"Gardeners' motivations might differ - saving money in tough times, concern over the safety and eco-friendliness of food - but one thing seems clear: Vegetable gardening is in vogue, and sales are up at seed catalog and garden centers. And that was before the nation's first family started a garden of its own.
"Sales at the Jung Seed Co. in Randolph have increased between 15% and 18% this year in each of its five seed catalogs, Jung owner Dick Zontag said. Jung supplies plants and seeds to garden centers from the upper Midwest to the East Coast."
http://www.jsonline.com/business/42936442.html
I love digging in the dirt. I've often told friends, "Give me a spade and some soil to dig into, and I'm in heaven." Too bad I can't pre-plan my funeral by literally digging my own grave. As I age, though, it gets harder and harder to kick that spade into the ground. My hips and lower back are worn out from years of landscape work.
I recently cleared some small areas where I live for planting. I thought about vegetables, but given the neighborhod, I assume most of them would be stolen by the time they ripen, so I'm probably going to settle for some ornamentals. I can't afford much, and I don't have a lot of space, but I just HAVE to get my hands dirty at this time of year. I already have my first blisters from raking up leaves and debris.
How about you? Do you plant or maintain a garden? Veggies or flowers or ferns? Or weeds?
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I love to dig in the dirt too. I always have flowers, tomato plants, cucumbers, hot peppers, parsley and chives. I tried spinach and beans last year, but my "neighbors" (blasted chipmunks and rabbits) stole them before I could get to them.
I wanna grow tomatoes, but they stole them from the last place I lived, and this place offers even less protection.
I'm partial to shade gardens, but don't have the opportunity to do one here.
My neighbors in Sturtevant plant one in the raised garden my husband had put together right after we moved there almost 25 years ago...I miss the salads I used to make right out of the garden. He did compact planting for lettuce, radishes, etc. Such a small area and we had onions, cukes, tomatoes, lettuce, beans and peppers.
I'm not the gardener but we do have aspargus, onions, lettuce, and strawberries. Coming soon, tomatoes and green beans. I'm not sure but I think we missed planting the new potatoes this year.
My sister bought one of those plants that grows tomatoes upside down and she loves it.
Same problem. The kids would destroy it. Then again, he chipmunks and rabbits would make quick work too. Nope, gonna go out and harvest some dandelions for salad. Always wanted to try that and this is the time. bullheads and carp are good this time of year too. You do know Carp used to be a game fish, right? Food source brought over from Europe.
I miss having a garden. Not feasible here For all the same reasons mentioned above.
My husband built 4 huge raised gardens for me where we used to live. 20 regular tomato plants, 6 cherry ( red and yellow) gosh I miss those! Cukes, melons, radishes, carrots, onions,jalapeno and green and red peppers. Even tried potatoes one year . That was fun!
Got my dogs hooked on cherry tomatoes too. LOL
Veggies fresh the vine taste great. When I was a kid, the neighbors tilled up half their backyard for a garden. My mom and the neighbor woman planted and tended the garden.
When I used to own a house, I kept my lawn looking nice like golf course. Planted in whiskey barrels-silvias, dusty millers ,and spike plants. I kinda miss doing that.
my mom is the gardener of the family, but I do love cucumbers and tomatoes right out of the garden, that's the BEST!!!!!!!!!
We put in a large garden and two smaller kitchen gardens, have several fruit trees and bushes and just got 10 chicks (we ony wanted 6, but they threw in 4 sickies for free and of course they all survived...). We're going to be getting a dozen eggs each day, egads! The harvest gets pretty overwhelming, a lot goes to waste unfortunately as it seems we can't keep up with picking and preserving-- hopefully this year we'll be better. I got a food dehydrator and hope to make a lot of apple and pear butter this year as well... if anyone wants to help, there'll be lots to share:-) Someone even suggested pear wine, we just get so many we can't use!
Oohhh. Yum. I still have all those egg cartons. Do you spray the pear trees?
We don't spray anything, we use all organic gardening methods-- we probably SHOULD spray the apples, but since we use the apples primarily for pies and sauce (and juice a few...), it doesn't matter much if they're ugly. They're golden delicious (and I think maybe Paula Reds in the back??), mighty tasty! And the pears are pretty fantastic, too... we've put in blueberry bushes, raspberries and blackberries, and hope to get some concord grapes in this year for juice (I hear it's good for ya!)... we're gluttons for punishment, AND good eats:-) Bring those cartons out sometime in August when the new girls start laying... we'll have a bounty of eggs to share!
cyndi, I'm jealous. You are making hungry for fresh fruit!
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