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Post by daylilydude on Dec 8, 2011 7:03:49 GMT -5
I was looking in here "Welcome Board" this morning and noticed that we needed an area where we can introduce ourselves and it not get lost in all the shuffle! I know some have already done this, but if I say PLEASE!! would you reintroduce yourself? I'll start it off: Howdy all, I'm in N.E.Mississippi (Tishomingo) and I have been raised bed gardening here for like 6 or 7 years and loving the idea of raised beds! I am not a big tomato eater, but the wife and kids love them so I grow them, and other veggies (love dem collards!!) I do the canning, dehydrating and freezing of what I can to supplement the grocery bill as we all know is getting crazy stupid with all the high prices! I started this forum back on December 18th of 2010 (yes...blame me !) on a whim, just to see what would come of another vegetable gardening forum, well, I think its coming along just great with all the great knowledge from all the great members here and hope it continues to draw in more! We have a great staff here that do a fine job of keeping the riff-raff out, and I thank them for all their work here! I'm also open to suggestions to adding or taking something out of this forum, so don't be afraid of making any suggestions that you think might make this a better forum for everyone... well enough about me, so lets all just jump in anywhere and have some fun!
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Post by nofeargardener on Dec 8, 2011 8:27:09 GMT -5
Well, I never pass up an opportunity to talk about me. ;D haha! lol! Seriously folks.... I live near the west Michigan lake shore. Beautiful place to be. Winter has its challenges like lake effect snow storms which can dump quite a lot on us, but it's still purdy nonetheless. I have a small garden and enjoy growing an assortment of herbs, veggies, and flowering perennials. My wife and I are flavor junkies so you can bet we put all those herbs to good use in our cooking. I love to fish - mostly river fish for salmon, steelhead, and pike. I'm also a musician - been playing since I was a lil kid. How about you?
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kathyd
Junior Member
Posts: 19
Joined: December 2011
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Post by kathyd on Dec 8, 2011 10:52:09 GMT -5
Hi, I just joined this week. My name is Kathy from New Jersey. I have had a small vegetable garden for years, but I'm hoping to grow quite a bit more in containers and raised beds this year. I watercolor, bake and cook, and watch my grandsons a few times a week. I enjoy forums so being invited to this forum was a happy moment.
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Post by txdirtdog on Dec 8, 2011 11:10:54 GMT -5
Hi, I have gardened this yard on the Texas gulf coast for a number of years now. I have several young fruit trees mostly citrus. I have a main garden plot of about 70'X25' with 2 raised beds and several small beds scattered around the yard. I grow maters, peppers, squash - mostly winter type, various greens, various root veggies, some herbs, a few flowers and have recently started artichoke. Making a serious effort with onions and garlic this fall.
I garden on black "gumbo" clay. Last year, I started a large effort of incorporating large amounts of organics into the soil using leaves. This had a very good effect on the soil as of this fall, and I intend to continue this and see if I can source into and tap into large amounts of compost from off-site as well. I also created several decent sized compost piles here and will incorporate that, but due to our drought this summer, they have not progressed enough at this point. Since our rainfall has begun to occasionally occur, hopefully these will be ready by spring.
I am an advocate of "planting by the hole" as well, so that individual transplants will have a nutrient rich home of decent without having to completely invest in improving the entire garden at one time.
Essentially I am using a 2-pronged approach to improve this substandard soil.
How about you?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2011 7:22:56 GMT -5
Hi I'm Kate ,I hail from Cornwall in England. I love my garden and its second nature to me to grow food for the table. After roaming around the USA we decided to settle in T.N. where we found a great deal on a house with 14 acres and a lot of rock. Gardening on rock is quite a challenge , cant count how many years I have spent pushing barrows of soil from the wood behind our house to the garden. When we brought this house the garden area was nothing but grass about an acre and a half. Over the last 14 years I have cut flower beds out ,made paths,dug out a veg plot,planted fruit trees and shade trees and its still not quite the way I want it,need more trees and a small simple pond where my wild area is. I truly love the seasons here ,we have only experienced one really bad winter with ice storms, usually our winters are quite mild . I have a lot of interest's and far to many hobbies. I was a career nurse up to a few years ago, just simply got burnt out . I make a little pocket money by painting now,mostly watercolours,I get by some what,never be rich but happy yes and it helps with feed for my horses and chickens and the few bottle calf's we buy to raise for resale. This coming season is going to be fun as my granddaughter will be just toddling so a whole new world will come awake for her in my garden.
