Do you have a garden and what do you grow?

We're doing a garden for the first time this year. I know I want to do some different kinds of peppers, some cucumbers, maybe some squash…

What else is good and relatively easy to grow?

With both of us working at home we should have plenty of time to tend to it and I wanted to involve the kids (well, Noah anyway) and give him his own garden responsibilities.

Oh my!!! I've got my seeds sitting here and waiting. I haven't gardened in about five or six years. Back then I grew:

tomatoes and spinach (both could've turned out better); carrots (I forget which kind, but they were fairly long), a couple types of lettuce, and jalapeños (all turned out great); zuccini and squash (really didn't do much; I think it was my soil's fault); and beans (I forget which kind) which never did anything. There may have been something else, I really don't remember.

The seeds I currently have: blue lake bush beans, olympia spinach, romaine lettuce, black seeded simpson lettuce (grew it before; very tasty), royal chantenay carrots, red amposta onions, california wonder orange peppers, yolo wonder sweet peppers, canary bell sweet peppers, and some wheatgrass (for the birds).

The thing I really like about carrots is that you can wait months to pull them and they're just as tasty as when at 70-ish days.

I'm very much a novice at all this. In the past most of my stuff was grown in containers 'cause the ground here is very clay-heavy. This year I'm going to do everything in containers. I spoke to my step mom the other day, who always has stuff growing in containers -- though generally it's plants native to and very tolerant of the area. Anyway, my big mistake in the past was using garden soil (?) in my containers. So, today I'm off to buy potting soil. I imagine it will be a bit more expensive, but my results should be tremendously great.

I read somewhere that nastursiums are pretty good at keeping away many pests. So, I'm going to invest in them. They can just be so hard to grow from seed, though. So, I just may see if it's sold already growing.

With involving your kids, maybe you could start some out as sprouts before planting them. It could be pretty cool for them to see. I actually already sprouted some of my beans (and really need to get them planted no later than tomorrow). I just gave it a whirl since I sprouted millet for the first time (for my birds).

Here's a pretty good site I found about sprouting, with photos: http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-1566_1733_22582-65181--,00.html

When I was a kid my grandpa used to grow carrots in his backyard. Very easy to grow and he loved watching us pick them. We used to grow tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and peppers in our yard. All we needed to do was make sure they were watered.

I grew up with a garden and since I live in town, I can't. My mom keeps one tho. I'm looking forward to next year--after we're married, Jamie and I are putting a garden in. I'm wanting to can my own tomatoes.

Tomatoes are easy and sturdy as hell. Just make sure you plant some marigolds around them to keep most of the bad bugs out. Beware the tomato worm. *shudder*

There's tons of types of tomatoes out there. Mum planted about 5 different kinds last year, and will be adding a few more this year. We grew green tomatoes last year--it was cool, biting into a sweet tomato that was green. lol

Cucumbers are pretty easy too.

Mum has started planting peas--which i'm likely to do as well…fresh peas…mmm…

Watermelons are a staple…corn is too. There's different kinds of watermelons too. They take up a lot of water and space, but there are smaller breeds. We grew some small ones last year that were yellow instead of red…and so damn sweet! Mmm!

Mum grows strawberries, but I likely won't. They're easy, but they spread so fast and I'm just not wanting to babysit them. Ants seem to get them before we do.

Mum also plants jalapeno peppers and will be growing bell peppers this year.

I'm told that broccoli, lettuce, and cabbage are hard and tough as hell to get the little bugs out of.

All my advice & warnings are strictly Ohio based lol

I really, really want to try to grow some datil peppers but I have been told that outside of St. Augustine they are almost impossible to grow.

If you've never tried anything with datil peppers check out http://www.minorcandatil.com. I LOVE minorcan mustard! I used to get this stuff called Devil Drops that was really good too.

Jalapenos and habaneros are definitely going in our garden. I'd love to do peas but I'm the only one who would eat them. Actually, maybe that's a plus…more peas for me.

I believe in peas on earth. ;o)

Yup, grow you some peas…even if you are the only one…lol we need our own yummies too lol

Back in the day, we had a huge garden. The kids would love to help daddy with picking the cucumbers, carrots, cutting the lettuce and harvesting the tomatoes and zuchinni.

