What are your plans for gardening in 2014?

[Gardener123]

And are you working on anything now?

I am working on a fence to keep the deer out. They easily ate 1/2 my garden last summer, which was weird because they never bothered it much the 2 years prior. They ate less after I started applying coyote urine, but still ate some.

I am also online trying to figure out what I will grow this season.

And I know that my wife is ordering me an 8 bulb 4' T5 system with 4 cool and 4 warm bulbs.

I "may" make a PVC closet in my basement to grow more, using lights, but also emergency blankets. I also will need another 1 or 2 heating pads.

What are your plans, and are you doing anything now to get ready?

[imafan26]

I'm starting to look at catalogs and making my long list for seeds I might want to try next year. I will have to cut down that list when I do the garden plan, because I just don't have that much room.

I still have broccoli (the first flower head is forming), chard, brussels sprouts, hon tsai tai, eggplant, papaya, peppers, roselle, kale, Portuguese kale, lemons, calamondins, Satsuma mandarins, beets, won bok, spinach, gingerm araimo, strawberries ( a few still have fruit) and a variety of herbs in the garden.

I have starts of kale, beets, lettuce, superchili, leaf celery, and eggplant that I am going to put as successsion plants in the garden or need to find homes for. I just planted persimmon (first time so I don't know if it will work. They are not easy to grow), cilantro, tendergreen cucumber, chervil, alyssum, and crackerjact marigold seeds today in pots and out in the garden.

Last Friday I planted out the red burgundy onion starts and transplanted the lemon basil seedlings at the herb garden.

At home today, I weed whacked the grass, weeded about 16 ft of my border bed and pruned the roses. the nasturtiums are filling in and I cut back the dead branches on the lavender. I also repaired one of my sprinkler zones, the pressure regulator cracked so I had to replace it.

I still have a lot more to do.

[rainbowgardener]

I posted my 2014 veggie garden plan in this thread: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 1&p=317030

Right now, not much gardening weather left. When I get a chance, I'm still working on cutting down raspberry, which I am trying to get rid of. Working on seed order. Making Christmas presents from my garden products.

[!potatoes!]

still digging yacon from my big crop, out of a field I won't be able to use next year. maybe almost a quarter done now. I only get up there one day a week these days, so it's pretty slow going.

not sure about next year yet. in the market for land, though I doubt we'll be far enough along in the process to be able to use new land next year...so I may borrow/lease a field again. don't know what all I'll grow aside from my standards.

[DoubleDogFarm]

my standards

and they are?

Eric

[digitS']

Those are my standards, and if you don't like them. . . well, I have others.

Sorry !Potatoes! I know that isn't what you meant. (And, sorry Groucho Marx .)

I should downsize again. I tried that in 2012, made some jokes about not working hard enuf because I only lost half the weight I usually drop during the summer. So, I added back all the square feet in 2013!

Downsize could mean to just finally grow those "compost crops" that I've always wanted to grow. Or, grow some green manure crops and till them in - a spring cover crop & a summer cover crop . . . maybe a winter cover crop . That won't keep me from planting labor-intensive stuff from here to the horizon in 2015 but I will have tried.

Steve

[lakngulf]

Now growing turnips, mustard and collards for some "green" eating. These crops were green before "green" was cool. At some point I will add some leaves to the greens and till them under. I divided my garden into raised beds (only raised a few inches) last year for better weeding, etc. That worked to my satisfaction as I was able to use the weed eater in the walk ways. Also, used some large containers and was pleased with my "barrels and boxes" method.

Always fear deep soil problems with tomato crop so will fill some containers with fresh farm soil, and will plant tomatoes in some boxes that had okra last year.

I have lots of water, and for some time I have wanted to implement some sort of hydroponic gardening. I may study that some more and come up with a PVC pipe system.

