Tell us about yourself

I'm Pebble, living in the UK (Cornwall) where I can grow so many different kinds of plants it's bewildering.

Right now, I feel so happy watching the rain fall steadily outside the window

Edited by: PEBBLEGEEK at: 8/10/2019 (13:01)

Hello everyone,
My name is Eris and I just joined the group today. I’m a new gardener, I actually started my first grow (or attempted grow, we’ll see) about three weeks ago. I know literally nothing about gardening so I picked up the Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew and I’m currently trying that method, so I have one 4x4 box set up and 4 containers as well. I’m trying to grow zucchini, spinach, kale, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, and carrots. So far things are going ok...my sprouts look nice but there’s several things I’m still working on and learning about. I’m really excited to be here and am looking forward to learning even more and seeing all the beautiful gardens!

Pictures working!!! There are more!

Hello! My name is Manya and I live in Philadelphia. I am growing all my vegies in containers for 3 years and getting ready now for February 15th to start peas from seeds at home. I have several pictures of my garden and containers I used from Dollar stores $1 each) and Home Depot ($2.99 each). In addition I am growing tomatoes and scallions from November to June in flower pots on the kitchen counter. I will try to send all pictures and will be happy to share information! Thanks so much!
I don't think pictures upload working. Any advice?

Joining this team today in hopes of finding support & education in growing my own food - in containers.
I live in Wausau Wisconsin - I'll figure out what zone that is eventually.
I also live in an apartment that has a small covered patio as my only outdoor area to personalize. It's maybe 6 feet by 8 feet, but I haven't measured it yet either.
I currently have over a dozen pots of small to medium sizes... that once had living plants in them.
Only TWO remain - an Aloe Vera plant in an 8" container that has spawned 4 baby plants --- how they keep growing is a mystery to me! And a fake bamboo plant my daughters picked up from Walmart as they were closing out their garden center last spring. It's in a tiny 2.5" container inside a ceramic container. It gets watered more often as it's right next to my bed. The poor Aloe Vera is in the living room where it gets more sun from the patio windows (sliding door) but I maybe give it water once or twice a month!

Still - I want to improve and learn how to make plants grow healthy enough to eat!

Please tell me there's hope for me!

I've never had a problem with gnats, but from what I've read it can be from feeding more than the worms can handle and not burying far enough in the bedding. I've also read that freezing and then thawing the food before you add it to the bin will help. I'm sorry I'm not more help.

I love your story about having a garden when you were a kid. I wish I had been allowed to do that!!

@SOWINGSEEDS

Hi Dawn, this is the first year I've tried composting indoors. I built two bucket towers that have European Red Worms eating away the scraps. I have a big problem though. I have MAJOR gnats and mites. They're all the way at the bottom of the compost too. I'm sure they help to break down the scraps, but that's what I pay the worms to do. My compost is moving! I've found no way of killing them off organically. Now maybe ladybugs would help, but I don't need lady bugs all over the place either. Have you had this problem? If so, have you figured out how to kill'em off?

Edited by: STUBBY_DOUGLAS at: 4/11/2018 (09:47)

Welcome to the team everyone. I'm a self-taught gardener too, got the gardening bug when I was just 10 years old! I think my Mom was glad when I moved out, since the original 10x10' garden plot grew to the width of the entire house (there was only 10' between our house and the neighbors yard, so it couldn't get any deeper. Of course, then my baby brother started in and even had a makeshift greenhouse back there! He ended up becoming head groundskeeper for a local estate, and now works for the forest preserve. Has done several prairie restorations too.

JUSTFURKIDS: "Kitchen Wolves!" Love it! I have one - he is a 6 month old Golden Retriever.

"Kitchen Wolves!" Love it.

Hi everyone! My name is Dawn. I am a self taught gardener with still a lot to learn. Right now I am experimenting with the Back to Eden method because our soil is very poor. We live on top of a mountain, and I'll just say we have more rocks than dirt! I have spent a few years building up the organic matter with the help of our chickens and rabbits. I love working with heirloom and open pollinated varieties because I want to learn to save my own seed (I have Seed to Seed....I just haven't read it yet). I start most of my plants indoors and then they graduate to my small 6'x8' unheated greenhouse in April/May (I'm in zone 6). I also compost and have a worm bin in our kitchen for worm castings.

