Simple pickle. Slice cucumbers thin, slice onion thin ( whatever kind you like) chive vinegar (or any vinegar) few pinches of sugar. Let it sit at least 30 minutes. You can change it up with different spices and veggies like shredded carrots or peppers. Add it with grilled chicken, fish..taco..
I’ve come to this conclusion as well. It takes up a ton of space and it’s so cheap to buy from the farmer’s market. I’d rather save the space for something else.
Love your garden! I love growing ginger too, and highly suggest growing lemongrass. Even if you don’t eat it, it’s wonderfully fragrant when brushing up against it. You can grow it as an ornamental in your planters by the garden entrance. It’s pest repellant! I harvest it in fall and freeze it for tea with ginger as it helps with colds, but I just love the taste!!
I love growing Ginger and Turmeric. Turmeric has been an awesome grower for me and even overwintered in ground for me here in zone 8b. Very attractive plants!
Hello, don't give up on your potatoes. Maybe try some of the newer container varieties and grow them in a grow bag. That would allow you to raise the soil as the plant grows.
Great way of handling it to me..I treat my ginger as a perinnal..I bring it in in the winter and let it continue growing into new season. I take a knife and just cut out what I need at the time and let it continue growing. The leaves die back but it's still doing its thing under ground till spring shoots come up..blessings
Ginger is on my list too and there are so many varieties. Niki's book has been so enlightening and I have lots of things bookmarked to use in my gardens this season. I can't wait. I almost got all my raised beds in place in my veggie garden area before we were hit with the snow but the last one will keep until it melts. It will be fun to watch your veggie garden this year.
I just got my seeds in the mail for next season! I’m super excited to grow some new types of peppers and tomatoes. I hate eating tomatoes raw but I love to grow them! Lovely video, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in spring!
Onboard with no hard line between edible and ornamental gardening too! And I too have a newfound appreciation for winter squash - kabocha in particular.
A cucumber suggestion...Chelsea Prize from Renee's. It's one of my go too English types...so delicious! And couldn't agree with you more when it comes to lettuce. I think it's one of the most underrated crops in the veggie garden.
Great video today! I have to do ALL my vegetable gardening in containers on my deck since my summer house is in a frequent flood zone. But my deck is my living space, so all the pots contain a mixture of food & flowers. Peppers w/marigolds & alyssum, Tomatoes w/lobelia & basil, Cucumbers w/straw flowers & snapdragons, Pole beans w/petunias, etc etc. I always put way too much in each pot and then have to feed heavily and water twice daily, but it works. Been doing it for 18 years. (BTW, I would love a few ginger seeds if you could spare them. What a beautiful edible!) Anyway, today's video was perfect timing to get me organizing my thoughts on what I will plant where. I have to rotate the plantings, just as you do. I made the mistake of tomatoes in one spot 3 years in a row: DISASTER! So thank you for today's talk. YOU ROCK!!!
Love that scarf! I saw a pic that someone used a curved over cattle panel from one bed to another, growing tomatoes in each bed to climb up & over creating a tunnel which they just walked under/through to pick the tomatoes. I'm going to try it & thought I'd pass that on to you,or anyone else.
Thanks Erin. You got the wheels spinning in my head. I want to get as much production as I can out of the cattle water troughs I bought last year and wasn’t able to get them filled with soil. There on the smaller side as water troughs go, but I want to fill them to the max. I bought a book on companion planting a long time ago and I think I need to dig that out so I can take a look. I do know carrots love tomatoes but that’s about it. You got me excited, darn it! There’s at least four to five months before I can get anything growing outside☹️ Going to looking at seed catalogs now before everything becomes out of stock like it did last year. Again thank you for inspiring me to get moving on seed ordering💚🙃
Because I have horribly invasive Bermuda grass I have three of these for food gardens. You can really get a lot out of that space. Mine are fairly deep. I used all the small branches around to fill the bottoms before filling them up.
@@lindadavidson2237 I have the two of them right next to each other maybe about five feet apart, I’m going to get some pig fence to make a teepee between them so I can grow vine crops up the trellis. It’s an experiment so I’m hoping it will work. I would also like to get two more larger ones but I don’t know if I can talk the hubby into it. I’m an old fart so its hard for me to get them filled up with soil. I have been putting used soil in the bottom as I get it to take up some of the space but I think I will also use some of the wood we have lying around here. Thank you for the suggestion of using branches to take up some of the bottom space. We have firewood we use to keep the house warm in winter so I’m thinking I just might use a layer of that in the bottom. Eventually it will decompose and be good for the soil. Happy gardening Linda and good luck!💚🙃
You have such great ideas. I have been planning my garden since last spring. Currently getting estimates for the fencing of my 30 x 30 with 9 various sizes of Tarter raised beds. The beds are prepared and have been ready since this past fall. All of my seed packets are ready with flowers and veggies. Your garden is so beautiful and I love your ideas. Cannot wait to create an insect theater and experiment with the good bugs and bad bugs. Thank you so much and I look forward to your next video. Gardening fan from North Carolina 🌺
Great video, I also was starting to plan my raised beds. LOL, I was one of those people who planted cherry tomatoes, which grew 9’ and needed step stool and crazy ties to keep upright. Was already on my list to not do that again! Thanks for the info on shorter ones.
