This coming season I will be planting my "first ever" garden! And
boy, am *I* excited.

Despite the fact that I will be also turning 50 next year, my
lifestyle has been such (until now) that I wasn't able to realize my
dream of having a garden.

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

Tell me what YOU grow in your garden to give me some ideas guys, won't
you?

Thanks in advance.

Em
Be careful what you wish for....

In article ,
Auntie Em wrote:

This coming season I will be planting my "first ever" garden! And
boy, am *I* excited.

Despite the fact that I will be also turning 50 next year, my
lifestyle has been such (until now) that I wasn't able to realize my
dream of having a garden.

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

Tell me what YOU grow in your garden to give me some ideas guys, won't
you?

Thanks in advance.

Em
Be careful what you wish for....

Well, I have learned to only grow what we really like to eat. If you
decide to grow say chard for fun guess what will be the most prolific
thing in the garden? Then you are stuck with mountains of the stuff and
the neighbors will stop answering the bell when you come with armfulls.

I do grow a variety of herbs. It's really fun to go out and snip chives
for the baked potatoes or basil for the spahetti sauce etc. I've had
fairly good luck with them and it's nice to be able to cook with fresh
ones in season.

I also do strawberries in a couple of pots. We don't get a lot, but
enough to nibble on. Do you like berries?

marcella

Hi, first of all, grow what you (or your husband) like to eat.

Don't start too big. It's easy to think too big and end up with too much
for an inexperienced gardener to deal with. It ends up being more work
than fun and/or a big weedy mess.

On the other hand, I have seen people dig up a little 8 x 8 foot area
and think they can grow everything in that space. I watched my wife's
cousin do this and he then decided he must have bad soil or something.
What really went wrong was that he had enough planted in there to fill a
20 x 20 foot garden. Everything thing "looked" fine in June but by July
the plants were crowded and none of them had the room they needed to
produce anything. Follow the spacing recommended on the seed pack or in
books and don't stick in extras because you have seeds or plants left over.

Corn is fun but it uses up a lot of space. I grew a garden for several
years and claimed I would never grow corn because I didn't have the
space. I like corn, and now over half the garden goes to corn. If you
grow corn, remember it is a grass and needs lots of nitrogen to do its
best. I actually side dress with lawn fertilizer when the plants get a
foot tall or so. (Doing that with tomatoes would be a big mistake).
I now have a garden in 2 corners of the yard. One garden is just for
corn and pumpkins. In that garden I plant the earlier corn and plant it
a little sparse so I can plant pumpkins in with it. The early corn is
done and drying up when the pumpkins are sizing up and getting ready to
ripen. I like the combination.

Steve
By the way, say hi to Dorothy and Toto for me.


Auntie Em wrote:

This coming season I will be planting my "first ever" garden! And
boy, am *I* excited.

Despite the fact that I will be also turning 50 next year, my
lifestyle has been such (until now) that I wasn't able to realize my
dream of having a garden.

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

Tell me what YOU grow in your garden to give me some ideas guys, won't
you?

Thanks in advance.

Em
Be careful what you wish for....

Hi, first of all, grow what you (or your husband) like to eat.

Don't start too big. It's easy to think too big and end up with too much
for an inexperienced gardener to deal with. It ends up being more work
than fun and/or a big weedy mess.

On the other hand, I have seen people dig up a little 8 x 8 foot area
and think they can grow everything in that space. I watched my wife's
cousin do this and he then decided he must have bad soil or something.
What really went wrong was that he had enough planted in there to fill a
20 x 20 foot garden. Everything thing "looked" fine in June but by July
the plants were crowded and none of them had the room they needed to
produce anything. Follow the spacing recommended on the seed pack or in
books and don't stick in extras because you have seeds or plants left over.

Corn is fun but it uses up a lot of space. I grew a garden for several
years and claimed I would never grow corn because I didn't have the
space. I like corn, and now over half the garden goes to corn. If you
grow corn, remember it is a grass and needs lots of nitrogen to do its
best. I actually side dress with lawn fertilizer when the plants get a
foot tall or so. (Doing that with tomatoes would be a big mistake).
I now have a garden in 2 corners of the yard. One garden is just for
corn and pumpkins. In that garden I plant the earlier corn and plant it
a little sparse so I can plant pumpkins in with it. The early corn is
done and drying up when the pumpkins are sizing up and getting ready to
ripen. I like the combination.

