i just planted snap peas, carrots, onions, cucumbers, spinach and kale out back! can't wait to harvest them. does anyone else here like to grow their own stuff?

or anyone else here interested in guerilla gardening? it's so much more satisfying growing yer own food then buying it.

Cool!
I think thats great.
I plan to build some garden boxes next season and start growing my own food.
Right now I only grow sprouts.

Vinny

I'm harvesting lettuce, runner beans, french beans, sugar snaps, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, basil, coriander, swiss chard, radish, courgettes, patty pan's, cabbage and i am waiting for chilli's, peppers and bulb fennel.

Not much scope for guerilla gardening but i love the idea of it.

nice i'm gonna start grownin sprouts that's a great idea.
wow flipperjam, are you on a farm?
yea..i just have this vision where instead of walking thru a city full of concrete and empty derelict plots of land and stupid ornamental plants you can walk thru town and pick your own lunch as you go munchin on snap peas, berries, fruit as you walk around every corner...i think it's a great idea - i'm gonna start doin it where i live.

This past year, I planted yellow squash, red bell peppers, celebrity tomatoes, sweetie tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, and cukes. I only got ONE cuke, so far about 4 celebrity tomatoes, with another 5 on the way, and maybe two more after that. I grew about 30-40 sweetie tomatoes so far, with more on the vines. All of them, because of living in an apartment, grow to a small size and that's it. No squash and no red bell peppers. However, the tomatoes, as small as they are, are GOOD!! Because I've gone raw foods, I will only be growing tomatos, cukes, and lettuce next year, and I will grow them one plant to a pot, and I learned that I needed to build a two-leg trellis for the sweetie tomato because it's a vine-type of a plant. That will give it about 18-20 feet of growing length. For the cuke plants, I will make a similar trellis, but at half the height. For the celebrity (I may instead decide to go to jubilee tomatoes to see how they do in this environment of limited light. Out on the patio, they only get about 3-4 hours of sunlight before the sun goes to the other side of the building.

Im into square foot gardening.
Its so simple. Costs a bit to set up, then very easy to maintain.
No digging, easy weeding and watering. Sit back and watch it grow!
Excellent results year after year.
This year i grew all of my herbs, tomatoes, courgettes, spinach, several varieties of beans, peas, rainbow chard, beetroot, carrots, lettuce and lots of sunflowers.
ffx

I'm really starting to get into gardening as well, I bought more plants today for aerating the place and hope to start planting ones I can eat.

I never understood people who garden just for aesthetic value. What good is a flower? I can't eat it, it's not doing much for the air... it's just taking up space. Maybe it's a girl thing, I don't know. People pay $50+ for that?! I think it's a bit crazy, you can buy a fruit-bearing tree for that money!!!

iamwhatiam--
Yes, I garden a bit. I don't have a backyard (I live in a city apartment), so I joined a cooperative community garden group a couple of years ago. We have a beautiful garden about 5 blocks from my home, and this summer we're getting some really beautiful produce, especially the tomatoes.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Superinfinity , flowers are nessecary , they keep the bees alive , which in turn polinate our other crops in the garden. that is why we grow flowers , to attract the beneficial insects and repel the ones that arent . flowers are an important part of the whole symbiotic circle of life

its not just a girl thing either my hubby loves tending the flower gardens much more than the food gardens which seems to be my territory

Iamwhatiam: i think im up to nearly 2 dozen fruit trees planted around my neighborhood so far and counting geurrialla gardening is cool

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

damn i knew i was forgetting something.....tomatoes!!! i don't really care for em by themselves..but there is an awesome variety of cherry tomatoes that grows here that i love and is good for making salsa with.

yea..i have never understood why there's only ornamental flowers and trees you see growing in cities and town centres usually. that's why i'm interested in guerilla gardening so i can start planting food plants here and there. i'm so into it right now i've been planting new starts everyday it seems like....i can't get enough of it - it's a great feeling to plant a tree/plant. it almost feels like i'm helping the earth give birth and having a part in it makes me feel so good.

kwan: that's awesome you've got a p-patch garden going. i'd love to start one here, but it doesn't really make that much sense as there are so many farms here in hawaii everywhere you go.

jgunn: right on! what kind of fruit trees you got goin? where do youlive?

just outside of vancouver bc canada

yellow plums, purple plums, cherry, apples, pears, filberts or hazlenuts, so far

im currently dividing up some huckleberry plants that ive been growing and going to plant some more of them out, as well as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and green and purple grapes

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

yummm.. way to go!! now i know i'll never go hungry if i'm ever passin thru that way again lol

iamwhatiam Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kwan: that's awesome you've got a p-patch garden
> going. i'd love to start one here, but it doesn't
> really make that much sense as there are so many
> farms here in hawaii everywhere you go.
>
> jgunn: right on! what kind of fruit trees you got
> goin? where do youlive?

