My Garden...Do you have one? (Pics included)

[anna_66]

After years of not having a garden (because of pesky little dogs that like to dig;)) we finally decided to plant one this year.
I'm very happy with the results so far!

This is a picture in the beginning of June:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P6230371.jpg
And this is a few pictures from this evening:
Boy has it GROWN!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7150475.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7150476.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7150477.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7150478.jpg

We have tomatoes, green-red-orange and yellow bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, hot cherry peppers, mild banana peppers, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, snap peas and many different types of lettuce.
I wish you all lived around me...I'd share the wealth!

more to come....

[anna_66]

Here's a few things I've made with my bounty so far:
Lots of zucchini stuff;)
Zucchini Bread
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7080457.jpg
Fried Zucchini
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7080454.jpg
Salad with...you guessed it...zucchini!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7080455.jpg
And tonight I canned some cucumbers for pickles
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P7150471.jpg
Oh and we've had some fried green tomatoes too.

Soon I hope to be canning some tomatoes and beans!

I hope you enjoyed my garden...Do any of you have one? If so please share!

[Cinder & Smoke]

WoW!

That looks like some really YUMMIE stuff!!

:cool:

[Cookiebaker]

Wow, Anna! Your garden is beautiful! And everything looks sooo yummy! :D I can't garden to save my life :( so, no I don't have one. Just last year and this year I am figuring out how to plant flowers, so maybe someday i will graduate to vegetables. ;)

[Killearn Kitties]

Looks fantastic! Bet it all tastes SO much better than what you buy.

[Marigold2]

It looks great. You should be very proud. Are those dill or sweet pickles you have made? Can I have the recipe?

[Medusa]

I'll be right over! Those pix made me hungry! No garden for me. My parents had a garden every year when we lived in the country for a while and they didn't make it an enjoyable experience for me. Years ago, my late friend taught me how to plant flowers and I still do that but I just have never wanted to grow veggies. Your garden is delightful, though. :)

[4 Dog Mother]

When you said garden, well, you know me, I immediately thought flowers, sigh, but it is just those vegetables. Actually I don't want to get as into it as you have but I do wish we had some tomato plants. I tried some last year but I guess the place I chose was not the best as they didn't do well at all.

Fried green tomatoes?? I will be down, oh, how about tonight. No one at my house likes them - so I very rarely make them - and especially since I don't have a tomato plant - but sometimes the stores do have them or I beg them off a neighbor or my mom. I love fried green tomatoes. You do have Miracle Whip don't you? It's not a fried green tomato sandwich without Miracle Whip!!!

[Freedom]

Great job!

I had my first zucchini this week, made it fried just like yours: YUM!!!

Er . . . how the heck to you keep your garden so weed free? Mine doesn't look nearly as "neat" as yours does. GOOD WORK!

[Taz_Zoee]

Your garden looks great!!
We had a garden a few years ago. It was nice. Bruce keeps talking about doing it again but never gets around to it. He did plow up the garden area earlier but never got to planting anything. It's nice because you don't have to go to the store, you just go outside to do your shopping. Bruce would tell me "I'm going to go shopping" while he walked into the backyard. LOL :D

[RICHARD]

I don't want to embarrass myself so I won't post photos....I have peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and green onion, basil and radishes.


Do you have suggestions/recipes for pickling tomatoes?

Thanks!

[caseysmom]

I love gardens, I am impressed and jealous. We always had a garden growing up and I loved it. I just don't have any place for one now, I don't even have grass in the backyard, its all pool and a trampoline pad.

There is nothing like a fresh tomatoe in the summer.

Don't listen to Richard his garden is pretty awesome also.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I grow herbs. They look pretty, smell good, don't need weeding, and most taste good. (lavender I haven't tasted...) And they grow like crazy!

Rosemary
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg23/EdwinaandEddie/IMG_5150.jpg?t=1247864010
Lavender
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg23/EdwinaandEddie/IMG_5151.jpg?t=1247864159
and....catnip, mint, thyme, parsley and chives
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg23/EdwinaandEddie/IMG_5124.jpg?t=1247864348
cat optional!

