Do you have a vegetable garden?

[PaulK]

Do you have a vegetable garden as a result of being married to a woman from the former Soviet Union or other Eastern European country?

When I met my wife she was living in Bucharest, Romania (a city with approximately 2 million people), however, she was born and raised in a much smaller city that has a population of under 50 thousand people. My in-laws have a home in the countryside which is a bit like a dacha I guess and my father-in-law has a huge garden there with mostly grapes, beans, tomatoes... and three bee hives (IIRC. I miss that honey); when my wife was growing up, she and her classmates were required by her school/the-state to go and work in the vegetable fields for one reason or another... anyway, she is no stranger to growing veggies and it wasn't a surprise to me that she would want her own garden when she came here, so she has one 

We planted different varieties of tomatoes, beans, some peas, cauliflower, eggplant, onions and a bunch of different herbs. Our growing season is kind of short (we had snow in May of this year  ) and the larger tomatoes have just started ripening enough to be picked. I might be a little biased but I must say that they are the best that I have ever tasted  A photo of one is attached below.

Do you have a vegetable garden? What's growing in it?

[ML]

I came from a long line of gardeners on both sides of my family.

Over the years, I have had my own garden and sometimes fruit trees as well.  Some years yes, some years no.

This year, Ochka and I planted more than we did last year, but still not a large garden.

Tomatoes are my favorite and we have been eating them from our garden since first of June.  Early Girl tomatoes and cherry tomatoes come first.

But, of course, starting in August is when the crop really starts going.  We have 12 bushes and have to give them away daily now.

My favorite is always the yellow tomatoes; Golden Jubilee this year and Sun Gold cherry type.

Red Beefmaster are especially made for BLTs as they can cover the entire slice of bread in one shot.

[mendeleyev]

We have a garden at our home just outside Moscow, although much of it is flowers but we do have some tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, onions and squash. The extended family dacha outside Volgograd on the river has a large garden and orchard and a couple weeks back Mrs M and daughter #3 drove to Volgograd to collect Mum, an Aunt and a carload of canned items and some fresh as well. Two cousins just arrived this week from the dacha with another carload of "stuff" which is one of the fun things about dacha life in the summer. Unfortunately I've had to work so missed out on most of the relaxation.

[ML]

. . . . Mrs M and daughter #3 drove to Volgograd to collect Mum, an Aunt and a carload of canned items and some fresh as well. Two cousins just arrived this week from the dacha with another carload of "stuff" . . .

Jim, isn't it something like an 11 hour car trip, or more, one way Moscow - Volgograd?

So aside from just being with family, etc., surely there is no economy in having this family dacha garden.  Am I wrong about the time, or missing something here; or what?

[mendeleyev]

True, or 18 hours by train as we used to do it each summer.

The dacha garden produces everything from potatoes to carrots to beets to tomatoes, etc. Vegetables like green beans, corn, pickled cucumbers, pickled tomatoes, etc, are canned (jars) as are peaches, cherries, blackberries, etc. Given than Moscow is so big and items often expensive, a carload or two of this stuff goes a long way. Sacks of onions and potatoes in the trunk (the "boot" for our UK members) are handy and everything is divided equally once the cars arrive back in Moscow.

As we open the dacha in May for air and cleaning and in June relatives begin to gather and stay for long periods of the summer, the orchard and gardens are the family "grocery store" in the summer. We have a quiet spot near the river and the fishing can be good too. I love the arrangement: it was the family farm home of maternal grandparents and today various family members own "rooms" of this old two story place and in many ways it feels like old Soviet communal housing except that we all get along and like each other.

If some decision needs to be made we call for a "Soviet" (a committee) which is usually Mum, an Aunt, and a cousin. They listen to our input and then come to a decision. The last time we called a major "Soviet" to solve a problem was several years back, when tired of replacing the kitchen and bath fixtures every Spring due to vandalism each winter, we made a family decision to reopen the outhouse, bring a refrigerator from a storage garage for the summer, and do without running water and a working indoor kitchen. Everything from water and gas piping to the commode to the stainless steel sink would turn up missing by the time we arrived in Spring and so we built an outdoor stone BBQ/open oven at the patio, made sure the hand pump still worked on the well for water, fixed the outhouse (but no Sears & Roebuck catalogs), and we've actually had fun "roughing" it.

The most modern thing we have is a banya, installed a couple years ago near the outhouse. (The location wasn't my suggestion.) Cousins who are handy built it of stone walls and it is secured like a prison--so far no vandalism (knock on the shingled wood roof). The family joke is that it could serve as a nuclear fallout shelter if needed. That was done by cousins with permission of the family "Soviet."

In Soviet times the government actually estimated dacha potato production and included it in their annual crop reports since individual gardens outpaced the harvest from collective farms in most years. The dacha concept began as a way to alleviate food shortages but today the experience itself and the gathering of family and interaction with children and adults is far more valuable that the annual garden production. However most dacha owners take great pride in their gardens, orchards, flowers, etc. Dacha gardens in the FSU can be as important in status to families here just as pristine lawn and landscaping is a status symbol in some Western suburbs.

A few years back when families were strapped for cash you could buy a dacha with a nice river view for $3-6k USD, including ones with a bath and indoor kitchen. Not anymore, the new trend is the "super dacha" in gated developments. These new dachas are anything but plain and can cost millions. Obviously very little gardening goes on at those dachas.

[PaulK]

I shouldn't have let my wife see this thread, I'm going to have to pant an apricot tree now.

[Doll]

My husband and I just match in this regard)))- he had had a garden for years before I came and I liked it a lot.
We have quite a big garden every summer.

