How does your garden grow?

[eskimo2]

My wife and father-in-law do the gardening.  We have two 20'x30' veggie gardens that are outlined in flowers.  Tomatoes (a variety), green beens, peas, zucchini's, yellow squash, pumpkins, beets, herbs, strawberries, etc.  Not a great season this year.  Groundhogs ate all the peas.  We also have 4 grape arbors and some black raspberries.  The black raspberries this year were the best ever.

Here's my 3 year old in the garden eating tomatoes two years ago:
http://hallbuzz.com/movies/mato_8_25_06.wmv

[Ripsnort]

My wife and father-in-law do the gardening.  We have two 20'x30' veggie gardens that are outlined in flowers.  Tomatoes (a variety), green beens, peas, zucchini's, yellow squash, pumpkins, beets, herbs, strawberries, etc.  Not a great season this year.  Groundhogs ate all the peas.  We also have 4 grape arbors and some black raspberries.  The black raspberries this year were the best ever.

Here's my 3 year old in the garden eating tomatoes two years ago:
http://hallbuzz.com/movies/mato_8_25_06.wmv

Oh man, that smile will just melt your heart! Nice vid Eskimo.

[Nefarious]

Rosie and I lack the space for a nice garden so we started saving the containers our kitty litter comes (Around 4 or 5 Quarts) in and turned them into pots for our Tomatos, Instead of going the Cherry Route, we decided to go for the Beefsteaks, Parks Whoppers and Romas. We also tried our hands at Peppers and bought a Sweet Banana.

So far they are doing great, and we have already started picking them.

[Ripsnort]

Rosie and I lack the space for a nice garden so we started saving the containers our kitty litter comes (Around 4 or 5 Quarts) in and turned them into pots for our Tomatos, Instead of going the Cherry Route, we decided to go for the Beefsteaks, Parks Whoppers and Romas. We also tried our hands at Peppers and bought a Sweet Banana.

So far they are doing great, and we have already started picking them.

Right on!

I've never been successful in 3 attempts at growing Jalipeno Peppers. I think our climate in the PNW is just not warm enough for succesful fruitation. I've tried from seed and green house starters and fail everytime.    Our summer days avg. 75 deg and evening temps in the 50's.  I think the hot peppers like warmer weather...

[eskimo2]

Right on!

I've never been successful in 3 attempts at growing Jalipeno Peppers. I think our climate in the PNW is just not warm enough for succesful fruitation. I've tried from seed and green house starters and fail everytime.    Our summer days avg. 75 deg and evening temps in the 50's.  I think the hot peppers like warmer weather...

In my part of Ohio we are about 10 degrees warmer on both ends.  Peppers grow very well.  We stopped growing them though because we don't use them.  I'm the only one in a family of seven who will eat them; but I eat whatever the women fix for everyone.

[VonMessa]

Right on!

I've never been successful in 3 attempts at growing Jalipeno Peppers. I think our climate in the PNW is just not warm enough for succesful fruitation. I've tried from seed and green house starters and fail everytime.    Our summer days avg. 75 deg and evening temps in the 50's.  I think the hot peppers like warmer weather...

Grow HOPS!!!!!!!

There is a hop shortage and it is making beer expensive.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/14/AR2007081400093.html

Hops grow well in the PNW.  Plus they are a perennial and you can sell them   

Plus, if you have any friends that home brew, they will pay you back in BEER!! 

If I remember, I'll take a few shots of mine and post them.

[Banshee7]

Tell me more about this running okra. Yaknow where I can get some seeds online?
I like trying new stuff

If i knew i would tell ya.  We acquired some seeds from my great-grandmother a few years back.  Since then we always leave two or three okras left on the vine to dry out.  Then we take the seeds from them to use the next year.  These okra are raised on a vine, so you have to have a trellace (spelling?) or some kind of chain link fence to let them grow on.  The okra itself can grow over a foot long and is still VERY good when they get that big.  I'll try to find a place to get them for ya

Edit....you let them grow to 1 foot or larger to gain seeds, but usually you pull them when they are smaller.

[Ripsnort]

Grow HOPS!!!!!!!

There is a hop shortage and it is making beer expensive.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/14/AR2007081400093.html

Hops grow well in the PNW.  Plus they are a perennial and you can sell them   

Plus, if you have any friends that home brew, they will pay you back in BEER!! 

If I remember, I'll take a few shots of mine and post them.

Please do that, I'd like to see how much room they take, and, if you have the information, what the yield of the crop is (per plant? Per square foot?)

Next spring we're putting in a small vineyard for growing grapes in another part of the yard that gets full sun, from 8am to 8pm.  We want to start making our own wine after a couple of years.  Beer making seems to be a bit more involved but something that looks rewarding as well.

[boxboy28]

i got the pepper garden going. jalops, habeneros,  serenos.... and some cyanne.

the habenero bush is just littered with peppers......... there just the regualer orange habeneros thought. I want some of those red savinas.

