I hope to but with hubby not doing well, not sure if he'll be able to help....Last year my tomatoes had the blight so that means, planting them either in pots or find a different spot...But, I do have hopes for beans, zucchini, peppers and I even have some okra seeds to try.....I love playing in the dirt.....

I'm giving up on vegetable gardening except I might plant 1 tomato, 1 zucchini, 1 pumpkin--maybe. It's just too much work and too much water. I redesigned the vegetable garden into a succulent garden. Everything is pretty small yet, but I'm happy with it. I'm looking forward to not fooling with monster tomato and zucchini plants.

Sorry to hear your husband is not doing well, Sunny.

Hope you have a bumper crop, Kath.

Sorry to hear about your dh, Sunnydj23. I miss my big garden but the work is hard. Oh, Socks...now I have to add pumpkins! They're so much fun to grow. Have exchange students coming, so will have someone to carve them with this year.

I have discovered that there is no loam where we now live in Florida. All sand. I read that once you dig down 30", you get something different. Thus carrots and onions in the ground with a bit of cow manure and hot peppers with lots of purchased garden soil. Also a "Jim's mix" of soil from Illinois for a planter box of herbs. So far everything is OK, except for the wilting of everything every afternoon. I'll try some top soil and mulch to see if that might help.

I'm not doing a real garden. I'm planting some things here and there in various flower beds. Dh planted a jalapeno plant two summer ago and it is leafing out now. I cut it back in the winter. I have two tomato plants from last year that didn't die and have some cherry tomatoes on them. We have dill, parsley, chives, mint, cilantro, basil and rosemary. I'm thinking about planting some cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumbers. I may plant some okra when it gets hot. My asparagus crowns came in the other day. I need to buy some dirt and get my raised bed set up.

I will plant 5 tomato plants. I have an Ace in the ground already and will add 4 Celebrities this next week if they are big enough to dig deep and bury most of the stem.

We have been enjoying leaf lettuce from the garden for the last month or so. I didn't plant it, volunteers from last year's garden. I would like to plant some more different kinds of lettuce and basil, green beans, cherry tomatoes and summer squash. But it will have to wait until my foot surgery is healed. Soonest is 2 weeks, longest is 4 more weeks of staying off my foot. I am going nuts from sitting around for the last 2 weeks. I would love to be working up in my garden, which is becoming a jungle of weeds from all this warm weather.

Our normal frost free days are in late May, but this seems to be a very unusual spring! I have been planting in "self watering" containers the past few years, and love it. I also did the straw bale gardening for a couple of years, which was fun, but then one has to get rid of the bales in the fall. I just do tomatoes, cukes, and peppers. Right now I have about 45 pepper plants under the grow lights, and have planted my tomatoes and some annuals such as coleus and forget-me-not.

Heck, yes! Now that I've regained some mobility and a great deal of energy, my garden has increased over the last couple of years. I love it; it's in my blood. :-) I've added a few more things this year that I'm looking forward to.

We've been eating fresh sweet peas, spinach, and several other kinds of greens for a few weeks. I'm almost convinced that I can go ahead and plant my tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, and sow my squash, beans, tender greens, and more.

Jim, your sandy soil will "eat" top soil and mulch. Pinestraw stays put better than most mulch options. I liked growing in sand, but you will have to water with more frequency and more volume. Get used to it, sorry.

Sunny sorry to hear about your husband.

I am planting a veggie garden in the back yard, and flowers in the front. Recently had a large tree removed, hoping the extra light does good things for the plants.

Well, I kind of went crazy and bought a bunch of seeds at Wal-Mart. Been wanting to have a side yard garden for years now. Maybe I will do it this year. Raised beds.

Kath, in case you have never grown pumpkins, they take up a large amount of space. We have an alley behind our house, and I have been able to plant a seed near the alley and train it out of the garden and down the alley as it grows. Otherwise, it would take up too much space. Have fun.