Sounds like a plan! Currently planning my new garden! We just bought a new property so we're in the process of designing and building raised, amd an annual cut flower garden. Last year I just planted my veggies in a 40' x 6' bed in the ground since it was so late in the season when we moved. This year I'm using that bed too begin a perennial cut flower garden! I'm in analysis paralysis trying to decide the layout of everything though... I overthink things!
I can't wait to see your vegetable garden this year. Dr. Arlie Powell, ret. Auburn University, did some lovely espaliered apple trees along a 3 foot fence around a vegetable garden. It was a good look for growing apples in a small space.
Exciting to think about the garden with a few more inches of snow out there this morning. I used my stimulus check to double the size of my garden and build a third small greenhouse which will be devoted to tomatoes. I grow bell peppers in one of the small greenhouses. I have a very short season with cool summer nights so tomatoes and peppers struggle. They do really well in the greenhouse. I get about a dozen or more big ripe ones on each of the 14 pepper plants. I even ordered raspberry starts even though I have no idea how to grow them. I can't wait for spring.
Coming from Latvia pickling cucumbers are (almost) the only type I grow. Back in Latvia I'd say about 80% cucumbers grown privately are the pickling type. So that is also what we mainly eat as fresh cucumbers. The secret to having a cucumber with not many seeds is picking it early! A cucumber where you start having hard seeds is an overgrown cucumber that you feed your chicken.
just reading plant partners myself. I so am changing the scape of the garden too. adding flowers they suggested! I would love to grow ginger too ! It is on my list, no I need to investigate. trying honey nut this year. looking forward to it. thanks Erin !
It's amazing what a difference growing zones makes. We've just been moved to 8a. Tomatoes, okra, peppers, beans, peas thrive here. I planted figs last fall. Unfortunately deer love peas and beans but everything is in the ground by my birthday- April 14.
Always fun to plan and try new things. Thanks for sharing. How’s about growing potatoes in grow bags. I will never not plant them as we love our potatoes.
I do my potatoes in tall rubbermaid totes with holes drilled at the bottom. I plant them in about 6" of soil at the bottom and as the plants grow I add more soil until eventually the whole container is full. At harvest time I dump the container over onto a tarp and pick out the potatoes. No digging🤗 You can see how the buried stems had put out roots and potatoes grew all the way up
Great plan Erin!👍🌱This year I'm planting things that my husband James and I will actually eat and use. We love kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, bush beans, peas, radishes, basil and zucchini. So I'm going to focus on growing these things, giving them the space in the veggie garden. I want to grow more flowers for cutting as well. Last year I feel like I put time and energy into some things like cabbage that I can just buy organic in the store or farmers market (like you mentioned). Can't wait for Spring. 🌱😁🌷
My grandfather lived in Chicago, IL. He had a black mission fig. He would dig it up and bury it every fall. Then dig it up every spring and plant it again. I live in AZ. I had a black mission fig in one of my backyards. Which did beautifully year round.
Your vegetable garden is GORGEOUS!!! I love how tall your beds are. I have the same problem with giant trees trying to shade out my garden, and YESSS!!!! Honeynut Squash is AMAZING!
i can’t wait for you to find that perfect tomato. Tomatoes here in Michigan stores are absolutely tasteless. Because of lockdown, we were hesitant to visit local farms or our huge farmer’s market in Detroit. You are an amazing wealth of knowledge, practical and inspirational.
I've been there with all the tomato varieties, but Mariana's Peace has been our favorite. I also like salty Black Krim and early saladette Tigerella and they have a bit of frost tolerance. Just a bit, but more than any other tomatoes I tried, though I haven't been able to get my hands on any of the dwarf project ones. Hurray for less staking!
Try growing lemon cucumbers. Milder taste, super pretty in salads. Size of a tennis ball and really easy to grow. I love them. Start them from seeds every year but you can get them at Lowe’s too
There is nothing better than home grown potatos. I love the blue and RED or pink ones and the little strange looking ones. Like Bamberger Hörnchen or la Ratte. I do grow them in raised beds and in bags. Bags could be something for you. Because you fill in the compost as the plants grow. As soon as the green of the plant is about 20 cm high, you put 10 cm compost on top. Do this till the bag is full. Or put more layers of potatos in the bag till full. leave room so you can put enougth on top. Ginger is cool. I woud try that too. Salat will grow in special bags this year, they can hang on the trallis. I only have a smal Garden. Things have to grow hanging and climing as much as posible. I hope you have a good garden year. 🙂🙋🏼♀️
Enjoyed hearing about your plans for the vegetable garden 😃 I also like my garden to be pretty with a more formal look. Glad to hear someone say it. I'm Adding a water garden this year inspired by yours. 👍👍
Please share some of your recipes. I'm especially interested in what you do with the butternut squash. It's my favorite, but my family never used it much, and i don't have many recipes.
