Good job Bud and others. I grew up fortunate enough to have land to grow things on. My grandparents and parents always had a small garden. It was probably more for the education and experience for us than it was for the harvest.
My grandmother grew beets, my grandfather grew strawberries plus he farmed. He used to take produce (mostly satsuma's I believe) to Mobile to the farmers market. At the time there was no road across Mobile Bay and he had to take a ferry to get there. My dad was real good at growing peanuts, carrots, potatoes and all kinds of beans.
In my younger days I had some good results growing corn, potatoes, melons, squash and okra.
Once I started working I found that if you're not watching your garden constantly things can go down hill quickly. Overnight I found my tomato crop would be ate up with tomato worms, my okra plant flower buds infested with ants, cut worms cutting off young tender seedlings (usually beans).
In my later years I tried growing a garden between 2 of my barns because there was a water hydrant source nearby. Each time my lush garden full of bell peppers, tomato plants and onions went under water due to the never ending rains and drowned everything.
Melons are hard to grow for me since they can't be cultivated, they make the vines and the weeds help themselves. Growing melons can become a snaky, unsightly place.
My worse experience came when I was in my 20's. I thought since squash is so easy to grow and we have the land, I'll just plant a lot of it and give it away. I bought about 3# of seeds and planted a row about 300-400 feet long. Since I was working and had little time for a garden, I figured this was the best way. I could just disk or bush hog along each side of the row and not have to do any back breaking weeding. I suppose this would have worked out well except I planted the seeds way too close together and ended up with a nice healthy squash hedge. The plants were overcrowded and did not bloom.
Since my Dad had great luck growing carrots I figured I would try it in a sandy section of the field where nothing grows very well. My thoughts were the sand wouldn't affect the carrots so much since they would be growing in loose fertilized soil and would be practically weed free--wrong. The plants looked healthy enough but the carrot roots looked like a piece of wire when pulled up.
In my neck of the woods we have abundant (as in way too much) rainfall, long growing seasons (but extremely hot), buggy and weedy conditions. The experience of growing things yourself is priceless but as far as food goes I have found it is just so much easier to buy fruit and vegs that come in from Brazil and other places where DDT is still allowed.
Though retired, the projects I need to do around the home vs good weather and my health dictate me not having a garden any more but envy those that do and can.
Thanks for posting the pictures. They bring back memories.
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Originally Posted by jon_norstog
