Any gardeners?

[schutd]

Ive never grown anything in ,y life. In fact, Im more adept at killing, butchering and cooking things. I really want to grow something this year.

I live in greenpoint brooklyn. If youre curious about this old school Polish neighborhood, Look up toxic waste, contaminated ground water and soil and Greenpoint. My nabe's past is indrustrial and shady at best.

No sweat! I have an awesome rooftop deck in my building, and I found this web site http://rooftopgardens.ca/?q=en/node/1159 by a team from Montreal. It has an AWESOME guide for building a raised bed planter.

Im making a run at heirloom tomatoes this season, most likely 9 plants for my three beds I built.

Anyone have any good war stories about growing your own food?

 

[Mulli]

A friend of mine was growing tomatoes she thought she was supposed to pull of the flowers like you do with basil. Oops.


Shoot, will you be growing basil?

 

[schutd]

Herbs are in the plan as well. Need to grow some freaking mosquito deterrents as well. In the house. Im right next to the English Kills, one of the most polluted waterways in NYC, next to the Gowanus canal, and the skeeters are brutal once summer kicks in...

 

[Kel Varnsen]

There is nothing like a tomato fresh off the plant.

There is a lot of information online about which plants to choose and how to plant them, fertilize them, prune them, etc. Check out lifehacker.com for good tips about rooftop gardening and gardening in smaller spaces.

I recommend doing some research about pruning off the suckers on your plants. I didn't know about this when I first started growing tomato plants and ended up with lots and lots of stems and leaves, but little fruit. If you remove the suckers, you will probably get more production of actual tomatoes. You might also want to try three or four different types of tomato plants. That way, you'll learn which ones grow best in your plot and you won't risk all of them failing.

 

[AZZenny]

The rapini, spinach, and 6 types of lettuces are just done, sugar pod peas are starting to tire out and soup peas are setting up plumply. Chard, carrots, green and yellow beans, and new potatoes just starting. Corn is knee high. Tomatoes (3 heirloom, one French hybrid and one amazingly vigorous Japanese hybrid) and peppers (1 ancho and a couple mid-heat Anaheims) are a tad slow this year -- I start my own and tried a new seedling mix that was not a rousing success... but they're catching up. I'll be putting in Limas, lambsquarter, and 3 types of watermelon this weekend.

That's aside from all the anemones, tulips, daffodils, freesias, dutch and german iris, poppies, naturalized snapdragons, roses. Oh -- strawberries looking good (tasting good but just a few at a time) and the new blueberry bushes are each setting a couple berries.

Still, not kidding when I say, wish I lived in a climate suitable for gardening.

I have been using the fabric pots for potatoes with fairly good luck, and I think I'll be trying a couple melons in them. They aren't ideal for our climate, but elsewhere, are a nice complement to patio or rooftop gardening. I haven't tried the hanging tomato approach, but it seems quite popular in the gardening catalogues.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Born and raised in Fairfield Country Connecticut. My Italian grandfather who immigrated to America when he was in his early 20's, always had enourmous gardens. I got the bug (so to speak) from him...

The Northeast is a great place to grow gardens. Although, I would have to say that if you can properly irrigate your garden here in AZ, man do things grow vigorously!!!
The biggest problem by far I encounter here in AZ is with rabbits and birds. Candidly, I haven't taken the time to properly construct an appropriate barricade to keep them away from my vegatables... Still, I have grown just about every kind of vegatable and for the most part, have had great success!

 

[nathan]

My goal is to produce my own salsa. I've planted five types of tomatoes, green/purple tomatillos, ground cherries, and several different types of peppers.

 

[82CardsGrad]

My goal is to produce my own salsa. I've planted five types of tomatoes, green/purple tomatillos, ground cherries, and several different types of peppers.

I've had the best success with Cherry Tomatoes! They grow like a weed!!! And the birds don't seem to gravitate toward them like they do with the larger varieties!!!

