Does anyone here garden?

[iccyman001]

Im on a quest for learning new things. I wasn\'t fortunate enough to grow up learning cool trades like farming, gardening, canning, jarring, butchering, etc.

So while I am here in Florida my \"quest\" is to learn about these things.

For gardening I was thinking about doing an elevated 10\'x\'10 or 12\'x12\' garden. I was trying to think of what items I wanna focus on and I was thinking tomatoes, jalape?os, zucchini, and anything else you could recommend.....

I wanna practice making my own salsas, spaghetti sauce and more. So these items would be awesome.
I also LOVE eating cherry tomatoes.

Does anyone else have any items they think I should try?
I need to start looking up growing seasons... I wonder if I can start anything now?

 

[bowhunter]

I have a garden every year. I make my own salsa too. I do like to can foods even meat as you should know Dan.

I plant tomatoes,cucumbers,green peppers, zucchini, yellow summer squash,onions, jalapeno peppers every year. I sometimes do may other veggies.

Dan if you can find them in your area look for \"Sweet 100\" cherry tomatoes. delicious.........

 

[iccyman001]

I have a garden every year. I make my own salsa too. I do like to can foods even meat as you should know Dan.

I plant tomatoes,cucumbers,green peppers, zucchini, yellow summer squash,onions, jalapeno peppers every year. I sometimes do may other veggies.

Dan if you can find them in your area look for \"Sweet 100\" cherry tomatoes. delicious.........

I loved your canned and jarred stuff! :upthumb:

If I can\'t find them around here I can try to order some online!
Onions sound like a great plan too!!!!

Are any of these veggies invasive? Meaning will they grow and over take the other plants? Or can I pair most of these together?

 

[bowhunter]

The cucumbers will spread out and climb on stuff and the squash and zucchini can get pretty big. I have planted my stuff far apart so they have room but......that makes a lot more to weed. I am usually too busy to weed as often as I need, like on a 3 week elk hunt, so the get ahead of me sometimes.

Next year i am going to try to shrink my garden down by 75%. I am going to plant less plants as I usually waste a lot. I am hoping to get just as much veggies with less waste and less work.

It sound like a good idea :idea: I will see how it goes in 2017.

 

[iccyman001]

The cucumbers will spread out and climb on stuff and the squash and zucchini can get pretty big. I have planted my stuff far apart so they have room but......that makes a lot more to weed. I am usually too busy to weed as often as I need, like on a 3 week elk hunt, so the get ahead of me sometimes.

Next year i am going to try to shrink my garden down by 75%. I am going to plant less plants as I usually waste a lot. I am hoping to get just as much veggies with less waste and less work.

It sound like a good idea :idea: I will see how it goes in 2017.

If I go elevated with my platform, how deep would you recommend I build it? I want to make sure I have enough soil!

 

[cnelk]

I have a couple gardens each year.
Nothing too big.

One garden has corn and potatoes.
The other has tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, chili peppers, jalapenos - just right for making Pico De Gallo

The gardens arent ready at the same time of year so that helps in staying on top of them.

Do some research on your local County Extension Office as they will have what grows best in your region.
What I grow here in the Colorado altitude may not be best for the Florida weather

 

[iccyman001]

I have a couple gardens each year.
Nothing too big.

One garden has corn and potatoes.
The other has tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, chili peppers, jalapenos - just right for making Pico De Gallo

The gardens arent ready at the same time of year so that helps in staying on top of them.

Do some research on your local County Extension Office as they will have what grows best in your region.
What I grow here in the Colorado altitude may not be best for the Florida weather

Very good point! ^^^^

Are potatoes pretty easy to grow? I LOVE sweet potatoes and red potatoes. :upthumb: :upthumb: :upthumb:

 

[bowhunter]

I would think 12 inches would be enough. I have talked to people from Oklahoma where the soil is red and rocky who use a cool trick. They just throw a bag of top soil on the ground cut a slit in the top and plant a tomato plant. It works for them so I would think 12 inches would do.

