So, what's going to be in your garden this year?

[KatyaR]

As I have a second-floor apartment, I'm a container gardener, but I like to push the envelope when it comes to what I try to grow. I've invested in a small growlight this year, and I have these new seeds I'm going to start today--whee!!! :bounce:

Mini Belle Mix sweet bell peppers
Riesentrabe tomatoes
Mexico Midget tomatoes
Cupid Hybrid tomatoes
College 64L mildly hot peppers
Christmas Grape tomatoes
Micro Tom Tomatoes (VERY tiny plant--great for windowsills)
Whirligig Zinnias
Eight Ball Zucchini
Burgundy Blanket Flowers
Fairy Tale Eggplant
Bambino eggplant
Rosemary
Cilantro
Oregano
Fino Verde Basil

If this year's like last, I probably won't have much luck with the herbs, but I'm going to try. If they don't make, I'll just buy some plants (like I probably won't anyway).

I'll direct seed these later when it's closer to our last frost:

Short 'n Sweet carrots
Thumbelina carrots
Common and garlic chives
Fernleaf dill
Mammoth dill
Red Poppies
Gedera Sunshot sunflowers
Double Dandy sunflowers

These seeds will be started much closer to spring--they grow at an amazing rate, and I don't have room for them inside:

Scarlett O'Hara Morning Glories
Giant White Moonflowers
Grandpa Ott Morning Glories

Someone gave me a few cotton seeds, and I thought I'd try them in a planter--can't hurt, right?

Last night I caved and ordered three more sunflowers from Burpee: Elf, Chianti, and Sunny Hybrid. I have one great big planter that I'll use for sunflowers. I'll just chuck a couple of each variety in there and see what happens. I can't wait--I absolutely love sunflowers.

I also have several different mixes of leaf lettuce to try--they all look so good, it's hard to pick just one! Hopefully I can get a few plantings in before it gets too hot here.

Obviously I again have way too much for my little space, but I'll probably end up using only one or two plants of each. Unfortunately, I want it all! That's what happens when you look at too many gardening catalogs. And the garden centers haven't even started selling plants yet---yikes. I'm telling myself that this year I will only buy flowers and maybe some herbs and that's it. Even with my little area, it costs a fortune to buy plants and fresh soil, and etc., etc., etc. I'm trying to be more thrifty this year.



The heat last year was a big factor, obviously. Between the high temps, the UV rays, and the fact that they were sitting on cement, my plants were lucky to not burn to a crisp. I'm hoping it'll be better this year, but I have a feeling it won't.

So what will your garden grow this year?

[BOSSHOG]

1. I have a few brussel sprout plants out now

We live in South Mississippi and have a pretty long growing season. I'll have a pot or two of hot peppers and I got some indeterminate heirloom tomato seeds to try this year. Maybe a couple green pepper plants and some okra. We have a rosemary christmas tree which is struggling in our relatively mild winter. We have a couple of dragon winged begonias that survived the winter, a beautiful hydrangea and some shrimp plants. And we'll put some wave petunias in an old wheelbarrow out front. And I'm gonna try some of the hibiscus found here:

http://msucares.com/news/print/sgnews/sg06/sg061005.html They change color as the day goes by.

Gardening in containers is one of life's little pleasures.

Your deck looks great.

[KatyaR]

3. Thank you--last year was not the best year for a garden like this.

We had too many 100+ degree days, and I had a lot of sun and heat damage. My tomatoes looked like someone had taken a blowtorch to them by July.

I've never seen a hibiscus like that--I'd love to grow one. I'm always looking for something different.

Good luck with your garden.

[NMDemDist2]

i have the opposite problem as you do

i have an acre of scrub desert and most of it's gonna stay like that LOL

but I have 3 4x4 square foot garden patches i'm gonna try this year

i'll plant

corn
maters
zuccini
yellow squash
herbs (lots of them)
cantelope
watermelon
lettuce
broccoli
carrots
radish
and probably a couple things i've forgotten

we'll see what works and what doesn't :shrug:

[KatyaR]

4. But gardening like that sounds very do-able.

A little bit can go a long way . . . .

[NMDemDist2]

5. as i drove by the feed store today, their sign said "Onion slips are in"

so i better get busy!!

[karlrschneider]

6. Probably a good thing, they don't go with mini-skirts.

:rofl:

[NMDemDist2]

7. ....

