Discussion Board

Just wondering.

I've been over seeding my lawn. I'm using seed that will be more drought tolerant, doesn't grow fast and you don't have to mow (unless if you want to). I dislike mowing and watering lawns.
It will probably take a couple years of over seeding in the spring and fall until it takes over the existing lawn. The seed I planted last fall is doing really well.

Next up, I have to repot a couple of plants and add some mulch to the flower beds.

My whole herb garden got demolished last month. Now all I have is clay. So I need to work in some dirt and compost. I also need to seed. My basement retaining wall had to be replaced, and that is where the herb garden was.

In the other gardens, I am trying to get the weeds out and put down compost and other good stuff so i can plant. Spring garden went in very late. So it is just starting now.

Faith, sounds like you have a big job there. How's the weeding going?
I did a whole bunch of weeding yesterday. It seems like whenever you turn around, a full grown weed seems to appear out of nowhere! I particularly hate those prickly ones.

I scored two square foot garden kits in cedar today for a really good price! I can't wait to get that going. I could hardly believe it when I found a local landscaping supplier that sells all vegetable compost. That's what I'll be using.

I also picked up a potato planter made from a nylon bag. I'm going to try that out and see how it goes. I'll plant yukon golds and maybe purple potatoes if I can find them.

The grass I planted is doing really well.

I'm working very hard so this year I'll have a nice veggie garden. Filled in a small koi pond the herons and egrets had fished out. Will have melons, squash, tomatoes, chiles, eggplant, more squash (kabochas), pumpkins (kakai), and who knows what else. Oh.. peas and green beans, kale and chard and collards... and soon, onions. Have already eaten the first tomatoes and zucchini this past week. No frost here (coastal SoCal) and can plant in Jan or Feb. Blueberries are also getting ripe.

I need to grow more Calorie Dense crops so I can potentially survive off my garden, but right now I've got
Box Watermelon
12 different tomato plants
lemon & straight cucumbers (probably 12 plants total)
egg plant
cantaloupe
red potatoes
giant pumpkin (for fun)
green peppers
habeneros / serano / cayenne / sweet peppers
rosemary
cilantro
strawberries
yellow squash
beets
lemon / lime & orange tree
beans

I'd like to keep expanding, too!
Next up is a lettuce bed / herb area.

healthy vegan - that is one thought I was having too. To have a more sustainable for life garden, and sustainable during the winter months too. Last year I tried sweet potatoes, tasted good, but takes lots of room for the return. Also spaghetti squash which isn't that high in calories but same results took a lot of room for the amount harvested.

I'd love to hear more about the potato bag and if it works.

I am taking off Fridays in May. last Friday was the first. I got a lot done, but still have a long way to go. So hoping this Friday to get it caught up.

We've had lots of rain, so I want to check the garden out tonight to see if beans are sprouting.

I failed in potatoes last year, just got some tiny little ones, but this year I bought seed potatoes vs sprouting my own. One thing I noticed is I would have been way better starting lower down in the barrel and adding dirt every few weeks because all my potatoes grew too close to the surface.

Ages ago I saw an article, probably in Organic Gardening Magazine, about growing potatoes using a wire cage and some burlap. You make a round cage, used chicken wire probably, and put burlap around the outside (get that at JoAnn Fabrics or somewhere that sells upholstery stuff). Add some soil to the bottom and plant the potatoes, covering them. Once they sprouted you kept adding some soil, enough to keep developing potatoes dark. This went on until the cage was full. When it came time to harvest, I put down a dropcloth to catch the soil, removed the burlap, opened the cage, and dug through the soil with my hands to harvest. It was a fun experiment, but as my yard was small, and thus everything was prime real estate, it just didn't yield enough to make me want to repeat it.

Like most people on this forum I eat way too many veggies to grow or store most of my food. I try to focus on things where freshness really counts or ones from the supermarket are just not as good.

I work for a community gardening organization in Ann Arbor, MI and we hold a huge plant sale the day before Mother's Day. We grew 60 different kinds of open pollinated tomatoes for the sale (no kidding!). I am going to try maybe 10 in my garden this year, though I'm not a tomato nut like some of the people growing plants for our sale.

I have lots of tender plants that can't go in until June 1st. Along with the peppers, tomatoes and basil, I will be planting beans, corn and squash from seed. I'm also going to grow a few melons for fun.
Kirk

Oh, wow, I would love to go to that sale!! But then I'm one of those nuts who planted 20 tomatoes each year, which I grew from seed. You will so have to let us know what varieties you buy and how they fare.

Do you have a cold frame?

I do have a cold frame but it has been warm enough to leave the tomatoes outside. I have lost things to frosts here on Memorial Day Weekend so I am a little paranoid about planting them in the ground until June 1st. Looks like it will stay warm but it always does...

Well the first square foot frame is down and ready to plant! Now all I have to do is decide what I want. Choosing is always so hard for me.

I think next year I'm going to plant two of everything Having 6 of one plant is over kill.

Here are a couple of photos of our community garden plot in North Portland. Our space is in the foreground.