ITS GARDENING TIME!!! ITS GARDENING TIME!!!:clap2:

I wanted to start a thread for us gardeners. I know that you are out there, so please "stop by" and give advice, hints or just share your success.

I am in the process of getting my vegtable garden ready. I can't wait!!! I love to garden. I find that it is very relaxing, even pulling and hoeing the weeds. I love watching everything sprout. To see it grow, then pick it and can it. That is the best part, canning. I will even buy chicken when it is on sale just so I can can it. My DH loves it, but thinks I'm nuts.

This year I want to start some aspargus and rubarb. I have never done either so I hope it works. Any advice will be helpful. I also have to restart my strawberry patch as I lost over 80% of it due to frost. I was wanting to move it but was hoping to do it next year after I got just one more harvest out of it. Well, looks like I will have to buy strawberries for jam this year. I was also wanting to try a different "brand" of strawberries, any suggestions?

Staples in my garden are tomatos (beef and roma), green Beans (bush, not pole) carrots, beats (we love them pickeled), onions, green peppers, hot peppers, leaf lettuce, leaf spinach, raddish, potatoes, cucumbers (I will have to find my recipe for over ripe cuccumbers and share it), and squash. I have yet to have success with peas, so I am giving up on them. I tried growing brussel sprouts last year but waited to long to harvest so they were on the "woody" side. I might do califlower and brocolli (sp) again. I did a herb garden last year, but don't plan on doing that again. Altho my garlic is back up this year.

I hope I am not the only gardening nut in this bunch or I am going to "sound" pretty stupid "talking" to myself on this thread.

Thanks in advance for all the advice and helpful hints.

I wish we had more space for a garden here. I did plant a fewtomatoe plants last year and some cucumbers & radishes. It is still alittle early here in South Dakota to be planting outside.

hey

i love to play in the yard i love mowing hoeing pulling weeds and planting flowers but i don't do veggie gardening spent to much of my younger days picking and shelling peas, digging tatars and pulling and shucking corn!!!

but i have beautiful roses thaat a blooming they're little hearts out right now. friday is my day off and i so look forward to playing in the yard and you are so right it is a great stress reliever. by the way i'm in texas and we have had 2 very dry summers and i feel like the h20 is connected to me after all the watering i have had to do!!!

I live in Southern California. I started my garden 4 weeks ago.... Veggie, herb, flower, bulbs ect... you name it I have a hone for it! lol

There is nothing more beautiful than starting and watching life grow!

here is Minnesota we are just starting and i am so excited watching all my plants starting to come up. Been raking and cleaning up and trying to plan out my vegi gardens. Trouble is i have a freezer full of stuff from last year- i really am eatting a lot less and before banding i was lo carb so dinners were a big plate of vegies and meat. I do need to scale down a bit- really don't need 5 broccolli plants for 2 people! I usually put in 4 tomato plants but will probably increase to 5 or more because last yr I made some really great sauce that i used for a lot of stuff but this year will can in pints instead of quarts - live and learn I guess. So, to go with the tomatoes I will need a few kinds of peppers and onions. Probably also beans, kohlrabi, some broccolli, cukes and sugar baby watermelons- i love watermelon! I also have blueberry plants that i put in last year- hope they take off this yr- and strawberrys and rhubarb. I think one of my small vegie plots will be flowers this year. I am waiting for the perrenial bed along my fence to wake up- shady and still really cold - to see what i need to replace and i am not sure about 3 of my rose bushes. Time will tell!

Can you tell this is my time of year??!!!

This is a real nice thread. I note that you, Mrs. Husker, live in Omaha. When does your growing season start? I live in southern Ontario, Canada and there used to be a rule that we couldn't plant until the third weekend in May no matter how sweet the weather was. Global warming has changed that although we were experiencing winter until 3 PM yesterday. This is when the sun finally came out and the weather improved. The weather is great today. In fact my next door neighbour, a gardening genius, has put out her indoor plants, a sign that spring is officially here!

I am a lazy gardener. My next door neighbour - a gardening genius - has taken over my front garden with my blessing and has made it an artistic extension of hers. I had planted some years back a couple of peonies, a lilac, and a rose bush in order to supplement the plants which were already there. She has since gone to town and our joint garden looks gorgeous throughout the good weather. Because the backyard has been given over to my basement tenant I confine myself to gardening in pots on my front porch. I like to grow flowers, herbs, and cherry tomatoes. In the fall I dry the herbs and continue to use them throughout the winter. My usual crop consists of thyme, basil, oregano and rosemary. I did try growing corriander once but it became woody almost immediately.

Northernsun,

I think I read in the paper that local Soup kitchen or food banks will take the extra's from your garden. Give em a call.

Green,

I'm not sure when our growing season starts. Last year I started in mid April, this year will be the (hopefully) the first part of March.

