Peep my garden(photo heavy thread)

Check it out ya'll this be the garden... We planted all heirloom/organic varieties of veggies this year..

Front left is tomatoes(tigerella and black krims)
Back left is corn
Front right is closets to farthest.. Garlic, Spinach, Onions
Back right is tomatoes(mortgage lifters and cherokee purples) behind those are 3 Chinese Giant red peppers
Trellis is cucumbers


The first tomato.. A Mortgage Lifter


Cucs...

 

very nice..

 

The saying is "Knee high by July".. I think I'm good


Peas..


San Marzanos and 2 varieties of hot peppers(Yellow Lemon and Hungarian Wax)


More hot peppers... 2 Jalapenos and 1 Thai Chili

 

2 Habanero


Sweet Pepper variety


Pepperocini


Cherry Tomato

 

And Herbs

 

If anyone notices anything and has any pointers.. feel free to let me know.. we started everything from seed for the first time ever.. and there are a few new veggies that we've never planted before.. corn.. cucumbers.. spinach. onion.. garlic.. last year my habaneros didn't make it.. they're starting out slow.. but hopefully they'll be alright

 

nice garden.

some squirrels ate the corn right off my plant last year.

 

pretty extensive garden. props

i noticed a weird square around the habaneros...is that just the tiny amount of dirt it came in, peeking above the layer of dirt you added?

habaneros are too fuckin hot to do much with. my wife made salsa with a tiny piece of one, and it was way too hot to enjoy.
i know they have a purpose though, what do you use them for?


and...why u no plant NE weed?!

 

They are coconut husk planting pots.. we transported our seedlings to them.. they are biodegradable.. some plants used those.. others used peat pots.. which do the same thing

will hopefully make hot sauce with them.. made some last year with just a variety of sorranos, jalapenos, thai and cayanne and it turned out weak

i live across from a fire station.. cops are always across from my house

 

great use of the space joker..

 

working in the restaurant biz made for easy pickle bucket gathering

 

Good for you.

Think about how much money you are saving.

And they're probably really good and healthy.

And gardening is very relaxing. I used to find it very 'centering'-almost meditative.

 

There was a bit invested for sure this year since we expanded roughly 4x the size of our old garden space... i bet we invested around $400-500 easily this year.. cages.. compost.. fence.. dowels.. trays for starting seeds..

last year...


This year..

 

sick. i had to abandon my garden for the summer (though it's supposed to be getting looked after..). i had started most from seed and was experimenting with companion planting (leeks/onions/carrots, strawberries/lettuce, spinach/tomatoes/basil...) we have lots of land so i don't really have to worry about space, but if you're interested in cramming in as much as possible, corn and pole beans work well together (beans climb up the corn stalks), as well as beets and kohlrabi (the roots draw from different depths and cabbage worms don't really like the beets)

 

what do you mean by "companion planting"?

 

growing things that work well together in the same row or vicinity and avoiding those that don't. cabbages like strong aromatic plants like sage or marigold because they keep the bugs away. carrots keep the moth fly and onion fly off of your leeks, and the leeks keep the carrot fly away.
the solanine in the tomatoes repels asparagus beetles, and nematodes that often afflict tomatoes stay away from asparagus. beans grown with onions and garlic taste like shit and a lot of things won't even fruit if they are grown next to fennel. shit like that

 

Know of any good books on this subject?

 

the only one i've read is Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte.

it also deals with proper crop rotations and has lots of neat tricks like pounding leaves of certain plants and mixing with water for sprays if you want to avoid pesticides. next year depending on my living situation i plan on having several gardens, early spring, mid spring, late spring, mid summer, and fall gardens. plant the mid summer when the early spring is finished. fall garden goes where the mid/late spring one was, that kinda biz. i also want to get into growing grains and hops.

early spring is my favourite growing season, partly because it's so short. english peas are juicy and sweet but turn dry and tough by the time the June sun hits them, and the garlic is so mild it's almost like a leek

 

We only have one more year of this garden.. the gf finishes up school next fall.. So depending on where we move and what we move into.. we may or may not have a garden.. I have read some interesting howtos for building gardens up with pallets and the pickle bucket works great so far(I figure i could grow all my herbs in 1 bucket with a little modification involving some pvc piping)... and i've heard great things about hanging veggies... so one way or another i imagine we'll have a garden some how.. it's nice when its family that owns the property you rent.. makes it pretty easy to convince them to turn 1/4 of their yard into garden space

with this garden we've been successful with compact gardening.. once the tomatoes grow bigger.. they'll cut off sunlight to the soil.. killing off almost all the weeds.. they also create their own little ecosystem from the dirt up to the leaves.. keeping the soil warm and moist.. and plants rather healthy.. we had problems with the yellowing at the beginning last year.. but then i think once the tomatoes got big and bushy and cut out the light from penetrating through to the ground that mini-ecosystem kicks in.. it kills off fungi and parasites

 

personally i'd rather spend the extra time pulling weeds than using raised beds... i just don't like the look of them.
if you strategically plant your spinach with your tomatoes you can give them enough shade to prevent bolting but not too much to hinder growth.. it looks like your spinach is bolting, though not as bad as mine probably is (i planted them too far from the tomato plants so now they're getting just as much sun as the tomatoes). spinach is one of the few spring veggies i like to grow all year long. as long as you can hold off the bolting, fall spinach tastes just as good as early spring. but your garden kicks the shit out of mine, especially with what you've done in the amount of space you have. i don't have anything near as tall.

and pickle buckets are awesome. i used to grow weed in them when i was living at home, so i could move them around the property when i was worried they were smelling too much too close to home. or if i thought nosy neighbors had spotted them.