Anyone have a garden going this year?

I used 2 layers of 2x12s (not pressure treated) for my garden at the old house. Definitely didn't want pressure treated but also didn't want to spend the money on cedar. The original bed was going on 4 years before we moved. Sure there was a little rot but I think it would've been okay for another 4 years before needing to be replaced.

 

Most of them are saturated with creosote, which is not very friendly to most forms of life.

 

Working in the greenhouses to get the late winter crops ready!

 

These were older, and tar product faded out. Use gloves handling them into place. But could kneel on them and not get stains on clothes. As far as can see no effect on plants.

 

My pepper seedlings emerged much faster this year, mainly because I soaked the seeds in rainwater for 30 hours before planting them a quarter inch deep in seedling soil.

 

Plan on starting seeds next few days. Plan to try potatoes in container this year, a first. With limited garden space it will work. Wife refuses to give up lawn for garden. I tell her it will be less to mow.

 

What about corrugated metal?

 

I could spend $1000 on growing $17 of tomatoes....

 

Every year I say I’m going to and about 1 out of every3 years I actually so had a garden started. About 1 out of 3 of those years it makes it to the end of the season. I want to try and again this year though!

 

My garden fell to ruin the last few years. I will be leaving this house soon but I hate the idea of leaving it the way it is. I was out pruning the fruit trees today and will probably do more on Tuesday since it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

 

I live in the Pacific Northwest so untreated Western Red Cedar is widely available and it’s what we used for our raised beds. But this year January had already lasted 4 months and counting……so not much accomplished outside yet. Extremes seem to be the new normal.

 

Me too. I kept track of my spending over 3 gardening seasons. I had mostly tomatoes, some lettuce, kale and parsnips. The savings was minimal. It was only because I have a small yard.

 

I just planted a fig tree, peach tree, and a bunch of other plants the past three days.

 

I have found that gardening as a hobby tends to cost more and return less than if you garden as a sustainable living practice. If you invest $1000 into the right trees, bushes and seeds, you could basically live off of it the rest of your life. If you save your own seeds and learn how to propagate plants, you don't have to keep spending money on buying plants or seeds every year. Most of the things people tend to buy for gardening are not really necessary to grow plants.

 

I spend very little money on my garden. The only real problem I have is pests and weather. So far all I've harvested this season was basil, oregano, green onion and micro greens. Actually there were some carrots early in the season but we didn't eat them, they were tiny and probably volunteers of a bed I wasn't paying attention to.

 

Have you tried companion planting to control pests? It can also help with some weather issues depending on what they are.