Vegetable gardens at home.

[Christopher Brunsdon]

Harvested my first green pepper today and my wife could not believe the amazing smell of it when I cut it open. I use to get a fresh supply direct from a farmer in the 90's and I have not really eaten green peppers since then.

 

Having it on my lunch today which is a steak sandwich with swiss chard from my garden, cherry tomatoes from my garden, the green pepper from my garden, the parsley from my garden .... and loving it

[Christopher Brunsdon]

spent about an hour in the garden today picking all of this. Tomatoes gone wild

The best thing about the cape gooseberries is, I didn't plant any of them.

 

 

 

I'm hearing everybody go on about how good the tomato harvest is this season.

[Mojoman]

Potatoes from 2 motorbike tyre stacks (around 3 tyres per stack, not the fat superbike tyres!)

 

I think these were just from 2 or 3 potatoe halves!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Mojoman

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Share please!

 

Sorry for the delay. heres the recipe:

 

Blanched baby green beans in boiling water, still crunchy.

Finely chopped onion and crushed garlic.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add some dill, olive oil and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar.

Crumble feta to complete.

[straatvark]

The guy that I get sometimes to help with work on the house saw and taste my veggies and I can see he is keen to do it to help with food on the table - but he has a problem that there is simply no space in the township. So I told him about the vertical gardens and shown him the youtube clips. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghsl7aAzdv8) Told him we will try it for him so see while I try to move the lettuce and other softer vegies out of the main veg patch while having more out of sync sizes for constant supply. So here is my first attempt:

Struggled a bit with the first bottle but after that it was very quick. I was saving 2liter bottles for weeks to get this 5, and I estimate I need another 40 to fill that space. That is to much sugar , so this pic is being send to the family and friends to help 'collect'.

 

The 'string' is surprisingly strong - only 3 loose tie-straps around the necks hang that string.

 

The bottles is connected with a 25mm hole made with that flat wood hole drill bits / cutters that is a bit dangerous, rough and slightly to small. Heat the hole with a single match (the missus's idea actually ) and then screw the next one in while it is warm/soft. When the 'prop' goes on afterwards it is very strong. The frozen bottles might not be a bad idea, I just did not want to wait this afternoon and will try a bottle next time.

 

I have a single 72mm round hole on the side. Smaller might be difficult to get my hand in, but will experiment to see if two smaller holes can be used as two exits for two plants. Currently I have two plants in each bottle. I'm trying the seaweed fertiliser in the water to see how it work.

 

I think my man Michael should be able to build this easily with a hook that just hang on the top of the wall and then sell it next to the road. Almost every home have some vibracrete walls like this.

Edited March 2, 2014 by straatvark

[Grebel]

Potatoes from 2 motorbike tyre stacks (around 3 tyres per stack, not the fat superbike tyres!)

 

I think these were just from 2 or 3 potatoe halves!

 

Mojo, How long from planting the potato halves until you can harvest a decent size spud?

[Christopher Brunsdon]

...Struggled a bit with the first bottle but after that it was very quick. I was saving 2liter bottles for weeks to get this 5, and I estimate I need another 40 to fill that space. That is to much sugar , so this pic is being send to the family and friends to help 'collect'.

 

...

 

Just walk down to the nearest train station or taxi rank on a Saturday afternoon and you will find hundreds of bottles.

 

I'm also going to be doing a variant of this and since we seldom drink fizzie cold drink, I had to find an alternate source. I live next door to a train station and always a dozen or so bottles lying around.

[Stretch]

 

 

I have a single 72mm round hole on the side. Smaller might be difficult to get my hand in, but will experiment to see if two smaller holes can be used as two exits for two plants. Currently I have two plants in each bottle. I'm trying the seaweed fertiliser in the water to see how it work.

 

 

how do you harvest that? do you have to dismantle the whole thing or does each bottle have access flaps?

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

how do you harvest that? do you have to dismantle the whole thing or does each bottle have access flaps?

I believe it grows out of the 72mm hole and you pluck the leaves/fruit/herb from there.

[straatvark]

how do you harvest that? do you have to dismantle the whole thing or does each bottle have access flaps?

 

The plant grow out of the hole, so the leaves/fruit is outside while the roots is inside the bottle.

 

Edit: so if the hole is smaller it will preserve the moister better on the roots. But you will need small hands to plant/add the soil.

Edited March 3, 2014 by straatvark

[Stretch]

I believe it grows out of the 72mm hole and you pluck the leaves/fruit/herb from there.

The plant grow out of the hole, so the leaves/fruit is outside while the roots is inside the bottle.

 

Edit: so if the hole is smaller it will preserve the moister better on the roots. But you will need small hands to plant/add the soil.

 

sorry missed the bit about the hole (did not watch the video)

[Mojoman]

Mojo, How long from planting the potato halves until you can harvest a decent size spud?

I think it was around 2 months or so? Cant say for certain as I am one of those people who never writes anything down...!

[fandacious]

I've got:

 

Maize,

Peppers,

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Carrots

Beans

Potatos

Jalapeno

Butternut

Pumpkin

Spinach

Lettuce

Grenadilla

Lemons

 

Also got 6 laying hens so have more eggs than I know what to do with

[kaamil20]

The perfect time to start a garden where I live was last October. I start by roto-tilling up the area that will be my garden. I then wait 2 weeks and do it again and another 2 weeks for a final till. This will kill the bermuda grass and many other perennial weeds.

[Warrior Princess]

we started with a tiny herb garden in the window....soooooooo exciting, my first time doing this....although....I must confess....my BETTER half does all the work, not that anything is work for him.... :wub:

[Christopher Brunsdon]

we started with a tiny herb garden in the window....soooooooo exciting, my first time doing this....although....I must confess....my BETTER half does all the work, not that anything is work for him.... :wub:

 

Once you start using fresh herbs you will be hooked. Tomorrow I'm preparing a larger area for my herb garden as a result and 4 months ago it started off as two herbs in the window.

 

My wife cannot believe how amazing food tastes with fresh herbs.