Vegetable gardening is how I started to become interested in gardening. I love it. And I hate it. lol There is always some disappointment but almost always some exciting success. I always want to have lots and we are just not in a position to accomplish that. We don't have enough sun really for many crops. But we do garden organically and get greens and beans and some tomatoes and peppers every year. Peas. I will always have a vegetable garden as long as I can care for one. Our kids ask us to grow Basil and Tomatoes every year. Last year, I planted too little and what I had didn't do well. This year, I have a ton of it and now the kids are nowhere in sight to use it, so I gave some to the neighbor today.

Sungold tomatoes are our favorite too, Dee.

The hubby is growing a lot of tomatoes in pots this year. Considering the amount of deer that are running around, I'll be curious to see what the actual harvest is like.

I have a veggie garden. The well prepared soil makes a great place to plant perennial divisions, rooted cuttings and extra perennial seedlings. Sometimes I have room for a couple tomatoes, beans and zukes. Right now the garden is keeping our new friend the groundhog away from the phlox. Apparently broccoli and squash leaves are his favorites. Oh and beans too, those have been leafless since he moved in.

We have a couple sunsugars starting. I think they are similar to the sungolds diggerdee just started on... and yes, yummy sweet, and I'm not a tomato person.

But we are about sick of the zucchini... onions though, those were fun this year. They are the one thing most likely to dissapear during the night and then show up in the neighbors' kitchens.

Always had tomatoes, sometimes beans, lettuce and zucchini, this is only the second year that it's really become a little more serious with attempts at a bunch of other stuff.

I'm another gardener that started with veggies as much as flowers and other ornamentals, and I have continued having a combined garden. I grow what I know we will eat: edible podded peas, broccoli for me (and this year I actually got a harvest since we only had one woodchuck early in the season), garlic, basil, tomatoes, onions, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, leeks. Some years I plant other things which only I eat (melons, carrots, beans, zukes) but not this year as I was out of town when I usually plant my veggie garden and didn't get them in. I usually freeze excess produce: basil in the form of pesto and the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant as the base for stew or spaghetti sauce. The potatoes and onions can be stored in the cellar entrance which functions as a root cellar. I don't find that it takes an inordinate amount of time to do the freezing - some gets done in the evening after work and dinner, and some on weekends. I like knowing where my food comes from and while nothing beats the taste of veggies fresh out of the garden, pesto in January or veggie garden stew when it's well below freezing comes a close second. I like having those mostly cooked meals ready to go with just a few minutes of prep to finish up.

Not worth the effort??! Are you KIDDING ME?!?

What effort is there to putting in a couple of plants? A few herbs here and there?

I don't have a large vegetable patch by any means, but I do have a handful of tomato plants, a few cukes and eggplant, hot peppers, and of course herbs. All of this in a space maybe 10 x 6 or so.

There is nothing like the flavor of a sugar-sweet sun-warmed tomato right off the vine. That, my friends, reminds me that life is indeed good...

Like you, Kevin, I never really felt like I wanted to use up valuable garden
space on vegetables. . .a three foot sqauare of pole beans, a small patch
of garlic, two Sungold cherry tomatoes in big pots on the driveway, and
cucumbers scrambling up a picket fence. But then I discovered how incredibly
easy it is to grow raspberries (two crops in one season!), and best of all
blackberries. . .being able to snack on organic fruit fresh from the plant
is right up there with popping those Sungolds in your mouth. . .Nirvana!

Carl

I too started with veggies years ago and for years didn't want to waste time and space with ornamentals. Now I have huge ornamental gardens and a very good sized, permanent bed veggie garden. I raise pretty much all my own veggies, eat with the seasons (e.g. when the tomatoes and cukes are gone, I don't eat another tomato or cuke until they come in the next summer) and manage the garden so I get fresh food from it deep into the winter--Savoy cabbages harvested in January after temps below 10 degrees. Thus, aside from tomatoes, most of my canning is for pickles and other specialty condiments.

If I had to choose between the ornamentals and my wonderful food, the ornamentals would lose.

I grew up in a family that had a HUGE veggie garden. My parents did the canning/freezing thing all summer long and that's what we ate during the winter months. They also spent a huge amount of time doing it. I didn't have any interest in doing that.

Probably one of the reasons I didn't have much interest in veggies was because the local farmers market is close to my house. Why bother using my space when I can simply buy the stuff cheap without traveling very far? And that worked for me for years UNTIL I started to notice something. As the farmers market became more popular, prices started to go up. All those deals became harder to find.

