Anyone else plannng 2013 garden??

[lilpnkbnny]

Originally Posted by spaewyfe

I find that grapes are pretty easy. We have to prune the red cedars out of our woodlot or they would take over, so I use the pruned cedar branches woven together to make an arbor. The only thing I make sure of when working with grapes is to did a deep hole to plant them in and put gravel down at the bottom of the hole. Grapes do NOT like their feet wet. It's easier to start grapes in a drought than in a rainy season because of this. I dig a hole next to a pole of the harbor, put the gravel down, put some well done compost on top of that, then in goes the grape plant to the root top (don't bury any of the vine).

The first year I let them go wild and cover them with leaves in the fall. The second year I pune them back to one strong vine and I do this for the next couple of years. Then they can do what they wish. It takes 2 or 3 years for the vines to produce, but by year 5 you'll get tons of grapes off of just one vine. Each of my arbors have three vines to them and I start looking for ways to get rid of them in late summer.

The best way to find a grape for your area is to go to the local nursery. One in your area won't carry what doesn't grow there. I start from vine instead of from seed. I plant plenty of seeds but they don't grow well from seed. The vines are worth the cost though because they are hardy plants and will produce plenty of grapes for munching, juice and wine.

Also I wouldn't get "wine" grapes. I would get "eating" or "table" grapes because you can make wine from ANY type of grapes but wine grapes are horrible to eat and wine grapes made into juice needs LOTS of sweetener to make it good to drink.

That's about what I know about grapes. I have 5 arbors of three plants, one arbor of 18 vines and I'm thinking of planting one more arbor of three. The arbors are just as nice as the grapes. They make little hidden places to sit in the shade on a hot day.

Thank you!! My plan is to go to the local nursery and get advice on them and berries. The berries I want to grow on my chain link fence. I have a huge yard and tons of fence line. I'd love to block out the veiw of the neighbors yard. They are complete pigs over there. They do tend to put horses in their yard so that side might get eaten

[eflyersteve]

We are lucky enough to have inherited my Dad's gardens a few years back. They had not been worked for years and were very overgrown with vines mimosa trees and grass. Two raised gardens that have poured and reinforced concrete 'curbs', one 20'x24' and the other 32'x20'. The smaller of the two we cleaned out in early 2012 by hand and had great success with it. Planted way too many tomatoes and onions. We also tilled a 24'x10' section outside the garden and planted corn. This fall, I rented a mini excavator and cleaned out the larger garden. Also expanded the corn plot to about 60'x12'. Still undecided on what to plant and where in the garden to plant it but we will get that figured out soon enough.

The land we live on was once an orchard with a lot of semi-dwarf fruit trees (peach and apple mostly) and we are down to about our last peach tree. This year we will begin to re-plant some of the fruit trees. I would also like to pursue grapes for wine production. Overall, we are only using about 1/2 acre of the 6 that we live on. Hopefully we will continue to expand and refine the gardens each year.

Good luck to all in 2013 with your gardens!

[supper_slash]

I am starting my square foot garden planning now.
After moving in to my new apartment, i am looking forward to setting up my 100 ft garden to help in living more cost effective.
I had a garden set up at my mothers for a long time, but i am looking forward to improving on the design.

I will be setting it all up in January.
besides i love gardening.

[bulfrog5]

Going to be doing a garden for the first time in five years. I have more room to work with at my current location so I'm planning raised beds. As for varieties, I'm looking to experiment with growing tobacco (possible barter item). I will also be looking at different varieties of beans. What advice can anyone give me for type of beans that do well in the western New York area? And or any experience with growing tobacco in the same region.

[fullmetal]

yep planning already and looking forward to the snow melting. i notice that there are a lot of people complaining about deer, one of my cousins gets the human hair swept up at a local barber and spreads it out around her fields, the deer hate it and stay away. has to be reapplied every so often though not sure how often. also if you know the deer are going to be there i would get my bow and fill my freezer, just a thought

[ddrem]

Originally Posted by NightShadow

I too got my Bakers Seeds catalog -- it's like a beautiful picture book.

And I'm researching how to garden in a drought. My area is 16 inches below normal rainfall for the year. We haven't had rain since October and then it was only about an inch. Before that it was . . . well, I don't remember when it was.

Any tips on drought gardening much appreciated.

I'm in the same boat as you with the drought. Check out Steve Solomon's "Gardening When It Counts." It's a great general gardening book, but he also discusses how to garden with little or no irrigation. This year, I'm going to adopt a lot of Solomon's ideas on plant spacing, and also try to put at least a portion of the garden in the Back to Eden style to see how it works for my area.

[Jim in Illinois]

I have 2 plots that I tilled at the end of the season last year. one is 105' x105' and the other is 30'x 250'. The aspargus I planted in 2012 will be ready in 2015, the garlick was planted sep 2012. I am still geting some turnips from my fall planting they are under snow now but still good. I have my seed for this year and will be starting tomatoes pepers cold crops soon timed to the last frost dates with exter plants in case of a late frost. My garden never ends their is always somthing to do from ordering seed and planing to harvesting and puting things up.

[sr30]

Very eagerly planning my first real garden. First real one in that I plan on it being for food and survival and not just because I think its cool or fun.

[Vault10Exile]

I'll probably be starting my first garden this year.

I say probably because before I plant anything I have to fence off part of my backyard otherwise the dog will destroy everything. It needs to be a 6 ft chain link fence and it needs to be installed on a small hill. I've never installed chain link before but it looks like a gigantic PIA, and the fact its on a hill increases the degree of difficulty.

