How does your garden grow?

[rareboy]

Yes it is now that time here in the northern hemisphere again and in this brief interlude, here in Ontario, this is one of the peak weekends for people to plant out their gardens, under the premise that our last killing frosts happen around May 24th. We had one last week that destroyed the new tender leaves on a number of our oak trees, but all of the flats of vegetables were safe under cover.

Yesterday and today, they are all now planted out so I will be so pissed if we get frost now.

Our vegetable garden is not huge, only about 600 square feet, so we are usually selective about what goes in.

This year:

6 different varieties of tomatoes
Kale
Red beets
Yellow Beets
several fingerling potatoes
some red potatoes
Basil
various hot and sweet peppers
Green beans
yellow beans
swiss chard
spinach
different varieties of lettuce.

And I got to the end of planting and then realized that I hadn't picked up leeks.

So now I either have to dig up another patch (not going to happen) or sacrifice something else.

For those with gardens, what are you planting?

And for those with balconies, do you plant out herbs or container tomatoes? The tomatoes are really the thing for me...I would plant only tomatoes although it does get pretty overwhelming when they all come on and we are making tomato sauce almost every day.

 

[gsdx]

No room for a vegetable garden here. All I could do was a small flower garden out front under the bay window. I haven't been able to tend even that since 2014 when I had my hip replaced. I can barely take care of the few house plants I have left.

I miss it.

 

[kidwicked]

My Mother is a Gardener so I may post on here in the future! Bump!!!

 

[rareboy]

*Your* dammit.

 

[me203]

For a few years, I grew vegetables in pots. Mostly tomatoes, although I'd generally also have some basil. Some years a few other things, like lemon cucumbers. I never really got much of a harvest (not surprising)--but it was fun having a few tomatoes off the vine.

I'm half thinking maybe growing something in a pot this year, but we'll see. I remember half thinking of growing something last year, too, but never got around to it.

 

[72-Jay]

a couple dozen types of tomatoes
a few types of tomatillos
8 or so types of kale
various colors/types of peppers (mostly not hot varieties)
beets
basil
a couple types of beans
chard
spinach
kohlrabi
rutabaga
a few types of lettuce
various squashes/cucumbers/etc
radishes
..probably a couple other things I missed too..

Stuff such as tomatoes/tomatillos/peppers/etc are started inside in april ... due to the weather here, you really can't plant cold-sensitive plants like that outside til very end of may or early June.

there isn't a single "garden" .. its kinda spread around the yard where I could find space. .lol.

 

[ShadowCat]

Not well at all!

 

[Araucaria]

I have been mostly concentrating on growing tropical fruit trees. I have three mango trees, and they are all bearing like gangbusters right now. Currently I'm eating three mangos for breakfast every morning, but I have way more fruit than I know what to do with.

Some other fruit trees I have:

Carambola/Star Fruit
Sugar Apple/Sweetsop
Barbados Cherry
Surinam Cherry
Sapodilla
Two different kinds of Guavas
Cashew

I also had some Papayas, but they suddenly died. I think the neighbor across the fence put something on his lawn that killed them. But I have planted some new papayas elsewhere in the yard, and they should be bearing in a year.

I also have a pomegranate, coffee, mulberry, ,pitomba, and a cassava. Some of these I'm growing more to have the experience, rather than expecting a big harvest.

I haven't been doing it much, but I'm thinking of trying tropical vegetables. People around here, especially ethnics, seem to plant Pigeon Peas a lot. My ex's grandmother used to grow them.

 

[Ontariobear]

Our neighbours always grow too much so we usually get lots. We plant perennials instead.

 

[me203]

I can remember when I was maybe about 19 one summer someone a mile or so away from us would sell excess produce at rock bottom prices. The prices were nice--but what was really nice was getting stuff better than the grocery store, particularly tomatoes. And, at that point in time, I was (oddly, perhaps) not wild about potatoes, but found myself liking the small baby potatoes she sold.

Sadly, it was one summer only--I suppose the next sumemr the crop ended up not being as over abundant.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

I've been tempted by local produce services that deliver monthly, but you have no control over the variety of vegetables on offer.

 

[eddielee]

I had a garden with okra, collards, tomatoes, squash, and butter peas. I like fried green tomatoes, so I never let them get ripe. Now I just have a rose garden and it's doing great.

 

[rareboy]

 

[NotHardUp1]

I had a garden with okra, collards, tomatoes, squash, and butter peas. I like fried green tomatoes, so I never let them get ripe. Now I just have a rose garden and it's doing great.

Butter peas! Mah man!