You are to be commended to starting to raise your own food. I'm with you there. Am looking at square foot gardening technique I read about for simplicity for a duffer like me. [www.squarefootgardening.com]

I'm still looking into this. But I like what I'm reading so far. His method looks like it's just what I need. Good luck to you in your new garden!!

Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2009 12:13AM by pborst.

Boy ... I'm geared up. I've got some questions for ya all.

1. Square foot gardening - is this possible to do organically? I just looked at the home page and didn't read the stuff. I'm not in a position to do this anyway. But I'm curious because I like to know of novel ideas, especially "sustainable" ones.

2. I've long wondered about urban gardens. It seems to me there is so much pollution in cities, all day and all night, that it could very well be the case that conventional produce, grown in rural or semi-rural areas actually have less poison in them. Having said, this, I really don't know the facts. I don't know a lot. Whatever is in "air pollution" in "Any City" in "Any Country", I don't know how much of whatever is taken up by plants, is held in soil, or is even dangerous for us to eat. I live in a semi rural area and even then I don't pick and eat anything close to a road that has semi heavy traffic.

Again, having said this, I have a strong affinity for urban gardens. In part because cities are so ..., and because there are so many good reasons to garden your own food, and, even in cities with air pollution. So, I wonder Kwan, do you clean your produce in any way?

And, honestly, I'd like some sort of response to the idea that conventional produce grown away from cities is "cleaner" than urban garden organic vegetables. I am certain I'm not the only one to wonder about this.

3. I'm all for flowers. Just not ONLY flowers. SuperInfinity, why take such a hard nosed attitude? Boy, you might not give a hoot, but how about other people, and, yeah, bees and other insects? They benefit us in ways we're unaware of. The sight and smell and the mere thought of flowers make all the difference to many people. And their good mood makes for a more pleasant atmosphere when they're in your presence. It takes more than money to make the world go 'round.

Again, I'm glad to be a part of this community.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

iamwhatiam,

What a great thread! I shall be doing square foot gardening next year, by god, and I'd love to go as concentrated as possible, so I'm thinking of doing some combo with hydroponics(that's for Jodi ;P ). I'm sure it's possible to do this organically, or maybe as some combo with biodynamic precepts. I love the idea of gardening around moon cycles and using native plants and the dessicated bones of wild animals to fertilize the soil . . .

Agree with Troy that urban gardening may be fun to do but may not produce superior plants due to pollution. Here in the D, it is becoming more common to see gardens planted in derelict buildings, whose roofs and floors have caved in, leaving only walls. Of course, it's much safer to urban garden in a dying city, as pollution is constantly decreasing and the air is clarifying as a result. The only thing that bothers me, and that not enough people consider, is the persistence of brownfield conditions. You can't just dump fresh soil on abandoned land and start planiting food there. You need to know the history of that plot of land.

SuperI,

I am a girl, but I'd defy any guy to not delight in the bright violet morning glories and coral and magenta rose bushes against my south wall of my house : )

Yeah, great thread!!

My partner and I are currently growing tomatoes (we started with 40 kinds, but a lot of them got taken out by late blight, potatoes (some late blight here as well), six kinds of basil, tomatillos, husk cherries, wonderberries, onions, garlic, shallots, peas, zucchini, zephyr squash, other heirloom summer squash, several kinds of winter squash, broccoli, collards, kale, chard (the deer have commandeered these), beets, eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, romanesco, cilantro, corn, calendula (for medicine), sunflowers (for the birds this winter), nasturtiums (edible), borage (flowers taste like cucumbers), and other random things I am forgetting. We have incorporated square foot gardening and permaculture practices and are expanding our medicinal plant line and are planning some mushroom production. Also, we have a peach and an almond tree in our yard as well as blueberry and black raspberry bushes, and we have an old grove of apple trees on our farm property (under a conservation restriction that mandates that the ecological integrity of the land remain intact, which we would do anyway) that are producing abundantly. We have greenhouses so we can produce year round in New England. We also do our starts indoor under florescent lights in the winter. We have incorporated farming by the moon principles when we can. Everything we do is organic or beyond. We're kind of into it!