[caseysmom]

I really want to grow rosemary, I tried once and killed it. What's your secret?

[Edwina's Secretary]

I really want to grow rosemary, I tried once and killed it. What's your secret?

Really? It is like a weed here. On one of the walking trails it grows wild. I have to cut it back about once a month.

Sun and not too much water. It is a Mediterranean plant and should be treated that way.

[Moesha]

I have 4 tomato plants in pots. I went home today and looked at them. I've been house sitting for a week and a half. They have gotten so much bigger and have lots of little babies on them.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Wow, your garden looks great! We planted a vegetable garden for the first time this year. We don't have any veggies ready to harvest yet (got a bit of a late start because we had to build a raised bed) but there are babies on the plants.

We planted cucumbers, squash, broccoli, green beans, peppers, eggplants, leeks, celery, tomatoes, watermelon and honeydew melon. I'd never done a vegetable garden before so I planted the rows a little too close together and the plants are a tad cramped, but healthy!

[caseysmom]

Really? It is like a weed here. On one of the walking trails it grows wild. I have to cut it back about once a month.

Sun and not too much water. It is a Mediterranean plant and should be treated that way.

Thats what I thougt too, I think I over watered it.

[Randi]

Looks fantastic! Bet it all tastes SO much better than what you buy.
Ditto! :) But the soil looks so dry - how do you do it! You must water a lot.

I don't have a garden, but we do grow various herbs in the yard - for everyone.

I've twice planted Lavender on John's grave, but it died. :( Now, there's a little Willow tree.

[anna_66]

Fried green tomatoes?? I will be down, oh, how about tonight.
I just picked some...come on down!


Er . . . how the heck to you keep your garden so weed free? Mine doesn't look nearly as "neat" as yours does. GOOD WORK!
Hubby does it;) I fix the veggies, he keeps the garden weed free!

Bruce would tell me "I'm going to go shopping" while he walked into the backyard. LOL :D
I know, I love that feeling. I just went "shopping" tonight!

I don't want to embarrass myself so I won't post photos....I have peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and green onion, basil and radishes.
Do you have suggestions/recipes for pickling tomatoes?
Oh come on, it can't be that bad. And no sorry, no suggestions on tomatoes. I canned tons of them quite a few years back and can't remember how I did it. Guess I'm gonna have to search the net for some recipes myself!


Don't listen to Richard his garden is pretty awesome also.
I just knew it!


Pembroke_Corgi if you ever get any pictures I'd love to see it.
You have quite a few things I've never thought of planting!


ES your herb garden looks wonderful and great pictures!
I've never thought of planting herbs before. Maybe I'll give it a try next year.

I picked a few new things in the garden this evening so I hope you don't mind me sharing again.
Sweet Banana Peppers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/SweetBananaPeppers.jpg
Sugar Snap Peas-these are just sooooo yummy!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/SugarSnapPeas.jpg
Jalapenos
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/JalapenoPeppers.jpg
And a few things I already had (just new pictures)
Salad mix
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/SaladMix.jpg
Funny looking siamese cucumbers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/SiameseCucumbers.jpg
Green Tomatoes
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/GreenTomatoes.jpg
Zucchini
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/Zuccini.jpg

That's it for now folks! Stop by any time to go "shopping" in my garden:D

[RICHARD]

I picked another zucchini today.

I didn't know that there were any under the leaves, the huge one I stumbled upon!

I also have basil, catnip, another tomato tree and an avocado I started from a seed!

I have a some peppers that are taking forever to grow and my other tomato/chile bucket!


No mater pics, I tend to eat them as soon as the come into the house.:eek:

I did make salsa with some tomatoes.

It rocked!

I'll take pics of my other pepper and zucchini plants tomorrow?


-----------------------

If you are planting seeds, read the package carefully and try to figure out when they will germinate, you can time it so that everything matures at once, or you can stagger the timing so you have time to tend to each plant as you like.

