Victory Gardens

[brewer12345]

Anyone planting a Covid-19 [mod edit] victory garden? I usually plant a vegetable garden in my 3 raised beds, but this year I will be managing them more intensively than in the past. Potatoes are getting kicked out of the beds and getting grown in feed sacks (new process for us this year). Planting more of the stuff that robustly produces and maximizing yield of veggies as much as possible. Much more intensively planting the early, cold hardy stuff (a few types of lettuce and the arugala are already starting to come up, still waiting on spinach, turnips and beets). I am not good at doing starts from seeds and my neighbor is a master at it, so she is starting the seeds and I will be more than happy to share produce with her. I had seeds so having her start them means going to the garden center is optional and I will not be at risk of a supply shortage.

 

[KB]

I always have a vegetable garden but this year I am planting more. I have my tomato plants ready to be planted when the soil is warm enough. I started them Feb 1, so they are pretty tall. I added kale, chard and lettuce to my usual vegetables for this year.

I tend to plant tomatoes, zucchini, baby butternut, lemon squash and green beans. I'll tuck the chard and kale into the corners. Lettuce doesn't like my hot summers so I can cover it with row cover and plant new transplants every 6 weeks or so because it tends to bolt in the heat.

Have your neighbor write her instruction for starts so you can try them next year. I start mine in the house on heat mats (everything but the lettuce) , and move them under grow lights when they germinate. After awhile I move them to my greenhouse until they are ready to go in the ground. I really enjoy it, but this year it will be more of everything so I wont need to shop as much.

 

[brewer12345]

I came to gardening late in life, just a few years ago. Still learning. I will get there. The hard part here is hardening off plants because they go from an indoor, protected place to high elevation, so sudden shock of high solar radiation and low humidity. I will figure it out eventually, but I don't think I have the luxury this year.

Kale is a winner. Last year I planted lacinato kale and it did so well that we got sick of kale and I dried a bunch of it. It is great for making a white bean caldo verde in the winter.

 

[pacergal]

Not quite warm enough here. I have not had great luck, each year one or two things that did well the year before don't seem to do well the next.
I buy plants, but have not ventured to the nursery--not even sure if they would be open. We go to an organic family farm for our plants, so I hope they survive.
But I do hope to plant more this year if I can.

 

[Aerides]

I haven't done a veggie garden in years but I am thinking about it. It's rough as I'm in zone 10 so it's a different set of problems to deal with here.

I did have a large patch of side yard though that I'm converting from lawn to shrubs and flowers. I got the area cleared but no plants, except for a couple I'd recently gotten from friends before the stay-at-home situation. Not going nursery shopping even though we have a big lovely open one nearby. So it's a bit more hodge podge than planned. I'm moving stuff from around the rest of the garden, taking cuttings and clones, all very make shift, but it will work.

 

[Gumby]

We have a 1200 sqft. community garden plot. Normally the garden opens on April 1st, and I have timed my seed starting to have seedlings ready to go into the ground in the first or second week of April. I'm hoping that we'll get out there on time this year, as the city has shut down all the recreation department programs, under which this falls. I can't imagine there is any substantial threat, since we all go out there and work on our individual plots alone. Much of the time during the week, I am one of two or three people on the whole several acre spread.

 

[Dawg52]

I came to gardening late in life
.

Late in life? You're just a baby compared to the rest of us.

 

[brewer12345]

Late in life? You're just a baby compared to the rest of us.

Meaning I did not grow up doing this.

 

[Shredder]

We have 8, four foot by 15 ft raised beds and two 5 ft by 25 ft raised beds. They're all fenced in due to elk roaming around eating tender plants. Our ground here is basically glacial moraine gravel. So raised beds it is. We also have a large pantry, two freezers and my wife cans everything that doesn't move, lol. Its much more than we can eat but we share a lot.

At 45 degrees north, ill start seeds in a week or so for planting late may or early June.

 

[Freedom56]

Anyone planting a [] victory garden? I usually plant a vegetable garden in my 3 raised beds, but this year I will be managing them more intensively than in the past. Potatoes are getting kicked out of the beds and getting grown in feed sacks (new process for us this year). Planting more of the stuff that robustly produces and maximizing yield of veggies as much as possible. Much more intensively planting the early, cold hardy stuff (a few types of lettuce and the arugala are already starting to come up, still waiting on spinach, turnips and beets). I am not good at doing starts from seeds and my neighbor is a master at it, so she is starting the seeds and I will be more than happy to share produce with her. I had seeds so having her start them means going to the garden center is optional and I will not be at risk of a supply shortage.

