Summer garden

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hafte
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:40 am

Summer garden

Post by hafte »

Hey anyone started a garden for the summer? I usually have a salsa garden, but this year I found the Sq Ft Gardener book. Good stuff so I’m going a bit nuts this year. I have two beds already. Onions, spinach, garlic in varying stages of growth ready to put in this week. I might get brave and put out some of the corn too. The snap peas and the snow peas are about ready also. The beans are up, both pole and bush, along with cucumbers, carrot and beets. The peppers, eggplant, more snap peas and a few flowers are in the sprouting trays.

I plan to get at least one more bed with some squash and pole beans grown vertically. Should be a fun summer. I still need to buy a couple of tomato plants since I started so late and don’t have sun box yet. I don’t think I would get too much trying those from seed this late. I should be able to get some radishes and beets in around the bean and tomatoes until they the cover the square, and I need to get some greens in for salad too.

The strawberries I planted last year are kick up big. Got to cover them up with some wire so the birds don't get to them first.

Anyone else get out to the garden in the summer?

Hafte
G-man
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Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: northern sierra nevada

Post by G-man »

Good for you, hafte. I, too, really like to grow stuff. We live at 4,000 ft elevation. I grow and preserve almost all of our veges. Specialties are watermelons, pinto beans, soy beans (for homemade tofu). We grow chile peppers (in the green house) and celantro (in the garden) all year round for 'mostly fresh' salsa in the winter (use my own canned tomatoes). Fresh salsa is the best food in the universe. We have garden fresh spinach and lettuce all year round by using cold frames to keep the snow off. Here's some pics from last year.


Image

Image

Ha! That's my big ol' planer in the middle of the garden. I've got to move that thing one of these days.

There are other garden areas that aren't in the pictures, and the garden is much bigger this year. So much fun!

The food that most Americans eat travels an average of 1500 miles to get from the farm to the dinner table. We could save an awful lot of fossil fuel if more people grew some of their own food.

G-man
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bigKam
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Post by bigKam »

nice guys! Allyson and i just started up a small garden -- it's behind the "ski factory". hoping to get some nice produce this summer.
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endre
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Location: norway
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Post by endre »

Seems to be some sort of common attraction to gardening and skibuilding.. someone should make a veggie ski brand. You feel called G-man? Dried fruits and flowers under the topsheets, Hemp and flax for reinforcement and.. hey! wooden cores! ;)

By the way -did Kelvin manage to eat all of his vegetables last summer? He seemed to have enough!
hafte
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:40 am

Post by hafte »

Nice garden Gman, looks like you have lots of room. I had to keep it pretty small this year due to a roofing project in the next moth or so. I should be able to start up a couple of more boxes after that for some late summer and fall crops. I’m going to try to get some sun boxes going so I can have some fresh stuff later in the year. I planted one 4x4 this weekend, and still have to get the beans in that box. I’m just waiting for the last frost to happen before I put out the corn, cucumbers and tomatoes. We always get one last cold snap before the end of May.

Yep, I’m pretty tired of the limited variety, unripe, flavorless produce at the stores, and being dependent on them for my health. Not to mention the fossil fuel fertilizers and pesticides. “They“ say it doesn’t get into the food, but I have a hard time being convinced of that.

I think the self reliance of the garden and ski building really do go hand in hand. It feels good to have one less hook in you.

Hafte
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RoboGeek
Posts: 239
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:08 pm
Location: Middle of a cornfield...

Post by RoboGeek »

yup.. got garlic, onions, tomatoes and hot peppers growing for me, and beets and beans for wifey
I used to be a lifeguard, but some blue kid got me fired.
Wheezer
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Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:10 am
Location: Upstate NY

Post by Wheezer »

So far, my wife and I have planted strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, asparagus, and a few fruit trees. Next weekend will be for vegetables. A friend gave me a tiller last year and I have been going wild with it. My garden is next to my ski 'factory' (formerly a chicken coop).
G-man
Posts: 600
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: northern sierra nevada

Post by G-man »

endre wrote:
someone should make a veggie ski brand. You feel called G-man?
I'm kinda well know around these parts for the chili peppers I grow, often year round. One of my friends thought that I should name all of my skis after a different variety of chili pepper. I made a pair of skis for him that had chili pepper fabric laminated under the top sheet... the only 'vege ski' I ever built. :)

Image

Worked every day for about the last ten days on the garden. Gonna be a bumper crop of strawberries this year... if I can just keep all of the critters out. :?

G-man
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RoboGeek
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Location: Middle of a cornfield...

Post by RoboGeek »

I use my peppers for some very hot sauce, which I use in everything - but mostly homemade beef jerky
I used to be a lifeguard, but some blue kid got me fired.
allyson
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Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:48 pm
Location: reno, nv

Post by allyson »

it's nice to see other gardens and hear what you all are planting--gives me some ideas! our plants are still in the infant stages, and as this is my first official garden, i'm hoping that these little plants make it through the summer! i bought a book called "gardening for dummies" (i like those 'dummies' books--maybe someday they'll make a "skibuilding for dummies" ;)), it's actually been quite helpful in answering a lot of my questions. so far we have carrots, cilantro, spinach, lettuce (2 kinds), zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, tomatoes, and watermelon. i've been told that watermelon needs a lot of space--right now that plant is still a wee thing, but i'm wondering if i should plant her somewhere where she can spread out? hmm, any suggestions?
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RoboGeek
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Location: Middle of a cornfield...

Post by RoboGeek »

I had 3 little tomatoes for the last few weeks.. and the squirrels ate them yesterday! I'm thinking some squirrel stew might be tasty right about now.. grrrr
I used to be a lifeguard, but some blue kid got me fired.
powdercow
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Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:35 pm
Location: Orem, Utah

Post by powdercow »

Put in my first garden this spring. I have four boxes filled with tomatoes, peppers, spinach, lettuce, radishes, peas, cucumbers, squash, and of course the family favorite green beans (seeds are smuggled home from Switzerland by whoever visited last).

We had our first green salad from the garden the other night and the difference is so noticeable.

G-man -

Your garden like your woodshop makes me jealous

Hafte -

You probably already know this but there are some great fruit and vegetable stands in the area as an alternative to the "production produce" section of your grocer. The downside is the short growing season we have.
- Ben
hafte
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:40 am

Post by hafte »

Robogeek, I don’t have squirrels but was attacked by earwigs!!?!! Little blighters ate my radish tops, parsley, carrot tops, and the cauliflower. I went out after dark expecting to see slugs and these little things were everywhere. I squirted them with a bit of Dr. Bonners peppermint soap diluted with water that night. They really hated that. The next night I went out with a solution of boiled garlic water and sprayed everything with that since the garlic was not hit by them I figured they wouldn’t like that garlic water too much. That seems to have left a bad taste in their mouth also.

Powdercow, yep I know about them. Fruit row is just 30 min away, and the farmer’s market folks are still, like me, getting things in the ground. I should be able to have a bit of spinach in a few days. The mesclun is looking good too, and the strawberries are kicking it big this year.

As an experiment I bought a hardy self pollinating Kiwi that is supposed to be able to survive up to this zone. Should see it in the next few days.

Allyson, The water melon will take up as much room as you give it. Have a look at the square foot gardening books. Mel has melons and squash growing vertically on some netting. I’m going to give that a try this year myself with summer squash and some canalope.


Hafte
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