So I still might decide the fence is not worth the added expense and effort and scrap the whole idea. Or I could just shoot the dog.

Will have to decide soon.

[GreenThumbsUp]

I love snuggling up in a cozy chair with seed catalogs and dream of spring. It's the best way to pass a freezing cold night. "AHHhhhhh soon it will be warm enough for basil, basil and tomatoes, ahhh basil tomatoes, tomatoes, and okra, basil tomatoes, okra and melon.... Now it's too cold for kale. but one day soon, it will be warm again.
Wait not too warm, not like last year...
(Even in my winter daydreams, my garden is failing)

[Rambob]

Thanks for encouraging people to start early. I'm ordering some seeds today.

Last week I just got 6 used foodgrade IBC containers. Going to try my hand at Aquaponics in the Great Country of Texas.

Rambob
Dallas, TX area.

[jalansdale]

thinking about it in 2013...idk we'll see

[Brenda]

I'm planning on doing a garden. Last year a friend of mine planted his garden early and was able to harvest alot before the drought & heat kicked in. So the next 2 weeks will be getting supplies for making raised garden beds, T posts and fencing for climbing plants. And get everything layed out and ready to go. I am also wanting to start seeds indoors now. Hoping I can do that as well this weekend. This will be my 2nd attempt at a garden. last year it just burned up or the eggplants & cantolope & peppers rotted before they finished growing. I am learning from my mistakes, and hoping I'll be more successful this year. Also hoping to get a few chickens. Have to figure out how to "hide" that being in the city. AND manage peace between the chickens and the dogs. LOL I have lots & lots to learn!

[jed1943]

About half the fall garden is over now. Still have onions, carrots, kale and turnips doing well. Have a couple of broccoli plants that are producing. We put 4 tomato plants in the greenhouse and they are still producing.
We have already started a bunch of stuff for the spring garden. Lots of little seedlings that need tender care.
We are in the process of building about 140 feet of raised bed to try this year.

[TerryBelle24]

Unfortunately I'm moving into my mother in-law's mobile home that's in a park to help save up money and get our finances straight. Not much room to work with as I'd like, but I'm planning on doing as much verticle growing as possible. Tomatoes, cucumbers and okra across the back fence line using the pre-existing fence line as a stabilizer, then fastening a couple multi-pocketed canvass shoe organizers on one side of the trailer to grow lettuce, onions, brocolli, cauliflower, herbs, and garlic. I'm trying to find more verticle growing ideas as well. Gotta make the most of small spaces.

[sr30]

Originally Posted by bulfrog5

Going to be doing a garden for the first time in five years. I have more room to work with at my current location so I'm planning raised beds. As for varieties, I'm looking to experiment with growing tobacco (possible barter item). I will also be looking at different varieties of beans. What advice can anyone give me for type of beans that do well in the western New York area? And or any experience with growing tobacco in the same region.

My BIL has 300 acres in Chautauqua cnty. Ill try to find out from him. He has a garden easily the size of a basketball court.

[EdD270]

Yup, grow a garden every year.

[9111315]

In recognition of Obama's second term, I'm calling mine a Victory Garden.

We will all need one if we are going to win.

[Riverdale]

Yes, and prolly adding 10-12 fruit trees and a few grape vines, too.

Going to try a ''potato experiment".

[Ruth Prepper]

My 2013 garden plan is a combination of getting back to what we used to do, and trying new techniques and varieties.

We've always been of the roto-till and plant-in-rows school. The last several years, we had a small garden in one spot...it went from awesome to pathetic in a few short years, especially the tomatoes (northeast here). As far as I know, we never practiced rotation in the "old days" but it's worse in a small garden.

Soo...was planning on using the old garden, but having educated myself, will be trying raised beds and new varieties.

Benefits of raised beds:

• You don't compact the soil by walking between the plants.
• Your plants have more aerated soil.
• You can plant more in a small area by "staggering" them.
• Blocks (as opposed to rows) encourage more cross-pollination.
• By raising the soil, you'll get "deeper" topsoil. (Even more important if you have ledge beneath your lawn!)
• You can more easily arrange your garden when you're not constricted to a rectangle.
• You don't have to use barriers...you can just mound it...or get creative with what to use as barriers.
• You don't have to kill your back to pick and weed (depending how high and wide you make the beds).

Benefits of ordering new varieties online:

• Stores may discontinue the varieties you love. (We can no longer get "Early Girl" tomatoes around here.) Seed catalogs have more, especially those who cultivate heirloom seeds.
• You can grow a variety that's adapted to the weather you have, instead of whatever the superstore carries.
• You can peruse and plan ahead.
• You can keep your favorite and try a new variety or two at the same time.
• You can try varieties for different "types" of gardening (one variety for the raised bed, one for the container, one hanging or indoors, etc).

I'm a procrastinator so the biggest danger in a big project or change is that I'll abandon it. So I'll try the most important new things first:

• Work compost into the soil several weeks before planting. (Next time, I'll do it in the fall.)
• Start my own compost pile (never did this before).
• Mulch the pathways (if my raised beds are of the rake-it-up variety).
• Have a rotation diagram.
• Plant marigolds around the tomatoes (supposed to deter pests, plus they're edible).
• Interplant beneficial plants (carrots love tomatoes, tomatoes or strawberries shade lettuce, plant tomatoes in last year's bean plot because beans fix nitrogen in the soil, etc).

I'm also going to try a couple new things, like garlic (just 'cause it's good for you) and sunchokes (sunflowers that produce edible, good-storing tubers, and which are native to the Northeast to boot).