What is your 2013 garden looking like?

[ReptileAddiction]

Indy, I like the "Man Cave" sign

[tomf]

Nice gardens guys, love looking at photos of gardens.
I tilled mine up yesterday and killed some moles.

[sepeters]

My garden looks like a jungle already! Got more squash and cukes than I know what to do with. Lucky neighbors!
It is only in the 90sF and this poor Irish girl already has a red neck from gardening. Is it winter yet? LOL.

[IndyGerdener]

Indy, I like the "Man Cave" sign

My cousin got me that for my birthday!! I had to hang it up!!

[mattie g]

My garlic plants are massive right now, as are my shallots, and the onions are growing fairly well on the whole. Peas are liking the cool weather, and my multiple staggered plantings of carrots are taking to it, as well. Dill and cilantro seeds have sprouted and don't seem to mind the chill, either.

But my pepper and tomato transplants are a little unhappy with me. Even with plenty of sunshine for the last five days, the temps have been struggling to get above 65 and are still regularly getting down into the mid-40s. The same cool weather has kept my bean seeds from sprouting, although some cucumbers have poked their heads up recently (including one strong volunteer).

This week looks pretty cloudy, with another cool shot likely after the clouds lift. Aside from one big spike in heat back in the beginning of April, we haven't had a lot of real warmth to speak of. Hopefully we warm up in earnest in the next 10 days or so...

[amylong]

This is my first year trying to grow anything. I am trying to keep it small and simple. I brought tomato, pepper and strawberry seeds. I also brought a few strawberry plant from the local farmer market. I am already learning so much from the discussions and browsing the forum like crazy lol. I hope to develop my patience and perseverance by picking up gardening. This is what my little plants look like now.
http://imgur.com/yONywHS

[IndyGerdener]

They are coming along, you might want to add a fan to your set-up to strengthen them for the outdoors

[amylong]

Thank you! I will dig up my fan and set it with them:) Are they big enough to go into the ground?? i have been trying to slowly harden them off, but these two days of thunderstorm I kept them inside. I was worried the rain will damage them, or drown them-.-; Thank you:)

[Sasha]

Jeepers Alex, that looks fantastic. I wish I had the time/land/climate for that kind of setup. Are you retired, or just very, very keen?

My garden currently consists of containers with soil in them, and a tray of seedlings. Hoping to get some bedding plants over the next week or so.

[CaliforniaGardener]

I planted in April and things are growing pretty quickly. Most things I just plant from seed straight into the soil besides tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

[digitS']

Okay Alex, this thread hung around long enuf that I can show you my expansion of the big veggie garden:


That there is dirt . . . oh, there are also plenty of rocks.

It represents a doubling(!) of the big veggie garden and will have some warm-season things. I am very, very fortunate to be able to share some of it with the neighbor. Otherwise, it would be mostly in cover crops.

Steve

[hendi_alex]

Nice, looks like you have some fine soil. My sandy soil is so sterile, other than bad nematodes and various diseases, that gardening in it is almost like hydroponics where all of the water and nutrients need to be constantly supplied.

[digitS']

Some of the old farmers have told me that their best soil is the rockiest. I have had gardens in several places in this valley and used to work for farmers. I'm still not sure about the claim. I just know that the more rocks, the harder it is to work the soil.

During the last ice age, this was the scene of what the geologists like to call "mega-floods." Water in the mountains would be trapped behind glaciers. After a time, it would break free and massive amounts of water and rock would wash thru the landscape. After happening a number of times, Alex, this glacial till is what we've got.

Steve
gardening in gravel

[IndyGerdener]

Just got my trellis up!! What do you think?

[IndyGerdener]

Thank you! I will dig up my fan and set it with them:) Are they big enough to go into the ground?? i have been trying to slowly harden them off, but these two days of thunderstorm I kept them inside. I was worried the rain will damage them, or drown them-.-; Thank you:)

They are big enough to go in the ground. Make extra sure to harden your plants off and not rush it. The bigger the plant the easier to harden off. Also remember to bury the plants as deep as possible. I always remove the seedling leaves and all other suckers up to the top tuft of growth. I will then bury them up to that tuft. My toms in my greenhouse are about 3' tall. I will bury them 2.5' in the ground. Deeper roots make drought resistant plants!!

[hendi_alex]

Trellis looks great. In my chicken run, I ran boards across the top like you did, the boards that are mounted horizontally and serve to support and attach wire across the top. IMO those boards will sag. I took a second board, oriented it vertically and screwed through the top board and into the bottom board. The vertical board will give support such that little or no sagging will take place. A 2 x 6 would have been better to use, as there is still a little sagging over my 10 foot span, but the 2 x 4 is doing a fair job.

Here is what I'm talking about.

[IndyGerdener]

I like it, if I see any sag starting I will have to do that!!

