Looks great! You've got me beat by 3 flats but I haven't started cucumbers tomatoes or melons yet. Your soil looks good btw.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog: The Wicked Good Garden

Thanks Jon,
I'll end up with way too many tomato plants. I had to sow twice since I had terrible germination with some and then I over did it. I might have started the melons, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers a week early.

The soil is a work in progress. I added 23 cu-yds of manure in the fall but it seems like that was not much. I'll do the same this fall and hopefully will get to what I'm looking for eventually. I'm also hoping to expand to 80' x 80' (from the current 40' x 80' in the fall....hmmm that means about 50 cu-yds of manure.
Rick

Rick, I can only dream of a garden that size! My tiny little 5' x 12' veggie "patch" will be crammed full, with the overflow in pots on the patio. Do you do a lot of canning, or have a deep freeze? Or do you grow some for market?

Green with envy,
Bonnie

Bonnie,
I have five kids who love veggies! I also don't plant intensively, and let the bugs have some rather than spraying alot. I hope to have some for freezing this year...we'll see. Watermellon, cantelope, and pumpkins take up about 1/3 right now. I'd like to add some corn next year, that's why I'm thinking about doubling it.
Thanks!
Rick

I rigged up a nice system utilizing one of those cheap metal green, greenhouses that they sell in Cost Cutters. I use shop lights and I am growing so many seedlings I cannot belive it. This is my first year planting entirely from seed, I promised myself that if this works I am going to build one myself from wood so it is more sturdy.
I went to Lowes this weekend and saw their plants and mine are just as nice and some better so I am happy.
So far I have to keep my promise to myself. :)
I will build two, I am alone but I like to freeze everything for the winter.

Love the garden...Looks like you have a great set up...I grow in boxes because of my age. I can't hadle a shovel very well anymore and I can't do a big tiller for sure...My boxes produce a ton of vegetables...I have a big fence because of the deer in my area so I use it as a trellis...I have one box 20X^ in front and 4 beds 4X16 in the middle and then I have approximately 350 feet on the beds on the side...down the sides they are about 2 1/2 feet wide...across the back about 5 feet wide...I love my garden...I have a stool and can clean out my whole garden in no time flat with a handtool.

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Looks great! Are those bunching onions? BTW...thanks for the picture. I wish more would post pictures.

Here's most of my garden, I do have some other beds scattered around. Not much growing yet, and that which is growing is doing so excruciatingly slowly as temperatures continue to be well below normal, seemingly forever.

I really appreciate the pictures everyone. Here are a few from me.

Here is one small plot last year (2007)...
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Which has now been transformed to this...(2008)

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This is the north plot being prepared...

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How it looked today....

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Same section looking west..

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This is my 6th year gardening, but I still consider myself a novice. I am just now really beginning to enjoy it, as I can almost count on at least ONE thing going right. If I ever get to the point where I can grow ANYTHING with a fair degree of consistency from year to year, I'll consider myself a fair gardener. The last two years I have brought home many cubic yards of OPL so my compost situation is really improving, and therefore so is my soil. I started with in ground my first year and failed, went to containers for a few years and did OK, now I am working the soil so I can get back in ground with a fair degree of success. It seems to be working. It's still too early to count my tomatoes for this year though.

Wish me luck and I'll do the same for you!

Thanks

Vance

Ok I do post a picture of my garden help fespo

Great pics everybody. I too, love to see other people's gardens.

Haven't posted a pic in a while, so I hope this works. This is July of last year. AS you can see my garden is surround by tall trees on three sides. It is a wonder we got any tomatoes or cukes, but we did. This year we are experimenting with SWC's placed in sunnier areas, but I have already planted some greens (bok choi, chard, escarole), onions, potatoes, and beets in the garden.

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Few Pics. from my garden.

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Thought I'd share a couple of pics of my garden. Everyone else's look so nice!
- Marianne
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Great pic's everyone...boy love that compost heap...

When I get around to posting my photos they will pale in comparrison. I've got a dinky little paved over lot, but I make due!

OK, I like the garden pics so I will share some of mine the first two are last years and the third one is the expansion project for this years garden.

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Dale

Rick (Macheske) I found your paintbrush!

Great pics everyone--keep them coming!

Here are some pictures of my allotment. You'll see that it is long, narrow and sloping. (Eastwards but has a tall row of houses at the bottom which shade the morning sun). It is surrounded by other plots and has the typical scruffy, ramshackle appearance of the traditional British allotment scene. I've put in close-ups of purple sprouting broccoli and broad (fava) beans because I believe they are unfamiliar crops in much of the US. (Both delicious by the way but requiring cool temps and plentiful rain!)

