errr... WHAT ???

this is super-AWESOME !!!

Mamma mia !

hudson ... You may have just killed this thread. Who wants to follow up that amazing display of gardening nirvana? That last montage pic should be the cover of your first gardening book.

And all this time we thought you only grew a few tomato plants!

Hobby, Hudson? That's a working farm. Truly amazing and probably the envy and dream of all of us.

Thanks for your comments! I have the help of a John Deere Tractor with a 3-point hitch tiller - an old workhorse Troy Bilt Roto Tiller that I bought new about 35 years ago and it still runs great - an awesome gravity fed underground watering system from a nearby higher elevation mtn lake - enough property to do what I want - good well draining mtn top soil (even though rocky) and years of experience having been raised on a farm and worked-in or raised a garden most every year as far back as I can remember. My parents were gardeners and it was a way of life. We feel very lucky to enjoy life as we choose to live it! But mom used to say "We grow where we are planted" and it appears to me that all of your are doing just as well with your gardens - where you live !!!!

Wow Hudson. Very, very nice. Jennie, I really like the logs and your whole set-up. Sey, nice beds! Every one has limitations, whether it be climate, soil, or space. I really enjoy seeing what people have done overcoming those obstacles. Great job everyone!

Edit: oops, that was christacharlene with the logs. Beautiful patio garden jennie.

Wow.. makes my little garden jealous here are some pics

My wife likes cucumbers, so...

The cucumbers can either hang vertically or sit horizontal on the frame. [2013]

Jennie,

You can always freeze your extra tomatoes and use them to make sauce and things like that. There is no such thing as too many :).

Pics are from a week ago... I have my own thread too. Just my backyard garden... nothing as fancy as most of you guys. :)

I need to fix the supports... this is temporary.

Kennebec and the B side eggplants

The peas would be denser but they were nibbled by both groundhogs and deer

B side tomatoes.. they have finally taken off this week.

Garlic 2 weeks ago

Eggplants and peppers

Wow ! Lots of beautiful gardens that you would want to visit everyone of them. Especially Hudson's, with that beautiful mountains view.
This is the time of the year that most northern gardens have that "spring" feeling, a revival of life and birth.. Everything is breathing even the earth.

Ok. Lets see more garden, your garden.Each has its own character and individuality, a touch here, a touch there.....saying "there is a gardener here."

Sey

Hudson's.....sigh....

cedars, solar panels, thirsty redwoods that I might cut down.

Raised beds I used to grow tomatoes in before redwood roots took over. Now I only use them in the winter for sweet peas and sugar snaps.

Fig

Grapes

What the area looks like relatively untouched.

Peppers and tomatillos.

Garlic harvested last week.

Nectarines...I should have thinned them.....

Shallots in an earthbox

More earthbox stuff

Beautiful gardens everyone!
Hudson, your garden is amazingly productive, especially for your zone.
No pictures from me because my garden is winding down with the heat. I am enjoying your spring with all of you from colder zones.:)

Silvia

Not exactly a view from my garden, but I still wanted to share with you this mobile, easy to push support. Useful for hardening off seedlings.

72 pots. 6 small pots - big enough for most of us - fit in the standard tray.

Let's see if I can figure out how to upload...

Just a small plot from different angles.

Costata Romanescos trying to escape!

Wide view, I tried to go heirloom where it was practical.

The slope of the yard made reaching down into the bed feel like I was going to do a somersault. Had to cut into the hill... I knew I'd find a use for those old bricks!

Concrete Wire is the absolute best.

I tend to crowd... easier to take a few out than wish I had more.

Diversity, diversity, diversity!

Left a few peas to see if sugar snaps make good dried peas... pea soup anyone?

The international bed... Rosa Bianca's meet Cayennes and Cubanos...


They seem happy... though if it gets too moist and humid I may have to trim for some air flow.

Wow, you all have such lush plots. I admit to more than a little envy.
Here are a couple few quick shots of my little desert plot. I know the light's not the greatest but I work long days during the summer and I'm rarely home any earlier. Had to go raised bed/container because the existing soil is way alkaline and rock-hard to dig in, not to mention there's a good layer of rocks only a few inches down.

On the plus side, the boxes get plenty of sun exposure and I don't really have to worry about fungal diseases.

Cool aniajs ! What are those ladder things behind the barrels?

This is only my second garden, but this year i started most everything from seed except for the rosemary and oregano. We also added two new 4x8 beds this year (the pine ones), added a trellis (will add another this week for the beans), and are experimenting with containers. Learning as I go and this forum has been a huge help.

