it, and your friendly neighborhood lemur got to dig it out, frame it, haul a hundred-odd loads of dirt and build the :daisy: thing. It's all good though, the amount of food it generates is staggering.

:laugh4: I know what you mean. My dad planed it and put the frame together and then left miotas the mule to do all the shoveling.

And I agree with your sentiments on beetroot whole heartedly, I think I must be one of the only aussie's who do but I just can't stand the stuff. Nothing that colour should be consumed, I swear the stuff even tastes purple :no:

[Samurai Waki]

I've taken a kinder view of the beet as I've aged. During the cold winter months, I'm apt to make Borscht a couple of times.

[HopAlongBunny]

Gosta eat your vegetables to set a good example for the kids, Daddio.

@ HAB - Would that be borscht you're making? Yummy!

~D!

[Andres]

Last year, our first year in our current house, we tried several things, most of it failed, but we had plenty of courgettes!

For several weeks, this was our weekly harvest:


https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P7260092.jpg


Needless to say, no courgettes this year; I had more than enough of those :sweatdrop:

This year, we're going for carrots, radish, beans, tomatoes (those little ones) strawberries and blueberries. The blueberries are already growing, but they're still green.

Our first radishes:


https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P5150073.jpg


We also planted two young apple trees and a plum tree. Too young to produce fruit yet, but we had beautiful blossoms from the plum tree :2thumbsup:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P4130067.jpg


We also have a blackberry and a raspberrybush. We had plenty of blackberries last year, but the raspberry was less succesful. I wonder what they'll do this year.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I've taken a kinder view of the beet as I've aged. During the cold winter months, I'm apt to make Borscht a couple of times.

I don't understand the hate given to beets - but then, I was practically raised on borscht.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Last year, our first year in our current house, we tried several things, most of it failed, but we had plenty of courgettes!

For several weeks, this was our weekly harvest:


https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P7260092.jpg


Needless to say, no courgettes this year; I had more than enough of those :sweatdrop:

This year, we're going for carrots, radish, beans, tomatoes (those little ones) strawberries and blueberries. The blueberries are already growing, but they're still green.

Our first radishes:


https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P5150073.jpg


We also planted two young apple trees and a plum tree. Too young to produce fruit yet, but we had beautiful blossoms from the plum tree :2thumbsup:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P4130067.jpg


We also have a blackberry and a raspberrybush. We had plenty of blackberries last year, but the raspberry was less succesful. I wonder what they'll do this year.

Are courgettes the same as zucchini? They sure look alike. Those radishes look wonderful, hopefully I'll be able to grow them like that someday.

I planted our garden this morning. Tomatoes, cucumber, sweet bell peppers, and a couple of habanero pepper plants just for moi. Last year my cucumber plants failed on me and all I got were a few stunted, mishapened mutant cucumbers. I also planted 6 raspberry cuttings for my Mother. I'm hoping for a raspberry pie!

[KukriKhan]

dang rabbits.

And gophers, and raccoons, and polecats, and feral cats...

and a water shortage. No garden this year here in So. Calif. I look with envy at your guy's's. :)

[Louis VI the Fat]

I am very impressed by all you people managing to eek out a living in the wilderness in this way. Must be hard to sweat and toil all-year-round for a few courgettes and beets, fending off dangerous wilderness beasts like raccoons and polecats.

I'd love to come visit one day and experience the wonders of natural living myself. And perhaps, you all can come visit me too! Then I'll introduce you to the wonders of supermarkets, electricity and refrigerators.

[Tristuskhan]

I am very impressed by all you people managing to eek out a living in the wilderness in this way. Must be hard to sweat and toil all-year-round for a few courgettes and beets, fending off dangerous wilderness beasts like raccoons and polecats.

I'd love to come visit one day and experience the wonders of natural living myself. And perhaps, you all can come visit me too! Then I'll introduce you to the wonders of supermarkets, electricity and refrigerators.

:beam: When I saw you contributed this thread, I already knew it was not to talk about your own garden, Parisien d'mes fesses! And beware, above racoons and polecats we also have wabbits, waaaabbits with their nasty nasty t-t-t-teethhh!

Back on the topic, how do you all protect your garden against rodents? My cat is (unsurprisingly, it was a city cat not so long ago) inefficient.

[Lemur]

Our cat is a walking rodent genocide. He keeps the yard well patrolled. I pity the vole who makes a home in our garden.