[!potatoes!]

standards? well, let's see...perennial vegetables including yacon, groundnut, chorogi, scorzonera, sea kale, nettles, a couple kinds of vegetable buckwheat, rhubarb, lovage, turkish rocket, various ground cherries, ground plum, yellow asphodel, oca, and probably more I'm not remembering right now, plus a couple cowpeas, a couple kinds of vulgaris beans, annual ground cherries, hot peppers, sweet potatoes (perennial but grown as an annual), potatoes (I!), various annual greens, various other rootcrops (carrots, parsley root, salsify, maybe maca, turnips, beets), a few flowers...maybe a tomato or two...plus the 40+ young fruit trees from grafts in the past few years, and the other dozens of potted trees, bushes, and perennials waiting to spread their roots for real...and the new ones that will arise from grafting in the winter/spring...

that's the start, anyway. how much goes in at home vs elsewhere (especially considering elsewhere is an unknown quantity at this point), and what...as yet undetermined. now accepting donations for the land fund we're almost there!

edited to add: my standards have at times been called into question. cheers, steve.

[DoubleDogFarm]

"You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know, you haven't stopped talking since I came here. You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle" ROTFLMFAO.

I like your standard !potatoes! and I may have to pick your brain on some

Eric

[jal_ut]

My plot has been tilled...... and as usual its larger than last season. My wife gets a kick out of telling me this.
The garlic is planted. At present it is under snow and will likely be that way till sometime in March. In the meantime about all I have to do is go through my seeds, and see what I need to purchase for next season. I probably won't buy seed till February when the local nursery has all their new seed in. So till then its feet up....... (I won't be starting any plants indoors.)

[benali]

My plan is to install another fence!

I have a nice fenced in area to keep out the rabbits. But the squares are maybe 2' by 2' or 3' by 3'. It kept out the adult rabbits, but I saw a baby in there and man did he do damage. So I'm reinforcing with a very small square fence, like chickenwire.

Also, I'm putting in stepping stones to make a nice path to my garden. Looks good, prevents lawn damage since I always walk the same path to the garden.

I've found you can use the cool non-growing times of late fall and early spring to do "structural" projects like these.

Cheers.

[btrowe1]

I'm starting to look at catalogs and making my long list for seeds I might want to try next year. I will have to cut down that list when I do the garden plan, because I just don't have that much room.

I still have broccoli (the first flower head is forming), chard, brussels sprouts, hon tsai tai, eggplant, papaya, peppers, roselle, kale, Portuguese kale, lemons, calamondins, Satsuma mandarins, beets, won bok, spinach, gingerm araimo, strawberries ( a few still have fruit) and a variety of herbs in the garden.

I have starts of kale, beets, lettuce, superchili, leaf celery, and eggplant that I am going to put as successsion plants in the garden or need to find homes for. I just planted persimmon (first time so I don't know if it will work. They are not easy to grow), cilantro, tendergreen cucumber, chervil, alyssum, and crackerjact marigold seeds today in pots and out in the garden.

Last Friday I planted out the red burgundy onion starts and transplanted the lemon basil seedlings at the herb garden.

At home today, I weed whacked the grass, weeded about 16 ft of my border bed and pruned the roses. the nasturtiums are filling in and I cut back the dead branches on the lavender. I also repaired one of my sprinkler zones, the pressure regulator cracked so I had to replace it.

I still have a lot more to do.

Ahh, imafan26 gotta love Hawaii, only thing I have left FROM 2013 is the brussels which will go thanksgiving and the garlic which will over winter, the climate in your area must give you some crazy long time growing plants.. so jealous..

2014 plans include getting some serious disease resistant tomatoes as I lost just about all of them this past year.. just the way some things go..

[southjersey]

My dad has offered to build me this obelisk for my garden so I can train my perennial sweet peas to grow up it. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/ ... 44,00.html

[rainbowgardener]

very nice!