Our house is on one third acre in town, and last year we sold produce out of our yard to the local co-op and the restaurant where I work. Growing your own food is DEFINITELY more rewarding than grocery shopping! As far as guerrilla gardening goes, I think it is going to be more important as our current way of living falls apart. I have learned about seedballs and am curious about other methods.

apparently pumpkins are one of the better natural soil decontaminators out there, they really draw up alot of toxins/heavy metals from the soil. and you can use them as jack o laterns when theyre done rather than eating them.

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

sundancer are you planting nonhybrid or hybrid? i am about 50/50 mix at the moment and moving towards saving seeds on a perpetual basis

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

for those that haven't seen the video "The Future of Food" I highly recommend it. It's a pretty scary video of how the government is tryin to monopolize on our food and seeds...

yep thats why its a good idea to start collecting and growing your own heirloom and heritage seeds

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Oh yeah, we're growing pumpkins too.

Jgunn-- We're mostly using organic seeds, though there are some hybrids, like sungolds, that we use because they're so dependable. My first choice would be to use 100% organic. We do save seeds.

cool maybe we can seed swap down the road !!! =)

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I forgot to mention: we have a lot of flowers in our garden, as well as raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb (bleh), cukes, several kinds of lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, several kinds of beans, peas, white salad turnips, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes (not sure what kind, but they're huge), and a lot of herbs, and oh man, we've got LOTS OF BEES this year! Good sign, no? We're all readlly happy to see such a healthy bee population in our garden. They seem to hover over the raspberry bushes a lot.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

i have such a gorgeously huge and sunny backyard here but... it's always full of construction! right now i am only growing sprouts in the kitchen now and then. but i did do some foraging this summer, not as much as usual but the mulberries were amazing this year. we gorged. next year i have to identify chickweed and add that to my list of wild greens. i'm mapping out where all the berries grow too, there are nature trails all over the place here.

if we move this fall i want to do a little square footing, i have that book and it looks easy and fun for the kids and i. my new landlord-to-hopefully-be would help me set it up with reclaimed wood too, he's a guerilla everything that guy!

i would like to start saving seeds from everything we eat and planting them all over the place but the county mows back over growth during the summer months so i've got to check out where and where not and plant accordingly. don't know what will sprout and what's frankenfood either, guess we'll see. can you imagine happening upon a patch of wild gourds, squashes, tomatoes, whatever? whoo! i'd be so stoked!

flowers, dudes, don't you guys eat those things? but some of them are Amazing! better than greens a lot of the time. so super lovely yummy good, i do like nibbling the blossoms. why not? pure sun love energy right there, gorgeous and delish!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2009 03:30AM by coco.

Jgunn -- Absolutely!!!

Kwan -- Yay BEES!!! We have more per square foot in our yard than anywhere else, and I look all the time, everywhere I go.

Coco -- Yes -- I've been loving my borage blossoms!! Nasturtiums, too! I want to grow more edible flowers next year.

Jgunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> apparently pumpkins are one of the better natural
> soil decontaminators out there, they really draw
> up alot of toxins/heavy metals from the soil. and
> you can use them as jack o laterns when theyre
> done rather than eating them.

Jodi I wonder if the pumpkins retain the contaminants in the soil as contaminants, or, if they make the contaminants harmless somehow, or, what? Who wants to eat a mouthful of contaminants anyway?!

I can understand using pumpkins simply to clean the soil, then do something with the plant and pumpkin, like, I don't know, would composting it all even be a good idea? I've never heard of pumpkins performing this nice service.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

well Troy heres my thoughts ...

all the contaminates that we think of contaminates .. like heavy metals, etc.. all at some time came from this planet earth .. problem is man creats massive deposits of these things in small spaces in large concentrations that wouldnt be found normally spread out in mother nature.

i do think the plants take them up convert them for their use , die and replenish the soil, the more often something grows, dies, and replenishes , the better and cleaner the soil will become

so yes i think i dont think id want to eat those first pumpkins but composting then working it all back in again and again i dont see a problem

just a theory i could be way off

it would be an interesting theory to test it would probably take several growing seasons to decontaminate the soil im guessing

some plants apparantly do better jobs on different types of contaminates.. eg: pumpkins are an all around good decontaminator. Brake ferns have been found to significantly reduce arsenic, Lead can be reduced by Ragweed, Hemp Dogbane or Poplar . Barley can remove salt , cottonwood trees pull up mercury from the soil and convert it to something inert and release it back into the air. willow trees can apparently clean up petroleum spillage

lots of people dont know that Sunflowers were used to remove uranium after the Chernobyl accident

the technical term for this i beleive is sp? phytoremediation

plant power !!

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2009 04:34AM by Jgunn.

this is a good article about it this is a good article about it [www.agwest.sk.ca]

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thanks for the link Jodi. Looks like a useful one.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha