garden plans for 2012

[FarmerChick]

BUY a replacement? spend money heck no

transplant some into a pot and go about killing the other this season. it will only get worse and worse and worse and worse if you don't get it now.

 

[FarmerChick]

I went from field crops for sales, then to nothing, got all my veggies from family and friends. BUT the variety was limited but delish

this year I will do a personal garden. not sure where I am going to locate it. But I know I want to grow my own this year again.

With what I see coming, anyone would be crazy not to grow something to help offset those prices out there truly. This year we are going to see more huge increases across the board of all products.

 

[Gypsi]

Mint doesn't die willingly - and don't grow similar mints next to each other, their roots touch and their taste changes. Oregano is a mint btw, I have enough to keep a lot of italians going. Made oregano olive oil to cook with (not the essential oil, I do not have THAT much or the right equipment.) My oregano is limited by the sidewalk that surrounds it, and digging it back as needed. My dogs actually managed to kill my back yard spearmint, or the drought did, because it is gone.

I do not grow cucumbers near cantaloupe, those 2 cross breed, and cukalope's are not tasty. No problem with yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, watermelon and cantaloupe in the same garden area. I actually haven't grown cucumbers in years because my garden area is small, and given a choice, the melons and squash go in the grandkids faster. Guess I could put some on the other side of the house, but I do not like to plant near the foundation in case it has ever been "termited". (Hasn't in the last 10 years, since I've been here, so it might be ok.)

When reading a post that includes weather / pest problems, it would help if the poster put at least their general area, (such as North Texas on mine), on their profile.

 

[the funny farm6]

Yes I am hoping the mint takes over! I am putting it next to the house and if it goes farther out in the yard than I want I will mow it.

So if I put cucumbers on one end and zucini on the other I will be ok? And I want pumpkins also. Thought I might put them along the edge of our woods. We don't have pest problems except the owl, the outside dog keeps them away!

 

[Gypsi]

The only things my cucumbers ever crossed with were cantaloupes, you might be able to put them right next to zucchini.
Those 2 plants (cantaloupe and cucumber) are just too close together genetically.

I'm not sure about pumpkins - I always plant them at mid-summer or after for a halloween harvest. So they aren't generally blooming at the same time as the rest. It really gets hot here in summer, zucchini rarely lasts thru June.

 

[the funny farm6]

Also got to plant cat nip for my daughters "nip" addicted cat!!

Thanks gypsi I haddent thought of that fact!

It was my mother that always told me not to plant those together. Hmmm.... now to make my garden bigger.

 

[Rebbetzin]

1) How big is your garden area? Traditional garden rows / raised beds / pots or containers / combo? Is your garden on your property or do you have a community garden plot (or a combo of both)?

I have a few places in my yard that I attempt to grow things. Mostly in designated beds that the soil have been worked on for years and years to get anything to really grow. It is hard for me to figure out the actual size of it.

2) What are your gardening goals? Fresh eating during the season to supplement groceries / preservation for the rest of the year through: canning / freezing / dehydrating / root cellaring or other cold storage?

Grow food that I know isn't GMO and full of chemicals and radiation.

3) Did you have pest problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them?

I had a very nice Hubbard Squash vine, it had only male flowers! It made a nice vine on the front of the house!

4) Did you have plant disease problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them / how do you plan to deal with any aftermath in the coming years?

Didn't have any diseases I can remember...

None this year, touch wood!

(Hey! My Hebrew Teacher says that, I had always heard it said "Knock on Wood" until I met her)

5) What is one thing you want to improve about your garden in 2012?

Improve the soil. Stop trying to grow vegetables in the summer, it is not worth the expense of the water.


6) What specific challenges do you face where you garden and do you have any questions that perhaps someone here can help you with? (This can be anything--water availability, slope, shade, soil, weather etc.)

Never enough water, no matter what time of year! Though we did have a good amt. of rain in Dec.


7) What is one triumph of your 2011 garden year? (Plant varieties that did super well / a new technique you tried that really paid off / just the fact that you did something new or even began a garden for the first time (yay!) / ways to extend your season / you got some member/s of your family on board for the first time etc.)

I tried to grow things that didn't take much water this summer. And now here in the winter I am attempting to water less often. I have found that the radishes, lettuces, spinach, etc. this year are going gang busters in the new bed that "summered over" covered in plastic, with goat and chicken bedding "cooking" for most of the summer. I just may do that again this year!

Someday I would love to live where I could have a great garden all year long!


Is there such a place?

Maybe So. CA!!

 

[Denim Deb]

Yes I am hoping the mint takes over! I am putting it next to the house and if it goes farther out in the yard than I want I will mow it.

So if I put cucumbers on one end and zucini on the other I will be ok? And I want pumpkins also. Thought I might put them along the edge of our woods. We don't have pest problems except the owl, the outside dog keeps them away!

In the past, I always grew my cukes on the fence, but I can't do that any more-ground hogs. And, the zucchini was always a few feet from that. I also had all of the rest of my vine crops growing on the fence. This year, I'll be redoing my garden, so not sure exactly how I'm going to grow them. I'm putting electric along the top of my fence to keep the groundhogs from climbing over. (And yes, they do climb!)

 

[Dawn419]

BUY a replacement? spend money heck no

transplant some into a pot and go about killing the other this season. it will only get worse and worse and worse and worse if you don't get it now.

You beat me to it, FC!

Except for killiing it off...I'd cut it all back and dry it for teas.

My mints (applemint and peppermint) are planted in naturally hollowed out tree stumps (cut down from when we did our small clearing) right now until I figure out just where to plant them to let them run amuck/amok.

 

[the funny farm6]

I have some extra cattle pannels I can trellis as much as I want. As long as hubby doesn't come up with a use for them.