2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

[KellyNew4Me2]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

I don't know if this thread is still active or not but here goes. I've finally got most of my veggies in. Spinach, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, green, red, yellow peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, shallots, onions, rosemary, zucchini squash, and cucumbers. I can't wait to make my first batch of pico de gallo using nothing but veggies from my garden, (plus garlic & lime juice.) I'm aching so bad cuz I have no power tools, just good old fashioned tilling, raking, and hoeing! (smile) It is unseasonably cold here in Chicago though, so it'll be interesting to see how things go.

[biogeek]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Sounds like a great garden!!! I've never grown onions, shallots, peas, or cucumbers before. Are they difficult?

The other veggies I have in my garden plus some others. With herbs, I also have thyme, sage, dill, basil, oregano, chives, and German chamomile (bought this by mistake!).

I have several varieties of tomatoes including two different types of grape tomatoes, pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Brandywine tomato, Early girl, beefeater, and Roma. New this year is Swiss Chard, both regular and rainbow varieties. I had my first batch last night with dinner...delicious! I'm also growing cantaloupe (never grown this before!), and green & yellow squash.

I'm thinking of planting garlic and horseradish later this fall for harvesting next year. Anyone have experience with growing them?

[biogeek]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

For those growing peanuts in a bag...never done that before, but I have used the bag method for growing cherry tomatoes. Worked ok, but the yield was much lower than the upright method.

I have used a type of compost bin to grow potatoes. When it's time to harvest, you just unhook the sides and unroll the bin. The potatoes just tumble right out! I'm sure it'll work just fine for peanuts. No digging. Here's a link to a picture of the bin...

http://cache.planetnatural.com/planetnatural/images/large/home-compost-bin-lrg.jpg

[SunnySmile501]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

I planted garlic last fall for the first time. I planted it in pots, but it seems to be doing well. I am waiting anxiously for the first heads to be ready to pull. There is no comparison between homegrown garlic and store-bought. I paid $1.50 per bulb last year at the farmer's market and it was well worth it. I'll be planting even more this fall.

I picked my first ripe tomato on Sunday! It was small, but very juicy and full of flavor. I have one more starting to turn, but then it will be quite a while before I get any more. A long cold snap caused one whole crop of blossoms to drop.

I am getting blooms on my snow peas! I can't wait until they start producing. I have been having a salad with snow peas, broccoli, asparagus with a citrus dressing several times a week. It would be so much better with fresh from the garden snow peas.

I'm also picking a few strawberries every day. I'm getting almost as many as the critters!

I counted and I have 30 pots of herbs! I kept saying I wasn't going to buy any more, but then I would find another one that I need for a recipe. My latest acquisition is winter savory. I can't wait until it is big enough that I can make leeks with savory cream. It looks delicious.

I have been putting basil, lemon balm, pineapple sage and chervil in my salads and it is fantastic with a light citrus dressing.

Sunny!

[Hopeful1]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

my lettuce has grown insanely. Already eaten a lot of it and planted a new batch of salad greens (mix)

getting turnips and radishes a lot.
My onions are big.
Finally have 1 spaghetti squash that I've seen.
Some blackberries growing in
a few grapes on the grapevine
Snow peas have came in we were actually eating some straight from it the other day. lol since someone mentioned it before.
Waiting on melons plants look great but no actual melons that I've noticed.
Tomatoes are coming in just need to ripen.

I got stung by a black hornet? in the garden the other day. *ouch*

We don't have power tools either. Every year husband swears we are getting a tiller.

[Chicklady]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Well, something ate my brussel sprout plants, so i just started some more of those. Brocolli and spinach are thriving in our unseasonably cool weather though. Tomatoes and peppers may never forgive me for putting them out in April. some of your gardens are giving me ideas! i've never grown peas before....seemed like too much work for the amount of food you get....but now that I know you can eat pea leaves....hmmmm, Maybe I can grow them up corn stalks? I grow corn for the chickies

[biogeek]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Sunny, I'm gonna plant garlic this fall! You've inspired me!!

Hopeful, sorry to hear about the hornet sting! Those are never fun!! Growing blackberries? Now I'm very jealous!

We can eat pea leaves? I think I must have missed that post, Chicklady. I figured if I were to grow peas, the leaves and stalks would just go to the compost pit.

Has anyone ever tried growing jicama?

[SunnySmile501]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Has anyone ever tried growing jicama?

Here's what I read on the subject:

A Crop for California?

All of the jicama found in our markets is produced in Mexico. There has been recurrent interest in producing this crop in California, but only undocumented reports of successes. The known efforts to grow jicama have resulted in luxurious vine growth with prolific flowering and pod production but with low quality fibrous taproots. A long, warm growing season under relatively short day length is required to initiate good quality fleshy root development. Recent research (Cotter and Gomez) confirms this and suggests that sufficient variability may exist within the species to allow selection for longer day types. Since the temperature and day length conditions required to mature good quality roots of currently available cultivars do not exist in the United States (except perhaps in the south of Florida), it is unlikely that current cultivars of jicama can be grown successfully in this country. Any plantings which may have produced good roots in past years in California very likely occurred under unusually warm October and November conditions, a weather phenomenon which is rare even in the southern part of the state.

http://www.island.wsu.edu/CROPS/JICAMA.htm

[biogeek]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

awwww!! That's too bad! Thanks for posting that, Sunny.

