Hey guys, I am getting all those seed catalog's for the Spring time planting. For the past 5 years I have put a garden out. I find it interesting that when my parents MADE me do it, it was a pain and now I just enjoy it.

I would be interested in knowing if any of you guys do one and what you plant when. I had an old timer that lived down the road from me and when he planted something - I did too. He passed away and I miss his tutoring. Never been much of an almanac guy. I just waited until whenever to plant.

I've always been told "if you plant before Mother's Day, you're wasting your time." I've followed that advice and have been fine.

In terms of planting different things at different times, I don't really have any experience with that as we mostly just do a vegetable/salsa garden.

I put out a big garden every year. A lot of times I don't get mine out till memorial day. Makes some things quite late.

Got back into it last year and get a real kick out of gardening. We built some real nice raised beds which are very easy to maintain, Adding another one this year.

We grew; green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots and peppers. Still eating tomatoes and beans that we canned, good stuff.

A great hobby and the food is great and really good for you.

Im gonna plant two tomato plants and if that becomes to much work ill pull one of them up

Bean:

I tried potatoes last spring and was really impressed! Had a nice day in early April and tilled the ground, bought red potato sets and put them in. Let plants come up and covered all but top of plants with dirt a couple times. Plants bloomed and when plant died in Jume we had a bunch of potatoes.

Then I planted beans in the same spot in June. Beans in September.

Brocholli has become one of my favorites also you can plant early still when there is a chance of frost, then again in late summer, we were having Brocholli in deer season! And my resident deer are still munching on it. We also do early and late squash and cucumbers.

Corn.......I can buy it cheaper than I can grow it. Too many coons and squirrels!

I too hated gardening as a kid but today it is relaxing. But when it is winter 30- 40 quarts of green beans, tomatos and come green tomato pickles sure are good!

My Grandpa was a truck farmer at heart, he grew and sold produce on the north side of Indy for years.He had a full time job, but gardening was his love.

He taught me all I know, his theory was if a plant could be hurt by Frost never put seed in ground before May 12. Never plant same crop in same row two years in a row, beans or peas will improve any ground. Now I know it as adding nitrogen.

I've taken one of his ideas and added it to my gardening. I built my own grow box, three sides wood, front and top is plexiglass. Now I plant my tomato and pepper plants in it late March from seed, once I transplant those to garden I have a free place to start my late season brocholli and sqaush. When that is done and transplanted I plant lettuce, picked fresh lettuce on Christmas! Grow box is 8'X3'X30". Just face it south, great use of a small space. Grown radish and carrots in there also. All after starting my row plants.

All I can grow is weeds! And not very good at that...... :rolleyes: I've tried for years to get a good strawberry patch going. I've given up!!

Ive planted a small garden the last couple years. I really like getting up early in the summer and working in the garden, stop every once in a while for coffee.

My garden is only 15x30. I put two pickup truck loads of horse manure on this fall and plan on adding some sand and lime this spring.

I like root vegetables so stuff like onions, leeks, carrots, taters are my favorites. Ive been canning dill pickles and tomatoes the last year.

Nothing like a couple eggs and some fresh, just out of the garden sliced tomatoes for breakfast while sitting on the patio. h.h.

It is cool to read what everyone does and how they go about it.

I will have several things this year. It takes a couple years to find out what the family will need and what to can.

We always can greenbeans and Julie makes a ton of salsa for us to eat. I will have corn. greenbeans, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, peppers, sugar snap peas, zucchini, cantaloupe, potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. Oh yeah and YAZ, we will have a big patch of strawberries this year and if I can get Luke to share I may send ya some.

Joe - I really liked those pickled tomatoes you had at the farm and the idea of using a cold frame is one I have been using the past couple years. It makes a big difference and extends your season.

I have finished where my rotations will be and ordered my seeds. Now it is time to be patient - which I have a hard time doing.

The one thing I've learned about gardening is that planting in a pot or bucket doesn't produce very well...

Outside of the trapping thread, I give this the second best thread going! Now, come "season" there is going to have to be pictures of cold frames, greenhouses, planting styles. raised beds, trellis, watering systems and yield! For those of you with room, we need a biggest pumpkin deal.

Not trying to sound stupid here...

I have seen raised beds before but what is the advantages/disadvantages of using them?....

If anybody wants to drive to Decatur county, I have some of the best, Grade A, freshest, Angus fertilizer a person can get for free! Its on a first come, shovel it yourself basis!!!! Im serious!!! :p

Raised beds can be done a couple of different ways: constructed sides which you build or piling dirt and suing them year after year.

The advantages are pretty cool. One is weed control from shading out growth. After a few times using them your weed count will go way down. You also get better root depth which causes more produce. Also, keeps moisture in during the hot months. Deeper roots + more moisture = better produce. You can get alot of plants in a raised bed and different kins too. You just have to make sure they are compatable. You can also concentrate on compost in that area. There are other reason they are good too.

I do some raised beds for some things but not on all. You can build a raised bed in your backyard if you are in the city and have limited space.

Bryan - try it and I bet you get hooked. If you have kids, go build one and do it with your kids. Luke usually knows more about my garden than I do.

When my garden starts producing I become a vegetarian. Nothing like fresh veggies right out of the garden. Last year my spinach was so good I ate it almost daily and never tried of it.

Ive got all my seed bought except onions and seed potatoes. Im starting most of the plants indoors this year instead of buying and trans-planting.