Jalop bushes and the serenos are full too.

mom has the squash and mAtters out there as well all doing good.

here in NC i got the red(orange) brick hard clay so we have to do a bit of soil amending to it all.


What i need is  a recipe for doing a "sour dill" hot pepper relish

[VonMessa]

Actually, making beer is not as complicated as wine (depending on the style of wine or beer you are making).  The plus side of that is, if you buy a wine or beer making "kit", you can really ferment a simple batch of either.

The only thing that is "more involved" in making beer is the fact that if you go "all grain" (not using malt extract syrup or dried malt extract, both of which can make a fine beer) you add a mash process.  Otherwise, the two are pretty similar.  Beer is ready in a matter of weeks, whereas wine is typically months, but again, its relative.  I have a 5-gallon batch of Scotch "Barley Wine" (still technically beer) that I started 3 months ago and wont be ready until Christmas.  But, at 16% ABV, I can stand the wait   

As far as hops go, they are pretty simple.  I have them growing in my garden with my veggies.  They are basically a vine.  There is really little footprint that it takes up in the garden.  They like to grow UP, UP, UP!
Basically wait for some vines to come up, give them some twine to climb, wrap 'em CW around the twine to get them started and walk away.  They like water and a fair bit of nitrogen.  Yield all depends upon the variety that you choose to grow.  Most American beers use American hops.  Most American hops (Cascade, Mt. Hood, Liberty, etc)  come from the PNW.

If you grow other varieties, especially types that are hard to get a hold of, you can make a few $'s selling any extra that you may have.  Even more $ if you have a local home brew shop.  I know when our local shop gets a batch of special hops, they are usually gone the same day the email goes out.

Local shop for me   http://keystonehomebrew.com/   


 

[texasmom]

I've never been successful in 3 attempts at growing Jalipeno Peppers. I think our climate in the PNW is just not warm enough for succesful fruitation. I've tried from seed and green house starters and fail everytime.    Our summer days avg. 75 deg and evening temps in the 50's.  I think the hot peppers like warmer weather...

I think you're right. We started out with one ornamental pepper plant... now we've got about 50 of them. They were taking over the garden. Had to pluck them all out. Gonna put them all in one separate closed off area around a bird bath, since they are flourishing.  Maybe I'll pick up a jalepeno plant as well... see if it fares as well as the ornamentals.

[eskimo2]

Oh man, that smile will just melt your heart! Nice vid Eskimo.

Thanks

[Ripsnort]

Actually, making beer is not as complicated as wine (depending on the style of wine or beer you are making).  The plus side of that is, if you buy a wine or beer making "kit", you can really ferment a simple batch of either.

The only thing that is "more involved" in making beer is the fact that if you go "all grain" (not using malt extract syrup or dried malt extract, both of which can make a fine beer) you add a mash process.  Otherwise, the two are pretty similar.  Beer is ready in a matter of weeks, whereas wine is typically months, but again, its relative.  I have a 5-gallon batch of Scotch "Barley Wine" (still technically beer) that I started 3 months ago and wont be ready until Christmas.  But, at 16% ABV, I can stand the wait   

As far as hops go, they are pretty simple.  I have them growing in my garden with my veggies.  They are basically a vine.  There is really little footprint that it takes up in the garden.  They like to grow UP, UP, UP!
Basically wait for some vines to come up, give them some twine to climb, wrap 'em CW around the twine to get them started and walk away.  They like water and a fair bit of nitrogen.  Yield all depends upon the variety that you choose to grow.  Most American beers use American hops.  Most American hops (Cascade, Mt. Hood, Liberty, etc)  come from the PNW.

If you grow other varieties, especially types that are hard to get a hold of, you can make a few $'s selling any extra that you may have.  Even more $ if you have a local home brew shop.  I know when our local shop gets a batch of special hops, they are usually gone the same day the email goes out.

Local shop for me   http://keystonehomebrew.com/   


 

Great info!

My favorite beer is IPA's. (the strong, the darker, the better!) On a "Beer making scale" of 1-5, (5 being the most difficult) how would you rate making your own IPA?

[VonMessa]

Great info!

My favorite beer is IPA's. (the strong, the darker, the better!) On a "Beer making scale" of 1-5, (5 being the most difficult) how would you rate making your own IPA?

As easy as any other beer    Just brewed one last week.

IPA (India Pale Ale)  is traditionally higher in alcohol and much hoppier than other beers.  It was made that way to better survive the trip from UK to India which used to take months on a ship (a pale ale going to India = IPA)  IPA's only require more fermentables, and more hops.  Fermentables to up the ABV and hops for their antibiotic/bacteriostatic qualities. 

Grow hops 

[RATTFINK]

I and another squaddie of mine "bigjohnV" are into home brewing beer.

His son has a hops farm.

http://lazyacres.ca