[Hosakawa Tito]

We have a frost warning tonight, two weeks past the usual danger period. One of my tomato plants has a few blossoms on it. When the wind dies down later I'm going to have to cover my plants with plastic to protect them.

[Tristuskhan]

Colorado Potato Beetle Alert!!!

My potatoes were growing incredibly well and two days ago beetles appeared.

This afternoon after work I went to check the situation: none. Two days of active manual genocide seem having been efficient. I met only adult specimens though, and some (few) eggs. No larvas.

I bet it was only the first wave of invaders, but I'm quite confident now: none shall pass!

[Lemur]

I've given up on potatoes, especially since they are plentiful and cheap at the supermarket. And they attract parasites and pests like no other veggie that I know.

Trying to be strategic this year, planting things that either (a) taste terrible when bought at the store (tomatoes, asparagus) or (b) are silly expensive/hard to find (kale, basil). We'll see how it goes.

[Rob The Bastard]

Winter here.

I've done ok this year with the garden. I have potatoes and pumpkins in my shed. I cooked up enough tomato relish to tide me over to next Summer.

Ready to eat at the moment: silverbeet, chinese cabbage, red cabbage, pak choi, mizuna, leeks, parsnips, spinach and kale.

I've planted out Savoy cabbages, onions, cauliflowers, kohl rabi... they look like they are waiting for Spring, not much growing at the moment.

I have recently built a cold frame which is giving good results... it is a work in progress as in late autumn I was getting 37 Celcius inside... **mental note** need more ventilation!!!! The cold frame was meant to galvanise my wife into completing her glasshouse, no sign of that yet though.

Pests? White butterfly caterpillars would be the worst. I use synthetic pyrethrum on those... that doesn't have a withholding period (my children browse through the garden asking for broccolli heads, cabbage leaves, carrots, tomatoes etc :yes: something I don't want to discourage)

All the garden waste and household food scraps get thrown into a chook/compost pen, which gives back some eggs and a small supply of compost. I supplement that with trailor loads from another source and fertilise the garden also.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Sounds like quite an operation Rob. :2thumbsup: I remember helping my grandfather pick the potato bugs off his plants, we carried a bucket with a little kerosene in the bottom of it and dropped all the bugs into it and dumped them into the burning barrel.

My early variety tomatos have set some fruit. Cucumber & sweet/hot pepper plants are growing but no flowers yet. Sweet basil & parsley are doing okay. It's been very wet and kind of cool so far this year. We finally got some warm sunshine yesterday afternoon & today for the first time in almost a week.

I spent a couple hours this early afternoon dead-heading & trimming the roses and pulling weeds in the garden. Man, the one thing I can grow like a champ is weeds.

[Rob The Bastard]

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Robs%20Garden1.JPG

The green mesh covered frame is the chooks enclosure (before we put that up we had an escapee over the 6 foot fence, never to be seen again)

Next uncovered frame is Marees's glasshouse frame (3 meters x 4 meters), hopefully we'll get that up and producing tomatos next spring.

Then the plastic covered cold frame.


I'm still getting the fertiliser/lime thing sussed and some plants just don't want to grow... the garden is about as big as I can get it without causing major strife with my wife. Every year she visits her folks for a few weeks and returns to find another 15 square meters of grass has disappeared into turned over sods. :laugh4::skull:

Of course, I suck up shamelessly by planting things she likes... passionfruit, strawberries, blackberries, asparagus etc.

[HopAlongBunny]

Critter control

I don't know how aggressive other ppl's varmints are, but I keep squirrels and rabbits at bay with a wire mesh over the garden. It's about 1" mesh (maybe little more) and nothing tries to dig. Once the plants come up, all the pests seem to lose interest in digging and I remove the mesh.

[KukriKhan]

I envy Rob's "farm".

What's this fella, shooting up 3 feet or more?

https://jimcee.homestead.com/monsterBok.jpg

[Rob The Bastard]

Thats silverbeet... Giant Fordhook variant, those have been in since about last September.

Chopped up and boiled. Not my most favourite vege to eat but they hold well through Winter when other things go belly up.

[Andres]

Our first (and probably only, since it's the first year) strawberries of the year:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P6180079.jpg

And the first carrots:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P7050090.jpg

And I guess it won't be too long before we get our first blueberries:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P6180088.jpg

:2thumbsup:

[Tristuskhan]

Wonderful carrots, Andres.

