hello

[Pam C]

I'm excited about this forum. I'm not sure how I got here, but I'm glad I did! This is my first time to ever join a board like this, so excuse me while I stumble around. I love getting my hands in the dirt. I have a little herb garden and a small raised veggie garden that I want to double soon. My plants of choice are squash, okra, peppers of all kinds, and of course, tomatoes. I planted asparagus for the first this year. My patience will be tested with a plant that takes a coupla of years to harvest. I also planted green beans (heirloom seeds) for the first time this year. Well I just meant to say hi, but I got a little chatty..

[Brian Gallimore]

Nice to meet you Pam, and welcome to the forum.  You've come to the right place to be chatty about vegetable plants, it might be my favorite thing to talk about!  I had my first (small) harvest of asparagus this spring.  The plants are so huge now, they are shading the whole bed.

What part of Dallas are you located in?

[Pam C]

thank you for the welcome!  I live just south of Ft. Worth. I love Asparagus! I'm still learning how to grow them. I only planted one plant, but I think I need to plant more since I've learned that one plant doesn't put off that much. How many did you plant? BTW when looking through the photos I noticed your strawberry garden. I love that idea! I'll try to posts pictures, but I'm going to have to clean up a bit before I do.. I also noticed your worm farm(?) I would love to know what you're doing to get worms.
I'm reading a book by Barbara Kingslover called Animal, Vegatable, Mineral. It's inspiring me to expand my garden and find healthy sources around me, like farmers markets, that I can buy food to feed my family.   

[Brian Gallimore]

I started with 20 asparagus plants, but I think about 5 of them died this winter.  With the remaining 15 left, I didn't harvest enough to make 2 meals.  I think it takes lots of plants!  I feel like they will come in stronger next year, so I'm hoping for more.

The hanging strawberry planters have two problems:  1- just like a potted plant, the water washes out the nutrients (I over watered) and the fruit winds up tasting like air, and it dries out quickly.  2- most of the plants died this winter (because I forgot to keep them watered)

Worm farm:  I purchased 1 pound of red wigglers to get my worm farm started.  They live in fluffy wet shredded paper and get fed select kitchen scraps and coffee grounds.

Worms in soil: When I stopped using chemicals (fertilizer, pesticides, everything) the worms in the dirt just started appearing.  They are abundant in my raised beds now.  I didn't add them, just stopped running them off!

I hope to make it over to our farmer's market this weekend.  I'm hoping some fresh and local fruit is there.  (peaches ! )

[Pam C]

good to know about the strawberries. I'm a bit allergic to them, but I think they're beautiful plants. Our winter was really rough this year. I mostly grow stuff that doesn't take much care because I too forget to water, or just won't. I want hardy plants that can withstand my care and the Nth TX unpredictable weather. I like the idea of growing worms. I may give that a try.
Good luck this weekend at the farmer's market.. I tried growing peach trees and wasn't successfull, but they may have needed more water than I was giving them.  I want to try again.. there's just not much better than a fresh peach!  Have a good weekend!

[kcollie]

Hi, Pam C.
I'm in southwest Arlington, so I'm not too far away.  I just got on this board today, but I'm already excited to see so many are taking a try at growing their own. PLEASE read my 'Hello' post!!