Any green thumbs in the house?

[TomSD]

Gardening... from the vegetable gardener to the rose aficionado. Recently bought my first house and now have a backyard in a nice climate (San Diego county) so want to start gardening. I'm thinking raised beds with custom soil (dirt, compost, vermicite, etc) using the square foot approach. I'm mostly doing it for herbs, veggies and the like for the kitchen but the house came with some nice rose bushes so I want to get those back into shape too.

I've got a lot of work to clean out the backyard and build the beds though. Ground is rocky as hell and with the last few months of rain (wet for SoCal anyway, heh) it has turned into a chest high field of weeds and the like. I figure take the whole thing back to dirt, get all the rocks into a pile then build up beds with cinder blocks and toss the rocks back into the beds as a base before adding soil.

Already got some compost going and it is coming along nicely. Between the junk mail, bills and all my printouts (programmer/admin type so lots to print) and mowing the lawn I've got plenty of material, heh.

So any other green thumbs out there? What is your climate/area? What are you growing? etc

[Mike7120]

I grow a large garden every year.

Corn (Silver Queen and Kandy Korn), beans (Pole, Half runners, and Wax), Tomatoes ( Early girl, Beefsteak, and Better Boy), Broccoli, Cabbage, Peppers (Bell, Jalapeno, and Banana), Sweet Peas, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a couple pumpkins.

This year my girlfriend wants me to plant some strawberries, so I will give it a try.

[TomSD]

Nice! I'm thinking I want to clear a spot in the front and put down a couple trees too. I'd love to have fresh lemons and apples available.

I'm hoping to have the back cleaned up and a bed put together before summer hits. Of course being in San Diego county I can pretty much grow year round so it isn't like I have to beat the snow, lol.

[TomSD]

OK two more trashcans for composting. Though I doubt I'll need them right now I just condensed the two cans I already have into one, lol. Amazing how fast that stuff breaks down and good to see all that junk mail being put to good use, heh.

[Raudrive]

Something you might try is to contact your county extension office. There you will find the Master Gardeners and they are there to help you. At this office will be free literature for everything you need to know concerning your garden, trees and soil.
They are there to help you.

[ndw76]

I grow bonsai to. The space I have avaliable for gardening is less than two square meters, so bonsai make the best use of the space. My favorite is a big old Ficus.
When my wife and I eventually get our new house I'm hoping my garden will grow at the same rate as my collection of razors have.

[Mike7120]

I got my garden tilled and fertilized today.

Last year the locusts really damaged my garden. Hopefully this year I will have more luck.

[GeauxLSU]

I have a black thumb. I can kill any plant.

[jleeg]

Bonsai gardner here. Killing a tree takes on a whole new meaning when you paid LOTS for it.
But then, I 've had some of my trees for nearly 25 years now. And they are really great to look at and appreciate.