Question and Survey About Gardening/Landscaping

FeliciaLee · #1 05-21-2006, 04:26 PM

I'd like to know how many of you would be interested in talking about gardening and landscaping.

I have been keeping a somewhat regular journal of desert gardening and xeriscaping.

While I find it interesting, I'm not sure how many others would feel the same way, or be prepared to participate.

Show of hands?

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

diebitter · #2 05-21-2006, 04:29 PM

-- FL
Welcome! I would suggest the best thing to do is post something detailed about it, and see what sort of response you get?

db

ElaineMonster · #3 05-21-2006, 09:54 PM

I would!
Ed and I started our guerilla veggie garden. It started as this:

and is now a few weeks older than this:

The bell pepper plant has a bell pepper almost big enough to eat. The bush beans have sprouted a few beans.

FeliciaLee · #4 05-23-2006, 08:52 AM

Looks great, Ed and Elaine. You bought transplants, right? No way you could have grown everything that fast from seed. You also brought in soil? I heard soil in southern Nevada can be poisonous from the testing that went on north of you.

Don't be disappointed that the fruit you pick will be much smaller than store bought produce. That is just the way it is for us. Lack of water, the wind and the constant sun just don't allow for our veggies to grow like they do in the midwest. My strawberries are only about 1/4 the size of store bought. My red onions were about 1/3 the size. Yellow maybe 1/10th the size! Squash fares a little better, maybe 2/3 the size. Peppers are the only thing that really seem to get as big as store bought. The taste is slightly drier, but still flavorful. Cherry tomatoes are a no-lose fruit.

I'll link to some pics, but don't click them unless you have good eyes and don't suffer from vertigo or some other eye problem, because they look really blurry.

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

ElaineMonster · #5 05-23-2006, 11:13 AM

Yes, we bought transplants. We started too late in the season to begin with seed, besides, we're new at this and didn't want to get too discouraged too quickly.

Our veggie garden box is a guerrilla garden, meaning we don't own that property [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] It's below our apartment in an unlandscaped area. It was landscaped at one time years ago because the sprinklers still water it. (The maintenance people have seen it but no one's done anything to harm it or told us to get rid of it.)

And yes, we brought in soil. The desert land is really very clay-like and practically impossible to penetrate. So we just "built up" as they say. We framed the box in redwood (about $50 for materials) and filled with Pay Dirt from Star ($60 or so). Each plant was a buck or two, so the total project cost under $150.

We needed to make it relatively inexpensive in case someone destroys it. We're doing it mostly as a hobby and to prepare for our future home. Ed is really enjoying it. He gets all excited when the leaves turn direction or when there's a new pepper.

The peppers do really well. We also have some herbs on the porch in containers. The basil is incredible! It grows like a weed. We have cilantro, lavender, thyme, oregano... they ALL do well!

We've also been growing wheat grass. This is for our cats to chew. They really enjoy it. We have catnip on the patio for them, too. They like it.

Our only failures so far are the strawberries. We had them in a container on the patio and they are ruined. THey look like they got some sort of fungus. We're not sure what happened to them. Oh, and we had some rosemary that we over watered and drowned. The new rosemary is fine.

FeliciaLee · #6 05-23-2006, 07:06 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'll link to some pics, but don't click them unless you have good eyes and don't suffer from vertigo or some other eye problem, because they look really blurry.

[/ QUOTE ]
Cherry Tomatoes
Squash
Adobe Bricks (made out of our soil, water and chopped up tumbleweeds)

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

AAAA · #7 05-29-2006, 01:35 PM

have you considered any types of aquaculture? i have been thinking bout a small family community built around dehydrating fruits veggies and meats and also snail, shrimp, talapia and kelp for utilizing the water extra times. stock tanks are inexpensive, and bamboo can grow fast for a windbreak if you have water...and bamboo is also great for making attractive shade screen poles...much prettier than pvc piping.

you could be getting some kind of wind turbine if you want to use that pesky wind; is that allowed?

P Chippa · #8 06-01-2006, 08:35 AM

Homemade bricks. That is so sweet.

P Chippa · #9 05-22-2006, 12:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
-- FL
Welcome! I would suggest the best thing to do is post something detailed about it, and see what sort of response you get?

db

[/ QUOTE ]

DB,
Feel free to move my Veggie Garden thread to the QZ if you feel it belongs here, as I will be updating it regularly.

Veggie Garden Link

I like discussions Felicia suggests as I am a rookie homeowner moron.

Phat Mack · #10 05-22-2006, 12:44 PM

When I was a kid, I thought working in the garden an onerous chore, but now that I'm in my dotage I find that I enjoy trying to make things grow. I think there might be some interest in a gardening thread. The posters are from such a wide variety of regions that they might be interested in what others are doing.

I live in an area with 10" of rain a year, so I'm interested in xeriscaping (my plumbago is blooming like crazy). I've been following your projects in your blog and hope that your garden survived the storm...