Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Published on September 11, 2012 By Draginol In Everything Else

When looking for hobbies, I wanted to do something that got me off the computer.   Not just because all my muscles had atrophied into an E.T. like husk…but mostly.

I’ll update this with what the garden looks like now but here’s what I went with:

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Here we’ve got onions, lettuce, parsley, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. We also planted 1 little Morning glory plant…My son Alex and I “take care” of this one.

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here we’ve got some strawberries, black berries, and raspberries.  My daughter and I work together on this one.

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Here is where we planted 3 pumpkin seeds. My Son Ryan and I work on this.

As we head into Fall, the first garden did spectacularly well. Tons of vegetables. The morning glory, however, took over. They’re very pretty but very aggressive. But we still ended up with more vegetables than we knew what to do with. It was great fun.

The strawberries just never came in. Not sure what we did wrong. But they just didn’t do anything. The blackberries and raspberries took off and did great. Our daughter loved to come out in the morning and snack on berries.

The pumpkins did well too but we only ended up with a couple decent pumpkins. Still, very exciting since they came just from seeds.

It’s a great activity to do with your kids.

One thing that we did that made life easier is that we had the raised gardens built. I spec’d them to be the same height as a chair so that you could easily just sit on the edge and work on them (weeding, etc.) which helped make the process feel a lot more like a relaxing activity than work.


Comments
on Sep 11, 2012

I planted okra, squash, cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes.  Drought, deer, and rabbit killed a lot of it.  The only thing that did real well for me this year was the okra.  Did a lot better last year. 

 

Yeah, morning glories are pretty invasive.  I planted a bunch along a fence row hoping it would outpace the weeds and they didn't do so well because of the drought and because I planted them a little too late. 

 

Strawberries are hard to grow. 

 

on Sep 11, 2012

Henry_Morgan
Strawberries are hard to grow. 

I agree. Much like asparagus, it may take several years to get a good crop. BTW,Blueberries make great container plants

on Sep 11, 2012

Jafo has brown thumbs....

I can grow weeds....does that count?...

on Sep 12, 2012

We planted a garden for the first time, too. With the drought this summer, we never had to worry much about weeding, which was nice. However, our carrots got eaten up, and the lettuce we planted was too bitter to eat, so that go scrapped. We did have a great crop of cucumbers and tomatoes.

I never thought as a geek I'd be into gardening, but now that we have one, I'd like to continue working on it.

on Sep 12, 2012

Nice garden Draginol!

Love gardening myself, very therapeutic!

Nothing taste better than produce you grow with your own hands, pesticide free!

on Sep 12, 2012

A good strawberry patch is something you have to build up over years.  They're pretty wimpy till they get a good network spread out, and they'll produce next to nothing that first year even if you start with matured plants.  The shock of relocation is enough to stunt them.  They only start to take off after they've put down runners for a season.

 

Strawberries also need full sun, anything that grows over them puts a major dent in their productivity.

on Sep 12, 2012

Lord Reliant
However, our carrots got eaten up, and the lettuce we planted was too bitter to eat, so that go scrapped. We did have a great crop of cucumbers and tomatoes.

Pretty much the same here. We also grow strawberries, which turned out just fine here in Southern Ontario. Can't say there is really a trick to it... Just make sure to weed and water them. We also surround our plants with straw to cut back on weeds and protect the berries. 

 

on Sep 12, 2012

We have a neighbor that plants pumpkin in her flower bed every year.  It's gorgeous!  And instead of buying pumpkins to decorate for fall, they are already there on the vine!

Strawberries usually don't come in the first and sometimes second year.  Just keep at it.

With the dry weather, our garden didn't do well this year.

If you find insects become a problem (dang Jap beetles!) you may want to try the following (learned over several years of trial and error!)  Since you have raised beds, that is a plus, but eventually the bugs will come.

Rosemary (a pretty evergreen shrub) and mint keep beetles, slugs, snails, etc away.

Marigolds help keep the white flys from the tomatoes!  Just plant them close.

Most herbs will deter one kind of pest or another.  lol 

My deer repellent has worked to a degree.  I mixed water and Tabasco sauce, spritzed it on the corn and even flowers/plants the deer like.  They still ate some, but didn't wipe out the whole bit.


 

on Sep 12, 2012

One more thing....we find the best thing you can do for your garden is compost!  Looks like you have lots of trees...so all the wonderful leafy goodness makes FABULOUS compost (I usually add manure too).

 

on Sep 12, 2012

love your gardens.... 

kids always enjoy growing things and getting their hands dirty.... top choice of activity with them....

I've just bought home my tommy seadlings today.... some Romas.... a yellow variety and some little cherry toms...

building up a nice little herb garden for summer too....

on Sep 12, 2012

Looks good!

 

Ryan and I had our first veggie actually fully bloom today! 1 red tomato down...

Next year I'd like to have more veggie options.

 

 

on Sep 12, 2012

Jafo has brown thumbs....

I can grow weeds....does that count?...

 

Hey, Dandelion Wine, jelly, and jam are all delicious.