I got spring fever, and the only cure is gardening

Assuming this eternal winter in the north east ends at some point and the weather doesn't go all "The Day After Tomorrow" on us, I'm going to start gardening. Anyone else getting ready? Or anybody in the west coast in eternal summer growing anything cool?

I'm trying to grow some tomatoes (brandywine and beefsteak) a bunch of kinds of lettuce, other greens, and some peppers. Maybe this will help me improve my health, or at least mix some fresh veggies in with my Mt. Dew based diet.

I'm trying some other stuff like Luffas and a gourd for fun. They can vine so if they climb the bamboo (assuming this record breaking sucky winter hasn't killed it all) and use more of the soil while still getting some light.

I'm going to have to go vertical, not a lot of sunny space that isn't shaded by trees. I may only end up with a few meals worth of food but I gotta start somewhere I guess. OTOH I'm not going to eat any of the peppers I'm growing. I got some seeds for a trinidad moruga scorpion pepper plant. Feel free to search youtube for idiots eating those on camera, they are hotter than ghost peppers, but technically still not the hottest in the world.

I'm starting seeds under a grow light and most of the plants are pretty far along already. Now I just need all the snow to melt, and the temperatures to stop dropping below freezing every night. And maybe the soil to thaw. Oh, and some free time. That would be nice.

Any tips? I've never grown tomatoes before. I found a bunch of videos about something called the 'praxxus' method, after a guy on youtube who grows that way, so i'm going to try that. I thought I could get some help from my neighbor (a master gardener, whatever that means) but he said he only got 2 tomatoes all last year. Not 2 plants, 2 actual tomatoes. For a summer of work. I hope I can get a bit more than that, but if it has something to do with our environment, I might be screwed...

I did it for two summers but gave up bc of too many gd bunnies. All I can offer is dont.start out too big like I did. It's a lot if work weeding, watering, suckering the tomatoes. We just go to the farmers market now

I love it but I'm strictly ornamental. Last year was my first season (zone 6, not much to do in winter). I'm planning on refreshing one of my first posts a year ago with new pics. Planted 300 bulbs last fall, they are starting up now.

I'm supposed to be zone 6, but the last winters were easily zone 5, and LONG. Most of my stuff will end up being ornamental, since i'm dealing with lots of shade. Any thoughts on shade plants? I have some pretty clay filled sucky soil, too. Most of my gardening is in raised beds with other soil.

The only thing I miss about New York state is the black rich soil.and salt potatoes fresh from the grouñd.

My yard never got that memo- I have maybe an inch of black soil and the rest is clay and rock. Lots of leaves, though, so hopefully I can get some composting going and start improving it a bit.

Zone 8 out here.

I grow some awesome cherry tomatoes every year. Look for the "sweet million" variety, it's like bunches of grapes.

Garlic, lettuce, collards, cucumbers, zucchini, leeks, kohlrabi.

I don't bother with potatoes or onions, they take up too much space.

I've got Kohlrabi and Leeks already sprouted in my greenhouse. Planting my lettuce seeds tomorrow.

Garlic is awesome, it adapts to wherever you grow it so the more times you re-plant the bulbs, the better it gets.

I got one of those big packs of 'survival' seeds and Kohlrabi is among them. What is that, anyway?

I wish I had a greenhouse, I have a metal halide light set up in my basement to get things growing. It's a 400 watt so it's pretty freaking bright, but there's only so much space under there. It doesn't help that i'm growing a few potted bamboos under there and those take up half the room. Those will go outside soon, though. These ones can take freezing temps as long as the soil doens't freeze, but i'm trying to bulk them up a bit more if possible first. 2 of them are shooting at the moment, too, and a freeze will kill shoots.

I tried cucumbers last year but I didn't know what I was doing so I ended up with less than favorable results. Plus I think they got some kind of mold on the lower leaves.

Zone 7b. We always had gardens growing up, but it took me years to do one of my own. I can't wait to get my prep done and for it to warm enough to plant. I'm trying some new things this year that should make it easier to maintain.

The goal is to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, string beans, onions and arugula lettuce. I might even do a rain garden in one of the soggy areas of my yard.

I can't wait!

The mold thing on cucumbers is pretty common, there's a way to get rid of it but I can't remember what it is. One thing that helps is to water them at ground level so you keep the leaves dry.

Pick your cukes earlier than you think and it will keep the plant producing.

Kohlrabi tastes like cabbage hearts, it's from the cabbage family. I've heard you can cook it, I've tried a few recipes but I just prefer to peel it, slice it and eat it.

I just have the 6' Harbor Freight aluminum greenhouse. I used the trick you find on line to make it better and it's working great. Some of the reviews are less than stellar for it but if you read between the lines, the bad reviews are mostly from people who set it up in an open field with no shelter and were amazed when the storm blew it away.

If you're starting in the basement under artificial light, be sure to harden the plants off before planting them outside. You'll want to put the seedlings outside on sunny days and bring them in at night for a couple weeks before you put them outside for good.

Keeping an oscillating fan moving over them can help them from being too leggy and falling over when you put them outside as well.

Good news about this light is it puts off uv light already, and at 36,000 lumens it can near simulate the sun. Also the weather here is so hazy I have at least one stretch every week with clouds enough to protect the seedlings.

I really need to look into a fan, too. The seedlings so far are fine with all of the light, but if I blow on them many flop over. They spring back, but I could see them getting whipped around by even a moderate gust...

Speaking of hazy weather, is the cucumber mold thing exacerbated by constant rain? Our area has some serious mold problems from the damp England-esk weather and I didnt think to connect the 2 until just now. Stupid brain...

