Who still has a vegetable garden?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Who still has a vegetable garden?

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#96507 29-Jan-2012 12:06

In this day of supermarkets it seems very few New Zealanders have a vegetable garden. Why grow it yourself when you can get it from the supermarket?

I'm a Geek but I still grow lots of vegetables at home in a composted garden - just like my parents did. Am I alone or are there others who do the same?

It's a great way to save some money but perhaps I am the only Geek who does. Nothing like fresh veges and for that matter fresh fruit from our own fruit trees - and I live in the city.

Oh no, not another end of the world prediction

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#574571 29-Jan-2012 12:10

We have a garden, have been growing veges for years now, really easy to grow spuds, pumpkin and tomatoes, barely need to do too much as all of the above are self seeded from the compost scraps we spead on the garden.

It is difficult to find the time to look after the garden year round.

we do plant a few other veges as well, typical common stuff like lettuce, peas, beans, cucumber.

Hammerer

2476 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#574581 29-Jan-2012 12:43

We had a vege a garden before we had kids but didn't have time to keep it going when we were busy with lots of young kids. My wife was more interested in ornamental gardening.

We put in a bigger vege garden a few years ago. It has been great except for this spring and summer when we've had so much rain, warmth and sunshine that everything has been going to seed real fast.

Elpie

1304 posts

Uber Geek

#574595 29-Jan-2012 13:03

I didn't plant out my vegie garden for this season & have left it sitting bare for now. Just as well, as it turns out, as my new puppy loves to dig it over.

Most years I grow a couple of tomatoes and a few lettuce, just for the joy of that sun-drenched fresh taste, but otherwise stick to plants that are either hard to find or generally expensive in the stores. I have access to a pick/dig-your-own garden just outside of town that keeps me in potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and corn. I also get lemons and grapefruit there.

Strawberries didn't do well this year (I grow them in pots) and blackberries haven't cropped as well as in previous years. Plums took a hammering from these storms and I lost most of the crop from my two plum trees. My quince tree is laden and should be providing lovely quinces in March.

I also grow herbs in pots but have been remiss in this season's planting and most died off. The weather over the past two spring/summer seasons has been really tough on plants. I lost a lot of enthusiasm after watching plants killed off or lose crops & in a standard-sized urban backyard there is little that can be done to counteract those weather effects.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79296 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#574600 29-Jan-2012 13:21

We have one, and we eat strawberries, greens, cucumbers from it. Hand made, with organic soil and organic compost.

CYaBro

4589 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#574603 29-Jan-2012 13:33

We have one at our section, where we will be building soon, plus a few planter boxes here.
We grow potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, beetroot, corn, spring onion, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and a few other things I can't think of right now.
We have also planted some fruit trees.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#574605 29-Jan-2012 13:44

Warning: Blatant self promotion ahead...

My Dad runs his own gardening blog, gets more hits than I can believe, and loves what he does. He has a massive vege patch, three big worm farms, chickens and bees. When @redjungle (Phil) and mrs @redjungle were up last week, I took them out for a visit, and they were mighty impressed.

He was featured in NZ Gardener some months back for these mammoth tomato plants.

If you're interested in all things organic, he loves chatting about it.

tedzart

99 posts

Master Geek

#574614 29-Jan-2012 14:02

I yam always rooting in the garden *grin* ... organic and I have my own Worm Farm ... which incidentally is for sale even if you are Chinese :]
*kowtow*

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#574622 29-Jan-2012 14:29

Love the tomatoes picture nate. Great to see the art of gardening has not been lost. It takes a bit of work but it's worth it in the end.

BurningBeard

1030 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#574679 29-Jan-2012 18:06

I'm on a small property (one of several units) but we grow what we can where we can in tubs and hanging baskets. Right now we've got broccoli, tomatoes, chives, boysenberries, blueberries, various types of lettuce and an bunch of different herbs.

My very metal Doctor Who theme

kingjj

1728 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#574691 29-Jan-2012 19:34

I think Geek's would grow great vege patches as they've always got that eye for detail and having everything setup correctly. We have two large raised vege gardens with a third in the works. We've got lettuce, corn, carrots, brocolli (which we couldn't eat fast enough), strawberries, raspberries, blue berries and lemons. Hoping this year to expand to potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, cucumber and beans.

gregmcc

2147 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#574693 29-Jan-2012 19:44

I think lots of people in my area have gardens, a good example is my neighbour, he grows his 'Green' veges and forgets to harvest them before they start peaking over the top of our 6ft fence, I sometimes help him out by spraying his out of control WEEDs, he hasn't complained yet so I must be doing a good job

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#574754 29-Jan-2012 22:02

A bit of a common theme is the type/quality of the soil. It makes a huge difference and if you're going to put the effort into your garden, you'll get a much better return if you have good soil.

Unfortunately where we are (in Palmerston North) we need to pay to establish a garden, as in bring in some real soil into raised beds etc to go on top of the clay/mud that we have at our new place. The local Feilding garden centre is doing a roaring trade selling excellent soil trucked down from Taupo!

speedy23

44 posts

Geek

#574761 29-Jan-2012 22:36

Having 9 acres of land and being retired makes a big difference to our gardening these days. Each year I have moved fences out to dig more ground. All the usual things like the spuds (4 varieties) sweet corn (3 types), tomatoes (about 80 plants of 6 varieties), pumpkins, capsicums etc etc, plus these days fennel (fantastic!) and celeriac (not getting it right yet). Also had huge crops of raspberries and boysenberries to the point we stopped picking them.... They are netted to keep birds out. Citrus and apples pears etc in the orchard. We also love our flowers and I have recently taken up growing and showing daffodils. It does take time, but well worth it.
Since I had to give up work a couple of years back I also have a part time hobby gardening for other in our area. Great pocket money and a real demand out there. Have been in London this last month so the garden will be a jungle when we return next week!

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#574783 30-Jan-2012 00:29

freitasm: We have one, and we eat strawberries, greens, cucumbers from it. Hand made, with organic soil and organic compost.

Won't even comment on this (but I just did ?!?).

Jaxson:where we are in Palmerston North we need to pay to establish a garden, as in bring in some real soil into raised beds etc to go on top of the clay/mud that we have at our new place. The local Fielding garden centre is doing a roaring trade selling excellent soil trucked down from Taupo!

Clearly not from Feilding, as you spelt it wrong ;)

At home here we have a couple of acres with a fenced off section down the back where we grow things (we have animals). Some of the things that we are growing include: garlic, beans, potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, lettuces, cabbages, corn, apples and oranges.

UrbanMyth

122 posts

Master Geek

#574796 30-Jan-2012 06:10

We have only just started in the last few years. Still fairly new to the idea.
Primarily grow cabbage and Silver Beet. Currently seeding some potatoes to go in sometime. Just gotta find out when they should go in and how long they can seed for

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6