[OneVike]

I love this thread, and I'm glad I joined the ping list.

I have been planting a garden every year since we moved into our new home in 2008. In California I need to make garden boxes that are lined with galvanized wire to keep out the gophers, moles, and voles however. Eventually I will have to put up low fences to keep out the squirrels and pets, along with tall fences around anything the dear like. I tried all kinds of potions and things, so far only a fence works.

I began with one I recklessly put together that was 6X4 feet. Since then I've have come up with a good design, and put together three more. Row of them are 8X4 feet, and one is 8x8 feet. My wife is beginning to worry that I may fill the whole 3/4 acre behind our home with garden boxes.

Interestingly the first one I built is falling apart due to the poor quality of materials used. So after this Summer it will be retired to the burn pile. So I will be replacing it, but in a better location that has more hours of sunshine.

This was the first year I actually planted a Spring garden. The vegetables in the pictures are some of what I harvested from it. I also had Broccoli. The Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower I planted failed to grow. Not sure why yet, but I'll try again next Spring. Right now I have all 4 boxes with my Summer veggies;

Box # (1) Bell peppers, strawberries, yellow onions, and Indian corn.
...........(When the Indian corn reaches about 6 inches I will plant green beans next to them so that the corn stalks will serve as a trellis for the bean plants to climb.)

Box # (2) Green Onions (in pic at top in bowl), Watermelon, both traditional red melons, and orange or green melons.
...........(unsure which seeds on the colored melons I got in pack)

Box # (3) Sweet Peas (in pic at top in my hand), String Beans (multicolored), Straight 8 Cucumbers,

Box # (4)Cherry Tomatoes, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Sweet yellow Corn.
...........(I have room to plant more corn at two week intervals so we will have corn through the Summer this year. At least that is the plan)

Later in August I plan on planting a Fall garden also. I hope to plant more potatoes, some Winter corn, Broccoli, Cauliflower, carrots, beets, and radishes.

The good thing of living in Ca, is the four growing seasons. Sadly, I can see the politics of this state forcing my wife and I to leave when I retire for another state that is not nearly as blessed for growing gardens as California is.

[IMR 4350]

I live in deep SE Texas and get 2 gardens a year where I am.

I’ve had trouble with B sprouts myself. Got a good crop last fall but other times stem but no sprouts.

Need lots of organics and nitrogen but not too much nitrogen.

Unless I get my carrots in real early (February) for a spring garden it gets too hot too fast here and carrots are whitish color and taste like a paper sack.

Fall carrots are great.

I’ve put a little over 5 quarts of green peas in the freezer so far and more are on the way.

I’ve got enough squash to feed the starving Armenians.

Corn’s around 4 feet right now. Hope we keep getting rain I have 2 gardens and don’t have a way to water my second garden where it’s planted.

Pintos and black beans are loaded. Surprised myself with that.

My red and white onions have also surprised me.

I’ve got a 5ft chicken snake and an almost 6ft king snake hanging around my main garden in back of the house. Maybe they’ll put the fear in the squirrels and keep them out of my tomatoes.

Everything has done good so far except my green onions.

After my second planting and still nothing I quit.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for posting those pics. California was a pretty good place to live back in the old days, but you couldn't pay me enough money to live there now.

We started in earnest back in 2010 with the raised beds, and adding perennial berries trees etc. Before that we had about 200sq ft sq garden patch that we kinda planted when the mood struck.

Certain parts of our back yard are all garden with grassy paths around them. We still have plenty of lawn on the side lot and front yard. Tried to plant some nut trees in the front yard, and various flowers over the years. Nothing grows. They just die, so we just enjoy the trees that we have already there.

I suppose we may do some major over haul later if we need to add space for more gardening, but we kinda like a certain amount of natural space with all the wildflowers and stuff.

What I'd really like is an underground cistern with a manual pump as well as an electric one, and a storage building with a root cellar under it.

I do manage to have some things growing year round, by planting winter wheat, cool weather crops under a row cover, and indoors in front of the patio door.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Beautiful gardens. Are you northern, southern, central, or coastal CA? Distinct growing zones in all those places. I should add montain too.

Politics, ugh! My mother passed in April, and I doubt that I’ll ever visit my native state again. It does not resemble the CA of my childhood.

[Silentgypsy]

Great, informative post!