Suburban Garden: Suggestions?

[Reaganchick]

Thanks to all for such great ideas and tips!! I've started canning again (grew up helping but am starting to re-teach myself) and I'm trying to "garden" surburban style. So far I've got heirloom tomatoes, salad tomatoes several types of peppers and lots of herbs in pots. Off my deck I'm planting edible pod peas so they'll run up the deck and I've planted eggplant and squash in between my boxwoods in the front. Along my front sidewalk area (next to the house) I'm "square foot gardening" bush beans (should be able to get 54 plants in the area). I'm also growing lettuce in my strawberry pot. The DH is going to build one of the 4x4 potato boxes that I found on TOL. So, what do you think? I'm trying not to draw attention to the fact that it's food but at the same time want to enjoy as much fresh as possible. Suggestion?

[Indigo]

You could also trellis some cucumbers. Plant some dill, too, and then you can have pickles and relishes in addition to eating fresh in the summer. You can also tuck things like radishes in amonst other things...you'll harvest them before the other things are really rockin' and rollling and need the space. :)

[Sassafras]

We're doing the same thing. We always lived in the country and had huge gardens that amply supplied our annual needs. Now that we're in town we're trying to find creative ways to add edibles to our landscaping and planting the most in what small garden area we have.

One change we made years ago is planting in blocks instead of rows. Plant in blocks twice the width of your reach. That way there are fewer aisles that tend to waste precious space. The most noticable harvest increase is with the onions.

Also here on TOL there is a very informative thread that started out discussing the upside down tomato plants. If the thread isn't in the garden section, check out the kitchen. Folks here are real knowledgeable and have helped me out tremendously.

[Reaganchick]

Thanks sassafrass and indigo! I've picked up a ton of great things on this site. If I trellis a cucumber on a west wall (up against the siding so it'll be really hot), will it be too hot for the plant? I have an automatic spinkler system that will keep it moist...

[WarHall]

Since you don't mention what climate zone you are in, I can tell you are already ahead of me..Here's something I learned in Mother Earth News: Instead of doing all the 'gardening', simply buy bags of potting soil, and plant in the them - Weed free, doesn't matter what kind of soil conditions you have, and you can move them around until you find the right amount of sun/shade they need..Also, for the limited space folks(read Apt. dwellers), try hanging planters, inside and out, taking care of plants that also grow food is a sure sign of 'responsibility' and a great way to impress your guests when you go to 'pick' a favorite herb or such..

[Patches]

You may want to try some Earth Boxes or homemade Earth Boxes, they have freed up a lot of space in my small garden plot.

[Reaganchick]

I don't know the zone. I'm in N. VA. What's an earth box?

[ElGato]

You could do the three sisters method of planting in containers. In a 5 gallon bucket plant corn, pole beans and squash seeds and plant like the pic below. They benefit one another. The corn gives the beans a trellis and the squash acts as mulch. Perfect for small spaces.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e155/gupto/3sisters-opt.gif

[recorderguy]

I don't know the zone. I'm in N. VA. What's an earth box?

If you're in Northern VA, you are probably zone six.

Check out here to find out for sure: http://www.victoryseeds.com/hardzone/index.html


Commercial Earth Box:
http://www.earthbox.com/[/URL]

( A wee bit pricey $60)

Make your own:
[URL]http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm (http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=45274)

If you do it right, you can make them for about $10

They are outstanding. Tried one last year, doing a bunch this year! I like them more than buckets. And my dog seems to stay away from them as opposed to my raised beds.

[Reaganchick]

Thanks everyone!! My kids are really excited about helping with this. My hubby's just back from Iraq and between the earth boxes and the potato box, it'll be great "daddy" time with the kids!

[Summerthyme]

I'll add my vote for the EarthBox clones... even though I have 160 acres, and grow at least a half acre garden every year. They are the best thing going for growing greens in my small greenhouse, for early and late salads. They also grow beets and carrots very well, and almost anything else you can grow in a regular garden.

If you decide to make some of your own "clones", there are directions on the 'net someplace which show an alternative method which can save you quite a few dollars. (I used the plans at the link recorderguy provided for my first ones, but was frustrated by the "waste" of the second rubbermaid container.

The alternative method has you use a few lengths of plastic pipe or whatever you have, cut into 4" lengths and set in the bottom of the Rubbermaid container. Then you cut the LID just small enough to slide down into the container, where it rests on the cut off pipes. Once it's the right size, you do everything else the same- including cutting the hole for the "pond basket" (hint- cheap colanders from the dollar store work really well as a substitute for that "pond basket")

It didn't matter as much when you could pick up a sturdy Rubbermaid container for $3-4!

One thing... I was concerned about the homemade earth boxes breaking down in the sunlight, but my oldest ones are 3 years old and showing no signs of brittleness or problems yet...

Summerthyme

[IdahoMom]

How about some strawberries anywhere you would like some groundcover?

[Wrenchbender]

If you are thinking about planting anything and you need supplies get them now. On a whim decided to enlarge the asparagus patch. I went to my local earl may. I talked to who I assumed to be a manager about the asparagus. He said a few weeks back they had plenty, now all gone. Same with seed potatos. I was there a few weeks ago for seed potato and there was a lot there. He claimed he has never seen so many people planting gardens.