Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

You're most welcome, Janey.  My family is originally from England; I'm Canadian, but live in the states. It's hard to think of England as having a heat wave; I know it as rainy and cool.  I have turned my entire back yard into a vegetable, fruit and herb garden.  The front and sides of my house are an English garden with mostly perennials and self-seeding annuals.  It's a bit wild at times, but I really favor Oriental lilies--the smell is wonderful--and it reminds me of my late mother's garden.  I, too, have a greenhouse that I purchased from British Colombia--a wonderful tool.  I have 4 large beds, about 4 by 25 feet each, plus a few smaller beds 15 by 3, and then, since the people who owned my house before me seemed to love chain link fences, I have two other garden rooms divided by the chain link (which I use to support vining veggies and tomatoes).  My beds are raised, but not bounded by anything.  I used a Chinese bed method, just slightly
rounded on the short sides.  It's no till--I tilled it first 15 years ago--and since then, I try not to walk on the beds at all. Instead, I use a wonderful tool that's new to me--a garden weasel--that will easily pluck out weeds and stir up the dirt at the same time.  I have a drip system to water, that I keep for years at a time, and I cover the beds with straw, several inches thick, to keep down the weeds and to even out the water and temperature of the soil.  I also make good use of the space by growing upwards--I use concrete wire  and rebar (very cheap at a hardware store) to make trellises and then grown long vine beans, tomatoes, squashes and cucumbers up these.  This year I'm growing cantaloupe and honeydew melons on one of these and they seem to love it.  I also put down newspaper and cardboard boxes in the paths between beds so I don't have to mow all summer long.  When one crop is completely harvested, I just make a hole in the straw,
weasel the ground a bit , add compost and plant something new.  
   This seems to work quite well; most of my vegies seem quite happy.  Just now I'm growing 4 kinds of eggplant--Asian and Italian--9 kinds of tomatoes (all but one are heirlooms), 4 kinds of long vine beans,  5 kinds of squashes (some heirlooms), cucumbers, watermelons, small melons, rutabagas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, asparagus, lettuces and greens, Florence Fennel (yum!), raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and apples, and many different kinds of herbs for cooking and medicinal--oh, and I have 2 fig trees and a lime tree that live in my greenhouse in the winter. What we can't eat (the garden is abundant), I freeze for winter or give away.  It sounds like a great deal of work, and it can be when I'm first planting, but the straw, drip watering, and no tilling actually make it manageable during most of the season.  I probably spend 2 hours a day early in the mornings with my cats patrolling the gardens, looking for bugs,
weeding a bit, and harvesting.  It's a wonderful life; I don't think I could do without it.  My cats practically live in the garden and they dance when I come into it in the mornings--they know where all the catnip bushes are and they show me so that I can sprinkle catnip blossoms in their fur.  You really can't get better than that, as far as i'm concerned. 

>________________________________
> From: Janey Cox <ja_ad_co@yahoo.co.uk>
>To: "Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com" <Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2013 4:54 AM
>Subject: Re: [Organic_Gardening] Re: New member
>
>
>
> 
>Hi Rinda, 
>
>Thanks for that, I'll give it a go. 
>
>Janey
>
>________________________________
>From: Rinda Frye <frinda@bellsouth.net>
>To: "Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com" <Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, 16 July 2013, 13:59
>Subject: Re: [Organic_Gardening] Re: New member
>
>
> 
>Black spot is always an issue in my area, too--I live near Louisville, KY where it's very humid in the summer.  Some black spot is inevitable and it won't kill the plant.  I do several things for my roses:  1. I have some compost I buy from a local farmer that is composted horse manure and bedding.  It's fabulous--everything I grow loves it, so I buy a truck load every year and use it liberally.  I put this on my roses at least once a month and they bloom fabulously.  The healthier the plant, the easier it is for it to fight off disease.  2.  I use a spray of water and neem oil for almost anything.  I usually kill bad bugs by hand, but neem oil is my fall back for anything I can't get rid of by hand.  It's also a fungicide and you can spray it and still pick and eat the fruit or veggie the same day, so it's quite safe.  Some companies use it in shampoo and mouth wash.   You can find it on-line or in stores with garden nurseries, like Lowe's.
> Dilute the concentrate and spray.  Of course, once it rains, you have to start all over, but it helps.  And you can just accept that some black spot will come no matter what you do.
>
>>________________________________
>> From: ja_ad_co <ja_ad_co@yahoo.co.uk>
>>To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
>>Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 6:16 AM
>>Subject: [Organic_Gardening] Re: New member
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>Nice to know the group is still alive.
>>
>>The only ongoing problem I'm having at them moment is black spot on the roses. I've tried cider vinegar spray, which I found recommendations for on the internet, but this seemed to make it worse. I have since tried baking soda, but its a little too early to say whether it is working or not.
>>
>>--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com, Rinda Frye <frinda@...> wrote:
>>>
>>> I haven't hear from this list for quite some time. So, what are you growing, Janey?  Any particulare issues or probems that need some advice?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> >________________________________
>>> > From: ja_ad_co <ja_ad_co@...>
>>> >To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
>>> >Sent: Friday, July 5, 2013 3:22 AM
>>> >Subject: [Organic_Gardening] New member
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > 
>>> >Hi all.
>>> >
>>> >I'm new to this group and I suppose I am a little disappointed that all of the messages are so old. I wonder if its the time of year and everyone is busy gardening.
>>> >I thought I would join the group to see if anyone has any tips that they can share about gardening organically.
>>> >
>>> >Janey
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

• New Members 3