# I grew something!



## Casie

Yes, I am aware how lame this is! But I grew something (because of this website) and I'm proud!

I have very little direct sun light because our home is in the woods, but I spent some time this spring and dug up a flowerbed so I could use the sunniest space I have. I am not disappointed! The plants are full of yellow and green 'maters! I've grown cherry tomatoes before in a pot at my parents house, but these are all _mine_.

I can't dig up any more bulbs for a while. The temperature is already hitting 90s here. But I have room to try some greens, and I'll start reading up on them very soon.

It won't hurt my feeling if you laugh.  I know it's funny. And I know my picture stinks. I have a ridiculously old cell phone, it takes crap pictures but the battery lasts forever and I love it. One of the girls I work with once said, "Hey! Isn't that the same kind of cellphone Jesus had?" She's hilarious. Heh.

I hope the greens grow as good! The strawberries were a total bust.

What are you growing? Is there something else easy I should try late summer or fall?


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## Moonshinedave

Congrats, no it isn't lame, it's a start. I grow a modest garden too, I like growing turnips in the fall they grow into the winter, and all winter long if you are in a place it doesn't get too cold. 
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step"


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## nephilim

Congrats. Growing anything is an accomplishment. So well done. If you can grow tomatoes you can grow strawberries and chilis as they require similar soil composition and sunlight requirements.


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## James m

Awesome. 
As a side note you can grow in a bag of soil. The type you buy at a garden center. You just cut the bag open and plant. Its supposed to keep weeds away alot like a black weed barrier. No digging either.


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## Slippy

Great job Casie!
Try some Jalapeno Peppers, the take up very little space and 1 plant will yield big.


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## LunaticFringeInc

Congrats! No it aint lame! Gardening aint no joke and can be quite challenging. The is a reason many of us here say if that figures into your prepping plans start doing it now because there is a learning curve to it, I don't care who you are or where you are. The best part is now you get to enjoy your succulent and just rewards for your efforts! Not too many things in this world much better than fresh perfectly ripe tomatoes from the garden.

Right now I have a Bay Leaf Bush, Squash, Okra, Beans, Tomatoes, Egg plant, Stawberries, Honey Dew Melon, Watermelon and Bell Peppers going strong! My gardening scheme has changed a bit now that I have been diagnosed as a Diabetic this winter. Had to kind of change my diet a little bit from what I usually grow and eat.


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## Casie

Encouraging words, tips _and_ advice! Ok this post went way better than I thought it would. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to reply. *Thank you!*


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## vandelescrow

Good job. Learning to feed your self lame? That is what this forum is for.


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## SARGE7402

Congrats Casie. The bag idea is one that is very easy on you and doesn't take much digging. If you have a starbucks close ask for some old coffee bags (the bulk ones the beans come in) A bit of topsoil, your vegie peelings seeds and a bit more top soil on top of the seeds. My taters are the best we've ever done in years

Good luck


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## SARGE7402

Hope this helps

Quick and Easy Bag Gardening - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS


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## sparkyprep

Casie, your thread is so far away from being lame. It is outstanding! I would much rather read this, than watch a group of people argue with each other about immigration, talk about how Obama sucks, or throw personal insults at each other for _over 100 posts!_

Keep up the good work! Tomatoes love calcium, add a little to the soil. Experiment. The worst thing that can happen is you fail, learn something, and try again. It's awesome to feel like you are eating something that you grew.


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## paraquack

Congrats, you're off and running.


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## shotlady

that is fantastic! what a great feeling. I too did my 1st grow project. so far I have a 3 inch cucumber. quite possible the most expensive cucumber I have ever seen. ive thrown about 300 into getting this going! hahaha but the experience is priceless. I don't want to be in a shtf situation learning.

good for you casie!!!


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## MI.oldguy

Good start!.we have a small garden in the woods where we live too.we have lettuce,had a salad last night (delicious!)collard greens,(have not tried yet) tomatoes(4 kinds) beans,( in bags of soil)cukes(in a small greenhouse) and dill and cilantro (for salsa and to can). its amazing what you can do with a little space.keep on gardening!.


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## sparkyprep

Deserves a............ BUMP.


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## Slippy

Arklatex said:


> You could try cucumbers. They're pretty easy and you can make your own pickles too. Also container gardening is good if you don't have full sun.