[vinyl217]

I have an 8x4 bed with garlic planted last Oct. and most of it is doing very well, the Korean Red seems puny compared to the others, though. Also, there's a 3x5 bed with Grey Shallots from last fall. Another 8x4 bed is full of onions (Cortland and Patterson) that I planted out in mid April. Last night I planted an 8x2 bed with Carson bush wax beans and another 8x2 with Jade II bush beans. Also have an 8x2 with Caraflex cabbage that has been out since Easter. Next week I'll fill my remaining beds with my tomatoes and peppers. Growing Fantastic, Buckbee's Abraham Lincoln, Mule Team, and Amish Paste tomatoes; Jalastar Jalapeno, Bhut Jolokia, Red Peter, Cayennes, and Chablis bell peppers this year. Hopefully I'll get some pics up soon.

[hendi_alex]

Sounds great, look forward to the photos.

[AZFarmGirl]

IndyGerdener,

LOVE your greenhouse setup!! I need that...

[vinyl217]

Here's some pics I got this morning.

Garden proper

Garlic. Duganski, Bavarian Red, Korean Red, Deerfield Purple, and Turkish Giant.

Caraflex and Gonzales Cabbage

Planting my Bhut Jolokias today and maybe another bed of bush beans if my back holds up.

[hendi_alex]

Very neat, great looking plants! Love the raised bed layout.

[lakngulf]

Tomatoes, Squash and Corn are coming along. Some small squash about the size of my little finger, and a few dime size tomatoes. Just hope the soil diseases, hot sun, and my gardening habits don't ruin the crop.





I have my okra under small wire to keep the rabbits out.

[erins327]

You guys have some great gardens! I enjoy looking at the pictures for inspiration/ideas/entertainment.

Here is out little creation...

Side view with tomatoes on the left, green beans middle, and a combo of tomatoes and okra seedlings on the right. Foreground is peppers.



This is the garden assistant posing with a closer look at the tomatoes and tomatillos.


And a closer look at garden.

The two rows of tomatoes were built on this Spring. Everything else is raised. Want to widen it and do another bed next season? Oh the addiction keeps growing....

[JohnnyB60]

Well I'm a little embarrassed to show my little garden after seeing all these fine gardens, but here goes. I used to have a larger garden but I can’t get down on my knees anymore so I raised it up.

This year I only planted 3 large tomato plants so that I’ll be able to keep up with finding and removing hornworms. Last year was a disaster because I could not see the little buggers and they caused so much damage.
I love pear tomatoes so put two into a small planter box.


I also wanted to try a different approach to watering using soaker hose because last year I was having water problems with dry areas.

[skiingjeff]

Here are the picture of our garden as it stands now.

This one is our two smaller raised beds which have lavender, oregano, thyme, basil in the lower bed and the upper bed will eventually all be broccoli. I placed planters of marigolds around the outside of the beds to add beauty and help with pest control.
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This one shows our summer squash with the pepper plants to their right. In between the squash and peppers will be our cukes on a trellis once they get going.
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This one is the summer squash with the parsley and the asparagus patch to its left. We are trying a new grating for our squash to hold them up off the ground somewhat but let them spread out naturally. We'll see how this works.
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This last one shows our carrot and radish patch with some rows ready to plant green and yellow beans in. The plastic is on a row of beans we just planted to keep the squirrels from eating the seeds. You can see the first row of beans that just sprouted in that last week on the far right. There are cauliflower and kohlrabi along the fencing to the left of the carrot/radish patch.
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This hard to see but the entire garden is bordered by marigolds for beauty and pest control.

This is a picture of one of the seedling shelves we have in our basement.
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We also have lights suspended from the ceiling so I can put plants on a table when the get too big for the shelves but don't have a picture of that to share

It's nice to see what everyone has done and get some great ideas!

[hendi_alex]

Lots of nice looking gardens coming along. Great photos by the way. Hope your dog is not like our lab. I think that she and the deer have an arrangement, as they come in and graze when ever they like.


Most everything is in the garden for me now, but a string of fresh tomato plants will be kept in the ready. Also, arugula, green beans, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini will be succession planted over the summer and into the fall.

[pow wow]

I don't have a veggie plot anymore. had to make room for the trailer but here is what I have going. I do have an onion plot but no picture.

My carrots, snow peas and peppers in my veggie trug

[jemsister]

Wow, you guys have such awesome setups! Makes me a little jealous to be honest.

These pics are a bit old, so the tomato and zuke are bigger, and the peas are much fuller.

Here is the tomato setup I have. It's growing in an old dresser turned raised bed. I don't know if it technically counts as a raised bed, since it's on the patio. I'm not allowed to dig out a garden in our lawn. It's a rental and the land lord said no.



Anyway, I have a fake white wall behind the tomato. It's recommended in our area because it doesn't get all that hot, so tomatoes have trouble ripening here.



The two totes on either side of the dresser haven't been planted yet. I'm going to put summer squash in them.

I'm growing zucchini in a bag. A friend of mine recommended it because her mother does the same thing and has great success with it. So far so good!



Sugar snaps in the flower bed. I planted them a touch late, so I hope we get a decent crop before they die off from the warming temps. It worked last year to plant them this late because we had a really cool June, but I'm not sure how it will pan out this year. Next year I'm going to attempt to plant them a month sooner. They're only just now blooming. But if they don't produce much, at least they made a pretty vine wall on our patio step!





