This year I am going strong on a beans, cucumbers, tomatoes (last year was awful for my tomatoes ...) and various bell peppers. Sprouting seeds in the workshop now. I'm usually good with these so I can trade excess with the neighbors for their corn and squash.

Herb garden is already regrowing all by itself so that was easy..... as are the strawberries.

I watched my friend run fruit trees last year. He just bought the little 6 foot ones and COSTCO and Lowes and they did fantastic year 1 in the half whiskey barrels. My fruit trees in the ground do not do well except the peach tree. The pear and apple just gives nasty hard fruit. So on the tree front I am going across the board and including a fig as well.

So what are you all putting in this year??
How are you keeping the evil deer off your food?

Potatoes are doing good and the Silver King and Roma beans are sprouting.

Yep I have already dumped a crap load of money in the ground and will probably not get a single thing back.... I suck at gardening....


I did get to use last year's compost this year. Although it probably won't do any good either...

All mine are sitting in the green house and getting ready to go in the ground. It's only my second attempt at gardening but I hope it turns out well this year.
My list as follows is:
Corn
Snap bean
Onions
Bell peppers
Jalapeños
Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
Okra
Tomatoes

Snap peas
Green beans
Tomatoes
Lettece
Bell Peppers
Okra
Sweet onions
Cucumber
Squash
Potatoes
Strawberries
Corn
I'm gonna do a couple Peach and Apple trees this year also.


I've got most of my stuff sprouted already, and I'm planting this weekend. I ALMOST planted last weekend, but with that last frost I'm glad I didn't. A lot of my sprouts (especially the tomatoes) are already 6-9 inches tall.

I've got my garden behind my 6-ft privacy fence, and I built a 2-foot wood frame chicken wire fence around the perimeter of the garden to keep the dogs and small animals out the best I can.

Anyone used mushroom compost? I know someone swearing by it, and I was thinking about it.

(EDIT: had bell peppers on list 2x)

I planted the seeds several weeks ago as outlined in the SFG book. Planted all the transplants 2 weeks ago. Needless to say they all had to be covered up twice now...

Maybe a couple different heirloom tomatoes, nothing more than that though.

Between the torrential rain the day after planting, to the last couple of freezing nights, my wife's garden is struggling.  Tomatoes, carrots, beans, watermelon, peppers....I forget what else.

Two tomato plants already 18" tall, bell peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers are coming along nice.














 

Planted mid February:
Romaine lettuce- doing well
Iceburg Lettuce- doing well
Onions- doing well
Spinach- lagging. I might have planted too close together.
Kale- Need to thin
Broccoli- WAY better than store bought

Planted yesterday:
Roma Tomatoes
Better boy Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Bell peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Chili peppers
Rattlesnake snap beans

Still to plant:
Silver queen corn
Squash
White acre peas
Maybe a couple of other things

I had a terrible time last year with the tomatoes and squash. I think the tomatoes got too much water, and I had pumpkins planted next to the squash which I later heard is a no-no (cross pollination between the gourd family).

Only two of my hops plants came back this year so I planted 6 more this week. Hopefully the two from last year will produce this year.

I also planted blackberry and raspberry bushes a few weeks ago and the blackberry plants are blooming.

How did you do the asparagus? I am interested in adding some next year but am not sure if I want to do them in pots, or build another raised bed.

Raised bed

 

Just got a call from the guy with the fruit tress - the deer stripped them bare last night. Devastated 15 trees and 4 bushes. I think he'll be using his crossbow tonight. Trail cam says 2am is feeding time at his house.

So what methods are you guys using to keep the deer outta your garden?? Last year the took my strawberries.

I've used human hair collected from the barber. It works for a couple of weeks. Reapply as needed.

 

I added 13 blueberries and 4 apples to the ever expanding orchard.  5ft high fence to keep the deer away.  

3 tomatos, 1 rhubarb, and another patch of asparagus were added.

Oh yeah... tore out the 2 home depot grapes that never produced, and planted 4 vines from Ison's.  

Maybe I'll get the big garden planted this year.... fingers crossed.

Coffee grains.
And once deal signs HB60 I'll be using 220gr delivered at around 960fps......


(Yes I am kidding......)

I posted asking what to do a few weeks ago, and someone linked a video about using 30 lb test line. That's what we are trying.

Link?

The taters are looking good.  I started the seed for my tomatoes, squash, peppers, etc in buckets to transfer later.  Right now I need to finish my electric fence for deer.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_8_35/552202_Home_gardeners__we_need_your_help.html

I gave up on my garden.  The misery started for me when the 8 watermelon plants I got from the True Value turned out to be yellow squash a couple years ago.  I'm sure some dickhead got a good laugh out of that.  Then the squash got some kind of mold on the flowers and I got no squash.  The garden area is in the shade for a small portion of the day, so that is my other problem, not enough sun.    If I put it where it will get sun most of the day, I'll have a hard time manuvering the camper around it.  Every year has been a effort of failure.  Tomatos never do well, cucumbers are the only thing that grow like gangbusters and you can only eat so many of them.  This years I planted two blueberry bushes there and 8 New Zealand Guava trees I grew from seeds.  Not all of the guava trees may produce fruit, so I planted 8 anticipating that.  I've pretty much given up on a garden, I've planted several blueberry and black berry bushes last year and I'll stick to that stuff.