I had not done a garden for years….and last year I put a tomato plant and a zuchinni plant in pots on our deck. Loved it. Probably will do it again this summer.

We just found a patch of strawberries growing in our backyard today.

We're planning on doing a garden for the first time this year too.  With a toddler, we thought it would be a good learning experience to show her the process for where things come from.  I think we're going to do the following:

Sweet corn
Sugar snap peas
Green beans
Tomatoes
Peppers
Zucchini
Pumpkins

I think that's probably it.  We'll see how it goes.

it would be a good learning experience to show her the process for where things come from.

I've enjoyed watching the young parents on this board evolve. I just love your passion for teaching the kids and this just makes my heart happy to see how much you have all grown yourselves.

Just make sure you put something on your wee one(s)to keep the "skeetos" away in the evening.

LOL

oh my.. the inevitable garden…

My sweetie cleaned out beside our garage.. (and I helped him!!) and created a veggie garden…  we have grown…

tomatoes (sometimes too many)
lots of beets (because I pickle them!)
zuchinni (mmm.. zuchinni bread!)
cucumber
sweet onions
radishes
romaine lettuce
brussel sprouts (he won't do that again as the groundhog ate them all… )
broccoli (damn groundhog)
green peppers
red peppers
jalapeno peppers (we won't grow those again till our lips grow back on our face.. made jalapeno poppers one night.. HOLY SMOKE THEY WERE HOT!!)

that's about it…  this year we are doing less tomatoes..

I have the brownest green thumb there is.  I'm planning an herb garden and rhubarb.  Might do hops (they're essentially a week, even I can't kill them) and container tomatoes if i'm feeling cocky. 

"they're essentially a week, even I can't kill them"

And apparently you can't spell them either.  Don't you mean weeD?! ha

Several varieties of tomatoes…several varieties of hot peppers…

Basil…cilantro…

I'm all about making homemade salsas… tomato sauces and pesto.

ooohhhhhh.. Darlene.. there is a thought…

I wonder if I can grow cilantro.. I love cilantro!!!

homemade avocado salsa… mmmmmmmmmmmm…

>>And apparently you can't spell them either.  Don't you mean weeD

HA!  Yes. Weed. Hee.  :)

well, my space is very *very* small… depending how ambitious I get next year I may do a bigger space in the backyard as well and leave the front strictly for flowers…..

This year, I have three tomato plants (two are sorta sad looking although it is early in the season I suppose), a row of Sunflowers (which should be nice since the front of our house faces east and gets a lot of direct sunshine and they (espeially once they bloom) should keep some of the hot sun off our tiny porch), a thing of regular bell peppers, rosemary, basil, catnip (yeah for wanting to make the pet go crazy), oregeno…. and a boarder of some orange flower that does well in full FL sunlight HAHA….

ooohhhhh.. we are doing asparagus this year.. mind you .. we won't havbe a good crop till next year… but.. I'm pretty excited!!  woot woot

We finished our garden over the weekend. We were a little late in the season so we went with starter plants rather than seeds this year. I made garden boxes out of some extra 2x10 lumber and I have more so we can expand if all goes well. I cut out about three inches of sod and removed it then mixed the remaining soil with new top soil, Scotts garden soil, and compost. We planted red and green onions, red and gree bell peppers, jalapenos, habaneros, two kinds of squash, cucumbers, Roma and beefsteak tomatos, and Noah talked us into making a small strawberry patch which I put in its own garden box and attached to the rest. Overall the whole thing is about 12 feet by 10 feet so its not huge but for us first timers it should be more than enough to take care of.

I could have gone much bigger if we had made it on the outside of our fence because we still have a lot of yard out there but there are just so many deer and other critters out there its a little safer inside. Not interested in making an all night varment buffet. I have been seeing rabbits in the yard so I think I might have to put up some wire.

I'll take a picture this week after I get it all cleaned up and the plants have a few days to start growing.

so far we have…..
asparagus
romaine lettuce
peas
yellow beans
green beans
brussel sprouts
sweet onions
green onions