The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

[Meltintalle]

A friend gave me five tomato plants this spring, which I planted and more or less forgot about... along with a pepper plant and some lily bulbs.

I checked on them today, weeded everything, and I think I may have put the pepper in the wrong place. It's growing, but the tomatoes overshadow it by a lot. It was 70 days to fruit, if I remember the tag correctly, and there are two or three weeks to go? But no flowers or anything yet.

Three of the lilies came up, which means I'll have to find out what to do with the bulbs in the fall. And I pinched the dead and yellow leaves off the bottom of the tomato plants. I hope I didn't get too carried away there, because there is already fruit growing and it'd be super sad if I killed them now.

[stargazer]

I don't have access to a garden where I live, so I resort to the next best thing: the local Farmers' Market. Not only do they have piles of fresh produce like cucumbers and beets, with tomatoes and sweet corn soon to follow, but a local bakery offers tempting treats like cinnamon bread. Yum!

[fantasia]

I've been trying my hardest to use some of the produce in my garden despite life being quite busy right now with two little ones. But I did get 8 cups of carrots bagged and frozen yesterday (and boy did it take a while to peel all those things ) and I thinned out my beets with the idea of working on those today. Dunno if I'll get to them or not as my husband is in the kitchen making sugar cookies. Hmmm... freeze beets or have sugar cookies...?

I also plan to attempt to cut up and freeze a large portion of my onions. I always have more than I can use in the fall, so I'd like to freeze some for well into the winter and spring of next year. Has anyone frozen onions before?

[shastastwin]

We freeze onions a lot. They work best in soups after they've been frozen, but you can saute them if they're going into a mixture with meat and/or other veggies for tacos or something like that. I'm not sure you could caramelize them or anything fancy like that after freezing them.

[fantasia]

How do you cut them up? If at all?

[shastastwin]

I just dice them up like I would for soup or whatever else I'd use them in, then store them in Ziploc bags.

[Gymfan15]

I freeze onions all the time. If you don't want them to freeze in a lump in a bag, flash freeze them by spreading them out in a single layer on a pan and freezing them for about a half hour, and then transfer them to a plastic bag. They won't stick together that way and will stay loose.

I don't know if they thaw well to eat raw, but they're awesome for cooking.

[Aslanisthebest]

We tend to puree our onions and then freeze the pulp. We add frozen chunks to whatever we're cooking. It probably isn't best if you like having whole onions, but personally cooked onions activate my gag reflex, but I like the taste that onions give, so it works for me.

I have a verybdecent amount of cherry tomatoes coming in, and my herbs are growing abundantly. I'm not altogether happy with how passive my gardening has been the past two years, but it's better than nothing.

[shastastwin]

We tend to puree our onions and then freeze the pulp. We add frozen chunks to whatever we're cooking. It probably isn't best if you like having whole onions, but personally cooked onions activate my gag reflex, but I like the taste that onions give, so it works for me.

I have a very decent amount of cherry tomatoes coming in, and my herbs are growing abundantly. I'm not altogether happy with how passive my gardening has been the past two years, but it's better than nothing.

I'll have to try that trick with the onions, Bella! My wife's not a fan of onions, so I always have to try to dice them very small or cook them into nothingness.

We've not had much of anything produce in the garden this year, and while I'm sad I haven't been as diligent and successful with the garden this year, I'm almost grateful it hasn't demanded more attention from me given the way the summer has gone.

[fantasia]

I must be ready for spring, I went seed shopping this afternoon. I didn't buy many vegetable seeds though, mostly flowers and herbs.

Remember when I posted this picture? viewtopic.php?p=266236#p266236
Well my husband made one for me for Christmas, though not nearly as elaborate as the one pictured above. It houses three herbs and I've decided on Parsley, Cilantro, and Basil as those are the three I use the most of in my cooking. I grow all three in my garden but during the winter I'm out of luck.

[fantasia]

I just ordered my tomato and pepper seeds for the year.
Grandmas Pick Hybrid Tomato
Heirloom Cherry Blend Tomato
Juliet Hybrid Tomato
San Marzano Tomato
Tomatillo Purple
Big Bertha Hybrid Pepper
Gourmet Rainbow Mix Hybrid Pepper

I'm hoping to get some flower seeds started this week. I'm not sure what all I want to start yet, but I'll keep you all posted on what I choose.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

We got a Burpee catalog in the mail this week. . . . . the planning has begun.

This will be the first year in two years that I've put out a garden. School will be over in May, and I can't wait to garden a little!