I am returning to SparkPeople after being gone for a few years. I am hoping to plug into a group that shares a common interest and that will help keep me accountable...hopefully this team is it!

I'd love to be living back out in the country again. Right now we're in the suburbs west of Chicago.

Yes thats home. oops...Should have said so I guess

Great to have you here Carol!! That's a beautiful picture you included. Is it where you live?

Hello fellow Organic Gardeners!


I'm Carol - fairly new to SparkPeople (about 6 weeks) but have loved gardening all my life. I am a Master Gardener...Live on 45 acres in rural Tennessee with one husband and 6 german shepherds I fondly refer to as the Kitchen Wolves. Founded a rescue a while back and though I no longer am involved in the day to day operations, there are always furry ones coming and going.

Currently have the first of the cool season greens in. Covered as we're expecting frost tonight. Lots started inside under lights.

Happy to be among my own kind.
EDITED to add- The photo is Home Sweet Home

Edited by: JUSTFURKIDS at: 3/13/2018 (23:09)

Glad to have you here! I can't wait to get back in the garden too!

Hello All,
I am a retired teacher with two grown daughters and a husband still working. Gardening has been my passion for many years and i enjoy hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities. The stress of working 12 hour days, caring for elderly parents and in-laws, and hypothyroidism have contributed to my weight gain, and even though I'm now retired, the extra weight makes it difficult to do the things I love. I've been slowly losing about a pound a week and work out at least and hour most days. So excited to get back in the garden this spring!

I prefer any plant that responds to my caring attention. I enjoy growing plants of varying color for my wife's outside reading area. I'm trying to learn to grow vegetables in minimal space as well. We will see if my efforts researching have paid off this Summer.

During my years teaching I have researched the wildlife in my area. Taking community college courses taught me the essentials of herbaceous plants and viticulture. Owning a forested hillside is a challenge to take care of properly. The outdoors is an important part of my life. I would like to feed the butterflies, honey bees, and birds their natural requirements. A few years ago I experimented in planting bird seed in a 100 ft. square plot and was happily surprised at the result.

I like 3 season gardening from early spring greens to late season crucifers, kale, collards, spinach, beets, etc. and heirloom tomatoes in summer along with all summer veggies and lots of herbs, flowers, and bulbs. Doing lots of experimenting with inter cropping, companion planting, and rotational plantings.

Welcome to the team! What kinds of plants do you like to grow?

Hello. I'm Doug and I live in Great Falls, Montana. This was where my last duty assignment was before retiring from the military. We never moved because we liked it here so much. My family homesteaded Montana so it seemed fitting to remain. My wife traveled all over the world with me and we have eight kids, six of whom were born overseas.

I was injured while serving and the VA disabled me 100%. Now I'm quite able to get around half the time and have embraced hobbies that cause low bodily impact. Chronic pain plus PTSD. There's my need to grow plants. They give when you give to them first and without all the baloney of dealing with difficult people (or maybe I'm just the difficult one! )

I know very little about what I'm doing right, but I have a good record of healing people's dying plants and growing some that are difficult to grow in our climate.

So I'm on this team to learn what the heck I'm doing!

Welcome to the team! Great to hear you continue to garden even when moving a lot. Where all have you lived?

Hello. I move a lot (work) but garden everywhere I go. I am currently in Western Oregon after spending most of my life on the East Coast. I went from four seasons to two - dry and rainy.