I would love to grow ginger as well. Going to wait and see how you do it before trying it myself next season. Can't wait to get outside and experiment! Thanks for sharing your ideas and creativity with us :)
I hear you on the cabbage. So many pests attack my cabbages and brassicas that I’ve decided to stick to the veggies that don’t have as many issues. My rate of veggie growing success goes way up without them. I love your veg garden. It’s very nicely laid out. I’m also planting sweet potato slips everywhere to have lots of green material for my compost. Any sweet potatoes that result will just be icing. 🍅 🌱😃
Have you tried fermented pickles? I would gather a jars worth of cucumbers at a time and just stick them on the back of my counter for a week in pickling liquid/spice and with my fresh dill and garlic from the garden. Super simple and you don't have to have a huge harvest to make and enjoy them :)
I watched all but 28 seconds so far and hearing you say "if I have to sit next to the window for one more video I might just fall out of it" lol. I just wanted to say that I completely understand. Seeing you in that snow, gosh. I dont have snow right now, but man do I have the spring time itch. Ive been meaning to go get some straw for my strawberry mulching but everyday I wake up its raining! Ugh! Spring/summer CANT come fast enough! I hope you stay warm in that snow!
I am growing all of mine in pots this year. The shishito & bell peppers were getting afternoon scald. In pots I can place them where my tool shed protects them from late afternoon sun.
The Black Jack fig is a nice semi-dwarf variety. It only gets about 8’ tall. I’ve got one in the back corner of my veggie garden and it’s a nice little addition.
GROW YOUR POTATOES IN CONTAINERS !!! I have done it both ways, because we could easily live on potatoes, but growing them in buckets is far and away easier and more productive in my opinion. They taste SO much better that they are worth the little extra effort, and you can tuck the pots around where ever they fit or look good. They're a nice enough looking plant and you can get a very good harvest from just a few med. to large pots. AND you don't need to "hill" them up, just plant them, feed them and forget them.... watering them along with the rest of your garden. Easy peezy !
Have you tried delicata squash. They are so sweet and delicious. I agree about the cabbage. I have decided my whole garden will be vegetables and flowers mixed. Beauty and function inside the house and out.
Thank you for the many ideas you gave me for my vegetable garden. I would love to try to grow ginger. You are right about fresh ginger having a different flavor than store bought, especially dried! 🌿
Try Beit Alpha cucumbers... long ....smooth skin..good taste and they keep producing like crazy! Love them!! Black brandywine are also the best tasting tomatoes I have ever grown❤ thats my 2 cents...😉
You should add a lemongrass plant in with your ginger plants! So easy to grow, looks great (I made a flavored gin with mine 3 years ago 😋) AND it’s a snake repellent.
@@TheImpatientGardener Yes!!! It was amazing. I bought Hana gin(because the bottle was gorgeous and I wasn’t ruining a bottle of Hendricks if I didn’t like it) and just fermented the lemongrass right in the bottle. Delicious
I love the idea of a slightly less formal vegetable garden! You do have some formal structures - beautiful the way you grew lettuce in the boxwoods. Randomly, I want to tell you that I found those posters on the wall behind you in some of your videos, sort of the anatomy of a particular plant or flower. I ordered four small ones from France through etsy. Framed them in gold bamboo. They are spectacular. I love that they were used in science classes! Don't be offended if yours are all original! You inspired me, and though I only grow things in pots (topiaries; ferns in the summer; pansies and ornamental cabbages (maybe kale) in fall and winter, I adore gardens and gardening shows. Your channel is my favorite, even more than Garden Answer and Monty Don! I really love your personality. I can't wait to see how your belgian fence does! (I'm the one who was crushed by the loss of the topiary by your garage, may it RIP)!
Hi Nancy! I bet your botanical prints look amazing frames that way. (Mine are the same as yours ... vintage charts from classrooms.) As for the Belgian fence, I hope it’s a good year for it!
Desperate to get back out and garden too! I dream of a veggie garden- I did all container veg last year- fun and actually really pretty, albeit small harvest!
Thanks for sharing, we love Mercury cukes, great flavor and not too big, and a consistent tomato for us has been sub arctic tomatoes which are very productive and quick dtms😁
Now I will have ginger on the brain..how fun to try! Your raised beds are so nice. We have a 30'x20' in ground veggie area which suffers more each year because of large trees and their shade. My husband and I are older than dirt so the trees will ultimately win. Thank you for the great info..particularly liked the dwarf tomato. I drooled on my phone😋 You are a gem❤
Have you tried an heirloom variety of tomato called Mr. Stripey? It’s not short, but oooooh my it’s the most delicious tomato I’ve ever tasted! Maybe grow it over a cattle panel tunnel? Just a thought. Your gardens truly are beautiful!!
I’m glad someone else besides me had a issue with both green peppers and kale. I’ve had great success in previous years this past summer not. We have cut a big limb off our maple tree to get more sunlight on the garden, that step one. Not sure what will happen beyond that. I wish I had your setup, I absolutely love it. Still waiting for my seed catalog. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
You have my dream vegetable garden Erin 😊 nobody likes a mealy tomato 🍅🤣 I adore basil, I think it is my most favourite smell in the world. I love the look of your tulips in the beds. I’m looking forward to your new fruit trees as I am hoping to plant a couple myself.
Compost system behind is really cool, do you have any information on this, thank you for sharing this video, it give us the opportunity to also begin to think about our gardens and the changes we would like to make for the growing year coming up.
Ah, January... it was -6°F on my way home from work yesterday ...**sigh**. I think it's great to do what you're doing and plant what works for you, as well as skip the things that aren't worth it. We are thinking the same way. No zucchini this year for us; it just takes up room that we can use to grow other things we will enjoy and eat more of. I love the inter-planting aspects you talked about too. We need to work WITH Mother Nature more, not against her. Now, if I only had those gorgeous raised beds of yours! My dream!!
