Also we are well into spring (at least in the northern hemisphere), why is this sub so dead? Gardening is praxis, even if you don't have much outdoor space you can always stick tomatoes and peppers in containers! That's how I got started.
The deer, rabbits, and rodents in my area are absolutely brutal (cursed suburbs) so I have to keep that in mind with everything I grow.
I didn't get a chance to set up a proper veggie garden this year, so I'm mixing in a few with my flower beds. Jalapenos, plum and brandywine tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, and basil.
For flowers I am trying to stick to natives or their hybrids/cultivated versions as much as possible. I sowed poppy, larkspur, calendula, marigolds, nemophila, nasturtium, and sunflowers directly in the dirt, and most of them have sprouted already, which is a pleasant surprise since it's the first time I've direct sowed and I really didn't expect much to grow.
I started columbine, catmint, coleus, cosmos, snapdragons, delphinium, lavender, milkweed, and a ton of foxglove in trays. They are all about ready to go in the ground here in 7A, except for the lavender which is slow as shit.
Ordered a ton of daffodils and alliums to plant in the fall since those never get touched by hungry animals.
Also growing some shrooms for the first time in my basement but I don't know if it counts for this sub lol
Old shit: A few clusters of chives and oregano that survived the winter. And, I stick green onion roots in the dirt to keep them growing. They also survived the winter.
New shit: A couple cherry tomatoes, a couple regular tomatoes, and a fatty beefsteak style tomato. An Italian pepper, an ancho pepper, little round peppers (I forget the name), and a ton of jalapeños. My pepper yields are usually pretty low, so I am trying a pruning technique to get more from the plant. And, an eggplant because I hate myself and try to grow them even though I fail. Any eggplant tips are welcome.
I gave up on growing basil because the Japanese beetles can be really bad in my area. I covered them with insect cloth, I dusted them with diatomaceous earth, I sprayed insecticidal soap, I planted marigolds to attract beneficial insects; it was a never ending fight. Gardening is something I enjoy so I want to focus on the things that do well and don't require a ton of intervention beyond some pruning here and there.
I've dealt with really bad Japanese beetles on basil in the past, I know the feeling. Hoping that it won't be the case this year, or that I can win with numbers since 23/24 seedlings survived until transplant.
if you've never grown tomatoes before prepare to be blown away how good they are
also make sure to prune the suckers (new growth between two branches) so you get more tomatoes
I've grown tomatoes for years, but haven't had too much luck with peppers or eggplant. It didn't occur to me until this year that pepper plants might need pruning also.
I don't have a garden sadly. I miss growing peppers but I don't think my apartment gets enough light. I do have a bunch of house plants though, and might try some greens. I am, however, growing mushrooms. Not the trippy kind but some shiitakes. Also thinking about getting a bucket or two to try oysters or lion's mane.
Houseplants are great. I always neglect mine over the winter, they are on the porch for late spring through early fall but I have to keep them locked up in a room where the cats can't commit suicide with them, and if they are out sight I tend to skip waterings 😕
I don't have cats which makes it easier, though winter does wreak havoc on mine since it gets really cold by my windows and my radiators will dry them to death if they're anywhere near them. I managed pretty well this winter though. My biggest issue has been overwatering them actually. Had some pretty bad fungus gnats last summer but I got em under control. I feel like a millennial Instagram ad sometimes with all these houseplants but they look nice and they make me happy.
Potatoes. Fuckin love potatoes. Verifiably delicious and the easiest damn thing to grow. Barely need to even plant them the next year
Girlfriend's dad is obsessed with his potatoes and onions, the guy just loves plants but simultaneously does no research and has no idea what he's doing and he still pulls up hundreds of them every year.
Coming into the cold months here where my balcony gets no sun, had not the best warm season but not the worst.
Lemons, limes, chillies, cherry tomatoes all grew well, and my new kumquat tree absolutely took off. Hoping to harvest for a modest batch of kumquat jam soon. My cucumbers which are normally so good died off early due to lack of care on my part, never got around to regrowing them.
Reiterating to everyone here that dwarf citrus is the best, and anyone with a balcony should seriously consider them if you have any interest in gardening or just plants in general
my dirt is super bad and i dont have enough compost on hand to fix it
beans, like any beans? im about to throwdown like 500 kidney bean seeds into a patch of tilled dirt, will this be a mistake
My pepper plant is on its 2nd year and has just begun to drop its flowers.
I got a blueberry plant a few weeks ago - but it doesn't look like it took the shock of being delivered onto my porch on one of the hottest days of the year so far, too well. Holding my breath on it though.
Will my sunflowers ever start putting out their heads?? who knows - they're like 4ft tall at this point.
My wisteria cuttings all failed :sadness-abysmal:
I have some pawpaws in my yard, in their there year so hopefully next spring I'll have fruit
Other than that I have a few raised beds. Got some tomato melon and pepper seedlings started that'll be going in there after my broccoli and kale from the spring is used up.
Really want to do melons but I'm afraid they will take up like 50% of my garden area. Have you grown them before?
Yep! They do take up a ton of space. Super rewarding tho. A fresh, super ripe, just picked melon is pretty fantastic.
Pot. But also, I grow a lot of basil and tomatoes every year. This year I'm doing cucumbers for pickling too. Last year I had an awesome cucumber plant that was doing great until I killed it by mistake. It would grow several inches a day, which was really cool to watch.
I haven't decided what kinds of peppers I'm going to try. I always do a jalapeno, and then some kind of weird spicier pepper. Last year was thai chillies. I kinda want to try habaneros this year.
It would grow several inches a day, which was really cool to watch.
Every garden needs at least one plant like this, especially for me since I obsessively check out everything every day.
Lets see what I can remember without askin my wife...
two or three kinds of apple trees, a pear tree, acres of wild black berries, wild black cherries, several varieties of wild mulberries, two types of strawberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chard, kale, tomatoes just went in the ground, garlic, onions, basil, sage, lettuce, at some point bell peppers and jalapenos are going in, a few small blueberry bushes, grapes may not happen this year with a snap freeze that happened like a week ago that looks to have killed all the leaves and might have set back them actually producing grapes... and that's all I can remember...
Garlic because it's going into winter where I am and there was this really tasty hardneck garlic variant that was at the grocery store, and I had to plant a few cloves. Since it's getting really cold, the growth of the leaves that has sprouted has stopped, and the rest should sprout in spring sometime. Looking forward to the harvest near the end of the year.
I'm definitely going to be planting garlic in the fall. It's very convenient that you can harvest and then just replant cloves from that harvest a couple of months later.
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A few different varieties of tomatoes
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Some mini bell peppers (hopefully yellow and red)
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one zucchini
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sage, oregano, basil, thyme
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bush beans
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pole beans
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plus marigolds and nasturtium throughout
:bean:
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Rose - rose hips are super under rated
Zucchini - because it's an easy to grow sqaush.
A couple varieties of pepper
Carrots, onion, potatoes
Herbs, just a variety.
Raspberry & black berry I think?
My wife is mostly in charge of the garden