Yesterday i dug out my first in a lifetime potatoes... Gorgeous and tasty. Cooked them with some Iranian sheep cheese (one of my workmates traveled to Iran one month ago). Plain and simple.

I keep wrestling with potato beetles anyway. disgusting larvas now... some eggs escaped my hunt. But it's still managable. One odd thing happened this evening: I saw one of these ugly red larvas and was about to crush it when a small wasp came and destroyed the pest; I love wasps now.

[seireikhaan]

I spent some of today pulling some monstrous weeds.... :confused: Not even my garden. :juggle2:

[Proletariat]

This is my first year trying my hand at gardening. Everything was going swimmingly; the chilis are long and green, the tomatoes were healthy and growing quickly, the herbs were tough and bountiful. And the very day I finally get a ripening tomato, it was stolen. I found it later on the ground below the deck. It had been mauled and ravaged, only half of it was left. :cry:

How do I squirrel proof my tomatoes? I've read that a vinegar soaked rag nearby or dusting the tomatoes with cayenne pepper work, but I'm not sure. Do I need to resort to chicken wire cages and sitting outside all day long with a pellet gun?

[HopAlongBunny]

Cayenne pepper is expensive; you need to re-apply it regularly.

Wire is cheap, re-usable and easy to set up. One vote for wire here ~:)

[Samurai Waki]

This is one of those things that has prevented me from growing any sort of Garden, We've got probably 60 Head of Deer within a 5 mile radius from our home, and I often wake up in the morning seeing them butcher my lawn, not that I have a huge problem with that, but I think having a Garden would be a lost cause.

[Lemur]

Our garden is coming along fine, but then it always does. I just noticed how alien some of these plants look. Take a look for yourself (in order of appearance, eggplant, swiss chard, opal basil).

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/creepyalieneggplant.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/veins.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/basil.jpg

[Louis VI the Fat]

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/creepyalieneggplant.jpg



Dude, that's not a plant. That's an alien pod right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. :eek:

[Rob The Bastard]

Triffid!

looking good, Andres.

How do you eat them?

Ice cream and icing sugar!

[KukriKhan]

Dude, that's not a plant. That's an alien pod right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. :eek:

I was thinking the same thing. Ya wanna bash that puppy with a mallet a few times before you chop, batter* 'n fry it.


*unintentional pun, but I'll take it anyway.

[Hosakawa Tito]

The first body they snatched must have been Jimmy Durante.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/hoppy84/Jimmy_Durante_in_Broadway_to_Hollyw.jpg

[Andres]

Tomatoes were a disaster last year, but this year is very promising:

https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t2/AndresTheCunning/Org/P8250102.jpg

And they taste delicious :2thumbsup:

[Hosakawa Tito]

Nice Andres. :2thumbsup:

Complete opposite for me. Last year I had a bumper crop of tomatoes, this year is a bust.

[KarlXII]

My garden grows very well.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Mom's toms are growing! :jumping:
.

[Hosakawa Tito]

I picked the last of the few tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil I had last evening. Time to roto-till the worst garden I ever had and hope for a better year next time. I still managed to grow plenty of blue ribbon quality weeds...:shame:

[KukriKhan]

... hope for a better year next time. I still managed to grow plenty of blue ribbon quality weeds...:shame:

"Ditto" grumbles the drought-stricken southern Californian. :skull:

[Hosakawa Tito]

"Ditto" grumbles the drought-stricken southern Californian. :skull:

Ya know, it hasn't rained here in a week. I just finished mowing the lawn and parts of the back 40 are still wet and smelling musty. If I had the power I'd send ya'll some.

[KukriKhan]

Ya know, it hasn't rained here in a week. I just finished mowing the lawn and parts of the back 40 are still wet and smelling musty. If I had the power I'd send ya'll some.

Thanks. I know you would. They've got a lotta nerve calling themselves The National Weather SERVICE (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/); no weather is being served or distributed, just reported. I can understand that we can't (yet) control how or when rain or snow falls from the sky, and I'm no engineer, but why can't we figure out a way to manage-manipulate the wet stuff once it has hit the ground? So you don't drown and I don't die of thirst?

I mean, we can move a letter from San Diego 5,000 miles to Bangor Maine in 2 days. We move mega-gallons of oil from Alaska'a North Slope to the LA refineries in less than a week. We have highways and railways tripping over themselves, criss-crossing the country. Why can't we capture, process and re-distribute water?