Now I understand the need for these guys to make a profit and the produce is generally better than grocery store stuff, but it bugged me that almost everyone started charging exactly the same price for cukes or zucchini or whatever. In some cases it was actually cheaper to buy some things at the grocery store.

That was motivator to grow my own stuff, but it is fun too. And I just don't know what it is about raised beds, but they are just so much easier to take care of than in-ground beds. Plus the small size of my bed makes it kind of a fun challenge to maximize my growing space and only plant what I know I'll use.

I grow radishes, spinach, lettuce in spring and that space gives way to carrots, beans, tomatoes, cukes and some herbs for the rest of the season. Pretty much nothing goes to waste. Either I eat it or give it away to a neighbor if I have too much. In reality though, most gets eaten by me.

Kevin

Ken, there are many community efforts pertaining to growing food, in our area we have CSAs - community supported agriculture, and people buy shares of the produce which are picked up or delivered weekly.

Yes I have a small veggie garden - about 8 x 12. Right now I'm growing tomatoes, cukes, swiss chard, and cabbage. I PINE to have a larger veggie garden, but there is limited sun in this yard, despite being a large lot and having tree work done 3 times.

Growing vegetables is how I got into gardening - at my previous house, I had a large vegetable garden for many years and grew only a few flowers - they were too "froo froo" for me, because they didn't have a "function" (so I thought!).

When I moved here, with only a little sun in the front yard, I didn't think it appropriate to put a veggie garden in front. Thought it would be nice to grow some flowers for the butterflies and hummingbirds. Little did I know it would develop into a full-blown passion - large decorative gardens with as many flowers as possible - and raising 3 species of butterflies (so far).

This has turned into a fun thread! Does anyone here use cold frames to extend their season?

I did a few years ago, and grew spinach, lettuce, mache, parsley, and claytonia. I went out in the snow to pick lettuce for Christmas Eve dinner. Sweet.

But the last few years I just can't seem to get my act together in time to start the seeds when they need to be, and since I have such limited sun I can't always get things in the ground without ripping out other still-good crops.

I'm hoping to be able to get back to that... someday.

Dee

I don't see the need to separate veggies and flowers and have mixed stuff all around the yard.

"I don't see the need to separate veggies and flowers and have mixed stuff all around the yard."

Herbs lend themselves beautifully to this :0)

Yep! and I do canning when possible. The brocoli, spinach and radishes have been eaten. Cukes and cherry tomatoes starting and for supper tonite, new potatoes. Here is how I am gardening this year, plus I have a garden out in the front yard for corn and such.

Jodi

{{gwi:100961}}

Very nice, Jodi! Everything looks very neatly contained (and very lush & healthy!)

My thoughts, exactly, Jodi - so neat and orderly; nothing like my messy garden! Veggies lookin' good too!

Are those carrots in the far right box? If so, are you growing a small variety? I tried carrots in boxes a few times but not much success - they grew okay, and tasted okay, but were smaller than they were supposed to be, and lots of fine roots coming off them up and down the carrot (which I read later may have been from excess nitrogen.)

Dee

Dee, yes carrots called danvers 1/2 long. the grow 8". last year they were in another part of the garden and did not get 8" long. so, trying it again in this new box.

my hubby is all about it looking nice - lol.

i have room for one more box and want to try some herbs next year.

Jodi

We have a small "test" garden this year to see what likes it here. Next year it will be larger. Organic is expensive and harder to find, I'd rather know what was sprayed on my stuff (no one around here bothers with chemlawn or whatever). Plus I like to just walk by and grab some beans or peas or even an ear of good sweet corn to snack on.

I'm still trying to get my head around the idea of 'too many tomatoes'. How? without having a massive vegetable garden, that is almost nothing but tomatoes, how do you possibly have too many? I've rarely managed to have enough to get to spaghetti sauce for that night's dinner. Having enough to store for future dinners just sounds inconceivable.

LOL, MG, I agree! And that's one reason why I haven't learned to can yet - I just don't produce enough of my own stuff. And tomatoes - never too much and never enough!

The darn Sungolds never even cross the threshold into the house, lol. Even my kids just go stand next to a plant and snack! I use the Sungold plants as a snack bar while I'm gardening. Not that you would use Sungolds for sauce, obviously, but even the other tomatoes - even the paste tomatoes - just never enough, and certainly never too much!

Dee

I'm very much in the same boat as Laceyvail. Our backyard is divided into the kitchen garden and the ornamental gardens. But over the past few years we have focused more and more on serious food production and now we grow a significant portion of our food. We have a greenhouse too, which expands the possibilities greatly!

Kitchen garden raised beds in the foreground, perennial beds in the background
{{gwi:253119}}

Bountiful lettuce and spinach
{{gwi:253120}}

A sensory delight of alpine strawberries and lavender
{{gwi:253121}}

Every time we re-do a part of our yard we keep adding edible things. A pie cherry tree, some currant bushes, etc. We are presently wondering where we can create a strawberry patch. So much fun!

Oh my, Karin! How lovely! (and neat! What is it with all you neat gardeners, lol?)

Oh, to have such space, and for it all to be sunny! (and flat!)

Dee

Wow Karin! i just showed this to my husband. he just shook his head at me - lol! it an inspiration to me. thanks for sharing

Jodi

Nope, I'm a perennial man myself....actually I would if I had space but I can't even keep up with my container tomato plant.

Those are some great veggie garden pictures... more like magazine shots! I should post a couple from my garden to make the less successful gardeners feel better about themselves! Mine is more of a work in progress.

I could go for a crispy fresh salad right about now.

Crispy salad indeed! Few meals are more satisfying than the ones you've grown from scratch. :)

Jodikay, you are quite right about the husband part of the equation. That's essential for the big projects. Luckily he's a big fan of food we've grown and he is a willing collaborator on whatever infrastructure is needed. Our house was on the garden tour the year after those raised beds were built and it was so funny to watch couples enter the garden. Wives would turn left and admire the roses. Husbands would make a hard right turn and consider the raised beds. Not their contents, mind you, just the beds themselves.

Diggerdee, yes a big flat sunny yard is nice. But you know what I really want? A smaller, hillier shadier yard. :)

Oh and the garden does look neat in those photos, but believe me it is rarely neat. Sad to say the garden is considerably bigger than my ability to keep up with it. But I still keep thinking that one day I will be caught up, and I sure have fun trying.

And back to the original topic, I think it is a promising trend to see vegetable gardening becoming so popular and canning making a resurgence. Seems to me this is a very healthy trend, in many respects.

Very nice pics of veggie gardens!

The raised beds and edging make things look neat, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose of having raised beds on what appears to be, flat and well-drained locations?

The vegetable and fruit garden here is nowhere near as organized and attractive as those of Jodi and Karin (wow), but I do grow edibles for flavor and convenience (this year there are three different varieties of brussels sprouts, several different types of beans (the pole beans are just starting to bear), eggplant, okra, sweet peppers, several varieties of tomates (all in large tubs - they take up too much space otherwise) and a small corn patch.

It was a good year for small fruits (especially raspberries and serviceberries - the blueberries were split between us and the groundhogs).

I just harvested the garlic crop and am planning to expand to several different new varieties for next year.

I wonder how many gardeners here are using ornamental vegetable varieties in the non-food garden. I've grown "Redbor" kale in the subtropical bed (terrific deep purple ruffled foliage), and might consider using this year's Asian okra for that purpose in the future (it has purple-tinted foliage and reddish-purple pods while staying remarkably compact so far).

Terrene,

Raised beds are not strictly necessary when you have good drainage and a good site, but they sure do make life easier. They are a snap to keep weeded, in part because they have firm boundaries and weeds don't creep in from the edges and in part because the soil never gets compacted. I also find raised beds easier when it comes to adding trellises, hoops, shade cloth and deer netting because the edge of the bed gives you something firm to attach structures to.

Mostly, I just enjoy using them. They save me a lot of effort and they make vegetable gardening more pleasurable.

Eric -

Yay for the small fruits! We are only getting a small raspberry crop this year and I generally leave the serviceberries for the birds. But these kinds of treats are so nice for just wandering outside and picking a few handfuls for cereal.

I have a question about those ornamental edibles for folks who plant them. Do you intend to eat them or are they just for the ornamental value?

Jodi and Karin, your gardens are inspirational. Someday, when I have the money to take out one of the large Norway maples that bisect my backyard, I will install a veggie garden.