[fantasia]

How's the planning going DiGs? Do you have anything started yet?

This year with the weather warming up much sooner than normal, and all of the trees, grape vines, and well, everything coming to life much earlier than expected, I have been horribly behind.
The grapes at the farm did not get pruned, not at all, and it's too late now because if you do any major pruning on them, they bleed out. I'm hoping I didn't accidentally kill one of my backyard grapes because I cut off a major branch and it's still dripping a week later. They sell this tar-like stuff you can spray on, but i don't have any at my house, I just know it exists.
Almost all of my efforts have gone into digging back various types of plants that propagate by root. I tell you, I've had enough daylilies, mint, tarragon, and bee balm to last a lifetime. The daylilies in particular I'm at war with as they're getting into my other much more desirable flowers. I'm going to move them elsewhere.
This is going to sound silly, but due to my sister's wedding last month, I never got my peppers and tomatoes started this year. I was trying to keep my fingernails clean for the wedding. I still plan to start some tomatoes, but i know they will be way behind. I think it'll be ok.
I did get onions planted, and I'm off to buy potatoes to stick in the ground.
Is anybody else gardening yet? Or do you all actually still have some winter hanging on? I think our winter is done and over with.

[fantasia]

Is anybody else gardening yet?

Hearing reports of recent snow from where I know most of you live, I'm guessing the answer is 'no'.
I got my potatoes in, they're coming up. The onions look great despite several being nipped off by rabbits the night after I planted them.

Yesterday I spent my day at my in-laws working on their flower bed. I think I've mentioned it on here before, but about three years ago, we paid my sister to do an official landscaping design to hide their septic sewer vents in their front yard. We've been warring with moles and other various critters in an attempt to keep all of the flowers alive and doing well, but the area is now fairly well established and looking great! Now it just needs to grow up.
I wish I could get my own front flower bed looking as nice. Last weekend with the help of my hubby we did get it cleaned up a lot. I moved several things around, dug out several flowers that annoy me because they spread by root and take over other flowers I like more, and got a few things planted. And naturally that night we were alerted to the possibility of a last minute freeze. So we trooped back outside and covered as much stuff as possible, including our cherry tree, strawberry patch, and grape vines, through the rest into the greenhouse and hoped for the best. I don't think it ended up getting that cold and everything looks just fine.
I'm waiting to see what tomatoes and peppers come up and then I'll stick those in the ground. That's next on my to-do list. But first I'm going to have to wait for it to dry out after all this rain!

[johobbit]

I think winter is over here! I believe that this April we may have had more snow accumulation than in February!!! The past few days, however, have been very spring-like, so the snow is now gone, except in protected/north-side areas. Prep for gardening is beginning, as we have lots of yard work clean-up to do before planting begins no earlier than the weekend of May 20 (Canada's unofficial start to summer long weekend), for we can still get frost until then.

With the few warm days we had in late February, my stonecrop plants began to sprout, then went back into dormancy when all the snow, ice, and cold came back. Now, though, with temperatures in the low 70s, they're flourishing again. But from present appearances, I think a couple of my perennials did not make it over the winter. We'll see though ... maybe they're just still waking up.

Since we only moved here not even a couple of years ago, we are still much in the planning stages of gardening. I don't even know if we'll get a full veggie garden in again this year. Next year for sure, though!!! I can't live without my fresh garden tomatoes, so will definitely plant 5 or 6 plants of those.

I want to get more perennials this year, plus we want to dig more perennial gardens. It all takes time, but is such fun. I'm eager to get my hands in the rich earth soon again.

Oh, fantasia, I really like that wall herb garden ^. How cool Tom made you a smaller version! And glad those plants survived that potential freezing snap.

So glad you can garden again this year, DiGsY!

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I'm breaking up the sod that had taken over my garden area due to three years of not gardening. Doing it by hand with a shovel is backbreaking work, and I'm only able to do a little bit at a time. The end result should be a garden about 150 sq feet.

My current planting plans are:
-Green onions
-Two varieties of carrots:
-One variegated color
-One plain orange sweet variety
-Spinach
-A couple different blends
-A new-to-me plant called Red Dragon Sprouts.
-They look like bean sprouts that you'd buy in the store. Got two
large packs of seeds for free, so I figured, eh, why not.
-Tomatoes
-Probably 1 Roma plant and 1 Heirloom plant
-Bush beans
-For Mom
-Cucumbers
-Probably only one mound
-Cilantro

I don't know what else to plant, but those are my choices thus far.