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Any home gardeners here?

Rod

Rod

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Jan 4, 2001
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This year I'll be growing several types of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, broccoli, lots of peppers, eggplant, lots of herbs and more). I planted several banana trees around the yard too, so we'll have a surplus of bananas soon. They grow very fast; planted them last year, and am expecting a large harvest this year. Hopefully the weather this year isn't as eradicate as last year. Oh yeah, sugar cane too!

I started some Virginia Gold tobacco seeds in the grow room as well. I grew tobacco many years ago, and they did great, so looking forward to this years crop. More for fun than anything else.

Let's hear what you plan on growing this year (if you're into growing...).
 
Sounds great! It's a real challenge to grow a lot here so we keep it small. Tomatillos, peppers, cherry tomatoes for the most part. I miss easy growing but not long stretches of cloudy days, scraping ice or shoveling snow.
 
We’ve long since moved on from the large one location garden. As the trees grew around the yard it ruined the light needed to continue. But, we do still grow in various places. We have a healthy herb garden with rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, chives, and parsley on the path next to the hot tub. Jalapeno and Serrano peppers in a two bay soapstone sink on the side of the garage. Tomatoes, and cucumbers on the deck and lastly pumpkins on the edge of the walkway of the bigger of two perennial gardens.
We joined a farm share last year for the first time and really enjoyed it and have re-upped for this year. We received a lot vegetables that we would never have grown or even bought in the grocery store. Got to love fresh vegetables!
 
My wife is heavy in to aeroponics so we have several indoor gardens growing everything from tomatoes to greens, cucumbers, strawberries etc. It’s nice to have fresh homegrown produce year round.
 
It's been about 4 years now sence I had a garden. Life got crazy and have not had a chance to prepare the ground. I always did a 30ft wide by 100ft long garden with beef stake tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, okra, leaf and head lettuce, cabbage, green beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon. Never was very good at growing root vegetables though. May have to try them in a pot when I get the time again.
 
Any of ya'll suggest any starting books or websites for someone wanting to get into it? I tried a few different times over the past few years but would get frustrated with the pests, ants, re-growing grass in a tilled area, or dead/diseased plants and gave it up for a few years at a time. Hoping to get some above ground beds installed this coming spring.
 
Thoughts said:
Any of ya'll suggest any starting books or websites for someone wanting to get into it? I tried a few different times over the past few years but would get frustrated with the pests, ants, re-growing grass in a tilled area, or dead/diseased plants and gave it up for a few years at a time. Hoping to get some above ground beds installed this coming spring.
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There are tons of youtube gardeners that post daily with lots of great info.

There are some good organic pesticides that help quite a bit. I use BT along with Neem Oil and Captain Jacks. Other than that, the pests aren't much of a problem.
 
I make my own soil now, as most soil out there is junk. Even the so called "organic" mixes. Unless you're buying something like Fox Farms, you're best off making your own. Not only is it easy, it saves a lot of money.
 
Thoughts said:
Any of ya'll suggest any starting books or websites for someone wanting to get into it? I tried a few different times over the past few years but would get frustrated with the pests, ants, re-growing grass in a tilled area, or dead/diseased plants and gave it up for a few years at a time. Hoping to get some above ground beds installed this coming spring.
Click to expand...
There are lots of youtube videos and channels on all things gardening. But I do have some books at home I can dig out and let you know what I have. As far as pests I have always used hot sauce diluted with water in a spray bottle. Just make sure you strain all the seeds and what not out before putting it in the spray bottle. The biggest thing that affects plants is how well your soil is prepaid. In a 30x100 foot garden i would mix in 3 tons of compost with a tiller every year just after last frost. Water heavily let sit for two weeks till agian and then start planting.
 
We'll have to post pictures of our grows this season. :)
 
I just bought a new gardening toy. Should be here in a couple of weeks. Taking this season of gardening to the next level, and incorporating hydroponics (aeroponics to be exact). This will result in cleaner overall vegetables with less need to use organic pesticides. Going to be growing in a hydroponic tower garden.

I've done NFT and DWC with great success, however this new piece of hardware really takes it to the next level, allowing for far more growth and much less water, as it's aeroponics. Assuming I can get it all dialed in correctly (which shouldn't be a problem), I'll be reducing my soil footprint of garden beds and moving more towards the tower garden. Not only do plants grow much faster in water, but this will allow me to grow a ton more in a much less space. Overall much cheaper and cleaner as well. Going to be focusing on pak choi and Thai water spinach to start. Stay tuned... :)

Here's what they look like:
 
We’re hoping to put up a 30’ hoop greenhouse this spring. The long term garden is a few years out, but that should keep us busy for now lol.
 
Rod said:
There are tons of youtube gardeners that post daily with lots of great info.

There are some good organic pesticides that help quite a bit. I use BT along with Neem Oil and Captain Jacks. Other than that, the pests aren't much of a problem.
Click to expand...
Healthy plants are much less susceptible to pathogens & pests. I was usda organic certified for 3 years, commercially producing vegetables. Every time I had a pest or disease issue (except soil borne disease), I did a tissue test to find what nutrient it was deficient in, 8/10 times I was able to determine the issue. I found with heirloom tomatoes, which are very susceptible to soil borne disease, I could protect the roots by using a commercially available soil inoculent, and then feeding that good bacteria with blackstrap molasses, crowding out the bad bacteria. I had the best success growing in hq mushroom compost, that I would stockpile by the semi loads, and finish it, meaning letting it fully go through the heat cycle.
Miss growing food, but don’t miss farmer stress, worrying constantly about what was coming that I couldn’t mitigate. That was mfn stink bugs one year, but found out the premier stink bug expert in the world was 5 miles from me… strong green tea has me rambling
 
Nice! What are you growing? I started a bunch of pak choi and just moved them outside into one of the hydroponic systems. Starting a different variety of pak choi now along with buttercrunch lettuce. All will be grown in hydroponics this time, using different NFT systems. I'm eliminating more than half of my Birdies beds and replacing them with different hydro systems, that can grow a ton more in less space. I'll take pictures once I have the new system fully setup. Working on the electrical right now.
 
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