What question do ya have?

Regards,

Tom

But when I do figure it out, I'll post it on here. THANKS!

Bonnie (Brit)

Where are you in VA? I'm near Richmond, been here all my life. I grow some perennials and have always had a vegetable garden. The veggies used to be in a 3000 square foot garden, now I'm down to about 200 sq. ft. Age and work have taken their toll on the amount of time and energy available. I still try to get out to do just a bit every day that the weather permits.

Sandy

I've recently dug up my entire garden so I could thin stuff and am overwhelmed with the amount of lily bulbs I've ended up with. Also had butterfly ginger lilies that were given to me and they mass produced like bamboo, so dug them all out. I've also ordered way too many tulip and daffodil bulbs (first experience with tulips) and will be getting them in while replanting lilies as well as getting all my other perennials back in the ground. I've got a big job ahead of me !!

Happy Gardening,
Bonnie

I have a very small plot of land and last year was my first time pretending I know how to garden. Thankfully Mother Nature is very forgiving. I had made 2 beds ( ammending the soil) for a few years before I planted a thing. Then I discovered wintersowing. So this past spring I looked like a pro. My bed was full and lush. I went out there every day and just admired all the beauty.

One of the other beds I made was for my shade garden which ended up being my compost pile. The drainage just wasn't happening. So I just put all my leaves and such there. I recently made a new bed for the SFG that I diving into this spring. I don't know squat about veggies except for the few tomato's and lettuce from last year. Note to self...do not plants tomato starts in to bad draining partly shaded areas. I think I got about 10 tom from 4 plants. Oh well. Live and learn. I don't even like tomato's but family does so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Want to talk about winter sowing. You'll have to teach me. Here's a link to GREAT new post (if you haven't already seen)about wintersowing. His garden is AMAZING !! Plus, he's in NC so weather is similar.

The only thing I CAN chime in on (and don't know what the heck I'm talking about is....) can you plant carrots in raised beds, too? (since your soil is clay) Or do they require something more than that? Just curious.

Sounds like you have your hands full and live in a nice area WITH HORSES. I'm a few block up from the beach (Buckroe Beach) in Hampton, so my landscape is totally different. FLAT. And you'd think sandy, but not really. I, too, have clay after digging down about 6 - 8". What a pain.

Happy Gardening !!

Kate, thanks for the heads up on the melon thing. I wanted to try cantelope or maybe honeydew but now I may not. Since this is my first year I would rather grow stuff that I can expect results from. I tried baby carrots last year but I made the mistake of planting them in the flower garden and then I lost them. As my flowers started growing they quickly covered up the carrots.

I'm REEEEAL confused. I could swear I wrote a post tonite, right after I wrote the one to Kate, asking you what SFG stood for. And I think about tomatoes, too. But I don't see it on in the thread.

Anyway, you live in VB Beach, huh? Close to the water? I'm in Buckroe, three blocks up from the beach. And yes, VERY WET.

And as of about 20 mins ago it was actually snowing here !!! We hardly EVER get snow, being so close to the water. How 'bout over there? Snowing there tonite?

It was cool. I went out to run to the store for some beer (yes, it's SAT nite so I'm allowed...hee hee) and whoaaa, I said. "What's this white stuff coming down?" I got to drive in it and EVERYTHING. Any northern VA's are laughing now, thinking "what's the big deal?" They just wouldn't understand, would they?

By the time I got home and picked up my cat "Pinkey" and walked outside to show him the snow, it'd stopped. Darn.

Email me if you wanna....
Bonnie aka brit5467

I am by Lynnhaven mall. About 20 minutes away from the ocean.

By the way SFG stands for square foot garden which is about maximizing a small space for growing veggies. There's a forum here for it. I have a really small back yard and 1/2 of it is my flower garden but I am trying to make a new area for the SFG.

By the way.. I did the beer thing last night. Feelin a little rough tonight but, hey..it was fun!!

Pretty cool, huh? The snow, I mean. I just ran to look out before I wrote back and it's stopped. But still all over my other car's windshield. I LOVE IT. I guess that's "our" white Xmas, huh? Haven't really checked weather to see what's forecast for rest of week, but hey...you know how THAT goes. My cat forecasts weather better than they do around here....LOL.

I kinda know where you are, but honestly couldn't get in my car and drive there. It's funny. Seems like that HRBT keeps both sides separated in a way. I knew how to get to the oceanfront in my younger years to party. And then sometimes, how to get back home again.. Ha ha. Sometimes I'd miss the right-hand exit and end up going to Norfolk or wherever it takes you if you keep going straight. But, even living here all my life (with a few moves to both Carolinas and back again) I still don't know my way around the Southside. That's sad !!

I have NO space to garden. Mine is mainly in my front yard....ha ha ha...."front yard." I just went out & measured (yes, in my flannels and slippers) & it's just shy of 8' between my front porch and the sidewalk.

Each season, I move closer to the sidewalk. Right now, I’ve got a foot left. And not done yet. I’m sure when spring comes, I’ll be digging that up so I won’t have to contend with GRASS & WEEDS anymore. I’ll just have total garden soil and flowers/plants up to the sidewalk.