[Aida]

Well, I have a garden growing right now(spinach, lettuce, radishes, chives, and a pepper, mint and basil, lavender), but I can't wait till spring/summer to try my hand at watermelons or eggplants.
I'm already getting excited about planting new stuff, that part and watching it finally sprout is the most exciting for me.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, I always try to grow something that I've never done before. This year it was roselle and pineapple sage. Don't know about next year. That may depend on what tempts me when I start looking at the seed catalogs.

[ReptileAddiction]

I have just started planning next summers garden. My winter garden is already in for the most part. When some of the lettuces and stuff like that die/get harvested I will replace them.

[brandon558]

My plans are huge as I will be working the first Garden at the new house. I already made a raised bed for onions and started tilling the garden space. The garden will be around 20' by 70'.

Plan on making some trellis this winter for cukes and pole beans. Also hunting down some good tomatoe sticks.

A lot of work ahead of me... But should be ready to roll by spring. Also found a good contact for good farm fresh compost. Going to get a couple pick up truck loads dumped and tilled in the garden. Then plan on getting the soil tested to see where I'm at.

So yea... A lot to plan.

[ReptileAddiction]

Brandon, good luck! That definitely sounds like fun though!

[gixxerific]

Lot's of mators again.

But beds are mostly ready, one still needs manure the newest bed actually. Though I still have straw to put down. Garlic is up and looking good, just in time for it go down for the winter, hence the straw. Onions have been ordered.

I have all the seed I could ever need, now it's just figuring out what goes where. Almost 300 kinds of tomatoes to choose from, that will be a task. Probably plant 200- 300 maybe more depending on borrowed land. That land will also decide how much other stuff I will grow. Every year it get's bigger, just like James. My wife laughs about it too.

Dono

[ReptileAddiction]

Wow I wish I had room to have that many tomatoes. I have to ask though, what in the world do you do with all that? That must take a ton of time to plant them, let alone processing all that. I do not know about your neck of the woods but down here our maters can give us like 50 pounds per plant, if they are in ideal conditions of course.

[matt20]

I will try to decrease number of tomato varieties (from this year's 180), which probably won't happen. I will try to grow more peppers, egg plants and I'd like to focus on watermelons again which turned out to be a success in 2012, but I planted them too late this year.
My plan is simply to have a plan until January, so I won't plant everything from my collection - I'd like to be more organised next year.

[rainbowgardener]

Wow, matt! 180 varieties of tomatoes! How much land do you have? Do you sell to a market? Even if you only had one individual of each variety, that's a whole ton of tomatoes!!

Welcome to the Forum! There's a few pretty hard-core tomato growers like you around here. Do you do any indoor or greenhouse growing for winter?

[digitS']

I am curious, too. Welcome, Matt!

Matt has asked me about my varieties and I'm almost embarrassed to respond! With about 60 plants and 20 varieties each year - the heirlooms won't be represented by more than 4 plants and often as few as 1.

I do give some tomato plants to neighbors. One guy claims to care not a wit which ones he gets so I am careful to give him at least 1 plant, of all those that I have only 1 or 2. I've also been known to show up over there with a plea to harvest 1 of the fruits for seed . . . because his plant is doing better than mine. But, my seed "stash" amounts to harvested early/late, old, new, borrowed from the neighbor . . . even labeled as "mystery" .

Steve

[matt20]

Wow, matt! 180 varieties of tomatoes! How much land do you have? Do you sell to a market? Even if you only had one individual of each variety, that's a whole ton of tomatoes!!
Welcome to the Forum! There's a few pretty hard-core tomato growers like you around here. Do you do any indoor or greenhouse growing for winter?

I am curious, too. Welcome, Matt!
Matt has asked me about my varieties and I'm almost embarrassed to respond! With about 60 plants and 20 varieties each year - the heirlooms won't be represented by more than 4 plants and often as few as 1.

Steve

Hi and thank you!

I knew only of "cherry" and "big red" tomato in 2011 when I started collecting seeds. The reason I did start my own garden it's because I couldn't stand tasteless market tomatoes. I could remember eating a tasty home grown tomato when I was very young (I turned 23 now) and the specific smell of tomato plants which I always liked!