 

[Kel Varnsen]

The rapini, spinach, and 6 types of lettuces are just done, sugar pod peas are starting to tire out and soup peas are setting up plumply. Chard, carrots, green and yellow beans, and new potatoes just starting. Corn is knee high. Tomatoes (3 heirloom, one French hybrid and one amazingly vigorous Japanese hybrid) and peppers (1 ancho and a couple mid-heat Anaheims) are a tad slow this year -- I start my own and tried a new seedling mix that was not a rousing success... but they're catching up. I'll be putting in Limas, lambsquarter, and 3 types of watermelon this weekend.

That's aside from all the anemones, tulips, daffodils, freesias, dutch and german iris, poppies, naturalized snapdragons, roses. Oh -- strawberries looking good (tasting good but just a few at a time) and the new blueberry bushes are each setting a couple berries.

Still, not kidding when I say, wish I lived in a climate suitable for gardening.

I have been using the fabric pots for potatoes with fairly good luck, and I think I'll be trying a couple melons in them. They aren't ideal for our climate, but elsewhere, are a nice complement to patio or rooftop gardening. I haven't tried the hanging tomato approach, but it seems quite popular in the gardening catalogues.

Did you buy the fabric pots locally or did you order them online somewhere? Also, what size pots are you using for your container plants?

I'm doing a lot of container gardening this summer and am basically just testing things out. Going to try one upside down tomato plant, too, to see how it goes.

Also very curious about your blueberry bushes. I saw them at a nursery for the first time a few weeks ago and would love to have them, but am not sure how well they would grow. Are you expecting them to do well?

 

[nathan]

I've had the best success with Cherry Tomatoes! They grow like a weed!!! And the birds don't seem to gravitate toward them like they do with the larger varieties!!!

Ground cherries are different from cherry tomatoes if that's what you were referring to, but yeah one of the five types of tomatoes is cherry tomatoes.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Ground cherries are different from cherry tomatoes if that's what you were referring to, but yeah one of the five types of tomatoes is cherry tomatoes.

Doh... just assumed you were referencing Cherry Tomatoes... I'll have to research "ground" cherries...

 

[Kel Varnsen]

My goal is to produce my own salsa. I've planted five types of tomatoes, green/purple tomatillos, ground cherries, and several different types of peppers.

That's a great idea. You're going to have some amazing salsa.

I wish I could do the same for guacamole.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

The rapini, spinach, and 6 types of lettuces are just done, sugar pod peas are starting to tire out and soup peas are setting up plumply. Chard, carrots, green and yellow beans, and new potatoes just starting. Corn is knee high. Tomatoes (3 heirloom, one French hybrid and one amazingly vigorous Japanese hybrid) and peppers (1 ancho and a couple mid-heat Anaheims) are a tad slow this year -- I start my own and tried a new seedling mix that was not a rousing success... but they're catching up. I'll be putting in Limas, lambsquarter, and 3 types of watermelon this weekend.

That's aside from all the anemones, tulips, daffodils, freesias, dutch and german iris, poppies, naturalized snapdragons, roses. Oh -- strawberries looking good (tasting good but just a few at a time) and the new blueberry bushes are each setting a couple berries.

Still, not kidding when I say, wish I lived in a climate suitable for gardening.

I have been using the fabric pots for potatoes with fairly good luck, and I think I'll be trying a couple melons in them. They aren't ideal for our climate, but elsewhere, are a nice complement to patio or rooftop gardening. I haven't tried the hanging tomato approach, but it seems quite popular in the gardening catalogues.

You're a cool gal Zenny!

 

[nathan]

That's a great idea. You're going to have some amazing salsa.

I wish I could do the same for guacamole.

I don't like guacamole, but I don't see why you couldn't have an avocado tree. I know lots of avocados are produced in California and Mexico and Phoenix isn't too different from either of those places.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I don't like guacamole, but I don't see why you couldn't have an avocado tree. I know lots of avocados are produced in California and Mexico and Phoenix isn't too different from either of those places.

