Gardening 2012!

[crookedtree]

I love pouring over seed catalogs in January. We haven't even had a big snowfall yet, but I'm so excited about planting a spring garden!

We have a community garden plot this year and I'm looking for some inspiration. If you had a 4' x 16' raised bed, what would you plant in it? I'm also planning on having containers on my deck for herbs and salad greens.

[arabella]

Also been planning. I'm new to the pacific northwest and gave up my 386 square feet of gardening space to like, 16 square feet (::sob::) so I really don't know what I'm going to do. I'm thinking:
- some small golden tomato like sungold but something specific for non-sunny summers
- GREENS! kale, chard, spinach, lettuce maybe bok choi
- peas. if for no other reason than the flowers are so pretty
- herbs. going to try and sneak in some containers of oregano + thyme + sage + basil, and one of mint cuz my man loves him some mojitos.
- also going to throw some flowers in there cuz I love flowers. can't waste too much space but I'm thinking maybe some zinnias (will they grow up here? I do not know) or marigold in between the veggies.
and that about completes the space. Sigh. So sad. I was looking at a pic sporadicus took of my garden in summer 2010 and I just wanted to cry. Here's hoping I move to a new place this summer (we're renting) with more space in the sun. Community garden space is like an eternal waiting list over here.

I'm guessing my 90% last frost date is around May 1 (heavens) so I'll be starting things indoors pretty soon here! (does it make sense to start indoors when you are growing so little? probably not. but I will anyway because I need to feel like I'm growing something!!!) I *love* growing plants from seeds it's so absolutely magical.

[IrmaVep]

I have failed so badly at gardening this summer.

The tomatoes are just coming in (I ate the first one on Monday). But apart from that and some strawberries, our garden is so unproductive at the moment.

It's so overgrown that I'm actually paying someone to come weed on Friday so that it is all done at once. Then I can dig it over and put in some lettuces, and start thinking about autumn crops.

[mohawk]

I am so excited for the growing season to begin. Last year was our first summer in the new house, but we also had a newborn, so no gardening happened. We are throwing ourselves at it big time this year. We are starting seeds indoor on Saturday after we go check out our friends seed starting operation. Along with a raised veggie patch we got seeds to start flowers for a cut flower garden and to landscape the front of the house. Yippee!
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[Chiquita]

The drought last year killed the garden and my enthusiasm. But this is a new year!

Spinach is planted all fall/winter/spring so we have LOTS, could eat it every day. Had so much arugula come in that I couldn't pick it fast enough and it is huge. That has to come out this weekend and fresh greens planted. The Swish chard is going great, harvest and eaten lots already, put another round of seeds in as well.

Just planted peas (hopefully the birds won't eat all of them this year) and some parsley went into the newly assigned herb area. Also put in onions, I had to refresh the soil in that bed, added lots of organic garden soil and lots of compost. An eggplant from last year actually sprouted leaves so it is getting a little TLC.

Coming up soon: starting seeds indoors (tomatoes, eggplants and basil); think about putting up another raised bed; find more herbs to plant in the herb bed. Also need to find a fun plant for shady areas, one that doesn't spread too much, may just use a fern of some sort.

My big problem, keeping the stray cats out of my garden beds. I have to lay chicken wire or hardware cloth over any newly seeded beds until the plants are large enough to deter the cats some. Even then I have to use a particularly prickly mulch to keep them out. I'm nearly tempted to put a big fence around the whole thing but hate that idea. As soon as spring hits the dog is going to be left outside all day and hopefully he will help deter cats. Feral cat colonies are NOT a gardeners friend IMHO.

[Athos]

I am going to have a garden this year! I am so excited. I was going to just buy plants already started, but maybe I should be starting plants inside too? we have a slightly raised garden bed at our new place. It hasn't been a garden in about 8 years. Last fall, we pulled the weeds, tried to level it out, and added in kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, wet newspaper, and a big layer of mulch over the whole thing. It is probably about 5' x 10'?

I have NO IDEA how one plans a garden. I know I want tomatoes, lots of 'em. And tons of basil. Zucchini, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and green beans or peas. I don't know how to plan it though. Does everything go in at the same time? And how much space do plants need? What about cooler weather stuff, like onions, lettuce and kale? I would LOVE to have some room for cutting flowers as well. We will get lots of sun here over the summer. We are also planning to fence in the entire thing to keep the squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits out.

[arabella]

[mittenlove]

I will be watching this thread! We moved to a house in December so I finally have a garden! I have no idea what to plant, but I am really excited. I know I want to try peas and cucumbers and maybe carrots, not sure what else though.

I have no idea how to even get started though so I'll be watching here for tips!

[tinyrock]

A new community garden is opening a few blocks from my house. Ordinarily there's a huge waiting list here, too, so I'm pumped to grow things in the ground this year (rather than containers).

The garden might not open until May, unfortunately. But I'm hoping for a 10x10 foot plot. Tomatoes, kale, maybe broccoli? maybe lettuce?