I collected about 450 varieties so far. I was growing about 180 varieties this year and only 15 last year. Which means I still didn't try most of them. I only have a small to medium sized garden (living in the city), but it's divided well which makes it more spacious. All plants are 3 feet seprated and yes, I mostly grow 1 plant of each tomato. I don't sell tomatoes and I don't seel seeds (if I did, I wouldn't be a passion of mine anymore but something I do for money).
Believe it or not, but I was able to use all the fruits. Some for eating, I gave some to friends of mine and I made plenty of tomato sauce (which I prefer eating raw in winter and spring when I desperately miss tomatoes!)
Like "digiT's" said, I like to give tomato plants to my friends so they can grow something alse except a "red tomato".
I am always happy to help beginners on their way collecting first seeds. I find it hard, however, to trade these days. And that's primarly the reason I joined the forum. There is also plenty I still don't know about tomatoes and other vegetables so I'm looking forward to finding it out!

[digitS']

What a lovely tomato garden, Matt! And, a lovely location for your potted plants.

It looks like you may be using your tomato trellis as a frame to cover with plastic film for the early season.

You will have to be careful not burn yourself out on all of that but I know what you mean by knowing a big red tomato and a cherry tomato. I even gardened for a long time without knowing much more than that. It wasn't until my uncle gave me some seeds for pink tomatoes that I grew something of a different color. And, probably over 20 years before I learned that the Large Red Cherry that I always grew was an heirloom. I guess I just thought that a tomato was a tomato and the only difference was how big or how small.

Steve

[gixxerific]

Wow I wish I had room to have that many tomatoes. I have to ask though, what in the world do you do with all that? That must take a ton of time to plant them, let alone processing all that. I do not know about your neck of the woods but down here our maters can give us like 50 pounds per plant, if they are in ideal conditions of course.

A lot of them are mainly for seed saving. Though I do can tomatoes and give a ton a away. I do sell a few, though last year I did not sell any. A lot are new variety's that are crosses and just need to be advanced to be closer to stability.

And because I am crazy.

[Gardener123]

I hope I can convince my wife to let me expand he garden. My kids are buying me seeds for Christmas, I think. Last season was about 150 SF in size. Would love to at least double that this season because I want to try some new stuff but still keep my favorites. Also, I plan to buy several large pots for inside my gated pool area. The deer don't seem to go in that area.

Sadly, I think I will be taking down my greenhouse. By season's end the plastic was pretty much dry rotted, and after a wind storm, I was all over the neighbor's yards picking up pieces of plastic. I used 4 mil plastic with UV filtering. I was expecting 2 to 3 seasons, but didn't even get 1 whole season.

I also may build a big cold frame. My neighbor loves to build stuff, and loves veggies, but he hates to garden, so it may be a symbiotic venture.

Also, another neighbor said he will give me what I need to grow potatoes. I am diabetic, and love potatoes, but don't eat them. My family does, though.I have never grown potatoes before.

[ReptileAddiction]

That is to bad about your greenhouse. Are you going to build a new one? You could get one of the small hard plastic ones. I am guessing that it would last longer.

[Ohio Tiller]

I am doing a few things different this year I will be planting everything from my own starts.
I kept records last year of the ones I bought and the ones I started and mine outperformed the store bought almost 2 to 1.
Mine were much stronger healthier plants that lasted much longer into the fall months.
It did take mine a bit longer to start producing but they were a much fuller plant then the others.

I am also going to plant more watermelons this year. The ones I planted last year were so good! I think I am going to plant a few different kinds this year. That watermelon jelly was great!

Not going to plant any broccoli at all this year and debating on cabbage I am just not having any luck fighting the cabbage worms!
Doubt I will plant any corn either most of mine fed the coons and deer. And I can get free sweet corn from a friend that grows it commercially well free for the labor of picking for him.

