[brenda67]

I'm still thinking more about this..

I added 3 more new Earthboxes to my collection that I plan on growing Bell Peppers & Ghost Peppers in..by growing them in the Earthboxes I know for sure that I will have a abundance of them verses growing in my diseased raised beds.

Planting tomatoes,green beans,cabbage,basil,squash for sure..I'm really concentrating on foods that I can preserve for the off season months.

If my dh can build me some more raised beds (which he promised me) then I will use a different garden method of using sand & wood mulch plus all natural fertilizer to grow carrots,onions & potatoes in..These are staple foods that my family eats year round..

Still pondering the idea of using my cousins field to plant in.

I would really like to plant a few more fruit trees.

What about you?

Got your garden all planned out?

What is your garden method -raised beds,in the ground,Earthboxes,Grow Bags?

Any special techniques/hints that you could share on how you grow your food?

 

[Spirit Deer]

I know you're a self-sufficient person, so I'll respectfully suggest you build a raised bed yourself. That's an easy project and a good way to learn about using power tools and doing things like leveling something that may be on uneven ground. Plus, if your husband has already built some raised beds for you, you have something right in front of you to copy, so you don't have to start from scratch planning things, just measure what's already there and look at how it's put together and do the same.

I'm a huge advocate for women learning to do what's been traditionally thought of as "men's work." Being able to build your own stuff and do repairs requiring tools or even just being able to hang a picture or put up a shelf opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities for us as women. And after all, what are sewing machines and electric mixers but power tools? If we women can run those, why can't we run drills and saws?

No offense is intended by my previous remarks. It just throws me right back to the 1960's when I read about women waiting for their men to do something for them. It almost makes me want to go out and burn my bra, but since the consequence of that action would be something nobody would ever need to see at my age, I'll just post my thoughts on the topic here instead.

As for what I'll plant, it won't be much and if we have another late spring, it probably won't be anything. So that would most likely be green beans, cukes, and snap peas in the raised bed, and tomatoes, peppers, and some other potted stuff on the side deck, if I can figure out how to keep the dog from eating everything.

 

[brenda67]

SD~do to both of my arms having torn rotor cuffs that need surgery no freaking way would I be building those raised beds!

I know what you mean about being independent and learning to do things on your own as a women..but that is why I married the man that I did not only because I love him but that he can build,fix and do just about anything...

I'm not your average woman either at least in my neck of the woods or people I know..I do a lot of things other women don't do,don't know how to or have don't have any interest in like making food from scratch, pressure canning, growing a variety of perennial foods, foraging wild edibles, making your own medicinal medicines, making & using a homemade rice pack to keep yourself warm during the winter months(I use mine daily), homemade laundry detergent and the list goes on & on..

It might sound not uncommon to you or people on these type's of forums..but people around me don't do these things..

So I think my dh and I balance each other out

 

[Spirit Deer]

I know you're not average, and that's why I mentioned it, but I do see your point. Sorry to hear about your injuries.

My husband and I balance each other too, in different ways than you and yours do, so it works for us like your marriage works for you. I feel pretty lucky about that.

I would have to agree about it seeming like so many people don't do the things you do. I think it's too bad that when women did start burning their bras, they also seemed to start feeling like traditional homemaking skills were beneath them. I grew up in that era of rebellion but I've always felt like being taught those skills from an early age was and is a fantastic gift, as was my dad and mom both teaching me skills that were more traditionally done by men. I've always felt like I had more freedom than people who don't have the skills I was taught, because I can do all those things for survival as well as go out and get a job instead of being forced to stay home like women used to be. I have the best of all worlds now.

I wish I was a better gardener. It's very difficult to grow stuff here, given our short summers and hard winters and unreliable summer weather. I do hope I can build a greenhouse sometime.

 

[brenda67]

Now, I wasn't taught any skills from my parents really..I'm really just self taught by watching youtube video's and reading self help books..LOL..

OT: I love how each one of my family members are self sufficient or have a skill in one way or another -we all benefit from one another on so many levels..I feel if the shtf we would fare better then most no doubt.

I know you have lots of Aerogardens already..But since your season is so short and other weather related problems maybe Earthboxes would be a solution for you?

