[Diana in Wisconsin]

Shameless plug: Dick Zondag is my Boss. He's running the family business his Grandpa started 102 years ago. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

And Karen Johannsen WOULD be my arch-enemy if she wasn’t so darn nice and didn’t know so much, LOL! Our businesses compliment one another very well; we constantly trade customers. :)

[Blogger]

I have found those peat pellets are good ways to start the seeds growing. Have some little patio tomato plants started right now.

[Arrowhead1952]

Diana, I had to LOL at this:

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening”

Growing up on a farm in the 50’s / 60’s, everyone knew how to grow everything. I’ll never forget the time I stopped by a small nursery on the way home from the farm about three years ago and $.25 (1/2 teaspoon) worth of leaf lettuce seed. We ate lettuce for more than two years.

So far, my best tomatoes are from seeds I harvested from last year’s crop. I have plants with 5 - 8 tomatoes that are quarter sized. Just waiting for the fresh salads.

[newhouse]

Well let me tell you about your nursery catalog- sometimes when my daughter goes to seminars etc I tag along- we have plenty of after meeting time to explore whatever city we are in. But during the day I often wait in the hotel room- early this March I had my Jung catalog with me. I spent a couple days engrossed in reading (every catalog teaches me something new about individual plants so I read alot of them),and planning our warmer weather gardens.

Jung is one of my favorites, both for the quality and the service. And I am rather quick to recommend the company.

[leftyontheright]

"Some vegetables can be started from a portion of the plant itself"

Do you know if most grocery stores sell produce from non-hybrid seeds? I am relatively new to gardening and wondering if the potatoes (did I spell that right? having a Dan Quayle moment) that we have growing in our compost will affect our seed potatoes if they pollinate as hybrid corn does.

[Viking2002]

I got tired of the poor soil around these parts, so I went with the Topsy-Turvy planters this year. So far, so good. Got cherry and Bush Goliath tomatoes coming in like crazy already. The squash and zucchini seem to be digging hanging upside-down like bats, too. The peppers are still trying to overcome vertigo. LOL The long-established fruit orchard is kicking, too. The Granny Smith tree is promising another bumper crop of fried apples, apple pie in a jar, applesauce, apple butter, and so on. The Texas muscadines have budded like crazy, as usual. The Chenault strawberry patch is already keeping the grandkid entertained with ripe berries. Last year, I put in a fall gold raspberry plant and two blueberry plants. The raspberry plant already spawned a huge shoot, and the parent plant is over 2' tall and flowering already! The blueberries are taking a growth spurt, too, so blooms won't be a surprise. The wife went on this fruit sherbet kick this year, and I told her it won't be long before she's out picking fresh berries to mix in her bowl.

Yeah, I'm a lifelong gardener. There's something satisfying about growing your own food. It just tastes better.

[Red_Devil 232]

Good advice! I started small my first year. Just two raised beds. Last year I discovered the little tiller my Dad had in storage for years actually worked and added three tilled rows to my raised beds. This year I have expanded more.

I will post pictures on my home page in a few days.

[Gabz]

GArden Ping...............Especially for Diana, just ‘cause she’s so CUTE........LOL!!!!

Good article, glad to see Diana’s boss getting a plug in for their business.

[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?

[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.

[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...

[mysterio]

Dug my garden today. Will be growing several plants from seed.

[Squantos]

Won’t yer boss be angry if you don’t post a link to the company web site so we can support freepers businesses.....:o)

Baaaad Diana baaaaad !

I normally use Burpee seed catalog yet will change to support a freeper !

[GloriaJane]

I bought heirloom seeds and I have a half plat of green peppers, a half plat of jalapeno peppers, a half plat of Beefstake tomato’s and a half plat of Rutgers tomato’s all growing in my windows.

The other heirloom seeds I bought like beans and corn we will have to wait and plant outside in the garden.

I hope to have a lot of tomato’s this year so I can freeze them. I love having fresh frozen tomato’s of my own to cook with. Things just seem to taste better.

[Ellendra]

Anybody want to help me plow my garden?

In 2007 I bought 5 acres and started planting fruit trees, 2 months later had a back injury and was stuck in a wheelchair. Still need the chair about half the time, but considering the situation I’m going to try planting my garden anyway, if nothing else it’ll make me feel like I’m doing something.

I’ve got melons, 3 kinds of squash, tomatoes, beets, assorted greens, and tobacco seeds all started in my room. I’m also planning to plant seeds from the fruits we eat this summer. I know they won’t grow true from seed, but it’ll still be fruit. And I can do a lot with less-than-commercial-quality fruit, just ask anyone who’s tried my crabapple butter :p

[Sir_Ed]

I love gardening.

I plant in a raised bed 3’ x 16’ and have maters with blossoms, beans that are beginning to take shape, peas that have blossoms but no pods, oregano that is lush and full, strawberries that are almost fully formed but colorless, lettuce that is bursting enough to cut leaves every day and swiss chard that is about halfway there to cutting leaves from them.

I’d love to have an acre or so...

Ed

[OB1kNOb]

My brother and I have gone to heirloom strains of vegetables for the past few years. We started saving our own seeds several years ago and supplement our inventory when the local farmer's co-op puts their seeds on sale at the end of the season, plus we order from Baker's Creek.

This year we started enough tomatoes for both of us, another brother, and a church friend plus plenty left over. I set out 45 Saturday with rain scheduled for every day this week. Several varieties we use include Boxcar Willies and Cherokee Purples for slicing/eating fresh, Roma for canning, and three others he's been growing for several years best for canning whole, a three inch, and two inch and a 1/5 inch cherry he's grown for over a decade.

I planted some Anasazi pole beans from seed I get at the local healthfood store, and I'm trying to start 3 types of heirloom eggplant for the first time this year. I hope it works.

[kcvl]

I love, love, love watching things grow! I can't stay away from the greenhouses or anywhere there are plants for sale!

My plants are getting a good watering tonight with a downpour going on right now. It is soooo relaxing!

[kcvl]

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