Part of the other reason I use raised beds is for drainage and our lot is kindof sloped so the beds are like a terrace. I saw that HF greenhouse but my yard is so shaded and sloped it would never work, unless something somehow kills a maple tree or 6 and we get some more light. Im happy with some of my bamboo in planters to get dappled light and just grow slower, but with veggies I am seriously limited to certain locations for enough sun.

We've already got a bunch of seeds started inside and we have many more to plant outside once the weather warms up. It seems like beans, squash, zucchini and loose leaf lettuce do the best for us evey year. I can't for the life of me get peppers to grow worth a crap. Onions and potatoes also do really well for us.

Trans_Maro wrote: Zone 8 out here. I grow some awesome cherry tomatoes every year. Look for the "sweet million" variety, it's like bunches of grapes. Garlic, lettuce, collards, cucumbers, zucchini, leeks, kohlrabi. I don't bother with potatoes or onions, they take up too much space. I've got Kohlrabi and Leeks already sprouted in my greenhouse. Planting my lettuce seeds tomorrow. Garlic is awesome, it adapts to wherever you grow it so the more times you re-plant the bulbs, the better it gets.

If you want potatoes just grow them in a barrel. Google it if you've never seen it done. It's a neat way to get them from very little space.

Last year zucchini and squash were our big successes. The year before it was tomatoes. Peppers are hit or miss, peas have been utter failures both years. Carrots have been duds as well.

Trying again this year, fingers crossed.

It seems like I often start too early and a late freeze slows or kills a lot so I'm not rushing this year.

I had a 20x45 garden this year and I'll be expanding it to 20x75 this spring. Big focus on greens and nutrient dense foods like Chinese cabbage, kale, peppers. Lots more potatoes this year and fewer summer squash.

We had a gangbusters season last year beyond a late season tomato blight.

Here's my plan for the existing garden: http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=609942

And the expansion: http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=609953

This software makes it easy for me to plan my crop rotations.

Tomatoes,green and yellow beans, some peas and a few spices looks to be the plan this year.

And ONE cucumber plant, not 6 like last year. I was not aware how many cukes one plant produced.

NOHOME wrote: Tomatoes,green and yellow beans, some peas and a few spices looks to be the plan this year. And ONE cucumber plant, not 6 like last year. I was not aware how many cukes one plant produced.

Yeah, our first year we planted a whole 60 foot row of summer squash and cucumbers. The chickens ate well that year.

In reply to DaveEstey:

so, obviously i'm super envious now.

My plan is much smaller scale, it looks something like this:

one long 2'x18'-ish bed and a couple vertical towers on the right side. This is on the south/kind of west facing side of my house and the whole left half of that shot is shaded most of the day. Most veggies have to be on the right. The pots in that picture are about 5 gallon each, and they do not yet exist. I have the plans to make the towers but it's still cold and soggy outside so I haven't bothered yet. The box is there, but half occupied already, and the brick things on the left get too much shade to grow food.

So my plan is most of the veggies on the right side of the box and in the pots, also some climbing stuff to reach up to the deck. The handrail has tons of slats that I didn't put in the model there, plus there is some bamboo to climb up.

I normally plant in two stages- first with some peas/beans/leafy stuff and then later with tomatos, cukes, zuchs- etc.

So now my hydroponics things is seeing the former, which I will transfer to dirt as they sprout. Later this month, they will go into the ground- and I'll seed some of the rest of what I want.

Going to try again with Onions- for some reason, just no luck with them.

Fruit wise- I have grapes that have been growing for 15 years and now I'm working them to actually get some, also strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, and plums. Hope to get some of all of them.

Picking stuff ready to eat is amazing.

In reply to Rufledt:

It's all about making use of what you have. I have 13 acres so it's easy to have a big garden. I also have equipment to make it quick to prep each season and plenty of manure to amend the soil.

that's awesome, I definitely don't have that much space here, which is why i'm trying to go vertical. I'm going to see how this summer goes and keep a better record of what the sun does. If all is well I'll try to expand a bit next season, but still probably nothing like what you have!

You can also grow potatoes in a trash can

I have an extra trash can, but I already have most of the sunny area earmarked for other veggies. I do love potatoes, though.

Anybody have composting tips? I've watched a bunch of videos, it seems like pile a bunch of veggie scraps, grass clippings, and leaves together with some soil, keep moist, and turn every few days and it will break down eventually. Is that correct? I may use my extra 55 gallon trash can to do it or get some of that wire fence I see some people use. I could use all of these maple trees to my advantage, plus my neighbors bag and toss all of their grass clippings, maybe I could convince them to leave them at my place

In reply to alfadriver:

How did you get started in hydroponics? It seems like a cool idea but it seems like something I would need to research first.

Also, does anybody have any pepper or tomato variety suggestions? I'm pretty much set for what I can grow this year, but it never hurts to have a back up in mind in case something fails. I only got 3 pepper plants growing, 2 I have plans for and a third i'll probably give to a friend of mine, that leaves no extras in case one dies.

I'm also having trouble with a couple other plants. I thought I'd grow celery, but out of maybe 50 seeds I tried to start in different methods I ended up with only 2 actual seedlings. I THEN learned celery is hard to grow, so I may throw that out of my plan and replace it with something else.

You want a mix of dry things and wet things in your compost. Too much grass makes mush and goes anaerobic, which isn't nice for your critters turning it into dirt. Think leaves when you need dry things. Mix regularly to get air in and prevent compaction.

Oaxacan Jewel is my go-to tomato. Delicious and lots of flesh rather than seeds. BIG maters. Peppers I like the Jalafuego. Bigger jalapeno and a little hotter. Great for poppers.

I just started my early plants today. 12 tomatoes (6 pairs) 3 types of cabbage (Chinese, early and late), broccoli, 2 types of bell peppers, jalafuegos, swiss chard and basil.