I love having fresh herbs on hand so I'm glad the "safe date" for planting is fast approaching. My chives have already come up so I just need to use them. The other stuff I like to plant are rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil and oregano. I might do something other than parsley this year because it never seems to get used, even for garnish so I'm open for suggestions other than mint.
I tried planting a vegetable container garden last year and that just did not go well. We did have a few strawberries for the Mr but nothing that could be used for a fruit salad. I planted butter lettuce but it mutated into some spiked bear trap lettuce that the Mr begrudgingly choked down. I planted jalapeno peppers for me which a few small random ones came up and sweet peppers for the Mr, which again a few small random ones popped up late in the season. Zucchini never happened. Tomatoes were laughable because we both hate them but were trying to get enough to make sauce and they pointed and laughed. This year I'd like to do spinach if we can. I wouldn't mind doing jalapenos again and maybe some kind of bean. I need something that gonna give me yield people! :-)
Do you plant gardens? If so, do you have a big one, container or are just looking to get started. What do you plant?
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The garden was planted last weekend and so far includes: strawberries, green beans, lima beans, butter lettuce, loose leaf lettuce, carrots, zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, red onions, vidalia onions, beets, sweet potatoes and white potatoes. I think that's it. Oh, and brussel sprouts and cauliflower. I think that's it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a big-ish garden - about 40' x 50'.
I love gardening. And then I have a few herbs in pots on the deck so that I can use them as I please. We have chocolate mint, italian flat leaf parsley, basil, rosemary, and lemon thyme.
You could try cilantro. I'm not a big fan, but you could throw it in homemade salsa (with tomatoes from the store that do not laugh at you), or maybe even your fish tacos.
I'm going to foray into my first veggie garden this year. I planted a flower garden YEARS ago (I mean - we're talking probably 14...) so I'm a total novice! LOL But I have it plotted out, the ground is prepped now it is just time to get to it and plant away...then wait and see what happens! LOL Might be like yours in the end, but I'm willing to give it a try. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a very good gardener but we've expanded this year from last year. Peas will give you HUGE yield and do well in containers, they just need something to climb, a tomato cage works well. Bean, bush type, usually give great yield too. Your lettuce bolted, if you grow again pick it small and early, or plant a lot earlier or later in the year so it gets more cool weather and not hot...lettuce is harder to grow in the hotter areas of the country. Try anything in the melon family. Also anything squash. We got a huge return off our yellow, crook-necked squash and everybody liked it better than zucchini anyways. Anywho...good luck with your garden. :)
ReplyDeleteHow about trying sage in place of parsley?
ReplyDeleteYou know how I love me some tomatoes! I'm sad that I won't get my garden this year but such is life huh. In Iowa tomatoes have always done well. So have jalepenos. Bell peppers never did and strawberries were always eaten by those dang ground squirrels. Cucumbers do really well too. I'm going to be planting one of those topsy turvey hangy basket things so I can hopefully have some tomatoes and I think I'm going to plant some basil in a planter. Maybe some other herbs but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I've never had a garden. I am unable to kneel with a bum knee, so we're tossing around the idea of a raised garden to try our hand at some tomatoes and cucumbers. It would be awesome to grow some of our own food. Best of luck to you with your crops this year!
ReplyDeleteI only plant a few things each year, the only place I've ever had a yield is a tiny little area. Mostly peppers and tomatoes. I've never had any success with anything else.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't do a garden last year because our soil was really bad, so I spent that season creating a compost "lasagna" garden which sat over the winter and our soil this year is fantastic! In the past we've done tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno's, brocoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, chives, cilantro, and thyme. This year I think we'll start out small to test the soil with tomatoes, some herbs, and peppers.
ReplyDeleteGardening depends on about three different things; sun exposure, moisture and climate. The root systems of most veggies are not particularly deep or substantial, so they do tend to do quite well in containers. I have done a mixture of container and bed gardening for a few years now, and prior to my real career I worked in Garden Centers around the SE and Midwest, I even had my master plantsmen deal at one time. In the NW climate, there are some veggies that are extremely difficult to grow, tomatoes being one of them; not enough sun and heat to cook those babies, so I try to grow grape ones and I always use seed starts as opposed to starting anything from seed. Cucumbers and zucchini have both done well for me in pots and I've used grow bags for potatoes the last two years. I have a few herb container gardens; my "spaghetti garden"; sweet basil, rosemary, oregano. My Mojito Garden; apple mint, spearmint, orange mint and one other one I forget and a Turkey Day garden, Sage, rosemary and thyme.
ReplyDeleteI try to focus on easy to maintain, hardy perennials in my flower beds and have lots of Iris, Lillies, daisies, gallardia and roses. I'm also working on doing some shade loving spaces, which has been more of a challenge for me.
The only thing I don't really like about gardening is weeding...ugh
We have a good size garden - about 15 feet by 60 feet
ReplyDeletesome raspberries and rhubarb, then few rows of asparagus - this is the 1st year we get to enjoy picking it - a row of snow peas, a row of yellow beans, several rows of peppers, several zucchini plants (green), several yellow and we are trying to grow black zucchini this year. There will be some carrots, parsnips and turnips, a small amount of lettuce and radishes, a goodly amount of onions and LOTS of tomatoes. We also have several half barrels - chives, basil, rosemary, oregano, maybe some more tomatoes. And we are going to try again to grow soy beans. Still to cold in Winnipeg to plant, but hopefully soon