Are you going to plant a garden?
 

Notwithstanding the wind and chemicals here in western Kansas, I have Mae really nice raised beds. It has set dormant for several years but I can burn all the weeds and plant it. I just can’t figure out if it’s worth it.
What do you think? Do you plant a garden? Is it worth it? Thoughts?

you might get more traction if you have the mods move this to the Lounge and not Fantasy haha.

Is it worth it? Yeah, absolutely. Only depends on if you are willing and able to put the time in to mange weeds, water it, and so on.

Every single year. Torn down last years’ last weekend. Put in lettuce, garlic, and radishes Saturday. I’ll wait a few weeks for the big stuff.
Absolutely love this time of year!!!

I kinda miss planting a few veggies. Hard to raise anything in phx without spending a ton of $$$.

I thought this was a Farmville thread or something in here.

Been doing one for around 20 years or so; there’s just no comparison between home grown produce and store bought stuff, even the expensive organic stuff.
This year we have blueberries, two kinds of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, sweet peppers, snap peas, broccoli, asparagus, and sweet corn for fruits and vegetables.
Wife will have her flowers: zinnias, four o’ clocks, sunflowers, hyacinths, marigolds, columbine, clematis, crocus, and of course her roses. Girl’s been going nuts with those, she’s probably got over a dozen different varieties.

We have a great assortment of fruit trees, one each: Oranges, lemons, Meyer lemons, limes, Cherries, Peaches, Apples.

The citrus grow constantly and in December we have hundreds of oranges for fresh juice every day. last year there were only about 12 oranges on the tree, right now there's about 2,000 blossoms so I am expecting bumper crop this year.
The cherries and peaches are the same way: massive beautiful crop every other year, bupkis on the off years.

Squirrels are a huge problem here so I am like Donald duck trying to scare, block, and fight them off my property each spring. I put metal ducting around the trunks and nets over the trees.

Ground gardens in raised beds I have tried various things, the tomatoes and cucumbers and beans are the easiest/best crops. Watermelons took over massive area and did not grow sweet or edible. Strawberries were few and not big enough.

Radishes are easy. Carrots are good but if you overwater them they grow short and fat. carrots need dryness for the root to dig deeper to find water, so they grow long.

This year I am trying lettuces.

I grew broccoli but it was fair, not great, a little hard.

The cherry tomatoes are awesome, I just eat them like a snack off the vine all summer long.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/YZNAsk1" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/YZNAsk1">Garden bounty</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yes, I believe I will. Lol

If Mr. Wizard would like it returned to CasinoPlanet, I absolutely will do that for him!

Dang, that cucumber is almost as big as my wang

I'll probably plant a small one but we've had bad luck with ours. One year all our tomatoes got blight and the next year my wife accidentally treated the garden for blight with spray for non fruiting plants.

Really looking forward to the blackberry bush paying dividends this year.

Someone transplanted this thread to a site where it could grow more easily.

I found a way to kill a cactus I planted here in AZ.

I am a black thumb......

Ha, yeah, that cucumber got offensively large. They aren't good to eat when they get that big they dry out.

But it's cool to have the lemons and the cucumber going in the summer we can keep pitchers of iced "spa water" (cucumber and lemon slices) on the counter all weekend long and feel hella fancy for little to no effort.

Spa water sounds outstanding, light and tasty on a hot day

Didn't bother last year, but I just might do some five gallon bucket bell peppers and tomatoes this summer

The secret trick for tomatoes I learned from an old client, is banana water... soak banana peels in water for a few days then dump it on your tomatoes

Miracle-Gro doesn't have jack on that water, this old gal consistently produces more than she could ever use with that trick

Let me know what you are trying to grow. Lots to grow but timing here is just weird.

No. I had a garden at the last house. It was a lot of work.
Here-It is just another thing to mow around.

I can easily go to a farmers market and get what I want.

Agreed. I had a garden for 4 or 5 years. Gave it up and now go to the farmer's market for fruit and veggies. They're as tasty as anything I could grow.

My I'm going to have a garden neighbors or the f****** worst.

They never really harvest their s*** and keep it clean..

man, I keep on forgetting that I can slice up cuxs and lemons for ice water (and sun tea for that matter).

I've done the banana peel/water, that is a game changer too!!

I love this thread, thanks for moving it over to the lighter side!

NO and stop asking me

Do you have to wear a thick white robe when drinking the spa water, or can you be more dressed up?

yeah, the timing is just way off what I'm used to. And then there's the dang pests. I tried growing some jalapenos and some other peppers but first the javelinas ate three pots worth in the front yard overnight. Then i tried the backyard, and apparently the rabbits like peppers as well. Burnt four pots of tomatoes around the same time as well.


I thought about building a raised set of beds but haven't gotten that motivated yet, lol. So far, the only things I've managed to grow successfully are some green onions and some rosemary.


I'd like to be able to grow some basic herbs, and some tomatoes and onions? Not sure what else is reasonable.

yea i will be planting soon, i do a small one in big plastic tubs. i only plant stuff to make salsa, tomatoes. onions, and jalepenos. maybe when i retire i can do a bigger one and spend more time in the garden, looking forward to that time !

It doesn't get much better than picking your own ripe tomato for your first BLT of the season.

I have a raised bed....Last year we grew cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and tried strawberries but found the strawberries just weren't any good...barely grew. So we switched one of the areas from strawberries to peppers and had mild success.

This year we are doing the cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and radishes....mostly for the salads I like to eat during the hit summer months.

No. I’m a straight guy.

Planted 7 new asparagus roots yesterday. I first planted some when I moved into my house 28 years ago. Pickings have always been slim. When the growing got hot I'd M barely get a handful for dinner for me and the GF.

I never tended to it though watering and etc. Just let mother nature determine my harvest.

Yeah, every year. It gets bigger every year too. I'm up to 8 raised beds and I fenced it all in this year to keep the deer away hopefully. I have my best luck with green beans, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, okra, asparagus (comes back every year). I also plant potatoes, radishes, and zuccinis but not in the same amount as the rest. I started putting food away a few years ago with an old fashioned pressure canner. I'm still eating on the grean beans, okra, carrots, and maters from last summer.

I'm down to just the fruit trees, and planting some peppers, corn, and gold potatoes.

The local mennonites and their child slave labor make everything else so cheap it's not worth the time. What they don't grow and nearly give away they have hauled in and nearly give away.

I'll plant some tomatoes and peppers again this year. Lot's of BLTs and salsa I hope!

i grew okra for the first time last year. oh my god it was prolific!! whatever i didn't eat in the garden, i'd slice and fry up!! so stinking good!!
i try to grow one new item every year, and okra was last years choice.

still trying to think of what this years gonna be. any suggestions?

p.s. my 'sparagus bed is going crazy right now. my only issue is i don't pick it all fast enough and they can get "woody".

Ironic. I get a woody over asparagus.

Zing!!!!

I added 10 more raised beds this year bringing my total to 19.

Asparagus, potatoes, garlic, onions and snow peas are in the old garden.

The new garden is getting close to planting tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, radish, okra, watermelon, and peppers.

I did try strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries in the new garden. Never had any luck with fruits, so we are sticking with veggies. The herb garden is hit or miss what produces.

Look at the Baker Seed Catalog. They have 1000s of new ideas for your garden.

I’ll second and shill for Baker Creek seeds. Great varieties.

https://www.rareseeds.com