Casie,
I agree with Arklatex on Cucumbers BUT...
View attachment 5756


Cucumbers are the plant that keeps on GIVING. We've been harvesting cukes for a few weeks now and eat them everyday. We have 4 plants. I took this picture today. The Jars of pickles are what Mrs Slippy canned last week. The cukes in the bowl were picked Friday, the cukes on the countertop were picked yesterday. More are on the vine. We have given away many too. Mrs Slippy plans on canning again today some different cuke recipes.

So...start off slow otherwise you may have a mountain of cukes on your hands!! :shock:


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## Guest

Casie said:


> View attachment 5751
> 
> 
> Yes, I am aware how lame this is! But I grew something (because of this website) and I'm proud!
> 
> I have very little direct sun light because our home is in the woods, but I spent some time this spring and dug up a flowerbed so I could use the sunniest space I have. I am not disappointed! The plants are full of yellow and green 'maters! I've grown cherry tomatoes before in a pot at my parents house, but these are all _mine_.
> 
> I can't dig up any more bulbs for a while. The temperature is already hitting 90s here. But I have room to try some greens, and I'll start reading up on them very soon.
> 
> It won't hurt my feeling if you laugh.  I know it's funny. And I know my picture stinks. I have a ridiculously old cell phone, it takes crap pictures but the battery lasts forever and I love it. One of the girls I work with once said, "Hey! Isn't that the same kind of cellphone Jesus had?" She's hilarious. Heh.
> 
> I hope the greens grow as good! The strawberries were a total bust.
> 
> What are you growing? Is there something else easy I should try late summer or fall?


I grow hot peppers cuz they do well in the heat here. one year tho i had giant caterpillars with horns eat most of my Serrano peppers ..all i saw was half eaten peppers. those caterpillars met a fiery end for their gluteny..i came outside and they were flying around breathing fire. my Serrano peppers mutated them into dragonpillars


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## Guest

btw they look delicious, nice job


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## Slippy

Nightshade,

Do you have any tips as to how to increase the heat on certain peppers? I know each pepper has its limit to the heat that it gives when you eat them, but is it possible to change the PH in the soil to increase or decrease the heat?


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## Inor

Nice job Casie! I think it is an old Chinese proverb: "The journey of 1000 salads begins with a single plant."

We tried an experiment last fall. We planted a seed from our heirloom tomatoes on Halloween last year. It grew inside all winter. Once it got warm enough, we moved it outside. This week we saw the first 4 tomatoes starting to grow. Presently, they are all about the size of my thumbnail. But they will grow fast now. Plus, there are a TON more blossoms in it.

Mrs Inor planted about 6 more plants this spring - the normal way and they are all growing like crazy too. I do not know what we are going to do with all of the tomatoes this fall. But it will be fun, none the less.


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## Slippy

More than half of our bean, tomato and cucumber seedlings that we started this winter got hit with a late freeze after we planted them and died. Mrs Slippy wanted to wait a few more weeks before we put them in the ground, but noooo, I had to jump the gun and the freeze hit a week or so later. Casie, you may fail more than you want to but if it was easy everyone would do it!


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## sparkyprep

Slippy said:


> Nightshade,
> 
> Do you have any tips as to how to increase the heat on certain peppers? I know each pepper has its limit to the heat that it gives when you eat them, but is it possible to change the PH in the soil to increase or decrease the heat?


Slippy, I'm not sure about this, as I don't grow peppers, but I have been told by a friend that grows them, that if you remove all but one pepper from a plant when they are still buds, the remaining pepper's capsaicin content will be higher, making it "hotter".


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## Slippy

sparkyprep said:


> Slippy, I'm not sure about this, as I don't grow peppers, but I have been told by a friend that grows them, that if you remove all but one pepper from a plant when they are still buds, the remaining pepper's capsaicin content will be higher, making it "hotter".


Thanks Sparky, 
Makes sense, we've got a few plants and I might as well try it to create a super hot habanero. MY jalapenos, come in almost one or two a day and they are mild but work for daily eats.