I cant stop buying seeds. Everytime I watch a seed video I find something else I NEED to have....lol. I probably have $200 dollars in new seeds this year, I'm not kidding. I'm more than ready....bring on the warm weather.👍👍😁
@@Lazydaisy646 very true. If what they say is true that most seeds last for years I should be good for a long time. I will have to remember to save my heirlooms.😁👍❤🍅🧄
I am excited to see your vegetable garden this year. I got some Emerald Towers basil seeds on your recommendation and I can't wait to get them growing!
@@TheImpatientGardener Me too. I live by Seattle and I don't have a super long or intensely sunny growing season. I dont seem to ever get enough basil! I am also a fan of the upright habit of this one. So cool.
I don’t have much space with sun (or time) so I’ve decided to limit myself to the items that are expensive to buy from my CSA - like basil and heirloom tomatoes.
Sounds like a great plan. We have so much heat here in Central Texas, it’s hard to prevent my vegetables from burning up! Sometimes watering more doesn’t even help. I’m probably going to do more focus planting in the spring and fall, and less in the summer. Change is good, they say. Lol 👏🏻💕👏🏻
Great thoughts and ideas! I love that you share the reasoning behind them. 💚 Fig tree will be a beautiful addition. If you can find a sunny corner on the inside, where it won't block sun for the crops, it would be gorgeous with those big shiny leaves! I love mine and it's in my kitchen garden. Speaking of shade/sun, maybe try throwing some kale seed in one of those 2 beds that get shade? I grew kale nearly under the fig and it only got about 3 hours of sun and performed it's heart out.
This was perfect timing for me. I recently moved to a new place and there is a 27 x 50 fenced vege garden area. I’m in the process of designing raised planter beds for it. Last year (my first year here) I just grew a bunch of veges straight in the ground. Way too much work!. I found myself harvesting while laying flat on the ground. Would love to know what materials you used for your beds and if you’re happy with them.
Loved this confessional video. I am Illinois zone 5. I too am NOT going to do potatoes , peppers , eggplant etc. it is humbling to admit when things just don’t grow so well and it is best to do something else. Go figure but I have trouble with radishes and cucumbers tooo.....thanks for the honesty.
I’m in Eastern Kansas where we get cold winters (though not so bad this year) and very hot summers. My Chicago Hardy Fig tree is a huge point of pride in my garden. It dies back to the ground every year and I don’t get figs until September but they are delicious and always remind me of our trip to Italy a few years ago. I too have been thinking about growing ginger (in a pot) but maybe from a root rather than from seed.
I grew the Japanese cucumbers last year and now I will only ever grow them. They were the ones I was looking for all these years. I bet they'll be yours as well
I've been debating about potatoes, because I love them fresh from the garden, but don't have a lot of room. Buying them at the farmers' market is probably a good alternative for me, too.
Simple pickle. Slice cucumbers thin, slice onion thin ( whatever kind you like) chive vinegar (or any vinegar) few pinches of sugar. Let it sit at least 30 minutes. You can change it up with different spices and veggies like shredded carrots or peppers. Add it with grilled chicken, fish..taco..
Yum! Thank you!
so with you on the cabbage, appreciate your sharing
I’ve come to this conclusion as well. It takes up a ton of space and it’s so cheap to buy from the farmer’s market. I’d rather save the space for something else.
I love how you reflect on your garden and make changes or keep things the same as you feel. A life long learner and adapter!
Love your garden! I love growing ginger too, and highly suggest growing lemongrass. Even if you don’t eat it, it’s wonderfully fragrant when brushing up against it. You can grow it as an ornamental in your planters by the garden entrance. It’s pest repellant! I harvest it in fall and freeze it for tea with ginger as it helps with colds, but I just love the taste!!
I guess it is pretty randomly asking but do anybody know of a good place to stream new movies online ?
@Brady Jericho Flixportal
@Shepherd Aiden thanks, I signed up and it seems to work :) I appreciate it!!
@Brady Jericho Glad I could help xD
I love growing Ginger and Turmeric. Turmeric has been an awesome grower for me and even overwintered in ground for me here in zone 8b. Very attractive plants!
Hello, don't give up on your potatoes. Maybe try some of the newer container varieties and grow them in a grow bag. That would allow you to raise the soil as the plant grows.
I’m trying that this year!
Great way of handling it to me..I treat my ginger as a perinnal..I bring it in in the winter and let it continue growing into new season. I take a knife and just cut out what I need at the time and let it continue growing. The leaves die back but it's still doing its thing under ground till spring shoots come up..blessings
Ginger is on my list too and there are so many varieties. Niki's book has been so enlightening and I have lots of things bookmarked to use in my gardens this season. I can't wait. I almost got all my raised beds in place in my veggie garden area before we were hit with the snow but the last one will keep until it melts. It will be fun to watch your veggie garden this year.
Love your vegetable garden layout! Hope you have a successful season! I’m trying honeynut squash too.
I just got my seeds in the mail for next season! I’m super excited to grow some new types of peppers and tomatoes. I hate eating tomatoes raw but I love to grow them! Lovely video, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in spring!
Onboard with no hard line between edible and ornamental gardening too! And I too have a newfound appreciation for winter squash - kabocha in particular.