Thank you for accepting me as one of the team leaders. Life is busy and it takes all of us to make this a great team. I think people perhaps utilize the app the majority of the time. It's a fantastic app but it's a difficult road to navigate to the teams from there. I love teams for several reasons. The main reason is comrade of like minded persons. My weight loss journey is a continuous struggle but I feel I have learned so much along the way. I love to garden! I especially like to grow herbs! Most days I aim to follow a Nutritarian eating plan. Basically Vegetarian but strive for the best nutrient counts. I feel fantastic when I do!!!!! Old habits; especially under stress are hard to kick to the curb so I'm confessing I have a long way to go too. I believe in my plan. I believe in Me. I also believe in You! Just this weekend I pointed to the vegetable section at the grocery store and said this is beautiful! This is what I'm really hungry for. I kinda felt like a big lightbulb had lit up. That's enough about me for today. Let's make this a healthful summer to remember.

Thank you. I am hoping to have this achieved by the end of the weekend. I am really looking forward to it. I turn 50 on Monday and instead of feeling like my life is half over I am more like just beginning. I have been given an opportunity to make my healthier living easier with an herb garden. I just can't wait.

Well, I live in the Phoenix area, so it's really hot here. I water twice a day. I'm guessing you wouldn't water that much in a cooler clime. Now, peppermint actually likes to sit in water. So I have a bowl under it and keep it full of water. It's thriving.

How often do you water the potted herbs? The area I am placing these herbs has morning sun but afternoon shade.

Angela

You can definitely grow herbs in pots easily. Tomatoes are rangy and require a lot of space. I am growing some indoors in a hydroponic set up (5 gallon bucket).

Hello, I am GramGram (Angela). I live in Indiana (for now). My wish is to start an herb garden and have fresh herbs for my new eating style (Mediterranean Fresh). My first concern is I live in an apartment complex; but also wonder if I can't start one by using small terra cotta pots for the herbs I wish to grow at this time. Also I want to grow tomatoes as they are becoming a staple for my cooking.

Spare time is an issue as I am starting a foundation to help God put others back together again spiritually and emotionally, I am finishing a dissertation so I can graduate with a PhD, and I am publishing my first book this summer (under a pen name due to the nature of the book).

I am gramgram of 6 all under the age of 7 with 3 adult children.

Help! I need my fresh herbs.

GramGram (Angela)

Sandy, you're probably in the same boat as I am with a couple of growing seasons. I can't really start much now because of the heat. I found a planting calendar for the Phoenix area and go by it. I'm sure there's one for where you are. Rabbits and gophers, oy! Hope you win that war!

Welcome Liz and Sandy! I hope you have great success with your gardens. I don't know much about growing things in southern California, since I've lived in ILL all my life, but I'm sure there are others here who may be able to help. I'd love to have fruit trees, but here in the suburbs of Chicago, I'm going to have to stick to just a few dwarf varieties, unfortunately.

Hi everyone! My name is Sandy and I live in southern California. My family and I will be moving soon to a property with a little bit of land. I want fruit trees and to grow a garden. I have only had a little experience over the years. I joined this team to learn from all of you! Since I can already see the property has gophers and rabbits, I know I will either have to do raised beds or container gardening probably. Look forward to hearing from you all.

My name is Liz. I am growing my first garden this year PLUS I am doing aquaponics and hydroponics indoors. I have been eating lettuce, peppers and tomatoes out of the garden so far. My hydroponic tomatoes and cukes are going great guns. Nice to meet you all.

Edited by: LIZANDRASHAW at: 5/11/2017 (20:47)

Carolyn here, joined this team today, working on planting a garden this year, don't have much experience, just lots of ideas.A gopher enjoyed my last garden, this year we are putting doubled chicken wire under the raised beds.
Joined sparkpeople a week ago, used it for a while a few years ago, glad to be back. The results of keeping track are already taking effect.
Looking forward to meeting all of you!

I have been canning for over 20 years. I can everything from fruits veggies, jams, meat and sauces. If you have any questions I would be more than willing to help if I can. It is addictive and a huge money saver. Knowing a have a cupboard full of fresh organic foods makes me smile!

I have gardened for many years. Last year we started over and now our garden is all organic and we do not use any GMO seeds. I live in upstate NY so we have a shorter growing season. I cant wait to plant my garden this spring. I can everything so I have organic veggies all year long. We just purchased an additional 3/4 th of an acre behind our original property line so we can plant fruit trees, grapes and berry bushes. I'm so excited and can't wait to start!