Small containers, like cottage cheese or yougurt cups are great 'starter' pots, fill them with potting soil, plant your seeds and wait!:D

If you are planting to the ground? Prep the soil with compost or go to a home improvement center and look for additives.

My soil is hard and clay like, I broke it up with a hoe, sifted the dirt with a screen and added soil amender. Tough work, but well worth the satisfaction.

I water in the morning and early evening, lightly. When the plants sprouted, I bought plant food and everyone gets fed once a week!

-----------

The hanging planter is my fave!

I came across some plastic water jugs, took a Dremel tool and cut the tops off them.

I used the bottom as a pot to put the plants that I got from the nursery into, I then took the tops and with the same machine cut holes into them, strung rope thru and have a neat little hanging planter to start my plants.

I placed some plant "fabric" into the bottom of the tops so the soil would not fall out and tossed some small plants into them to get them started.

[trayi52]

Anna, you have a beautiful garden! We have a garden too. Our corn has done lousy, because we got too much rain! The rest of the garden has done great. I have canned 40 quarts of green beans, so far I have eight quarts of tomato juice.

I love to can vegetables!

Willie:)

[Sonia59]

We have tomatoes and herbs (rosmary, thyme, basil, sage, lavender).

[anna_66]

Nice pictures Richard!
Question...I see that you have chillies, what do you do with them? I actually just bought one at the grocery yesterday and am not sure what to do with it:o
I'm thinking of trying to have salad and a few peppers in a planter for this winter...think it will work?

Willie, our corn never did good. Always seemed to blow down when we'd get storms.
You must have planted earlier than us because we haven't gotten a bean or a red tomato yet!

Sonia59 what do you use all your herbs for. I've never used them much.

[RICHARD]

Nice pictures Richard!
Question...I see that you have chillies, what do you do with them? I actually just bought one at the grocery yesterday and am not sure what to do with it:o
I'm thinking of trying to have salad and a few peppers in a planter for this winter...think it will work?

Willie, our corn never did good. Always seemed to blow down when we'd get storms.
You must have planted earlier than us because we haven't gotten a bean or a red tomato yet!

Sonia59 what do you use all your herbs for. I've never used them much.

I am going to buy a camper and going to visit everyone with canned veggies!;)

Anna,

It depends on what you want to eat!

The chillies I pick I put into a dish, let them dry, put them into a coffee grinder. I recycle an old spice container -the kind with the lid that lets you sprinkle the contents in it- and keep it on the table.


I use them on pizza, I like a spicy ramen soup, a few shakes in the broth is good!

Your jalapenos are BEAUTIFUL, Have you seen the recipes for stuffed jalapenos?

You slit the pepper and clean the seeds and ribs out, stuff with cream cheese, then dip into a cornmeal batter and deep fry!

A cold beer and some NASCAR?:D

I think that if you keep a planter indoors you should be able to keep them thru the winter!

I cannot say for sure, your weather is way different that the So Cal climate.


I have to say that I really found your breaded zucchini pics to be very disturbing.

I could not make a dish look that good in a million years!:D

[lizbud]

This thread is making me very hungry.:) Everything looks so yummy.
I've never had a garden. No green thumb here. I did plant some new flowers
this summer & they are still living.:D

Richard, the stuffed jalapenos sound great. Yum.:)

[Rachel]

WOW! I'm impressed. That is an amazing garden and what beautiful bounty you have produced.

[ramanth]

That's a great garden Anna! :love: I haven't had fried green tomatoes in years. Yum!!

[Cinder & Smoke]

:eek:
:mad:

I finally got a couple RED ones hangin on the 'Mater Tree down on the Pharm ...

Looked out the winder and whadda I see???

That darn lil Grey MUTT standin beside the sekurity fence --- **GULPIN** down
a facefull of semi-ripe 'Maters. :mad:

SMOKEMUTT - Get OUTTA the 'Mater Pharm!!!! :mad:

He was on the porch in an instant - frantically trying to clean his teeth of 'Mater seeds.