...complains the guy living in the desert, LOL.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Thanks. I know you would. They've got a lotta nerve calling themselves The National Weather SERVICE (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/); no weather is being served or distributed, just reported. I can understand that we can't (yet) control how or when rain or snow falls from the sky, and I'm no engineer, but why can't we figure out a way to manage-manipulate the wet stuff once it has hit the ground? So you don't drown and I don't die of thirst?

I mean, we can move a letter from San Diego 5,000 miles to Bangor Maine in 2 days. We move mega-gallons of oil from Alaska'a North Slope to the LA refineries in less than a week. We have highways and railways tripping over themselves, criss-crossing the country. Why can't we capture, process and re-distribute water?

...complains the guy living in the desert, LOL.

Reminds me of that Sam Kinison schtick on world hunger. Too bad I can't post the youtube version seeing it's not Frontroom acceptable. But if I may paraphrase the appropriate section,

You see this folks....this is sand. You know what grows in sand....NOTHING :daisy:ING GROWS IN SAND. YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE IN 100 YEARS....SAND. GET THE :daisy: OUT OF THERE AND MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS. I really miss Sam.:laugh4:

[Rob The Bastard]

Bump!

mid spring!

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 001.jpg

Asparagus! I don't think I will be able to restrain my wife any longer... She has been patient for three years and I think it might survive her predations, maybe.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 004.jpg

Last Summers strawberries, blackberries and passion fruit, not flowering yet. The netting worked to keep the children out last summer... I feel that I will have to be more devious if I want to have this years crop to arrive at the table for dessert.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 005.jpg

I scored 60 galvanised cloche frames on an online auction, less than $1 each. I had to drive a total of 300km to pick them up. (as the crow flies they were located only 30-40km away.) :)

Currently I am only using them to start my potatoes off early.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 006.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 007.jpg

new improved door for my cold frame... yes, I know it is still shonky but is a huge improvement over the first one.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 008.jpg

inside... lettuces and a (doomed) attempt to grow kumera (sweet potato)

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 010.jpg
Cabbages, silver beet and red onions

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 011.jpg

New potato rows/cloche. I'm still expecting a frost or two so we'll see if planting them early was a good idea or not. I'm still eating last years ones... I expect to be buying them from the supermarket before these ones reach an edible size.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden 013.jpg

Broad beans, spring onions and this years strawberries under the steel mesh. I fear my children will have their wicked way with them.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/cutebutpsycho.jpg

[Vladimir]

wow. Impressive.

[Andres]

Wow, Rob, you're garden looks like "a lot of work".

I hope you're luckier with the strawberries than we were this year (we only got 2; to make it even more cruel, both tasted delicious :bigcry:).

[Hosakawa Tito]

I guess we all know what Rob does in his spare time. Very impressive Rob.:2thumbsup: Asparagus beds take a number of years to get established to really produce.

My garden was a total washout. However we ended up with a bumper crop of pears & apples so it wasn't a total loss. The grapes are ready too, but the ground is so saturated that the picker & tractor keep getting stuck. Tonights forecast, thunderstorms and 40 mph winds, not a good sign.

[Aemilius Paulus]

I can understand that we can't (yet) control how or when rain or snow falls from the sky, and I'm no engineer, but why can't we figure out a way to manage-manipulate the wet stuff once it has hit the ground? So you don't drown and I don't die of thirst?

I mean, we can move a letter from San Diego 5,000 miles to Bangor Maine in 2 days. We move mega-gallons of oil from Alaska'a North Slope to the LA refineries in less than a week. We have highways and railways tripping over themselves, criss-crossing the country. Why can't we capture, process and re-distribute water?

...complains the guy living in the desert, LOL.
Well, China and Russia routinely employ complex weather control and management systems (which work very well - see the China Olympic Games weather control results), but US does not seem to be as eager, and most crucially, only the government for all practical purposes do this, and US Government is not delegated with sufficient powers or popular support to take up the task and decide who gets what. This is the domain of private enterprise, which is obviously disunited.

[Rob The Bastard]

Bump!

early Summer...

LO!
and
BEHOLD!

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 022.jpg

The tunnel house EXISTS!! and we only snapped two out of four aluminium tensioning pipes in the process... the tunnel house frame is about 20?-25? years old, given to us by my Father-in-law, I think the pipes were fatigued (That is my excuse anyway). Luckily, they were easily replaced (and still far cheaper than having to buy a new tunnel house)

Sadly, it has been annexed by my wife and is now part of her empire...