Hi, my name is Sandy. I'm planning on starting a vegetable garden this spring for the first time ever. I have the place picked out and know what I want to plant. This week I am planning on mapping out the garden and start preparing the soil. I saw this team and thought maybe I could learn some things. I am looking forward to making some new friends and trying to grow healthy food.

Hi! I like to garden and thought this would be a good team to learn from. I especially need to learn how to get rid of garden pests without using harmful sprays. Squash bugs in particular have been bad in my garden. With the last couple of days being so warm, I am starting to think gardening.

Welcome, Dean. You seem to have a wealth of experience. I have a small backyard garden on the left coast.

HI. I just came across this team and signed up. We live on 6 acres on the eastern shore of Maryland and grow vegetables. We are committed to growing our food organically and are in the process of being certified naturally grown. We grow, can, dehydrate, and freeze our vegetables. We sell some produce and eggs as well. Looking forward to seeing what folk have to share here.

Dean

Hi! I just wanted to stop by and get started in this team. My name is Sara, and I have a lot of weight to lose. I am married and have a son and a daughter. I am growing a garden so I can eat nutritious, organically grown food right from my own yard. I started gardening as an attempt to work toward a healthier me. But, I have found that I truly love gardening. In fact, I get tons of exercise working outside in my yard now, and I don't even know it is exercise!! I look forward to getting to know other spark gardeners!

Hi everyone. I am new to this team but have been a member of Spark People for quite a few years. I am retired and my husband and I raise miniature horses on our small farm in central New Hampshire. I do not have a green thumb when it comes to plants but hope to learn a lot with this team. My plan is to grow vegetables for us and our grown children plus I want to learn to do canning also. Looking forward to any help I can get.

Welcome to all three experienced gardeners who have joined us in the last month or so! This is a great place to share all kinds of gardening information. What you are going to try next? What have you been successful with, what are you curious about. And just have fun and games.

I was thrilled to find this team. I have gardened for most of my life. My mother loved planting and growing things and encouraged me to start my first garden when I was in the 6th grade. After that, whenever I was living in a house with a yard I had a garden. But last summer I had a broken foot and a garden that was just taken over by weeds. My husband was taking care of me and most of the household chores but he just couldn't keep up with the garden. It broke my heart and I decided enough. We were going to till up the largest plot in the fall and plant grass seed (still leaving me with a small kitchen garden by the house and a larger flower garden in the back).

I'm so glad we didn't get around to it because I'm completely healed, I've actually lost some weight and I'm ready to try again. I am taking a class right now on nutrition and how important it is to be eating non-processed foods, preferably organics. I always knew this but had let it get buried when I was so busy with work and children and all the other demands. Now I'm home all day, almost every day, and what a wonderful way to get some exercise, fresh air, and fresh food at the same time!

Good evening! I'm Carole and just joined this team. I have belonged to sparkpeople for a while but have not been active for the past year (and the scale shows it).

I joined this group because I am 100% into knowing what I'm eating and where it came from originally.

Excited to get to know all of you!

Hi all. I enjoy gardening and used to grow most of our food but now with the kids gone and my husband isn't a veggie eater I have cut way back. This year I want to revamp my raised beds and create another form of raised beds using containers. For example I have an old steel water tank next to the porch with all my herbs. I have arthritis in my knees and so it is hard to get up and down so raised really help out.

I am no expert and am learning something new all the time. This year I am trying winter sowing. It sounds so fun if it works and gives me a reason to garden in the winter.

My eyes are always bigger than my energy so this year I plan to be more realistic, LOL. Good luck, huh?

Hi Everyone.

I think I joined this team last month, but haven't introduced myself.

My name is raChelle and I am just reinventing myself as a gardener. I moved into my current home last August and am slowly working on transforming my yard into an edible landscape. I live in the desert, so much of the transformation will be with natural medicinal weeds - more on that in a minute.

