Here in KS there is a rip in the space time continuum. If tomatoes do well it sucks the life out of peppers. If peppers do well the tomatoes never take off. It's the cursed law of the garden.
Iowans - what do you plant in your home gardens?
- Thread starter Tenacious E
- Start date
I highly recommend herbs. Fresh herbs will have the greatest impact on your cooking and are probably the easiest to grow:
Basil- and get a pizza oven.
Tarragon
Rosemary
Chives
Thyme
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Mint
Sage
Oregano
Basil- and get a pizza oven.
Tarragon
Rosemary
Chives
Thyme
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Mint
Sage
Oregano
I generally plant Celebrity, Big Girl, Better Boy, Beefeater, and once in a while Romas just for salsa. Any garden grown tomato is going to taste exponentially better than anything you can buy in the store.
Friend on what you're using it for. I'm guessing you'll want big BLT type tomatoes. Ones I've grown and can recommend
Cherokee Purple. Can find at most stores
Mortgage Lifter
Haven't grown but heard good things about
Brandywine
Stump of the World
Dester. I might try this one next year
Don't recommend
Paul Robeson. (Bland and didn't yield much)
If you live around CR I can seed start whatever you want instead of being limited to whatever the stores have
I’m a huge fan of early girl. They are a little smaller in size but bountiful yields, excellent taste, and I never have to worry about bugs with them like I do brandywine, celebrity, beefeater, etc.
Also, depending on if you are going to grow from seed or buy your plants, try to find a local supplier. I have had far more luck when I’ve bought plants from the farmer’s market or a local Mennonite joint than I have from say HYVee.
I moved into a house that had raised beds made from cinder blocks. But I have also planted in the ground. Both work fine.
Ive come up with and idea to make Tomato cages out of cattle fencing, I'll provide a photo here in a few.
Tomatoes. 100%
Fresh snap peas are hard to beat.
I put a wall on a hill and have brought in dirt to fill it. So thr front of my garden is 4+ feet of black dirt but the top is the soil that was here.
There is a lady in town that built a garden using metal tanks ans it's awesome. If i had limited space that is what I would do, she can weed the heck out of it and never bend over and get to all sides.
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We’ve got both. It’s easier to amend the soil in a raised bed and it sounds like you don’t have the best soil to work with.
If you have the resources I highly recommend a mound garden. We have two and they produce really good yields with minimal upkeep. They take a lot of work to build, but if done correctly you shouldn’t have to do much with them for years other than weed.
https://www.almanac.com/what-hugelkultur-ultimate-raised-bed
That is a good idea. I happen to have a lot that produces a good amount of brush that i could use as a base in the planter for composting...
If you have the resources and some equipment to work with, that’s the way I’d go.
I plan on making a couple more in the spring.
Here is a photo from when we were building it. I think it's 90 feet long and 40 feet wide. Like I said though, I use the back half for sunflowers and pumpkins. I tried sweetcorn several years but raccoons get it as soon as it starts getting a cob at all. The last year i put a 3 foot chicken wire fence behind my electric fence so they had to crawl over one and get shocked, they didn't care. I dont do corn anymore.
iowa.forums.rivals.com
I decided to pour some Captain tonight
Its been since probably Super Bowl Sunday since my last drink.... phuckin a. I think im already buzzing cackles!
iowa.forums.rivals.com
Mine are in raised beds, similar to this picture. Added a good look for my house but the benefit is I don't have to bend over. Rabbits still eat my plants (or maybe deer). I always find rabbits in my garden with babies.
Those look sharp. How in the hell would a baby rabbit get up there? Burrow up from underneath?Mine are in raised beds, similar to this picture. Added a good look for my house but the benefit is I don't have to bend over. Rabbits still eat my plants (or maybe deer). I always find rabbits in my garden with babies.
OP if you are in suburban Ankeny and your home was built in the last 20 years, more than likely you have an inch or two of black dirt on top of several feet of clay. Raised beds would be a necessity in that case.
This is similar to what the lady did, if I had limited space, this is what I would do, you can weed easily and get to your produce without bending over.Mine are in raised beds, similar to this picture. Added a good look for my house but the benefit is I don't have to bend over. Rabbits still eat my plants (or maybe deer). I always find rabbits in my garden with babies.
So I think this coming growing season, given the sloped nature of our backyard, we might start without planters, and see how it goes. My next question is about tilling. I will need till up a chunk of my lawn, which will be a pain in the ass to do by hand. Do you guys till every year, justifying the expense of a tiller?
My garden is like 40 x 40. Plant a variety of things. One little tip - when the plants are small, I will bag my grass from mowing and put the grass clippings in the garden to keep out the weeds. I have a rider mower and it will take probably 30 bags of grass and I will cover every inch of the ground with grass clippings. I will do that 2 or 3 times to the point where you have a few inches of grass clippings on the ground. It will choke out the weeds and more importantly, it will hold the moisture in the ground. I haven't watered my garden in over 10 years and every year, and it produces like no other. And you will have to do very minimal weeding.
Yes, no. I paid my dues coaching little league, junior football, etc. with crazy nights for a decade. Now I’m 50 and I miss those days now that my son is in college, and my daughter is a junior in high school. Looking to up my golf and garden games.
