Welcome! This blog is dedicated to helping you grow food and have a better garden. Every year I do a real time garden video series that covers everything! Watch me as I grow in Maryland on my 2 acre garden homestead. Thanks for Visiting "A Garden Wants to Give. All You Have to Do is Help it Along!" Cheers!
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Who R You? translates to Introduce Yourself
Please use the reply section to introduce yourself and let us know what your garden is like. Feel free to leave links to your blogs or spaces. As always, I will remove what should be tossed on the compost bin.
Hi, I'm Rebecca. I live in MD, just outside of the DC beltway. I started my first garden last spring that consisted of two 6ft x 6ft raised beds and a strawberry pyramid. Thanks to this blog, I consider my tomatoes to have been a success. They shared a raised bed with onions and marigolds. The second raised bed had chile peppers, corn, and pumpkins. I planted strawberries in the bottom tier of the pyramid, stevia, lime basil, and lemon balm in the middle tier, and snapdragons in the top tier. Not everything did well, but I'm happy with my first attempt. Some pics are posted at http://picssharesite.shutterfly.com/1241
I like the use of the marigolds. Did you use them for not only looks but to keep pests away? Very nice and with your 2nd year, look for more success and the addiction to use every inch of ground for garden to take hold.
Yes, I had read that marigolds were a good companion to tomatoes for pest control, but I don't have any idea if they helped or not. For this year, I do already have more seeds for things I want to plant than I have room for. Unfortunately for gardening, I'm pregnant and due in March. So I'm not sure how much of a garden will actually get planted this year.
ME MYSELF & I Hi I'm Marcie from Timmins Canada, zone 2b (Canada grow zone). Cannot plant or start seeds now due to -30 Celcius temp. and 3 feet of snow. Seeds become to leggy if planted too early. I start seeds middle of March. We can only plant cold hearty veggie end of May and all other veggies after June 10 or 15th. I do mostly container gardening and also have a greenhouse for the hot loving veggies (melons, green peppers and cukes). I am envious that you people can start gardening very early in the year. On the other hand I do so enjoy the R&R in winter months and enjoy winter sports. Any way happy gardening
Hi, My name is Becky from Doylestown, Ohio. I used your knol to start my two 4 x 8 ft raised beds about 3 years ago. The first year was outstanding, I couldn't control my garden it was overflowing with veggies! The second year was pretty good but last year I didn't do so great. My tomatoes grew ok but that was about it. I had used sweet peat, recommended by a local nursery, not sure if that was my problem or not. This year I'm going to use your trellis to try and tame my tomatoes. Would you recommend that I use fertilizer or lime this year? I would like to thank you for the knol and new website, it sure keeps me busy canning in the late summer and fall!
Thanks for taking the time to write. I have found a passion I enjoy sharing. I don't know what sweet peat is. Peat moss itself is acidic. You could have changed the PH of your soil. Hmm.... looking up sweet peat.
Okay it is called Sweet Peet it is a website. Man-made and suppose to be neutral. I would recommend adding (4x8) 4 or 5 bags of composted manure to each of your beds and turn it under. And maybe get a store bought PH test kit. They are cheap. Just to see if something changed.
Lime and Fertilizer differ. If your soil is acidic lime will bring down the PH. For food for plants a 10-10-10 fertilizer works best. I would go with that. Four hand fulls of fertilizer spinkled over the top of a 4x8 and then turn it under. Sprinkle 2 more handfuls evenly across the top after that and work it in a few inches. Your good to go.
Lime is a good source of calcium to stop your tomatoes from getting blossom end rot. You can add some to your tomato area.
Keep coming buy. Id love to see pictures of your produce.
Good morning, My name is Mike, from Pipersville, PA, zone 6. Last year was my first garden and it did ok. Deer and rabbits took their share so this year I expanded from 32 square ft. to 54 square feet and added a 6 foot fence.
I have learned a lot from your site and tried some container gardening late last summer and had some success with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.
Thanks for taking the time to write. Zone 6 is gearing up for full gardening. I had to put chicken wire on the bottom 1 foot of my fence. The gaps it had were to large and wasn't stopping the rabbits.
Hi, I'm Heather from Oregon. I just found your site, you got lots of good content here! In our area we're getting ready to transplant most of our greenhouse starts into the garden, one of the most exciting times of the year. :)
Hello! My name is Ian and your Instructables post came across my reader feed this morning and I really liked your self wicking tomato planters. This is our first year gardening and with a steep learning curve, it should be an interesting summer. We live in the hot and dry corner of Washington state, so our tomatoes never seem to have enough water. With access to free 5 gallon buckets, I will surely try your planters next year.
Our boys have already shown a great interest in our little makeshift garden and are eager to help and even more eager to eat our little harvest!
When I have a few moments, I will share pictures of our first attempt at gardening.
Hi Gary, I am so excited to find your site. I garden in Southern Maryland. I am particularly interested in stepping up my game this year as regards tomatoes. I had a pretty bad tomato year compared to years past. Your tomatoes look amazing. I will definitely be checking out some of the resources you offer. Thanks!
