How does your garden grow?

daughter_of_kings · Post by **daughter_of_kings** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 5:18 am

Mine does well, thanks to the garden angel that Samsmissy gave me as a mathom several years ago.

The first year, I didn't plant much, and we didn't get much. Last year, I spaded up a larger plot and diversified the salad veggies. I also planted asparagus... which came up really early this year (and part of it got frosted, even though I covered it). So we have now harvested and eaten the first of the asparagus this year! This year, hubby helped me expand the garden, and now we have corn, beans, carrots, radishes, cabbage and several varieties of lettuce in the ground, plus broccoli and peppers waiting in pots to be transplanted. Hopefully it will do well, as Mother Nature overwatered it a bit and and it's a lake at the moment.

I knew I wanted a garden for years. I never knew it could be this addictive!

A few more years of this and I'll have the whole yard dug up and turned into a garden.

Strange Elf · Post by **Strange Elf** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:10 am

I am a little jealous, for sure.

Living in the desert, we have a very short growing period. Get it in and get it out, basically.

In fact, a gardener friend of mine who lives here, told me that it is far more expensive to grow your own food, than buy it, as we have to work hard to make things grow at all.

I do keep a little herb garden, and last year tomatoes and lettuce. This year I may add a little more, but not much.

I can't live without my herbs though.

Post by **Primula** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:36 pm

That sounds wonderful!

I can only do so much due to the shade and acidity of my Doug firs, but I'm getting ready for lots of cherry tomatoes and herbs, plus possibly peas and greenbeans if I get my act together. We get so much fruit that the veggies kind of get left behind. I have several established herbal shrubs, so that makes it relatively easy and there's always volunteer chives.

I mostly grow flowers! Oh, and the occasional sweet potato in pots because I like the vines.

AnnaEstel · Post by **AnnaEstel** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:38 pm

We just replanted our herb garden, and the bigger plot gets planted next weekend. We still have to decide what we are planting tho, beyond the usual tomatoes and peppers. DoK, so awesome to hear you're enjoying the gardening bug!!

Ladyhawk Baggins · Post by **Ladyhawk Baggins** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 6:20 pm

Wow, DoK, I'm impressed. Good for you. Broccoli from the garden is the only kind I can bring myself to eat.

I kept myself in salad for weeks by only trimming as much as I needed. It kept growing until it was too warm. Now, all I have are the blackberry bushes. I have comfrey seeds to plant. Maybe I'll let you inspire me.

daughter_of_kings · Post by **daughter_of_kings** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:09 pm

I'm impressed by all of you growing herb gardens! would love to have fresh herbs, but I don't cook often and I'm afraid if I started an herb garden, all of the plants would just go feral.

I would like to have some fruit trees, and have started the process (picking which types, deciding where to plant) each of the last two years, but have not managed to follow through yet.

AnnaEstel... I planted LOTS of corn this year, so if it does well, maybe we could actually do some trading instead of you just feeding me.

tinidril · Post by **tinidril** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 2:00 am

DoK, try growing a rosemary bush. They're pretty hardy and perennial, so you don't have to replant every year. Keep the branches trimmed and then tie them into bunches to hang up-side-down in the house (once dried the leaves can be pulled off and stored in jars or freezer). The aroma is wonderful!

Ladyhawk Baggins · Post by **Ladyhawk Baggins** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:36 am

The nice thing about rosemary is its versatile use beyond cooking.

daughter_of_kings · Post by **daughter_of_kings** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:51 pm

Ladyhawk Baggins wrote:The nice thing about rosemary is its versatile use beyond cooking.

About which I know nothing.

I shall have to look into getting a rosemary bush. If I can find the thyme.

Ladyhawk Baggins · Post by **Ladyhawk Baggins** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:33 am

Rosemary is also a healing herb.

tinidril · Post by **tinidril** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:53 pm

Another use for the rosemary leaves is for its aroma: make one of those tube-sock neck pillows and add some of the dried rosemary leaves for scenting (with smaller fillers like the suggested flax seed or the rosemary leaves, you might want to add the pantyhose liner mentioned in the article).

Ladyhawk Baggins · Post by **Ladyhawk Baggins** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:32 pm

Today, I planted comfrey seeds as well as a lavender and a rosemary plant. I planted them in pots in the hope that being able to move them to cooler locations during the summer will help them survive.

Strange Elf · Post by **Strange Elf** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:22 pm

Saw my first Hummingbird of the season. So excited!

OK, so this has nothing to to with growing gardens, except that I saw the Hummer in my garden, so that should count. HA!

yaralindi · Post by **yaralindi** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:46 pm

Well, the crew should be here tomorrow to tear out all of the garden my father, son Sammy, Dee, and I built over the last 30 years. Every plant and every tree, including the wonderful pomegranates, will go. Most are dead now anyway because of the drought and the new water rationing from the governor put in the final nail. I will sit quietly on my patio and watch the destruction because someone has to bear witness to such terrible carnage. Dee says she will stay with friends until Monday.

I cannot express how sad and angry I am right now since much of this is the result of politics and not science. California state government has mismanaged water resources for years and the federal courts are now ensuring that everyone in California pays the price for that mismanagement. Severe rationing is the result along with the tiny deaths of thousands upon thousands of dreams all over California.

Strange Elf · Post by **Strange Elf** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 6:27 am

I am so very sorry to hear this, Yar.

Having grown up with a mother and father whose life almost revolved around their garden, I know how much love and dedication has been put into it.

Are you going to zero scape?

I live next door in Nevada, and we also are suffering, and restrictions are on the books. I want to zero scape, as does my son, we just can't afford to do that, so we will have to live with the brown death.

I will say a little prayer for you and Dee, and for all the living things that will meet their end. I will also pray from rain. No point praying for the government though. I think they are a lost cause.

The Fellowship of Middle-earth