Got the garden tilled last night, all that rich, dark dirt looks beautiful. I want to get my raddishes asap, but I have to work this weekend, so maybe next week.

here's some of my roses

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8294&stc=1&d=1177071001[/IMG]

i guess i still need to work on how to post pic!!!

<p>I cant stand the stuff but Rubarb is really easy to grow. Just plop it in the ground and it will go crazy year after year. I am from Alaska (but currently in Florida) and in several of our homes in alaska thru out the years we have had a rubarb plant in our backyards. My husband and I dont eat it nor did anyone else we knew so he just mowed it over with the lawnmower when it got out of control (a couple to three times a year) and it would come back just as beautiful as before. If it grows like that in Alaska you should have no issues with it where you are.</p> <p> </p> <p>I planted my garden a few weeks ago. We have crookneck squash, cucumbers, zucchinni, watermelon, pumpkins, green peppers, and tomatoes. I also started several kinds of herbs this year as well. There is a lone rosemary "bush" in my yard and it smells so good whenever you brush into it I was inspired to grow more herbs. The last tenants left it and it surived the "winter" here so I wanted him to have buddies. My oldest daughter insisted on strawberries which we put in a large strawberry pot and they have gone crazy, as well as all the flowers I added to the yard. The previous tenants landscaped the heck out of the yard but its all green.. I am a color and lower type girl. I added TONS of lilies, callas, daliahs, mexican heather, columbine, dasies, loads of seeds sprinkled everywhere.. I cant get enough of my flowers! I also have some sweetpeas in a plastic bag sprouting in my kitchen.. I think I will go plant later today. Share pictures when it all starts to bloom everyone!!</p> <p> </p> <p>Alli</p>

It is amazing the difference in different parts of the country. I already have peppers and tomatoes growing.

Other than buying tomato, pepper plants and seed potatoes, I am ready. BUT I have to work this weekend and don't have time to put anything in. I am trying a few new things this year, but the one I might need help with is kohlrabi. I wanted to try it last year, but ran out of space. I'm sure I can grow it, but then what? Can it be canned? How is it prepared? HELP!

Wow ....I'm really impressed with your tomatoe story Jack. I would like to try doing that this year. Did you use a lot of miracle grow of something ?

ITS GARDENING TIME!!! ITS GARDENING TIME!!!:clap2:

I wanted to start a thread for us gardeners. I know that you are out there, so please "stop by" and give advice, hints or just share your success.

...That is the best part, canning. I will even buy chicken when it is on sale just so I can can it. My DH loves it, but thinks I'm nuts.

This year I want to start some aspargus and rubarb. I have never done either so I hope it works. Any advice will be helpful...

Hello Mrs. Husker! I love to garden, too. I didn't the last couple of years but plan to do it in earnest this year. I'll till the soil next weekend and start adding peet and humus and fertilizers to get it ready for planting in mid-May. (I'm in Michigan.)

I LOVE to can! This year I'm going to try pressure canning meats and low-acid foods in pint jars as hopefully by the time I get to eat them, I'll be eating smaller amounts. I purchased a Guardian Service pressure canner last year (if anyone doesn't know what Guardian Service is, it is an aluminum cookware line that was sold in home parties much like tupperware back in the 1930's-1950's) and I just have to get a new gasket for it.

Here's a link to a great website about how to grow asparagus, it is not easy at all and takes a couple of years to establish some good beds. you don't harvest asparagus for eating the first year (at least) from it, but once established it's great to have. The only think about this link is that it is from Ohio State University so some of the info is about Ohio growing challenges. But it really is a great article about how to get started:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

Mrs Husker-kohlrabi is one of my family favorites. It grows like a weed- just make sure you thin the plants out. Don't let them get too big- they get woody. How big depends on the season's weather - I have had ones that were tennis ball size that were great and the next year when we had a lot of moisture and sun they grew too fast and tennis ball size split and were woody. We eat them raw right from the garden- peal and eat. I will say it is a little harder now- chew them really well! Great in salads- chew chew chew! They also freeze really well and can be cooked and mashed or just cooked and served with a little butter. I usually grow a lot of them- a big fav!

Hi all -

Just had a grand weekend planting another japanese wisteria... They are so beautiful when they bloom in late spring! I will be training it on an trellis in the front yard that sadly is bare...

I also added to my fruit trees in the back. I just bought a lovely 4 year ild peach tree that is already blossoming. I love peaches! This will be a lovely addition.

My biggest job at this time is placing my bulbs/tubs back into the ground. As some of you may have heard on the news, southern california went under a frost a couple of months ago... I had to dig up the bulbs fearing that they would be harmed by the frozen ground. Now I am back at it trying to re-entraduce them back to their homes! lol

My veggie garden is under way! Over 25 greenbeans plants, half dozen tomatoe, bell pepper, and italian squash, peas, and watermelon are all thriving! There is nothing better!I love this time of year!