Here is a link that might be useful: April on the allotment

Everything is a little messy we're having the house painted and ladders are pulled out but you all get an idea how my garden looks. I have about 400 square feet plus fruit trees on the other side of the yard. The white fence is new. My DH enclosed the garden and ran a water line to the garden. He was tired of watching me haul 100 feet of hose across the yard.

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I've enjoyed seeing everyone's gardens, even though I have to admit to being envious of how much space all of you have!

Flora, thank you for the photos of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli. I'm trying it for the first time this year, so it was good to see what a full sized plant looks like. Our spring is cool and wet, but summers very hot and dry. I'm hoping I can harvest some before it bolts from the heat.

Bonnie

Here are a few of ours from last year. This year the focus is on potatoes, potatoes, potatoes!

In the beginning...

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Coming along...

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Tada...

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I too adore seeing everyone's garden pictures!!! I am still so new to gardening, and I am a visual learner, so when y'all share your wonderful pictures, its such a great help to me. I love seeing what plants look like as they grow and seeing the "whole picture"! I get many catalogs, but they are just really close-up pictures. So, this is such a treat to see your gardens in all their beauty. Thank you for sharing! :) :) :)
Use the link below, and scroll down a bit on the forum, to see some of my garden pictures.
HAPPY GARDENING!!!
Keep Smiling, Amy :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sharing Photos of my first garden, last season! :)

I agree! Thank you for sharing. I especially like the trellises that everyone has made, though the old ladder has got to take the prize. That really gets me thinking about what I can do better. Definitely some good ideas in here....

Sorry, I couldn't help it. This was taken this morning. And yes, I'm feeling sorry for myself(and others in my zone).

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On noinwi! Pretty snow, but I know you are tired of it. Must be all that global warming :z) We are getting frost warnings for Monday and Tuesday here in North Texas. The weather has been so warm, I was tempted to plant my melons, squash and corn, but something (my garden angel?) held me back and I only now have to worry about covering the tomato and pepper plants. Won't be too much of a problem as I only planted a few this year.

The garden photos are amazing - some really great growing, y'all.

Janice in TX

Here I am working in my garden this morning....Last night we had the first salad from my garden...lettuce, onions, radishes, spinach, asparagus of course no tomato yet but I buy them so I added that and some garlic and blue cheese and it was fabulous...I was working this morning in my garden and my DH took my pic so here I am proving that a little old and fat lady can still garden...Not only do the boxes help me continue gardening at the age of 69 but we live in the TX Hill Country and there is about 6 inches of soil and then from here to the other side of the world...rock...I am lucky because we have more dirt that the average person in the hill country because we are in a little valley ..or low spot...God's country...

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Ouch noinwi.....

I guess I shouldn't tell you that it was 78 here today and almost a little hot to work in the garden... At least I got the rest of my "cold" weather veggies out today.

In the beginning, nothing but dirt...

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And now....
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Amazing what a 7 inch rainfall will do for a spring garden..
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WOW, what a great bunch of gardens.

hey Grandad, what part of lousiana you from? What is the black plastic mesh in the garden for?

Nick

GreenThumbNick, I live in south Baton Rouge. The plastic mesh is for keeping the birds out of the strawberry patch. The heavy part covers the bottom and a netting over the PVC pipe covers the top. The electric fence keeps out the raccoons and opossums.

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OMG! Those strawberries look so yummy!

here's some pictures of my garden. This is only my second year gardening and my first year at this location.

Winter sown lettuce transplants.
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And my trellis for bitter melons and ridge gourd, inspired by chaman's design.
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And that's the landlords horse. The hay was just mowed this week.

I am so far out of my league here. Wow folks those gardens are all AWESOME!! I am so jealous.

Grandad teach me how you grow your strawberries?? They look like they are hilled and covered in plastic?? How do you water and how to maintain runners?? They look gorgeous!!! I am planning on planting a bout 5 rows 50' long or so.

wce5204, Planting in Louisiana is probably not what you'd do for Tennessee. You probably will need a second (Tennessee type) opinion.