First off, a long shot of my containers! I've got 4 different potatoes, monster tomatillos, some herbs, a few peppers, a dwarf tomato (Sweet Adelaide), and another tomato that started from a cutting. There are some Scarlet Runner beans and cukes that will get moved next to the trellis.

A closeup of the potatoes and some of the tomatillos. Sweet potatoes will go into the half barrel to the right.

Tomatillos! We have three huge plants. I'll hopefully be making a lot of salsa verde this year!

A partial shot of the actual beds - forgot to get a good long one so you can see all four. There are two more to the right. The two cedar (darker) ones were created last year, the pine ones were added this year. We know they will rot sooner but it was so much cheaper and we may change the configuration at some point. The trellis is PVC pipe and can be removed.

The other beds.

Please note the GIGANTIC tomatoes at the back of this bed - two Jersey Devils and one Vorlon. They are immense and seriously 4x (maybe 5x) larger than my other tomatoes (in the bed above). They were all started at the same time, and these actually have received less fertilizer. I'm chalking up this crazy growth to some combination of the fact that this is bed is a year older and has lots of earthworms that have moved in, and possibly because there were some peas and beans planted in this bed last year. It is crazy the difference. Anyway, I know the cages are not what I should be using, but I was not able to solve my tomato trellis problems this year. That is my next priority. We also have some calenndula, Tsakoniki eggplant, two kinds of peppers, and some diill. This bed produced some amazing lettuce, but we harvested all that already.

Baby Jersey Devils! I have at least a dozen on each plant.

My garlic and shallot bed (along with some rogue carrots. It has a mix of hardneck and softnecks.


Shallots! Starting to split apart, and hoping for success soon....

I didn't take any close ups of the two newer beds for some reason. One is all tomatoes of various kinds, and the second (next to the red trellis) has a mix of beans (Kentucky Wonder and Rattlesnake pole and Purple Queen and Dragon Tongue bush), edamame, squashes (Greed Sweet Red, Buttercup, Table Gold Acorn, and White Pattypan).

It's really fun to see everyone's set ups!

Gigi ..., very nice garden, with all sorts of vegetable.
When I had bigger garden I used to plant potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatillo, squash,.. ..
But now , so far, I have just tomatoes and hot peppers.

Sey

Here is my garden as of 5/5/15. I used the panoramic function on my I phone. I must not have held it steady because a couple of the beds look broken but you get the idea. The big bed on the left has a few volunteer tomatoes which I will remove when I plant my corn in a week or two.

gigielle, wow such a beautiful and productive garden! I saw those bag-style planters online yesterday. Do you like them? I think they look cute, but please let me know if you like how they function. I have a single tomato plant that needs a home. :-)

Thanks so much for the kind words! This year I started adding some flowers to the set up to brighten things up a bit. I'm having fun playing and experimenting. Hoping to expand to add some berry bushes and an asparagus bed at some point. Trying to balance my garden desires with not taking over the whole yard - the dog needs some space. :-)

Bayarea - So far I like the fabric bags, but time will tell. The plants are doing incredibly well in them - they don't seem to be stressed. The smaller ones definitely dry out fast in hot weather, so that is a consideration. I have two tomatoes in bags... the dwarf indeterminate is in a 15 gallon, and the other indeterminate is in a 5 gallon (way too small, but it's a test). I would definitely aim for 10 at minimum... bigger is better. I used the Root Pouch brand, but I am sure any of the many varieties out there are just as good. I thought these were very sturdy and well made!

The south bed

Continued

The east bed

Cherokee Purple!

Sungold! Blushing!

Gypsy pepper (sorry it's blurry)

Italienschier and Canasta lettuce - will be harvested tomorrow AM

Second sewing of Aladdin peas - first sewing gone already, these almost ready

Flowers like Texas Tomato Food - this is a fuschia I overwintered - the blooms are amazingly huge! Like ginormous!

Impatiens

Nasturtium

Here are some pictures of my garden/ baby orchard.

Hey nanelle_gw,
The ladder things along the block wall are sections of an iron fence railing I got when a neighbor took out his old deck. My thought was that they'd make good trellises turned up on their ends. They're pretty rusty but still in decent condition. I've been cleaning them up and painting them as time allows.

A cold frame I made 3 years ago.

Very nice daniel. are there adjustable shelves in there? Does the front tilt down for access?

I've been looking for something to over-winter kale that my grandad can take care of (he can't get down low and most table setups won't handle the cold.) He eats kale most every day (he was eating kale before it was kale lol.) What you have seems a great set up. Glass or those plastic panels on top?

rgreen48

> Very nice daniel.

Thank you.

> are there adjustable
shelves in there?

