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Garden 2012 thread.....BARGAIN ALERT

no real plans yet, This is going to be my first year of a "serious" garden. In the past i have just had a small patch of edible plants. This year i want to dig up all the useless flowers that grow wild and replace them with some food. I have some peppers and some hot peppers already growing inside under a LED. I was thinking about getting some seeds to start this week. Any suggestions on what plant will give me the greatest nutritional value but are still easy to grow in the Northeast? i have some ideas, but, any suggestions are helpful.

My onions never grew after they were planted, i will try again this year.

I have a Bhut jalokia pepper plant that is all ready to go... i am going to try to clone it soon.
 
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Garlic and multiplier onions. Dry corn and sorghum. Dry beans and if I can find them dry peas. These are my ongoing experiments. Squash, tomatoes, peas, lettuce etc for the rest. Looking at the funding to build a real root cellar in the basement. If we do that it will influence what we plant for root crops. The one think I cant grow for whatever reason are carrots. I dont know why. It is frustrating. Not sure our Tabasco peppers made it this winter. We have overwintered them for 2 years but it doesnt look good for this year.
 
ordered my seeds for the year about a month ago... got to start a bunch of stuff this weekend.

Biggest item for me will be Roma tomatoes, garden plan accounts for 48. Going to be canning a lot of pasta sauce. Of course onions and herbs to go with, except garlic. Will have to outsource that.

Few rows of corn, few sweet and jalepeno peppers, lots of cukes, lots of peas, cannellini beans, broccoli, lettuce and spinach.

Last time I did potatoes in a barrel it worked "OK", but i'm going to try and kick it up a notch and build an adjustable box out of some pallets I scavenged to allow more light.

If I ever get around to putting up a respectable fence/trellis i'd like to get some grapes going too. Also take 2 on the berry bushes.. the ones I got from Lowes last year never took.

I wonder if this is the year my apple and pear trees start producing.
 
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coastie said:
Garlic and multiplier onions. Dry corn and sorghum. Dry beans and if I can find them dry peas. These are my ongoing experiments. Squash, tomatoes, peas, lettuce etc for the rest. Looking at the funding to build a real root cellar in the basement. If we do that it will influence what we plant for root crops. The one think I cant grow for whatever reason are carrots. I dont know why. It is frustrating. Not sure our Tabasco peppers made it this winter. We have overwintered them for 2 years but it doesnt look good for this year.
Click to expand...

How far down is your soil loose? Any pests under there mucking things up? I lost a whole crop to a mole.

On the root cellar topic, have you read this book? I've got a dirt floor basement, and have been going back and forth on using some of the ideas in this book to convert a portion of it over to a root cellar. I did some testing with rutabagas last year and they made it quite a while, so I think my investment in materials would be pretty short.

Anybody getting ready to plant peas yet? I'm thinking Wednesday (next day off), weather permitting. My raised beds are pretty loose and the snow is all gone. I'm going to get a sheet or two of black mulch out tomorrow afternoon and see about getting some peas in the ground early this year.
 
My family grows lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, peas, asparagus, broccoli, onions, chives, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, figs, raspberries...

Gosh, there are so many more I can't even remember them lol.

We don't even have a big yard. My mom is the green thumb in the family and she is part of our towns garden club.

She has a grow closet in the basement where she starts her plants, then moves 'em outside.
 
We're closing on our first house on the 29th....I finally get to have a yard again. Right after putting up some fence, my next project is to put in a garden. I don't really know where to begin, other than I plan to build a 4x8' bed. Kind of sad because my grandparents had a vegetable farm and stand. I wish I paid more attention. It's not a huge deal though, as my survival doesn't hinge on a good harvest, I guess I'll learn by doing.
 
I'm doing Prudens Purple and Oplpalk tomatoes, yellow and chiogga beets, Paris market carrots, potatoes, parsnips, two types of peas, and an heirloom lettuce mixture.

Oh and the asparagus we planted last year.
 
I get a lot of my seeds from High Mowing out if Wolcott VT. I get some from Fedco, Johnnys, Southern Exposure and Seed Savers. I also get them from the feed story and HD if they have what I am looking for.
 
Most of my seeds this year are from Victory Seeds, in the past i've used High Mowing and Botanical Interests. I've had no problems with the two prior, just like to spread the wealth around. High Mowing though tends to sell out of some popular stuff if you don't get in early.

Things I plant very small quantities off (peppers, corn etc) I just go with the $1 packets at Walmart
 
I've been using Burpee, haven't had any problems yet. I started my broccoli, squash and tomatoes in the sun room back in mid Feb. They are doing quite well, might start a few more tomatoes and squash this week. I think next weekend I'll start tilling the garden and mixing in my year old chicken fertilizer before I clean out the coop again.
 