A cucumber suggestion...Chelsea Prize from Renee's. It's one of my go too English types...so delicious! And couldn't agree with you more when it comes to lettuce. I think it's one of the most underrated crops in the veggie garden.
That’s my go-to must have one. 😀
my must grow
thanks for sharing your plans for this year's garden. I'm excited to get started planting too.
Spring fever...its coming. So fun to plan and dream.
It's half the fun (or maybe more).
Great video today! I have to do ALL my vegetable gardening in containers on my deck since my summer house is in a frequent flood zone. But my deck is my living space, so all the pots contain a mixture of food & flowers. Peppers w/marigolds & alyssum, Tomatoes w/lobelia & basil, Cucumbers w/straw flowers & snapdragons, Pole beans w/petunias, etc etc. I always put way too much in each pot and then have to feed heavily and water twice daily, but it works. Been doing it for 18 years. (BTW, I would love a few ginger seeds if you could spare them. What a beautiful edible!) Anyway, today's video was perfect timing to get me organizing my thoughts on what I will plant where. I have to rotate the plantings, just as you do. I made the mistake of tomatoes in one spot 3 years in a row: DISASTER! So thank you for today's talk. YOU ROCK!!!
Your pots sound beautiful!! I have a tiny garden and grow in a lot of pots.
I love how you are sitting with the gate behind you and the arbor looks like a giant crown on your head. lol
Black krim and soldacki tomatoes have the most amazing flavor!
Every day is one step closer to spring! Almost finished with January!!
I'm experimenting with new plants this year too! That's the best part about gardening for me - I can try something new every year!
Love that scarf! I saw a pic that someone used a curved over cattle panel from one bed to another, growing tomatoes in each bed to climb up & over creating a tunnel which they just walked under/through to pick the tomatoes. I'm going to try it & thought I'd pass that on to you,or anyone else.
Yes! I love those! So clever and creative.
Thanks Erin. You got the wheels spinning in my head. I want to get as much production as I can out of the cattle water troughs I bought last year and wasn’t able to get them filled with soil. There on the smaller side as water troughs go, but I want to fill them to the max. I bought a book on companion planting a long time ago and I think I need to dig that out so I can take a look. I do know carrots love tomatoes but that’s about it. You got me excited, darn it! There’s at least four to five months before I can get anything growing outside☹️ Going to looking at seed catalogs now before everything becomes out of stock like it did last year. Again thank you for inspiring me to get moving on seed ordering💚🙃
Because I have horribly invasive Bermuda grass I have three of these for food gardens. You can really get a lot out of that space. Mine are fairly deep. I used all the small branches around to fill the bottoms before filling them up.
@@lindadavidson2237 I have the two of them right next to each other maybe about five feet apart, I’m going to get some pig fence to make a teepee between them so I can grow vine crops up the trellis. It’s an experiment so I’m hoping it will work. I would also like to get two more larger ones but I don’t know if I can talk the hubby into it. I’m an old fart so its hard for me to get them filled up with soil. I have been putting used soil in the bottom as I get it to take up some of the space but I think I will also use some of the wood we have lying around here. Thank you for the suggestion of using branches to take up some of the bottom space. We have firewood we use to keep the house warm in winter so I’m thinking I just might use a layer of that in the bottom. Eventually it will decompose and be good for the soil. Happy gardening Linda and good luck!💚🙃
You have such great ideas. I have been planning my garden since last spring. Currently getting estimates for the fencing of my 30 x 30 with 9 various sizes of Tarter raised beds. The beds are prepared and have been ready since this past fall. All of my seed packets are ready with flowers and veggies. Your garden is so beautiful and I love your ideas. Cannot wait to create an insect theater and experiment with the good bugs and bad bugs. Thank you so much and I look forward to your next video. Gardening fan from North Carolina 🌺
Glad you are doing ginger it’s absolute fantastic root to grow and so useful for cooking tea and ornamental!
Great video, I also was starting to plan my raised beds. LOL, I was one of those people who planted cherry tomatoes, which grew 9’ and needed step stool and crazy ties to keep upright. Was already on my list to not do that again! Thanks for the info on shorter ones.
Sounds like a plan! Currently planning my new garden! We just bought a new property so we're in the process of designing and building raised, amd an annual cut flower garden. Last year I just planted my veggies in a 40' x 6' bed in the ground since it was so late in the season when we moved. This year I'm using that bed too begin a perennial cut flower garden! I'm in analysis paralysis trying to decide the layout of everything though... I overthink things!
I can't wait to see your vegetable garden this year.
Dr. Arlie Powell, ret. Auburn University, did some lovely espaliered apple trees along a 3 foot fence around a vegetable garden. It was a good look for growing apples in a small space.
Great idea!
Hello Beth. How are you doing?
Exciting to think about the garden with a few more inches of snow out there this morning. I used my stimulus check to double the size of my garden and build a third small greenhouse which will be devoted to tomatoes. I grow bell peppers in one of the small greenhouses. I have a very short season with cool summer nights so tomatoes and peppers struggle. They do really well in the greenhouse. I get about a dozen or more big ripe ones on each of the 14 pepper plants. I even ordered raspberry starts even though I have no idea how to grow them. I can't wait for spring.