I want to see the video of a deer walking into your electric fence! LOL

I've been figuring this stuff out in earnest since 2009.  It gets a little more out of hand every year.

From a couple days ago, things are beginning to green up a bit. Rest of greenhouse poly is coming down this week.

closer shot of a lettuce bed



Currently planted or scheduled to be planted this season, started from seed in most cases. Kroger's produce section doesn't see us very often anymore.

All in all about 70 different items now
Artichoke, "Imperial Star"
Asparagus, "Jersey Knight"
Basil, "Amethyst Improved"
Basil, "Genovese"
Basil, "Thai"
Bay Laurel
Bean, Asian "Red Noodle"
Bean, Asian "Yard long""
Blackberry, Thornless
Blueberry, Rabbiteye (3 types)
Bok Choy, "Prize Choy OG"
Broccoli, "Purple Peacock"
Cabbage, "Gonzalez"
Chard, "5 Color Silverbeet"
Chard, "Fordhook Giant"
Chinese Cabbage,  "Michihili"
Chinese Cabbage, "Minuet"
Chives, Garlic
Chives, Plain
Cilantro, "Calypso"
Dill, "Mammoth"
Eggplant, "Nadia"
Elephant Garlic
Fava Bean, "Windsor"
Fennel, "Florence"
Garlic,  Purple Stripe, "Chesnok"
Garlic, Artichoke, "California Late"
Garlic, Artichoke, "Inchelium Red"
Garlic, Asiatic, "Asian Tempest"
Garlic, Creole, "Aja Rojo"
Garlic, Creole, "Creole Red"
Gourd, "Bushel Basket"
Gourd, "Luffa"
Kale, "Dwarf Blue"
Kale, "Red Russian"
Kale, "Toscano"
Kiwi, Hardy, "Actinidia"
Kohlrabi, "Early White Vienna"
Kohlrabi, "Purple Vienna"
Leek, "Titan"
Lettuce, "Amish Deer Tongue"
Lettuce, "Bronze Arrowhead"
Lettuce, "Forellenschluss"
Lettuce, "Reine des Glaces"
Lima, "Christmas"
Mesclun Mixes
Mizuna
Okra, "Clemson Spineless"
Onion, Georgia Sweet
Onion, multiplying,  "Yellow Potato"
Oregano
Parsley, "Italian Flat Leaf"
Pepper, "Malawi Peppadew"
Potato, "Red Pontiac"
Radish, "Cincinnati Market"
Radish, "French Breakfast"
Raspberry, "Heritage"
Rice, "Japanese Koshihikari"
Sage
Shallot, "Zebrune"
Soybean, "Butterbean"
Soybean, "Soya"
Spinach, "Bloomsdale"
Stevia
Sweet Potato, "Beauregard"
Sweet Potato, "Georgia Jets"
Sweet Potato, "Vardaman"
Tarragon, Russian
Thyme, common
Tomato, "Brandywine"
Tomato, "Cherokee Purple"
Tomato, "Roma VF"
Tomato, "Tommie-Toe"
Watercress, Wild

Wow. Impressive...........

The post reads "Last Frost" my eyes hit it and my mind reads it as " LANE FROST "  

Lane frost was one bad ass bull rider !

I got tomatoes better boy x2 and early girl x2
cucumber
jalapeno

ha

my spouse of almost 30 years suggested it was a good thing, mainly because i picked up another obsessive hobby that wasn't gun related.

Impressive!  

Haven't done a garden in 2 yrs.  Did just til it up 2 weeks ago, but that was just to get it looking good as a for sale sign went in the front yard yesterday.

So, tag for next year!

Wow cohutt that is very impressive.

This is year number 2 for me. I know nothing about gardening but had some beginners luck last year.

Broccoli
Onions
Spinach
Carrots
Green and red bell peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Better boy tomatoes
Sunflowers for looks
Silver queen corn
Yellow crookneck squash
Butternut squash
Clemson spineless okra
Blue lake beans

Everything except the sunflowers and butternut squash have sprouted. Nut grass is killing me right now though. Just sprayed round up this morning.

Ha.   I had little to no experience when i broke ground in 2009.... i've found that you can ask all the questions and read all the books you want, but it takes killing some innocent plants to really learn about this stuff. ;)

In January I got swangled into allowing my little freakshow garden be included on a fund raising tour; since then I've been finishing several years of not quite finished projects and cleaning and tidying it all up.  It is looming now, coming up Saturday May 3rd.http://cohutt.com/2014-jsl-page/

Funny how much time 4 months seemed like a lot of time when I said "yes"...

