1bassoon Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 So, Hive - help me out! My dh has a major, MAJOR farming bug. *Ahem* I don't. But - my kids are into it as well, so I'm willing to give it a try. Our house is on the market, but we're having so little traffic I'm just planning on being here for the long haul. I'd like to plant a little more than we did last year, and plant with an eye towards harvesting and canning my own stuff. Phew! I'm scared just thinking about it!!!!! So - for a family that's not "huge" on veggies, but is trying to get that way - what would you plant? We're in hardiness zone 7b, if that helps - central Alabama. We had success last year with Roma tomatoes (my favorites). Some zucchini worked. Pumpkins out the wazoo. My sweet son tried to grow corn - yes, in rows for cross-pollination - but the chickens scratched most of it up (before the fence :tongue_smilie:) and it didn't work so well. WE planted about 2 cucumber vines, a couple melon plants - they all produced a little bit. A couple of rows of carrots - they were so-so. Basically, we tried a little of everything, with only varying degrees of success. Ideas? Help me out! Get my creative juices flowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I'm trying to build a garden bed at the moment. I dont' expect much luck, living as I do in a place with almost no topsoil or rainfall, but I'm going to plant salad. We can only get our green leafies like rocket and baby spinach in carbon dioxide filled packets from the supermarket so I'd like to grow my own. We eat so much of it and I'd rather not fork out so much money for such poor quality, kwim? Also, buying from the heritage seed companies will give us some more variety. I'm sure I'd like something called Fat Hen :) I did manage to get rocket to grow the year before last. It self seeds very easily, which is a plus! I will endeavour to stagger the planting this time though. Good luck! Maybe heirloom varieties will pique your interest a bit more. Pasta sauce made from cream coloured tomatoes? Check, if you can, Rosalind Creasy's heirloom vegetable garden book. She's got some really pretty recipes in the back. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Cherry tomatoes and peas are great. They ripen faster and the littles eat them right off the vine. Green beans (mixed with marigold to keep away the beetles.) Definitely lettuce, lots of different varieties. Looseleaf works best - something always eats mine before a head forms anyway. Spinach is quick and easy in salads too. Dig in some well-composted (not fresh) chicken manure to help it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Dig in some well-composted (not fresh) chicken manure to help it out. Now that we have in spades :) I like your suggestions - esp. about the marigolds with beans. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Welcome to the world of gardening....I love fresh veggies and have grown them all my life. Yes, really. My mom and my grandparents were gardeners. One of my earliest garden memories was busting up clods in the dirt for my mom. :D Grow what your family will eat first and foremost. Carrots. Squash. Green beans are very easy and most kiddoes like them. Peppers. Eggplant. We adore the 'sweet 100s' tomatoes. Grape sized, prolific, and oh, so good to eat. If you can find yellow pear tomatoes those are also good. Kid-friendly. Despite all the lovely thoughts about heirlooms, I can't get them to grow and PRODUCE in my gardens. My part of Texas is renown for its humidity, heat, and bugs. For three years now, I've planted a variety of heirloom tomatoes only to have a single tomato from each plant--or less. Not good enough. I plant a variety of hybrids these days and get ten or twenty good tomatoes per plant before the heat stops production. (Tomato pollen dies at temps over 95 degrees) If you go to an independent nursery during the week, you could chat with the help and learn a bunch. Weekends are too busy for them to give you much attention. Try your hand at herbs, too. Most like poor, dry soil, so don't over 'love' with too much water. We grow rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, sage. Some return year after year, some are planted each spring. Yell if you have more questions. The big thing to remember is to get out there and get your hands dirty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Rosie, Have you considered using Mel's mix instead of soil? We're giving square-foot gardening a try this year. http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ I'm trying to build a garden bed at the moment. I dont' expect much luck, living as I do in a place with almost no topsoil or rainfall, but I'm going to plant salad. We can only get our green leafies like rocket and baby spinach in carbon dioxide filled packets from the supermarket so I'd like to grow my own. We eat so much of it and I'd rather not fork out so much money for such poor quality, kwim? Also, buying from the heritage seed companies will give us some more variety. I'm sure I'd like something called Fat Hen :)I did manage to get rocket to grow the year before last. It self seeds very easily, which is a plus! I will endeavour to stagger the planting this time though. Good luck! Maybe heirloom varieties will pique your interest a bit more. Pasta sauce made from cream coloured tomatoes? Check, if you can, Rosalind Creasy's heirloom vegetable garden book. She's got some really pretty recipes in the back. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We are about to get our garden ready to plant (have to wait until May). We plant beans, tomatoes, all kinds of squash, peppers, cucumbers, and several rows of corn. We have tried lettuce, but our rabbits are just too good at getting through the fence. For some reason, I never have much luck with carrots. One thing we have done that has been fun is to let the kids have a little section of their own to plant a few things and take care of themselves. They really enjoy seeing their own plants grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel in KY Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I started SFG last year, and the hardest thing was keeping my cats out of it. I don't recommend growing pole beans...tangles everywhere. I grew eggplant, melons, herbs, radishes, carrots, lettuces, spinach, peas (also not recommended), strawberries, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and peppers. Bigger plants like the brassicas, tomatoes, and eggplant tend to lean because the soil is so loose and shallow. I'm going to plant those in my "regular" garden this year with lots and lots of staking. I love gardening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Good luck! Maybe heirloom varieties will pique your interest a bit more. Pasta sauce made from cream coloured tomatoes? That sounds good! I love tomatoes and pasta sauce. I poured over the seed catalogs this winter, made a list, and now I still don't know what I'm going to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Do you and your family like okra? That should grow well. I'm going to plant a few of those in my own garden this year. What about bell peppers or jalapenos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We adore the 'sweet 100s' tomatoes. Grape sized, prolific, and oh, so good to eat. I think that was one of the tomatoes that I grew last summer. I bought one plant and got so many tomatoes. They were sweet, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Bigger plants like the brassicas, tomatoes, and eggplant tend to lean because the soil is so loose and shallow. I'm going to plant those in my "regular" garden this year with lots and lots of staking. One thing that helps (you might have done it, and maybe it still didn't help?) is to plant your tomato plants deeper, below the soil line of their original container. Either dig a deeper hole and set them lower, or make a bit of a trench, and lay the roots & plant sideways in the ground. You can bury about 75% or so of the plant. It will grow more roots this way, stabilizing the plant in the ground and producing more fruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Rosie,Have you considered using Mel's mix instead of soil? We're giving square-foot gardening a try this year. http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ I'm trying to do square foot gardening but haven't used Mel's mix. I'm not going to import dirt from Utah :) The major problem is the lack of rainfall and I can't stand next to the washing machine to catch water all day. One day dh will buy me a house with a grey water system. Then my garden will be beauuuuutiful instead of sparce. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree with growing what your family will like. Also, please consider the following totally random suggestions. - Starting strawberries and asparagus for the future. - Planting bush snap peas (a variety like Sugar Ann) for the fall. Sorry, it's too late for you to plant where you live for now. You'd probably have to start in January or February. Ask your extension agent. - Don't plant more than one cherry tomato plant. You will simply have too many. - Try growing butternut squash. It's delicious, easy to cook, and a great keeper. To cook, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake at 350 F for about an hour in a pan with about 1/2" of water in it. - In the fall, try Lutz beets. This variety gets huge, and are delicious baked (cover and bake unpeeled). Plant in late August. - You can plant lots of green beans, but sometimes that takes all of the joy of gardening when you have to spend incredible amounts of time picking, snapping, freezing and/or canning in the summer. If that fits in with your plan, great. Otherwise, plant smaller amounts in succession throughout spring and summer. - Try growing short-day onions. Plant in the fall for a spring harvest. - Could you grow sweet potatoes or peanuts? - Use any unplanted areas for cover crops. - Don't believe the catalogs and books that say radishes are easy. They are tricky. Our favorites are daikons; we get the seeds from Pinetree. Plant in August. They get huge! I planted 10 radishes, and we've been eating them all winter, keeping them in the fridge. - Try something unusual, in a small amount, just for fun. Happy Gardening! GardenMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 - Don't plant more than one cherry tomato plant. You will simply have too many. I can these too. I throw them into the food processor and pure, then cook and pour into jars as usual. Works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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