Coming from Latvia pickling cucumbers are (almost) the only type I grow. Back in Latvia I'd say about 80% cucumbers grown privately are the pickling type. So that is also what we mainly eat as fresh cucumbers. The secret to having a cucumber with not many seeds is picking it early! A cucumber where you start having hard seeds is an overgrown cucumber that you feed your chicken.
just reading plant partners myself. I so am changing the scape of the garden too. adding flowers they suggested! I would love to grow ginger too ! It is on my list, no I need to investigate. trying honey nut this year. looking forward to it. thanks Erin !
Hello Angela. How are you?
It's amazing what a difference growing zones makes. We've just been moved to 8a. Tomatoes, okra, peppers, beans, peas thrive here. I planted figs last fall. Unfortunately deer love peas and beans but everything is in the ground by my birthday- April 14.
Okra is so beautiful!
Always fun to plan and try new things. Thanks for sharing. How’s about growing potatoes in grow bags. I will never not plant them as we love our potatoes.
I tried at that once, very early on in my gardening life. It was an epic fail. Maybe I should try again.
I do my potatoes in tall rubbermaid totes with holes drilled at the bottom. I plant them in about 6" of soil at the bottom and as the plants grow I add more soil until eventually the whole container is full. At harvest time I dump the container over onto a tarp and pick out the potatoes. No digging🤗 You can see how the buried stems had put out roots and potatoes grew all the way up
Refrigerator dill pickles using the english cucumbers are delicious and you can make small batches. Super easy too.
Great plan Erin!👍🌱This year I'm planting things that my husband James and I will actually eat and use. We love kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, bush beans, peas, radishes, basil and zucchini. So I'm going to focus on growing these things, giving them the space in the veggie garden. I want to grow more flowers for cutting as well. Last year I feel like I put time and energy into some things like cabbage that I can just buy organic in the store or farmers market (like you mentioned). Can't wait for Spring. 🌱😁🌷
My grandfather lived in Chicago, IL. He had a black mission fig. He would dig it up and bury it every fall. Then dig it up every spring and plant it again. I live in AZ. I had a black mission fig in one of my backyards. Which did beautifully year round.
You are so great if things didn't work out oh well we'll try it again I love your attitude
Your vegetable garden is GORGEOUS!!! I love how tall your beds are. I have the same problem with giant trees trying to shade out my garden, and YESSS!!!! Honeynut Squash is AMAZING!
i can’t wait for you to find that perfect tomato. Tomatoes here in Michigan stores are absolutely tasteless. Because of lockdown, we were hesitant to visit local farms or our huge farmer’s market in Detroit. You are an amazing wealth of knowledge, practical and inspirational.
Thanks for the dwarf tomato project idea. I'm going to try 3 kinds this yea.
I love the design 😍❤💕
I've been there with all the tomato varieties, but Mariana's Peace has been our favorite. I also like salty Black Krim and early saladette Tigerella and they have a bit of frost tolerance. Just a bit, but more than any other tomatoes I tried, though I haven't been able to get my hands on any of the dwarf project ones. Hurray for less staking!
Try growing lemon cucumbers. Milder taste, super pretty in salads. Size of a tennis ball and really easy to grow. I love them. Start them from seeds every year but you can get them at Lowe’s too
I've seen these but never tried them. Thanks for the suggestion.
There is nothing better than home grown potatos. I love the blue and RED or pink ones and the little strange looking ones. Like Bamberger Hörnchen or la Ratte. I do grow them in raised beds and in bags. Bags could be something for you. Because you fill in the compost as the plants grow. As soon as the green of the plant is about 20 cm high, you put 10 cm compost on top. Do this till the bag is full. Or put more layers of potatos in the bag till full. leave room so you can put enougth on top. Ginger is cool. I woud try that too. Salat will grow in special bags this year, they can hang on the trallis. I only have a smal Garden. Things have to grow hanging and climing as much as posible. I hope you have a good garden year. 🙂🙋🏼♀️
I love the color of the fence! I did black stain on mine like Laura’s on Garden Answer.☺️
Your garden is my dream garden. I love the height of your bed and I love your gate! I wish I had the space for a raised bed garden.
Looking forward to watching you plant your vegtable garden. I live in IL so what you plant I can too!
I just did that yesterday added and subtracted things that were going in my garden and bought some seeds come on spring .
Enjoyed hearing about your plans for the vegetable garden 😃 I also like my garden to be pretty with a more formal look. Glad to hear someone say it. I'm Adding a water garden this year inspired by yours. 👍👍
What dill everywhere !!!!! I am so doing that, what a great idea.
I just picked up a little fig tree, very excited!
Please share some of your recipes. I'm especially interested in what you do with the butternut squash. It's my favorite, but my family never used it much, and i don't have many recipes.
I would love to grow ginger as well. Going to wait and see how you do it before trying it myself next season. Can't wait to get outside and experiment! Thanks for sharing your ideas and creativity with us :)
I have 11 varieties of tomatoes to try this year. I can’t wait! There is nothing better than a tomato fresh off the vine in summer. ❤️🤤
I hear you on the cabbage. So many pests attack my cabbages and brassicas that I’ve decided to stick to the veggies that don’t have as many issues. My rate of veggie growing success goes way up without them. I love your veg garden. It’s very nicely laid out. I’m also planting sweet potato slips everywhere to have lots of green material for my compost. Any sweet potatoes that result will just be icing. 🍅 🌱😃
Have you tried fermented pickles? I would gather a jars worth of cucumbers at a time and just stick them on the back of my counter for a week in pickling liquid/spice and with my fresh dill and garlic from the garden. Super simple and you don't have to have a huge harvest to make and enjoy them :)
I'm excited to see your veggie garden this year! It sounds like you have a fun plan going into the season.