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Post by paulf on Dec 9, 2011 10:18:06 GMT -5
This is Paul's story and I am sticking to it. I was born in Iowa, raised in south central and northwest Oregon and then in southwest Iowa. I learned to garden from my father at the end of a big whip. I felt like I was a slave doing work I hated, but the first year after getting married I started gardening and have had a garden every year since then. That means for my dad and for me it has been 50 years.
I "discovered" heirloom tomatoes in 1996 (didn't some vice pres also "discover" something) and I have not looked back since then. Garden Web was the tomato forum at the time (I rarely visit any more) and Tomatoville, NJT and TTG are the places I visit. Most of my life was spent in southcentral Iowa gardening in the rich, black soil where all you have to do is drop a seed in the ground and stand back. After retiring in 2005 from careers in the grocery business and working for a major food ingredient manufacturer, we moved to my wife's hometown, bought her girlhood home and had to learn to garden all over again. From the best soil in the world to the Loess Hills soil that is the consistency of flour and tan in color. I am beginning to get the hang of it.
In a small village if you are breathing, you get "volunteered" to do everything. So I am on the town council, take part in all the festivals including being the director of our 4th of July celebration's 5K, 10K, Half Marathon Run. I also write a regular gardening column for the area newspaper, teach adult education courses for a local community college and write short stories in my spare time. I am the vegetable gardener in the family and my wife is the flower expert. We have several fruit trees, one of which is a 75 year old apricot her grandmother planted. We have about 2 acres of wooded hillside I am attempting to tame and that may never get completed.
Our six grandchildren (ages 6,4,4,3,2,2) love to visit and go exploring. Maybe when they get a little older I can put them to work.
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Deleted
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Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2011 23:13:47 GMT -5
Hiya everyone! Unfortunately, I've been stuck in Florida for close to 30 years now and am counting down the months (19 more) until I can finally get out of this hot and humid hole. This is just NOT the weather for me. Plus, there are no mountains nor seasons - just green or brown, both of which happen twice a year. A big time penny pincher, I'm all about a combination of condensed meets forest style gardening all done in raised beds. As much as I can grown, in as small of space as possible, with as little effort as possible. :-) What do I grow? ROFL! It's easier to tell you what I don't grow. Which, I honestly cannot think of anything at this moment in time. Then again, with a soon to be 18yr old and 16yr old, I'm surprised I remember anything! Everything that I grow is heirloom and I save seeds year after year. Considering how close together I plant everything I bag flowers to save seeds to ensure pure heritage lines. I love all the heirlooms! Plus, after years of growing, I've managed to strengthen plants against our high heat / high humidity combination down here in Florida. Hopefully in 19 more months, when my "baby" graduates from high school, I will finally be able to move out of this state. Currently, up for consideration is Montana, the Dakotas or Alaska. :-) We'll see! Currently for "work" I write a bit; sell my canned jams, jellies and butters; restore vintage things; sew custom pieces and embroider; and dabble in web design and graphic design. :-) ~Melody
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 11, 2011 7:29:06 GMT -5
Howdy melody, and welcome to NJT!! I spent 29 years in Orlando, Fla. moved to N.E. Mississippi and would only go back for a visit, just way to crowded for me!
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Post by coppice on Dec 11, 2011 13:35:37 GMT -5
I ran into mention of this set of forums the first month it came into existence. I am fond of talking about the stuff I don't do as well as I might once have done. I am a grandfather (10, 6) and have a neuromotor disease. This makes me avuncular and prone to sit and yakk.
I started gardening in my own interest (and) to feed my own litter of pups the better part of forty years ago. Fifteen (+ or-) years ago, some of my gardening interest took a pretty hard turn. First I ran into open pollinated tomatoes (from YKW) and then was urged to take charge of several thousand baby trees.
