Your 2026 Garden

[jxp]

I have 5 raised garden beds, 4x4 each. One is for herbs, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley do well. The other ones are used for various vegetables with various levels of success. Usually zucchini do very well, the chickens get all the big ones that I overlooked. Beans are always easy, cucumbers do well. Can’t grow carrots, they stay small if they survive. Tomatoes did poorly last year but will try again. Have not seeded or planted anything yet Potatoes will go in big pots and planter bags, so will my garlic. Sweet potatoes will go in the ground behind the chicken run, they do so much better there than in planter bags. Trimmed my 5 fig trees, transplanted 6 blackberry bushes and 6 raspberry bushes, have a gooseberry bush and 4 blueberry bushes left to transplant next week. Planted some small paw paw and persimmon trees, they’re only 2 - 3 feet tall. My elderberry bushes have a few leaves. I have 3 peach trees but it’s hit or miss with frost after they have flowers. Last year I planted a plum tree and some apple trees, I hope they will produce but it’s going to be a while, they’re just about 5-6 feet tall. I’m a bit of a haphazard gardener when it comes to veggies.
Will grow tomatoes from starters I buy at the Amish farm. Have to direct sow some stuff in a week or two and then ‘secure’ the beds from the feathered ‘helpers’……

Wow! I'm exhausted just reading about all that work. Good job, you!

 

[fldiver97]

Most of the herbs are perennials. The herbs are the easiest and I usually just dry and store some late fall. I grow cilantro and basil and mint in pots, from seed (unless the mint survived winter and neglect)
The berry transplants are the hardest but satisfying work to get them moved, mulched and trimmed a bit. This year I will use cattle panel sections for the raised beds to make my life easier .
Three nights of frost in the forecast but then a nice warm up for just a few seeds , the rest is going in as seedlings in a couple of months.

 

[kattabelly]

Has anyone else ever grown tomatoes completely indoors?

(I know this post is from a while ago but 46 pages is a lot to get through and I've been avoiding looking at this thread until now because I don't need even more ways to waste my time )

I grow a dwarf variety most years that's been specifically developed for lower light levels - just a big south-facing window will do. It's originally Russian, I think, but I got the seed from a UK company and now save my own. If you try growing it outdoors, the extra light actually makes it look stunted and deformed!

 

[Debbie292d]

I don't need even more ways to waste my time

Thanks for stopping by though!

A low-light tomato does sound interesting. I've never heard of it. I'll have to look next time. Thanks!

 

[kattabelly]

Thanks for stopping by though!

A low-light tomato does sound interesting. I've never heard of it. I'll have to look next time. Thanks!

I think it's effectively something like one of the micro bush varieties, but grown outdoors in full sun it needs more careful management and lots of pruning to add ventilation because the leaves grow so close together. Grown indoors it's technically etiolated due to "low" light but the leaves are a healthy colour and far enough apart that ventilation or poor ripening aren't issues.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I got my Fish Pepper seeds in the mail today!

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

Thank you for your tip. I can work extra nitrogen into the soil, don't have eucalyptus here unfortunately, but this is the kind of info I need. Growing conditions, soil amendments, pest and predator protection. What's worked for our growing friends/fellow gardners.

I plant two crops of it each year now. Even though I live in the Midwest, it is all field corn, not sweet corn. I amend the soil with chicken poop in the fall. You could just put composted chicken poop this spring in the rows. Once it gets a foot tall or so, I hoe up the soil up around the base. I don't grow huge amounts at all. You would be surprised how much you get with just a small patch. But sweet corn is the best fresh from your garden!

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

This is known as the three sisters method. From experience I can tell you to not use it for sweet corn and don't plant either the beans or squash until after the corn stalks are at least 10 inches or 25 cm tall. The squash will shade the corn and your germination will be diminished. The beans will look for something to climb soon after sprouting and need those stalks to be available. They will wind their way very tightly around whatever they're climbing and it becomes almost impossible to harvest the corn at a fresh eating stage. This is why the planting method is best reserved for corn that is meant to be left on the plant and made into cornmeal, masa, or hominy.

Bit of wisdom that my Grandpa taught me is that you should choose a squash or pumpkin with prickly stems so as to deter raccoons and squirrels from entering your patch and trying to climb the cornstalks.

That was my experience also, so I only plant corn by itself. My long Island cheese pumpkin vines are aggressive and the leaves huge.

 

[Debbie292d]

I got my Fish Pepper seeds in the mail today!

I had to look them up.

They sound awesome for making chili, salsa, and if you're a believer of putting pepper flakes in chicken feed cures them of things. I actually do that now and then, but only because I for some reason have a ton of it. I just hope it's doing something lol.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I had to look them up.
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They sound awesome for making chili, salsa, and if you're a believer of putting pepper flakes in chicken feed cures them of things. I actually do that now and then, but only because I for some reason have a ton of it. I just hope it's doing something lol.

They’re supposed to have variegated leaves! And the fruits start out striped before ripening to a solid red. I just hope they’ll be spicy enough, I’m used to cayenne.