We try and pick a lot of the leaves off our plants without messing up the look of the plant. The Theory is to direct the energy to the fruit and not the leaf. Works really well on cucumbers!
Later,


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## Innkeeper

*Casie*: I am going to be closing on a house in about 3 weeks, my first( too much travel for the military and 1 divorce to buy sooner) but it is set a lil past the local town , but close enough to easily get places, but comes with a small 1 acre of land. It will be too late to start a garden when I move in , but I plan to make a nice little one next year, with Tomatoes, corn, potatoes, beans, as well as different spices. I grew up helping out on a dairy farm one of my uncles owned and most of our family always had gardens for supplement to the grocery shopping. I missed that in all my years of travel for the Army, so it was a priority for when I retired from the army and started my next career. Plus it is a perk for prepping. I am even thinking about a half dozen chickens for fresh eggs. Once I start it I will make a thread so everyone can see my success or failure and I can get advice as you are getting, plus your thread is good for me too I am taking lots of notes. :grin:


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## Slippy

Innkeeper said:


> *Casie*: I am going to be closing on a house in about 3 weeks, my first( too much travel for the military and 1 divorce to buy sooner) but it is set a lil past the local town , but close enough to easily get places, but comes with a small 1 acre of land. It will be too late to start a garden when I move in , but I plan to make a nice little one next year, with Tomatoes, corn, potatoes, beans, as well as different spices. I grew up helping out on a dairy farm one of my uncles owned and most of our family always had gardens for supplement to the grocery shopping. I missed that in all my years of travel for the Army, so it was a priority for when I retired from the army and started my next career. Plus it is a perk for prepping. I am even thinking about a half dozen chickens for fresh eggs. Once I start it I will make a thread so everyone can see my success or failure and I can get advice as you are getting, plus your thread is good for me too I am taking lots of notes. :grin:


Good luck Innkeeper and congrats on the new home!

Sounds like you've got the rest of the summer to prep the garden. Good Soil goes a long way!


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## Guest

Slippy said:


> Nightshade,
> 
> Do you have any tips as to how to increase the heat on certain peppers? I know each pepper has its limit to the heat that it gives when you eat them, but is it possible to change the PH in the soil to increase or decrease the heat?


here are some things that make a difference with spice level.

1. over watering will decrease the amount of capsicum..what i do is i grow them with a nice availability of water so i get big plants and lots of peppers..then a couple weeks before they are ready for harvest i stress them out by watering them less. capsicum activates and spreads to the peppers as a result of the stress. 
2. your right about soil ph being important..what ur going for is slightly acidic to perfectly neutral..so between 6.5 and 7.0 ph.
3. the number 1 reason in my opinion is the temperature outside and whether or not they are getting full sun..peppers love the sun and they love the heat.

there are probably other tricks but these are mine...one other thing i do which was an experiment..I burn wood chips and organic compost on the tops of my soil. i wait for it to burn into ash and then i mix it into my soil. then i transplant my seedlings into their nutrient rich containers.


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## keith9365

Casie said:


> Encouraging words, tips _and_ advice! Ok this post went way better than I thought it would. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to reply. *Thank you!*


I planted a garden this year for the first time. Because of tree shading in my back yard, only about half of it is producing. I have beans, squash, corn, cucumbers, and melons. Yes, we are proud of it!


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## sparkyprep

Biggest problem we run into, is knowing what to grow, and how much of it. You can only eat so much cabbage........


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## Innkeeper

sparkyprep said:


> Biggest problem we run into, is knowing what to grow, and how much of it. You can only eat so much cabbage........


 Yes but you can eat things like potatoes year round and they will last if you store them properly, and they are their own seeds.

I live in the middle of potato country Michigan. lol


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## nephilim

As you know the seed that sprouted these was viable...take the biggest and get the seeds from that. Dry them on paper towels and enjoy your next lot of seeds.


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## Inor

Innkeeper said:


> Yes but you can eat things like potatoes year round and they will last if you store them properly, and they are their own seeds.
> 
> I live in the middle of potato country Michigan. lol


Where in the mitt do you live Innkeeper? I have a client in Jackson, outside Lansing. So I make it there a couple times per year usually.


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## Innkeeper

I live in the middle finger, I-75 runs through our town making it a hub for just about anywhere else in the Northern half of the LP or heading to the UP. My Kid is a yooper now and even is starting college up there this fall. My ex ended up in the UP after the divorce while she tried finding a place to hide from her problems. I have quite a bit of family here in the north as well as down in the thumb and even in the Detroit area where I went to school and enlisted into the Army from. It is so much more peaceful up here on the 45th then down in the flatlands, way too many people there.

