Gardening Thread - In the middle of winter? Yep.

[Renolizzie]

Yes, it is freezing out but Hubby and I have to start thinking about our veggie garden so that we can order seeds. I inventoried and we have plenty of my faves - Maxibelle French Filet beans left over from last year. Also, garden, sugar pod and snap peas. Armenian cukes and some acorn winter squash and pumpkins.

We will have to order cukes, beets, some more carrots, some broccoli and cauliflower. Oh yeah, and sweet corn; Golden Hubbards and Butternut winter squashes. I need to order lots of lettuces this year, as well. Looks like I finally used up my old tomato seeds and can order some more. Last year I grew a cherry tomato that worked out really well for me and some larger red tomatoes. Looks like we will also have to order yellow crooknecks, patty pans and some zuchinni.

Hubby likes to grow French cantaloupes, Haogen melons, Desert King and Desert Queen watermelons, Lilly crenshaws [my fave!!!] and some others I can't think of right now but he has to make that list up and then I order.

Anyone else perusing the seed catalogs and dreaming of the summer veggies ahead?

 

[WorksForMe]

It sounds like that really keeps you busy. I've never heard of a lot of the veggies you mentioned. I purposely bought a house in a subdivision with small backyard. We do have a few flowers and shrubs to take care of though.

J.R.

 

[Renolizzie]

Well,JR, I'll have to take some photos when the veggies start coming in and show you what I am talking about!

 

[WorksForMe]

When I was a kid, my parents had a huge garden. The food was great, but I guess I’m a city boy. I’d rather go to the store. Besides, I’d just kill the plants anyway.

J.R.

 

[Renolizzie]

Well, JR, I probably would love to go to the store to buy veggies but the veggies in this part of the country are expensive and, far too often, a huge disappointment. Melons are outrageous prices. At a dollar a pound one melon could be $5 and up. We get to eat tons of melons in August and September for our $15 in seeds. We freeze melons and have smoothies all winter.

Limp lettuce and shriveled cukes or make the effort to grow. We like to grow 'em. Tomatoes from the grocery store are so bland that I quit buying them at all but at least I get to eat fresh, tasty tomatoes for three months out of the year You can't even buy fresh garden peas or French fillet beans at all. Garden peas take so much effort to pick and shell but they are so yummy! French fillet beans are so good, I feel like I am eating gourmet food like asparagus!

Even zuchinni is expensive in our area. They cost like $1 a piece. For $8 in seeds I can have zuchinni, yellow crooknecks and patty pans.

 

[opal]

*perk* Lizzy.. where are you getting your Armenian cukes?? We had some seeds a couple years ago.. grew 3' long cukes that were great! Hubby forgot what company he got the seeds from. arghghgh
We do have a lot of seeds left from last year.. and the year before.. hoping to get successful buttercup squash in this year. Only found 2 of them around thanksgiving time.. my fave squash

 

[Renolizzie]

*perk* Lizzy.. where are you getting your Armenian cukes?? We had some seeds a couple years ago.. grew 3' long cukes that were great! Hubby forgot what company he got the seeds from. arghghgh
We do have a lot of seeds left from last year.. and the year before.. hoping to get successful buttercup squash in this year. Only found 2 of them around thanksgiving time.. my fave squash

Hi Opal,

Looks like my Armenian Cukes are from a company called Seeds of Change. Nice company to get seeds from. My regular cukes always turn out bitter and I hardly get any!!!! My climate sucks. The Armenian cukes are delicious and I always get quite a few.

We grew buttercups a couple of years ago and then went back to Acorn squash since the acorn squash stores for a long time. I still have about 15 of them under my bed in the guest room. It's the coolest spot I could find.

 

[opal]

ah ha! yes.. we do business with seeds of change.. yeah! thanks. I don't think their catalog is here yet though.. will have to check the website.
Totally tomatoes is another site we like.. and heritage seeds and my favorite name for a gardening company - Italian seed and tool! I giggle every time I think of it.

 

[Renolizzie]

favorite name for a gardening company - Italian seed and tool! I giggle every time I think of it.