[Chicklady]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

That's exactly how mine turned out....vines, vines and more vines....and nothing but the vines! very daintily thin vines,,,,I was expecting something more "macho" considering the root. But then, maybe that's why i fot no root

[SunnySmile501]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

I sure hope my neighbors don't think I'm nuts because I stand outside and graze like a cow! I am liking the mesclun mixes so much, especially the arugala rocket, that I just stand there and pinch off shoots and eat it right where I stand.

Since I couldn't find arugula seed, I transplanted some plants to give them room to grow. They were planted very thickly in a window box. Yummy stuff!

Bossy the Cow! Moooooooo!

[KellyNew4Me2]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

I couldn't find garlic in the garden store. Are they only seasonally available? I'd certainly use it.

I put this in my journal, but thought it would be appropriate here, too. Here's what I've planted so far: Tomatoes (early girl & best boy), Peppers (green & red bell, jalapenos, hot yellow bananas), Sugar Snap Peas, Onions, Shallots, Cilantro, Rosemary, Kale, Zucchini Squash, Cucumbers, Collard Greens, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Celery, Strawberries and Mint. (The spinach didn't come up). In addition, I've added two rosebushes (something has actually eaten off 4 new buds!!! I only had 5 to start with when I bought the bush! Does anybody know if those electronic critter repellers work? I've seen the little battery-operated gadgets that claim to repel birds, and small mammals with a high frequency sound!)

I also added a "hens and chickens" area in the front. Even though our neighborhood is not the best, we're blessed with lots of land, so I'm going to take advantage of it. Now that we're eating more veggies, I might as well grow my own, right? We'll see how it goes...we're finally getting a nice combination of warm weather & rain.

Fringe benefits? Wonderfully agonizing hours of backbreaking, sweat-inducing, exercise. When I come inside from gardening, I can barely move! It's amazing what a great power workout this part of the gardening process is. The tilling the ground, raking, & weeding by hand, plus planting is hard work that gives a sense of serenity and immediate satisfaction. Plus, my daughter loves "going outside with Mommy." She's always ready for a new adventure in the dirt. She has a sand "thingamajig" that has a plastic shovel and rake that she brings out when I bring out my tools. She amuses herself for WAY LONGER than anything electronic is able to do. I'm trying to encourage that as much as possible. My parents did that for me, providing and encouraging outdoor activity. Charlotte is passionate about her yardwork, let me tell ya. Sometimes she lies face down right in the dirt, digging and examining with her hands. Yes, she's a hot, dirty mess when we go inside, but so am I! I love it. I'm trying to savor these moments, because everyone keeps warning me how fast time will fly. I keep remembering a song by country singer Trace Atkins that has a refrain,
"You're gonna miss this, You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times, so take a good look around
You may not know it now. But you're gonna miss this."

Happy gardening!

[Chicklady]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Kelly, your garden sounds great! As for electronic things----I've never had one that worked for long----it's like the critters get used to it, especially the frikkin woodchuck! Since you have the land, do what they did in "the good old days" and grow what you need and then some!!

[Chicklady]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

I was just reading about using red flashing christmas lights to keep night munchers out of the garden----it's supposed to make them think it's fire. Has anyone tried this?

[SunnySmile501]

Re: 2008 Low Carb GARDEN!!!!

Kelly--it is too late to plant garlic for spring planting. You won't find plants at a garden center and the bulbs are quite expensive to order from a catalog. You plant garlic cloves in early fall and it takes until summer of the next year to start pulling them. If you have a Farmer's Market that sells organic garlic bulbs, just buy a couple and put them up for a couple of months. In about September, break apart the cloves and plant them so they have time to develop some good roots before hard freeze in winter. If you plant them in spring, it has to be done very early, as soon as the ground can be worked.

I love to hear you tell about how much your sweet baby girl likes to garden with Mommy. It reminds me of my grandson when he was little. He had all his own tools and he had better luck than I did getting stuff to come up. He gardened with me from when he was in diapers and when I was injured and disabled when he was four-years-old, I needed someone to plant my garden. My daughter never liked to garden, so she had other chores, and my city girl daughter-in-law had never been in a garden in her life, so Brett instructed them as to how everything was to be planted. I so wish I had had a video camera to tape him explaining how deep to plant potatoes with his little hand and what the potato eyes were and how you had to turn them! Here were these two adults listening with rapt attention to a 4-year-old teaching them how to plant garden! That is one of my favorite memories.

It doesn't matter how dirty she gets, because that is good clean gardening dirt that washes off just fine! They are so cute when they are all dirty and then want to give you a big kiss! Take lots of pictures--you won't be sorry when she grows up. I love kids!

Sunny!