Learning how to start to care for all of these peripheral to gardening things was just the ticket for a grumpy old man.
Last year I parted company from about 2000 new england grown trees and moved to south east Ohio with a tin cabinet full of seeds and about 50 orphan trees.
Rebuilding is a year under way. I don't know if I will ever (even try) to rebuild as large a nursery as I had in Henniker (NH).
My full name is Thomas (tom) Cagle, I tend to use my right name or the descriptive name of what I do to trees (coppice), on gardening forums.
I hope to grow four cultivars of tomato, corn, peppers, cucumbers, a squash (to be determined later), and only a few flats of sapling trees to augment my little forest of pet trees for 2012.
My interior space is quite cramped. This makes what to do with all the seeds I save problematic. As a result most of my saved seeds go to people I will call my seed fairies. I will try again to get Robin Tavares to sign on here, I know Trudi Davidof is here. They and a couple other folks serve as the distributors of my seeds (seed fairies).
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Deleted
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Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2011 9:04:37 GMT -5
hey guys I'm Kevin I am from Wisconsin i have i good sized garden (making it bigger every day) I grow 100% heirloom veggies,we raise chickens,meat rabbits and quail for our own food and also hunt whitetail deer. I fish allot, more in the winter cause my garden is frozen solid. but we like to raise or kill our own food. I have a wife of 11 years and 4 kids and a bunch of critters.
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 15, 2011 13:37:44 GMT -5
Howdy Kevinh, and welcome to NJT! Just jump in anywhere you like and tell us more about your gardening and critters!
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Deleted
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Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2011 16:58:05 GMT -5
Thank you so very much for the invitation!
I currently live in Georgia. I am originally from the San Joaquin Valley in California. I have also lived in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. (I miss Texas so much)
Here it is December and we have a garden full of turnips, collards and mustard greens. They look really healthy and are quite huge! They all are very tasty...although I am partial to the turnip greens.
I am good at growing tomatoes, peppers, basil and a few other things. I am going to need some guidance on other vegetables.
I have been trying to tackle some recipes lately. I have been making spanokopita (Greek spinach pie). My next project will be baklava. Wish me luck!
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Post by stratcat on Dec 17, 2011 0:52:26 GMT -5
Welcome to new members-kathyd, cornishwoman, melody, kevinh and raye. Look forward to hearing about your experiences and seeing some pictures of what you're working on.
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limeta
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: December 2011
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Post by limeta on Dec 17, 2011 9:36:26 GMT -5
Hello to all I am new here. I' d like to meet new good people who like tomatoes and other vegetables like me ! limeta
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 17, 2011 9:58:13 GMT -5
Welcome limeta to NJT! You have found the right place when it comes to loving fresh vegetables! Just jump in anywhere you like and post away about your garden!
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limeta
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: December 2011
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Post by limeta on Dec 17, 2011 10:19:35 GMT -5
daylilydude, thank you for your worm wellcome I need some time to look around your nice forum
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Post by stratcat on Dec 17, 2011 11:07:57 GMT -5
Hi there, Limeta. Welcome. Where are you gardening?
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limeta
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: December 2011
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Post by limeta on Dec 17, 2011 11:37:01 GMT -5
Hello stratcat, thank you for wellcoming words I am gardening in Slovenia, and you ?
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Post by stratcat on Dec 18, 2011 0:36:52 GMT -5
Hi, Limeta. I'm gardening in the US in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the one that looks like a mitten. I'm about 8km inland from Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) and the red dot marks the spot. Make yourself at home.
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lmehaffey
Junior Member
Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant
Posts: 45
Joined: December 2011
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Post by lmehaffey on Dec 18, 2011 16:08:08 GMT -5
Evenin', y'all ... my garden, which I share with my brother, is in the north-central part of Alabama; we grow random stuff (if it looks good or interesting in the catalogue - we'll plant it!) plus the standard rattlesnake pole beans, tomatoes, okra, peppers, and, in the fall garden, greens of various sorts ... collards being a special favorite of ours. I also keep 30 hives of bees and am pretty much owned by two big ol' Labs. Like Cousin Minnie Pearl used to say: "I'm just proud to be here!"