Socks, I have planted pumpkins before. I do miss having a big garden for stuff like that. Only have grown small varieties at this house. I bought some jack o' lantern pumpkins so I'm going to plant them out front in the space that had winter creeper growing. It's covered in black plastic right now.

Not sure yet... prolly not. Will not be around in June and most of July. But I want an orange tree, a lemon tree, a mango tree and an avocado tree, plus a bougainvillea. :)

Moni

We will plant about 13 tomato plants at our house, and on Friday our community garden opens, and he'll plant peas and spinach. Later all kinds of summer veggies...So nice of Ames to give us free garden plots and use of tools and water.

Many many flowers. In the fruit and veggie range, just planted about 10 strawberry plants (in a barrel), a beefsteak tomato from a box store (my 'Brandywine, Sudduth Strain' aren't going yet), mini pumpkins, carrots, cayenne peppers, Thai chili, and mini watermelon. I also am working on the herb garden. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme are in the ground, but I'll add oregano, boarge, dill, bronze fennel, chives, garlic chives, large leaf Italian basil, opal basil, cinnamon basil, and lavender. I have "summer spinach" (Malabar), but I haven't gotten around to germinating this go around. Maybe later?

I plan on growing 2 cherry tomatoes instead of one plant this year. I freeze them and use them for my fratata and a spaghetti recipe. My grandson and I winter-sowed some petunia seeds. I'm still waiting for them to pop up. If not, I'll just buy a flat to put around the the house. I have my dahlias in the garage waiting for the right time to set them out. Not doing much more than that.

Yes, the girls and I plan on one here and Amber will have one at their home. I don't think we will put out as big of one. Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, flowers and who knows what else. I may put a few sweet potatoes in the ground too. We have a very good area for our garden and it is big.

Sue in Central Indiana

I love raising enough pumpkins for the whole family and my neighbors. A couple of years ago I scratched everyone's name on pumpkins, and even drew some designs. Last year the excess rain and soggy soil killed every plant. DD and my son-in-law have dug some drainage trenches, which are a pain to mow around, but this year I'm hoping for a good crop. Now that the trenches are dug, we'll probably have a drought, and I'll be carrying water from the pond. :[

My daughter raises peas, tomatoes, onions, radishes, and peppers in a smaller row, closer to the house, but last year she had zucchini and yellow squash at the edge of my pumpkin patch, where I'd planted potatoes the year before. She's eying the rest of my patch, wanting to use more of it for vegetables for the table. I suppose it would be good to put potatoes in the row near the house, to avoid the wireworms that might still be lurking in the bigger garden, so maybe I'll trade with her. :)

Well, I bought some raised beds-cedar and a composter. I almost bought two dwarf peach trees too but decided to wait for the peach trees. I need a hobby again and miss gardening. I've been a chair potato for too long now.

Yes, I am! If only the night time lows would quit dropping and giving us frost! We have been running the AC by day and the furnace in the morning.

Can't wait to get started! Used to I grew all my veggies in containers and loved it when we started doing that. Now that I'm retired I plan a regular ole in-the-ground garden! lol

I'm looking for a new carrot variety since I will be not be growing in containers. Does anyone have a good sweet type for hot climate? I want some I can harvest in the fall as well as all winter long so I want a type that can be left in ground. I will probably do nantes Bolero and one other type. I don't want anymore Imperators. They don't hold well for me.

This year I will also be doing more herbs than I usually do. I am going to be digging up my large lemon balm and replanting it. Since I cut it back in February, it has come back very nicely and looks beautiful. But maybe the scent is not as strong as it usually is? I think it's worth starting over. Also, I am going to contain the mint this year. I always mean to, but end up planting it in the ground instead of a containing it. :)

I've never had good enough/deep enough good soil for carrots. They always came out small and stunted. Will be nice to have a deep loose soil for things like that. Sweet potatoes are another thing I miss growing.

