When my DH was well we had a huge vegetable garden every year. Then a long hiatus where I grew very little. Last year my DS and DIL took over the big vegetable garden space, put up a new fence, and planted an ambitious garden. They did very well! This year they're gardening again, but now that we've filled in the pool they're using that space to grow the "sprawlers"--buttercup squash, pumpkins, etc.

As for me, I'm still enjoying my 8' tall bean arch, where I grow Kentucky Wonder pole beans, and I planted several varieties of peas, snow peas, and sugar snap peas in different spots. I'm also growing several kinds of lettuce in containers, and bush beans in containers as well. I'll probably plant some kale too. My son is growing my favorite golden crookneck squash for me.

It has been hard, as I've always known it would be, to accept that I can no longer do everything I used to do in the garden. I am short on energy and stamina, and long on aches and pains. But I'll keep doing what I can do, as long as I can do it. :-)

Carol, we got a late start, too, but we live in California as well, and can pretty much grow something or other at any time of the year. We're about 45 miles from San Francisco and a little bit inland. We have a tiny back yard, but DH and I built several raised beds a few years ago and can really pack a whole lot in those beds. We also developed a movable trellis system over some of them and grow lots of stuff "up", including melons and cucumbers, as well as the "normal" stuff like pole beans and peas.

This year I am growing beets, several kinds of onions, bush beans, pole beans, cucumbers, jalapenos, anaheims, bells, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, tomatoes (of course!), lettuce, strawberries, squash, and chives. And I always throw in some flowers to attract the bees and butterflies. I've got Zinnia, Lobelia, Alyssum, Cosmos, Marigolds, Dahlias, Salvia and Johnny Jump-Ups.

And this is the first year we finally have a watering system for all of it (Yay!).

Good for you!

I have 15 tomato plants at my house in the only sunny corner. They all have fruit on them, even the hanging cherry one. At the community garden, we have already harvested bibb lettuce, peas, spinach, beans and onions. Squash and zucchini are starting to fruit and we have a ton of other stuff almost ready.

We have a garden every year and grow all the usual. No tomatoes this year, though, or anything in the nightshade family as we've had a blight the last couple of years. We do have tomatillos, and my small herb garden, of course.

I'm on the East Coast (Long Island NY) but enjoy vegetable gardening. My garden is a circular area in my backyard where we once had an above-ground pool. This year I planted heirloom tomatoes (seven plants) and 13 potatoes (varoius colors). I tried starting vegetable seeds indoors but they failed. I also have some herbs in containers. This past weekend I picked up some vegetables at Home Depot- melon, cucumber, five peppers-hot and sweet, plus bell peppers). I'll be getting them in the ground this week. And I plan to be weeding all summer! Keeps me young!

I have had a garden every year since moving back to TX but this year...not gonna happen. I just really don't know what to do at this point. I don't have the energy or stamina to garden any more and my Beloved is not a gardener. We have too much yard to take care of and we need to minimize outside work...Have to make some hard decisions regarding my garden.

Forever and ever we always had a huge garden. I canned and froze everything. Then about 10 years ago we stopped for some reason. Now we are up and running again bigger then ever. Our 2 girls each have small garden and get so much out of it. It is so funny when they come here they go out to see what is in the garden before coming in the house. Several years ago I gave all my canning things to my daughter. Now I help her and she gives to us. I spend a day or two helping can tomatoes, green beans, corn and such. We made sauerkraut last year. I think we grow enough potatoes for an army.. Once hubby gets started he doesn't know when or how to stop. For Father's Day last year our daughter bought her dad a roll of rusty fencing to make tomatoes cages. It was so nice because they spent an afternoon making them together. It is always an event in our house when the girls come with their baskets and head to the garden.

I am like Susan, I can't do near what I used to but do what I can to help. I know it is sad once someone can no longer garden when they have had one forever.

I cut back too. I let the veggie garden "rest" for a couple years and then this Spring I got the urge to put in lettuce, some greens, and Lemon Cukes. Then I added two pumpkin plants...then two Yellow Pear tomato plants. I swore I wasn't going to plant tomatoes, oh well.

Something is eating the cuke sprouts as they come up out of the ground, as of this morning I have five healthy two-leaf seedings left. But that will be plenty for the trellis, since it's only me here. Everything else I can buy pretty reasonably at the farm stands, and there are so many now days.

Yes, I usually put a Spring garden and a winter garden.
I have three raised beds and then herb beds around a patio.
This Spring I have lots of tomatoes (picked some cherries this AM.), patty pan squash, green beans (Kentucky Wonder, like yours, Carol), sweet peppers, eggplant and basil. Then in the herb beds, I have rosemary, thyme, oregano, mexican oregano, flat leafed parsley and pineapple sage.
I wish I could grow lettuce in the Summer, but I have to wait for Fall/winter,due to the heat.

I refuse to plant more than just a couple of rhubarb plants. The rabbits are thick this year because we had a mild winter. I should say the rabbits are thicker than usual. They eat the rhubarb leaves. Ames, Iowa has more rabbits than I ever saw in California.

I had a large garden most of my life... In younger years, I had between 1/3 and 1/2 acre, and we grew sweet corn in a section of a field (rather then in the garden) but now have a very small yard. We do have three small raised garden beds. One is filled with strawberries. In the others, we grow (depending on the year) lettuce, radishes, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and beans. We have several galvanized tubs which we use to grow tomatoes, tomatillos, or peppers. This year we're going to try pole beans in a tub. We also have a couple of small raised gardens at our camp in the woods, but have to be careful what we plant there because of the deer!

I always loved making my own tomato sauce, which I used as a base for spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, etc, etc. I would fill a canning kettle (like the one n the link below) with fresh veggies which I'd put through the blender until smooth. I used tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, and a variety of herbs. I also added a couple of cups of brown sugar and a couple cups of vinegar. Then I simmered it until it was thick (hours). I froze it in quart containers and used it all year long! Yummy!

We also froze many quarts of sweet corn. Again, enough to last the year. Same for many other veggies. I always canned green beans though, because I didn't care for the frozen ones... still don't! In the 'old days' green beans had to boil for (I believe) 4 hours in a water bath canner, until we were told that even boiling 4 hours didn't make them safe and then we had to use a pressure canner.

I miss having the space and the time to do all of that. Maybe someday, when I'm retired, I will again. Or maybe not :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: canning kettle

We have corn, peas, radishes, carrots, beans, several kinds of tomatoes, beets, squash, zucchini and some others planted. They won't do much until it warms up though. It was only 48 degrees yesterday.

Most of today I have been out working in my garden. Today I planted my sweet potato plants I had started, and I planted two varieties of cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, broccoli, 2 varieties of green beans, Swiss Chard, and zucchini. We already have green beans up and room to plant some more later on.. Our sweet corn is up as well as the potatoes, carrots and onions. Lots of the potatoes are blooming now. We have a lot of peppers out and tomatoes. I think we have 30 tomato plants. Several of the tomatoes have little green tomatoes on them. The radishes are starting to go the other way as well as the lettuce. I have the water on sprinkling the garden as it is so dry. Cheryl came out today and planted more tomato plants, we still have some peppers to plant and will probably get back to it on Thursday again. Our sweet corn is in a separate patch. The kids have really helped me with it. Looks like we may be busy canning and freezing things.

Sue in Central Indiana