What do you grow?

[MrsManiac]

I'm planning my veggie garden for spring, and am curious what you all grow? I grow cukes, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalepenos. I tried pumpkins last year--they took up too much space and I didn't get many pumpkins. I have three berry bushes that I'm hoping will survive the dog trying to eat them, and will be planting strawberries. I have three raised beds that are pretty big--I can't wait to fill them up again this year lol!!

And I was wondering--in Zone 5, when should I plant carrots and green onions? I wanted to plant them in the fall last year, but dh didn't want to buy the seeds. Can I plant in spring? I've heard they need cool weather, but when should I plant?

TIA!

[Poulsbokid]

I grow just about every thing I can from seed. I have a flat full of onions seeds started right nowI have given them a trim and will give them another trim in a week or so I'll then start to harden them off and get half of them planted out in the garden the later part of feb The rest in march.
I have kale, cabbage, broccoli and flowers started as well.

[Homesteader]

MrsManiac - determine your last average frost date for your zone, and you can plant the carrots and green onions any day after that. If you have mild autumns you can succession plant quite late into the growing season. If you get snowfall, reliable snowfall in your area, you can overwinter carrots and just dig them up as you need them!

To answer your question - with us it's easier to put what we don't grow - cuz we grow almost everything. No squash, zuccini, or sweet potatoes. I guess everything else though including artichokes and asparagus.

[MrsManiac]

Thanks Homesteader! I went to another site and asked the same question and got so many conflicting answers....grrr!! This is simple and easy to remeber lol!! I wish I had more space to grow a bigger garden--I tried sq. ft. gardening last year--omg I'll never do that again lol! It was a jungle back there!

Poulsbokid--I never had any luck starting from seed. Everything always dies!! Tho since I grow so few things, I can buy plants fairly inexpensively--last year I spent about $12 and got more than enough to cover the cost! I'll spend less this year because I'm not planning on growing as much. Of course, that will only last until I'm at the greenhouse lol!! I'm eventually going to try from seed again, I'm sure. But we're doing a lot to the house and yard and buying the plants is a lot easier right now--just plant them and watch them grow!!

[Jammer12]

If you have limited space and love fresh veggies as much as I do, I found a really great way to do tomatoes. I usually buy a couple of tomato plants from the green house in february and start them off in the house. Since tomatoes love to be root bound and lots of water I grow them outside after the last frost in 10gal buckets. I have found that I get a way better crop in the buckets than in the garden and I can move them around and give them all the sun exposure they want and keep them close to the house if the weather or rain gets really bad. I hope this helps! I get so very excited this time of the year to get all the veggies planted!!! Happy Planting!!!

[MrsManiac]

Jammer12, I grow tomatoes indoors in large containers during the winter--I am AMAZED at how well they produce!! I have a fairly large area for my garden, but I find myself wishing it was bigger every time I flip through a seed catalog lol! I'm not growing pumpkins this year, so that will give me an 8x12 ft. bed to plant something else. Now I'm torn: do I plant more of the stuff I know we'll use, or do I experiment and plant something new? Decisions, decisions....

[Poulsbokid]

If you want a good tomato plant to grow in a container try Oregon Spring. Last year at the fair that plant was summitted it was in a 1 gallon pot and had 8 ripe tomatoes on it and about 6 more getting ready to be ripe. You can get those seeds from Territorial seed in Oregon.

[Jammer12]

With any spare room in my garden I plant peas, I just cant get enough of the fresh new peas, we eat them right out of the garden!! I have even caught some of the neighbor kids in there a couple of times...lol. We usually plant 2 gardens 1 3/4 acres in total. One garden is dedicated to potatoes only. We grow Yukon Golds, Marble, Reds, Banana, Bakers and some Purples to the suprize of guests when they come over for dinner. In our other garden we grow the basics that do really well: Beets, Lettus, Swiss Chard, Green beans, Yellow beans, Carrots, Radishes, cucumber and I cant forget about the Peas!!! we also do 3 types of onions and garlic. My DH always likes to try some new seeds, last year he tried Cantoloupe Melons and they did qite well.....this year who knows, I just have to keep the seed book away from him till the very last minute, or elce we will have to till up more land for him!!! What types of veggies do you usually plant?

[Poulsbokid]

I am one you have to hide the garden catalogs from.
But I grow just about anything. This year red celery, celeriac, mustards, lettuce, herb, flowers so many flowers not enough room to name, sugar peas, onions, and soybeans.

[Di_22572]

We bought our house here in Virginia 6 summers ago. The first summer we took down trees and prepped a 100x100 area for a garden. We put in 7 rows 4 feet wide. Five sideways on the north side with a big walk/work area between them and the two verticle rows on the south side. The problem with the wide beds was that I kept falling into the middle when weeding.

My husband is 71 this year, so he has a hard time getting up and down to plant/weed, so two years ago, we started switching to 4 x4 raised beds. I can weed this without falling into the middle LOL. My husband moves his folding chair from area to area and takes longer and longer breaks as he works

We have tried intensive gardening too. Some things work and some plants escape and run amok. I grew up in Washington state and my parents planted in rows--but the hoeing nearly killed us kids.

I plan on trying to intensive garden this year. Every area I don't plant with veggies is going to be planted in flowers. And I am buying or making a bench to sit on and enjoy it all.

Our biggest problem is water--either it rains too much or rains nearly none.

Have fun.
Di