Just went to walmart to pick up some seeds for things I only plant a few of, like watermelons and pumpkins... they had plenty of the 20c a package brand in stock. I've updated my Gantt chart accordingly and thought you guys might find some utility in it yourselves. The software that does it also notes spacings and so forth. Imgur kinda shrunk this up so i'll put a link to the PDF version below. This is based on frost zone 6a



http://www.pdfhost.net/index.php?Action=Download&File=987ab8c2b5c9a15c370303dfc491a3c2
 
Kaisha77 said:
This chart was VERY helpful and helped answer a lot of my gardening n00b questions. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Agreed, thanks. Only question: what does it mean under spacing in rows when it says x' by y'? I'm assuming one of the numbers is how far apart the rows should be. Then I usually thought it was assumed to just use the usual spacing within the rows themselves, so I'm not sure what the other number would be.

It's really exciting to be getting at it again. My gf and I were out last weekend doing a lot of prep work during the beautiful weather. We also put in some potatoes and also garlic...hope it's not too early!
 
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JCat said:
Agreed, thanks. Only question: what does it mean under spacing in rows when it says x' by y'? I'm assuming one of the numbers is how far apart the rows should be. Then I usually thought it was assumed to just use the usual spacing within the rows themselves, so I'm not sure what the other number would be.
Click to expand...

This app has a lot of different features, including plotting. The spacing in rows tends to fluctuate a few inches depending on your plotting, the idea is to get you an even and efficient use of space within the plants spacing tolerances. The delta isn't much.. so just be close. If you can get in an extra plant in a row of a certain length by shaving off a smidge on the spacing between plant, go for it. Most of my plans are for 36' rows, but not all 36' is the same plant in most cases.
 
I have a decent amount of work ahead of me, and am not sure I'll finish it in time to plant. I have a Farmall A, and just bought a 2 bottom trailer plow as well as a disc harrow. I need to replace the wheels on the plow. After that the sky is the limit. I think I'll get through most of what I want to plow this year and get the beds ready for next year. I have to plow about 2 acres at the very least and then spread manure. who knows maybe ill have time to plant something. It took me a lot of time to find the plow and figure I'm still about two weeks out from getting it completly working.
 

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Dont have a back yard anymore since I moved to the townhouse. Might give the aerogarden a try this year. Out of curiosity, what do you guys use to track your gardens?
 
this years plan: lettuce tomatoes cucumbers eggplant peppers green and red maybe some arugula. I'd like to try potatoes haven't done them yet. Summer squash zucchini cauliflower too maybe even some asparagus this year. Plus the Herb garden with basil thyme scallions garlic and bay..
Anyone know if there is a certain breed of cucumbers to grow for pickling?
 
Awesome thread!

I had some black spots on my tomato plants last year, neighbor told me it is Blight. Any good tips on curing the soil?
 
rogzballz said:
Awesome thread!

I had some black spots on my tomato plants last year, neighbor told me it is Blight. Any good tips on curing the soil?
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If what you're describing, is a black spot on the tomato itself, it is most likely blossom end rot. There are several causes of this. Your best bet is to Google it. In my case I added calcium in the form of bone meal, to the soil, to correct the deficiency. A poor watering schedule, can also be a cause.

A hard freeze is forecast, so anyone who has jumped the gun, and has plants in the ground, should cover them with mulch or burlap before nightfall!
 
Billsail said:
If what you're describing, is a black spot on the tomato itself, it is most likely blossom end rot. There are several causes of this. Your best bet is to Google it. In my case I added calcium in the form of bone meal, to the soil, to correct the deficiency. A poor watering schedule, can also be a cause.
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The tomatoes would look fine, but the spots and yellowing are on the stems and leaves. I have heard that I should move the location of the tomato plants too but I only have one planting bed and a very limited back yard. I also get my soil from the town's compost, so I'm not sure if they're filtering it.

This summer I am also going to be planting Chives, Basil and Cucumbers. I've only had the best luck with these so I'm going to stick with it ...
 
rogzballz said:
The tomatoes would look fine, but the spots and yellowing are on the stems and leaves. I have heard that I should move the location of the tomato plants too but I only have one planting bed and a very limited back yard. I also get my soil from the town's compost, so I'm not sure if they're filtering it.

This summer I am also going to be planting Chives, Basil and Cucumbers. I've only had the best luck with these so I'm going to stick with it ...
Click to expand...


I would change out the the soil, if you can afford it. Town compost piles are contaminated with stuff I wouldn't want, in something I'm going to eat. This includes chemicals, diseases, weeds, and salt from sweepings. Not the best growing environment. This is only my opinion. I doubt they are treating the soil, in any way.
 

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