Anyone else garden? If so, what?

[Teirin]

I'm a noob gardener but I grew some peas, swiss chard, tomatoes, strawberries, and herbs on my fire escape last year.  Have already picked up more seeds for swiss chard and sugar snap peas. 

[joedog]

I grow a few things. My big accomplishment last year was popcorn. I've got heirloom watermelons to try this year.

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[Tony]

I have two 18'x4' raised beds I put in a few years ago. I don't remember what we have planned this year off the top of my head, but there's always tomatoes, peppers, peas, basil, parsley, and strawberries.

[Teirin]

Thus far we have a trend of gardening monks :-)

 

Ooooh, heirloom watermelons sound good!

[RisenPhoenix]

I always wanted to garden - my parents had one when I was younger, but it didn't workout too well.  I want to try and get one going in my back yard this summer if my land lord will let me take over some space.  But otherwise I'm thinking window boxes on my porch.  At the moment I have a lucky bamboo... and I basil plant that was doing so well, until I left for a week and it froze to death in my apartment

 

(And yes, continuing the trend of monk gardeners.)

[Tony]

http://www.globalbuckets.org/

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/

 

I've had a lot of success diy'ing the global bucket and earthtainer (linked above). They are easy to make and maintain, and they're amazingly easy to grow things in.

[Teirin]

Since you all seem more experienced, can I use the leftover bag of soil from last year?  I'm guessing not since it is currently frozen on my front step.

[Tony]

I would say yes, if you can scoop it when you need it, then use it. Technically there is an increased risk of fungal infection; however, I've never had that much of a problem when using old soil. If it's been left out in the weather, then you need to get some nitrogen rich fertilizer to replace the N that has washed away.

[Teirin]

Yay!  Thanks.  I have Miracle grow.

[Teirin]

That's very cool!  Do you need to use any special filters or anything for that sort of setup?  Do not have fish so I have no idea if bacteria is an issue there.

[Teirin]

Eh yeah, good to start smaller in general. 

[apike]

I love plants. I love bugs (as long as not in the house, and with a few exceptions of course).

 

My living room is crammed full. Practically a jungle in here. A quick glance around and I see Christmas Cactus's, allow, some frond thing, ficus, basil, rosemary, jade, orchids, pothos, a fern, lucky bamboo, spider plants, begonias, and my African violet. And a million more Xmas cactus seedlings taking up most of the kitchen counter. Upstairs I have an avocado tree I grew from a grocery store pit, a desert rose, various cactus. Pretty much every flat surface is covered in plants.

 

January and February is when my Christmas Cactus bloom, so I'm working on those lately. It's soo much fun, even though it's wildly impractical to get seeds. Pollination is easy, but the fruit takes a full year to mature, and each fruit has around 100 seeds. I think I have 8 fruit to plant from last year 0.o

I don't know when I started with the Xmas cactus obsession - maybe 5 years ago? My first batch of seedlings are starting to get big enough to be called plants, although no blooms on any of them yet - they're in the wrong window for that, really.

 

As for outdoor gardening, my tactic is: dump a bunch of seeds randomly where they might do okay and see what grows. The south side of the house has a lot of carrots growing (which I grow for the flowers). Those are supposed to be butterfly friendly, but I mostly got bees. Lots and lots of bees. Honey bees, leafcutters, and who knows what else. Very cool to watch the different types of bees. That garden is also jam packed with various spring bulbs. Because bulbs are cool, and easy. On the north side I'll have a bunch of potted plants, my favorite of which is sweet peas. I had a really sad loss of almost all my collected sweet pea seeds last year, so I've restocked with a bunch of packets of really neat colors.

I usually see praying mantis at least once in the summer, without looking too hard. I liked the year one was hanging out on my screen door.

I watch for lady bugs too. There's a cool citizen science project to identify various species of ladybugs. I can tell at a glance now which are native, the European ones, and the Asian ones. (http://www.lostladybug.org/)

 

Gardens are so full of surprises. Last year my snapdragons survived the entire winter (zone 4) and were green the whole time. Turns out there are perennial snapdragons. I had no idea. Sadly, those particular ones were really really ugly colors, so I ripped them all out in the fall. I like watching for various mushrooms too. They're so weird and interesting.

 

The thing I suck most at growing, it seems, is things you can actually eat. Except carrots. Got that one nailed.

 

This year, I need to dig up a bunch of beds in the back yard and actually plant stuff back there. There's some nasty weed block and mulch, and not much else. Makes growing seeds difficult.

 

If you're growing stuff you like, I highly recommend collecting seeds from your own plants. Saves money and is fun! (I think seeds are the coolest. Tiny little things that explode into life.) You'll only get more of the same if you grow heirloom stuff though. Lots of food plants (and decorative plants too, actually) are hybrids and any seeds will produce weird (and possible not tasty/pretty) results. Hass Avocados are like that - although I doubt I'll ever get blooms and fruit from mine anyway, since that would probably require a greenhouse.

[Teirin]

Relevant to Cryosilver:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/aquaponics-a-growing-trend-in-urban-agriculture-1.2534250

[Teirin]

[Sweet Pea]

I've always done tomatoes and some herbs in pots and had some successful some not so successful attempts. This year we have a huge backyard to work with and have aggressive plans. Can't wait to get started, I'll have to steal some tips from here!

[Ascalon]

My garden is pretty small. I mostly focus on a kitchen garden. I live in the temperate east of Australia, and my courtyard faces west, so I get enough sun to grow must stuff right through the winter (I just have to make sure I water everything enough in summer).