[Gardener123]

My wife and kids bought me about a dozen packs of heirloom seeds.... well, I guess I need to learn about growing carrots, and lettuces.... and I also received a package of the walking onion sets with 10 sets.... According to what I have read, NOW is the best time to plant as long as I can get them in the soil.

Also, I have started a new hobby to help me with my gardening hobby..... I have bought some tools for woodworking. I plan to make garden benches, planters, better raised beds, and other garden projects.

[rainbowgardener]

It's amazing how a gardening hobby rapidly proliferates to become a lifestyle! If you grow veggies, then you want to cook them, so you need to get in to cooking and then of course you need to preserve the left overs so you get in to canning, freezing, drying.... And of course if you have beautiful flowers and veggies, you want to take nice pictures of them, so photography becomes important. For you, gardening starts to include carpentry. For me, it includes herbalism, making essential oils and products with the oils, tea blends, herbal jellies, etc. Also learning about edible weeds, medicinal values, how to use everything in my garden. And your garden needs birds and pollinators, so you have to learn about bird feeding, growing flowers to attract beneficial insects. None of this was part of my life before I was a gardener!

[imafan26]

You are so right Rainbow, one passion often begets another.

[digitS']

I don't remember when I wasn't a gardener . . .

Still, the begets and and begottens just keep on keepin' on!

I enjoy this gardening forum ; besides gardening forums - I belong to no others! Pictures? Yes. I now carry a camera every day thru the growing season . Cooking? Once again, I can't remember a "before" but it is more important than ever.

Carpentry? I like "hardscaping" but just haven't gotten into the doing of it. With so much time taken up gardening, I'd need a heated winter workshop! Oh no . . .

Steve

[Ohio Tiller]

It's amazing how a gardening hobby rapidly proliferates to become a lifestyle! If you grow veggies, then you want to cook them, so you need to get in to cooking and then of course you need to preserve the left overs so you get in to canning, freezing, drying.... And of course if you have beautiful flowers and veggies, you want to take nice pictures of them, so photography becomes important. For you, gardening starts to include carpentry. For me, it includes herbalism, making essential oils and products with the oils, tea blends, herbal jellies, etc. Also learning about edible weeds, medicinal values, how to use everything in my garden. And your garden needs birds and pollinators, so you have to learn about bird feeding, growing flowers to attract beneficial insects. None of this was part of my life before I was a gardener!

I also became a beekeeper because of the gardening.

[Gardener123]

Well, I have been a really good cook since I was 16..... 51 now, and now I consider myself an excellent cook.... And of course, NOW, I feel like I must do canning this season. I thought about it last season... read a book on it, but didn't follow through.

[DoubleDogFarm]

It's amazing how a gardening hobby rapidly proliferates to become a lifestyle! If you grow veggies, then you want to cook them, so you need to get in to cooking and then of course you need to preserve the left overs so you get in to canning, freezing, drying.... And of course if you have beautiful flowers and veggies, you want to take nice pictures of them, so photography becomes important. For you, gardening starts to include carpentry. For me, it includes herbalism, making essential oils and products with the oils, tea blends, herbal jellies, etc. Also learning about edible weeds, medicinal values, how to use everything in my garden. And your garden needs birds and pollinators, so you have to learn about bird feeding, growing flowers to attract beneficial insects. None of this was part of my life before I was a gardener!

Throw in Animal husbandry, out buildings and equipment and you have Homesteading. I know your a veggie.

Eric

[rainbowgardener]

If I could find some people and land to do homesteading with, I wouldn't mind having some chickens for eggs and a milch cow and/or goat for milk and cheese.

[digitS']

I have been thinking about that sort of thing for . .

. over half a century, RainbowG'.

When I was closest to that reality, I was fairly lonely. Maybe the operant plan is "find some people."

Steve

[Juliuskitty]

I got a 23 quart pressure canner for Christmas, and I need to start using it now, and probably well into April 2024. This is harvest from yesterday and today, and I already made a huge pot of sauce yesterdsy.