I was looking at all my seeds today. My veggie space is pretty small; I love tomatoes too.
I watched all but 28 seconds so far and hearing you say "if I have to sit next to the window for one more video I might just fall out of it" lol.
I just wanted to say that I completely understand. Seeing you in that snow, gosh. I dont have snow right now, but man do I have the spring time itch. Ive been meaning to go get some straw for my strawberry mulching but everyday I wake up its raining! Ugh! Spring/summer CANT come fast enough! I hope you stay warm in that snow!
I have always had way better luck growing peppers in pots than in the ground. Definitely recommend trying them in pots!
They like to be super crowded with the leaves touching! I just learned this today. 😃
I am growing all of mine in pots this year. The shishito & bell peppers were getting afternoon scald. In pots I can place them where my tool shed protects them from late afternoon sun.
The Black Jack fig is a nice semi-dwarf variety. It only gets about 8’ tall. I’ve got one in the back corner of my veggie garden and it’s a nice little addition.
Thank you!
GROW YOUR POTATOES IN CONTAINERS !!! I have done it both ways, because we could easily live on potatoes, but growing them in buckets is far and away easier and more productive in my opinion. They taste SO much better that they are worth the little extra effort, and you can tuck the pots around where ever they fit or look good. They're a nice enough looking plant and you can get a very good harvest from just a few med. to large pots. AND you don't need to "hill" them up, just plant them, feed them and forget them.... watering them along with the rest of your garden. Easy peezy !
Have you tried delicata squash. They are so sweet and delicious. I agree about the cabbage. I have decided my whole garden will be vegetables and flowers mixed. Beauty and function inside the house and out.
Delicata are amazing! I only grew them one year and had a pretty lame harvest but I will think about trying them again because they are delicious.
Miserable day here. Nice to have a movie selection I can enjoy and most likely learn from. Thanks!
Great video. I hope this Wisconsin weather will be wonderful this year and cooperate.
Thank you for the many ideas you gave me for my vegetable garden. I would love to try to grow ginger. You are right about fresh ginger having a different flavor than store bought, especially dried! 🌿
Thanks so much! Now I've got the itch!!🌷🌱🌿
Great video and loved your ideas. I’m in Wisconsin too - Middleton. Can’t wait for spring.
Try Beit Alpha cucumbers... long ....smooth skin..good taste and they keep producing like crazy! Love them!! Black brandywine are also the best tasting tomatoes I have ever grown❤ thats my 2 cents...😉
I order my ginger from Fruition Seed. They also have a ginger fertilizer that I've used.
Loved it! Cant wait to see what it turns out to!
You should add a lemongrass plant in with your ginger plants! So easy to grow, looks great (I made a flavored gin with mine 3 years ago 😋) AND it’s a snake repellent.
I’m sorry, did you say flavored gin?
@@TheImpatientGardener Yes!!! It was amazing. I bought Hana gin(because the bottle was gorgeous and I wasn’t ruining a bottle of Hendricks if I didn’t like it) and just fermented the lemongrass right in the bottle. Delicious
And cucumbers in a gin and tonic - also amazing.
@@maryanns6182 Oh I’m on top of that!
@@maryanns6182 I have lemongrass in my florida garden right now.....ummmm this sounds amazing! Thanks for the suggestion!!
I love the idea of a slightly less formal vegetable garden! You do have some formal structures - beautiful the way you grew lettuce in the boxwoods. Randomly, I want to tell you that I found those posters on the wall behind you in some of your videos, sort of the anatomy of a particular plant or flower. I ordered four small ones from France through etsy. Framed them in gold bamboo. They are spectacular. I love that they were used in science classes! Don't be offended if yours are all original! You inspired me, and though I only grow things in pots (topiaries; ferns in the summer; pansies and ornamental cabbages (maybe kale) in fall and winter, I adore gardens and gardening shows. Your channel is my favorite, even more than Garden Answer and Monty Don! I really love your personality. I can't wait to see how your belgian fence does! (I'm the one who was crushed by the loss of the topiary by your garage, may it RIP)!
Hi Nancy! I bet your botanical prints look amazing frames that way. (Mine are the same as yours ... vintage charts from classrooms.) As for the Belgian fence, I hope it’s a good year for it!
I have the same thoughts.
I can’t agree more.
All the best from Denmark.
I grew honeynut this year too it's so much better than butternut. I've also discovered koginut squash and black futsu pumpkins and I'm in love.
Desperate to get back out and garden too! I dream of a veggie garden- I did all container veg last year- fun and actually really pretty, albeit small harvest!
Thanks for sharing, we love Mercury cukes, great flavor and not too big, and a consistent tomato for us has been sub arctic tomatoes which are very productive and quick dtms😁
I am in the blistering heat of NC and my peppers always perform better in containers.
Wow! That is heat loving!
I’m in NC as well and did jalapeños in raised beds and they went BIZERK!
