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Ah! I can't wait to grow tomatoes! We'll buy plants pre-started, though, and transplant them. I want tomatoes, peppers, some herbs, and strawberries. DH said he'd build some planters, and then we have to chicken wire them because of ALL THE DEER. Can't really plant until mothers day, and that's when I'm due....so hopefully that week!

So dumb question. What's the led light for?

@SugarplumsMom: awesome! DH hacked this together with IKEA pots and rods too! We bought a grow light off amazon.

These are just herbs and they actually just sprouted this morning! DD was so excited because she's been helping daddy water every morning.

We're not in a position to start a garden yet but miss fresh veg from our backyard. So this year we'll just be container gardening. Will be getting tomatoes, green beans, dwarf blueberry plant and not sure what else. Has anyone seen a dwarf strawberry plant before?

@MrsHansen82: smart idea!!!

@SugarplumsMom: thanks! The reason we made it "pretty" is so we can have herbs year round.

@regberadaisy: Awesome! I love this!!

@Grace: Cute little sprouties

I plan on prepping my raised bed tomorrow! Just bought spinach seeds to plant. I don't start my own seedlings (one day...) but it's a couple months before we can plant tomatoes or squash outside anyway.

The previous owners left a ton of huge planters on our deck. We managed to kill all the plants that were in them (oops.) I think it would be nice to turn some of them into an herb garden, though! They are bigger than necessary for herbs but it would be nice to have them right off the kitchen!

How are you prepping bed/containers? I plan on just digging in some leaf mold and compost. I'm

@SugarplumsMom: @regberadaisy: I'm in Melbourne, Australia. we're in the middle of autumn, but still having some warm and sunny days. honestly, sometimes I berate her about it being a hobby garden, NOT an agricultural project! she ends up with a huge oversupply of produce that end up being passed along to friends, family and work colleagues. she has 2 huge rain water tanks, but refuses to believe she has a huge water bill because of the garden haha she also has 2 huge 30+ year old fig trees, a grapevine, a quince tree, lemon tree and blood orange tree. when DD is over there they spend the day in the garden mucking about

I haven't started anything yet. I did order a ton of starts from my son's fundraiser from a local nursery. I need a tiller and some manure to fertilize my dirt. I wish I had a raised bed.

@SugarplumsMom: I think she actually enjoys giving the produce away more than anything, I couldn't even imagine her selling it. She works in a hospital and likes to give her work mates veggies, and they often cook them and bring them to lunch to share, which is just lovely! When my dad passed away she took a few months off work and just spent it setting the garden up for the season, so it is definitely a hobby thats therapeutic. She also has a huge olive tree in the front yard (about 15 years old now) and every year she will pick the olives and jar them in a marinade and pass them along to friends and family. I have some jars from a few years back and they get better with age mmmm!

@jedeve: I buy compost (my composter doesn't make enough in a year) and turn it into the beds. I think I'll have to borrow my mom's rototiller this year to break up the beds. Even though I don't step on the soil, it's harc as a rock.

@SugarplumsMom: Interesting! Did know that you can bury the bottom tomato plants leaves when you plant them outside? The leaves turn into roots underground. So even if they are leggy seedlings, you bury the bottom 2/3 of the plant and you won't have leggy mature plants. Only tomatoes do this - everything else hates having leaves buried.

@MrsHansen82: Dumb question, but what happens when it rains? Won't the boxes disintegrates?

I have a raised bed with red and green bell peppers, super chili peppers and garden salsa peppers plants in. Just direct sowed 2 rows of okra and 2 rows of bush beans. Also have 2 rows of lettuce going. My mom and grandmother both have large gardens all year, so I don't plant a lot of other things (like zucchini, tomatoes and yellow squash) since they'll have such an oversupply.

I really want to start a little vegetable garden this year...I am off all summer so I think it would be a great hobby for dd and I to do together. We have such a short spring/summer here in Atlantic Canada that I'm not sure what is feasible to grow but I think I will start small this year and see what I'm able to get . This thread is very helpful!

@Chaosmaven: I want to grow blueberry plants! Any good resources on it that you can recommend?

My parents brought blueberries from CA and we planted them together kids had a lot of fun!

My seedlings always fail so I buy pre-planted stuff. Once they're in the garden centres I can get some I think this year will be eggplant, cukes, green peppers and something new...not sure what yet.

@SugarplumsMom: Your tomatoes are looking awesome so far! I tried to grow some from seeds last year, but this year I'm just throwing in the towel before I start and buying them as plants.
@MrsHansen82: I'm jealous of you girls who can plant already!
@regberadaisy: I love the idea of container gardening! Your herb display is so cute! I love it! I've tried doing herbs a few times before and it's always been a fail for me.
@AmeliaBedilia: A farm sounds amazing. I wish I had the room for pumpkins!
@chopsuey: Looks great!

This year I'm planning on getting tomato and pepper plants, brussel sprouts, snap peas, any maybe zucchini or cucumbers. I want to start a second bed of veggies this year also. I might do potatoes or sweet potatoes or something. I tried strawberries last year and failed, but I might give it another try. I also managed to kill my raspberry bushes, so I will probably buy new ones and prep the area better.
I also bought new flowers and two hydrangea bushes to replace some ugly bushes in front of our house. I can't wait to get gardening! I've got at least another month though.

@Charm54: You should be able to plant most things you want to. I put my garden in May long weekend and have tomatoes and cucumbers and potatoes and cauliflower and broccoli and carrots and peas and beans and onions etc etc. It's just thr exotic things you can't plant. Like avacados and pineapples.

@MrsHansen82: No more rain?? Wow - I can't even imagine that.

@chopsuey: You blueberries are so cute! I want some too, but apparently they need sandy, acidic soil and I'm too lazy to bring in the proper soil to make them happy.

@regberadaisy: I am not a good composter. The only reason I have half a chance is because I have a rotating composter. And even then, I forget to water it, so it ends up hot and dry, rather than hot and composty. And I forget to spin it. I think there's a lot of trial and error with composting. I think you probably need more brown waste in it (think dry leaves) because there's a ratio of brown waste to green waste (kitchen scraps) that you need for success. And you probably need to mix it more often (I've heard that's a common problem). Also, are there holes in your bucket? Otherwise all the water will sit at the bottom and it will get moldy.