More peas against the house (the narrow part of the flower bed stretches all around the house). They aren't doing as well as the ones that have more circulation. I think because it's slightly hotter with them growing right up against the wall.

The mounds are where I placed potato traps for wire worms. I don't have a ton, but at the beginning of the season I was catching quite a few. I haven't seen more than one or two in the last week though.



Not sure if you can see them very well in the pic above, but I also planted green beans in front of the peas that are against the house. Not sure what's going on with them. They haven't been growing very fast. The soil needs some love. Next year I'm going to try to feed the soil and till it better than I did.

So yeah. That's my humble "garden." I'm actually pretty excited about it. We aren't a big family, so much bigger would really probably be too much, unless I maybe grew some lettuce or something. We have a nice shady spot that might work for that. But I'll have to save it for next year, this is getting too expensive. LOL!

[RogueRose]

Finally got some good pics today.

Some of my peas are getting "crispy" like applestars though you can't really see in this picture. Oh and this is funny - the ones on the left are in miracle grow, the ones on the right are in an organic potting soil. The ones on the right get more sun, the ones on the left get less sun - the sun moves from left to right. as the day progresses.


A little view of most of the garden.






This lettuce is awesome. It's red sail. I just keep eating the outer leaves and it keeps coming back. It has lasted me forever - just two heads!


My favorite lettuce. This is my last one.


My monster fig tree that came with the property. It is anywhere from 60-80yrs old. In the ground. Doesn't get covered. To the right of it are some apple branches for context.


Some tomato patch and fig tree in the background


Root veggies


Cherries


Roma


Orange Cherries - Hanging Basket (which I was skeptical of but it is doing very well as long as its watered and fertilized)


Corn (there's more behind me but that was already shaded). Garlic in the right


Potatoes


Strawberry Harvest


Finally! Blueberries

[Cola82]

Most of the surrounding plants are flowers the boyfriend's mother gave me. You can really see the overhang on my patio here--I have no idea what to call it. It's not an awning, technically.

And yes, I know that hummingbird feeder is in a ridiculous spot. The boyfriend insisted.

[applestar]

Have they found it? Once they realize it's there, they're fearless enough to come right up to the window, I think. You may need to draw them in closer to the patio with red decorative items, hanging pots and planters of favorite flowers, etc.

Another way is to put the feeder more out in the open and then move it closer to the window every few days.

[Cola82]

We got a fuchsia and a hanging pot, but it hasn't blossomed yet. I'm hoping that will work. We've definitely seen them flit through the yard a couple times, but they haven't spotted it.

I had wanted to hang more on the edge of the overhang, but if all we have to do is alert them to its presence, I think we can do that.

[jemsister]

Cola, not sure this is right, but I would call that under-the-roof area and alcove.

I grew up in Oregon! Love it there. It's my favorite. Spent a lot of my childhood in Sweet Home.

[Cola82]

Ah, my dad used to live in Sweet Home! There's a really cool covered bridge there. This is a pretty great state, but I am pretty biased.

[jemsister]

Yep, one of my friends got married on that bridge. Very pretty. That town looks a lot different than it did in my day! The lake is far more developed, for example. Loved swimming there! It's a hot day today, I wish I was there to take a dip right now. Washington is similar, but it's just not the same. *sigh*

[TravisD]

If it doesn't look like much, that's cause it's really not . I figured I'd start small this year and if I'm successful at all I've got plenty of room to expand next year. This is only about a 10ft X 20ft area, but I crammed a lot of stuff in there.

[imafan26]

Now that I have netted my new big dwarf tomatoes to keep the birds out, I am finally getting the tomatoes to ripen.

I just added compost to one small section of my garden and replanted rakkyo, basil and pak choy.

The zucchini has blossoms but no zucchini yet.

I planted another cucumber after the slugs ate the other three. This one has hung around for three days so may be the slugs have moved. I also did some major weeding and slug baiting in the area.

The corn silks are starting to brown and by my calculation they should be ready around June 23, 10 days after the first tassels appeared. Can't wait for corn on the cob!

For summertime, it has been raining off an on for the last few days. Not enough that I don't have to water and it is keeping my rain barrel full, but the weeds are also coming on like gangbusters. I need to sharpen my tools. Somehow, I misplaced my saw, this is the second time this year I lost it.

I just harvested the last of the lettuce, I gave it to the worms they were starting to put up flower stalks and I am continuing to transplant out my seedlings. I am running out of space for them all. My neighbor gave me three lettuce plants in pots today that are ready to eat. I guess I am having salad tonight.

I have the usual aphids on the gardenia and perpetual scale on the roses, but the glads are blooming and falling over.

OH yeah BTW to all the fathers out there HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!

[Northernfox]

https://youtu.be/4mB30YGw1JY

take a look at my garden. I did a video tour when I saw this post the other day!~ let me know what you think!

[jemsister]

The peas are taller than me! This makes them almost six feet tall.



And the tomato has made a major comeback after suffering severe frost damage in early May. It went from a little 6 inch stick with two tiny leaves, to this.



And the zucchini is huge and getting huger by the day!