Steve
By the way, say hi to Dorothy and Toto for me.


Auntie Em wrote:

This coming season I will be planting my "first ever" garden! And
boy, am *I* excited.

Despite the fact that I will be also turning 50 next year, my
lifestyle has been such (until now) that I wasn't able to realize my
dream of having a garden.

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

Tell me what YOU grow in your garden to give me some ideas guys, won't
you?

Thanks in advance.

Em
Be careful what you wish for....

"Auntie Em" wrote in message
...

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

That sounds like plenty right there, especially if what you have is a
typical suburban plot. Do you eat salads? You might want to consider
lettuce, too.

I'd also put in parsley, just because it's handy to have it growing for when
you need a sprig or two. Parsley is also delicious. I had a friend who
thought I was very strange because I would eat the parsley on my plate -- he
considered it wholy a garnish. Sadly, he died of colon cancer at a
relatively young age, and I wonder if he had eaten more greenery like that,
he would have been better off.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

"Auntie Em" wrote in message
...

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

That sounds like plenty right there, especially if what you have is a
typical suburban plot. Do you eat salads? You might want to consider
lettuce, too.

I'd also put in parsley, just because it's handy to have it growing for when
you need a sprig or two. Parsley is also delicious. I had a friend who
thought I was very strange because I would eat the parsley on my plate -- he
considered it wholy a garnish. Sadly, he died of colon cancer at a
relatively young age, and I wonder if he had eaten more greenery like that,
he would have been better off.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Auntie Em,

Geographical location? In GA we have year round gardens. So it depnds on
what time of year! If you like salads, do various greens, spinach, lettuce,
etc. Cilantro only grows in the winter here.

Soil type? We have clay so any long carrots do not do well.

Sunlight?

I agree with the others on herbs. If you cook, fresh herbs are the key.

Start modestly and expand!

Good Luck! And sorry if you are in Kansas...

John!

"Auntie Em" wrote in message
...
This coming season I will be planting my "first ever" garden! And
boy, am *I* excited.

Despite the fact that I will be also turning 50 next year, my
lifestyle has been such (until now) that I wasn't able to realize my
dream of having a garden.

The problem NOW is - Holy smoke! What do I plant? Sadly, I am not a
big vegtable eater so after carrots, radishes, peas, corn, tomatoes
(for my husband) and pumpkins (for halloween!!!), I am "fresh" out of
ideas.

Tell me what YOU grow in your garden to give me some ideas guys, won't
you?

Thanks in advance.

Em
Be careful what you wish for....

Are you looking for landscaping suggestions, or garden suggestions?

How cold are your winters, how hot and long your summers?

You need to narrow things down for us.

someone wrote:
............................................ Don't forget
the winter squash - much tastier than pumpkin. But you can make pie
with the pumpkins :-).....................................

You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)
When I was a teenager, my mother made some pumpkin pies from over mature
yellow zucchini. I think I made some too one time. The pies were a
little less solid compared to real pumpkin but they had a nice fruity
quality to them that I liked. That reminds me... I think I have 2 big
yellow zucchinis out in the garage, if they didn't freeze.

I have also been known to use big yellow zucchinis for tall
jack-o-lanterns. They never fail to get comments from people.

Steve

someone wrote:
............................................ Don't forget
the winter squash - much tastier than pumpkin. But you can make pie
with the pumpkins :-).....................................

You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)
When I was a teenager, my mother made some pumpkin pies from over mature
yellow zucchini. I think I made some too one time. The pies were a
little less solid compared to real pumpkin but they had a nice fruity
quality to them that I liked. That reminds me... I think I have 2 big
yellow zucchinis out in the garage, if they didn't freeze.

I have also been known to use big yellow zucchinis for tall
jack-o-lanterns. They never fail to get comments from people.

Steve

In article ,
Steve wrote:

someone wrote:
............................................ Don't forget
the winter squash - much tastier than pumpkin. But you can make pie
with the pumpkins :-).....................................

You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)

I hear this occassionally. The labels don't seem to bear this out. The
ones I buy say "pumpkin" not "butternut squash" or some such. Given
that winter squashes and my stomach don't get along but pumpkin is ok,
you'd think I would respond to the canned squash masquerading as
pumpkin. So, where did you get them impression that "most canned
pumpkin isn't really from pumpkins".

marcella

Steve wrote in message
...


someone wrote:
............................................ Don't forget
the winter squash - much tastier than pumpkin. But you can make pie
with the pumpkins :-).....................................