My soil was kind of clay like so I added compost and sand to help keep it from getting hard after rains. It soaks water up better and is much looser. The plants seem to like it. I use a 10-10-10 garden fertilizer too.

 

[cnelk]

I grew up farming potatoes in Minnesota
Potatoes are really easy to grow.
And you get A LOT for what you plant.

Just be sure to keep mounding the plants are they grow, dust some SEVIN on the leaves if you get a bug problem

BTW. Whitetails think potatoes are crack candy....

 

[iccyman001]

I would think 12 inches would be enough. I have talked to people from Oklahoma where the soil is red and rocky who use a cool trick. They just throw a bag of top soil on the ground cut a slit in the top and plant a tomato plant. It works for them so I would think 12 inches would do.

My soil was kind of clay like so I added compost and sand to help keep it from getting hard after rains. It soaks water up better and is much looser. The plants seem to like it. I use a 10-10-10 garden fertilizer too.

I\'ll have to look into what the locals say. I figured the soil was good here, but I planned on doing some rich top soil mixed in or on top, just in case.
I\'ve been considering a compost pile too, just to get some good soil for future gardens.

 

[iccyman001]

I grew up farming potatoes in Minnesota
Potatoes are really easy to grow.
And you get A LOT for what you plant.

Just be sure to keep mounding the plants are they grow, dust some SEVIN on the leaves if you get a bug problem

BTW. Whitetails think potatoes are crack candy....

We eat a lot of potatoes... I mean, what else goes great with a steak?
I should probably just grow asparagus too. Now I am drooling thinking about elk tenderloins, potatoes and asparagus...

YUM



Hmmmmmm potatoes and whitetail... I can make this work!

 

[Zpd307]

we had a great crop of taters up here. we started a new patch of asparagus this summer. and now I have some elk to go with them

 

[iccyman001]

we had a great crop of taters up here. we started a new patch of asparagus this summer. and now I have some elk to go with them

Woot woot!!!! :dance2:
We are going to be eating real well at turkey camp this year


That is if we are invited

 

[F M]

When don\'t we eat good in turkey camp. :lol:

 

[iccyman001]

When don\'t we eat good in turkey camp. :lol:

This is very true!!!
We just need to convince Gary to bring some of that honey... YUM!

 

[Ol' Arky]

Sweet taters ARE crack candy to whitetail.... :upthumb: :upthumb: :upthumb:

 

[Zpd307]

there will be honey, no worries on that!!!!!

 

[bowhunter]

there will be honey, no worries on that!!!!!

Yum!!!! I had some of your honey on a bagel last night. That is some sweet smooth stuff.

 

[Ol' Arky]

Ya\'ll start talking about groceries too much and I might just \"crash the party\".... :haha: :haha:

 

[colorado russ]

I\'m with you Phil!

Dan, being an OK native, I grew up gardening and canning salsa, tomatoes, Italian sauce, pickles, etc...

Best advice - go to Extension office as recommended. There will be varieties specific to your area of FL for lots of your seeds/plants and they\'ll know which grow and yield the best.

If space is an issue, cucumbers, squash, zucchini and melons take up a lot of ground space unless you keep them clipped back(less produce as well so a negative). Cucumbers do very well as climbers on a trellis - just buy the variety that\'s smaller not what you see in the grocery store for salads.

Fall crops can be planted now I bet in FL. Lettuce and spinach are two. I think you can plant beets and other root vegetables now and cover then will come up early Spring. Might be garlic that\'s planted now too. You\'ll have a long growing season and expect might have to turn over your garden, or part of it, in between crops.

12x12 is plenty big for 2 people and 12\" should be deep enough. If you have sod under your raised bed, I\'d go ahead and till it and rake out weeds before putting down your rich mix. That way if the plants need more than 12\" to grow they can.

A garden is top priority when we move back to OK. Plus, gets you ready for planting food plots!