Hi, I'm Rebecca. I live in MD, just outside of the DC beltway. I started my first garden last spring that consisted of two 6ft x 6ft raised beds and a strawberry pyramid. Thanks to this blog, I consider my tomatoes to have been a success. They shared a raised bed with onions and marigolds. The second raised bed had chile peppers, corn, and pumpkins. I planted strawberries in the bottom tier of the pyramid, stevia, lime basil, and lemon balm in the middle tier, and snapdragons in the top tier. Not everything did well, but I'm happy with my first attempt. Some pics are posted at http://picssharesite.shutterfly.com/1241
ReplyDeleteI like the use of the marigolds. Did you use them for not only looks but to keep pests away? Very nice and with your 2nd year, look for more success and the addiction to use every inch of ground for garden to take hold.
ReplyDeleteYes, I had read that marigolds were a good companion to tomatoes for pest control, but I don't have any idea if they helped or not. For this year, I do already have more seeds for things I want to plant than I have room for. Unfortunately for gardening, I'm pregnant and due in March. So I'm not sure how much of a garden will actually get planted this year.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the addition. Gardening gets easier when you are pregnant. Just boss you husband around and tell him where to dig and plant.
DeleteME MYSELF & I
ReplyDeleteHi I'm Marcie from Timmins Canada, zone 2b (Canada grow zone). Cannot plant or start seeds now due to -30 Celcius temp. and 3 feet of snow. Seeds become to leggy if planted too early. I start seeds middle of March. We can only plant cold hearty veggie end of May and all other veggies after June 10 or 15th. I do mostly container gardening and also have a greenhouse for the hot loving veggies (melons, green peppers and cukes). I am envious that you people can start gardening very early in the year. On the other hand I do so enjoy the R&R in winter months and enjoy winter sports. Any way happy gardening
You win for the coldest zone to my blog. 2b is the coldest so far. I envy the greenhouse. Happy garden to you and enjoy the R&R.
DeleteHi, My name is Becky from Doylestown, Ohio. I used your knol to start my two 4 x 8 ft raised beds about 3 years ago. The first year was outstanding, I couldn't control my garden it was overflowing with veggies! The second year was pretty good but last year I didn't do so great. My tomatoes grew ok but that was about it. I had used sweet peat, recommended by a local nursery, not sure if that was my problem or not. This year I'm going to use your trellis to try and tame my tomatoes. Would you recommend that I use fertilizer or lime this year? I would like to thank you for the knol and new website, it sure keeps me busy canning in the late summer and fall!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to write. I have found a passion I enjoy sharing. I don't know what sweet peat is. Peat moss itself is acidic. You could have changed the PH of your soil. Hmm.... looking up sweet peat.
ReplyDeleteOkay it is called Sweet Peet it is a website. Man-made and suppose to be neutral. I would recommend adding (4x8) 4 or 5 bags of composted manure to each of your beds and turn it under. And maybe get a store bought PH test kit. They are cheap. Just to see if something changed.
Lime and Fertilizer differ. If your soil is acidic lime will bring down the PH. For food for plants a 10-10-10 fertilizer works best. I would go with that. Four hand fulls of fertilizer spinkled over the top of a 4x8 and then turn it under. Sprinkle 2 more handfuls evenly across the top after that and work it in a few inches. Your good to go.
Lime is a good source of calcium to stop your tomatoes from getting blossom end rot. You can add some to your tomato area.
Keep coming buy. Id love to see pictures of your produce.
Good gardening.
Good morning,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mike, from Pipersville, PA, zone 6. Last year was my first garden and it did ok. Deer and rabbits took their share so this year I expanded from 32 square ft. to 54 square feet and added a 6 foot fence.
I have learned a lot from your site and tried some container gardening late last summer and had some success with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.
Looking forward to a great 2012.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for taking the time to write. Zone 6 is gearing up for full gardening. I had to put chicken wire on the bottom 1 foot of my fence. The gaps it had were to large and wasn't stopping the rabbits.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Heather from Oregon. I just found your site, you got lots of good content here! In our area we're getting ready to transplant most of our greenhouse starts into the garden, one of the most exciting times of the year. :)
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck. It is an exicting time of the year. I envy your greenhouse.
DeleteHello! My name is Ian and your Instructables post came across my reader feed this morning and I really liked your self wicking tomato planters. This is our first year gardening and with a steep learning curve, it should be an interesting summer. We live in the hot and dry corner of Washington state, so our tomatoes never seem to have enough water. With access to free 5 gallon buckets, I will surely try your planters next year.
ReplyDeleteOur boys have already shown a great interest in our little makeshift garden and are eager to help and even more eager to eat our little harvest!
When I have a few moments, I will share pictures of our first attempt at gardening.
Thanks for stopping in. I started gardening so my kids would know where vegetables came from. They were really interested when young.
DeleteI look forward to seeing pictures of your garden. The buckets can be used for peppers and bush cukes and such too.
Let me know if you have questions. If I can't answer them, some one around here can.
Gary
Hi Gary, I am so excited to find your site. I garden in Southern Maryland. I am particularly interested in stepping up my game this year as regards tomatoes. I had a pretty bad tomato year compared to years past. Your tomatoes look amazing. I will definitely be checking out some of the resources you offer. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you have questions. If you havent started, now is a great time to get your fall garden planted and going.
ReplyDelete