Last year I bought a six pack of tomato plants that were suppose to be Big Boys but evidently someone switched the tag and they were cherry tomatoes. By the time I figured what was going on it was to late to plant the right ones, so I ended up with tons of cherry and no big tomatoes. LOL h.h.

Here is a pic of my 2 cold frames: Just a couple old windows and some scrap wood. I put them out pretty early and plant my lettuce in them.

Cold frames? Educate me please. Can you put those outside when its cold?

Cold frames are used in early and late season to extend your season. This is how JB uses his:
"I've taken one of his ideas and added it to my gardening. I built my own grow box, three sides wood, front and top is plexiglass. Now I plant my tomato and pepper plants in it late March from seed, once I transplant those to garden I have a free place to start my late season brocholli and sqaush. When that is done and transplanted I plant lettuce, picked fresh lettuce on Christmas! Grow box is 8'X3'X30". Just face it south, great use of a small space. Grown radish and carrots in there also. All after starting my row plants"

The idea is to face them where they get the most sunlight and the "Frame" usually through glass heats up and creates a greenhouse effect. It warms up the soil quicker and keeps the heat in so before/ after season it extends your growing season. You can google and see many kinds

Do you vent your cold frames? What keeps the plants from getting to hot? h.h.

Anyone else use Preen to keep their garden clean of weeds? I use it and Preen does a great job around the plants. h.h.

HH - I do not vent my cold frames. As the weather gets warmer I will open them up at times during the day if it is warm and close them before night fall. Most of the time I never open them and when it gets to be Summer time, I don't even use them. Worked for me - others might do it differently.

Preen is a must for my garden. That stuff is awesome. Saves me HOURS of weeding.

I'd be happy to just grow tomatoes without blossom end rot!

Ill fix that for ya rookie...

All ears...

Blossom end rot happens because of one of two conditions.

1. If it is on first fruits, it is because of plants set out too early and ground was too cold. Later fruits should be ok.

2. The most common cause is hot dry weather, the fruit is not getting enough moisture. Water the plant early in the morning and soak both leaves and ground. You don't want moisture overnight as it tends to give your plants fungus which is worse than the end rot. If you till between rows of tomatoes don't till more than 1" deep, breaking the root system also will hinder the plants ability to get enough water to make fruit.

What joe said but i only water at the basse..never the leaves

Unfortunately I don't have any children but mostly wanted to do it just for something to do and to save some money on produce.... All I plant is tomatoes and bell peppers....

I guess another question would be why not just plant them in the ground instead of using a raised bed? Also how tall should they be?

Thanks!

You guys around Indy needing plants or seed I recommend .....

Cox's Plant Farm
6360 S Co. Rd. 0
Clayton, IN 46118
They are located on
U.S. 40 just
West of Indianapolis
call for directions!!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...usg=AFQjCNF jQ4snuhJR-4wus74N6dxIK8EFvg

They have one of the largest lawn &
garden centers in Indiana

I was told blossom/end rot was due.to a lack of calcium in the soil. Good application of lime will help this. Anyone grow asparagus? We have a small patch that should be eating size this year and I plan on expanding it by 5-10 more crowns.

Asparagus sounds good... Do you have any troubles growing it?

Look slike from this read that uk and JB are both correct:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_BlossRt.htm

Asparagus? yuck haha Glad you like it.

Good link bean!

What does everyone do for tomato stakes / cages?

I have the round cages and reinforce with metal stakes.

Problem is the height....once they get over ~4 feet tall and a storm comes thru, they are drooped over the rest of the year.

Cherry 100 could be 7-8 feet tall or more if staked well. Need to do something different next spring!

I really enjoy gardening now that I'm older. Like Joe I don't raise corn in my garden, my brother grows it on the outside rows of his fields. Thus I barter with him. I like to raise a variety of items with tomatoes as the main commodity. No one has mentioned the fabled zucchini or the Italian and yellow squash. Easy to grow and very productive. I have an asparagus patch that was here when I bought the place 30 years ago. Still producing and I have done nothing to help it out. We lost our rhubarb a few years back and I want to replace it. Any help here would be appreciated. I have a large area so I space my rows far enough apart that I can drive my garden tractor and 4 foot disc between the rows for weed control.

My sister use to raise asparagus for market in Michigan. She salted the asparagus field for better production. Not quit sure why but that is what she told me. She had an acre and sold to a few supermarkets.


A friend use concrete reinforcement wire for tomato cages. The wire is not cheap but it sure is strong and doesnt fall down. Someone gave the wire to him. Im going to use 6 foot wood stakes and wire to make cages this year. h.h.

Last year I zipped tied my tomato and pepper plants as they grew to the stake so they didn't droop over.... Just make it tight enough to hold them up against the stake but don't make it too tight...

I have the same issue with tomatoes. No matter what I do they droop at some point. In trying to keep them clean and to help with weeding, I spend an extra couple hours each Spring putting down newspaper (2-3 deep) covered with 4" of straw. It is amazing how that helps along w/ the Preen. That 2 hours spent saves me many many hours of weeding down the road. When the plants are small I put it down around all me cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and melon. After the season I just till it under. That extra couple hours and 10 bucks works great for me.

Rhubarb must be on high and well drained soil,as well as full sun. The sandyer the better,mulch well with leaves for the winter.

I agree the best tomato baskets are those made out of concrete support. I am still using some that were made over 15 years ago. I use plastic tent stakes to hold them upright.