Gardens vegetable, flower or other?

[MaryDeluxe]

GentleJohnny...I grow a garden and a veggie garden every year. I came across this website the other year and since you live in PA, I thought you might enjoy reading it!
Victory Gardens
Handbook of the
Victory Garden Committee
War Services, Pennsylvania
State Council of Defense
April, 1944
http://www.earthlypursuits.com/Victo...dbook/VGHv.htm

I have a tiny yard and only have about a 3'x6' space for my veggies. I can get a ton of veggies out of just that little space! You don't need a lot of space to grow veggies, you just need to be smart about what you plant!

[Lady Day]

This is my new favorite thread

LD

[Joie DeVive]

I've only grown the white.
Is there much difference between purple and white? I've never tried the purple.
Any ideas yourself for preparing?

I've never tried the purple either and was asking because I was wondering if there was a difference myself...

I'll have to try your recipe, it sounds good. The most common way I eat them is peeled and sliced thinly, usually on a relish tray with things like carrot and celery sticks. I also have a great recipe I'll have to dig out, but the gist of it is that you shred or grate the kohlrabi (use a food processor for this, trust me, I didn't enjoy doing it manually ) and saute it in some lightly browned butter. Add salt and pepper and sprinkle generously with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately while still very hot. It's wonderful!
I didn't even realize the leaves were edible, though it makes sense now that I read it. I'll have to try those too.

Do you ever get pesky little grey bugs on yours (particularly on the leaves)? If so, any suggestions on how to get rid of them? The only success I've had is removing them by hand, but that can get time consuming.

[Folly]

If the weather is dry, you can get a bigger can of hot type pepper like cayenne and sprinkel on the top of the soil. This is supposed to keep the cats away.

We've tried all sorts but that pesky cat still came back! I even tried tea bags scented (liberally soaked) in Olbas Oil to no avail.

[GentleJohnny]

GentleJohnny...I grow a garden and a veggie garden every year. I came across this website the other year and since you live in PA, I thought you might enjoy reading it!
Victory Gardens
Handbook of the
Victory Garden Committee
War Services, Pennsylvania
State Council of Defense
April, 1944
http://www.earthlypursuits.com/Victo...dbook/VGHv.htm

I have a tiny yard and only have about a 3'x6' space for my veggies. I can get a ton of veggies out of just that little space! You don't need a lot of space to grow veggies, you just need to be smart about what you plant!

Thanks for the link Mary. I'll be sure to look at it in detail! You have a much bigger area to plant than I do, but I'll still have some fun with it. I went to a store the other day and was looking at different types of plants to think about using, and a woman walks up and says, "Is your wife going to be doing some gardening this year?" I turned to her and said, "Actually I'll probably do most of it." And she looked at all my WWII era tattoos on my arms and said, "You don't look like the Green Thumb kind of guy." And I just smiled and said, "No ma'am I don't. I'm the kind of guy that just wants to have some fun and save some Green Money."

[rumblefish]

Do you ever get pesky little grey bugs on yours (particularly on the leaves)? If so, any suggestions on how to get rid of them? The only success I've had is removing them by hand, but that can get time consuming.

Aphids! Five years ago I would have said "Sevin powder",,, three years ago, Rotenone (because it's more "organic" and not persistent, UV breaks it down very quickly). Now I use a pump sprayer filled with water and a few drops of dish soap or baby shampoo to blast them of the plants. The soap breaks the surface tension of water and makes it more efficient in washing away the little @#$%&. It's still not easy because you have to check underneath each leaf, but I believe it beats chemical pesticides.

I like the sound of your recipe! Grated Parmesan and brown butter? Can't be bad!

May I suggest another "greens" idea; The seeds I planted last Saturday (see post #30), all seeds for that matter, make great baby greens. When planting in rows, I sow seeds very heavily to assure a full bed. By the time the plants are 2" to 4" tall, I thin out the row for proper spacing. Clip off root and you've got great salad greens. Since the beets, turnips, kohlrabi, etc. germinate around the same time, you can keep filling up a salad bowl a couple of times a week till your done thinning.

Now you've got me looking and asking for purple kohlrabi seeds,,, I'll keep you posted.

[The Shirt]

This thread is going to make me so anxious. We still have snow on the ground! I've never attempted to start things inside - but I might look into that this year. I'm kind of excited because the BF will let me have free reign of his yard this year too. 2 places to plant is pretty thrilling.

MaryDeluxe- what a great, cosy, fantastic garden.
Rumblefish - I'm going to start to refer to you as "Teach" when it comes to this green thumb thing. Thanks for the instructions.

[rumblefish]

^ It's my pleasure.

[Miss 1929]

But here's something I just read in Organic Gardening - if you plant catnip around the plants that have aphid problems, the catnip attracts lacewings, which eat aphids!
And the cats like it too.

[ShooShooBaby]

But here's something I just read in Organic Gardening - if you plant catnip around the plants that have aphid problems, the catnip attracts lacewings, which eat aphids!
And the cats like it too.

also planting things that attract ladybug will help too - they will eat aphids as well


i thought i posted here already, but i guess i didn't!

last fall i did a 3x6-foot sheet mulch, which has moldered down wonderfully! i added some compost last week and it's like a huge sponge and teeming with beneficial insects. i didn't have to do any tilling, weed-pulling, etc! i planted several pea starts, scallion starts, and seeds for a bunch of stuff that will be edible before i move in june. i'm sad that i don't get to make a full garden at my house, but the guy i have designs on just asked me to help with his... and he has a huge yard!