Now I will have ginger on the brain..how fun to try! Your raised beds are so nice. We have a 30'x20' in ground veggie area which suffers more each year because of large trees and their shade. My husband and I are older than dirt so the trees will ultimately win. Thank you for the great info..particularly liked the dwarf tomato. I drooled on my phone😋 You are a gem❤
That tomatoe awesome looks...awesome🥰
Have you tried an heirloom variety of tomato called Mr. Stripey? It’s not short, but oooooh my it’s the most delicious tomato I’ve ever tasted! Maybe grow it over a cattle panel tunnel? Just a thought. Your gardens truly are beautiful!!
Yes! I love that one!
Try delicata for winter squash! They are small, you can cook them with their skins on and they taste way better than honey but squash in my opinion!
I’m glad someone else besides me had a issue with both green peppers and kale. I’ve had great success in previous years this past summer not.
We have cut a big limb off our maple tree to get more sunlight on the garden, that step one. Not sure what will happen beyond that. I wish I had your setup, I absolutely love it. Still waiting for my seed catalog. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
Do u have a video on making your fenced in garden area with pergola? I have deer and yours looks perfect.
You have my dream vegetable garden Erin 😊 nobody likes a mealy tomato 🍅🤣 I adore basil, I think it is my most favourite smell in the world. I love the look of your tulips in the beds. I’m looking forward to your new fruit trees as I am hoping to plant a couple myself.
Compost system behind is really cool, do you have any information on this, thank you for sharing this video, it give us the opportunity to also begin to think about our gardens and the changes we would like to make for the growing year coming up.
Hello dear. How are you?
Have you tried silver slicer cucumbers? Jess from Roots and Refuge Farm is s huge fan of the silver slicer.
Great video. Over here starting seeds (zone 8b) watching with all the spring garden dreams in my mind.)
Ah, January... it was -6°F on my way home from work yesterday ...**sigh**. I think it's great to do what you're doing and plant what works for you, as well as skip the things that aren't worth it. We are thinking the same way. No zucchini this year for us; it just takes up room that we can use to grow other things we will enjoy and eat more of. I love the inter-planting aspects you talked about too. We need to work WITH Mother Nature more, not against her. Now, if I only had those gorgeous raised beds of yours! My dream!!
I cant stop buying seeds. Everytime I watch a seed video I find something else I NEED to have....lol. I probably have $200 dollars in new seeds this year, I'm not kidding. I'm more than ready....bring on the warm weather.👍👍😁
This never know when you may not be able to get to the shops 😊
@@Lazydaisy646 very true. If what they say is true that most seeds last for years I should be good for a long time. I will have to remember to save my heirlooms.😁👍❤🍅🧄
I am excited to see your vegetable garden this year. I got some Emerald Towers basil seeds on your recommendation and I can't wait to get them growing!
I hope they do really well for you!
@@TheImpatientGardener Me too. I live by Seattle and I don't have a super long or intensely sunny growing season. I dont seem to ever get enough basil! I am also a fan of the upright habit of this one. So cool.
I am so tired of winter!!! 50 days till spring!!!
I don’t have much space with sun (or time) so I’ve decided to limit myself to the items that are expensive to buy from my CSA - like basil and heirloom tomatoes.
Hello Sheila. How are you?
I would be totally interested in buying some of your ginger seed! I would love to try that!
Sounds like a great plan. We have so much heat here in Central Texas, it’s hard to prevent my vegetables from burning up! Sometimes watering more doesn’t even help. I’m probably going to do more focus planting in the spring and fall, and less in the summer. Change is good, they say. Lol 👏🏻💕👏🏻
Anyway to plant things to give some shade? Like sunflowers?
A mustard plant will provide shade.
Oh I wanna grow ginger. I use for my tea and food
Same! And I agree, that the dried up ginger root at the grocery store isn't all that great.
🌹
Great thoughts and ideas! I love that you share the reasoning behind them. 💚
Fig tree will be a beautiful addition. If you can find a sunny corner on the inside, where it won't block sun for the crops, it would be gorgeous with those big shiny leaves! I love mine and it's in my kitchen garden. Speaking of shade/sun, maybe try throwing some kale seed in one of those 2 beds that get shade? I grew kale nearly under the fig and it only got about 3 hours of sun and performed it's heart out.
This was perfect timing for me. I recently moved to a new place and there is a 27 x 50 fenced vege garden area. I’m in the process of designing raised planter beds for it. Last year (my first year here) I just grew a bunch of veges straight in the ground. Way too much work!. I found myself harvesting while laying flat on the ground. Would love to know what materials you used for your beds and if you’re happy with them.
J
Loved this confessional video. I am Illinois zone 5. I too am NOT going to do potatoes , peppers , eggplant etc. it is humbling to admit when things just don’t grow so well and it is best to do something else. Go figure but I have trouble with radishes and cucumbers tooo.....thanks for the honesty.
I’m in Eastern Kansas where we get cold winters (though not so bad this year) and very hot summers. My Chicago Hardy Fig tree is a huge point of pride in my garden. It dies back to the ground every year and I don’t get figs until September but they are delicious and always remind me of our trip to Italy a few years ago.
I too have been thinking about growing ginger (in a pot) but maybe from a root rather than from seed.
Ooh this is interesting. So you still get figs even though it dies back???
I grew the Japanese cucumbers last year and now I will only ever grow them. They were the ones I was looking for all these years. I bet they'll be yours as well
I've been debating about potatoes, because I love them fresh from the garden, but don't have a lot of room. Buying them at the farmers' market is probably a good alternative for me, too.