Then I spot the Other One --- across the driveway **chewin** as fast as she can. :mad:

I need to pick up a scatter-gun and some rock-salt loads.

:(

[RICHARD]

I need to pick up a scatter-gun and some rock-salt loads.

:(


Didn't we laugh about the "seed sowing capabilities" of both those guys?:eek:

It really could be worse, they could go next door and sully your good name by raiding the neighbor's garden?:eek:

[anna_66]

Richard, that stuffed Jalapeno recipe sounds devine!
Do you dry your chillies whole?

Phred I totally understand about the dogs getting your bounty. Roxey and Bon love to eat the apples off our tree and Roxey loves the zucchini...imagine that. I never knew dogs like tomatos and zucchini:D

[RICHARD]

Richard, that stuffed Jalapeno recipe sounds devine!
Do you dry your chillies whole?



Yes, whole and then I take the stem part off and grind them down.

DO NOT DO THIS IN AN enclosed space, do not get your face close to the cup, don't touch your eyes, mouth or nose afterwards.:D

Not responsible for damage or theft,or overnight parking?:D:eek:

[anna_66]

Freedom, I finally got a picture of the gardening tool my husband uses.
Works like a charm he says.

[Cinder & Smoke]

http://petoftheday.com/talk/attachment.php?attachmentid=43223&d=1248741119
.
Is it electric start?

I don't see the motor.

:confused:

[Freedom]

Now THAT is one weird tool, lol. I've never seen anything like it, will have to look around some.

Thanks!

Here is my cooked zucchini:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%2026%20Tasha%20waves%20zucchini/July26Tashawaves003Small.jpg

[Daisy and Delilah]

WOW!! I'm impressed with all you gardeners. Awesome pictures. You guys keep up the good work!!:)

Nobody in Florida had any luck with zucchini this year for some reason. Beautiful plants and blooms. The zucchini would come on the vine and suddenly die. I don't know how many people told me that.:(

[RICHARD]

Is it electric start?

I don't see the motor.

:confused:

It is elektrik, but it's that funny kind that makes your toe tap when you hear a tune you like!:eek:

It's good for your heart, back, legs and you get some sun, too!

:D

[anna_66]

Nobody in Florida had any luck with zucchini this year for some reason. Beautiful plants and blooms. The zucchini would come on the vine and suddenly die. I don't know how many people told me that.:(

I wish I could send you my zucchini! I've been giving them away left and right.
And this is our newest find last night:eek:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8091052.jpg
We look in that garden every night...how do they hide and get that big?! (please ignore the mess in the background:o)
It's a very good thing that Roxey and Bon love zucchini:D

We have also finally gotten some red tomatoes and green beans.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8101055.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8101054.jpg

[fritz03]

Your garden looks great,plants look good enough to eat,hope the dogs stay out of it!

[anna_66]

hope the dogs stay out of it!

Yep, we have a fence around it or they wouldn't!
___________________________________________
Alas, some of our garden is dying. The cucumbers are all gone as well as the snap peas. I'll miss them.

But now comes the fun part...canning green beans and tomatoes!

The beans taste oh so yummy canned.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8241033.jpg
It took me 5 hours to can 36 jars of tomatoes yesterday:eek:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8291040.jpg
I also made salsa...hope it's good!

[sabies]

Great garden! I love the herb garden too. I hope to have a flower, veggie and herb garden someday. We have a lot of work still to do in our yard. I would have one already except our soil is clay and too difficult for me to dig myself and my husband is too busy now to help. Being so inexperienced I know it will take some years to ge the hang of gardening. Right now I'm trying to be a better cook so I can do something with whatever I may grow. Anyway, I am very impressed with everything you guys have grown and made!

[Cinder & Smoke]

I wish I could send you my zucchini!
I've been giving them away left and right.
And this is our newest find last night :eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/anna66/Garden%2009/P8091052.jpg

It's a very good thing that Roxey and Bon love zucchini :D

Eeee-Yipes!
And just How Many loaves of Zucchini Bread is that bad boy gonna make?

