Tell me about your gardening methods

ElizabethB

ElizabethB

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Joined
14 Aug 2017
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Location
Lafayette, LA. US
I just visited this forum for the first time. I was wondering why I did not hear discussions of gardening from such wonderful cooks - especially since you all like to cook with fresh produce.

What are your gardening practices? Do you row garden, container garden, indoor garden?

I have practiced Square Foot Gardening for 35+ years. I get a very large amount of produce from a small space. My boxes are easy to maintain and succession planting keeps things growing almost year round.

I had 4 4'x4' ground level boxes. The last set of boxes was 10 years old and needed to be re-done. Keep in mind - I live in south Louisiana - hot humid and lots of rain.

I decided to make a change. Instead of ground level boxes I wanted table height boxes. I can get down to work the ground level boxes - the problem is getting back up.

This spring George built 2 new boxes for me. They are on the patio - closer to the house and the hose.

I :love: my boxes!

In my region fall gardens are usually started in early August. Because of George's surgery and his second hospital stay for the hematoma my garden did not get planted until mid September.

I don't know and I really don't care how much production I will get - depends on the weather.

In one 4'x4' box I have 8 indeterminate tomatoes growing vertically. 4 broccoli, 2 cauliflower and 2 basil. I will pull the basil soon and replace with green onions. In the second box I have 4 cucumber plants- growing vertically, 6 cauliflower, 2 1/2 squares of kale, 4 squares of mustard greens and 4 squares of spinach. In addition I have lettuce and herbs in pots, sage, thyme, basil and dill. I have chive and parsley seeds in starter pots. I managed to kill a very old rosemary plant. I need a new one or two.

When hunting season is over George has promised to make two more boxes for spring planting.
 
I only recently reclaimed my garden thanks to employing a gardener. Now, at least its presentable. As for my methods. Well, I'm no gardener. I have some herbs in a flower bed and some peppers in a pot. I plan to get more herbs planted up in pots. I have a large garden - by which I mean its very long but only the width of a terraced Victorian house. Its mostly grass (or more accurately, moss). I don't have the inclination to get down and dirty in the garden but now I have the gardener, I guess I could get him planting veg in the Spring although I'm not sure where a veg plot would be best placed. The garden is rather overshadowed by trees.

I'll post a few photos tomorrow. Too dark now.
 
Urban Top Floor of a renovated Belle Epoque Building with a terrace that faces south, so lots of sun. I grow Mediterranean herbs only (basil predominately, oregano, thyme, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Lavender, Majoram, Savory) and some tiny red Basque chili peppers and some Italian tomatoes however, with the colder weather coming in mid November, they shall be moved into my Salon (livingroom).

The Genovese Basil is very sensitive to heavy sun and / or very cold .. So, when it snowed here in July, my husband had put the clay pots in the Salon and they are happy, so he did not put them back out and same for the oregano, tomatoes, chili peppers, Rosemary and thyme .. The lavender seems happy out on terrace so for momento the lavender is on terrace ..

The parsley does not like heavy duty sun .. They all like illumination but not direct heavy duty direct sun ..

Shall have to take a photo when I get home ..
 
Harvested 2 cucumbers yesterday. More on the way. Small tomatoes from marble to golf ball size on 4 of 8 plants. All are in full bloom. When George comes home tomorrow (he is out fishing) I will harvest mustard green leaves. Kale will be ready to harvest in 2 or 3 days. Spinach shortly after. Mustard, kale spinach - I harvest the leaves without pulling the plant. Extends the life of the plant. I did not get full germination from the lettuce seeds so I planted more.

With cooler weather on the horizon I do not know if the tomatoes will have time to ripen. I really don't care. I love fried green tomatoes and green tomato Salsa Verde.

Broccoli and cauliflower should produce. They are cool weather crops. The mustard greens, kale and spinach will produce until frost. I planted new seeds between the existing plants for a second crop.

The lettuce and annual herbs in pots can be moved under the patio cover to protect from frost. If we get a rare hard freeze I can put the pots under the patio table and drape it with visqueen over night.

Perennial herbs - sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary can survive all but a very hard freeze.

I am a happy camper in spite of the late start. I will have lovely veggies and herbs through most of the winter.

I already have a list of seeds to order for spring planting. I have mapped out plant placement for my 2 existing boxes and the 2 that George will build for me after hunting season.
 
morning glory said:
Your apartment sounds lovely - I'm still waiting for photos of you minimalist kitchen for that other thread! :D
Click to expand...

@morning glory

Yes, I just made a note in my appointment book. Have spent most of my weekends visiting my parents and sons as we are busy planning Xmas and I am in Portugal ..

My husband is at my parents during the weekend .. They are taking advantage of the good weather for the boat, and fishing.

Have a nice weekend ..
 
ElizabethB said:
will harvest mustard green leaves. Kale will be ready to harvest in 2 or 3 days. Spinach shortly after. Mustard, kale spinach - I harvest the leaves without pulling the plant. Extends the life of the plant. I did not get full germination from the lettuce seeds so I planted more.
Click to expand...

I am very impressed. I'd love to cook with those lovely greens. Lets us know how you use them!
 
No garden in this house, no garden in our last home, only garden was at our first home - which we moved from in 1991. We tend to build our houses on heavily wooded lots. It's really hard to find any spot in our yard that has anywhere near enough light to grow more than moss or weeds. When we moved to our current house (2000), we might have had enough sun along the south wall to grow veggies, but that ship sailed when the trees grew larger. The layout of the house isn't really right for a veggie garden - the south wall is the furthest point from our garage, which is where we store our garden supplies. That, and I swear our lot is uphill no matter which way you approach your attack! :laugh: I did enjoy gardening in our first home. I hope I'm not to rickety to work in a garden when we finally move back home to Ohio.
 
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