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It's time ~ the garden goes from hobby to necessity

32K views 548 replies 57 participants last post by  peanut 
#1 · (Edited)
Just returned home from my Dollar General coupon day (spend $25 - save $5...do it right, spend exactly $25 & it works out to 20% off everything you buy. That's all those $1 items now costing .80 cents)...My DG lets me do as many 'deals' as I want and I calculate them right to the penny of $25.... $25 worth of goodies for $20!!!

But this story is not about DG - so anyway, as I was driving home I noticed that gas has now gone up to $3.79 gal (that's 10 MORE cents since yesterday)....this is not good folks!

The weather is breaking and I have been staring at my garden plot in the backyard for the past few weeks, saying to the DH that I will once again plant a garden for us (Dh laughs hysterically at this comment every time. Where is the moral support here)...

Every year I plant. Some come up, most don't. The ones that make it above the dirt I somehow kill (by lack of water or weed takeover - I admit it...I kill them).

This year must be different. This year I can no longer call the plot my hobby that I can abandon at will when I grow tired of it. This year a garden is going to become a necessity everyone. Prices are going thru the roof and I see no end in sight.

You may say that not everything has gone up but let me tell you. I work in a grocery store. I watch items come in everyday that are now much larger packaging but have reduced contents inside and the prices are still the same. The manufacturers are playing with us consumers and your prices are very much going up on everything!

We need to do every tiny thing we can to keep as many of our dollars in our pockets as possible. A garden is one of the greatest ideas ever invented. It's very little outlay and a boatload of sweat equity. But the rewards can be stupendous!

I have a girlfriend who has a canner & the knowledge to use it so I made a deal with her the other day that if the garden has a bounty this year she comes with her supplies and shares the knowledge and I will share the bounty and we will can, can, can till we can can no more....
 
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#386 ·
Way to fight for those radishes! The pots look great. The pots in my pics going up the deck stairs are full of leaf lettuce. I can just go out there and snip off a bunch...

Some of the tomato plants are in the last pic of row one. Other than that they are outside the fence rails. The critters don't bother them, so I saved the fenced area for things they like to eat & tear up. There are about a dozen in pots scattered about the patio and the 2 new beds are also located away from the garden.
 
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#387 ·
Wow great looking garden you two. Sabrel, I just take the leaves off the romaine lettuce and leave some of the leaves from the core on the plant. Cut an X on the bottom of the core and planted it in moist soil. The yellow leaves turn green within a few days. It took a couple weeks but the new leaves are definately coming in. Hope it keeps on growing. Have it on the balcony so it gets sun from about noon on.
 
#388 ·
Interesting- I have not heard of doing that. I hope it grows for you!
 
#389 ·
Topic of great discussion at the Farmers Market this morning is the stress that is starting to show on the gardens.

Our county is now in the 'severe drought' category and the farmers at the market at getting a little worried.

Most have small time operations without the benefit or money available to have fancy irrigation systems in place. Everyone was so excited with the warmer weather this spring, and they say that about the only thing saving them at this point is that they were able to plant earlier than normal, this has allowed the plants to have larger and deeper root systems.

We have no rain predicted in sight and the weather forecast for the week is in the mid 90's, hot & sunny.

I hit my garden hard with water this afternoon. Just kept watering till the water stopped sinking in and had nowhere else to go. But first I turned all the dirt to get it nice and absorbent. Hopefully this will tide everyone over for a bit. Most of the tomato transplants that I put in yesterday are not looking too good. I think I might lose a bunch of them. I try to transplant on overcast days, but sure enough as soon as I moved them all - here comes the sun.... can't win for trying. But I am not giving up on them just yet, I will keep watering for a few days and see if they can bounce out of their funks.
 
#391 ·
Food Ingredient Recipe Fines herbes Plant


here is a pic of some fresh chunky salsa made from everything that we grew here, it has cherry toms, yellow pear toms, roma toms, jalapenos, onions and fresh chilantro. All was grown in our garden this year! My garden is fizzling out but of course mine has been producing for months now, i pulled all the dead cucumber vines but have another row coming up! Im glad i hate to buy cucs if i can grown them!
 
#392 ·
View attachment 23899

here is a pic of some fresh chunky salsa made from everything that we grew here, it has cherry toms, yellow pear toms, roma toms, jalapenos, onions and fresh chilantro. All was grown in our garden this year! My garden is fizzling out but of course mine has been producing for months now, i pulled all the dead cucumber vines but have another row coming up! Im glad i hate to buy cucs if i can grown them!
That looks marvelous Freebs!

So do you have an 'official' tally of what your garden produced this year?
Was it worth the effort and do you think you saved a boatload of money by growing your own?
 
#393 ·
Well not an official record keeping, i guess i should have. I know that we have harvested over 100 cucumbers at the grocery store i know right now those are at .99¢ each, close to 80 banana peppers at the grocery store they are $2.25 each. close to 50 squash and they are running 1.79 per lb at the store. The green beans we got a few gallons, i have no idea what they are at the store. I think around 5lbs of strawberries which i think is good for just replanting the strawberry bed this year. I know i also had 30lbs of potatoes, i have close to 25 watermelons growing well, and i planted peanuts this year just to see what they would do. I got minimal blueberries this year as i just planted them this year, a few pounds of peaches from the trees. I know that i have spent $108 for compost, nothing on containers. I havent noticed the water bill going up as i use as much rain water as i can. I have also harvest quiet a few dollars worth of fresh herbs too. Next year i need to keep better track of it i guess...lol. We do it for the homegrown taste!
 
