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[Deb]

OK, how does your garden grow,or,in other words who else gardens,What do you grow, Do you can,and any tips on pests? Oh, anyone need zucchini,ha ha ,lol!

[Titus2:3wife]

I love to garden.  This is my fourth summer doing it ever in my life.  I have made a lot of mistakes, but am learning.  I do everything all natural and organic.  What kind of tips are you looking for?  And yes, I would like some zucchini.  It is the only seed that never sprouted this year.  Can you believe that?  Usually, it is the only seed that I can never kill!  Ha haa ha.
I grew: garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, peppers, herbs galore, cantelope, cucumbers, beans, broccoli and my favorite: collard greens.  MMmmmm!  We only have 70 sq. feet, so it wasn't much to can.  But I like to ferment my veggies instead of canning them.  Well, actually, the truth is, I don't know how to can, so fermenting is way easier. 
What do you have growing?

[kayinpa]

I garden a little.  WE live on a tenth of an acre, with four children a German Shepherd and 8 chickens, so we do not have a whole lot of room!     One from of gardening that I love is Square Foot gardening:  link here: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/.   I also grow some things in containers.  This year I didnt get my garden area ready in time, so the only thing we grew were tomatoes, wax beans, strawberries, gladiolas and miniature sunflowers.  I planted a couple of watermelons to and they are just starting to bear fruit!  Hopefully next year I will get more planted!

I do can when I have enough produce, but havent in a while. 

[Deb]

We don't have a lot of room either but we actually got a lot of food from small space! We had corn(mmmmmroastin ears), green beans, zucchini,tomatoes(beefsteak),green peppers, and carrots but they never got bigger than 1 inch and were really bitter, don't know what went wrong there.Tips I could use would be about how to get rid of bugs naturally,any info about raised beds,info about heirloom seeds ,organic composting and stuff like that cause if we are going to take the time to grow it ,it should be natural, huh.Did you know that all the corn seeds that places like walmart sells are from genetically engineered corn? At least that's what I was told, that almost all the corn grown today is.Also, this is so cool, got it from a little old fellow when buying tomato plants-that their are female tomatos and male tomatos.The male ones feel a little rough or fuzzy and the female ones are smooth. Never had heard that one and I grew up on a farm! Just shows how much our elders can teach us if we listen.

[Titus2:3wife]

I did the square foot gardening for the first time this year and I must say that I was not impressed very much.  I got more in my garden than I could before, but when the weeds started growing, I didn't have any rows to stand in to weed them.  Every spot had a plant and I had no place to stand, sit, crawl to weed without stepping on another plant.  It was quite hilarious to watch!
My beefstakes are just know turning orange and my pepper plant are JUST NOW flowering.  I don't think I will square foot next year.  I had heard about the corn.  We don't eat much, but when we do, I buy frozen organic.  But nothing beats some farm raised sweet corn!  MMMMmmm!
I use a flour and cayenne pepper mixture for my cabbage and other cruciferous veggies.  Seems to keep the worms at bay better.  Companion planting is good.  Marigolds do wonders for rabbits.  Other than that, we really don't have many insects.  Last year was bad for Japanese beetles and nothing worked for them.  We just would go out everyday and squash the little buggers! 
We have a cheap compost bin that we got from someone off of freecycle.  It is broke, but does okay. 
I like using compost and liquid kelp for fertilizer.  But two years ago, when we were poor, I used these two ideas:  My hubby went fishing and we would use the guts mixed with water(gross) and got some free poop(animal manure, sorry) and mixed it with a bucket of water and let it sit in the sun for a couple of days.  It was a "compost tea".  That worked nice.  If you or anyone else has a fish tank, save the water to use for your garden.  Just some ideas. 
I just wish I knew why my garden takes  off so fast and then dies down so quickly.  That is my biggest problem.

[HamDiggy]

Hmm.  I'd like to know, too (taking off then withering.)

I had horrible results this year!  I did -not- turn the soil!  I dug little 'pot' areas and turned just that - bad idea!

Even pumpkins (how can you NOT grow pumpkins?) are not yet appearing.  Still blossoms.

