topic Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden? in Kitchen

Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 14:43:28 GMT

I don't and never did. My grandparents and parents had one in the back yard. Mom and my GM canned tomatoes. Dad and my one uncle always had a friendly tomato war for the most and biggest.

My MIL had a huge garden and always canned and froze stuff.

Me, well, I had flower beds but just never was interested in a veggie garden. By the time you prepped the space, bought and planted the stuff, weeded, watered, harvested and canned/froze everything it was easier and maybe cheaper, factoring your time and labor, to buy a few cans of tomatoes or whatever.

I will happily pay others for their sweet corn, lettuce and tomatoes. We have a great farm stand near us.

My sister's neighbor lives alone, does a huge garden. Last year she said she finally got her canning and freezing done. Sis noticed there was a lot of stuff still good in the garden and said she would help box it up if the neighbor wanted to take it to her church. They have a large elderly congregation. Neighbor said no and she just let it rot there. To me, that's a lot of work to let it sit and go to waste. But what do I know.

Garden, yes or no?

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

wagirl — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:17:09 GMT

Just a few tom plants in pots on my deck. Had carrots in a couple and grow a herbs too. Oh and planted some lettuce, bok choy and chard too--not much of a crop as our spring was wet and cold up until the middle of July.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

Ibby114 — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:17:40 GMT

I tried again this year, with little success. I'm nuturing one little tomato so far !!! My Mom & Dad had the green thumb touch, me -- not so much.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

Icegoddess — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:27:13 GMT

I have very little sun. The only place in my yard that gets sun is the front yard and I put a flower garden in there. My mom had a huge garden. She died in 1996, and when my Dad died a few years ago the number of jarred pickles I had to clean out of that house was ridiculous.

We don't eat that many veggies, but I did miss fresh okra and corn. This year I decided to try a few veggies in containers. I got container-friendly varieties. I currently have a cucumber plant, two dwarf okras, and two patio eggplants. The okra and eggplants actually flank the steps going up to my front door and you'd never know I was growing veggies there. The cucumber I have in the back of my flower garden.

I agree about the cost/labor ratio. For me, it's more about the process and being able to try different varieties than what you can get in the stores. To tell you the truth, if I had the sunny space, I would try growing stuff I wouldn't even eat. I'd happily give it away. The one thing I have no interest in growing though is tomatoes. I have had no luck whatsoever with carrots and radishes. I would've expected those to be easy.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

Eileen in Virginia — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:28:39 GMT

I have flowers and a few herbs in pots, but that's all. I tried tomatoes when we first moved into our house, but the 🤬 squirrels would get to the ripe ones right before I went out to pick them. We found an excellent produce stand nearby, so that's where I buy our fresh produce. They're not that much more expensive than the supermarket and they do all the work. 😀

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

QVCkitty1 — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:41:31 GMT

I just have flowers and lots of herbs. I love to cook with fresh herbs. Yesterday I put basil in my green salad, it was delicious !

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

jeanlake — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:05:46 GMT

Tomatoes doing well. Hoping to plant watermelons in an open spot in the garden next year. We grew them as a kid, but I know nothing about it.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

colleena — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:09:00 GMT

@wagirl Are your tomatoes getting ripe ... I'm in Bellingham and mine are still orangish/green & not close to red? We've had nice weather but maybe not enough direct sun.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

Yahooey — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:14:51 GMT

I grow a few things - veggie and flowers

basil which I turn into single serving packets for the winter - so good

a few string beans

my niece gifted me with 2 cherry tomato plants - never grew them before

they grew so tall - over 6 feet and it is fun to just pluck a few and eat them

yes - more time consuming than just buying at the market

do whatever makes you happy

I'm knitting socks - you know how long it takes me to knit a pair of socks

talk about time consuming lol

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

RedTop — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:36:06 GMT

We stopped in ground planting many years ago, and only do container gardening.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

jeanlake — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:10:56 GMT

Our tomatoes are getting ripe as we've had an ample supply of sunlight in central midwest.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

ECBG — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:23:18 GMT

I would love to have the benefits of a garden, but I don't care for yard work with my pockets full of tissues because of allergies.

