Gardening From Seeds is a Growing Pastime

77 Square ^ | April 24, 2009 | Chris Martell

[Viking2002]

Get those Topsy-Turvy planters. Perfect for city slickers like you. All you need is a few feet of porch, balcony, or whatnot to hang them from. Hell, when I first lived in the DC 'burbs, I was renting a bungalo, and had nothing but a 6'x3' brick planter in front of my door. I still grew tomatoes and Serrano peppers, and was quite successful at it. It's all a matter of maximizing the raw space and materials at hand. Just Google 'patio gardens' and see what shakes loose.

[agrarianlady]

I love your garden pictures. Seeing how the fencing is done is very helpful. We have deer :-(

I am struggling to start a garden this year — we have started from scratch with a house purchased last autumn with trees in the yard — so the trees have had to be cut down, etc. I’ve got about 50 tomato plants that might be homeless —

Also, we live in an area with red clay, which is completely disturbing.

I’ve planted from seeds:

Yellow Gooseberry (gorgeous happy plants)
Sungold (an orange cherry)
Black Truffle Hybrid (a black plum tomato)
Carbon (a purple/black tomato)
Big Beef Hybrid (Burpee)
a few Giant Belgium

Also cucumbers, beans (bush plus asparagus beans), radish, carrots, lettuce, watermelon. Just the basics this year.

An inspiring website for me has been Claire’s youtube videos from England. “claire’s allotment” is the keyword.

[girlangler]

Love In a Mist. I had a friend in England (devoted gardener) send me a bunch of flower seeds a few years ago, with no instructions on how to plant them.

So I planted these seeds in the sun and shade. They do great everywhere. They are perrinials, and spread each year.

They have become my favorite flower. My friend said they are called Love in a Mist. They have fernlike foliage, with a beautiful purple flower. The flower becomes a seed pod and is full of seeds.

I sent some to gardengirl. How are yours doing GG?

[stefanbatory]

please do not insult me by calling me a city slicker( i know you didn’t mean to)...grew up in farm country to a long line of farmers...I still won’t buy beef or milk in the store here...and it’s been many years...

my ambition is to “farm” my way back to the country...

[Free America52]

I planted three small gardens this week-end - tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, squash, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, cantaloupe = can’t wait for some fresh vegetables!

[Gabz]

I had about five acres for a garden.

No you don't --- believe me you don't!!!!!

Our weather has freaked out on us.......90 degrees in the shade and it is still April, unreal.

[Gabz]

NellieMae has been added to the list!!!

[stefanbatory]

could i be added to the list as well?

[diamond6]

I have very little property, so I used some space in front of our house, which gets alot of sun, to grow some yellow crookneck squash. It had been there almost two weeks. When I went out to water it tonight, it was completely gone, like someone just pulled it out of the ground. I live in a suburbun area, I can’t imagine what did this. Rats maybe?

[Viking2002]

Well, then, just chuck it and pull up stakes. I grew up in the mountains. Lived in DC for 15 years, then threw caution to the wind and relocated 800 miles away. I haven't been back to DC in over ten years, and don't miss it - or the pretentious critters infesting it - one bit. The next move will be back into the mountains, to live in the log chalet the wife and I are planning to build. With a trout stream in the back yard, mind you. Or at least a decent bass pond. LOL

[Red_Devil 232]

Understand the frustration with the red clay. The people around here think it is top soil! LOL.

The fencing and the posts are left over from when we lived in Texas and we had to have a fence for our dogs. I still have rolls of the fencing and many polls. My Wife wanted to just leave it when we moved since the property we have now has a chain link fence all around it. I could not leave it and am glad I didn't.

[Gabz]

You’re now on the list!!!!

I saw your comment about wanting to get from city to farm -— I know what you mean. I grew up a “city slicker” yet couldn’t wait to get out into the country. Took me a while, but I finally did it and love our little slice of the middle of nowhere!!!

[eggman]

Hi Diana, my wife is a longtime customer. I think she just got some trays an Stonehead cabbage seed from Jung this year. She shops all the seed catalogs. Probably have about 30 different ones that she has bought from over the years.

Both of us grew up on vegetable farms and have a big garden every year. Tried parsnips for the first time last year and still have some in the fridge that we wintered over in the garden.

[agrarianlady]

Love in a Mist

Nigella damascena

Thank you!

[eggman]

I got about a quart jar of ground serrano peppers that I dried from last year's garden. My wife doesn't like the hot peppers so I add it to soups and sauces at the table. We always cook with very little salt and a little bit of ground serrano works better anyway to enhance the flavor.

[tubebender]

Having grown up in the 30s and 40s it really shocks me to see the price of just a few seeds when Mom and Dad used but a 2 or 3 year supply for 10 or 15 cents. The tomato plants he purchased were bare root. Now veggie seeds might be 10 or 15 seeds for $5.00 or more. With diminishing appetites we plant very few veggies except potatoes, corn and garlic. Lots of berries though as they can be preserved. I have pre-sprouted my corn and will plant it in speedling trays in the greenhouse tomorrow after we get back from mowing the Church lawns...

[Vendome]

I agree. I spent 10 years in Oklahoma and had to till, turn and pick rocks out of my Mom’s 1 acre garden. I hated it! Very time consuming and we weren’t going to eat everything that came out of it.

Convinced her, after 2 years, to pare the monster down. She agreed and we started using 1/4 and acre. Plenty big enough and much easier to manage. Still had to pick up rocks that somehow keep pushing their way up through the soil.

[Tarheel]

Got the last of my tomatoes planted today, still have one more cuke and the zucchini and cantaloupe to get in.

Started to pick lettuce/mesclun this last week, fresh greens are so good.

Still have petunias to plant and some snapdragons.

[Gabz]

I have to honestly say I have never heard of anyone starting corn indoors and it never even crossed my mind to do so.

[Tarheel]

Yes, I grew them all from seed this year—could not believe everything grew.