Gardening!!!

[Booko]

Inspired by a PM I got, I thought I'd bring up something I've never seen talked about on RF: gardening.

Any kind.

I was going to mention, for the best most practical book on intensive gardening, try "Square Foot Gardening" by Bartholomew.

The focus is mostly veggies, but of course it's good to intermix with herbs and flowers also.

I've read lots of gardening books over the years, but most of them have suggestions that require spending cash to buy specialized equipment. You might get tasty organic veggies that way, but you're certainly not going to spend a lot of money.

This book has suggestions for things you might have around the house already (instead of putting them in the trash!) and how to get what you need with little expense.

 

[ChrisP]

The only gardening I've ever done is Vege and also berries.

Any tips about growing berries give me a bell, it's a long held family tradition ... that and we love strawberries/raspberries/boysenberries/mmmnberries

 

[Booko]

The only gardening I've ever done is Vege and also berries.

Any tips about growing berries give me a bell, it's a long held family tradition ... that and we love strawberries/raspberries/boysenberries/mmmnberries

Um, berries! :eat: My favorite of all foods. Raspberries are even better than chocolate. :faint:

Here in Georgia, there are a couple of categories of raspberries that work pretty well, but the best and easiest is the kind that blooms (and bears) twice a year (floracanes). All you have to do is mow them down in the fall after they bear. Many varieties don't care for our damp and hot summers, and get various fungal diseases. They do better in Florida or further North.

We have a few varieties of thornless blackberries as well, and they are much better. Those I plant in gardens for children's environmental education. I may re-do my north fenceline now that my neighbor has moved, and replace some of the jasmine with blackberries.

I have blueberry bushes in my front yard, interplanted with broadleaf evergreen bushes that bear things only the birds will eat. The birds and I have a grand time sharing the blueberries. :eat:

I havn't done strawberries since I've been in Georgia. The soil is very claylike and you have to do them in raised beds.

I used to grow raspberries and strawberries growing up, and saved enough money over the years picking them and selling them to the local grocer that when I was old enough I could buy my first car (a yellow VW Beetle).

Do you have Japanese beetles where you are? We do, pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi, and unfortunately, Jap beetles love raspberries. I've had excellent luck with a product containing NEEM oil in keeping them away, though.

 

[ChrisP]

Well we're missing the Japanese Beetle, but we do have plenty of blackbirds starlings and who knows what else! Even netting doesn't keep them out sometimes. The Strawberries usually fare better, but the motherload of raspberries this year were gobbled by the warmblooded kind of flying insect .

We usually only use the once a year type of Raspberries because, quite frankly, the average temperature here in summer is somewhere between 65 and 75 farenheit, and winter doesn't ever get out of the 60s (temperate climates rock ). We need to cut the raspberries back to get some better sized berries out of them but the folks were'nt having any of that!!! I need to start my own patch I think, but will get going with strawberries. Much easier to protect them from the gannets.

Blackberries grow wild here, except the local councils started spraying them with herbicide when I was a teenager. I feel sorry for kids today, wild berries and animals were such a part of my childhood and they're just not "allowed" anymore. It's silly to remove such great things because of insubstantial and unjustified fears.

Country areas luckily are still abundant with blackberries, and it only takes 10 or 20 minutes from most places in NZ to find em.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Berries! *tackles you both* Raspberries and blackberries are my favorite, but I adore strawberries, too! My mom grows them in the backyard garden. (I tend to be the one who gets to pick them, hehehe!)

My favorite things to grow are daisies, moonflowers and morning-glories. I was quite suprised that they grew in this year. Usually, they don't survive the winter, but my little garden in the front yard had a beautiful array of them! Here's a picture of one of my 'babies'! I pre-apologize for the size of it. It was the first I took with my digital camera, and I still haven't gotten the hang of sizing things.

 

[ChrisP]

Wow meggie, is that the rare and elusive enormous killer pansy... look at it's stamens, they must be as thick as my legs!

 

[evearael]

We've grown tomatoes, strawberries, mint, basil, parsley, cilantro, chives and aloe. We strongly prefer edible and useful plants. We aren't going to be here long enough to justify a garden, but we are planning to have a good sized one as soon as we get to the next station.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Oh, dear. *hides from the killer pansy* It turned out even bigger than I'd thought. My apologies! I'll just delete the image. It's in my 'photo album' if anyone wishes to see it.

 

[Buttercup]

Oh, dear. *hides from the killer pansy* It turned out even bigger than I'd thought. My apologies! I'll just delete the image. It's in my 'photo album' if anyone wishes to see it.

I loved the picture Meg. Morning Glories are one of my favorite vines.

Both Rick and I love gardening. He's the veggie gardener and grew several kinds of tomatoes, potatoes, corn, pumpkins, cucumbers & watermelons this year. We also have three blueberry bushes, two kinds of blackberries, a cherry tree, plum and apple tree. Next year Rick plans on growing even more.

I'm the flower gardener and will plant anything I can get my hands on. I have at least a dozen different kinds of roses, hydrangeas, peonies, lilies of all kinds, ferns, hostas...I can't remember it all. Gardening is one of life's greatest joys I think.

 

[Scuba Pete]

We have a blackberry thicket as well as two orange trees in my back yard. That's enough horticultures for me!