We plant a lot of vegetables all throughout the year in raised garden beds that I built several years ago. We have a lot growing already and will be planting more. We sow our seeds in an Aerogarden and then transplant the seedlings outside into soil. We have fresh herbs growing all year. We also have an apple, peach, and Meyer lemon trees and pomegranate bushes.

 

[ERD50]

... Potatoes are getting kicked out of the beds and getting grown in feed sacks (new process for us this year). ...

Tell us about your approach to growing potatoes.

I've pretty much given up gardening for food, got tired of fighting the pests, deer, rabbits etc. But I didn't come to gardening late in life, Dad had a big garden on our suburban lot when I was little, then we moved to a farm and a big veggie garden (plus acres and acres of sweet corn), and I kept gardens for years, so the novelty is way worn off.

I do keep some herbs going (low maintenance, high reward for the fresh stuff which is expensive in stores, and goes bad quickly). Rosemary, thyme, parsley (had some sage, no more), cilantro, basil (wonderful!), oregano (not that crazy about it versus dried), and also some raspberry plants.

I'd like to try potatoes, I don't think too much bothers them (weevils?). My Uncle planted them in his garden and gave us some (many decades ago). Potatoes are cheap, keep well, but darn if fresh potatoes weren't a big step up from store bought. I'd do it for the fun of it.

-ERD50

 

[Jerry1]

I've pretty much given up gardening for food, got tired of fighting the pests, deer, rabbits etc.

Same here. I don't think most people realize what a battle against nature gardening is. They seem to be worse just when the plants come up and then again when you're just about to pick your harvest. We used to have a lot of corn and the deer would come by and just bite the tops off. There was enough that if they'd just take the entire ear, there'd be plenty for everyone (every "thing"), but they don't see the world that way. If I want to grow anything, I'd have to fence it in and the only return on investment is that the flavor would be much better. But, my corn would be lucky to be under $1 per ear. Sucks because I did like gardening, even though I wasn't that good at it.

 

[swakyaby]

California gardening zone 8b: planted my tomatoes this weekend that I started from seed indoors in February. The evenings are still chilly, so those red and blue conical things are early season plant protectors.

 

[JoeWras]

I'm going to have to cut a dying tree in order to get some sun. But it probably won't happen until the season is well under way. Also plan on using the stimulus for that tree cut. Next year hopefully will be big.

For this year, I have container tomatoes started inside. We should have a bumper crop. For the first time ever, I'm growing lettuce right now. It isn't an intentional "victory" garden, it was an accident of timing. This year I wanted to try an early spring planting and then came covid, so my lettuce is now victory lettuce.

I tried broccoli too but I'm doing something wrong. The stalks are not properly thickening and the plants are spindly.

 

[JoeWras]

Same here. I don't think most people realize what a battle against nature gardening is. They seem to be worse just when the plants come up and then again when you're just about to pick your harvest. We used to have a lot of corn and the deer would come by and just bite the tops off. There was enough that if they'd just take the entire ear, there'd be plenty for everyone (every "thing"), but they don't see the world that way. If I want to grow anything, I'd have to fence it in and the only return on investment is that the flavor would be much better. But, my corn would be lucky to be under $1 per ear. Sucks because I did like gardening, even though I wasn't that good at it.

Currently my small containers are all covered in something to keep out squirrels, deer and rabbits. It is a battle, but a tiny one. I have like 5 square feet of dirt right now. Basically, nothing, so easy to cover.

I really wish people would appreciate what our farmers do. So much trash talk against them lately.

 

[brewer12345]

Tell us about your approach to growing potatoes.

I've pretty much given up gardening for food, got tired of fighting the pests, deer, rabbits etc. But I didn't come to gardening late in life, Dad had a big garden on our suburban lot when I was little, then we moved to a farm and a big veggie garden (plus acres and acres of sweet corn), and I kept gardens for years, so the novelty is way worn off.

