Since this is obviously a PITA, it helps to have rotating areas of asparagus. As your first area begins to mature and produce, split some pieces and begin growing them in a new location. Over time, you’ll have plants always coming into prime growth as others are thinning and aging.

We’ve found that asparagus makes a nice addition to landscaping when clustered with bushes or ornamental trees…this allows us to have a lot of it without sacrificing tons of garden footage.

Very easy to grow in pots, bumper crop and good value for money!

My zucchinni died this year, but I was quite successful in yellow squash, basil, tomatoes (had some mini yellow pear tomatoes that were very prolific and delicious), turnips, carrots, and eggplant. I can’t wait for next year’s garden.

You can see 3 pictures of my garden box at the edge of my townhouse patio on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34003408@N02/?saved=1

Just make sure you choose dwarf or bush varieties of your plants

Good luck!

Here is one way to do it:
http://www.i4at.org/lib2/garden.htm

I cut the barrels in half and cut out the end caps to make two cylinders about 30″ in diameter and two feet tall. Saw a line down each cylinder and use some bolts to attach a hasp (high tech) or just get some light rope and tie a line around the barrel piece to hold it together.

Place these in an out of the way spot, put in a couple inches of composted soil and plant your starts. Keep adding soil as the spuds grow. When the plant dies back, undo the hasp or cut the rope and flex the barrel to let the soil and spuds out. Works great, easy to do and doesn’t take up prime garden space.

I don’t know where you live, but if there are Amish around, try finding a roadside stand to buy from. We get sweet corn a $2 a dozen.

Keep up the great work and thanks for posting the summary!

I am a HUGE fan of Gardens Alive–their organic tomato fertilizer is fantastic!

You’re right. Tomatoes are a great crop. Even when we lived in an apartment I had potted tomatoes and potted herbs. I would grow tomatoes if I only had space for one thing.

Like Becca, I love reading about your gardening enterprise. What a boot! That photo of the tomatoes turns me green with envy. Tomatoes just don’t grow very well in our climate–too hot in summer, too cold in winter, plus the alkaline soil (and possibly the dreadful-tasting water) makes every variety that survives taste just about the same.

Surprising that you only got nine acorn squash from two plants. In my experience, they’re wildly prolific, closely following zucchini. They really like heat…plant them early enough, maybe, so that they’re fully mature when the warmest part of your summer occurs?

Cukes also should grow pretty well. I’ve planted them with pepper plants (which I think of as sorta like tomato plants) and had them bear nicely. A friend plants them near the edge a raised bed so the vines trail over the side. This keeps the cukes off the ground (so they don’t rot) and gives you easier access to them.

Hang in there with the asperagi…everyone I’ve spoken with says the same: that it takes two or three years for them to establish themselves and start producing sprouts you can eat.

LOL! I’d rather plant sunflowers than corn: you get a nice tall plant (if that’s what you’d like) and wonderful weird-looking flowers. And you can eat the seeds.

Looking forward to next summer’s garden tales….

#3: I recommend buying seeds from a company in your own climate-area of the country (or world). Territorial Seeds is my fave source in Oregon. (They’re non-genetically-engineered.) For specialty trees, I like One Green World. Shop local and your plants will be better adjusted to your conditions.

#6: I hate to shill for them too hard, because I think Jd runs their ad someplace, but we got pheromone-based traps for apple maggot and coddling moth from http://www.GardensAlive.com Look for the economy red sphere traps/lures and apple pest traps/lures. Some parts are reusable year-to-year. Good luck! There’s nothing worse than biting into an apple maggot!