You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned
pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)
When I was a teenager, my mother made some pumpkin pies from over
mature
yellow zucchini. I think I made some too one time. The pies were a
little less solid compared to real pumpkin but they had a nice fruity
quality to them that I liked. That reminds me... I think I have 2 big
yellow zucchinis out in the garage, if they didn't freeze.

I have also been known to use big yellow zucchinis for tall
jack-o-lanterns. They never fail to get comments from people.

Out here in the wilds of central England we call large
zucchinis...marrows. Personally I think they're awful: watery veg not
worth growing, but lots of old geezers here love to grow them and enter
them in veg. growing competitions in the autumn. As far as I'm
concerned, marrows are only good for throwing at cats, dogs and birds.

[Whilst a young person I did once try and make 'rum' using a marrow,
injecting it with sugar and hoping it would ferment, etc. Total
failure]

Sorry, a bit off-topic.

s.

Steve wrote in message
...


someone wrote:
............................................ Don't forget
the winter squash - much tastier than pumpkin. But you can make pie
with the pumpkins :-).....................................

You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned
pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)
When I was a teenager, my mother made some pumpkin pies from over
mature
yellow zucchini. I think I made some too one time. The pies were a
little less solid compared to real pumpkin but they had a nice fruity
quality to them that I liked. That reminds me... I think I have 2 big
yellow zucchinis out in the garage, if they didn't freeze.

I have also been known to use big yellow zucchinis for tall
jack-o-lanterns. They never fail to get comments from people.

Out here in the wilds of central England we call large
zucchinis...marrows. Personally I think they're awful: watery veg not
worth growing, but lots of old geezers here love to grow them and enter
them in veg. growing competitions in the autumn. As far as I'm
concerned, marrows are only good for throwing at cats, dogs and birds.

[Whilst a young person I did once try and make 'rum' using a marrow,
injecting it with sugar and hoping it would ferment, etc. Total
failure]

Sorry, a bit off-topic.

s.

someone wrote:
...................................
Out here in the wilds of central England we call large
zucchinis...marrows. Personally I think they're awful: watery veg not
worth growing, but lots of old geezers here love to grow them and enter
them in veg. growing competitions in the autumn. As far as I'm
concerned, marrows are only good for throwing at cats, dogs and birds.
.......................................

Yeah, few things from the garden are as worthless as over grown
zucchinis. I never know what to say when someone brags about growing
zucchini 2 feet long. Often it's a non gardener expressing amazement
about how good a gardener their neighbor is.
These people simply don't have enough sense to pick them when they are
still edible.
Having said that, I often end up with some giant ones in the fall. By
then the other vegetables are all being eaten and we are a little tired
of zucchini so, they get let go.
My wife used to make good zucchini bread from the big ones. (Throw away
all the soft part near the seeds and shred up the firm part near the
skin.) I suspect that almost any vegetable could be ground up and used
in the recipe and it would be about as good. .... and, as I said, if I
grow some of the yellow ones, they also make funny jack-o-lanterns for
halloween.

Steve

someone wrote:
...................................
Out here in the wilds of central England we call large
zucchinis...marrows. Personally I think they're awful: watery veg not
worth growing, but lots of old geezers here love to grow them and enter
them in veg. growing competitions in the autumn. As far as I'm
concerned, marrows are only good for throwing at cats, dogs and birds.
.......................................

Yeah, few things from the garden are as worthless as over grown
zucchinis. I never know what to say when someone brags about growing
zucchini 2 feet long. Often it's a non gardener expressing amazement
about how good a gardener their neighbor is.
These people simply don't have enough sense to pick them when they are
still edible.
Having said that, I often end up with some giant ones in the fall. By
then the other vegetables are all being eaten and we are a little tired
of zucchini so, they get let go.
My wife used to make good zucchini bread from the big ones. (Throw away
all the soft part near the seeds and shred up the firm part near the
skin.) I suspect that almost any vegetable could be ground up and used
in the recipe and it would be about as good. .... and, as I said, if I
grow some of the yellow ones, they also make funny jack-o-lanterns for
halloween.

Steve