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CNN's "Your Bottom Line" did a segment Saturday on the dramatic rise in seed sales this spring as more people turn to home gardening. Watch the video and get inspired to start growing your own vegetables.
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Around where I live I'd need to find something to grow that the grasshoppers won't eat. I'd love to have a garden.
I live in a heavily wooded area but a good friend has a south facing empty field so we are putting in a nice veggie garden there. We had a man come out to rototill a 20x20 plot adding rich soil as he went.
We had loads of fun with my daughter and a few other friends going through catelogues and planning the rotation of seasonal veggies. We also chose some very ( to me, at least ) unusual varieties...particularly those that come in different colors. We brought bickering to an art form
I'm putting in some tomatoes here as well... just in case they might possibly work out.
There is nothing better than a still warm tomato (and mayo) sandwich...
Just remember don't overdo because gardens can really become a lot of work. Farmers markets are a great place to buy your vegetables because not only would it probably be less expensive than starting a garden from scratch (tools, etc.) it would help out your local farmers.
What a ridiculous comment! "Don't ever try anything because it will be too hard". Gardening is easy, has a gentle learning curve, and is very enjoyable exercise. No reason to hold back.
Maybe they meant time-consuming as opposed to difficult. We're not all unemployed (yet).
It isn't ridiculous.
Planting my garden, I didn't realize how much time would be spent weeding, adding soil amendments and mulch, picking produce (beans and peas need to be attended to nearly every day), battling pests, even planning the next crop -- all pleasant enough tasks but time-consuming nonetheless.
I think it's worthwhile suggesting that beginning gardeners -- especially those with other hobbies they'd like to keep -- start small and expand as they get a feel for the amount of attention required.
gardening can easily eat up any and all "spare" time you have. I get your point about gardening having a gentle learning curve .. the worst that can happen is that the plant won't grow.
Maybe this will spur HGTV to remember what the "G" in their name means. 10 years ago, between HGTV & TLC (when it was still The Learning Channel), there were at least 6 gardening shows every day, even in prime time & more on the weekends.
Tip for beginners: try plants a bit outside of your growing zone. Usually a half zone up or down will still work in your area, generally with minor modifications. Say, if a plant can't take as much heat as you get, but is just a half zone North, plant it where it will get morning sun but no afternoon sun. This will expand your possibilities.
Also, you can't always go by the stated time of harvest (or window of opportunity). I'm in Houston, so spring vegetables get planted in the fall here. Protect from the ocassional freeze & harvest in late Winter to mid-Spring. However, one year I planted brocolli (from seed, not starters), in full sun. It produced for a full year (the heat should have killed it). I'm guessing it was because I had hanging baskets overhead, so the water poured on the plants keeping the foliage cooler & kept the ground cool.
Don't overlook containers of all sizes. One year we had an outbreak of moles, so I planted carrot seeds in 20 gal. containers (the kind trees come in). Perfectly sized great tasting carrots, & no worry about burrowing wildlife.
We grow an organic garden every year. Tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant, squash, cukes, corn, spuds, herbs, edible flowers and greens. We make compost and use worm tea to strengthen soil. I love picking dinner and stir frying it or simmering a nice ratatouille. It's fun, delicious and carbon friendly. Even if you just grow a tomato plant on your deck, nothing tastes better. Think globally, eat locally!
I am also starting a victory garden. I found two great things in the Stop and Shop, one a colorful crock with herb seeds to plant and the other a starter kit for tomatoes, sweet peppers and cilantro... yummy. I will wait another week to make sure it does not freeze again (watching the wicket weather as it comes across the country) and then plan my little gardens. They will go on my balcony and I will transplant the veggies once they are ready to transplant. Anyone done this before? Anything I need to know? What a great idea this is. Thank you, Michele.
I have had my own gardens for years. Got 4 chickens last year and am incubating 8 more chicks. We are also expanding our planting beds this year and plan on selling our excess. And for anyone wondering, egg color is dependent on the breed.
There is nothing better than fresh produce.
Has anyone in HuffingtonPost land had experience growing tomatoes in an upside-down pot?
Does anyone have directions for making the pot from a plastic kitty-litter box?
Thanks for your help
Thanks for a great link.
BTW, egg shell color is determined by the breed of chicken, but did you know you can change the color of the yolk by what you feed the chicken? If you want to try it, you could use food coloring in the mash you feed the hens. If you change the mash feed itself, the hens will stop laying.
mother in law tried it last year and had no luck whatsoever.
Huff Post, give more teaching and how to care for garden's on your post.
I second this!!! We have one acre.... totally out of the loop.
I"m thinking of starting a victory garden myself. :)
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=27
Go for it, we have one, it's great!
Does anyone on this post know where I can get true organic seeds, I heard a few years ago that the corporations have gotten rid of all the organic seeds and replaced them with the genectially twisted kind that has destroyed not only the flavor but the nutrients. I live in so. california, help please.
Seeds of Change has lots of good organic and heirloom seeds. On the net. Good luck!
Thanks ,Free , I will try that. Good day.
Try googling "Heirloom Seeds" or "Seed Exchange"
Heirloom Seeds in Decorah, Iowa has a great collection of vegetable and flower seeds that are open pollinated, not hybrid or cloned, some from lines that are over a century old.
I had awesome luck with Tomato Bob this year. 100% germination.
those are for soybeans, corn, etc. not veggie seeds.
Got my 4x7 Victory Garden planted by the local Youth Foundation today: I've got baby veggies to tend too...
what a small plot, you should try to get Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" book. will let you maximize that smaller plot
The best thing about the victory garden that Michelle is putting in is that it represents healthy eating - she's not trying to tell the world - grow your own food because we have entered a depression, dust bowl, and the grapes of wrath time..... what she is trying to say is eat good food, understand the relationship to the earth, appreciate the farmers, ranchers and those that provide food to all of us....know what REAL food is..... not just fast food, high in calories, high in fat and REAL LOW in nutrients.....
What a cool lady..... apparently the White House Chief has been trying to put in a veggie garden for years... but no one would listen until now.....
What a fabulous couple - first, they are city folks - so they like cities, they like going out into their city.... and secondly, they listen to others...... smart smart smart....
I bought spinach and mesculun seeds. They're supposed to be really easy to grow in containers. The best salad I ever had was made up of greens that had been snipped from the garden about five minutes earlier.
I believe if someone were to do a scientific study they would find there are all kinds of nutrients which soon are destroyed after picking - and then pickled/sprayed with nasty sulfur
history does matter and all our ancestors until recently ate really fresh off the vine fruits and vegetables so your salad probably tasted great and was great for you also
they also grew their own medicines and weren't arrested for taking care of their own bodies
I have had very good luck with Spinach in containers, mescalun I have not tried.
Is that a euphemism for a field of pot?
works for me! :-)
No, a field of pot is an abreviation for potato patch
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Huffington Post | 03/28/09 05:24 PM