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Anyone else plannng 2013 garden??

16K views 150 replies 98 participants last post by  Dragonid 
#1 ·
I realize its a little early, but hey, why not? Anyone else putting together plans for their garden? Or "other " garden related projects?

I feel like for me the last couple of years has been really bad. If i was dependent on the food... well my family and I would most likely be dead. Or scavenging the forest floor for weeds. :rolleyes:

I seem to be stuck, all my seedlings start out great, I get everything planted, then the critters come. Last year was seriously looking up around midseason. Numerous green tomatoes, then the deer came along. End of story.

This year, well next season, I have some projects in mind that will hopefully re-inspire me and to keep my 2013 gardening thread alive. Shortly after Christmas I plan to install some 8 foot fencing. Hopefully the deer will simply look at and decide its not worth it. Next up, I plan to start growing some early crops in my green house. So that should be interesting as well. Green houses have their own sets of problems to deal with, so that should be something different to look forward to.

Believe it or not, I already started some seeds. 4 kinds of lettuce. As soon as I can, they will go out in the green house. Also, I started 6 kinds of pepper seeds. If yall recall, I have a love hate relationship with peppers. In all my years, my success rate has been less then worthless. I have been watching videos and reading up, looks like its time to start implementing other tactics to get a harvest. Clearly what I have been doing is not working. We will see how that goes.

So how about you? Any projects or plans?
 
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#2 ·
well, we just moved into this rental house in August, so i haven't bothered with anything. i've always wanted a big flower garden so as soon as christmas is over I am going to start working on the yard. I am going to get rid of all these weeds and fix up the area that used to be a garden. Plus we are going to make window baskets.

In the back we are going to make a veggie garden that takes up about a third of the yard. Not sure if we are doing raised beds though. Probably. I need to get seeds though.

I'm learning to can right now so that when we start growing stuff I can put some back for my stash. I will probably start a thread about it.

You should post pictures. I love seeing people's progress.
 
#3 ·
I get a couple of weeks off this month, I hope to get an early start getting raised beds partially ready for planting will be less work come March transplanting time and if i dont have to do it all then, then maybe I will pick up an extra crop of something. last year I went out too early and had some frost damage I hope to have restraint and luck this year.
 
#5 ·
Absolutely. I always have a kitchen garden which we use up. I have been making up my lists and planing out my seed needs this past week. I've had some critter problems also. Snares and my Benjamin .177 pellet rifle help them be added to the pot. I haven't had any deer problems yet but I will have to think on that one.
 
#6 ·
I'm planning a few changes for 2013 now. The biggest change is fencing in a new area about 40x50 feet where I'll be planting green manures, chicken fodder, and some beans. These beds may eventually evolve into primary veg begs, depending on how dry the coming years are.

The main garden is divided into three areas of raised beds; right now, the chickens are working over the area where most of the spring crops will go. Every since Katrina's floods, there's some kind of bacterial wilt in the soil, so we grow tomatoes in containers. I'm planning to retire the pots we've been using. I've bought one Earthbox, and plan to experiment with grow bags and an Earthtainer or two, as well.

My shopping cart at Johnny's is getting pretty big, with new varieties of beans and various veg.

Beyond that, the plan is just Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. ;)
 
#9 ·
Today and tomorrow will be warm here in WI but then back to cold. So I'm turning over some dirt this weekend but then back to planning on paper.

I'm going to try something different next year and put toilet paper rolls over the zucchini during those few weeks of moth breeding. I really would like some zucchini out of the garden one of these years
 
#10 ·
Looking forward to next season. Last summer I tried 5 difrent types of tomatos and found one that just kept producing in my greenhouse till the end of OCTOBER! So as many of those a few pepper plants and I am going to try growing ginger and garlic around my greenhouse in conncrete bricks. In my area we grow wasabi so I will try some of those. But my main crops will be potatos, onions, and the tree sisters(squash,beans and corn). Come on Spring time I want to start planting
 
#11 ·
Chad, the fence will be well worth putting up. I have the same problems here in Iowa with deer and *****. I have to keep veggies, fruit trees, and berries inside of a fence, with one electric wire on top to keep the ***** from climbing over.

Right now I am making plans for irrigating my garden. The drought was hell on my crops last year, and I need an irrigation system in place for next summer. I am thinking storage tanks, drip irrigation, mulch, and getting my well running again. My well has set since I was hooked up to rural water 10 years ago.

I am also making plans to add turkeys, ducks, geese and maybe goats and rabbits. I already have a flock of chickens.

So basically I am gearing up food production because of the drought and higher food prices expected because of the drought.

Also being 55 my mini farm is part of my retirement plan. :thumb:
 
#12 ·
As I am in the plant growing business, I am always kind of in the planning mode but I am working on a couple of projects for myself.
I was inspired by the Eden garden "mulch everythin" video and have begun heavily mulching all of my veggie gardens. I am also beginning to mulch around my fruit trees with the overall goal of having about a 1 to 2 acre mulched orchard by this time next year.
 
#16 ·
It's the perfect time to start thinking about gardening next year. I will be doubling my garden space next spring. I can't wait. I also will be planting more herbs next year. I'm going to try mixing them in with the flowers. I hope my wife doesn't mind. A garlic bed was put in this past October and looks promising already. My asparagus should produce next spring for the first time. I can't wait to get my hands in that soil. Thanks FarmerChad for a very inspiring thread.
 
#17 ·
great thread!

we had good success with three types of tomatoes but the rest of our stuff mostly failed.

we started composting big time about 8-9 months ago and should have much much better soil next summer. my winter project is improving irrigating. gonna put PVC pipes about a foot under the soil with holes drilled every 6" or so and run that to the end to 5 gallon buckets where I'm hoping we'll need to use a lot less water next year while encouraging roots to grow even deeper.
 