#396 ·
Well DRAT! Something ate our strawberries before they ripened. :( On the good side of things, the Lemon Boy tomatoes are blooming! And, it looks like two of our cucumbers are going to survive. I had DH move them more in the sun. They are struggling. Gotta hit everything with fertilizer real soon...as soon as it stops raining...
 
#397 ·
Rain? What's that?
We actually had 10 minutes of gentle rain this morning. And then it's done, that's it. No more till August probably....

(Sorry about your strawberries)... My neighbor told me the deer got into her garden the other night and tore it up pretty bad. I am glad I have the fencing around mine. She said her hubby is going to start sleeping out there to protect it at night... poor guy!
 
#398 ·
Another 2 bowls of lettuce from the patio pot.

The pepper plants are loaded with small peppers, the tomato plants with tiny tomatoes. The squash has great big beautiful yellow flowers... things are a hopping around here.
 
#401 ·
Um ~ come here?????

Just came in from watering. Everything is so darn dry. You would never have known that I even watered yesterday.
But on the plus, everything is growing with leaps and bounds (as long as I continue to stay on top of the watering)...miss even one day and I think it will all be over. Everything is wilted and looking so sad before I get out there to water. In the mornings everything is all perky and cheery... (till the sun beats down upon them)...
 
#403 ·
Look at the big beautiful squash leaves... Plant Leaf Groundcover Flowering plant Terrestrial plant
Plant Leaf Botany Flower Groundcover
Plant Leaf Groundcover Flowering plant Terrestrial plant


The round shiny thing in the middle of the leaf is a quarter to show how big this thing is... and I have a bunch like that~
 
#404 ·
yesterday i harvested a 3 gallon bucket full of cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes, another 20 jalapenos, and 15 more eggplant. squash is done and most of my cucumbers are done but have a 2nd planting coming up fast!
 
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#405 ·
It's hot here. 99.3 according to my weather station. No rain, blaring sun. The grass is getting brown, I am sure the trees are going to start suffering here soon. We are in severe drought stage. Haven't got an official burn ban in my county yet, but surrounding ones are already in effect. Authorities are worried about July 4th coming up. Looking forward to a bunch of fires caused by fireworks. Have not banned the fireworks yet though.

Although I have turned the dirt in the garden every 2 days, it is now starting to become harder and harder. There is no moisture left at all, even though I am watering everyday. Every day before watering I can see what was the day before soft freshly turned dirt now cracking from the heat.

Today I fertilized. I have zucchini's that are 4-6 inches long and I swear they were not there 2 days ago. The plants themselves do not appear to be suffering greatly, but I an currently devoting my entire life to them - so they better not!
 
#406 ·
3 wonderful zucchinis from the garden....

Just cooked one up:

Olive oil
Chopped zucchini, onion, tomato, 1/2 chili pepper (from the garden), fresh garlic, cumin & oregano
Stir fried it all up and my it's yummy....

It's gonna be a great summer!
 
#407 ·
Decided to use the garden today. Since the only thing really growing is herbs decided to make a basil and mint mayonnaise. Turned out pretty good and went well with the steak.

Once the lettuce I have in the fridge is eaten will pick some of the romaine lettuce that is growing.
 
#408 ·
Was able to cut cilantro to use for flavouring tabbouli last evening. Cut some dill for our salmon last night for supper. I have four flowers on my Lemon Boy tomatoes. A couple on my Sweet 100 plant. Things seem really slow this year. Radishes aren't producing round bulbs at all. I thinned them out some more to give them more room. I don't know... Lettuce is being eaten by something after it gets about 2" tall. :sigh:

Thankfully we had guests last evening who brought us farm fresh eggs, garden fresh lettuce, and some fresh dill.
 
#411 ·
I picked a squash from the garden today, and honestly I have no idea what it is. I even looked it up in the encyclopedia. It is shaped like a zucchini and has part of the coloring, but it also has light green stripes running through it. It is rigged like an acorn or carnival squash, but is long and skinny instead of round.... strange, very strange...

I read that it could be a cross between two squashes, coz that can happen in the garden. I got myself a mutant....

...and I can't wait to eat it!
 
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#412 ·
I don't know if any of you have problems with slugs; but I have tried many things and have NEVER gotten rid of them. Sooooo I tried another one of those remedies that people come up with AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!!! Usually they make my hosta look like swiss cheese by this time of year;. . . . . . . When the hosta started coming up I put sandpaper all around it. There is not one hole in my hosta; soooooooo next year it will be around all of my garden plants. Just some info if any of you need it.

Peanut I have been gardening for over 30 years and I cannot get a radish to get round. They are like toothpicks and I spaced them and NOW I give up. 2 years in a row I tried!!!!!!!!
 
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