I just don't have anywhere to plant a tree. All my veggies are grown in containers on the patio.

I should buy a house with a big yard so I could have all kinds of trees and a nice, big garden like Zenny's. I would love that.

 

[Tyler]

We are in the drawing faze of our backyard. Koi pond in one corner with a garden behind it, to keep the dogs out. More than likely it will be a salsa garden. Will also plant a lime tree so I can walk out back and pick one when I am enjoying a mexican beer. Its amazing how much you actually want to garden when you buy a home.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Some of you might be interested in this site: http://www.squidoo.com/VegetableGardenLayout

As the name says, there are some cool ideas for how to lay out your garden. I love the idea for a pizza garden layout:

You must be registered for see images

 

[AZZenny]

http://www.smartpots.com/
I got fairly large ones for potatoes -- I forget if they were the 15 or 20 gallon size. At the time the price on these was a little better than anywhere else I looked, and they have a pretty helpful website.

Living out in the desert, and being really unwilling to meet a rattler reaching under a bean bush, I am super-fenced against rabbits and snakes both. Birds -- well, I have put up pvc frames over the beds and bought some really cool, durable fish-netting (the bird stuff they sell at hardware stores drives me insane) from the best hardware/yardware store on planet Earth, Lee Valley Hardware/Tools. Then I found some very light-weight white plastic shade cloth with grommets and everything online, and use that for the worst of summer heat -- I picked tomatoes straight through the summer.


Blueberries -- I did a lot of reading and scouting -- there are several newer southern highbush types that appear to do well in Florida and Texas, and some of the hot areas of California. I picked up four types to experiment with -- Misty, Abundance, Southmoon, and Junilee, I think. There were a couple others that when I did deeper reading looked problematic for here, and I thought this gives me a batch to see what if any thrive. Planted them in a very lightly shaded part of the garden, hopefully behind the new zinfandel vine. Worst case scenario, they die and I'm out $50 for 6 plants and a big sack of high-acid organic fertilizer

I had an old merlot vine that did well, so the Zin should be fine. I think next year maybe I'm going to try planting a chardonnay -- they are doing some pretty nice red wines and have just started putting out very drinkable chadonnays in the Negev Desert highlands, which is a lot like our climate with half the rainfall, so I got inspired last trip -- I stayed at a winery a couple nights. I'd like to know what stock they're using though. I also put in a couple apples that I hope will be OK here - Anna (also bred in the upper Negev) and a guy who does desert and heat-adapted fruit in California said Fuji and Pink Lady should be perfectly fine here.



My father and grandfather were both avid flower gardeners, and when I lived in Ohio in college I had a spectacular, huge vegetable and flower garden. I could grow anything there. Now I experiment with heat-resistant and foreign and old native american varieties.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

I am loving this thread!!

And I'm going to have questions so your help is/will be greatly appreciated. I've wanted to start gardening here in AZ.

Question #1) How do you keep the heat from killing everything? Is shade cloth the answer? To be honest I had to acclimate myself to the heat just to go out and water a few pots with geraniums. (I cannot exist without geraniums.) But in the three years I've been here they dry up once it's really hot. They're under the patio roof, protected, and soil is kept moist but at a certain point, Bye, Bye. I've been trying to figure out how you all keep a garden going here.

In So Cal I had over 30 roses, 75 potted plants of various goodies, multiple orchids, plumerias, vegetable garden, herb garden, English garden. It was a jungle.

So, again, my number one question is dealing with the 115 degree days and their affect on the plants.

This rookie needs help! Thanks!

 

[82CardsGrad]

I am loving this thread!!

And I'm going to have questions so your help is/will be greatly appreciated. I've wanted to start gardening here in AZ.

Question #1) How do you keep the heat from killing everything? Is shade cloth the answer? To be honest I had to acclimate myself to the heat just to go out and water a few pots with geraniums. (I cannot exist without geraniums.) But in the three years I've been here they dry up once it's really hot. They're under the patio roof, protected, and soil is kept moist but at a certain point, Bye, Bye. I've been trying to figure out how you all keep a garden going here.