Has anyone ever told you how naughty you are, Opal

 

[opal]

favorite name for a gardening company - Italian seed and tool! I giggle every time I think of it.

Has anyone ever told you how naughty you are, Opal

you mean today? hehe

 

[Moonstruck]

My backyard is tiny, but I always manage to grow some stuff anyway. I usually grow 3 or 4 kinds of lettuce, at least 4 different kinds of tomato plants, green onions, squash (usually buttercup, acorn & zuchinni), dwarf sunflowers (my great nieces & nephews love these seeds).

Many of these are grown in my flower beds in the backyard. I have an (unused) fenced-in dog pen in one corner; that's where my tomatoes get planted every year.

I get my tomato seeds from Totally Tomatoes. Others I usually buy locally.

 

[Renolizzie]

My backyard is tiny, but I always manage to grow some stuff anyway. I usually grow 3 or 4 kinds of lettuce, at least 4 different kinds of tomato plants, green onions, squash (usually buttercup, acorn & zuchinni), dwarf sunflowers (my great nieces & nephews love these seeds).

Many of these are grown in my flower beds in the backyard. I have an (unused) fenced-in dog pen in one corner; that's where my tomatoes get planted every year.

I get my tomato seeds from Totally Tomatoes. Others I usually buy locally.

Nice, Moonstruck.

I have to admit that since we have plenty of room now we have gone a little overboard.

Store bought tomatoes have gotten so tasteless that it is worth at least growing tomatoes.

 

[Moonstruck]

I love tomatoes, and yep, those at the grocery store taste awful. I love the home-grown ones.

 

[mudhill]

i had 2 years of drought here,so i am disgusted about gardening at the moment,,,maybe as it gets closer to spring i will get fired up.

what makes it hard on me is i don't have a well,so i depend on rain water or i have to carry it in from my neighbors.

i have 10 rain barrels ,but it has to rain to fill them,so far we have very little snow,so no melt off to catch.

maybe come spring

 

[Renolizzie]

Thats's rough, Mudhill.

Yeah, drought makes it tough to garden in areas that rely on rain fall.

Our garden last year had major problems due to weather. We got froze out so late in the year [June 1st?] that a bunch of our plants died that were just sprouting. We replanted and it just didn't really happen for us but we did have some successes and we are going to try again this year.

We only get about 6 inches of precipitation a year on average so we are permanently in drought We have the veggies and trees on a\drip systems.

 

[opal]

egad.. we can get that much rain in two hours during hurricanes - which do take their toll on gardens too.
must think of plants that like wet feet here

 

[mudhill]

i would love to have a drip system,but need water for that.

i raised more greens last winter in side with my hydroponic tubs then i raised out side in the spring.

 

[cindycated]

Nice, Moonstruck.

I have to admit that since we have plenty of room now we have gone a little overboard.

Store bought tomatoes have gotten so tasteless that it is worth at least growing tomatoes.

I don't even buy fresh tomatoes anymore - just canned ones. I heard they pick them green and gas them in the truck en route to make them turn red. That's why they taste so bad. I wish I could move. I'd love to grow my own food!

 

[opal]

I sometimes get sun-dried tomatoes at the grocery store (commissary)
if hubby doesn't get his tomato fix he gets cranky ..
I love the yellow low acid tomatoes.. he doesn't so we grow both .. hoping for a crap load of baby tomatoes again this year

 

[Renolizzie]

I sometimes get sun-dried tomatoes at the grocery store (commissary)
if hubby doesn't get his tomato fix he gets cranky ..
I love the yellow low acid tomatoes.. he doesn't so we grow both .. hoping for a crap load of baby tomatoes again this year

You can grow tomatoes just about anywhere, even on a balconey in the city. There are varieties just for growing in pots. I had terrible success here with tomatoes for my first four years but now I sort of have the hang of it. I have to use a chelated calcium product to get the tomatoes to set properly and not have blossom end rot. I have a tank for the drip system so I just put it through the water system. All the veggie plants get the calcium but they don't seem to mind