I do keep some herbs going (low maintenance, high reward for the fresh stuff which is expensive in stores, and goes bad quickly). Rosemary, thyme, parsley (had some sage, no more), cilantro, basil (wonderful!), oregano (not that crazy about it versus dried), and also some raspberry plants.

I'd like to try potatoes, I don't think too much bothers them (weevils?). My Uncle planted them in his garden and gave us some (many decades ago). Potatoes are cheap, keep well, but darn if fresh potatoes weren't a big step up from store bought. I'd do it for the fun of it.

-ERD50

I have in the past done the traditional hill and trench approach in my raised beds for potatoes, but the real estate is too precious to give up. Mother Earth news had an interesting article over the winter where they tried several ways of growing potatoes small scale. They said that there were really two winners: the traditional trench and hill, and growing them in woven feed sacks. Basically you put a mix of soil and compost in the sack mayve a third deep, plant your potatoes, and keep mounding up over the pants as they grow. At the end of the season when the plant dies back, you dump the sack out on a tarp and fish out your spuds. They said you get a slightly lower yield, but because it is so low effort that it is worth it. Since it also frees up raised bed space for me, we will try it this year.

 

[ERD50]

I have in the past done the traditional hill and trench approach in my raised beds for potatoes, but the real estate is too precious to give up. Mother Earth news had an interesting article over the winter where they tried several ways of growing potatoes small scale. They said that there were really two winners: the traditional trench and hill, and growing them in woven feed sacks. Basically you put a mix of soil and compost in the sack mayve a third deep, plant your potatoes, and keep mounding up over the pants as they grow. At the end of the season when the plant dies back, you dump the sack out on a tarp and fish out your spuds. They said you get a slightly lower yield, but because it is so low effort that it is worth it. Since it also frees up raised bed space for me, we will try it this year.

Thanks, I should give that a try.

-ERD50

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Some of my stay at home upcoming projects are an herb garden, sprouts, microgreens and seeing what I can grow indoors. There's too many critters in our area to make growing a lot of food crops outside a good idea for me. Many neighbors here have even gotten rid of bird feeders because of rodents.

We did plant some leeks and spring onions and so far those have been left alone, so I'm going to see what else might be unappealing to rats and squirrels.

 

[Souschef]

Living in a MHP, I do not have a lot of space to grow. I have parsley, chives, and thyme growing in a little strip. In the back, I have 4 tomato plants in the ground waiting for warmer weather to really grow.
I also have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree in front of our home.

 

[KB]

I just planted my tomatoes in my raised beds yesterday. I started them from seeds Feb 1 and they were almost 3 feet tall. Today the squash plants go in the ground. I'll wait a little bit for the beans which I direct seed.

I usually direct seed squash, but wanted to ensure they got a jump start this year. I also have some potatoes growing in a large grow bag.

My chard and kale seedlings are not ready to transplant, they would just be eaten I have a creek behind my property and rats love my vegetable garden. The particularly like the young seedlings.

I have blueberries, strawberries, a Meyer lemon and two Mandarins growing in my yard also. And two columnar apple trees. I have a small city lot (1/6 acre) but have fit in what I can. Actually I might add to it this year, but will need to revisit my entire garden plan.

I am going to start some herbs now that my seed order arrived.

 

[audreyh1]

This would be an awesome time to have a garden, and I have fantasized about it, but unfortunately doesn’t work out for us since we are temporarily relocated. It would be so nice to have home grown lettuce right now.

 

[KB]

It would be so nice to have home grown lettuce right now.

Thanks for reminding me, I meant to start some lettuce also. It is too hot here in the summer to grow lettuce without shading it and successive planting every 6 weeks or so. But I will give it a try.

 

[foxfirev5]

Here in the sorry state of Michigan all garden centers as well as non essential parts of groceries are now closed. However, you can stand in line til your hearts content buying booze, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

 

[MBAustin]

I picked up a roll of bird netting at Home Depot this morning to protect my plants as something seems to be nibbling on my basil plants. Lettuce that I planted last week is starting to germinate. I was several weeks late planning the lettuce but hope to get a decent crop before it gets too hot in June. Already have some little jalapeños on those plants.

 

[FIREd]

It's a bit early here to start gardening in earnest (mid-May at the earliest). We have a family garden and we are expanding it this year.