Good Luck.

 

[Birdie]

I have 5 raised beds, each 4 feet x 8 feet and 12 inches high.

I keep one bed for growing longer term vegetables, I have garlic and potatoes in it now. The other 4 are planted with tomatoes, squash (both winter and summer) beans, peppers, basil and eggplant for warm-season plants. I limit my winter crops to one bed and only grow kale, green onions and maybe chard, parsley and cilantro. I plant the other beds with a cover crop that I cut down and dig into the beds in early spring. It's considered a raw compost.

I start eggplant and pepper seeds in early February and tomatoes in med February. All are up and under the grow lights for now. I will transplant them into 4 inch pots when they are a little larger and plant in the garden in mid April.

I had a problem with my dogs in the vegetable garden so I put a temporary fence around it. T-stakes pounded into the corners and 4 foot high fencing wire zip-tied to the posts. That took care of the dogs and made my vegetables safe.

My raised beds were built with 12 foot redwood, with 4 feet cut off each end. Stainless steel L-brackets screwed into the corners keep the frame together. I filled the beds with 70% top soil and 30% compost, and I add compost every year. I make my own from my garden clippings and vegetable scraps. I also add fertilizer each season before I plant.

I take my garden seriously because I eat mostly from my garden 6 months out of the year. I also love growing my own food.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I've learned a lot on my own over the years, too. But the most valuable thing I learned from my parents wasn't necessarily so much specific skills, but they taught me that it was okay to try new things, and that I could do anything even if I wasn't the "correct" gender. My maternal grandmother also taught me a valuable lesson, that if something was already broken, I didn't have much to lose by trying to fix it. I'm successful at fixing stuff quite often, but I admit it always surprises me when it works. LOL. I really think I should have been an engineer.

I only have space for six AeroGardens now because six more of them fit only on low shelves and Sota picks our produce when we're not looking. We don't call the beast Hoover for nothing. But since I put the three tomato gardens up where he can't get them, suddenly we have a ton of cherry tomatoes. For quite a while I was watching them ripen on the low shelf and then they'd suddenly be gone. I thought Husby was picking them and taking them to work for lunch, which is fine. He does that sometimes. But then I caught the wooly beast neatly nipping the ripe tomatoes off of one of the gardens. What a brat! It still made me laugh though, even though those tomatoes cost us approximately $14,000 per pound. I looked at Earthboxes a few years ago and was really interested, but I couldn't get past the cost so I made my own from cat litter pails. They do work quite well. They're great for people like us who forget to water things, and for vacations when we can load up the bottom reservoirs and not have to worry about the plants drying out.

Your raised beds sound wonderful, Birdie. And you're so organized. I'm green with envy. All but my thumbs, of course, which I fear will never be green for any reason.

One of our biggest problems here is the wildlife. They're very opportunistic so we often don't see any of our crops. I'm slowly learning what they don't like and trying to stick to growing that stuff. We don't have any large area where we could put a garden, and there's no way to till rocks, so building gardens here is an expensive proposition, too. No real farmers markets either, so we can't even buy bulk produce to make pickles and can tomatoes. I sorely miss that. We had the best farmers market when we lived in Minneapolis and I used to can quite a bit of stuff. I miss that.

 

[brenda67]

Birdie~your garden sounds a lot like my garden.

 

[Birdie]

Brenda, you have much more property than I have. Your garden looks great.

I squeezed my vegetable garden into a small suburban backyard. Half is landscaped with food and the other half with landscape plants. I do have 3 citrus bushes and 9 blueberries tucked into half barrels too. I would love to have more space, but the work would increase to more than I can handle. I also have a small greenhouse which I love. It's only 6 x 8 but does what I need it to do.

 

[brenda67]

I'm so excited that my son was able to post a picture for me!

I'm trying to find a picture to show you all the swinging door that dh made me..he took wire and shaped it to look like a chicken with a piece of wire over the chicken that mean's no chickens allowed..this is why I had my dh fence in my garden..lol..

Everything you see was done by my dh,myself and my kids.

 

[wjcalderon]

I built my raised beds with cinder blocks - they will never rot!
I just lined them up and filled with a good planting mix.
I only have 2 for now, but I think I need at least one more.

