Growing Your Own Food (A Great Use of Your Garden) - Garden Plants and Gardening Forum

lspichkin · 09-15-2007, 02:47 PM

There are lots of resources out on the web about why it's a good idea to grow your own food. This thread is for discussing your ideas, inspirations, setbacks and rationales for growing your own food. Share tips on growing your own food as well!

imp · 07-05-2008, 10:57 PM

I've gardened for many years now, but also decided to change our front yard to a lovely and productive vegetable and herb garden; we also garden in the back yard and the devil's strip.

Figured if I have to tend to it, best that it be of use and worth the water and work.

Think it is prettier now, roses and vegetables and herbs are mixed through out.

lspichkin · 07-08-2008, 09:18 PM

Do you have any pictures that you can post of your front yard? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of having a non-conventional front lawn and would love to see what kind of things people have actually been doing with their spaces. If you go to the "gallery" section of this website we can host any photos for you there.

imp · 08-25-2008, 03:52 AM

No no recent pictures, sorry.

It is different, we have roses on either side of a line of tomatoes supported with the french weave method, melons in front of that grouping sprawling out. Peas, beans and tomatoes in front of them in front of the porch wall that faces the street and behind some very large and tall tea roses- Mr. Lincoln decided to grow to over 8 ft this year.

Along the driveway side is some of the non-spreading monkey grass, tomatoes next in a line from those, then several roses ( hybrid teas) in a row, then a mixed bed with sections with a couple more tomatoes, rainbow chard and melons again.

This is the "main front garden area of about 25 by 25 ft.

beezie · 09-28-2008, 03:20 PM

Hi there, we've turned the south side of our front yard into a vegetable gaden, as well as mixing artichokes into the front terraces that go down our front hill. It's great, and after the harvest all summer (tomatoes, lettuce, canteloupes, cucumbers, squash, strawberries), i stopped minding at all that the yard was filled with raised beds. Just planted for fall and some seeds have just started to sprout.

lulugardens · 09-28-2008, 07:42 PM

Just curious... do you do anything special in between taking out summer crops and planting for fall? do you give the soil a break? or do you just put down a layer of compost or something and plant again?

beezie · 09-29-2008, 03:21 PM

hi lulugardens, i actually did pull everything out that was left, let that sit a few days so that whatever bugs were in there on the plants (with mine, mostly earwigs) could vacate. then i turned over the soil and added one bag of planting mix per raised bed. one of the beds took a while as it had a lot of scarab beetle grubs that i needed to pick out. but i think that the soil is key to everything that is going to happen there over the season so i take time with it. i let that settle for a few days and added a little more to each bed, then planted. oh and i mixed some "amend" into the planting mix, but not much. and that's it. seems to be working. my lettuces and cauliflower started coming up after about 6 days. good luck!

Thomas W · 02-26-2009, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lulugardens

... do you give the soil a break? ...

When I turned my front lawn into vegetable beds my potatoes were badly infested with wireworms:

They normally live from the roots of grass but when the grass is gone, they go for whatever root vegetables are in the ground. It's best to grow plants that develop above ground for a couple of years until the wireworms are gone. It also helps to hand pick them if you see any when digging.

lilypotter · 08-28-2009, 07:02 AM

Hey, even i grow my own vegetables in my back yard. and there are rose plants in the front. This is good to grow because i never use pesticides for growing then so i grow healthy crops with organic composts. I feel happy.

kamran · 12-07-2009, 02:28 AM

Nice post! I think if one want to be healthy and wants to eat healthy and fresh eatable good, then he have to grow own vegetables in their garden.

09-15-2007, 02:47 PM	#1
lspichkin Administrator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: West Hollywood, CA Posts: 221 Images: 88	Growing Your Own Food (A Great Use of Your Garden) There are lots of resources out on the web about why it's a good idea to grow your own food. This thread is for discussing your ideas, inspirations, setbacks and rationales for growing your own food. Share tips on growing your own food as well!

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07-05-2008, 10:57 PM	#2
imp Green Gardener Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: North Texas Posts: 12	I've gardened for many years now, but also decided to change our front yard to a lovely and productive vegetable and herb garden; we also garden in the back yard and the devil's strip. Figured if I have to tend to it, best that it be of use and worth the water and work. Think it is prettier now, roses and vegetables and herbs are mixed through out.

07-08-2008, 09:18 PM	#3
lspichkin Administrator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: West Hollywood, CA Posts: 221 Images: 88	Do you have any pictures that you can post of your front yard? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of having a non-conventional front lawn and would love to see what kind of things people have actually been doing with their spaces. If you go to the "gallery" section of this website we can host any photos for you there.

08-25-2008, 03:52 AM	#4
imp Green Gardener Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: North Texas Posts: 12	No no recent pictures, sorry. It is different, we have roses on either side of a line of tomatoes supported with the french weave method, melons in front of that grouping sprawling out. Peas, beans and tomatoes in front of them in front of the porch wall that faces the street and behind some very large and tall tea roses- Mr. Lincoln decided to grow to over 8 ft this year. Along the driveway side is some of the non-spreading monkey grass, tomatoes next in a line from those, then several roses ( hybrid teas) in a row, then a mixed bed with sections with a couple more tomatoes, rainbow chard and melons again. This is the "main front garden area of about 25 by 25 ft.

09-28-2008, 03:20 PM	#5
beezie Green Gardener Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 6	Hi there, we've turned the south side of our front yard into a vegetable gaden, as well as mixing artichokes into the front terraces that go down our front hill. It's great, and after the harvest all summer (tomatoes, lettuce, canteloupes, cucumbers, squash, strawberries), i stopped minding at all that the yard was filled with raised beds. Just planted for fall and some seeds have just started to sprout.

09-28-2008, 07:42 PM	#6
lulugardens Green Thumb Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 36 Blog Entries: 6 Images: 3	Just curious... do you do anything special in between taking out summer crops and planting for fall? do you give the soil a break? or do you just put down a layer of compost or something and plant again?

09-29-2008, 03:21 PM	#7
beezie Green Gardener Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 6	hi lulugardens, i actually did pull everything out that was left, let that sit a few days so that whatever bugs were in there on the plants (with mine, mostly earwigs) could vacate. then i turned over the soil and added one bag of planting mix per raised bed. one of the beds took a while as it had a lot of scarab beetle grubs that i needed to pick out. but i think that the soil is key to everything that is going to happen there over the season so i take time with it. i let that settle for a few days and added a little more to each bed, then planted. oh and i mixed some "amend" into the planting mix, but not much. and that's it. seems to be working. my lettuces and cauliflower started coming up after about 6 days. good luck!

08-28-2009, 07:02 AM	#9
lilypotter Green Gardener Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 8	Hey, even i grow my own vegetables in my back yard. and there are rose plants in the front. This is good to grow because i never use pesticides for growing then so i grow healthy crops with organic composts. I feel happy.

12-07-2009, 02:28 AM	#10
kamran Green Gardener Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 9	Nice post! I think if one want to be healthy and wants to eat healthy and fresh eatable good, then he have to grow own vegetables in their garden.