I inherited 8 fruit trees and lots of lawn. This past year was spent getting acquainted with the fruit trees - what a learning experience. When I lived in my condo, I turned my courtyard into an edible yard, so I had huge dreams on having my current yard finished by now. Dreams are still there, however I'm learning patience...

I have gone back to school for degree number 3 - a Masters in Holistic Herbal Medicine. With that said, I'm starting to grow "weeds" to use in my apothecary. I'm setting up a greenhouse on my back porch and starting seeds inside. I'm not very good with container gardening, but would love to perfect it so that I have edible and medicinal plants year round.

Ok, I've rambled on long enough.

Hope everyone has a great month!

I am reading Joanna Blythman's "Swallow This" which is a real eye opener about the food industry. I've ordered another of her book's called "What to Eat" and have read the intro on the Amazon "look inside" feature. I'm realising I need a total overhaul of what I thought was a reasonably healthy diet. I am going to tackle this one step at a time!

I've joined about 10 teams to do with clean eating, etc as I didn't know which one to pick. I also joined this one because I have a garden and am thinking I didn't ought to use that toxic weedkiller that I've been using, and I also ought to grow some veggies. I've tried before and failed but maybe I need to have another go and persevere this time. Wouldn't it be awesome to grow my own organic vegs. :-)

Looking forward to getting to know you all! :-)

I'm new to the team as well!!

I am a self-described Victory Gardener with the hopes to one day in the near future to own 15+ acres with large gardens, orchards, bees, chickens, dairy/beef cattle, and grow more pumpkins than I know what to do with!

I never liked gardening as a kid, my mom's veggie plants always died, and the thought of poking around and hauling things in and around the yard was BORING. Now, if I could spend all day in my garden, I'd be as happy as a clam.

As they say: Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes!

My name is Lorna . I'm new to the team . I hoping to learn alot.

I am on a 52 week exercisse streak...and gardening helps me be there!

Hi! Just found this team. I have been on Spark since January and love it, and have been gardening for years. I keep a large vege garden, several perennial flower gardens and annuals all over the porch and deck. I also like to make fairy gardens and houses. Try to garden as organically as I can. Just finished most of my planting today (live in Minnesota). Whew!

Hi, Everyone! I'm new but then not new. I once was a part of this team and Sparks but then didn't have access to the web anymore so I left. Now I'm back, thanks to smart phones and other things. (Like a new computer) Anyway. I am a homeschool mother of three teens, my fourth child is leaving for Australia in July to get married. He's been over here 3 times and we've spent a lot of time with the young man. Anyway, I also have a part time job, and I garden. Well, I haven't done well since the move, but last year I bought a very nice raised bed and got it ready, but never did plant anything last year. This year I've bought plants, and then when I went to deposit some stuff in the mulch bed found 6 nice healthy tomato plants growing in it. Don't know what type they are but we'll see, (so much for trusting the kids to turn the mulch )
Well, I'm glad to be back. I always enjoyed this team. Looking forward to posting and reading others posts!!

Hi guys!
My name is Val and I'm returning to Sparkpeople after about 5 busy years and wanted to join some new teams. I'm a once and future organic farmer-- I farmed veggies in Chicago area for a few years and am planning on starting a vegetable farm here in Washington again next year where I'll have a market stall and a CSA. It's been fun visiting the different markets in the area to scope for my future spot and experimenting with tons of different varieties to see what works best out here. When doing my seed order this year I aimed for a ton of red and purple heirloom varieties, too so hoorah for flavenoids! I have about 60 varieties in the ground already and am anxiously awaiting the early green things (Hurry up, arugula!). I'll post some food/ garden/ cooking blogs on my sparkpage in the near future, too!

Welcome to the team Sandi.
Two places I know of are to check a store that sells bait (red wigglers are the worms they sell for fishing). Not sure what stores are in your area, but most hunting/fishing stores will sell them in season as well as stores like Walmart (that's where hubby bought some to go fishing with last year).
Another place you can get them for free is if you know of any horse farms. The well rotted manure is usually loaded with them (and is a great addition to the garden and compost pile too)! We went to a stable to get some manure (they were happy to have us take as much as we wanted) and the old piles were loaded with them, so I insisted we bring home a 5 gallon bucket of them to add to the compost pile - the rest of the manure went on the garden plots we rent from the park district. We had worms in the compost for years because of that until the shrews took up residence in our bin and ate all the worms!

