This is a question for everyone! What would you do differently next year, eg. would you sow/not sow certain seeds, or use different techniques etc. I guess the phrase I use most (when it comes to gardening!) is 'there's always next year'. So, what will you change?

I plan to try out Square Foot Gardening next year. Got a book on it this week and think its a cool idea. Gonna try melons again and see if growing them vertically really does work as well as the book says Think I will add some veggies and flowers as well, since Im in central florida I have the option of growing something thru the whole year.

This is a really great topic, Bamboo ! Good idea !
I have learned NOT to cave in to temptation and buy tomato plants too early.
This past spring I had a 3 foot Celebrity in a large pot, and had to baby it all through the long, chilly spring.
Next spring I'll be strong !

* * * *

This is an awesome topic! Don't be surprised if I steal some ideas...

For myself, we're going to have a real fence around the gardens, instead of the chicken wire. We're also going to have TWICE the size! (poor puppies are losing some running room, but oh well...)

I'm also going to have the vine-y things on trellises And we're (maybe) going to get another freezer so we can SAVE some of our veggies for winter.

Now...gimme gimme gimme...some ideas!

* * * *
http://myndfulmeanderings.blogspot.com

comfrey, there used to be someone on the board that posted all sorts of stuff about gardening with the moon. I don't know what ever happened to her but it was really neat.

My plan is to get the weeds out in advance next season. I'm going to cover the areas with leaves when they fall and keep piling on leaves so everything will be smothered out. Then I can pull back the top, work the bottom leaves into the soil before planting, then replace the pulled back leaves.

* * * *


http://www.picturetrail.com/bestofour

LOL, Comfrey !

* * * *

I'm also going to start Square Foot Gardening, assuming I can get my conifer 'hedge' removed. I plan to have a 4x6 foot box, and I've already got planned:

4 early potato plants;
4 cauliflower plants;
4 savoy cabbages;
9 beetroot;
32 onions;
4 iceberg lettuces;
1 courgette (zucchini)
3 tomatoes;
8 marigolds;
16 pea plants;
2 sweet peppers;

And there's still some room in summer/ fall, so might have something else too.

Not bad for 24 square feet.

I'm planning to level my entire garden...which is on a pretty annoying slope(I'll try to get pics to post a topic in the landscaping forum when I start). Maybe 10' by 10', but not exactly sure. Doing this will keep everything from toppling over on each other. It'll also be easier to manuver-right now everything is being held up by support strings tied to trees

I'm growing:
eggplant
cucumbers
celery
lettuce
carrots
tomatoes
radishes
a few herbs (basil, oregano, etc)
And I don't even know what else!

I also plan to put my tomato cages deeper into the ground-they seem to 'rise' over time!
I also want to start planting a little earlier...this year i didn't start until mid-June or so!
Well, I have a lot planned for next year!

* * * *


"I don't want no more of army life, gee mom, I wanna go, but they won't let me go, gee mom, I wanna go home!" My PB!

LOL John,

Come over some time and see what happens when you DO get more space!! I'm telling you, my garden was way successful and with my boyfriend working 2 jobs now, it's all I can do to try to keep up with the canning, the drying, the freezing, the blending..not to mention the tending, the weeding, the tying. The priests at my church are going to start running from me because I keep pushing eggplants, basil, tomatoes, plums, pears, and beans on them. At some point, you have to say, ok..this is as much as I can do. I've reached that pinnacle and surpassed it!

Cheers,
Julianna

* * * *

***
Oh, I forgot one thing!

I'm going to use TOMATO CAGES!!!!!! and not those silly (insert curse-dirty-word) sticks that we have to continually tie the darn boogers to every time we're in the garden.

That's all for now...Have a great harvest!

* * * *

CajunMama
"Sing praises to the Lord..." Psalm 9:11

I have 4 foot tall tomato cages, but I also have at least 2 stakes on the outsides of the cages, one to hold them steady and keep them from blowing over, and also so if I do need to tie up a huge tomato stem, I have something sturdy to tie to. I don't have enough tomato cages, so the odd tomato plants left get three stakes put around them, when these are fist put in I run at least three different heights (rows) of ties around them to hold the tomato plants up off the ground, The best thing I have found for making tomato ties is old tee shirts, if you start at the bottom and make a cut, you can tear the shirt and make really long pieces of tie material, plus they stretch nicely and tie good, and then you can just cut them and throw away at the end of the season.

* * * *

CajunMama, I found the Farmer's Almanac just by Googling the title.
I don't know how to add a link, or else I'd do it here for you.
Let me know if you find it.
I love your signature !

* * * *

Next year I get to have a garden!! This year I only had tomatoes and basil. I am soon to move to a new house and there I will have a quarter acre(give or take) to use as garden. I am going to have(good lord willing, and I can find a tiller...)

Tomatoes(several plants and several varieties)
Potatoes
Peppers (green, red, banana, jalepeno)
Cucumbers
Beans(pole)
Corn
Lettuce
Spinach
Onion
Radish
Carrots
Herbs(assorted)

That is a start, anyway...I want so badly to do everything, but seeing as how this is my first garden in many years...I am trying to stay small....so far...I just keep thinking of more and more things I need to add!

I'm sure I will have TONS of questions for you all soon!!

* * * *


Bote and Babe's World

We always took potatoes and cut them up so that each piece had an "eye" on it and planted that. Once the plant started dying off...dig up your 'taters.

Someone told me they grew them in old tires. They planted the tater and kept adding dirt and tires(going up) and when they were ready to harvest, they just knocked the tires down...no digging!

* * * *


Bote and Babe's World

One thing on the growing potatoes...when you cut them into pieces, be sure to let them heal/dry good where they are cut to help prevent rot etc. Some people also cover the pototaoe pieces in sulfur to prevent disease and bug problems.

