Homegrown is the way it should be.......Gardening!

[searchinbig]

And so it begins. Got the little guy turning soil a few weeks ago. Still too cold to plant outside.



Gotta keep it fenced for deer, bears etc.  ;)

Looking good!  Is that a rain barrell I spot in the background?

Garden and gates go hand in hand.   In David Pollan's book Second Nature he has an entire chapter titled "Nature Abhors a Garden" in which he implores all gardeners to embrace the idea of a fenced garden.  I just don't have the money.  I'm just hoping I grow enough to feed us and most of the critters in the neighborhood.

Yessir!! Future rain barrel. Seems to be the right thing to do!

As far as the fence, the wife plants Morning Glory all around so it serves a dual purpose. Hope to add pics as the season moves along.

[walterfredo]

Nice!  I was just starting a 'Let's see your garden thread' and luckily found this one before I started a new one, love it!  

Our winter garden is just finishing up, this winter we grew cilantro, broccoli, cauliflower, baby bok choy, onions, lettuce, spinach, and a few things I'm sure I'm forgetting.  In late winter we planted peas, potatoes, more lettuce and spinach.  We also planted asparagus that will take a couple of years to establish.  The potatoes are raging but won't be ready for a couple more months, the peas are just about ready.

Summer garden:  several varieties of tomatoes, tomatillos, different varieties of squash, cucumbers, radishes, pumpkins, watermelons, and a slew of herbs.  

[pawpaw]

Hey walterfredo, you're in the Bay Area? (I got that impression somewhere along the line...) Where exactly?

We JUST moved, and now have a really nice, big backyard...it might take a few weeks, but we plan on getting a garden going at some point this summer. There's just so much to do otherwise.

I'll be coming here for tips!

[walterfredo]

I actually live in the central valley, about 3 hours south of the bay, but the bay is my home away from home, I spend A LOT of time there.  We live in Ag-central, which makes for really good soils and long growing seasons.

Anyone here have chickens? We are taking the plunge into some backyard chickens!

here's our coop



and the chicks

[pawpaw]

I actually live in the central valley, about 3 hours south of the bay, but the bay is my home away from home, I spend A LOT of time there.  We live in Ag-central, which makes for really good soils and long growing seasons.

Anyone here have chickens? We are taking the plunge into some backyard chickens!

here's our coop



and the chicks

Actually, there's a whole thread devoted to chickens...somewhere a page or two down probably. rccola started it...check it out.

A Central Valley boy, eh? I live in Sacramento, and am proud to call the Central Valley home. My wife and I lived in the Bay Area for 6 years or so, and just moved last year...really happy to have gotten out. So you're down near Fresno somewhere? You get up to Kings Canyon/Sequoia much?

[walterfredo]

We live in Visalia, and go up to Sequoia Nat'l Park all the time!  We buy the annual pass for Seq./Kings Canyon....and use it all the time!  

And we periodically come up that way as well as some of our close friends live in Woodland (he brews for Sudwerks in Davis), were just there a couple weekends ago.  I also lived in Chico for a long time.  

[pawpaw]

We live in Visalia, and go up to Sequoia Nat'l Park all the time!  We buy the annual pass for Seq./Kings Canyon....and use it all the time!  

And we periodically come up that way as well as some of our close friends live in Woodland (he brews for Sudwerks in Davis), were just there a couple weekends ago.  I also lived in Chico for a long time.  

Cool, I grew up in Woodland, graduated from Chico State. My Dad has worked in Farming/Ag Business his whole life, and (in addition to the rice he used to farm) has always had a kick ass home garden. We finally have a yard, and are excited to get things going now for ourselves!

I'm sending you a pm, so we can talk CA stuff and let the thread get back to business.

[aMillionDreams]

I've been doing so much I don't feel like I have time to type it all.  I have almost filled in my perennial garden, I've direct sowed all my seeds, I'm in the process of hardening off my mater and peppers seedlings, I just started some marigolds and zinnias indoors and out, I just cloned the coleus I overwintered, I filled approx. 40 containers with potting soil*, I've started zukes, beans, corns, and caster beans in my seed sprouter, I've planted a tray of snapdragons and a tray of begonias, I planted my herb garden, I planted a row of blackberry bushes, I built a raised bed, and I continued to feed the bermuda grass that threatens to take over part of one of my beds.  

And that's all in the last two weeks.  I took a day off work to do all that, I must be a wacko!

*- yes buying all that soil ended up being way too expensive (4 bails of promix X 40 bucks a bail=too much $) .  Next year I'm going to start using square foot gardening techniques, but this year will be a fun experiment.

[mjkoehler]

Who the hell else has tomotoes already? Holy fuck this is gonna be a good year. These are just my small grape and cherry varieties. I almost always pot these and put the globes in the garden.



And look at the kind of roses I'm getting. They smell fucking great mixed with the smell of the blooming grapes that surround my patio.

[TheBigChicken]

lots of rain here lately....I'll post some pics soon. Hey WFredo what type of chicks are those. I have 4 silver wyandot...nice toms Mjk....my okra is looking real good

[aMillionDreams]

How do you have tomatoes already!?  

Things are popping up all over the place here.  Maybe I'll fire up the camera.

[mjkoehler]

We've had a great mix of rain and warmth. I'm shocked we have some already. That and good soil helps. We always pot our cherry maters and get a really good organic potting soil for them. A bunch of plants in the garden have tons of buds already. The Green Beans are climbing now too.

Cannot wait!

[TEO]

We have some maters coming on... :) Also the beets and carrots are starting to come up. Brussel sprouts and cukes are looking good as well. Planted Marigolds, Coleus and some Impatiens yesterday.

[aMillionDreams]

My tomatoes have flowers but no fruits yet.  I thought you were crazy when you started your maters before I started my peppers, but I guess you know what you're doing up there.  What zone are you all in?

I'm planting marigolds and zinnias today.  I should have waited on my Coleus, but I got impatient and planted them last weekend.  The next morning we got patchy frost and most of the coleus bit the dust. Oh well, that stuff is so easy to propagate, I'll just make more.  

[mjkoehler]

St Louis and Louisville I think are in the same?

[aMillionDreams]

I'm in zone 6b, though being so close to the city, it's probably more like 6a.  

Okay, here's some photos.  I'll have more to share as stuff gets going this summer, but here's what was interesting to look at this morning.

Here's the container garden in all its "glory". It "contains" 13 tomatoes, 14 peppers, 2 zucchini, 2 summer squash, 2 rosemary, 2 oregano, 4 basil, 1 parsley, 1 sage, 1 thyme, peas, lettuce, a lemon tree, 6 bean plants, some iris, and marigolds.


The foxglove's looking nice:


The front border


A shade garden I'm still working on, but has come a LONG way:


The Compost pile

[mjkoehler]

Nice! Foxgloves are looking good. We apparently planted some 2 years ago and this is first year they popped up. I think my wife snapped a picture of them. I'll have to rescue them from her camera.

[aMillionDreams]

Oops, forgot the succulents:

[.Walt]

Things are looking good Dylan!

Can't wait to see pictures of a bountiful harvest. Good work everyone, I'll see you in the fall!

[mjkoehler]

For those not on Facebook....

My Clematis and Climbing Rose. They just looked unbelievable today because of the ton of rain and heat we've gotten in the last few days.