Yes. At both ends of the shelf, there are 2 handles.

Under those handles, there are a few removable, short – 2 ft. long - 2x4, so using
the handle to lift the shelf, and removing 1 of those 2x4, the entire shelf
goes down 2 in. - well, actually 1 1/2 in. (the thickness of a 2x4.) After removing on one side, I remove a 2x4 on the other side too. I repeated the operation whenever necessary.

The shelf and the pots are pretty heavy, so to avoid sticking, I placed 2 short - 4 in. long - Bamboo Skewers between the 2x4.

Lowering the shelf, allows seedlings to grow in the cold frame
to a maximum of 2-3 ft. high, depending
if they are in the front or in the back of the cold frame. Of course, pots can be moved and organized according to seedlings' height.

> Does the front tilt down
for access?

No, everything is done from the top.

> Glass or those plastic panels on top?

The roof is Twin-Wall Polycarbonate Sheets.

The rain / hail protection. While rain can not enter the cold frame, hail could break the plastic roof.

I have been on gardenweb since 2005 and every year I learn more and more. and every year i have a more productive garden from what I have learned here. . But this has been my all time favorite thread. I love love love seeing everyone's gardens. Hudson, yours should be in a picture book, ypur surroundings and gardens are so beautiful. big or small. we all cope with what we have and garden. love this thread too because I get ideas from all of you for my future gardens.

Jennie

+1. Enjoying this thread and I second the kudos to Hudson... it's easy to see why you put up with the cold when we see your beautiful surroundings! And you make it work!

I love getting a picture in my mind of what all your gardens look like. Thanks Sey for starting it, and again I enjoy all your very wonderful raised beds!

I finally have pictures!!!

I have my own blog so I think it would be easier just to post the link as there are 29 picture collages that was made with over 70 pictures that I have put together. Yes, I love taking pictures :)

I have my goal to post weekly pictures on this blog and I will up date here as well. I have a Twitter account just for my blog, so if anyone wants it so they can see when I post new pics let me know!

My Garden Blog!

Dawn

I am enjoying this thread also - so many great gardens and ideas for gardening!! Thanks for your comments regarding our garden and our Wyoming setting. We are doing more with flowers - also Wormgirl (your flowers are beautiful!) - our climate limits what we can plant but we are learning how to use the GH for transition to warm weather and planting flowering shrubs.

This is a Donald Wyman Lilac that likes zone-3!

False Spirea is also aggressive in this climate

We propagate Geraniums during the winter in our home - move them to the GH sometime between March-April - then move them into containers for the summer and place them around our home.

We also like to keep some flowers in the GH during the season!

hudson ... how do you possibly find the time to create and maintain all this? Even the lawn looks perfect. Just amazing!

Hi Nitsua - haha - I was raised on a farm - I guess that helped? Working in the yard/garden is therapeutic for me!

What a great thread, I just moved last august to a new 2 acre lot. I work in the garden/future orchard almost every day and there is still a lot of work to do but I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Yes definitely, coconut_head, take pictures as you go along. You will enjoy looking back and seeing the progress you made over the years. And so will we :)

Hudson, what a dramatic view!! Sun, black hills with clouds, then more sun peeking through... Also, your geraniums look better than the ones I see at the store. How are they propogated - cuttings?

Daniel, I forgot to say in my last post, what an awesome cold frame that is!!!

There are a few pictures floating around on the site here somewhere from my last garden. I had a small suburb lot though and didn't have a ton of space. with 2 acres I'm spoiled now and am only cursed by my time and money limitations. The veggies section will be pretty much a finished product next spring for a full plant out, but fruit trees and berry plants are EXPENSIVE!!!!! 7-8 90Ft rows of different berries/grapes, plus 20 or so fruit trees.

My small - 4 ft. x 6 ft. - greenhouse, last year:

The greenhouse (with the roof.)

Greenhouse's detachable roof.

1 of the 2 handles to lift the roof.

No roof - when too hot.

Happy 126 seedlings. 6 pots fit in the standard tray.

The roomy, sturdy – 6’’ x 6’’ x 8’’ – GRO PRO pots.

I used the greenhouse mostly for cold nights. During warm / hot days, I move the pots from the GH's two lower levels, on the easy to push support bellow (72 pots). The remaining pots - on the top level shelf in the greenhouse, without the roof - have full light.

So this was the greenhouse you had to take down, Daniel? Aw, I'm sorry; that was a great setup.

What I'm wondering is - I have seen the pictures of your support system - I imagine you are growing about 8-10 plants there -- but what did you do with all the other tomatoes? Do you sell them? Or, do you have a large garden we haven't seen pictures of???