Nonetheless here goes.. I make the rows as you noted sometime around September and cover with the black plastic. I order plants at a local hardware/garden type store. The plant are typcially shipped so as to suit the local retail growers. So I generally don't get much of a choice on variety and have no choice on timing. Late October to early November is usually when the plants arrive, typically they are Chandler or Camarosa. November arrivals are more preferable than October arrivals - because of a better planting climate. After receiving the plants I remove the plastic and set plants 1 foot apart in the 3 rows. In years past I had replaced the plastic. However, if the climate is hot I generally will lose a few plants. Not putting the plastic back until the plants have had chance to recover worked well last year so that will become my new practice. However, I do cover temporarily if a heavy rain is predicted.

That is pretty much it except for pest control - both of the animal type and insect type. The insect I've done battle with for the last several years is spider mites. I use homemade insecticidal soap for control. Animal control is per the above post - electric fence and bird netting.

Berries usually start around late February or early March depending on 1) when I planted, and 2) the weather - milder weather allows for earlier harvest.

The plants will begin to send out runners as the temperatures warm. I've had little or no success with growing future plants from runners. More likely, the plants will sucumb to the intense summer heat. Few if any runners would set for use in a fall planting. So I just order new plants. I remove several of the plants as they begin to die and scatter in several cantelope plants. I usually set about 18 cantelope in the strawberry patch. They eventually take over the whole area inside of the plastic fence. By late July early August the cantelope is done.

The process is then repeated in September.

Great photos! I too love to see other people's gardens, I learn a lot from them. Love the wooden ladder! I have one that I hate to carry around b/c it's so heavy. I think I will use it as a trellis for my pole beans! I also love the branch trellis. You know the metal lawn chairs that the woven mesh always rots out of? I bet you could use those as trellis's too. I'll be taking a closer look at people's trash set out by the road from now on!
Anyway, here are a few pics of my garden so far...
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A followup on the watering question. I do not usually need to water much as our climate is a bit on the wet side. Things do begin to dry out a bit late March or early April. Also, black plastic has a tendency to keep ground water in, just as it keeps rainfall out. So black plastic is not the best for above ground watering. I generally don't water, instead I wait for a heavy saturating type rain.

My sister uses an industrial grade of landscape material that allows water to pentrate. Although this would be better for watering than is black plastic, it also is a bit more expensive. She was able to get previously used material for free from a friend. Based on her favorable remarks, I am thinking about possibly moving to the landscape material. I'm not sure I want to spend the extra bucks for a "test".

Who all would like to live next door to GRANDAD???

ME! ME! ME!

lol

Shot

Thanks Shot for the indirect compliments. I do tend to make my family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers "happy" during the garden season. I see from your posts that your "gardens" allows you to do the same. You can about imagine how many questions I get in the springtime ... "how well is your garden doing this year?", "have you planted yet?" "are you picking anything" "you know where you can bring your extras", etc. I'm absolutely positive that many/most/all of the other posters to this forum have the same types of questions... All things considered, I think this is a good "problem" to have..

Glad I found this thread. I posted a thread this morning in organic gardens begging to see people's garden pictures. I love it! Mine is getting nowhere this year, it's been so cold and wet. This weekend we're finally supposed to get some warmth and sun -- can't wait!

Just following up....

The garden is looking more alive!
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Strawberries
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Squash
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Some of the tomatoes
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One of the rows of beans
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Lettuce, broccolini, and pac choi are being picked now
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Macheske, the garden is really coming along. What variety of lettuce is that in the picture?

Thanks! It's Jericho Romaine. Tastes great and is very easy since it doesn't bolt easily.

A few new pics. See my previous post up near the top of this thread.

1.5 inches of rain since April 1. It has not been easy. Worms are KILLING me with the Tomatoes. About a half an hour each night with the flashlight hand-popping worms has things a little more under control. Flowers are doing great.

Thanks to all for the pics.

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Grandad,

You have me interested in the thought of growing melons in the strawberry patch. Would you do this if you kept your strawberries for two years? I am wondering if I could do this in my strawberry patch. Intriguing idea...

Alicate, The cantelope completely shade the strawberry plants. So, I'm not sure you'd want to do this if your plants were needing two years to grow. Also, with the growing season for Michigan being a bit shorter, you might not have time after the strawberries to grow cantelope. You'd need to check your planting guide and find out. Perhaps someone in Michigan who has already been down this road can comment..

I may not have the most beautiful garden, or even soil to plant in for that matter, but I make due with pots and whatever else I've got.

SNAP PEAS
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TOMATOES
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PEPPERS
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MORE TOMATOES
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APPLE TREE
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TOPSY TURVY TOMATOES
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