* * * *

Well they are planted alot earlier then anything else...Around here by Saint Patrick's day is good, not sure if it would be the same for your area or not Mark, but it will be before your last frost date. Depending on what kind of potatoes you plant..maturity takes about 95 days.

* * * *

There is a website that provides what they call "potatoes in a bag" its the potatoe pieces in a bag(like potting soil or mulch) that you simply slit open and water, the plants grow and when they wither you open the bag fully to collect your taters. Havent tried them myself but friends have and say that its a tidy easy way to grow them wvwn if you lack a lot of room. The plants themselves are quite pretty too and add interest to a balcony or patio!

I wonder if growing them in an old plastic container i have would work, Maybe covering them with hay or straw as they grow larger so the taters are kept covered. What do you guys think?

Great, CajunMama !
It's neat, isn't it?
Nice of you to post it for everyone.

* * * *

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bamboo:
Thanks Deborah!
Next year I'm going to try and grow butternut squash. Then I'll make some lovely soup with my mum!

---

That's about the only thing in my garden this year that was prolific...got a bunch..
Planted them for my Father~in~law, he loves them.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bestofour:
comfrey, there used to be someone on the board that posted all sorts of stuff about gardening with the moon. I don't know what ever happened to her but it was really neat.

---

HANDBRIGHT... I think she was in Fla?
*originally from NY*
Somebody PM her and get her back on board..
I enjoyed her thread too!
(I have to tackle my PM area, and delete some)

quote:

---

Originally posted by myndful:
For myself, we're going to have a real fence around the gardens, instead of the chicken wire.

---

May I ask what happened to the chicken wire?
And what are you getting?
Very Curious?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bestofour:
And, I've decided not to plant okra. I love okra but for some reason in this garden I don't get enough to eat at one cutting so I try to save it and it's just not worth the trouble.

---

Sheri,
Okra is a veryyyy heavy feeder...
Do you fertilize alot, and with extra compost?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tonya:
Next year I get to have a garden!!

I want so badly to do everything, but seeing as how this is my first garden in many years...I am trying to stay small....so far...I just keep thinking of more and more things I need to add!

---

Tonya, stick with that plan, not to over do it..
Really... and do you soil first, get it worked up NOW *or as soon as possible*, so it's ready to plant in spring... that takes time to ammend the soil and get it right the first time..
so much depends on it..

quote:

---

Originally posted by SNOWWOLF:
I wonder if growing them in an old plastic container i have would work, Maybe covering them with hay or straw as they grow larger so the taters are kept covered. What do you guys think?

---

If you do a FORUM SEARCH and type in POTATOES, there should be something, about how to plant them and about covering and layering hay...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

quote:

---

still have Woodchucks

---

I had squrrils, and raccoons...if you remember my mad attempt to get rid of them over the summer!

hopefully, they won't come back!

* * * *


"I don't want no more of army life, gee mom, I wanna go, but they won't let me go, gee mom, I wanna go home!" My PB!

I gave up 4 years ago and now buy animal foods, species appropriate. Sigh............
But the wildlife brats don't "prune" for me anymore !

* * * *

We used a live trap once..
We caught one.. and then my husband and f~i~l went to pick it up and relocate it.. well, when f~i~l picked it up, the rodent lurched forward *and this guy/girl was a tub filled up from my garden bounty* well, the latch wasn't latched right and as it lurched forward, it came out..

Well, that rodent must have told every other woodchuck here and not one went back in that thing, nooooooo matter what I put in it..

Although, I came out my back door one day, and one was sitting on top of it, *surveying the property to find where the good crop was today* and two more were munching at the base of it, like waiting for the "lunch report"

quote:

---

they usually live in pairs (male & female) and since you provided them with a good food source, they probable were able to raise a baby or two.

---

TRY 5...
one died, it went up into my motor in my van to keep warm I guess one night and when we started the car, it got caught and we lost our fan belt.
I have pictures of some of them, on my front porch/steps.. but haven't gotten to them into PB yet..

quote:

---

Do you live in a rural area or town/city?

---

We live in a small country town... but NO shooting in town though...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Weezie, I just saw your question...

The short answer is, a tree fell on the chicken wire fence. It leans terribly now.

It's kinda dark right now, but I think you can see the "lean" in this pic...

The long answer is, the fence was thrown up in a day using deck pickets, the chicken wire and staples...the wire isn't sunk into the ground, so the dogs can lift it up and get into the garden. The fence is REALLY not sturdy, and just looks awful!

Next year, we'll be working on making the back yard into a place we can ALL enjoy. Rob wants an outdoor dining room, and I want a bigger garden. Sooooo, we're going to fence in the front third of the back yard, in two sections with a path between for access to the back. We'll be using the vinyl picket fencing to make it more decorative.

I'm not sure if this pic is big enough to really show the plans, but this is what we came up with:

The scale is a little bit off, but it's enough to get the general idea.

The big white square is a huge garage that he won't let me knock down. Behind the garage is the fruit garden, to the right of that is the compost. That section of yard is bigger than the plan says. Middle-right yard, across from the garage, is an enormous white oak or swamp oak, not sure exactly which.

In the future: The front-right is a low deck with table and grill, surrounded by flowers. The left is going to be the larger garden, with a table in the middle of the old driveway - the better for me to work out there. (as opposed to doing my garden projects on the kitchen counter or dining room table...)

* * * *
http://myndfulmeanderings.blogspot.com

I'm going to try that pretty squash, Sunburst, the bright yellow patty pan/scallop with a green blossom end. That's a pretty one.
Also plan to plant my first Brandywine, and cardoons. I've always thought they look interesting.

* * * *