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 18, 2011 16:16:52 GMT -5
Oooo... smore collard lovers, we are having some tonight with dinner! Welcome to NJT, lmehaffey!! We would love to hear more about your garden, so just jump in anywhere you like and have fun!!
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Deleted
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Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2011 10:38:14 GMT -5
Hi, I have been gardening here in South Texas for about 35 years. I grow a wide variety of veggies but Heirloom Tomatoes are my passion. I garden year round growing tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, cabbage, brocolli, herbs and anything else I have a mind to. I am a member of Gardenweb and Tomatoville. I am a member of the staff for an annual tomato tasting event called the Southeast Texas Tomato Festival or SETTFest. Looking forward talking gardening with each and every one of you.
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Post by txdirtdog on Dec 19, 2011 11:27:32 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 19, 2011 13:18:10 GMT -5
Howdy snappybob, and welcome to NJT!! Gardening year round... only in my dreams!!! Just jump in anywhere you like and lets hear about your gardening exploits!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 5:27:23 GMT -5
Hi all and thanks for the invitation to this nice garden forum. I am Eddy and I live in Belgium (Western Europe) and have a rather small garden in zone 7. I have vegetables, herbs and I like perennial flowers also very much. I have a wife and a son and a dog (inside the house) and a bunch of chickens (outside off course . I'm a big fan of tomatoes but I have all kind of vegetables in my garden. Unfortunately we can have here rather severe frost, so during 4 or 5 months we can cultivate almost nothing. For my tomatoes I have a greenhouse and I also put them in containers, just like sweet and hot peppers, and put them against the hot walls of the house. So this is a brief report of what I am doing here in my garden. Although I garden already more than 30 years I'm sure I still can learn here a lot.
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 20, 2011 8:57:08 GMT -5
Welcome to NJT ed50! Gardening to me is a lifelong learning process, always something new to learn everyday! Just jump in anywhere you like and share your gardening experiences with us please! We also love pics, so if you have any please post them!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 19:45:52 GMT -5
I have been gardening for about 17 years in several different hardiness zones due to moves about the country. For the last 12 years, I have been in zones 6a and 6b, however, with the move to Pittsburgh, even though it was still zone 6, planting in clay soil was a new, and sometimes aggravating, experience for me. I have a "large" garden by city standards...30 ft. x 40 ft.. I also do a lot of container gardening that takes up the same amount of space as my in-ground garden. It was just the next logical step in my war against heavy clay soil. Found some interesting rocks...err small boulders, though...My yard has many micro-climates and I have spent a lot of trial and error figuring those out. My back yard is sloping to the North on a mountain but I have managed to create a relatively level spot where my gardens sit. I love vegetable, herb, and flower gardening....in that order but love them all. I think that no matter how old or experienced I get at gardening, that nature will never cease to surprise me or provide me with new learning opportunities.
I have two Cane Corso (Italian Mastiff) dogs (KoKo and Krusher) and a Beta fish (Poco)....seriously thinking of trying chickens in the city....only 2-4 though. Just enough for fresh eggs. I have a husband (21 year anniversary in January) and two teenage kids, one of each. For every gardener there is the perfect cook....BTW, the cook's not me...LOL
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Post by stratcat on Dec 21, 2011 1:59:24 GMT -5
Warm welcome to new members lmehaffey, snappybob, ed50, and gardengirl.
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limeta
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: December 2011
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Post by limeta on Dec 21, 2011 13:41:50 GMT -5
stratcatThank you for your kindness and hospitality.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2011 14:38:08 GMT -5
Greetings! My name is Ray. I was invited to check out this forum and I gotta say it's pretty good from what I've seen. I make gardening videos on Youtube. A couple of you may have seen them. I grow in raised beds outdoors in the summer. I grow odd and fun things indoors all year round. Some of the indoor plants include tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cocoa trees, jack fruit tree, belladonna, moonflowers and junior mints.
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