home fruit and vegetable garden ideas

[MSNative]

Any green thumbs out there? We just bought a house that has several raised beds already. Very exciting for me since I've been container gardening for the past 5 years. Since I know have the space, I'd like to branch out. What are your favorite fruits and veggies to plant in your home garden? Any special varieties that do well for you? Tips on succession planting and/or seasonal planting for higher yield that you'd like to share would be appreciated, too.

[LauraGB]

In which zone are you? I am in 5 and my absolute must-haves are tomatoes, cucumbers and onions and a bed for lettuces. Lots of strawberries. We also planted several different apple trees a couple years and I'm waiting (not so patiently!) for those to produce something edible in a decent quantity. Oh, and my favorite is a (Metro) Peach Tree - that thing is my most prized garden possession; so sweet, so juicy, so many for such a little tree! Pears and cherries are nice, too, but our cherry trees developed some crazy disease a few years ago :glare:.

[jolley]

Grow the veggies your family eats the most. We looked online and talked to other local gardeners to see what grows best in our area and when. My dh loves big boy tomatoes. He said they are they best sandwich tomatoes in the world! lol I bought a book called square foot gardening. It will answer all of your questions and more. You could probably check it out in your local library. Seconding the metro peach tree!!!! We lost ours in a storm last year. We were all sad.

 

At least here, we tilled the soil last weekend. Loving the smell of fresh turned dirt!:D

[MSNative]

I'm zone 6b/7. We've always grown tomatoes, peppers, snap peas, squash and herbs. Now that I have a little more space, I'd like to try more fruit - watermelon (probably dwarf), berries, etc. I will have to look into the peach tree. Yum. We like most fruits and veg - except turnips. Yuck. :) I guess I'm trying to find out which plants produce well and are worth taking the effort to grow. (e.g. peppers are ridiculously exp. here, so I'm planning on planting a lot!)

Off to go check out sq. foot gardening.

[MBM]

I grow salad food:

 

tomatoes -- I usually grow Sweet 100s

lettuce -- all kinds

onions

carrots -- my little guy grows these

leeks occasionally

scallions occasionally

spinach occasionally

peppers once -- they were beautiful and then along came a fungus. ugh.

herbs of all kinds

 

I just got done cleaning up some beds and throwing leaf mulch on my raised beds. Soon I'll be off to get more garden supplies.

 

Let the season begin!

[Erica in OR]

I agree with previous posters - grow what your family likes to eat, particularly things that are typically expensive in your area, and ones that taste better homegrown (strawberries, corn picked and eaten within a few hours, etc.). I refuse to pay $1 or more per green pepper, and like to cook with them, so I include those in the garden. But, I like to include a twist - last year we grew a variety of yellow bell peppers, and a variety that is a chocolate-brown color. We also like heirloom tomatoes, particularly sweeter varieties like Golden Girl for sandwiches. Lots of sugar snap peas, strawberries. Purple bush beans. Different varieties of basil. Different varieties of garlic (planted in the fall). Jumbo variety pumpkins for Halloween.

 

Erica in OR

[CalicoKat]

zone 5 here as well. This summer we're making one of our raised beds (3x9 feet) into a 3 Sister's Garden: sweet corn, pumpkin, and vining green beans.

 

My kids love planting mammoth sunflowers too. It's a blast to see how tall they get and they feed the birds through the winter.

[MSNative]

Had to share this link. http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/design-it/

 

Has a garden plan for raised beds following the Sq. ft. gardening book, I'd presume. Also has a planting table based on zone. Very fun site to waste too much time on. :)