If you drive to Jackson I am sure you go through my town. I used to have to make runs down there and to Lansing when I was doing recruiting for the Guard as my Job during CBWTU.


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## bigdogbuc

Great job Casie!!!!

It's official, you have a


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## Just Sayin'

Really nice start there Casie!

My wife uses her flower beds as her gardens. Green beans, lettuce, strawberries, okra, onions, tomatoes, zuchini, and beans all mixed in with alot of other stuff I don't even know what it is. But it provides more than we can eat every year, and doesn't take any more time to care for than she normally would put into her flower beds.

Keep up the good work! You'll find that you start looking forward to eating the good stuff!


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## Innkeeper

Just Sayin' said:


> Really nice start there Casie!
> 
> My wife uses her flower beds as her gardens. Green beans, lettuce, strawberries, okra, onions, tomatoes, zuchini, and beans all mixed in with alot of other stuff I don't even know what it is. But it provides more than we can eat every year, and doesn't take any more time to care for than she normally would put into her flower beds.
> 
> Keep up the good work! You'll find that you start looking forward to eating the good stuff!


Great idea there, I never thought of doing that. The house I am buying has lots of brick flower beds by the front window and along the garage, but I do not want to plant flowers never thought of doing what your wife did. Tell her I said thanks for the idea, I am going to grow my spices in them and some of the other vegetables. But I still plan to plant a regular garden.


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## redhawk

Congrats!!! Keep it up!


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## MrsInor

It is so fun to hear from new gardeners. Congratulations. I grow tomatoes in pots, nine this year and peppers (both hot and bell) also in pots. My deck rail planters have petunias for the color and either herbs or lettuce mixed in.


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## LunaticFringeInc

Innkeeper said:


> Great idea there, I never thought of doing that. The house I am buying has lots of brick flower beds by the front window and along the garage, but I do not want to plant flowers never thought of doing what your wife did. Tell her I said thanks for the idea, I am going to grow my spices in them and some of the other vegetables. But I still plan to plant a regular garden.


All my gardening comes from three raised flower beds. In addition to a gang of veggies I also grow quite a few flowers too for a splash of color and to draw in bees to pollinate it good. Might put a 4th one in this winter when If am able to find a job and get back to work and get some extra income coming in to supplement my retirement check.


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## Casie

Thanks for all the great informative replies! I think i'm going to move the 2 strawberry plants (that lived) into a pot, so I can try some cucumbers! I have lots of wire left from making the tomato cages and it should make a decent cucumber trellis. I hope I have enough sun!

On a related note we went to Kroger's on Saturday to restock the pantry and freezer. It came to $345. WTH?!


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## budgetprepp-n

That is awesome even if all you grow is a few tomatoes that's more than most people have done.
Just think how good a fresh tomato would taste if you were living on stored foods.


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## LunaticFringeInc

Casie said:


> Thanks for all the great informative replies! I think i'm going to move the 2 strawberry plants (that lived) into a pot, so I can try some cucumbers! I have lots of wire left from making the tomato cages and it should make a decent cucumber trellis. I hope I have enough sun!
> 
> On a related note we went to Kroger's on Saturday to restock the pantry and freezer. It came to $345. WTH?!


Might want to look at trying one of those strawberry pots with all the holes in it. I did a 9 hole (not counting the top of the pot) this spring with 12 plants and its turning out to be quite the little success here. I used some coconut husk sheeting to cover the holes in the sides after slicing it and shoving a plant through the slice and back filled the pot as I went with a 1 inch PVC stand pipe drilled with multiple holes down the center of the pot to evenly water the said pot. I used a June Bearing variety of Strawberries so I likely wont get any berries the remainder this season, but it should prove very fruitful next year. The great thing about doing them this way is that a small wood frame covered in chicken wire can be placed over it to keep the birds from the harvest yet still allow bees in to pollinate the plants. This technique with strawberries has been very successful for me here in North Texas despite the brutal summer heat that often wrecks havoc with anything in all but the largest planter pots. Next spring I will try to do a couple more of these with ever bearing varieties for a little more year round production.

I know what you mean about those grocery bills, they suck don't they. My raised beds are small but I am able to crank out a whole lot from them despite the limited space using the Square Foot Gardening Technique. My grocery bill is about 150 max a month most of the year (single guy) and I eat like a king!


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