Small vegetable backyard garden
 

Hi!

Does anybody else have a backyard garden? I tend a small plot at home, for relaxation mainly. But it did provides me with fresh spring onions, tomatoes, and eggplants.

Yes, We have one also. I like to grow tomatoes,green onions, radishes,cucumbers and hot pepper.My hubby likes squash and okra.I hate okra it is so slimmy! We had pigs once and fed them scraps from our garden . Next year somehow ,we ended up with a tomatoes growing wild in the pig yard! :D We also find watermelons growing in strange places to and figure they come from birds maybe dropping the seeds.

I used to have a small one, but I seeded it with grass for this summer - I just couldn't dedicate the time to it. I was sad to see it go, as I'd really enjoyed growing all sorts of things in it over the years (especially potatoes, where you seem to sow 10 seeds and then slowly turn up potatoes all over your vegetable patch for the next 5 years) - but what with work and everything, well, something had to give. I had a go last year when time was tight, but ended up only with some very disappointing carrots at the end of the season. I guess vegetables don't fend for themselves terribly well over a 6 month period...

It look good now though - as I say, I've seeded it with grass, and I've put a few flower-pots around it etc. and a bench to sit on. Great to while away the summer hours considering how to mess up the house again in the winter with 'improvements' ;)

We are planning a vegetable garden for next year. We sat down last weekend and worked out what we will plant and where we will do it. I will remove the grass before the winter and add some fertilizer and additional ground to the patch to prepare it.

Is there something else I must think of? or I should prepare?

Wow! They must be real huge birds to eat watermelons. :D Or maybe you fed the pigs with some melon scraps?

I love squash (flowers, shoots, and meat) and okra too. :) And I sometimes plant them together with beans.

@ Bountiful explorer

Carrots and potatoes?!? They're tough to grow. :)

lol - I did wonder...

I always assumed that, because they're pretty much bog-standard 'staple' vegeatbles they'd be pretty easy to grow - I was wrong :)

Saying that, the potatoes did always seem to take quite well - but they were a hell of a nuisance to get back up again. I swear every time I dig over the patch I find another one left over from years ago :p

I agree with the carrots though, absolutely - they are incredibly difficult to grow. They never seem to grow straight, and are always terribly thin. No, from now on I'll be getting mine from the supermarket - it might not be as fulfilling, but at least can get a meal out of them ;)

I never tried potatoes.My in laws did .I took some of theirs and it never looked difficult .They used to have a very large garden and can every year.Till my father in law died a year ago.This is the first year without that big garden. I did try carrots though and cabbage.Never had any luck with either of those.

Carrots and cabbage are probably 2 of the toughest veggies to grow in a casual garden. I've never planted them but I have lived among farmers who did as a living. By observing them, I realized I'm better off with tomatoes, eggplants, beans, and squash. :D

When growing up my mother planted a garden each and every year and it was pretty good size as well. Had a lot of fresh vegetables including carrots and cabbage. Which never caused her any problems. She was very good at gardening. Me on the other hand did not inherit that trait unfortunately, but I do grow some simples things such as tomatoes, squash, and melons.

I grow herbs indoors with a heating lamp and they do very well. I also have a walnut tree, cherry trees, and grape vines.

We've had gardens in the past, but not for a few years now. We definitely want one for next spring. I'd like to plant onions and tomatoes to start... yum! I won't bother with peas because the yield is so small. I might try cucumbers. I'd love to grow watermelon and cantaloupe but I have a feeling it's not easy to do?

I'm glad I read this thread before we decide what all to plant in the spring! I do know that we tried carrots in the past and now that you mention it, they never got too nice at all. I learned my lesson about zucchini when we used to have a garden, too... a little bit of planting goes a LONG way! Hehe I don't mind extra tomatoes because there's so much to make with them, but that year we got so sick of zucchini! :eek:

Well now that's not a bad way to do things either! :) I like being given free food, too... but there's something special about knowing we grew it ourselves, too.

Each according to his own needs. Not every do like working with the earth but that's fine. If everyone plants squashes and cukes, who's gonna take care of the usually over abundant produce? :)

I guess this is why some people (I won't mention names hehe) end up looking for a bajillion recipes to use up zucchini and end up making strange things like zucchini cupcakes. :D

Haven't tried the zucchini cupcakes yet, but I might! We do grow a lot of zucchini, but I shred the excess and freeze it, then pull it out during the year to make fried zucchini patties and zucchini bread and cake. We also grow tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs, though the kids ate most of the tomatoes right off the vines this year!