So that’s MY garden. Then it runs the width of my porch and NO, I'm not going to measure that right now. Ok!! I had to. It’s 25’ wide. But the landlord has big bushes on both corners and then two stupid Indian Hawthorns spaced out in the middle. So I have big bush, garden, little bush, garden, little bush, garden, big bush. I can still plant in front of the bushes, but not really your typical cottage garden look, which is what I’m striving for.

As far as the beer....I just ‘rent it’ if you know what I mean. I’m up and down from this chair more than I can stand. I DID buy more than I should’ve, tho, thinking it was going to keep snowing and I might get stranded….hee hee hee (yeah, right). So I might end up like you do. But like you said....it's fun !!!

Bonnie

I figured this would be a good place to introduce myself to some fellow Virginian gardeners.

My name is Tee Riddle, and I live in Hampton, Va. I mainly vegetable garden, but do dabble with flowers sometimes (mostly butterfly-attracting plants).

I have been growing my own vegetables off and on my whole life, and enjoy every minute of it. I look forward to chatting with you guys on all sorts of gardening topics.

I Hope every one has a great Holiday season!

Tee

I also live in Hampton, right near the Buckroe Post office. I'm not a veggie gardener, tho....more flowers. This year, if I get a jump on it, I hope to try my hand at 'wintersowing.' Don't get discouraged if not many post on here. I DO appreciate all the folks who have, but we all seem to stick to specific forums more often than not.

Happy Holidays to you as well !!
Bonnie aka brit5467

bunching onion
beets
tomato Which I did last year. Early Girl
peas Not sure about these on account of the space restrictions. I can't let them grow on the fence. Fence is weak, might break.
cucumber again space restrictions but willing to try in a large pot. Shared most of these with my sister.
lettuce
peppers hot and green Success with these last year.

Thought there was more but that's all I see at the moment. Whadda ya think?

Welcome Tee. Shout out from Va Bch!!

Bonnie, I was in Richmond last week and it was snowing. Real snow. Not the layer that we call snow here. It stuck to the grass and everything. And on the sides of the roads they had the big piles where they plowed it from the previous snow. Like ice mountains. I poked it.

A few questions for the veggie peeps out there. Since we get A LOT of rain here I am a bit scared to plant out too many cool weather crops. Spring can make my yard a mudpit. I think all I have that is cool weather might be the lettuce and beets? What is the latest I can plant these guys? I just want to make sure that we don't get too many spring showers and things drown. Also, with tomato's can you plant them is part shade? Morning and some afternoon sun? It's so humid here in the summer I'm thinking that might be why my yield was so low last year. Not to mention, poor drainage. The other side of my yard would be better, but less sun.

I am going to get my jugs going for WS this week (holidays kept me too busy, not to mention the cold weather and snow) and I am once again reviewing sites to figure out the best way to get my garden growing this season. Last year's blight ruined most everything.

Can't wait for tomato talk - I will have to order seeds for the varieties I want. No transplants around here.

I am going bigger this year, need to do a lot of work on the new garden beds. I am working around 'rock lilies'- a yucca. Wonder what that reveals about soil ph?

I know I have too much shade though but hate the thought of pruning or gasp, cutting down trees.

I am struggling with grapes, blackberries, raspberries and blueberry growth also.

Go Virginia!!!

I've planted peas the last couple of years and they weren't anywhere near heavy enough to weigh down a fence. My favorites are Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow Peas and Little Marvel, which both produced a ton of peas for us every time I planted them. The snow peas get really tall, while the Little Marvel's stay between knee and thigh-high. I can't believe how delicious home-grown peas are! I grew up in a subdivision and I have to say that I find the peas we grow to be the most wonderful spring and fall treat! When I planted mine I dug a trench and put a line of sand along the bottom, then only buried them twice the depth of the size of the seed. I planted a few other varieties too and had some luck with Wando, but a few others didn't produce very well. I order my seeds from Southern Exposure because I prefer organic.

I haven't done my wintersowing, which should have relieved a little tension. I can't even see the garden or all the stuff I forgot, and left laying out there.

Enough with the snow! The cold weather! Enough!

I know winter will end but this one seems especially long. I guess it's because there's been snow on the ground for way longer than normal here in the Richmond area and we didn't have our usual warm spell in late January or early February.

Anybody else out there who can't wait any longer and has gotten started with a few things?

Sandy

Hasn't been good enough weather to put up the "new" greenhouse to replace the one that the snow killed a few weeks ago.

Snowing now and, again, no school. I think this is the 16th missed day this winter.

But at least we're getting a good winter to break in the new snowshoes. We LOVE to walk. Hell, we love snow!!!

:-)

Regards,

Tom

Maybe tomorrow. I did get a big order of tomato seeds in the other day that I found at some web site - all very unique. Let's hope the lessons learned last year are remembered and the blight stays away! I broke down and ordered some "plugs" of some of the specific ones that I want to grow so I can have a little bit of a head start. It's so cold in my sunroom, which is my garden room, nothing would germinate there right now. My geraniums that are out there are still hanging on though.

Stay out of the weather!

http://www.backyardorganicvegetables.blogspot.com/

Have a great vegetable gardening day!