I'll bet I know where it's gonna wind up on Sunday ...

Yummmmmmmmmmmie! :D
:love:

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Anna, what a great garden!!!
You grow much of the same things my husband grows.
Your fried zucchini looks wonderful!
Have you ever tried zucchini puffs? How about oven-fried eggplant?

This year I've been experimenting by throwing diced zucchini, peppers, eggplant into the crock pot and adding different things like salad dressings for the "juice", or creamed soups, spaghetti sauce and macaroni. Everything has been different and good!

I myself do a bit of flower gardening although I must admit, since becoming a Philadelphia Phillies Phan, getting the computer, getting older and having 5 cats to care for...My flower gardening has taken a back seat.

[RICHARD]

It's time for a set of new garden stories.

I was doing some weeding and am going to clear out the stuff around my pepper plants.

I have cucumbers, dill, coriander and two kinds of tomato seed to start!

I am going to get more beets and radishes-those were my experiments last year!:D

-----------------

ANyone with compost heap hints?

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

I wonder if we ought to start a new 2010 Gardening thread to make it easier to get to current posts? (just a suggestion)

I've started some cleaning up of the yard but I'm not very motivated this year. My crocus are blooming, tulips, daff's, and hyacinths are poking out of the ground.

My husband started his seeds in the cellar. He puts them on the heater for bottom heat to start then under a grow light til he can put them outside for a couple days of hardening up and finally into the garden. Quite a few of the seeds are up...tomatoes, peppers. I can't keep track of everything he plants. He burnt down the old asparagus growth the other day.

I'll be able to share pictures as the season really gets going.

[Marigold2]

I have started my seeds in the basement as well. Hubby built me a grow light shelf years ago and I so enjoy this hobby. I plant the seeds 1/31
in honor of my grandmother. Mine are doing great and am looking forward to the first week in May when it's time to plant them outside.
Your veggies all look great. You have such a green thumb, not I take that back you're whole body is green.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

I have a LOT of work to get on with the young snake plants I started from leaf cuttings. I also need to repot all the houseplants I have, and divide the peace lilies. And get baby spider plants started. AND get some perennial divisions potted.
I sell all these at a little "picnic table road side stand" in my front yard.
Before becoming a strictly indoor-only cat parent, I used to have a LOT of houseplants. I don't have that many now and most of them are hanging from the cellar rafters under a grow light. The cats won't stop chewing on them if I try to keep them upstairs.

[RICHARD]

Pics of my 'harvest'.

I am going to turn over the soil to start all over again!

[king2005]

I LOVE gardening!!
I live 12 stories up (far less bugs) & I face west so I get a LOT of sun. Right now I have 3 different species of Tomatoes, Beefstake, a yellow kind, & Cherry, all 3 are a little over a foot tall & have MANY branches as I've been snipping the suckers (I think thats what dad called them). I have a Habinaro plant that is about 5" tall, darn thing took 2 months to sprout.. I thought it was a failed plant, but nope, its looking good. 3 Bean plants, & my suicidal Pea plant, its been giving me peas all winter long (YUM). Thats it for veggies, as I can't grow any crawling plants on the Balcony.

I have a strawberry plant that has given me berries all winter long. I accidently killed 90% of the poor plant, so its slowly recovering :(

I also have Thyme, Coriander, Dill, Rosemary, Marjarum (sp?), Lemon Basil, Parsley, Chives & several others (they slip my mind right now). I have 10 in total I believe.

The Thyme & the Parsley have been growing since last summer, so they are lovely plants & I've been cooking with them both. The other herbs are about a week old, so they are tiny; 2 haven't sprouted yet.

I need a new bag of dirt to transplant the tomatoes into their permant pots. Then I need to get a larger pot for the Habinaro, & med sized pots for the herbs when they get larger.

I LOVE plants. I also have many many many other plants in the house. When my spider Plants have too many babies, I pick some off & give hem away.