My neighbors (German) had an interesting garden that did super well.  He grew up on a farm.  He did huge mounds one foot across, one foot high, and a foot apart - rows.  On the tops he planted (way too close) all his seeds and little plants.  He used good soil and manure.  I thought for sure it wouldn't produce much being so crowded.

He has so much growing in that little patch like I've never seen before.

I did the square foot gardening for the first time this year and I must say that I was not impressed very much.  I got more in my garden than I could before, but when the weeds started growing, I didn't have any rows to stand in to weed them.  Every spot had a plant and I had no place to stand, sit, crawl to weed without stepping on another plant.  It was quite hilarious to watch!
My beefstakes are just know turning orange and my pepper plant are JUST NOW flowering.  I don't think I will square foot next year.  I had heard about the corn.  We don't eat much, but when we do, I buy frozen organic.  But nothing beats some farm raised sweet corn!  MMMMmmm!
I use a flour and cayenne pepper mixture for my cabbage and other cruciferous veggies.  Seems to keep the worms at bay better.  Companion planting is good.  Marigolds do wonders for rabbits.  Other than that, we really don't have many insects.  Last year was bad for Japanese beetles and nothing worked for them.  We just would go out everyday and squash the little buggers! 
We have a cheap compost bin that we got from someone off of freecycle.  It is broke, but does okay. 
I like using compost and liquid kelp for fertilizer.  But two years ago, when we were poor, I used these two ideas:  My hubby went fishing and we would use the guts mixed with water(gross) and got some free poop(animal manure, sorry) and mixed it with a bucket of water and let it sit in the sun for a couple of days.  It was a "compost tea".  That worked nice.  If you or anyone else has a fish tank, save the water to use for your garden.  Just some ideas. 
I just wish I knew why my garden takes  off so fast and then dies down so quickly.  That is my biggest problem.

[bowhunter]

I just wish I knew why my garden takes  off so fast and then dies down so quickly.  That is my biggest problem.

I'm a gardening nut, so I may get a little long winded, but here goes:

I've had the same problem with some of my veggies.  Someone told me to get a soil test - they guessed a big part of my problem was lack of lime.  I know it wasn't manure or water.  And I thought the problem might be lime, but I'm just too tight to spend money on a soil test.  I've heard several of the old timers around here say that concerning their farm row-crops, if you don't have the money to fertilize and lime, choose the lime.   Lime is essential for most plants to effectively utilize other nutrients.  My brother just finished building a dome house, and there was a lot of scrap drywall (which is mostly limestone), which they plowed into the ground for lime.  Their garden was unbelievable.  With no chemical fertilizers, they were picking 5 gallon buckets of greenbeans, multiple zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, huge cabbage & broccoli, etc. from a garden that was not more than 30ft X 100ft.  And the plants had the health and vigor of plants in a Miracle Grow commercial!  Also, it was a first year garden plot.  (I wouldn't advise using drywall without further research into chemicals, such as bonding agents, that may be in the drywall.)

We live in SE Missouri, and a big part of our difficulties this year was the heat and the timing of the rain.  The rain would come in several day-long wet spells, which promotes fungal growth that is especially detrimental to veggies of the squash family, like zucchini, pumpkins, etc.  It makes them wilt and die over a period of several days (certain insect pests may also cause this).   I've started a second garden plot on the top of a hill that has full sun, good drainage, and loose soil, and my squash family plants did exceptionally well there as compared to our plot next to the house that is partially shaded and doesn't drain well.   One way to get rid of excessive soil fungus is to repeatedly plow/disc/till the soil after every rain until it is time to plant that part of a garden.  One of the local commercial pumpkin growers uses this method.   Also concerning the moisture/fungus issue, I waited until many of the plants were reasonably large this year before mulching.  This improved production/plant health in several crops, like the green beans.  I think that waiting prevents excess soil compaction and fungus growth.  With the weather around here, we usually don't have to worry about low soil moisture until mid to late June, so that is when I try to have the mulch on. 

OK, how does your garden grow,or,in other words who else gardens,What do you grow, Do you can,and any tips on pests? Oh, anyone need zucchini,ha ha ,lol!