Dee - I agree. I am thoroughly enjoying this thread. Thanks to everyone who has written such detailed posts. Your comment about coldframes reminded me of one my sister has had stored in a shed for about the last 10 years. I need it. I’ve never been totally successful with the late season sowings of anything. I always seem to sow too late and stuff just doesn’t grow as fast in the fall - maybe a sun angle thing or something. One year I did cover some of my late sown lettuce with clear plastic storage boxes when the temps started falling and did pick lettuce into early December. I coldframe could be very nice indeed.

mad gallica - Yes, too many tomatoes is an absolutely impossible. Lord I can polish off a good ½ dozen a day - everyday during the tomato season.

Jodikay - your beds are simply wonderful. I love the neatness of raised beds.

Karin - Simply perfection! Your attention to detail in design is magazine-worthy. I also have to agree with everything you said about raised beds especially the comment about firm boundaries. In a way, with a raised bed, you start off with a perfect gardening space and maintaining it is just so simple. I would also add: They’re easier to keep watered, use less water, the soil warms earlier in the spring, so you can plant earlier and in my case they’re too high for rabbits. Around here at least, rabbits don’t jump up into the beds.

My bed is very rustic in comparison to the ones posted above, but I like reusing scrap lumber for projects and that’s what I did here. The primary reason for the bed was because the location was a former driveway with lots and lots of broken asphalt, and horrible soil. Even though I’ve only been using it for veggies a few years, it’s been in place for at least 10 years, so it’s served me well.

When I built this one, I did a double wall on the sides. There’s a 3-4 inch air space in between the outside and inside wall. I don’t think this was necessary, but my thoughts at the time were to help with soil temperature fluctuation. Again, probably not necessary, but it hasn’t hurt anything. I also lined the inside with heavy plastic to conserve moisture and help prevent wood rot. That was smart.

Right now I have lots and lots of beans, a couple of tomatoes, cukes, carrots and basil. I just pulled out the last of the lettuce, Spinach was done a long time ago. I’ve never raised carrots before, but I wanted colored ones for this Thanksgiving dinner, so I planted Cosmic Purple and Rainbow. I’m slowing learning how to grow my tomatoes more upright to conserve space.

{{gwi:253123}}

I can’t say enough about raised bed gardening. A few years ago, I co-founded a community garden in Mpls on a vacant lot where a house had just been torn down. The soil was so compacted and horrible you couldn’t get a shovel to go in the ground. So we did raised beds.

Setting up the beds and filling them with dirt:

{{gwi:253125}}

A few months later:

{{gwi:253126}}

Kevin

Again wow.
I'm envious of the raised beds because of what Karin said about having an edge to attatch something to. I built a gangly trellis for the tomatoes and now as the shallow (10 inches?) of soil fails to hold it my trellis is all lopsided and crooked :(

Last winter I was inspired to plant a tropical bed. Red cabbage and chartreuse sweet potatoes fit right in (I think)... in spring I like putting lettuce in with the pansies, and broccoli has shown up now and then too. One year I edged part of the front yard with a border of curly parsley, I won't count all the green fennel around the front yard. I hate the flavor and only grow it for the airy look..... and the black swallotails.
This direct picture insert works pretty good btw....

Kevin, my husband said your beds look great (I agree) - high praise from the man that says 'if you're going to do it, do it right and make it look good!' thank goodness for him or who knows what i would have done. lol.

it's a great question and lots of wonderful posts that just goes to show what a diverse group gardeners are.

Jodi

Veggie, what's a veggie? Just kidding, I don't grow them because I don't like them. Well, I do like corn and broccoli. Might look into growing that but I really enjoy is fruits. Usually my fridge is full of fruit all summer long but this year the prices have been so high. Don't have the room for fruit trees but I do for strawberries and melons. I'm not sure how well grapes would do in our area and with the JB moving in, it might not be worth it.

Wow, your gardens look wonderfully. The heatwave has mine look extra crispy and trashy.

Kato,

I just noticed the pretty caterpillar in your picture. Is that dill that the little guy is dining on? That's a nice vibrant color combination you've got there.

Kevin, that community garden is impressive. I love the before and after photos and everything looks so lush and productive in the midsummer shot. Nice work!

Yes, kato, that is indeed a vibrant color combination! Very nice!

Dee

Re ornamental vegetables - I haven't eaten "Redbor" kale, but supposedly it's as tasty as other kales. The ornamental okra pods certainly are good (I like them raw in salads, or cooked as okra fritters).

Don't forget the not-exactly-ornamental but tasty weeds. I finally got up the interest (courage?) to try purslane, which has been seeding around my walkways and patio, and it's good - crisp with a pea-like taste and a very slight overtone of citrus.

What fun to wander over here and see some familiar names from the New England thread. Hi there! The photos are great. We have a mixture. Our house sits sideways to the road but way back so the driveway is right in front of the house (think old New England farmhouse) so most of the gardens are in front of the house on the south side. When we renovated the house, my husband's requirement was a kitchen table in front of the windows and what a joy that has become because we can see most of the gardens.

I keep adding. We moved here in 2007 and I wasn't able to actual plant until 2008. A couple of things were here already. The more birds we saw, the more we wanted to attract. As a learned more about the importance of plants and insects, we've left a swath of meadow at the back and this year have added a high tunnel. Last year I loved a fabric covered low tunnel. I keep finding new flavors I want to add. Last week someone demonstrated dehydrating and passed around samples of wonderful dried zucchini. And her garden looks so whimsical with volunteer sunflowers here and there.

With the exception of tomatoes and peppers, I try not to grow more than we can eat fresh and give away. This year under the kitchen window I'm trying a patch of husk cherries which tasted so good at the farmers market last year.

I decided if I was going to plant ornamentals, that I should try to include things birds would like hence several viburnum and crab apples (the ones with the tiny fruit that cedar waxwings like). And thanks to plant swaps, I've built a small collection of perennials. And who can resist a great plant on sale. There's an annual poppy, borage and calendula that self sow throughout the yard. Some of the birds like sitting on tall things like pea fences. The little granite bird bath just looks nicer with a tub of impatients and a daylily next to it. The herb garden along the little kitchen porch greens up before anything else.

A friend grows a spectacular garden, all ornamentals, many tropicals that she has to over-winter. It's gorgeous but I like to be able to nibble on things in the garden.

Interesting, Kevin, that you grew up with a family that spent a lot of time
"putting food by", as did mine. . .how I detested having to do so much of
the "grunt" work as a kid, and naturally I've rarely had the urge to do any
canning as an adult - jams are the one exception! But about a decade
ago, a friend was disposing of an old (1970's?) dehydrator and I thought
I'd give it a try. . .it was amazing!. . .now I grow some tomatoes ("Principe
Borghese" and "Yellow Pear") specifically for drying. All the other excess
fruits and vegetables get frozen. Does anyone else use these alternative means of "putting food by" ?

Carl

I don't grow for preserving.. in season I can get anything I can grow in bulk very cheaply from local farmers. I do grow a few things for the "fresh from the garden" taste, or that are hard to find/expensive. There's a small bed, plus others scattered through the perennials, especially herbs.

I finally got up the interest (courage?) to try purslane

Even if you don't eat it, it's beneficial.. it breaks up compacted soil with its roots & provides groundcover. I use the wood sorrel in salads & soup. Lamb's quarters are now considered a gourmet salad in some places, but I'm still not going to let it live.

I thought of this thread the other day as I was sneaking in a couple more perennial seedlings into the veggie patch for growing out. Then I thought it would be ok to plant tulips under the lettuce seedlings. Then I pulled out some tomatoe and put hellebore seedlings there..... my veggie patch always ends up with a bunch of flowers and non edibles but this fall it's really bad. The soil is so good though, and we are more of a cookie and cake eating family than a vegetable eating family.

I guess I'll just have to wait until the tulips are done before I can plant out the warm weather stuff.... Unless I need room for the dahlias and glads, then things could get tricky. Btw the answer is no, gladiolas don't grow well if you try and wedge them in between eggplant and bean plants. There really isn't enough room.

Thanks for bringing this thread up again. I missed it earlier, probably because I was to busy with the huge veggie garden, the raspberry patch, the currant bushes, the gooseberries, elderberries etc. to hang out here. We grow a lot of veggies and we eat a lot of veggies. What we can't use goes to the kids or friends and neighbors, to retirement condos and the food shelf. So none of it is wasted. My flowers are a labor of love, my veggie garden is more of an I love to eat all the fresh veggies, therefore I grow them. It's great to dash out to the garden and pick our next meal. I do some canning and freezing and some dehydrating. I'm currently going through withdrawal after putting the veggie garden to bed. Will plant my garlic tomorrow and dig some horseradish soon, all that's left to do for the veggie garden this season.