Wormgirl_8a wrote:

> So this was the greenhouse you had to
take down, Daniel? [the one bellow]

No, the greenhouse bellow, the village said I have to take down. Because it's ATTACHED to the house and needs permit. 3 years was ok, overnight is NOT ok anymore.

Technically it was NOT a greenhouse, it was simply a frames
structure to support the tomatoes. The plastic is for rain protection / control, and
for a few cold early spring days.

This is the structure:

I'm a big fan of mulching - fabric in this case. Also, a big fan of Copper Fungicide. In my opinion, these two ingredients are the reason of not having ANY type of problems with my tomatoes.

There are 2-3 plants on EACH SIDE of each frame. I did that to avoid varieties confusions. For example on one side I planted a mid-season tomato and a small cherry tomato (yellow.) On the other side an early tomato and a long- season tomato. Each tomato stays on its side, so... no confusions.

Another support - 16 ft. wide x 12 ft. high. The tomatoes grew 15+ ft.

Here the mulch is straw. Each mulch type has advantages and disadvantages. I prefer fabric. You can control the rain better.

I have a few more lots. Pictures later.

Regarding if I sell the seedlings, the answer is no.

Having more than I need, it allowed me to select the healthiest seedlings.

I never planted 2 or 3 ft. apart as I read in some places.

Most of the times, for me, 1 ft. was enough.

I have a huge real estate for the tomatoes, so I don't worry.

Roots are ok, I tried 2-3 ft. apart and 1 foot apart. Same size for the roots.

Yeah, I read that tomatoes roots can be 10 ft. long... never happened to me.

Last year I gave many pounds of tomatoes to neibors.

Recently a few neibors asked me when they will get tomatoes... this year?

Well, no tomatoes this year. Sorry!

Oh, how I miss my tomatoes.

This is just my tomato bed. They are getting a lot bigger than the tomatoes I grew last year!

Absolutely beautiful gardens.
Every garden is different, just like the gardeners are, in style, taste, preference, limitations.. The important ingredient ( IMO) is the PASSION.

Sey

eterprincess, I rotated your picture.

Hope it's ok with you.

Very nice plants.

They will grow at least 6-8 ft. high.

A sturdy support will be necessary.

You will have a pretty nice "jungle" very soon.

Some pruning will be necessary.

Fungicide too.

Very impressed with every I saw here so thought I would share our set up here in East Tennessee.
The brussels sprouts are a bit thin still but the corn is coming along nicely.

Built this trellis for our beans and cucs. It is run with 15lb test fishing line. The open spaces are now filled with bean sprouts. Also have some kohlrabi growing on the left side there. First time growing it but it is doing great.

The right side of the garden is further along. Potatoes and squash are thriving, spinach, radish and microgreens in the middle box are doing great. We have a bunch of swiss chard and tomatillios that popped up on their own - assuming from last season. Onions and garlic are also planted and growing well.

Tomatoes have been a special case for us. The five plants in the bottom right are romas, purchased at our farmers market. All the rest of the tomato plants here are transplanted from our compost bin, or from other places in the garden. We didn't plant any. last season we had 40+ tomato plants from the season before. Happy compost I guess.

This is a wide shot. looks better just 10 days after these were taking as we have more straw down now.

Scott, You have a nice garden with good ideas.
Surprisingly you are doing fine in that red clay soil, which reminds me of GA clay soil. Clay soil is good if amended with organic matter >>> lots of it.

Sey

Thank you much. Took some serious fertilizing the first summer we lived here. I had a soil test done through UT and we were really off on nutrients. We started rolling the chicken poop in the compost and it is really rich now. Also explains the pop up plants all over the garden/

Got new pictures of my garden! Check them out here!

I would put a few here, but my pics are on my other computer.. I am now battling bacterial wilt which so far has only taken out four plants, but I believe I am about to lose 3 more. I have somewhat accepted that I may lose all 18 in that bed, but if I do I will plant beans and okra there since they cannot get the same bacterial wilt. Love seeing everyone else's gardens and getting some neat ideas!

Until last year I have gardened in what I will call my lower garden area with 8 randomly sized raised beds. But that stopped last year. Neighbors black walnut trees wreaked havoc on most of the beds and this year my husband built me new beds. They are in what we now call the upper garden which is free of snakes and the snapping turtles that frequented me all too often. They are also tall, tall enough to keep the bunnies out and so far I've not seen any gophers/moles etc. They are so enjoyable to work in, very little bending, no weeds and just all around easier. So thankful to hubby for these and now he actually takes an interest in gardening as well.