I need some Garden Help. We have a 44ft by 42ft area.

[deconstructmyhouse]

Edit: One more thing, I bought a Aerogarden; in the summer, I grew spices (Cilantro, Sweet Basil, Italian Basil, Parsley and Mint) and in the winter, I grew romaine lettuce and cherry tomatoes. 

What's an aerogarden???

[Pheonix Renewed]

What's an aerogarden???

Yeah, that. 


So, you have to add lemon juice even to tomatoes that you pressure can? Because I'm seeing the lemon juice in boiling canning recipes so far.

[donnay]

What's an aerogarden???

Hydroponics!

[Pheonix Renewed]

Hydroponics!

Those are cheaper than I thought!

[donnay]

Those are cheaper than I thought!

Yeah they are not too bad.  Although I am told you could make your own.  This technology has been around for years...pot growers loved this method. 

[Pheonix Renewed]

Yeah they are not too bad.  Although I am told you could make your own.  This technology has been around for years...pot growers loved this method. 

I tried looking into making my own. The problem is that the lighting is very expensive.

[shirteesdotnet]

Urine is safe to use as a liquid fertilizer because it can be neutral in PH if you are healthy. it has many nutrients which plants like.
for years and years people who own citrus plants knew that you could pee on your trees regularly and have bumper crops of oranges and lemons.

I just want to add that my parents had a lemon tree in their front yard for years. It was a miniature lemon tree and grew FULL SIZE and year round had endless amounts of lemons. What happened was the roots broke a sewer line down below the ground and the lemon tree was feeding off of it! They unfortunately got rid of it a year or two ago but thats how we found out why it was growing so well

[shirteesdotnet]

I dont know how to grow it, but endive is high in protein... a much better choice instead of lettuce for salads.

Has anyone heard of the Mittleider Gardening Method? I actually dont know much about it yet but just came across some sites talking about it. Here are a couple sites...

Growing Tomatoes Vertically With The Mittleider Method....
http://sustainable-gardening.subto.us/tip/tomatoes.html

Immediate download Mittleider Method How-To books...
http://www.howtoorganicgarden.com/products_pdfs.htm

This method of planting/growing uses a special mix of pre fertilizer and also a weekly fertilizer (that u can make yourself & much cheaper than MiracleGro), plus certain gardening techniques. From what I understand, you can get a lot more veggies/acre using these growing methods compared to any other. If you have any sort of land to grow tomatoes, you could do quite well selling at a local farmers market. I myself dont have a lot of space in my backyard, probably 2000 sq ft worth for growing (plus my front yard if I choose).

You have something similar in size to my backyard for growing area. I dont know about your area, but according to Mittleider method of growing and based on their calculations, I could get about $40k a year from growing just tomatoes in my backyard. Thats at $3.00 a pound which is typical at farmers markets here in southern california.

[shirteesdotnet]

Can anyone offer advice please? Ive got a 40 ft by 7 ft strip of completely unused dirt on the south side of my house between my neighbor and I. There is a 6 ft wood fence also in between our properties, so I probably couldnt grow too much thanks to the shadow from the fence. But 7 ft wide isnt too bad and there is plenty of sun on the house. Any idea what I could plant? Maybe potatoes or tomatoes in barrels right next to my house all along the length of the house? Im even considering planting some fruit trees too. Not sure what would work and what wouldnt.

I also have a small planter on the north side of my house (2 ft by 40 ft.). Could I do anything there? Nothing seems to grow because it is shaded 100% of the time. My wife planted roses there and, well, I dont think she has ever had one rose in the past two years.

[Pheonix Renewed]

Can anyone offer advice please? Ive got a 40 ft by 7 ft strip of completely unused dirt on the south side of my house between my neighbor and I. There is a 6 ft wood fence also in between our properties, so I probably couldnt grow too much thanks to the shadow from the fence. But 7 ft wide isnt too bad and there is plenty of sun on the house. Any idea what I could plant? Maybe potatoes or tomatoes in barrels right next to my house all along the length of the house? Im even considering planting some fruit trees too. Not sure what would work and what wouldnt.

I also have a small planter on the north side of my house (2 ft by 40 ft.). Could I do anything there? Nothing seems to grow because it is shaded 100% of the time. My wife planted roses there and, well, I dont think she has ever had one rose in the past two years.

Nearly all food-producing plants require sunlight, and a good deal of it. You might be able to get some small yields from raspberry, gooseberry, or blackberry bushes grown in the shade.

I know of no other food-bearing plants that do even okay in full shade.

[deconstructmyhouse]

Nearly all food-producing plants require sunlight, and a good deal of it. You might be able to get some small yields from raspberry, gooseberry, or blackberry bushes grown in the shade.

I know of no other food-bearing plants that do even okay in full shade.

In general, leafy vegetables are the most shade-tolerant, while those that fruit from a flower (tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplants) are the least. In between are the root vegetables requiring at least a half day of full sun: potatoes, beets, carrots and turnips. Shade tolerant leafy vegetables include lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, arugula, endive and radiccio. Broccoli (and its relatives -- kale, kohlrabi, turnips, mustard and cabbage -- also grow in partial shade.

[Kandyk438]

In general, leafy vegetables are the most shade-tolerant,

Agreed.  I put my greens in the backyard along the edge of the house near the backyard shade tree. There isn't much sunlight back there.  But they grow like crazy.