Need Garden Help

[crowbar032]

Lots of good ideas here. Putting your beans on a wire/cattle panel is a good plan. Makes runner beans easier to pick. My white half runners go to the top of 48" field fence and then vine back down to the ground. Keep them picked and you should have eating beans until frost. For tomatoes, my favorite is Supersteak or Beefsteak. Some of the biggest ones this year weighed 2.5 lbs, and they make excellent juice. Since you have grandkids, I'd get a few "tommy toes" or cherry plants for them. Get your onions, lettuce, cabbage, and peas out early. If you time it right you'll have all of those harvested in time to plant fall greens and late cabbage. The "old timers" say to sow greens in the fall August 15. I did that this year and curled a soaker hose over the top and watered the seed in and got a good stand. For greens I plant kale and mustard and a row of turnips. I'd also get a shaker jar and fill it with those hot peppers you're planning on growning after cutting slits in the side of them. Fill the jar with vinegar and let it set in the fridge for a week before using. Cornbread with cooked greens splashed with pepper vinegar is good eating.

 

[farmer2009]

Go talk to a local lawn and garden store. Not the big box stores someone local. Don't know where you are here in western Kentucky, but I have a southern states that handles a lot of garden seeds and plants. Talk to them now and see what they can get for next spring and have them order it. They will know what will grow and can even recommend how much to plant based on yields, this is assuming we get rain. Plus all your seed is sourced and ready to go for next year.

Good luck

 

[RSKY]

I should have made myself clearer, I am actually having three gardens. The one at my mother's farm is 50' x 150' and will be only for veggies and other things we are going to can or freeze. I will tend that garden. The garden at my oldest daughter's house, which I will plant and take care of, will have only purple-hull and black-eyed peas plus whatever she puts in it. This is because of our deer problem at Mom's. I will also tend this garden. Youngest daughter only has a lot so her garden will be small and only the few things they plant. I will not tend it. At my house I will have the squash, okra, cucumbers (for three different kinds of pickles), and tomatoes.

My questions concern the two larger gardens. What type lima beans, English peas, southern purple hulled, southern black eyed, tomato, and corn would you plant. Lettuce, cabbage, etc. will not be planted because it can't be easily preserved for the winter and my family does not eat much of it.

And with the Kentucky Wonder green beans, we get the early beans to break and can, then let them set on the vines and get the 'shelly beans' as the pods mature. The last couple of pickings are for them. Also we plant a lot so we can finish with them and pull the vines up in a shorter period of time. Then something else has come in.

Everything will be planted on staggered dates so that hopefully everything does not come in at the same time. Also I realize that this is a huge garden area but the idea is to keep up with what we preserve and base future garden size on what is left in storage next year. When I was growing up nearly everything we ate came from the garden. Mom had about a half acre counting all the corn, veggies, strawberries, and other produce she planted. She worked that garden from sun-up to sun-down.

I have found that Southern States has the best prices on seed both online and in the stores. The local stores sell more than anybody else in this area. They also occasionally have an online coupon for $20 off on $75 purchase. I printed several of these off and used a couple online to buy seeds and other supplies.

I am going to put some of the tomatoes and bush cucumbers in buckets next year and see how they turn out. Also going to try ground cherries, tomatillas, sweet pepper, and hot pepper in containers.

Oh yeah, also gonna put out potatoes on three different dates so they will be coming in at different times. Have actually made a spread sheet with the supposed maturity of each type and will try to stagger it all. I know the rain and other factors will make everything come in at once but I'm going to try.

Yes, I'm having a huge garden for one year!

The 2014 garden will probably be the largest I ever plant. Our long range plans are to start a little more traveling after next year. But 2014 will be for short 1-week vacations, building a covered patio in our back yard, landscaping the back yard, and gardening.

After all, I am retired and need something to do! And this will help my kids and grandkids.

RSKY

 

[Egon]

From your plans and preparations it sounds like most of us should asking you for advice!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Daver1963]

Whatever you plant, here is a guide for spacing and timing. I saw this at a local CO-OP and snapped a picture.

You might want to get one of those one row push planters. I'm thinking of getting this one for next year.
Amazon.com : Earthway 1001-B Precision Garden Seeder with 6 Seed Plates : Hand Spreaders : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[Daver1963]

Some thoughts on the bucket planting: Up until the end of May we lived in the city and put out tomatoes and occasionally other items in large flower pots. We did this over the years. Just about anything you put in containers, but especially tomatoes will have to be watered every day when they start producing. You miss one day and they will wilt. We also used the spray feeders with miracle grow on them about once a week and that was with planting them in potting soil. Another thing we always did was to only fill the flower pots 3/4 full. That way as the tomatoes grew we would add dirt to the top for root expansion. Always seemed to help.
Tomatoes always did okay. Bell peppers gave us more than we could eat, but not really that many. We tried squash, but that didn't work at all.
This year we put out four tomato plants in early May and had to transport them to our new place in the country. Instead of miracle grow I put some triple 12 on them this year and they have made more tomatoes than we've ever seen.

 

[dmccarty]

I want to grow peanuts since we eat pounds and pounds of them every year. Peanuts pack a bunch of calories, protein and fat in a little space which make them great for my lunch. The wifey's family rents their farm land and when peanuts are planted, we get boiled peanuts that have been frozen. We love boiled peanuts and I will have to figure out how to can them at some point. Try some peanuts. They don't take up much space and produce quite a bit of food per SF.

Later,
Dan

 

[RSKY]

The last time my mother grew peanuts she pulled some plants and brought them to my wife who loves them. Mom and I both cautioned her about eating too many raw. She did not take our advice and ate nearly all in one day. I remember that as the week my wife slept in the bathroom.

 

[RSKY]

As for the container garden do a YouTube search on self watering containers and gutter gardening. I am going to try one or the other.

I am by no means an expert on gardening. I do know enough to know what questions to ask but that's about it. You can find a lot of knowledge on the Internet.

I especially like the Cajun guy who does just about all his work sitting in his golf cart. I think he's the one who has a huge garden and says, "I'm old, fat, and lazy, and this is how I do this".

Sounds like my kind of guy!

 

[ddb123]

The last time my mother grew peanuts she pulled some plants and brought them to my wife who loves them. Mom and I both cautioned her about eating too many raw. She did not take our advice and ate nearly all in one day. I remember that as the week my wife slept in the bathroom.

HAHAHAHA! :laughing: