Raised Bed Gardening

[Dodgy Loner]

Harvested fresh this morning: pole beans, black-eyed peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and my first French melon!!!

[Dodgy Loner]

The melon was delicious . I picked 15 more tomatoes today, a few more cukes and a few more handfuls of black-eyed peas. My next melon is just starting to turn yellow 8)

[Mooseherder]

Turns out I may have one mellon that makes it.  It is almost the size of a Baseball right now.

[Don K]

Mooseherder, this has been a great thread you started. I have enjoyed it immensely. I hope you haven't minded me plowing thru it from time to time.

Don

[Mooseherder]

I haven't minded at all and enjoyed your input Don.  Your Garden is awesome.

I made a batch of Salsa with the Vine Ripe Tomatoes.  It was more better'n good. ;D

[WDH]

Mmmm.

Mooseherder, this has been a great thread for us gardeners.  Nothing like the satisfication of growing your own food, with or without shoes :D. 

[Mooseherder]

Yep, I have enjoyed gardening, the experiments along the way and hopefully will become better at it.
Really have enjoyed everyones input and pictures. 

My wife and I did some weeding last night and we are down to just a couple things left.  We really had some very wet and hot weather the last couple months that threw us a few curves.
I would have to say the Fire Ants won the War this season and got me good on the hands and feet again last night.  :-\
The Red Peppers seeds I dried and planted from Store bought peppers are growing but severe rain/wind wreaked havoc on them as they were only six inches high and fragile.  The Hot Peppers have produced good and I thought that was it but they now have new flowers on them and appear to be producing new buds.  We'll see what happens.
My onions appear to be my latest casualty.  Next time I'll follow instructions. ;D

[beenthere]

Just took a gander at the gallery, and noticed some great looking gardens growing and posted by Burlkraft. I didn't realize he and Jill have been so busy. Must a fought off a lot of skeeters to get that much garden in this summer.

Hope he posts a walking tour.

[Burlkraft]

You galley peeker you!   :D  :D  :D

[WDH]

The eggplant parmesan tonight for supper was about the best that I ever had, eggplant-wise that is.

[SwampDonkey]

I tried growing them once, but the potato beetle moved right in for lunch.  :D :D

[WDH]

Potato beetles must like parmesan too :D.

[Dodgy Loner]

Picked two cantaloupes, thirty tomatoes, several peppers, and a hefty amount of pole beans and cowpeas yesterday evening. I spent the rest of the evening canning 6.5 quarts of peas and 6 quarts of beans. I'll be putting up some spaghetti sauce later this week. Those 89-cent canned vegetables at Wal-Mart are starting to look more attractive! :

[WDH]

Some things taste so much better right out of the garden instead of right out of a can or from the store.  We prioritize those, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, and that is what we focus on.  We buy peas from local producers because they sell them for an attractive price versus the expense and effort of doing it yourself.  We do that with corn too. 

[Dodgy Loner]

Well, that sounds very logical, but I don't like fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, or squash ;D. I will be formulating a new gardening plan for next year, though. I think I'll just try to keep a steady stream of produce coming throughout the season, instead of getting a big harvest all at once. Green beans and tomatoes will be the exception. Green beans are not too much trouble to can, and the store-bought tomato sauce just doesn't compare to homemade. I will plant more peas in the future if I get a separate freezer, but right now they take up too much space to freeze them, since I've only got the freezer/fridge combo.

[WDH]

Homemade tomato sauce is wondermous.

[zopi]

Fed one of my lady friends a homegrown Brandywine tomato today...and all these years I though it was tequila that did the trick..go figure.

I wouldn't know...hate raw tomatoes...luvs me some homemade sauce though!

[SwampDonkey]

Dodgy, you need to upsize to a full blown chest high freezer. :D

[Don K]

Well, I finally got to eat one of my melons. A yellow fleshed Black Diamond. No I don't have pics as I was too busy eating. good times ahead.

Don

[WH_Conley]

Anybody have any ideas how to keep coons out of the sweet corn? Have caught 2 in the trap, have 2 strands of electric fence around it, 6" and 14". Told the neighbor with the coon dog that if he is not going to shoot them, don't hunt them, just gives them more of an appetite. So far the DanG things have got more corn than I have. >:(

[DanG]

About the best thing I ever found for keeping critters out of the garden is to have six or eight dogs running loose on the place.

[zopi]

Well, I finally got to eat one of my melons. A yellow fleshed Black Diamond. No I don't have pics as I was too busy eating. good times ahead.

We got a couple melons this year...They were awesome! For some reason we never have much luck with watermelons....

Don

[beenthere]

WH
Eat coon 11 months outta the year so's you can have one month of eatin corn.

[Norm]

I've always used an electric fence but only one strand low to the ground. If they aren't paying attention to it my guess is that a stronger fencer is needed. The one I use is good for 6 miles of fence.

Most mornings when I go out to check on it there's a lingering odor of hair burning.  ;D

[DanG]

Is that just a single strand by itself, or in conjunction with another fence, Norm?  I've been thinking that a strip of 2ft chicken wire on plastic posts, with a good strong charger should be just about foolproof for coons.  I just don't have a coon problem, so no reason to try it for myself.  I know that coons can be pretty cagey, but do they tend to jump over things like that?  I just don't know much about them. :P