Mary Mary quite contray how does YOUR garden grow?

[Crafty Amanda]

Originally posted by dollmama2000
Grandmother always planted marigolds and nasturtiums in her garden, I do too.

Hi Jennie

Yes, I do that too Marigolds keep the bugs away! Here's more on marigolds, including medicinal, culinary, and a facial uses!!

"Pot marigold makes an attractive cut flower and can be grown in the vegetable garden to help with insect control." More...
http://www.gardenguides.com/herbs/marigold.htm

I also found this on Garden Guides, it's a Vegetable Companion Chart:
http://www.gardenguides.com/TipsandTechniques/vcomp.htm

And there's a printer friendly version too, just look for the link at the top of the chart! I'm printing mine now

[Crafty Amanda]

Originally posted by rebann
- does anyone have some easy to grow vegetables to suggest? We did peas and beans with sucess. Just for fun we tried sweet corn but, we won't do that again.

Radishes are great for beginners! I am planting several varieties this year. Green beans sprout quickly but should be planted outdoors, not started inside, they don't take well to transplanting. I thought that carrots were quite easy to grow, the only thing I did wrong was I didn't dig the holes deep enough so they didn't have enough room to stretch downward, they ended up wrapping around each other. LOL

[otheila]

Onions/chives/leeks are really simple to grow. As are squashs,cucumbers,potato's, and watermellons.
I almost always get good results from these ones.

[tanz]

So squashes are easy to grow? I am kinda tempted to give it a try.
What about pumkens(why am I spelling this wrong LOL)
How fussy or easy are they to grow?!

[Karil]

This is a favorite description of things that really inspire my gardening. I'm mainly interested in flowers and landscaping. I don't have enough sunshine in my yard for much of a veggie garden, and I'd rather let someone else grow and process my food...at least at this point. Anyway, an article I keep and bring out about this time of the year to inspire me:

Well, what is a cottage garden? I've found that each cottage garden is as different as the person who created it! What's the first thing that comes to your mind when the words are spoken? I want you to grab a piece of paper & a pen, then write down EVERYTHING that comes to your mind when you hear the words "cottage garden." I want to show you how you can have every element you desire in your garden!

Take a sneak peek into my thoughts for a moment. When I hear the words "cottage garden," here is what fills my thoughts (in no particular order - typing as they come).

Butterflies, birdhouses, picket fences, tall cutting flowers, bird baths & water fountains, goldfish pond, vegetables, herbs, wildflowers, stones & stone walls, architectural elements, bird feeders, hanging baskets, moss, secret paths, arbors, ivy, waddle fences, fuchsias, hummingbirds, roses, trellises, garden benches, porch swings, ferns, wildlife, WOW .... I could
think about cottage gardens all day!

Now let's take a look at the elements I've mentioned above & think of how I could create a garden filled with the things I love without paying a king's ransom.

* Birds & other creatures come to live in your garden because they now have a food & water source. - FREE

* Water - FREE

* Flowers & vegetables - $0.10 per pack

* Ferns, moss, other greens & wildflowers (find them in the woods, along roadsides, a friend's place, around water, etc) - FREE

* Birdhouses, fences, garden benches, planters, swings, etc. (scrap wood, pallet wood) - FREE

* Arbors & fences (make from fallen branches, willow branches, living trees) - FREE

* Goldfish pond (could be made in a large bucket, buried trash can, wine barrel, dug hole, wheelbarrow, anything watertight) goldfish - $0.10 ea

How I built my pond:
http://members.aol.com/frugally4u/pond.html

* Architectural elements - wood or metal decorations that once adorned an old home (find in the trash, from a home that is being remodeled, scrap yard, ask a contractor who does remodeling) - almost FREE

* Hanging baskets - anything that you can plant flowers in & hang! Could use an old basket, bucket, wooden box, plastic or metal bowl, burlap or heavy cloth. Just fill with a light soil mixture & plant. - very cheap!

* Stones - folks pay you to take them! (I'm going to build a garden cottage out of mine - but that's another issue.)

To plant my fence garden, I bought seed packets for $0.10 each and sowed them very close together. I'm not a very patient person when it comes to garden results, and even I was surprised at how fast I had blooms! I'd say within 4-6 weeks there were flowers in my garden! This is very encouraging
to a frugal gardener like me!

I also sow packets of perennial seeds in different places around the yard. When the plants bloom & I am able to see how they look when they're mature, I replant them into their new homes within a flower bed of my choosing.
This saves me 100's of $$, because perennial plants can run anywhere from $4- $30 each! With a packet of seeds, you might get 100 - 200 plants for $0.10! With this example, you also see how someone could earn a good amount of extra money by planting some extra packs of seeds!

To me there's no garden like the cottage garden!
______________

Pearl Sanborn - Editor of Heart & Home Newsletter Find a free monthly
newsletter & a search engine dedicated to the frugal lifestyle! Heart &
Home - http://members.aol.com/frugally4u
________________
Is there any way to upload pictures to this site? I'd love to see what each other is doing!

[ronsan]

Originally posted by tanz
So squashes are easy to grow? I am kinda tempted to give it a try.
What about pumkens(why am I spelling this wrong LOL)
How fussy or easy are they to grow?!

Pumpkins and squash are easy to grow!

Both need some room (especially pumpkins, which are a vining and traveling crop). Zucchini squash are best grown from bush varieties, I think, and they do need some room. Watch for squash beetles and blossom end rot, and keep them well harvested. Ideal zucchini is about 6 to 8" long (reserve the occasional baseball bat zucchini for shredded zucchini for muffins, cakes, cookies, etc.) Another squash I love to grow are Acorn squash but these also require room for vines to spread out and "roam."

Pumpkins come in several different varieties ~ from small (pie pumpkins) to those mammoth Jack 'o Lantern Big Macs! All of the pumpkin vines need ample room to roam and spread out ~ they can be threaded through trellises and even up discarded step ladders but the fruit is harder to keep suspended and clean as they mature if grown vertically. Still, it can be done by using old pantyhose made into "hammocks" to support their weight.

We harvested 8 jack o lanterns off one plant last year. And the kids and grandkids just love to watch their pumpkin crop grow and mature. One of our granddaughters brought home a sprouted pumpkin seed in a styrofoam cup from a school project and that was the beginning of our pumpkin patch ~ all we needed was the one sprouted seed for the 8 we harvested.

Sandie

[Juliecc913]

Hey Karil, great post.