[kitchen]

any veg that doesn't need a lot of sunlight?

our backyard is smallish (city core, we're lucky we have a backyard and not just a 4x6 asphalted area). one section of it gets a lot of sunlight but the earth there SUCKS. there's only about 3" of soil and then you get a lot of crumbly construction waste that someone dumped there years ago (concrete bricks mostly, thanks assholes). the area is about 20x4 which would have been great but we rent and don't want to invest money making a huge raised bed and getting soil to fill it. thankfully we planted a bunch of different succulents that have taken okay to the concrete & sand but it takes A LOT of succulents to fill this area.

the area with decent soil is much smaller but would probably only get a couple hours of sunlight this summer. the flowers we planted (late) last year did really well.

we're growing herbs in 2 big buckets.
i want to grow some tomatos in buckets and also leafy greens and put them in our (shared) driveway. i'd be fine with just doing loads of buckets but our neighbour has a car so we'd only be able to fit 3-4 buckets max.
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THE MUNDANE IS TO BE CHERISHED

[Chupacabra]

Thanks for this thread, it didn't occur to me to start thinking so early!

Last year we container gardened with various degrees of success. We started everything from seed. Grape tomatoes, kale, mizuna, chard & thai basil were non stop producers, and my heirloom tomatoes, spinach, bell peppers, and hops were not so awesome. My heirloom tomatoes really bummed me out because it took forever to fruit and when I finally had a nice sized tomato on the vine ripening, it would POUR and the thing would burst open. Bell peppers didn't fruit until late fall, and then the frost ruined them.

So...

This year I'll be working p/t, grad schooling, pregnant-ing/toddlering, so I don't know if adding gardening is a good idea. I really loved having tomatoes outside my kitchen window, so maybe just a pot or two of some small variety?

Thankfully we have a big rooftop farm and farmers market within walking distance so we don't go entirely without yummy fresh grown things.

EDIT: Kitchen, try kale & chard. Mine are still going, even in the dark cold winter.
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[checkersumthing]

Arabella, even 16 sq. ft sounds wonderful to me!

Last year we came to the realization that while we really enjoy growing food, it's not necessarily worth our time and effort (and space!) to grow food that isn't going to produce (our tomatoes didn't do well at all last summer). We get a farm share from late June to early November anyways, so it's not like we're lacking veggies, but we like growing things. So this year we're going to focus on the little fun edibles that do grow well, like hot peppers, green onions, berries (surprisingly enough) and lots of herbs. Last fall we planted garlic in our window boxes, so we'll see how that goes.

D has successfully wintered two of his pepper plants this year, and my rosemary is holding steady for the second winter in a row. Small victories :)

We also came to the realization that when we eventually buy (a condo), it will need to either be ground floor with a yard of some sort, or a big rooftop terrace, so that we can garden more than we can at the moment.
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[IrmaVep]

Kitchen, lettuces can do ok with not too much light, and they're less likely to bolt that way. Silver beet and spinach could be ok too.

I'd be inclined not to plant edibles directly into the bed that is on rubble. You don't really know what might be in amongst it. I know you said you don't want to go to the extent of putting in a raised bed garden but what about building a few smaller containers that you can shift with you if you move? Or grow your tomatoes, courgettes etc in bags on top of the rubble bed - you can get bags of compost, slit them a little, add the seedling and then just let it grow in the bag of compost.

[mittenlove]

Any tips on how to get the soil started? We moved here in the winter so I'm not really sure what is in the backyard (it's covered in snow), but once the sprint comes, is there anything that I should be doing? This will be my first garden so I reall don't even know where to start!

[crookedtree]

kitchen - I was just reading this article about veggies for partial shade. Now I'm thinking about trying lettuces and chard/silverbeet in my partially shady front yard.

mittenlove - My local garden center (not a big box) told me last year to do a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 the soil that's already there. I just mixed everything together with a few digs of a shovel. I have neighbors who swear by the mix in the Square Foot Gardening book, but I don't know much about it. I took a soil science class last year; they really hammered home the importance of organic matter. My teacher was also a big advocate of no-till agriculture; it's really better for the soil in the long run. Has anyone ever planted cover crops/"green manure" in their garden plot in the off-season?

The previous owners of our house paved over our entire backyard. We are having the concrete pulled up this summer (and getting money from the city to do it since it helps with stormwater management!) and I am wondering about soil preparation after the concrete's gone. We know we will do a raised bed and I've been reading a lot about sheet mulching. Does anyone have any experience with sheet mulching?

In other news, I got antsy and ordered seeds today. :) I will get tomato and pepper plants from my local garden shop later, but the following are on their way to me now:
leaf lettuce
butterhead lettuce
spinach
arugula
amaranth
sorrel
mache corn salad
swiss chard
pickling cucumbers
slicing cucumbers
radishes
carrots
broccoli
basil
nasturtiums
marigolds

I'm excited about all these salad greens I've never tasted before(sorrel, amaranth, mache). I'm going to grow them in window boxes around the perimeter of my deck.