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 023.jpg

Sigh!
We have placed an order for a load of depleted mushroom compost to put inside. In the meantime wee wifey has stolen some of my compost to get things started.


http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 020.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 021.jpg
As you can see, I have embraced the concept of raised beds, it makes for a tidier garden and I find the symmetry of the boxes strangely appealing (insanity, insanity, insanity, is it echoing in here?) It's a bit messy at the moment as I have some older crops still maturing on what will wind up being paths and areas of the garden are dominated by potatoes etc so I cannot place the boxes into position yet.
I'm dabbling in the "square foot" method of planting as well.

My "doomed" stab at growing Kumera is turning my cold frame into a jungle. No sign of any tubers forming at this point, so they may wind up being a bust.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 025.jpg
I am considering pulling it down after Summer as I can fit 6 more 1.2 x 1.2 meter boxes in the same space and the tunnel house duplicates it's functions, only better.

My strawberries are florishing, hidden from my childrens view... no, they were never fooled, threats seem to work at keeping them at bay, though.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 019.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 017.jpg
Strawberries and ice cream for dessert... Yum! (ignore the apple... I blame the children)
Big ones too!
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 018.jpg

:)

[Andres]

I'm sooo... jealous about those strawberries :2thumbsup:

[Hosakawa Tito]

I'm sooo... jealous about those strawberries :2thumbsup:

You and me both. I'm looking out my window and it's -14F and snowing. Then I look at my monitor to Rob's garden and those lovely strawberries....Thank God for the interweb.:laugh4: chasing away those winter blues...

[Rob The Bastard]

thats -25 C? ~:eek: (or was that 14F... -10C? still ~:eek: )

Not a lot of gardening going on I guess? :laugh4: Talk about perma-frost!.

That makes me appreciate NZ's temperate weather. The coldest I can expect would be a -3C (26F) frost that would thaw during the day and an average of about 8C. That is bad enough to grow things in.

I'm mainly into edible plants. Flowers to attract bee's into the garden do find a place here and there. I never seem to see honey bees, and only occasional bumble bees, but things seem to get pollinated anyway.

:)

[Hosakawa Tito]

thats -25 C? ~:eek: (or was that 14F... -10C? still ~:eek: )

Not a lot of gardening going on I guess? :laugh4: Talk about perma-frost!.

That makes me appreciate NZ's temperate weather. The coldest I can expect would be a -3C (26F) frost that would thaw during the day and an average of about 8C. That is bad enough to grow things in.

I'm mainly into edible plants. Flowers to attract bee's into the garden do find a place here and there. I never seem to see honey bees, and only occasional bumble bees, but things seem to get pollinated anyway.

:)

That's -14F windchill *air temp of 10F with a 35mph wind*, the brass monkeys are singing soprano. NZ being surrounded by that lovely ocean water definitely helps keep temps from getting too cold for too long. We're receiving our seasonal Canadian Arctic slipstream that dips down into the US. Sometimes it's only for a day or two, sometimes several weeks steady. Meh, it's Buffalo NY, it snows & gets cold sometimes.

Speaking of honey bees, do y'all have the European honey bee or another species native to NZ?
There's been a dearth of European honey bees 'round here for 10 years or more. My fruit trees used to swarm with them during blossom time, but lately I see more bumble bees than anything, and the pollination is not what it once was.

[Rob The Bastard]

That's -14F windchill *air temp of 10F with a 35mph wind*, the brass monkeys are singing soprano. NZ being surrounded by that lovely ocean water definitely helps keep temps from getting too cold for too long. We're receiving our seasonal Canadian Arctic slipstream that dips down into the US. Sometimes it's only for a day or two, sometimes several weeks steady. Meh, it's Buffalo NY, it snows & gets cold sometimes.

No thanks for that. :)

We do get polar winds up from the Antarctic... our proximity to Australia affects our weather patterns as its warmer landmass deflects colder/wetter weather patterns towards us. But as you say, being surrounded by water helps.


Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are the familiar golden-orange and brown species, brought to New Zealand from England by settlers for honey production and plant pollination. The first documented introduction was to the Hokianga, Northland, in 1839...

