Garden, anyone?

[Hannah Grace]

Are any of you planting a garden this year? My family always has a big garden but Mom decided that she didn't want to do it this year so I've kind of taken over in that department. I love planting seeds and watching for them to pop up all over the place!
What are some of your favorite things to grow?

[Dianna]

Hoping to...been to busy so far. We have quite a list to plant. But my favorite are a type of sweet peppers that I don't know the name of right now. They are purple and cream and shaped like bell peppers. What is your favorite plant to grow?

[Sarah]

That’s wonderful, Hannah, that you are going to be taking over your family garden! I am sure that will be a blessing to your Mom and to the rest of your family, too. =) We have a large garden every year as well, and quite a few years ago I, like you, gradually moved into the role as “head gardener” to make it easier on my Mom. And also because I love vegetable gardening! It is so enjoyable to do, though it definitely has its challenges and opportunities to learn (and to practice patience. =)

I can well relate to your enjoyment of planting seeds and watching them grow! It is always so exciting to see the plants change from seed, to seedling, and then to a mature plant that is bearing fruit. As far as some of my favorite things to grow, it is hard to choose as I like growing just about everything! But here are a few of my favorites:

--Any of the vine crops
--Sweet corn
--Bush green beans
--Carrots
--Watermelon

Probably my least favorite thing to grow right now is tomatoes as we have had a terrible time with fungal diseases the past few years. I have some different ideas of things to try this year, though, so hopefully that will help to prevent those!

Have fun with your garden, and I hope that it does very well for you!

[Rebecca Sisk Hickman]

I wish I were having a garden this year. However I'm living in an apartment in the city so if I grow anything it will probably only be cherry tomatoes and herbs.
Usually my parents always have a big garden, and last year my mom and I canned all summer. This year they aren't going to grow one because my mom is so busy with little ones since I married.
Probably my favorite thing to grow is yellow and zucchini squash and purple hull peas

[Hannah Grace]

Dianna, peppers can be fun! I think the best memory I have of growing any sort of pepper is from several years ago when Mom saw these little orange peppers that she thought were cute and so decided to plant a few of them. That year we had a LOT of habanero peppers!!! She's only planted them once since then (she did 1, maybe 2 plants the next year and then stopped the next year).

We've always been able to grow tomatoes pretty well. This year hopefully we'll have a lot of them (we should: I'm planning on planting plenty). It's a good thing my family likes them!!

Rebecca, my Mom recently found a site all about container gardening for people in apartments without much space for gardens. You might enjoy it, I know I have! http://lifeonthebalcony.com/

I'm really not sure what my very favorite thing to grow is. This year I'm doing a few things that I, personally, have never grown (like yarrow and stevia). My favorite type of gardening is really flower gardening (I got and planted a rose bush several weeks ago and am SUPER excited because today I saw the first flower bud on it!!!!) but I enjoy growing herbs and other food as well. I'm not overly thrilled with growing green beans but that mainly comes from having to pick them - they ought to be purple beans instead of green: it would be a lot easier to see them that way! But actually, even green beans aren't that bad. Tomatoes are fun, as are cantaloupes.

[Rebecca Sisk Hickman]

Thanks Hannah for the link! I'll have to check it out