Kath - you'll love your raised beds. I liked mine just fine but then went to container growing. Loved container growing but took a lot of watering. Right now I'll be happy to get back to in-ground gardening. Love shaking things up from time to time. lol

I have not had great luck here with my vegetable garden so now I just plant one nice tomato plant in a container in the atrium and usually one banana pepper plant for my husband. We shop the local farm stores all summer long and enjoy the fruits of their labor plus help support them. I do have citrus trees in containers in the atrium. My satsuma tree was absolutely loaded with blooms it smells wonderful, now they are turning into tiny fruit and there's a lot of them. But I know from experience it will drop a lot of them. I want to plant some citruscitrus trees outside because they do very well here. Some of my neighbors have huge orange and grapefruit trees. I do have a loquat tree that is loaded with fruit right now. I picked a big sack of then this week. They are so sweet. My neighbor made a loquat and apple cobbler last night. She makes smoothies with them often. I just eat them lol.

A few of my loquats, in some places they are called Japanese plums, that's what I knew them as in Louisiana.

I want to grow pumpkins but the squirrels keep eating them. I just transplanted garlic as I left a few heads from last year so I separated the cloves and put in rows. I also dug up some carrots and beets left over from last year. I have turned over 2/3 of the garden but nothing will be planted for another month.

I'm rather uncertain.

Cucumbers have trouble with blight and it bothers squash-related things, as well. Blight hit the tomatoes hard for the last two years, about the only ones I had last year were volunteers from the year before, all of them of the cherry variety ... which I find hard to pick, due to laziness. Did get some fruits.

It was a late, cold, rainy spring last year, and some suggested that many of my seeds may have rotted in the ground, as many rows had only a few plants develop. Very low production: disappointing.

I've had over a mile of row: 25 rows of 60 - 75 paces in one, 10 rows of about 35 paces in the other (the latter mostly in Uncle's barnyard - but no cattle for the past 12 years).

Also, daily radiation to deal with prostate cancer through most of Jan. and Feb. has resulted in my spending a lot of time in Bed (and Bathroom), with occasional visit to kitchen to refuel, for a couple of months ... with little interest in the Beyond.

Son is suggesting that I take a sabbatical, this year ...

... and the poor results during the past two summers, after all of that work, makes me quite tempted.

I've lost some weight and had little energy until the past week or so, so am wondering in what kind of situation my body will be by planting time.

Gardening ... is sort of up in the air, at the moment.

ole joyful

I am sorry to hear you are not feeling up to par Ole Joyful. Maybe you could just plant a very few vegetables this year.

Sue

I am so sorry you are not up to your usual wonderful busy self OJ. Maybe do what I am doing these days, it's all I can handle. Just a container with a tomato plant and one with a pepper plant. It's manageable and you still get to seesee some results.

Yes, OJ, you need a sabbatical! Hope you get to feeling better soon!

Many hugs to you. You are always determined and keep strong faith!

Sorry you're feeling bad, Old Joyful. Hope you get to feeling better soon.

We'll plant mostly tomatoes again, and hope we don't get blossom end rot (again.) :( Water restrictions are still in place.

OJ, I've been hoping you're feeling ok, but I see it's been a tough row to hoe. (Couldn't help it and I know you enjoy words!) Are you finished with your treatments yet, or did I miss that? Be ever-so-good to yourself, eat good food and keep resting, with a little walking now and then. Do you use Meals on Wheels or is that only a U.S. entity? That would be a good thing for you to try right now, if possible. Do let us know how you're feeling from time to time, ok?

A simple comment: if you can, save rain water. After 4 years of experimenting, I decided that veggies grow better with rain water. Before we moved to Florida, I had two rain barrels. I filled up old milk jugs and used that on house plants and veggies. A big difference!

The growing season in Calgary is so short, it's a waste of time to try to grow anything. Besides, I don't have the patience. This year I am spreading a ton of wildflower seeds in my garden. It's to "bring back the bee's". All those insecticides farmers use every year are killing the bee population. Cheerios has a promotion on their site where they will mail you free wild flower seeds. I'm planting those and going to buy more at the home and garden store. They come back every year, so I'll be ready for next year. :)