Hello! My name is Sandi and I live in Niagara Falls Ontario. I'm an Urban Gardener and try to grow as much of our food as I can. I'd love to be more organic

Does anyone know where to get Red Wiggler worms???? Can't seem to find where to purchase them!!!

Anyway, I live on a corner and have an area of my yard designated just for fruits and veggies. It's not very big but last year I grew:
grapes
rhubarb
cucumbers (but not very well)
zucchini (but not very well)
butternut squash (but not very well)
tomatoes (3 varieties)
spinach
kale
beets
beans
potatoes
raspberries
garlic
red, green, yellow peppers
brussel sprouts (but there were none to harvest)
green onions
gooseberries
strawberries
apples
blueberries

It's still cold out and the ground is still frozen solid, but I can hardly wait for the growing season to begin!

Welcome to the Organic Gardeners team Terry and Karen!
Karen - I've grown sweet potatoes in large planters for the past 2 years. The sweet potato vines are very decorative and it's easy to water, weed, and harvest the sweet potatoes (and they get really long too). I'm sure that if you ask on the discussion forum about growing veggies vertically, you'll get plenty of suggestions. I actually saw something where someone used old wood pallets vertically, putting boards across the bottom to help hold the soil, and used them for decorative plants on their patio. But it would also be a great way to grow herbs and leaf lettuce or spinach - any plants that normally don't get too tall or have deep taproots.

I'm Karen. I've been on Spark since 2007. We have a 10' x 10' plot in a small organic community garden across town. We don't garden in our back yard because we have 2 dogs. My new challenge is that I am recovering from back surgery so I have to think about using the air rights over our plot so to speak. I'm interested in ^up^ not only to maximize the output of our 100 square feet but also to give my back a bit of a break. I've found some really interesting ideas on pinterest. Our garden went to shambles last year and psychologically I felt like it was a year without a summer because I was confined to a wheel chair due to the pain. I'm still recovering from surgery so I really want to think about this garden before I do something I can't maintain. Plus, its organic which for me is no big deal, we wouldn't do it any other way.

Hi...I'm Terry and excited to learn more about organic gardening...
My son got me started last year, did some container gardening and did very well! I want to learn more about gardening without chemical pesticides, fertilizers and how to keep the world a bit healthier...



Edited by: STARTING-ANEW at: 3/22/2015 (10:14)

Welcome to the team. I can't wait for Spring so I can get planting again. Hopefully it will warm up for both of us next week!

Hi! I'm from Iowa and have lived in the same house all my life, so I know we have great soil in my backyard. :) My family always had a garden. My husband and I have grown a variety of things over the years, but this is the summer to get SERIOUS! I hope to implement lots of healthy and frugal ideas.

Welcome to the group.

Hello. I am also from Sunny Florida and I've been container gardening (organically) for many years. Being so close to the beach my soil is essentially sand and it's impossible to grow much in the ground.

Welcome to the team! So glad to have you. I know we have some other Florida people here, so hopefully they can pass along some tips. Here near Chicago, our growing season is winding down. Though it's nice to have a break, I know that in a couple of months I'm going to be longing for the taste of home grown produce, instead of the stuff they sell in the stores.

Hello all,
I live in hot, humid Florida and since moving here a few years back I have found summer isn't the best time to grow. The farmers markets shut down in the summer! I've learned to wait till late September to plant and even then I'm not having the best of luck:P But it's fun and I enjoy the journey! I have 2 4x8 garden boxes that I use so far.
Hoping to learn more and have better success in the future!

Thank you....I hope so too...lots to do and too little Spring-Summertime to get it all done in

I hope you start feeling better soon Golddusttwin.

tomatoes are in...earpain