 

I do herbs and aromatics in pots. Currently I have mustard, cress, basil, mint, continental parsley, french tarragon, rosemary, thai chillis, chives and lemongrass. I really want to grow coriander (cilantro), but after trying a few times I struggle with it going to seed too quickly (tips?). Next on my list is to get some big tubs and start growing horseradish and garlic, maybe some fancy lettuce.

 

I have a few dwarf citrus in pots - a lemon, a tahitian lime, and a kaffir lime. I also have a potted olive, and a potted bay laurel.

 

In the ground I have mostly low-maintenance Australian natives. My favourite is a large moonlight grevillia - beautiful plant, attracts a lot of birds.

[Mistr]

Since you all seem more experienced, can I use the leftover bag of soil from last year?  I'm guessing not since it is currently frozen on my front step.

 

You can use the leftover bag of soil.  Reusing soil in a pot without refreshing it is a bad idea.  I tested this two years ago.  Here is the full story.

 

I grew basil in a pot on my back step (year 1).  It was a great success.  I saved seed (in a plain envelope in my desk) over the winter.  The next spring (year 2) I wanted to expand so I would have enough basil to make pesto.  I set up a second pot next to the first one.  I planted seeds I'd saved in both pots.  When they got about 2" high I thined the seedlings.  The pot from year 1 had a little extra soil added to make up for what I pulled out on the roots of the old basil plants.  Mostly it was the same soil.

 

There was a difference in color, flavor and height between the two pots.  The seeds planted in fresh soil gave basil that was sweet and bright green.  The used soil gave basil that was darker, shorter and bitter tasting.  Clearly the basil from year 1 pulled some essential nutrients out of the soil.

 

Moral of the story - mix the soil from pots with fresh soil and compost every year, or use all fresh soil.

[Teirin]

Nice, data and everything!

[Deslok]

I have been gardening for a few years. Mostly I use containers or 5 gal buckets to grow in. But last year I did some hydroponic gardening on my porch with limited luck. I grew 3 types of basil, some heirloom white tomatoes, fingerling eggplant, cherry peppers, and little white strawberries. I tend to wait to long to plant so nothing is timed right. Also we had a very dry summer and all my basil bolted. 

 

This year I am going to try corn that has been bred to grow in containers, no bolt basil, red strawberries, and more white tomatoes. 

 

I have a great idea for an outdoor hydroponic system that I may or not build this year. Either way I will still be using containers to grow in.

 

I love when the seed catalogs come in the mail its like gardening porn. I get one catalog that is all crazy heirloom seeds.

[Mistr]

I started seeds indoors a week ago.  The first ones are up today!  I also saw tulips and rhubarb poking up in the garden.  Yay for signs of spring!  This is especially encouraging because more snow is predicted for later this week.

[Teirin]

I started seeds indoors a week ago.  The first ones are up today!  I also saw tulips and rhubarb poking up in the garden.  Yay for signs of spring!  This is especially encouraging because more snow is predicted for later this week.

 

One of my African Violets is blooming and it is also cheering.

[Teirin]

I have been gardening for a few years. Mostly I use containers or 5 gal buckets to grow in. But last year I did some hydroponic gardening on my porch with limited luck. I grew 3 types of basil, some heirloom white tomatoes, fingerling eggplant, cherry peppers, and little white strawberries. I tend to wait to long to plant so nothing is timed right. Also we had a very dry summer and all my basil bolted. 

 

This year I am going to try corn that has been bred to grow in containers, no bolt basil, red strawberries, and more white tomatoes. 

 

I have a great idea for an outdoor hydroponic system that I may or not build this year. Either way I will still be using containers to grow in.

 

I love when the seed catalogs come in the mail its like gardening porn. I get one catalog that is all crazy heirloom seeds.

 

Heirloom white tomatoes?  Neat.  How were they?

[Teirin]

Possibly a bit off topic but you all might enjoy this:

 

[bluecarfuffle]

Ascalon, for cilantro going to seed, or bolting, there's not much you can do to prevent it, it tends to do that if it gets too hot. What I do is plant it every few weeks, so that when it does bolt I've got back up. Maybe don't leave it the warmest corner you have, that might help.

Me, I plant ruccola and Swiss chard on my balcony, aromatics in the kitchen by the window, and this year, I have this crazy idea to grow amaranth in my box in my community garden, if the summer is v. warm it may work (I'm in Slovakia, central Europe, but it's a plant from the Andes).

My dream is to grow a majority of what I eat, but I'd probably need to move to a farm. I dream of chickens, bees, orchards. What are folks growing in cities?

[Mistr]

My dream is to grow a majority of what I eat, but I'd probably need to move to a farm. I dream of chickens, bees, orchards. What are folks growing in cities?

 

I have a large yard in the city.  I am planning on digging up a bed on the south side this spring.  We just lost a big ash tree on the boulevard to emerald ash borers.  That makes the south side of my yard sunny.  I am going to put in watermelon, raspberries, beans, and move the strawberries to the new bed.

 

I just bought more seeds yesterday.  I want to try growing cilantro this summer.  I can never use the whole bunch they sell in the market.  It is not that expensive, but I feel bad throwing half of it away.  I will put the cilantro and basil in pots.  Mostly I grow herbs, flowers and fruit.  I have a farm subscription that supplies almost all the vegetables we eat.  

 

I splurged and bought a bag of 50 gladiola bulbs.  They were only $10 on sale.  I love gladiolas but have never grown them.  I admire them in the market, but they are expensive.  I'll see how they do in my garden.  I have a lot of digging in front of me this spring.