Accidental introduction of the damaging parasite of the varroa mite (Varroa destructor) to the North Island has affected the honey industry here since 2000, and is responsible for the almost total elimination of feral honeybee colonies here. They are throughout the country now and becoming resistant to control methods.

(Source: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/wasps-and-bees/5)

[Hosakawa Tito]

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are the familiar golden-orange and brown species, brought to New Zealand from England by settlers for honey production and plant pollination. The first documented introduction was to the Hokianga, Northland, in 1839...

Yes, we have that same introduced *1620's* European species, but no native honeybees. There's also the Africanized strain in the southern parts of the US that escaped from breeding experiments in South America and have been migrating northward. So before Europeans showed up plants were getting pollinated, but how well, who knows.

We have had problems with those honeybee mites, and some other problem that causes the bees to become disoriented and not return to the hive. The cause for that hasn't been definitively determined yet, everything from cell phone signals to some unknown disease has been blamed.

I do know that my fruit trees produced much better and more consistently when feral honeybee populations were larger than they are now. In highschool we used to hunt and find wild honeybee hives and collect some of the honey. I haven't seen any wild hives in years nor more than a few bees collecting nectar from clover on the lawn at any one time. Hopefully they will rebound some day.

[Rob The Bastard]

You wouldn't want to be a cat on our property at the moment... Maree has found that a cat has climbed up the plastic covering of her tunnel house, punture marks galore!

We don't own a cat.

[miotas]

The European honey bee actually kills more people here in australia than any other animal.

[seireikhaan]

The European honey bee actually kills more people here in australia than any other animal.
*Counts all the lethal animals in Australia...

:dizzy2:

[Samurai Waki]

You have an impressive garden, Rob! My wife tried to do a bit around our house, soil on it's own has far too much granite. I guess we're going to have to just stick with flowers/shrubs.:thumbsdown:

[Rob The Bastard]

You only get to see the good bits. :)


http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Unloved 002.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Unloved 003.jpg

Unloved parts of the flower garden (Maree's too busy and my clear-felling weeding techniques means I dig out her bulbs. Thats bad! really bad.)


You can always import decent dirt, assuming you would only need smallish quantites and the distance/cost for it is low.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Unloved 001.jpg
Garden mulch from our local recycling depot. I usually get compost but they had run out. The mulch is a little bit chunkier.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Unloved 004.jpg
Make a frame, chuck in the Mulch/compost/dirt...

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Unloved 005.jpg
Magic! And it allows for the price/build process to be spread over a longer period of time. Cost per 1.2m2... Maybe $15.00 NZD

My wicked lady has a cunning plan to keep the cats away from the tunnel house
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer.jpg

[Hosakawa Tito]

Well Rob, you, Andres & Lemur are definitely the Frontroom farmers. Do you can and/or freeze what you can't consume fresh? I'm going through fresh tomato withdrawal right now. The imported ones are all that's available, are picked green and ripened with nitrogen gas, and have no flavor.

[Mithrandir]

The imported ones are all that's available, are picked green and ripened with nitrogen gas, and have no flavor.
Try this Hosa:

Cut them in 2 halves.

Take a bowl, fill it with some olive oil, very finely sliced garlic or garlicpowder, peper, salt and rosemary (fresh or dried) or thyme but only if rosemary is not available. Don't be cheap on the garlic and rosemary.

Put the tomatoes on a plate, take a spoon and cover the tops of the tomatoes with the olive oil/garlic/rosemary mixture and put them in an oven at 220c' for some 25 minutes. Eat hot. If the garlic taste is too strong, or if you used dried rosemary you can shove it off and the tomato will still be lovely.

Absolutely delicious.

Try it please and let me know what you think :).

I also had a very bad joke about Andres' blackberry tree and an Iphone bush, but then I realised this thread is too ancient to be ruined by such jokes.

[Rob The Bastard]

Hi Hosa,

I normally store the staple veges that keep well without preserving.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 027.jpg
These are this seasons early/main crop spuds (Lisetta's). The bulk of the ones that I will store are still maturing. Last year's ones lasted until these were big enough to harvest, so I was quite happy about that. We have been self-reliant on potatoes for over a year.

