building a new tortoise enclosure...going to try and seed it with a variety of wild flowers, prickly pear, and other edibles plants...

We do a 12x24 vegetable garden every year. Highlights are cucumbers (which we pickle), hot peppers (Thai chili) and garlic. We're also really good at growing weeds.

miles, garlic, I'm interest, never tried  that?

weed was a serious crop in Missouri, so not much of  a challenge...  HEMP.....my first Landmarks job back in high school was for a Hemp to rope place in Fayette, MO town square....now a Dollar General..

i just ate 2 strawberries this weekend.  built a chicken wire cage to keep the birds out, apparently it was somewhat successful.  blueberries next to the strawberries, which have not produced a single blueberry in the few years i've had them, and a couple dwarf lemon trees which also fall just short of producing dwarf lemons

growing wormwood because someday i want to learn how to make absynth, but there are a lot of other things i want to learn before then too.  some point soon i'll have to make cages for the tomatoes too, and maybe the watermelon and cantaloupe

planted a couple apple trees in the backyard too.  hopefully someday i'll be able to grab an apple from the yard instead of from the grocery store.

i have some garlic growing too, maybe a couple onions.  going to try cumin.

cumin...non-diesel engine....curtkram how do we go about doing that?

you may be confusing cumin for cummins

welll brother, tell me how to plant that...i've been doin Celatnro and onions, but not cumins...

it may be a tough call i NJ sand I'm dealing with, but I could try.

i just got some seeds and dropped them on some dirt.  none of it has grown yet, and this is the first year i've tried it, so i guess we'll see.  if it does grow, i'm not sure how to turn it into something that makes chicken taste better, but i'm sure i'll figure it out.

thanks Curtkram....I'm working with NJ sand soil here, bought some dried maneuer and what not...Cummin's sound like a challenge....trying do this without too many gimmicks...

corn can grow anywhere, it's so genetcialy modified....did research one summer for Mizzou back in the day...these scienticists were using Adobe Photoshop V1 or something to figure over fertilized corn via color pixels....btw....the wisconsin kid realized, the Boston PHD could not, that over watering leads to same coloration as fertilizer....photoshop as a tool done.

but everything else is worth it, like tomatoes!

Garlic is easy. Plant cloves in late fall, mulch with straw for the winter, harvest in July. The trip is getting a good variety and planting enough to last until and plant for the next harvest. 

i don't do gimmicks.  or really fertilizer or anything (except the trees, i fertilized those)

have you seen that half the bee population died?  that's really messed up.  so no pesticides or anything, because we need bees.  i have had good luck with attracting lady bugs in the past.

i do have a timer for a sprinkler, so i can water in the morning without waking up.  haven't used it this year though, because it rains every other day.  i also have a grow light to start seedlings, but i also skipped that this year.

I have a small garden with regular and cherry tomatoes, collards, kale, green and yellow squash, okra, dandelions, and strawberries. I don't grow them because they are wild, but I also pick 8 to 12 gallons of blackberries in the late spring/early summer. I also don't use any artificial fertilizer.

I don't have a problem with birds eating my strawberries, but there is a cat that will eat them when they ripen.

Last year I rebuilt my wife's raised bed  we usually grow some herbs.  Basil purple and Green, Tomatoes a couple of varieties for the big guys and a couple of plants of cherry tomatoes (yellow).  We also plant  squash and usually have a good crop.  Then we have our green beans, they always seem to do well.  We also have an apple tree which is looking promising this year, as last year was a bust because of late frost.   Today was planting day. I also have a  rubarb plant which is more like a pet....never does anything but to make me dream of strawberry rubarb pie.....

Yes!