[Doll]

[PaulK]

That is a very nice vegetable garden, Doll!

[mendeleyev]

Doll, that is beautiful!

[mendeleyev]

I  shouldn't have let my wife see this thread, I'm going to have to pant an apricot tree now.

Paul, not sure where you live but there is now a strain of apricot that can be grown in places like Siberia.
 

[PaulK]

Paul, not sure where you live but there is now a strain of apricot that can be grown in places like Siberia.

I'm in upstate, NY, Mendeleyev. Ada's parents have an apricot tree at their home in the countryside (in Romania), the climate is similar to where we are and that has her convinced that they would do well here... next spring planting an apricot tree will be crossed of the to do list.

[Doll]

Thanks guys.
It is a lot of work. We slowed down this summer- the youngest is going to leave on campus, so there will not be many people to comsume it.

[Ranetka]

I tried growing things a few years ago and failed miserably . the last blueberry bush died this summer. :-) Farmers market for me.

[lonedrake]

Doll that is a very impressive garden. Perfectly spaced plants,regularly weeded and you even have sweet corn.

[Gator]

Doll, well done.  Are those collard greens in the middle?
 
I used to have small gardens  when I lived in the North.  My property in Florida abounds with deer who appreciate a fresh vegetable, so I do not even try knowing they will consume everything.
 
I do have a key lime tree (great for Mojito cocktails) and I need to learn how to grow mint in the heat. 
 
My wife enjoys flower gardening, a past hobby of mine.  She is so attentive that there is nothing for me to do other than turn the soil and buy fertilizer and such. 

[TS]

Here in Houston I kill rattle snakes, scorpions, nasty looking spiders with violen shapes on their back, and fire ants all the time.  Other then going into our swimming pool or down to the deck and get into the boat wife has zero interest outside in our yard. I personally don't want her digging around the soil as her job would suffer with any ant bites. 
I have lemon lime, orange, tangerine, and plum fruit trees and a ton of palm trees.
Wife only allows organic food in the house so grocery shopping gets expensive very quick.  Some of our Russian neighbors grow a ton of food mainly to save money and have good taste. We have an Asian family that gets dogs from the shelter and they disappear around New Years but that is a different kind of garden.
The taste of tomatoes in my opinion is #1 reason to buy organic from a good store or grow it yourself.  If you do buy from store if it is really organic you will have bugs flying around it.  You will notice bugs like the good stuff.
 
 

[mendeleyev]

Lived a couple of years in Houston many years ago and remember those fire ants and various spiders. Playing out in the grass simply wasn't an option and you never walked around the year without shoes. Then at night all windows had to be closed because of city trucks driving slowly thru neighborhoods spraying poisons to kill mosquitoes.

[mendeleyev]

Today is the "Saviour of the Apple Feast Day" in the FSU.



This markets the official beginning of autumn. Also it is the day marking the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor.
 
Today lots of folk will take apples (and grapes) to church to be blessed as the priest walks by and sprinkles everyone and everything with holy water.

 Traditional medicine:

- Green apples improve the health of teeth and eyes.

- Red apples prevent memory loss.

- Yellow apples aid the immune system.

Below: Apples from market in Yalta (Ukraine).

[jdatbs77]

Wow. Didn't know this was such a hot topic!

In my life I have never been able to grow anything. The few times I attempted gardening, all my crops died. But this year my wife, who is Ukrainian, said "we have to have a garden." So, not really knowing what I was doing, I went out, cleared a small space in a fenced in portion of my yard, and planted zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes.

Now, I am no farmer, but my wife guided me well and we got a few zucchini, some nice healthy big red tomatoes, and some nice purple and black bell peppers. We also planted dill, mint, and basil, and all are doing well. And we planted two grape vines, one black and one red, and although they say it takes two years for them to bear fruit, the vines are growing  quickly and look quite healthy.

I made a few mistakes but hopefully next year will be better. We also have fruit trees: oranges, lemons, avocados, and grapefruit. I learned how to keep the ants off of the trees using a product called "Tree Tanglefoot."

So yes...my Ukrainian wife is responsible for a very nice vegetable garden....

[PaulK]

I forgot to mention that we planted two apple trees of different varieties this spring 

[mendeleyev]

A cool trivia feature is that the birthplace of the apple is the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. There are more scientific organizations studying the science of apples in Almaty than anywhere else in the world. Naturally that makes Almaty a candidate for the garden of Eden according to some.

The Russian version of the name, Alma-Ata, combines two words meaning "father of the apple."


While we're in the region, Uzbekistan is the birthplace of the melon. Thanks to Asian and European traders who traveled the "Silk Road" through what is now Uzbekistan, seeds were carried to other parts of the world so that we could enjoy those delicious varieties of melons.

If you're ever in Moscow in the summer make sure to pick out several melons of different varieties--they're trucked up from Uzbekistan.

[Doll]

 /

[ML]

All this extra rain in the Mid-Atlantic region this summer has screwed up our tomato crop.  Had some really great ones, but many were split (Ochka says because too much rain) and crop is dwindling.

Normally we would have tomatoes far into September, and even some in October.  But seems that will not happen this year.

[fathertime]

My husband and I just match in this regard)))- he had had a garden for years before I came and I liked it a lot.
We have quite a big garden every summer.

Thanks for the pics Doll...real nice garden...where are you located?  You have lots of space...I'm here in California and a little cramped on space at my current house...so I'm a little jealous.

I just got corn...but my pomegranates are coming in nice.
Fathertime!