This year I am growing:
Jersey Bennes 2.5 meter row Early crop
Lisettas 2.5 meter row Early/Main crop
Nadines 2.5 meter row Early Main crop
Karakas 2.5 meter row Main crop
Agrias 2.5 meter row Main crop
King Edward Red 5 meter row Main/late crop
Rua 5 meter row Main/late crop

Tutaekuri (Maori potatoes) 4 meter row Main crop
Kumera (Sweet potatoes) 4 meter row Main crop

As you can tell, I don't plan to run out of spuds. :)
I might have some to give away, then again i might not. I won't count my potatoes until they have been harvested.

I also have self seeded ones that I will dig up to extend the growing season of my ones.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 036.jpg
One of the spud patches.


http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 028.jpg
The remaining pumpkins from last Summer (The smallest ones)

This year, with an increase in the garden size and productivity, I have expanded that and I am trying to keep onions. If it is successful I will increase the crop next year.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 034.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 033.jpg
I'm drying a few to see how that goes... I might wait until the leaves of the rest have browned off while the onion is still in the ground.

We have frozen cauliflower, broccolli, tomatoes, broad beans but once they get into the freezer thay don't seem to come back out.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 029.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 031.jpg

I make tomatoes into relish/chutney so storing them as puree etc for cooking with during winter doesn't appeal to me.

I have dabbled with preserving beetroot and in making sauerkraut, both of which I like, the children are not to keen on them at the moment.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 030.jpg

With the weather that I get where I live I can grow the more hardy vegetables right through winter.
I'm also anticipating better growth if I cover the veges with the cloche frames that I bought and plastic over Winter. (cross fingers :) )

[KukriKhan]

*stunned at the bountiful harvest*

Question from a city boy: Is your rainfall sufficient for watering all your stuff, or do you irrigate/pipe water in? I didn't notice much plumbing in your fotos. If you have to import water, is it a significant cost? (These questions from not only a city-boy, but a desert city-boy).

-edit-
and yes, HosakawTito remembers correctly that Afrikanized bees have taken over in my area, replacing the previous euro variety, and reducing pollination (according to news reports I've seen).

[Scienter]

Wow! These pictures you all posted are impressive!

I have a tiny, fenced in backyard. TinCow and I grew three kinds of basil, a bunch of other herbs, green and red shiso, some edible flowers, some malabar spinach, and we managed to slowly kill our rhododendron after moving it to a shadier spot. I love having an herb garden, it's great for cooking! We used it for most of the spring, all summer, and most of the fall.

[Hosakawa Tito]

@ Mith - Yes, I've doctored up tasteless tomatoes in a similar way, only substituted sweet basil for rosemary *have to try that, thanks!* and they are good. However, I love fresh tomato on a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. Even the locally grown hot-house tomatoes we get in the winter around here ain't so hot.

Rob's potato patch looks especially delicious. Too bad I've practically given them up due to diabetes.:shame:

Last years' growing season in my neck of the woods was the worst I can remember. Everybody had very poor harvests. My grandfather can grow potatoes like Rob, and even his was a bust.
This is the first season I had to buy bushels of tomatoes to can. At an outrageous $18/bushel too.

Good to see that the southern hemisphere, at least in Rob's yard, is doing so much better. Come on spring.

[Rob The Bastard]

Hi Kukri,

In general, New Zealand experiences wet Winters and dry Summers. New Zealand has mountain ranges along its length that cause rain shadows on the Eastern side of the islands.

Rain shadow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow

New Zealand's rain shadow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow#Oceania


New Zealand boasts one of the most remarkable rain shadows anywhere on Earth. On the South Island, the Southern Alps intercept moisture coming off the Tasman Sea. The mountain range is home to significant glaciers and 250 to 350 inches (8,900 mm) liquid water equivalent per year. To the east and down slope of the Southern Alps, scarcely 30 miles (48 km) from the snowy peaks, yearly rainfall drops to less than 30 inches (760 mm) and some areas less than 15.


I live in Masterton, a town (pop 20,000), on the Eastern side of the lower North Island (Te ika a Maui). I am on town water supply that is piped from a local river. Currently, there is a small charge for water supply on our rates, apart from that the water is free and un-metered.

There is a set maximum quantity that can be drawn from the river during Summer. In town, this means that there are council imposed water restrictions on watering gardens during Summer. Typically, that is based on one's address... even numbered addresses can use sprinkler systems on even days, odd numbered addresses on odd numbered days. Gardens can be watered by hand at any time.
In dryer years (and regions) further restrictions can be used...total garden watering bans, no car washing etc. These are not common here in Masterton.