Interesting website. A man of talent! Many great photos. Bookmarked for future viewing and ideas.

So, deer are a non-issue due to your neighborhood + fencing?

The other garden problem I have besides deer is too much sun late June through August. On a super hot day if I am out of town I can lose a lot of plants.

thanks 400...

i'm in downtown Rome, as "urban" as one can get in a town this size and deer haven't been an issue.

The best defense against super hot sun is good soil with lots of compost in it, less frequent but longer / deeper watering and mulch to retain moisture.
Shade cloth might help also but you'd be building pvc or wooden tent frames.  Pvc is pretty easy to just toss up some ribs by bending 1" sch 40 and sliding ends over rebar driven into the ground.

I use drip irrigation mostly and it makes a huge difference vs sprinklers or hand watering.

I was able to find a guy who had one of the old style "banger" well drilling rigs that was mounted on a 1 ton pickup and we dropped a couple fence panels for a week to get it in the back corner.  So for the last couple of years I've felt like the richest man in Georgia during hot dry summers :)

Before I used drip off of 5 55 gal rain barrels I had rigged up to catch water off part of my house but I still had to use the expensive city water a good bit.

Cohutt, how much does that produce, and more importantly how do you preserve it?

For your drip irrigation, is it the soaker hose type or the mini sprinkler head looking thingies? Is there enough pressure to use the sprinkler head ones? I haven't had much luck, but i don't have much drop from the bucket to the heads either.

Please let me know some more information about the drip setup.

It is set up to my well now and I use pressure reducers to knock it from 40-80psi down to under 20. I use the 1/2 inch hose to feed the various beds then connect it to 1/4" hose with built in drip emitters to actually water the beds.  When I put the well in I rented a trencher and ran140 ft of 1" pvc underground to my basement for the pressure tank. Along the way I tapped it in 5 places and put  in dual faucets, once for the irrigation filter/reducer and on some timer, and one to be able to connect a hose without removing the irrigation.

I don't use the sprinkler except on the blueberry bushes and those are about the smallest size and only spread the steams out about 4 inches where I have it set.

I works fairly well although I learned the hard way that i really needed to flush the runs once or twice before I winterize it.

Before the well, the rain barrels were all connected in parallel with a pipe underground to the beds I had at the time.  What i did then was just use a hole connected to a sprinkler hose and it would seep out well enough. Only a couple feet drop but it was sufficient; what I lacked in head I made up in flow by using larger pvc that i "needed " to.

As far as production, I grow probably 80-90% of the produce we eat. The way we do it is to eat fresh what is @ harvest year round and we usually have something producing all 12 months here. I pull up a simple poly hoop house over a couple 16x4 beds for the winter, although cabbage and kale can take anything a georgia winter throws at them and keep fine in the garden almost all winter for harvest as you go.
In summer when stuff is coming in by the ton I preserve for later.
I have a nice all-american pressure canner and we keep the 14.4 cu ft chest freezer full of produce.
I generally run about 25-30 tomato plants now including some basic Roma VF bushes that drop 80-150 meaty little romas. << base for salsa, soups oven drying them, and sauces.
I harvested about 180 lbs of sweet potatoes, way more than I though it would be so I'm scaling back this year ha
It is still very much a learning process as I try to plan the garden tp produce the right about of everything - stillw ay to little with some and way too much for others, but our eating habits are continuing to change as well.  

I had intended to get a dehydrator but have not so far and probably won't since we're getting better at planning and already put back more of some stuff that we can eat in a season

Wow good deal. I had to wait to reply to this until I could read it a couple of times.

When you had the barrels of I am understanding you right you didn't have enough pressure to run the sprinkler type. So for the drip did you just put one emitter by each plant?

I am thinking I am going to try some clear water pumps. Maybe a pond water fall type to see if I can increase the pressure enough to spray from the emitters.

I went to a buddies farm today and shoveled a tarp full of composted cow and chicken poop today. Hopefully that will help out a bit.

Would be very interested in seeing some pics of the water setup and the winter hoops for ideas. So far I only have a 4x8 plot. It produces a descent amount.... But mostly for deer

It took a few tries to get the right set up
the first was just over 4' wide beds, a low tunnel using contractors plastic from home depot

http://cohutt.com/2010/11/08/the-pods-have-descended/

The second was over 3 beds using 1" pvc as the ribs and one season greenhouse poly I ordered online

http://cohutt.com/2011/10/24/this-winters-high-tunnel-experiment-begins/
http://cohutt.com/2011/11/08/sealed/


For the last couple years I've done a 2 bed wide structure and left the frame up year round
http://cohutt.com/2012/11/16/hoopsup/

I'll see what I can find on my water barrel set up- I only had it up for a year or so before I had the well drilled and dismantled it.