Also, we live with quite a lot of trees close in around us. We don't get a lot of sun, and my only color is perriwinkle growing as a ground cover. The rest is hosta and fern.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

PamelaSue72 — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:36:12 GMT

Absolutely we do! I've been working with stewed tomatoes, tomato puree, and tomato powder. I've been chopping peppers for the freezer. We just got our first sweet potatoes from the garden the other day. I canned 11 pints of sweet zucchini relish. We have a good two dozen butternut squashes resting in slings on the fence around the garden. We enjoyed freshly asparagus, tons of green and wax beans, a glorious amount of fresh strawberries and even a few ears of corn.

Gardening is good exercise and it's a good place for DH's "me time". He loves working in his garden. And I love preparing the bounty. I always say, "This is why I retired! To spend time in my kitchen! I'm happy here!" And it's true. I am happy in my kitchen.

DH is 69 and I am 65. His grandfather had a truck patch until well into his 80s.

I realize that I'm in the minority and that's OK with me. I love staying busy and I love playing in the kitchen. And I love the idea that when I take a quart of stewed tomatoes out of the freezer or the pantry, they're my tomatoes (Ok, mine and DH's tomatoes)..

With the way things are going in the US today, it's a good time to have a garden. I'm still baking my own breads and rolls. I'm still playing with my sourdough starter. I'm still making my own pasta. We may not be too thin or too rich, but we will always be well-fed.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

proudlyfromNJ — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 18:09:09 GMT

No. The deer eat everything. Also it's usually too hot to work outside taking care of a garden. Buy my vegetables from the farm. They can do the work.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

Scooby Doo — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:16:34 GMT

Not a garden per se. I put a tomato plant and a cucumber plant in the flower bed on the side of the house. That cucumber is very productive and quite frankly, I don't want any more. I put a zucchini in a spot next to the garage and it's growing like crazy. I put a cherry tomato in a spot next to the shed in the back and it's doing well. Then I put a banana squash in the back corner of the yard. Yikes! That thing goes 20 ft in both directions and has gone through the chain link fence into the neighbor's yard.

I planted some carrot seeds in a large pot and only got one 1 1/2 inch carrot that tasted nasty. I put some pickling cukes in another big pot and that's not going well either. So no more pot veggies for me. The basil and dill in pots didn't work out either.

I just have to have tomatoes because that's what I exist on during the summer. So I plant them wherever I have a spot of bare dirt, garden or not.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

depglass — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:54:57 GMT

I used to do tomatoes and iris in the same bed. By the time the iris died off the tomatoes were doing well. Now that DH is retired, he does squash, tomatoes, green pepper, beets and some type of melon we haven't identified yet. I gave up my canning stuff years ago when I used to be able to buy canned veggies for a quarter a can in a big fall sale at Meijers. Those days are over, but I'm not canning again.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

wagirl — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 21:11:38 GMT

@colleena --I'm in Woodinville and the cherry toms are starting to ripen, the early girl and patio ones are still green---just a cruddy year for toms I think. they need the warmth of the sun more than just the sunshine---and its been kind of chilly in the a.m. areound here too--in the low 50's--that may have something to do with it too.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

PA Mom-mom — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 21:26:27 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 When I was growing up, we had a 1/4 acre truck patch. Mom and Dad sold strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and corn. In the fall, they sold apples. They also grew green beans, Lima beans, tomatoes and other things. When dad came home from work, he would put us to work planting and weeding in the garden. Mom and dad worked in the garden after work every day and on Saturdays. It was difficult to move to a house on a quarter acre lot when I got married. However, we planted a 20' by 40' garden. Only recently did we plow it in because we're getting ready to sell. We now have tomatoes and herbs in pots on the patio and a small bed of mint tea. They did well this year.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

colleena — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 21:46:32 GMT

@wagirl Thanks, guess I just need to be patient.

Re: Do You Have A Vegetable Garden?

AuntG — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 21:51:34 GMT

Just cherry tomatoes and a green pepper.