Long time hobby gardener-

in LA for 20 years on a 12'x12' plot where most things grew without much effort: tomatoes, peas, cucumber, zucchini, strawberries, many herbs, leaf greens, beans, broccoli, corn, sunflowers.

now the experiment has moved to Holland where the weather is tricky and the soil is heavy on a 10x10meter plot: potatoes, onions, currants, strawberries, leaf greens, beets, leeks, cabbage, broccolini (bimi), pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, celery root, parsley root, california poppys, sour cherrys, zinnias, sunflowers, corn, rhubarb, and again all the herbs.

its interesting changing climates and going from a long growing season to a pretty short one... hope the experiment will be successful. 

good luck justavisual. one of the guys that was on the research team for corn was from Holland. what i could gather was the Dutch have mastered farming multiple crops on the same plot year long. btw the research was back 98 and the digital images were taken from a plane, thats how photoshop was brought into it.......10m x 10m is also pretty large for a hobby garden.............i do use a soaker hose incase it does not rain for a week or 2. anyone pick their tomatoes green to avoid bugs eating into them when they ripen? or other method of keeping the ripe tomatoes from being eatin by bugs?

Tomates, onions, bell peppers, cilantro, 2 kinds of basil, 3 kinds of squash, green beans, 2 kinds of strawberries, popcorn, 2 kinds of thyme, 2 kinds of mint. Lots of flowers and greenery too: irises, allium, echinachea, columbine, dianthus, veronica, peonies, roses, mums, carnations, clematis, several types of sage, some cacti, artemesia, hens and chicks, juniper, and holly. I done have any grass, I have planted low water succulents as groundcover, it took years but it is finally almost all grown in and looks cool. I use compost for soil amendment and sea kelp for fertilizer.

Porch gardener for now:

Lettuce, Strawberries, Feherozon Peppers, Pimiento Peppers, Cilantro, Basil (two types), Lemon Balm, Lavender.

planning to plant some hops over the weekend,

If I get motivated enough we should be able to make a few bucks between the hops and walnuts

shuellmi you sellling it for craft beer makin?

growing for my own brewing use, would only really sell if it's worth the effort

gave up/got too busy for home gardening over last year, except for some habaneros and herbs on porch. hoping to kick back up again over next year. waiting until me and wife have relocated/settled into new digs though.

In past assorted greens (lettuce/arrugala/collards/kale etc.) have always been the easiest.

Last year I had collected a tea cup full (was a plastic bag but visualize with me) of columbine seeds and seed bombed the commuter railroad station in the neighborhood, more than 500 plants came up this year.

I like plants that you can easily propagate and can survive the Chicago weather, but are not invasive or deadly poisonous.

I get to spend this weekend pulling more night shade out of the toddlers play lot near my house.

Over and OUT

Peter N

we have creole tomatoes, kale, chard, arugula, beans, basil, mint, thyme, oregano growing. garlic, etc.

my main job is mowing and cleaning up after the pooch.

Peter, cool idea, love it. Cosmos would be a good choice for random seedings too if you want to expand your set. They grow without care and will reseed themselves every year. 

Sarah,  oleander is one of the 10 most poisonous plants on earth yet it is very common around my area... you couldnt go a block without finding some.  

Sarah on the cilantro i just strew a packet or two in the soil, 1/4" to 1/2" dirt,lightly water and wait a few weeks. if you dont cit the leaves (cilantro) fast it turn to coriander (seeds) basically. i plant afternoon shade, maybe be the secret? a partial shade plant?

My partner and I rent out the second floor of a house and the front yard, where we're allowed to plant, is north facing. We can put out a couple of containers but nothing that needs full sun. To remedy this, we volunteer at a place called Black Creek Farm - an urban farm in North Toronto. It's a pretty cool place and we get our pick of fresh veggies and fruit :) We're helping them design and build a portable market stand that sits on a trailer. Should be a fun summer!

harvested a good batch of green beans today, at least two meals for a family of four.  nothing like freshly picked grean beans with a little butter and garlic.

I see your green beans good sir, and raise you:

LIMA beans!

They're not ready just yet, but in a month or so...

How many bean plants do you have going?  We only get 2 or three green beans at a time it seems.  I've got 3 green bean plants going.

LIMA beans, never tried that.

learned this from a guy in high school. What I have is two rows that are about 6" apart so you can take the garden Hoe and make a ditch to collect the water between the two.  These two rows are about 20 feet long.  I will  probably get one more harvest out of them maybe 1 meal for family of 4....planted the seeds about 4" apart, and for the most part the carpenter ants did not devour the seeds.
 

I have about 8 green bean plants and get a handful of beans to eat about every other day. Pick them young, they taste better. I am surprised I am getting as many as I am.