Any vegetable gardeners here?

[cbass]

Carrots, actually, are a vegetable, not a fruit.

They're a root! you rroot biters

[LeftyStrat]

I'm still trying to get used to the NW. It doesn't get hot enough for a lot of things I like to grow. No basil, okra, or peppers. I've got a tomato plan that hasn't grown an inch in the last month. Something ate my climbing green beans and my chives.

Rosemary, fennel, and sage grow like crazy out here. My wife hates rosemary, and I've run out of recipes for fennel and sage.

I have a huge cherry tree. My kids don't like either my cherry pie or my cherry/rhubarb pie (freaking infidels).

Parsley not so well. Thyme pretty good.

I guess three out of four is not so bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dau2_Lt8pbM&feature=kp

[Mark]

I'd like to be a good gardener, but in truth I'm a plant mangler. Electronics is it for me unfortunately.

[Phil_S]

I'd like to be a good gardener, but in truth I'm a plant mangler. Electronics is it for me unfortunately.

Mark, anyone can grow tomatoes. Here's what you do. Get the kind that grow in a pot. The call them Patio tomatoes or some such silly thing here on the top side of the earth. Too much water will kill them. Water them well only once a week. Use Miracle Gro (or whatever similar you can find.)

Even better, find something like this picture.

Tomatoes need 8 hours a day of direct sun. More is better. Less can be a problem.

[Phil_S]

Rosemary, fennel, and sage grow like crazy out here. My wife hates rosemary, and I've run out of recipes for fennel and sage.

Too bad about the wife's palate. Rosemary is great on roasted potatoes and lamb. It's good stuffed inside of a whole chicken, too.

[briane]

No basil, okra, or peppers. I've got a tomato plan that hasn't grown an inch in the last month.

hey - the key in the pcnw is start em early, and get yourself a small greenhouse, or at least a hotbox for starts. I start my garden in febuary, some tomatoes are 6 feet tall, and last month they grew 1-2 feet

and yes, we live in the same city - its all about choosing the right stuff for the climate. potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, onions - thems the easy ones around here.

[LeftyStrat]

Rosemary, fennel, and sage grow like crazy out here. My wife hates rosemary, and I've run out of recipes for fennel and sage.

Too bad about the wife's palate. Rosemary is great on roasted potatoes and lamb. It's good stuffed inside of a whole chicken, too.

Oh I still use it in moderation and she's okay with it. I usually pair it with thyme. But it has grown into shrub size, probably enough for the entire neighborhood.

hey - the key in the pcnw is start em early, and get yourself a small greenhouse, or at least a hotbox for starts. I start my garden in febuary, some tomatoes are 6 feet tall, and last month they grew 1-2 feet

and yes, we live in the same city - its all about choosing the right stuff for the climate. potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, onions - thems the easy ones around here.

Next year I plan on doing that. I actually have a fennel outbreak in my yard, it's coming up wild all over the place. I should try to grow some wormwood and make absinthe.

I hadn't thought to try broccoli, I could never get the timing down when I lived in the south, it would always bolt on me. I could definitely consume more onions that I could possibly grow.

I had some chives doing well until something ate them down flush with the ground.

[Phil_S]

We all have critters that conspire to take our homegrown food. The deer have already been grazing on the string bean vines that are growing through the fence. Fortunately, and for reasons that evade me, they don't bother the fence of get inside. It is too short (5') and not sturdy enough, yet it seems to work OK. We had first tomatoes on Tuesday!

[Mark]

Thanks for the advice Phil. I did grow tomatos, unfortunately they tasted very bland at best and largely terrible. I don't know what I did wrong, the fruit went into the compost bin.

[briane]

Thanks for the advice Phil. I did grow tomatos, unfortunately they tasted very bland at best and largely terrible. I don't know what I did wrong, the fruit went into the compost bin.

almost always is the breed. I only do heirlooms now just for that reason - tons of work and no flavor! I really go for the purple plum tomatos.

yeah lefty - brocolli is my big thing here in the NW - grows like a weed, and in mild years will winter over. Untill last winter I had a crop of brocs going strong for over 5 years nothing like fresh brccoli in december

start them onios early!

[cbass]

Heirlooms are the way to go.they are more work more disease prone and get smaller less fruit on em but what's the point if it taste like ass.

[Structo]

We had rosemary but it was pretty much a tree.
We finally had to remove it because it got too big.
But great with small red potatoes along with basil in a small pot with olive oil.
Also good with poultry.

If you are able to grow herbs, even in a kitchen window, you can't beat the flavor.

Lefty, we have had great luck with several varieties of basil here in the valley.

Our herb garden used to be in the ground, but between slugs and other pests, it was a losing battle.

This year we got smart and planted the herbs in rectangular planters.

They are doing great.

Yes, the NW is a shorter growing season, you just have to plan ahead.

But what is great is, our sunset in the Summer is around 9:30pm.
The further North you are, the later the sunset.
That's why Alaska has such long day and night periods.

When I went to Brazil a few years back, the day time was 6:00am to 6:00pm, no matter what time of year it was.
It has to do where you are located in regards to the equator.
Recife, where I was, is 8 degrees South of the equator.
So pretty even day and night hours.

[LeftyStrat]

Seems a lot of the newer breeds have been bred for things other than taste. In fact, my wife and I have been complaining that the seedless watermelons don't taste as good as the seeded ones, but none of the grocery stores carry the seeded ones anymore.

[briane]

When I went to Brazil a few years back, the day time was 6:00am to 6:00pm,

yep - in asia at the equator its dark at 4:30 - 5; every day of the year.

[Structo]

We've noticed the same thing with the hybrid seedless watermelons.

And they still have those small white seeds.

I prefer the old fashioned seed watermelons, much sweeter.