#19 ·
First chance to get back to this thread. The wife and I went Christmas shopping, and we just made it home.

Glad to see that so many folks are already thinking about next year. I don't want to get caught off guard again, like I did earlier this year, pertaining to all the warm weather we had early on.

Like several others have mentioned, irrigation is also on my mind. Luckily for me, when I bought my green house, I got about a 1/2 mile worth of drip tube and accessories to go with. I fully intend to utilize drip tube. Something else that works well, is soaker hose. Good for beans and the like.

I also plan to restructure my gardening efforts. Im moving away from raised beds, now trying 5 gallon buckets. Nothing wrong with raised beds, I have had many years of service from regular ol' 2x8's. But its time to explore other options. Besides, all the raised beds were starting to rot, and were ripped out to make space for the greenhouse. The tomato plants that I did grow in buckets earlier this year, did quiet well. That is until the August heatwave and the deer.

Another thing, I want to get back to varieties that I know work for me. For instance, tomatoes that work well in my yard.. Mortgage Lifter, Bloody Butcher, Sweet 100. You get the idea... each year I try new varieties but haven't had much luck. Time to get back to what I KNOW will grow. Tired of wasting money on plants and seeds that just don't cut it. Don't get me wrong I still want to try a few different things, but that will be mostly green house related.
 
#20 ·
i plan on getting a rain barrel and hooking it up to the drain pipe and maybe having pvp pipes going down garden with holes for watering. not sure. never tried it before, all plans in my head at the moment.

of course, I have the hose for watering, but we are drought prone here in Texas. Makes me wonder what I would do if I didn't have running water.
 
#21 ·
Last year I grew a seed garden -- and I will be hulling and sorting seeds until March, that is for sure! I give away a set of seeds to everyone I come in contact with, thinking that if even one person in a few square miles has seeds, people can have food.

This year I hope to do the same, but for bi-annuals. I let the chickens eat the beets and carrots :( and the goats ate the cabbage before I got them out of the ground and in the basement. Might try to build some cold frames to start our sensitive stuff early and keep the bugs out long enough to get started. My mom always says plant ten times what you want, 3 for the bugs, 3 for the dogs to step on, and 3 for my dad to step on (haha).

And I want to figure out how to grow our own grain for the animals and bread making.
 
#22 ·
YES! Gardening is definitely on my mind! I'm working on my seed/plant order for next year. And making a lot of planning phone calls to my Mom (who has a big greenhouse).

Everything is frozen here now, with some snow. It shortens winter to look at all the pretty seed catalogues!!

it's also a great time to look through all my gardening books.

I like perennials so I love herbs and fruit. This year I want to add asparagus, raspberries, grapes...

I'll also continue with veggies and herbs.

I have a few little things (lemon balm, daylillies) growing from cuttings under a light under my stove. They keep me happy while waiting for spring.

I'm in the burbs with a tiny lot so I have to get creative and make the most of my space (I think UP! a lot and try to use the vertical space)
 
#23 ·
I have a few little things (lemon balm..
Yep, lemon balm is good for all sorts of things. Tea, cooking, insect repellant. Matter of fact, had it growing beside my half-runners one year, not a single bean or leaf was touched.

Might have to add that back to my list. Just got to be careful. It will take over if you let it.:thumb:
 
#24 ·
I have the garlic planted for next year already. We also tilled up a big chunk of the lawn to expend the garden for 2013.

I hope to take a page out of the no-till threads I saw on this site. I hope to clean out a chunk of the barn and put the hay between the rows of garlic. This should keep the weeds down, add some organic matter and some goat manure for fertilizer.
 
#25 ·
I've got 3 grapes and 2 plums coming sometime in December. I want to get some more Turkey Fig cuttings and see if I can get them to root. I also have a fig that I need to dig up and move to a better location.

I still have some leaf piles in the front that I want to pick up and put around my fruit trees in the back.

I have the back garden area covered with cover crops for the first time, and I am looking at things and trying to figure out how to do some small hugel beds/plant rows. I have about 200 seeds sitting outside for some cold stratification that I am hoping to see sprout in the spring, and another batch of seeds sitting in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.

This year I am going to go slow and steady. There won't be a big purchase of a wide variety of seeds. There will be one or two varieties that get purchased and planted out. If they don't grow, another variety will go down. Everything that gets planted will get mulched with chicken bedding or straw.
 
#26 ·
sort of tossing differant ideas around right now myself ,,,i expanded quite a bit this last year ,,,i got over 25000 square feet to plant in spring ,,,grew some differant crops this year as well ,,,sort of test plots if you will

first was oats,,,these was to feed the rabbits,,i missed the right harvest time for them ,,,so most got blown down and i didnt get much but enough for seed to start again next year,,,it was a 10x100 foot plot

the other new crop was a mangle beet,,,it grew well and the bunnies love the tops as well as the roots
i plan to plant a area right beside the rabbit pen/chicken yard in spring ,,,,fence it after i till and just put the meat rabbits in to fatten around mid summer till butchering time,,anything left will make feed to help carry the breeders over to spring
 
#28 ·
My garden this year will be changed to focus more on root crops. Everything above ground this year pretty much fried in the heat. I will be focusing more on spuds, turnips, rudabegas, carrots, kale, early peas. Sweet potatoes for the potatoes and the leaves, oh beets and sugar beets.

I grew some cotton for fun last year and those did pretty well, and there is quite a bit of oil in the seed.

I am done with corn, it takes too much fertilizer and too much water.
 
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