In So Cal I had over 30 roses, 75 potted plants of various goodies, multiple orchids, plumerias, vegetable garden, herb garden, English garden. It was a jungle.

So, again, my number one question is dealing with the 115 degree days and their affect on the plants.

This rookie needs help! Thanks!

Dems, I believe Zenny is truly the expert in this thread, but I can share a little bit if my own experience fwiw...

Regarding the heat: It would be important/ideal to avoid a full western or southwestern exposure. Ideally, a southeastern exposure seems to work quite well and will offset some of that summer sun and heat. The meshing that Zenny references is an absolute MUST.
So, with a non-western/southwestern exposure and good quality meshing, along with a fully irrigated area, you should be in good shape.

Regarding Roses: I have had tremendous luck with roses here in AZ. I learned real quickly that it's almost impossible to keep them alive and well if you have them exposed to full sun in the summer... I don't care what variety you have, the summer sun and heat is just too much. So, I have located areas in my yard that offer shade and reduced levels of direct sun, and consequently have had loads of success. I have 12 rose plants. All types of varieties. 8 of the 12 have been with me now for 9 years, the other 4 are 5 years old. They are awesome! Aside from the bugs that require a good dousing of bug spray 2x a year, I have had no problems at all... They are all irrigated so they receive a steady amount of water. My mom was just in town from CT and couldn't get over the blooms!

BTW, I really like Geraniums too. But again, you'll need to find a way to keep them out of the direct, intense sun during the summer. I have two plants that believe it or not, have been with me for 3 straight years now. They survive both the summer and the winter! But, they are also in an area that only gets about 4 hours of direct sun and are irrigated... They definitely struggle in the summer, but somehow make it through each year!

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Thanks 82! Any and all suggestions are gratefully accepted. The house I'm in now only has drip out front. Nothing in the back where I want to put a garden so I'm already saving so I can put in an irrigation system.

Giving up my garden in CA just about did me in. The only thing that helped was the woman I sold it too was a gardener herself and appreciated it. I gave away a lot of my favorites to good homes. But funny how you can miss a gardenia.

 

[AZZenny]

Roses -- Most get along fine if you feed them well and water deeply. I have found several types that do extremely well, but some take more coddling than I have time for. Taboo, Brandy, Dainty Bess, White Lightning, and some of the olde english types really thrive. I do have some of the early bloomers out in full sun, actually, although the roses that get just a few hours of afternoon shade do better, and the blossoms hold much better.

Now be aware - 82 and I are up in the north Scottsdale highlands, and we are 5 to 7 degrees cooler than down in the flatlands. Technically this is the Sonoran Upper Bajada micro-clime. It makes a difference, believe me. I'm not a geranium person enough to hassle with summering them over. Right now am majorly getting into bougainvillea and playing with caper plants.

IMO it's essential to be at least 50% organic here -- you MUST build up the soil tilth with compost, should mulch well in the summer, and avoid harsh soil chemicals or salty steer manure. Our soil is so alkaline and so hard and devoid of humus, normally it needs a lot of nurturing -- dig TWO feet down minimum the first time you establish a garden, to try to break up some of the hardpan, and mix in some mid-sized pine bark at the bottom before refilling. Best source of bulk compost for a first garden or for a periodic major refresher is Western Organics in Phx.

Veggies designed for very short seasons -- usually that means northernmost climates -- often do well here because you can harvest before the worst of the heat. Also, almost any plant that has been around since the 1920's or before has shown serious durability, so true heirlooms often do well. (It appalls me to see plants from the 1950's -- my age -- called 'heirloom!')

I tend to rely on the following sources, but always do a detailed web search for more info before I buy any long-term-commitment plant. I will experiment with things that say Zone 5-8 and feel pretty safe if it's 6-9 or 10. The first number matters for perennials, because some things require a certain amount of cool temp to survive or make buds.