:spank:









:rofl:

[karlrschneider]

8. I just found this forum, didn't know it existed. Was trying to think of something clever...

still trying.

:D

[NMDemDist2]

9. i'm am the neophyte gardener

so plan on me whining all summer and asking really really stupid questions

will you be able to help?? :hi:

[karlrschneider]

10. Hey, I can just walk by a plant and kill it. I can grow basil but that's about it.

Seriously, I do a little gardening but don't have a lot of success because I don't take the trouble
to water, weed, etc. like I should - which is a shame because we have a piece of ground that used to
be under a chicken house 20 years ago, the soil is so good that weeds will crawl into it from the next county. I am trying something completely new this year: artichokes (!) From my research, it appears they should grow just fine here in Oklahoma...it's just that Okies don't seem to know what to do with them, so we're planting them because we love 'em. I'm skipping the usual tomatos, peppers, etc. because our neighbor brings us buckets of all the 'normal' stuff from his HUGH garden. :D

[NMDemDist2]

12. my neighbor has a huge garden too

but he doesn't share :cry:

[karlrschneider]

17. BOO!

:eyes:

Horrible neighbor!
:D

[KatyaR]

13. Um, this Okie knows what to do with them.

Throw a few toward OKC if they make it, okay? :hi:

[karlrschneider]

16. Sure! Lessee, that's azimuth 246 degrees, 44 elevation.

Watch out for incoming! :D

[KatyaR]

19. I'll try to make sure to duck!

:)

[BOSSHOG]

20. Jerusalem Artichokes?

My Dad always had a big crop of Jerusalems in Washington County Arkansas just across the border from Oklahoma. Very tangy flavor. The plants would be up to ten feet tall and harvesting the root plants was quite labor intensive but worth it.

[karlrschneider]

22. No, the regular kind. I think...I'm not familiar with the jerusalem thingys

we like this kind
http://www.artichokes.net/

[KatyaR]

15. I can try, but I'm sure there are others who are more knowledgeable than me.

(or is it me?)

I kinda fly by the seat of my pants--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it sure doesn't hurt to ask!!!

The internet is actually a very good resource for gardeners. Just Google what you're looking for, and you'll find a ton of information.

[NMDemDist2]

2. oops--double clutched

[babylonsister]

11. Wow, that's quite a huge list there! I only grow flowers, when I can.

I'm eventually going for a perennial garden so don't have to plant so much, but my lawnmower guy was here last weekend and pulled lots of stuff out that didn't need to go (first time he's even pulled a weed to my knowledge). So, my palette is again open for experimenting, and I'm getting the itch!

I might indulge in some spices this summer, but most of them either tend to die from the heat here (lavender comes to mind; I've tried it several times as I love the look and smell, but no luck), or are not killable, like lemon balm and rosemary.

[KatyaR]

14. I guess I've inherited my mother's gardening gene.

She had to have a garden pretty much every year, but the only flowers she would grow were red geraniums and marigolds. Oh, and maybe a little portulaca in some pots. But man, she loved her peppers and tomates.

We farmed until I was about 14 and my dad's health deteriorated to the point where he couldn't work like that any more, and our farm had wild blackberries, sand plums, and grapes. We also had some old-growth apple and walnut trees that were from back when my great-grandparents settled in Oklahoma in the late 1800s. So we always had homemade jams and jellies. Even after we moved to town, Mom continued to can all kinds of stuff. I wish more people did those kinds of things these days.

[babylonsister]

18. My dad owned a nursery!

That might be where I got the itch, though I don't remember too many veggie gardens (I grew up in NY so the weather might have been a factor). Mom DID make some outrageous tomato jelly though, and beach plum jelly.:9

I DO remember going to NY apple farms and buying them by the bushel (I was one of 5 kids). And I remember lots of homemade applesauce, an occasional pie, etc.

Ah, thanks for the memories!

[BOSSHOG]

21. How bout a potpourrie

oh peppers? You may find a seed package containing about a half dozen different types of peppers (of varying degrees of heat.) They are low maintenance, easy to grow, make a nice display in a pot and you can eat them or use them in cooking if you want. Lemon mint is very aromatic. And gardenias make a great perennial. Ours grows like a weed. I've not tended it in years and the local garden guy says just leave it alone.