 

[Spirit Deer]

We used cinder block too. We capped the sides with four inch flat concrete blocks, which are nice to sit on while working in the garden. When we first moved to our lake property, we had a single wide mobile home here. When that was moved off the place, the crew left all the blocks it was sitting on so we had a big stack of them. I really like those for that kind of project.

 

[sunshine]

I plant huge gardens, since we have the space and I'd rather grow food than mow a lawn.

We have our "table garden" where I grow things that we'll eat immediately, then I have my canning garden which is much larger, and has the things I can for winter use (and give to my dd who has celiac and doesn't have the space to have a huge garden), then we have our $1 garden ,where I grow as much food as possible for $1 in seeds/plants and donate to the senior center. This year we are adding in an even bigger garden to grow items for the food pantry, and we're adding back in a huge section for winter squash/pumpkins, etc. to sell and donate.

 

[brenda67]

I plant huge gardens, since we have the space and I'd rather grow food than mow a lawn.

We have our "table garden" where I grow things that we'll eat immediately, then I have my canning garden which is much larger, and has the things I can for winter use (and give to my dd who has celiac and doesn't have the space to have a huge garden), then we have our $1 garden ,where I grow as much food as possible for $1 in seeds/plants and donate to the senior center. This year we are adding in an even bigger garden to grow items for the food pantry, and we're adding back in a huge section for winter squash/pumpkins, etc. to sell and donate.

You already know you are my hero

 

[brenda67]

View attachment 35466

I built my raised beds with cinder blocks - they will never rot!
I just lined them up and filled with a good planting mix.
I only have 2 for now, but I think I need at least one more.

I love the way your garden looks so nice and manicured

My cinder block beds were suppose to be stacked 2-cinder block high in a L shape..I had had the design in my head so it would be easier for me with my back & arm problems as well as when I get older..it would be wheelchair accessible.

In time I will redo my garden beds that way or even 3-cinder block high.

 

[brenda67]

Here's a picture of part of the Gate my dh made me..I accidentally left the gate open so my chickens just walked right in before I could close it..LOL..

 

[Brat]

Going to do tomatoes, bell peppers, a few potatoes, have walking onions, Not going to be a big one as I am the only one that likes this stuff.. put green beans last year used one bag and it wasn't eaten.. Will have cucumber on the fence again and that is about it..

 

[brenda67]

Brat`~I've had no luck growing potatoes at all. Do you grow enough to last until the next growing season?

This past November I planted walking onions-do you use them a lot in your cooking? Are they strong tasting? Have you grown your 's for a long time for them to multiply? Questions..Questions..:listen:

 

[Raiquee]

Brenda you know this is my subject!!

I just finished my garden plan. I have a 50'x50' garden. Last year, we harvested around 1000lbs in food, and we planted it very unproductively because we were trying to get things in the ground. This year I have it planted high intensity style (which is how I've planted my garden for 7+ years). This style of gardening only works if you're going to heavily feed your garden in fall/winter. We amend with a ton of organic compost, a layer of leaves we let break down over winter, and this year we will be also doing a green cover crop to help fix nitrogen.



We are doing blocks with walkways on either side. We are also doing a lot of shell beans. This garden is our annual garden. We also have a perennial garden, as well as a chicken garden. I am still planning those gardens out.

 

[Raiquee]

In case it's hard to read: 20x20 block of sweet corn, 8 rows of green bush beans, 2 rows celery, 6 rows carrots, 3 rows peppers, 2 rows tomatoes, 4 rows calypso beans, 8 rows pinto beans, 4 rows northern beans, 2x2 foot blocks of basil, dill, oregano, thyme, parsley, cilantro, quinoa, lettuce, spinach, radishes, beets, 10 rows onions, 1 row broccoli, 1 row Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, eggplant, ground cherries, zucchini, 4 rows chickpeas, 1 row salad bar with a hoop house, 1 row peanuts, 4 row potatoes, 1 row sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, Hubbard squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkins, jubilee watermelon, moon n stars watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, 10' cucumbers and finally, 20' sugar snap peas.

*out of breath*