All of the raised bed pics in this thread are amazing. Gorgeous. I especially love the garden with the gravel, I think in MT?

I gave hubby the strip along the driveway for a garden and we do plant a few things but it doesn't look anything like what I'm seeing here.

I saw the caterpillar after someone mentioned it, what kind is it and what does it eat? Did you say "Swallowtail" we have those butterflies but I don't know what their caterpillars look like. Would love to attract them. All we had this year was cabbage moths...:(

On purslane - I was reading "The $64 Tomato" and the author dismissed purslane with the comment "Yuck!" - no accounting for tastes (he theorized that the reason his garden was overrun with it was that a grower a few miles away was producing it for gourmet restaurants - not a likely explanation for it being prolific in his garden).

Eric, I loved that book! It's amazing to me how many people read it and got their knickers in a twist, huffing and puffing about waste and ignorance of gardening principles, when IMO they just didn't have enough of a sense of humor to realize it is satire. Christopher Walken, lol! Come on! How could you not laugh?

Eh, anyway, last year at the farmer's market we started to get people who actually were looking to buy purslane. I'm thinking I could weed my garden and sell it as a gourmet salad mix, lol....

Dee

Mmmm fresh veggies from the backyard? YES please! I started doing all veggies and herbs in containers and window-boxes. Tomatoes do great in pots if the pot is large enough. That is about the only thing I've had true success with in a pot. My garden this last year didn't do as great as I had hoped due to lack of rain the first couple months of summer. Being in central east Wisconsin, we only have a few months to enjoy a veggie garden before frost takes over.

If you're doing a 14X4 foot you can do quite a few things. I'd suggest doing tomatoes in pots to leave more room for other delights in the bed. Some beans and peas varieties don't take up much space, peppers grow tall so they can be planted closer together than other plants, herbs can be done in containers but I personally have had better luck in beds being I'm in zone 4. As for anything else- squashes take a lot of space and sun, broccoli and califlower like cool weather so they should go into the bed in early spring to avoid bolting, and root-veg should also go in early so you have something to pull-up before winter comes.

My veg garden is 30x20 and I have enough room to plant some of everything and anything. One year I got really ambitious and had 60 tomato plants. Half my garden was a jungle, but it was fun. I wish you luck on doing a veggie garden next spring! I also love all the photos of the raised beds others posted. Beautiful!

The veggie garden is pretty much toast for the season since we had a hard freeze last week - another one on the way for tonight. My second crop of lettuce survived, but isn't quite ready to pick yet.

But I did dig a few carrots today (my first time growing them). Some were massive - 15 inches long and a couple of inches across, but they weren't woody at all - just crisp and sweet. The texture is so different from the store-bought. Many were also very oddly shaped, but what the heck - as long as they taste good. The largest one is dinner tonight.

I planted colorful ones.

{{gwi:253128}}

Kevin

Nice carrots, Kevin! Is that a red one on the right? What kind is that?

I tried carrots once but didn't have much luck. I tried the smallest ones I could find, and grew them in one of those under-the-bed storage boxes. The germinated and grew well at first, and I had them in my cold frame, but they didn't get very big - and they had plenty of room to get bigger in the box, and were supposed to be bigger. They also had lots (and I mean LOTS) of little roots coming off them, which I later read may have been due to too much nitrogen. But they sure tasted good!

I think I may try them again next year. I'm cutting back on my annual flowers, so I may try the carrots in my cinderblock beds. I figure the soil is looser and less obstructed there for the carrots.

Kevin, were yours in the ground or raised beds?

Dee

Dee

The purple one is 'Cosmic Purple' and the others are 'Rainbow'. So far, I like the Rainbow better. Most are in shades of yellow, apricot and pale orange. The Cosmic Purple ones have the greatest number of deformities. A lot are just these little, roundish nobs - very odd.

I planted these in the raised bed pictured above. I was very diligent about thinning early which is a trick I learned growing radish and it seemed to make sense with the carrots too.

The monster I had for dinner was wonderful. Just a bit of pepper, some butter and Dijon mustard. I think I'll roast some this weekend. Maybe a roasted chicken to accompany? Maybe an apple pie too? I love Fall eating!

Kevin

trying to grow cauliflower but something is eating the leaves.our other plants arent being bothered.We have planted lots of marigolds

Maurice, you are adding to the end of a very old thread on the perennial forum... try posting your question in a separate post on the vegetable forum, you will get more answers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Gardening Forum