High Country Gardens Probably best single source for desert-adapted shrubs and flowering plants.

Kevin at Kufflecreek.com knows everything imaginable about desert and heat-adapted apples and other fruit trees. I helped him a bit to connect with Israeli apple breeders and he's visited and begun an exchange deal with some of them. Extremely helpful man in terms of figuring out what and how and where to plant. And part of a vast network of hot-climate farmers.

Native Seed Search Tucson-based organization that collects, preserves and sells real heirloom Southwestern (Hopi, Zuni, northern mexican, old pueblo, etc.) seed stock -- consider becoming a member

Willis Orchard Got some fruit trees and canes from them and have been very pleased so far with the quality.

McClure and Zimmerman Bulbs -- an astonishing catalogue of flowering bulbs, and many do very well here. I am an addict.

HighMowing Seeds Really nice people and very good selection. They are very friendly with advice.

Territorial Seed I found many varieties here that excel in the desert.

Peaceful Valley Growers -gear, seeds from several suppliers, plants, fruit, etc. Very good, helpful people.

Wayside Gardens Old standby -- tons of plants and flowers, and they are pretty responsive and honest about what won't make it here.

Select Seeds excellent selection of antique and modern flower seeds, and top-quality plants

Wilhite Seeds -Texas - lots of melons, but also hot-dry climate vegetables including some rare foreign types

Arbico -Tucson supplier of good organic gardening products

The best shade cloth ever: http://www.catalogclearance.com/products/whiteshadecloth50__knittedshadecloth.html

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Thank you Zenny!

I have a lot of learning to do. What I need to do is read up and go to those web sites.

Any suggestions on plants with a lot of fragrance that can take the heat? This spring I've smelled something like honeysuckle in the air during the early morning hours. Also I was at the desert museum ? in Tucson. There was a plant in bloom there a few weeks ago that had huge clusters of purple blooms and smelled like Heaven. I neglected to note the name. Things like that I would love to try growing.

Also plumerias. Do you grow them? I bought one stick last year. Lost it's leaves as normal but no new leaves yet. Should I panick? When do the leaves come back here? I've had buds for a few weeks now.

 

[AZZenny]

I have a vibrant Hall's honeysuckle on the north wall of my house, near the bedroom. Wonderful, blooms heavily every year. Catclaw Acacia in the wild has a similar fragrance, but I planted some in the yard and they just don't have the rich scent, besides being one of the nastiest thorny SOBs around.

Not sure what you ran into at DBG -- was it a shrub or a low plant? maybe Buddleia or Desert Willow or maybe Chaste Tree?

It will take you a few years to get the hang of our weird climate, and be prepared for many sad failures along the way. So much depends on when we get the first really hot days of Spring, and what struggles one year may do well the next. You have to love gardening and be up for a challenge -- and be willing to adapt to what you realistically can grow here, and make the most of what belongs in this climate.

Never have grown plumeria -- but they are humid-tropicals, iirc, and I am somewhat skeptical they'll be successful here. Might ask this guy in Texas: http://www.plumeria101.com/ Anything that needs humidity, acidity, or steady moisture is going to be tricky -- may be do-able, but depends how hard you want to work for it.

Check out High Country Gardens as a starter. Or go to Wayside and look for drought-tolerant plants. I see you're up in Cave Creek also, so you are also probably in the Zone 7-8 cusp.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Thanks Zenny,

I bought the plumeria stick at a garden show at UoP. We'll see how it goes. The "purple flower plant" I saw in Tucson was huge. Easily 10 feet. I need to begin my research.

My house has an established garden with creosote, various cacti, palos verde trees, etc. But I'm ready to put my imprint on it. Totally up for a challenge as far as gardening goes. I am a peasant.

One more question: Where, exactly, does one obtain the dynamite necessary to loosen up this "soil"? LOL!

Thanks again for the info. Hugely appreciated, both of you.