The island in the front of my office building has about a dozen bush roses in the center, all dead from the -4 degrees we hit this winter.

It's June and my cheap sons of bitches managers have still not had them replaced. The first thing visitors see upon arrival is a stand of dead bushes, like some scene from The Brothers Grimm.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I have way more fruit than I know what to do with.

I was pleasantly suprised at how well avocados vacuum seal in plastic bags. I put two halves in and threw in a couple of lemon wedges for insurance, and a week later, there was no degradation at all.

Wouldn't a lot of your fruit be freezer friendly? It could carry you through those bitter Florida winters.

Also, have you considered gifting your overage to a local food bank, or a school program that feeds kids even in summer, or even a nearby day care center? Think of the joy that would bring to little ones who may be eating cereal for breakfast every day.

"God loves you and I have a wonderful plan for your life."

 

[rareboy]

^ Totally this.

The other option is a meals program for organizations that feed the homeless. We do this now, but I realize you need to be in a community that has this type of program.

Butter peas! Mah man!

The island in the front of my office building has about a dozen bush roses in the center, all dead from the -4 degrees we hit this winter.

It's June and my cheap sons of bitches managers have still not had them replaced. The first thing visitors see upon arrival is a stand of dead bushes, like some scene from The Brothers Grimm.

And yeah...peas....

mmmmm

And what kind of feckless, delicate snowflake roses would flame out at -4F?

Shame on them. My recommendation....

Morden Sunrise Rose (Rosa 'Morden Sunrise') at Ron Paul Garden Centre

Find Morden Sunrise Rose (Rosa 'Morden Sunrise') in Winnipeg Manitoba MB at Ron Paul Garden Centre

plants.ronpaulgardencentre.com

Although I would point out that they do not like -30C.

 

[Araucaria]

I was pleasantly suprised at how well avocados vacuum seal in plastic bags. I put two halves in and threw in a couple of lemon wedges for insurance, and a week later, there was no degradation at all.

Wouldn't a lot of your fruit be freezer friendly? It could carry you through those bitter Florida winters.

Also, have you considered gifting your overage to a local food bank, or a school program that feeds kids even in summer, or even a nearby day care center? Think of the joy that would bring to little ones who may be eating cereal for breakfast every day.

"God loves you and I have a wonderful plan for your life."

I've done some of these things with my mangos in past years. One year I gave a bunch of fruit to the local MCC food bank to be distributed to all the people coming in. Many of the clients are from the Caribbean or Bahamas, so they're familiar with mangos.

In the past I've frozen mangos, both by cutting them up and eating them later in the year, and by pureeing them, so they can be used in ice cream. The local Rare Fruit Council usually has an ice cream festival in the fall, and I've donated to them. It seems a bit harder to get school lunch or summer kid feeding programs to accept fresh fruit, though. I'm not sure how to go about it. And I might take some to MCC to give out after service to their members.

Speaking of mangos, we just got hit by yet another big storm that blew more fruit off the tree. They hit the side of the house and the roof, and it sounds like I'm getting hit by softballs. I'll have to go out to collect them when the weather finally clears.

 

[Araucaria]

The island in the front of my office building has about a dozen bush roses in the center, all dead from the -4 degrees we hit this winter.

It's June and my cheap sons of bitches managers have still not had them replaced. The first thing visitors see upon arrival is a stand of dead bushes, like some scene from The Brothers Grimm.

That reminds me of a place where I worked 20 years ago. They had a large American flag at the main entrance. One day I mentioned to a coworker that the flag was torn and tattered, and that would be a turn-off to the people they wanted to impress by flying the flag. My coworker must have mentioned it to the higher-ups, because it was replaced by a new flag within a few days.

 

[Alistair]

Butter peas! Mah man!

The island in the front of my office building has about a dozen bush roses in the center, all dead from the -4 degrees we hit this winter.

It's June and my cheap sons of bitches managers have still not had them replaced. The first thing visitors see upon arrival is a stand of dead bushes, like some scene from The Brothers Grimm.

The new owners of the place I worked tore out my perennial border at work and planted a bunch of azaleas. I’ve been collecting seeds whenever I got a chance and had a really nice looking garden going that flowered throughout the year.

Then when they found out I was the one that had been taking care of it they added watering the new plants into the list of my jobs.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Some 30 years ago I planted flower beds and shrubs around the sign at my administration building, and alongside the entry walk at a manufacturing building. I did it on my own time with the company buying the soil amendments and plants and borders.

Everyone liked it but the company was too lazy to keep them up over the years. They let them go and only the shrubs around the sign remained.

Was a poor little company with few resources: Lockheed Martin.