Away from town, household water tanks supplied from bores or collected from roofs is the norm. If demand exceeds supply businesses operate water tankers charging per litre plus mileage
Farmers need council consent to draw off water from rivers and bores, water races have been created to move the water around the place, farmers build small dams to hold rain run-off. Dairy units irrigate 24 hours a day during Summer.


Yes, we do have plumbing. :)
Some kind soul installed a tap right out beside where my garden is now... it was grass when we bought the place, but I think that the area was used as a garden previously.

I used to have a piped watering system but it was prone to springing leaks from the pressure.
Now I use just a basic hose and sprinkler that I move around the main garden.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden Summer 037.jpg

Without irrigation the garden would just wither away. I don't bother with watering the lawns... that saves on having to mow them constantly (Lazy sod that I am) and helps with water conservation.

Including the tunnel house and cold frame the main garden measures about 5 meters x 15 meters (16' x 50'). I have a 1012m (quarter acre) section, so probably a quarter of that is given over to veges or fruit.

[KukriKhan]

Thanks for the thoughtful and thorough reply. It looks like you and I have similar climate conditions, though even 15-30 inches of precip. is about double what we've seen here the past 5 years. We have 3 mini man-made lakes on the town outskirts, supplying about 25% of city water (that lake water comes from mountain snow runoff) - the rest being piped in from the Colorado River, over 200 miles away.

The other cities (e.g. Las Vegas), towns and farms between us and the Colorado River want to take a larger share, due to their increasing population, and leave us with less - controlled by quarterly price increases. I won't explore the politics involved, that being backroom stuff. Suffice to say: the upshot, or emerging realization we have here in southern California is: we can't count much longer on Colorado River water, so we're gonna have to make due with what we can capture ourselves locally.

Your idea of using boxes has me intrigued; now I'm thinking about terracing a series of boxes, so that the runoff from one level irrigates the next lower level, and the next - with water-intensive veggies on top, and dryer-growing stuff at bottom. And the grass lawn is gonna have to go (I don't like mowing it anyway; lazy sod that I am as well :) ).

Spring is around the corner here, and I'm not giving up this year like I did last year. Wish me luck.

[Vladimir]

Wow! These pictures you all posted are impressive!

I have a tiny, fenced in backyard. TinCow and I grew three kinds of basil, a bunch of other herbs, green and red shiso, some edible flowers, some malabar spinach, and we managed to slowly kill our rhododendron after moving it to a shadier spot. I love having an herb garden, it's great for cooking! We used it for most of the spring, all summer, and most of the fall.

That sounds impressive. I've resorted to hydroponics for my fresh herbs. I may expand with another machine or two for tomatoes and more variety.

[Rob The Bastard]

Hi Kukri,

Yes, good luck with that... keep us posted with your construction process. before/after pics would be nice.

:)

[Rob The Bastard]

Bump.

[Hosakawa Tito]

For me, last year's monsoon washout has turned into a near drought this growing season. The temperatures have been excellent for growing my tomatoes though, hasn't dropped below 80F with lots of sunshine since late May and night time temps have been near 70F. We've been eating tomatoes, cucumber, green beans from the garden just about every day now. As long as I keep watering stuff the growing season will be a very good one. Apple & Pear trees look like a smaller than average crop, however the raspberries, blackberries are making up for that. I planted several blueberry bushes this spring, but won't get much this year.

I've got a Japanese beetle problem in my roses and am having trouble finding something that will kill them:furious3:. The commercial stuff that claims to do that doesn't appear to be very effective to me. I've been picking them off one by one with needle nose pliers and crushing them, but it's like chopping off the head of the Hydra. Someone at work mentioned spraying them with soapy water will suffocate them. I'm trying that tomorrow.

[Rob The Bastard]

Hi Hosa,

I find the gentle application of heat discourages them.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/05flamethrower.jpg
Image stolen from him
:thinking2:

:oops:

[Rob The Bastard]

Since wee wifey made off with ownership of her Dads glasshouse and my cold frame wasn't cutting the mustard, I decided to make my own... in my typically shonky way.

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden21.jpg

It isn't heated, but should allow me to grow Summer crops earlier and not be grubbing around in the mud during Winter. :)

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden22.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden23.jpg

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden24.jpg

(Ignore the sickly passionfruit)

http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~robm1/Garden25.jpg

This one comes with more ventilation (doors at each end, small louvre above each door and 2 x roll up sides.)