Newb Gardener Question!

[Frugal Girl]

For the first time in my life, I will have a back yard and front yard for planting flowers and gardening vegetables. We're moving to our new home by the end of the month.

The Question:
In preparation for next year, what are some "easy" veggies and flowers to grow?
Do you know of anything I could plant this fall and will come up in the spring? And what's the technical term for those plants, so I can search it?

Thanks so much for your help! I'm really looking forward to learning and playing in the yard!

[Edna_E]

Depends alot on where you are. Daisies, marigolds, chrysanthemums, and petunias are pretty easy most places I've been. Beets, tomatoes, and squashes are in the veggie line. I'd suggest visiting with people who own or work in plant nurseries about what does well in your area. If you preface the conversations with "I'm a new homeowner and am planning for next year, but could you tell me...." you are not likely to get pressure to buy anything right now.

[DixieJ]

It depends on what zone your in as to what grows best. I've always found annuals such as zinnias, periwinkle and four o'clocks very easy to grow, and in our zone they always reseed. Blackeyed susans, daisys and autumn sedum are easy perenials (sp?) to grow. My favorites flowering shrubs are peonies and hydrangeas. Oh, I also love knockouts roses they are lovely and very disease and pest resistant. As far as planting in the fall for springs blooms that would most likely be bulbs such as tulips and daffodils and such.

The vegetables that I've found fairly easy is tomatoes, lettuce, green onions, squash, cucumbers and green beans.

Good luck in your gardening adventure!!

Dixie Jean

[DixieJ]

I forgot to add that most gardeners love to share. If you notice something in a neighbors yard and comment on much you like that particular flower, most gardeners are happy to give a new gardener a start of the plant. I know I have given many cuttings of my plants to friends to get started.

Dixie Jean

[Lorelei]

Since you're planning a veggie garden next year, preparing the soil this fall (by tilling or double-digging) then planting a cover crop to overwinter will help. Cover crops are great for adding nutrients and improving soil structure.

As others have said, where you live impacts what is easy to grow, however tomatoes & beans are pretty easy. This fall, you can register for a bunch of catalogs to be sent to you. The garden companies usually send them out during winter and they often have a lot of good planting information in them. There are a lot of good ones, including Johnny's Selected Seeds, Park Seeds and Nichols. You should also be able to find a lot of gardening books in your library, some probably geared towards what grows well in your area. Have fun learning! Gardening is a lot of fun.

[MarshHen]

I would also suggest you have the soil where you plan to plant your vegetables tested. You can do this by contacting your county Ag agent. They will have you take several samples of soil from areas of each plot that you plan to garden, and they may ask you what you want to plant in each plot. They will then test the soil and let you know if you need to add anything to the soil to improve it. For instance, we usually need to add lime to our soil each season, and having the soil tested lets us know how much to add, depending on what crop we plant.

We pay $5 for each sample we have tested. That's a small price to pay though when we we start harvesting and enjoying the wonderful bounty our garden gives us.

You can also get great advice on fertilizers, pest control, and what vegetables and flowers/trees do well in your area from your county Ag office.

Have fun and Congratulations on your new home.