We use an organic pesticide called Pyola (from Garden's Alive), and it has given us successful insect control.  But be careful if you would decide to use it - it burns the plants if applied with day temps are greater than 90 degrees.  As for the rabbits - we found two effective methods of controlling them.  Two foot tall chicken wire around the entire garden & a .22 rifle from the second story bedroom window. (You might be a redneck if . . )

Another thing that has helped is that we purchased a rear-tine tiller, which has helped tremendously with weed control.  You can get really close the the plants without damaging them.  I would recommend getting one with forward-rotating and counter-rotating tines.

Also, we plant nearly all our crops on at least some type of ridge.  We get awesome germination rates this way - even with tender sprouts like carrots.  Reason being, it prevents compaction and seed rot associated with the heavy rains we often experience in the spring.   Also, the soil warms a bit faster on the ridges.  The looser soil makes weeding in between plants easier.

We are also considering using another gardening method - what I would consider to be an improvement on the square foot method.  The design makes it easy to turn the garden into a greenhouse in order to get fresh veggies all winter.  Info can be found at http://www.gardeningrevolution.com/

We found a place that has a broad selection of quality, very inexpensive, heirloom seeds.  The website is http://www.HeirloomAcresSeeds.com and it is a Christian family business.  We had super success with their seeds!

Last suggestion - make sure you are rotating your crops.

Hope some of these suggestions help several of you who had questions.

[Titus2:3wife]

Thanks Bowhunter for all your detailed advice.  I did a soil analysis this past year.  It was a cheap test, so don't really know how accurate it was.  But my soil  had some leftover clay that I put some peat moss in with compost.  And it was low in phosphorus, so I added some potash.  I will try some lime next year just to see.  But, actually, you have to add lime in the fall, don't you?
I do rotate, but not a whole lot with such a small space.  I will try the plowing before the planting thing that you mentioned.  Sounds like great advice.  And if it doesn't work out, then my family and I will be coming out to your neck of the woods to help ourselves to some veggies!!

[GoodGarlic]

My gardening tip for the year is to get more cabbage after your harvest your first head, cut an X in the plant where you cut off the cabbage, leaving all the big outer leaves in place.  4 or more smaller cabbages will grow!  I just harvested most of my new little cabbages and got an extra 6 quarts of sauerkraut!

[Jesus_Princess]

Do any of y'all have suggestions for a home pesticide?  For roses especially.

[ladyhen]

Do any of y'all have suggestions for a home pesticide?  For roses especially.

For an all-around deterrent, I usually put one clove of garlic  in the blender with a couple of cups of water.  Strain this, add a few drops of liquid soap, and put into a spray bottle. 
Just spraying this lightly on the plant will keep most pests away.

Can you see what bugs are bothering your roses?
 There a different biological controls for different bugs.  For instance, ladybugs will eat aphids on rosebushes and marigolds, onions, or garlic  planted around a vegetable garden will keep many destructive insects away.   Basil plants around your home's entry areas will keep flies away. 

[Jesus_Princess]

Ooo, I may try that!  No, I have not looked to see what is eating them.  Hopefully we can keep black spot at bay this year too!

[ridgerunner]

JP - last year I discovered habenero's to keep Japanese Beetles off my roses.  Just get the hottest you can (I grew mine myself - WAY HOT) and grind them with water in a blender and spray your roses.  The heat keeps the bugs away, and also stimulates cell regeneration (or something like that) in your plants and makes them grow like crazy.

[Beth]

  I have heard the same about habeneros...as far as I'm concerned it's the only thing they're good for. Its not that I don't like hot peppers... I just want to be able to taste what I'm eating! Habeneros are just hot and instantly fry your taste buds and  they don't even taste good. sort of bitter... now jalopenos, cayenne, serranos....good flavor with plenty of kick.  We grew habeneros once and something came into our garden and was eating, until it got to the habeneros, took one bite and left the rest laying in between the row. Didn't have anymore problems with it eating our garden...

[sohnnenstrahl]

Thank you for that hot tip, Beth! 

[Beth]

Thank you for that hot tip, Beth! 

LOL... nice pun!

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