You can see the parsnips in the bottom left of the pic. 
Posted on 04/26/2009 6:10:21 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
It looked like a mad game of Twister in the vegetable seed section at Home Depot on Verona Road last weekend. The arms and legs of strangers criss-crossed as they grabbed seed packets, then paused to read instructions and make decisions.
Among them were Angela and Tim Lucas, of Madison, who gave themselves a roto-tiller for their second wedding anniversary in March.
"We never planted a single thing before, but we think it will be a lot of fun," Angela said. "We love to cook, and we're trying to save money."
It's estimated that for every $100 a homeowner spends on their vegetable garden, they will harvest produce worth between $1,000 and $1,700.
The Lucases got their seed shopping list from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening": artichokes, arugula, asparagus, edamame, eggplant, garlic, herbs, jicama, leeks, lettuce, okra, patty pan squash, poblano chilis, radicchio, Swiss chard, shallots, snow peas, sorrel, specialty potatoes, strawberries, beets, tomatillos, tomatoes.
The gardening business is one of the few bright spots in the economy these days. Major seed companies are seeing major surges in sales of vegetable seeds -- with occasional shortages of certain varieties reported -- as well as gardening paraphernalia.
"There's a renewed interest in vegetable gardening across the board, and seed sales are up substantially," said Karen Johannsen, a co-owner of Johannsen's Greenhouse, of Madison. "We're very optimistic about the spring season."
Johannsen said many customers tell her they've never grown vegetables, and others haven't done it for many years. "Vegetable gardening just fell away for a long time; when I was a kid everyone had a vegetable garden."
In addition to wanting to save money, many are expressing an interest in knowing where their food comes from, and in supporting local businesses like Johannsen's. "People are nesting instead of taking vacations, and gardening is part of that,"
Heirloom vegetables (varieties that are at least 50 years old and not a hybrid) are among the best sellers. "Some hybrids have superior qualities -- they might be larger or disease resistant -- but many of them have also had the flavor bred out of them." They are also looking for organic fertilizers and pesticides. "That's been building for a decade," Johannsen said.
Richard Zondag, president of the Randolph-based Jung Seed Company, said they've sold 3.5 million packages of seeds this year, compared to about 2.75 million last year. Jung's vegetable seed sales are up about 30 percent, while sales of ornamental seeds and bulbs are down at least 15 percent. "Overall, sales are up 20 percent," he said. "We're having a great year. The only time we did this well before was during the Y2K scare when people started growing vegetables because they thought everything in the world was going to pot." In addition to vegetables, Jung's sales are strong for berries and fruit trees.
Both Johannsen and Zondag recommend that newbie vegetable gardeners scale back on their ambitions:
"Start on a smaller scale so you will be success," Johannsen urged.
"Plant about half of what you want to, or you'll get sick of it," Zondag said.
Vegetable gardening tips
• Start small. • Grow your favorites. • Do some research. • Make sure you have room. • Consult other gardeners, especially those who live nearby. • "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening" by Daria Price Bowman and Carl A. Price (Penguin, $16.95) covers just about every aspect of vegetable garden: planning, earth-friendly techniques, soil nourishment, planting seeds and seedlings, growing vegetables, berries, and medicinal herbs, recognizing common plant diseases, identifying and eliminating weeds, pruning and trimming plants, knowing when to harvest, deciding whether to can, dry or freeze. • An excellent website is www.VegetableGardener.com, a sister site to FineCooking.com and developed by the editors of Fine Gardening. Look for advice on how to choose a site, organic gardening and growing specific crops.
You don't need a garden to garden
Anything that can hold a good amount of soil and plants, and allows water to drain out, is suited for container gardening.
Containers can be terra cotta, concrete, plastic, metal, wood, ceramic, wire, watering cans, buckets, old boots -- just about anything. Bigger pots require less watering, while darker colors absorb heat and help plants grow in summer (though warmer containers cause quicker evaporation). A benefit of container gardening is that you can move plants around to see where they do best.
Some herbs, like mint, are invasive and almost impossible to get rid of once they take hold and should only be grown in containers. A windowsill that gets about five or six hours of sunshine a day is a great spot for growing herbs in containers. The best herbs for windowsill gardens are dense an compact: oregano, thyme, mints, rosemary, basil, sage, cilantro, chives, tarragon and lavender all do well in pots. Lettuces also grow well in pots, Bigger vegetables, like squash, do well in large containers like wine barrels, as do strawberries, tomatoes and bell peppers.
Think about what you like to eat before planting. If you like salsa, combine cilantro, garlic, onion, jalapeno and tomatoes in a container. Those who like Italian food can put a tomato plant in the center of a pot and surround it with Italian herbs such as thyme, sage, oregano, parsley and rosemary.
Also suited for containers are edible flowers, like nasturtium, pansies, and marigolds. Medicinal gardens can grow in containers as well: peppermint, Echinacea, calendula, feverfew, St. John's Wort, valerian, dandelion and chamomile.
When watering container gardens, water just enough so that the soil is moist to the touch on the surface and wait to water again until the soil is dry to the touch on the surface, but still moist an inch or so under the surface.
The most efficient way to water a container is to put your containers in a deep dish or tub, fill it up and let the water soak into the plants from the bottom, which will take a few hours. When the soil is moistened thoroughly, pour excess water on the ground. Glass bottle hacks sold at garden stores (glass bulbs with long spikes) are filled with water, then turned upside down so water is released very slowly. You can also use glass bottles from your recycled bin with a set of spikes.
Sources: http://planetgreen.discovery.com; http://home.howstuffworks.com
Getting started
Recommendations for beginning vegetable gardeners:
Bean, Festina: Resistant to Common Bean Mosaic Virus, it's a bushy plant with straight pods about six inches long.
Squash, Park's Straightneck: The slender squash grow about eight inches and have thin skins, with a high yield compared to most other varieties.
Cucumber, Salad Bush Hybrid: These have an improved disease resistance.
Lettuce, Summer Glory Blend: Includes seven heat-tolerant varieties that will produce lettuce most of the growing season.
Basil, Large Leaf Italian: This Genovese-type basil grows 18 to 24 inches high and 12 to 15 inches wide.
Parsley, Italian Plain Leaf: Flat-leafed parsley is much more nutritious than curly. It can been harvested frequently so the plants keep sprouting new stems.
Source: Park Seed Company
Get free plants
Another suggestion for those interested in developing a green thumb and saving money: Get free plants. Check out these sources:
•Freecycle.org, where people often offer excess garden materials, especially if you offer to return a portion of the produce. •Gardening groups who share advice, help and sometimes even plants. •Landscapers: they often know who has extra plants, including vegetables. Ask if you can have plants that would otherwise go to a landfill. •Nurseries: Sometimes they throw away plants that are getting too old or ugly to sell. •Green houses, either commercial or run by schools. Another good place to get throw-aways as they thin out seedlings. •The grocery store: Some vegetables can be started from a portion of the plant itself (potatoes, yams, garlic, ginger, beans, herbs that still have roots). Ask what produce is being throw away and ask to go through it. The same is true of your own kitchen, or those of friends •Compost pile: Seedlings pop up in this fertile material all the time. Relocate them to the garden or containers.
I am glad you got your garden in!
I have seen the bad weather over in Texas and north of there. But my weather page is only showing a 20% chance of rain on Thursday and Friday. I have a feeling there will be a major up date to the forecast tonight. Usually all that bad weather in Texas head rights for me a day later!
Very impressive!
I spent seven of the happiest years of my life working for The Seed Savers Exchange, which specializes in heirloom seed from all over the world. Check them out:
Good people. :)
“Around here it seems to be berry and apple country.”
Move to a zone 5/6 and you can grow just about anything. :)
Husband wants to retire to Northern Wisconsin, but I keep saying I’m NOT moving any further NORTH than where I can still grow tomatoes. :)
I don’t think I will be moving anytime soon. My family and I are really starting to love this place. It gets a fair amount of rain in the winter, but the temps are mild, summers are low temp, low humidity, and the scenery is great.
It is a pretty part of the country. In a ‘former life’ I was a Navy Wife. ;)
Hey y’all!
I can only play for a little bit and then I have to go to bed! I have really missed everybody!
Oh My Gosh
We have been so busy! It’s great, but I am so tired!
girlangler—sounds like you’re having fun! Wish I could go fishing. Thot about it yest, but I’m on some stupid meds—stay out of direct sunlight. I zip in and out of the greenhouse but I’m not quite brave enough to go out on the boat! LIAMS are doing great. Haven’t gotten them planted outside yet, only because I haven;t had time.
Red—the pics are great! How are the pups and the figs? LOL
We’ve got most of our garden in. The peas are doing great, cauliflower is almost ready to pick, broccoli is so-so. Bak choi and cabbage are beautiful. Green beans, cukes, zukes, and squash are popping out of the ground. Tomatoes and peppers are doing well, still small. Lettuces and spinach in bowls are tasty, had some a couple times.
We had a gale here last week, thot everything was going to blow away. About a week from the north, and then it switched to the south for a couple days. Gusts to 50. My poor peas are leaning every which way! Now it’s decided to go from winter to mid summer over night. Had to put the shade cloth on the greenhouse today.
Di—my buff orpingtons are a month old and they are so cute! We got them out in the coop a week ago. Mallards coming in tom.
Have fun everybody, and I’ll check back in as I get time.
You can see the parsnips in the bottom left of the pic.
My plants are getting a good watering tonight with a downpour going on right now. It is soooo relaxing!
I would like to know more about these two items you have (if you don’t mind my askinig)...
05906 - Ripple Mix Horizon Hybrid Geranium
05243 - Rose W/Bronze Leaf Big Hybrid Begonia
The pear trees bloomed and are producing fruit. They are about 10 feet further up the slope in a better draind area. There were so many new pears on my Pineapple pear that I had to cull quite a few fruit. There were more than 50 pears on the tree and I was afraid the weight would break some of the limbs. I took about half of them off. Should help those that are left grow bigger I hope.
Your place looks a lot like mine; chicken’s included. Thanks for sharing. :)
Both are an expensive way to get a few flowers, LOL! How’s that?
If you’re in a Zone warmer than I am (4/5) I’m not sure of when your starting times for those seeds would be. We start Geranium and begonia from seed/tubers in January up here.
Geranium seed is not very reliable, and they’re expensive. I have a local guy grow all of the geraniums we sell from cutting stock; even Jung’s doesn’t grow out geranium or begonia from seed; it’s cheaper to bring it to the public via plant cuttings.
Not to discourage you; you just picked two varieties that are hard to grow from seed. It CAN be done, though, or else people would stop buying them, right? ;)
That doesn’t surprise me. I usually pick hard things since I don’t know much about starting plants from seed. Thanks for the help!
It sounds like my squirrels visited your garden! They love pulling up my strawberry plants!
Do the same when handling/sorting pepper seed. I was in a rush and sorted some dried habanero seed bare-handed. Then I made the mistake of using the rest room before heading out shopping...OMG! OMG. Did I say OMG? It took several hours to wear off...people couldn't figure out why I was 'walking funny'.
lol!
...easy for you to say... :-)
Believe me, I do know. Just not in the same place as yours.
I can’t imagine that! I just touched my lips after touching a plant. OUCH!
Very impressive garden. Beautiful dogs too!!
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