want to try my hand at gardening

[MNmommy]

This spring I want to plant my own veggie garden of some type and I dont know anything about gardening. I can do flowers but haven't attempted food yet. I would love to set up a small garden in my yard somewhere. I would love any advise you ladies can give me and where i can get seed catalogs and when to plant, if i should start the seeds in a container first in the home or what. THANKS

[brainyblonde]

I am a huge fan of Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening method since my days of living in a rowhouse and only having enough space for two squares. They are easy to maintain, and you can harvest a lot of food. I now have 5 square beds and one small rectangular bed with trellis attached.

In the spring I plant leaf lettuce mixes, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes and peas since they can take the cold soil temps. After the last frost, I plant bush beans (usually yellow wax and green), summer squashes (yellow and zukes), cukes, tomatoes and peppers. In the fall, I plant more lettuce, radishes and spinach. I add nasturtiums and marigold plants for pretty color and insect deterrents. I also have multiple herb containers.

I try different seed varieties and different kinds of veggies to see what grows best. I try to grow something new every year. Last year, it was strawberries.

I only buy tomatoes and pepper plant starts. I will buy them locally or order them from a company located in a climate similar to mine. I don't have a greenhouse or space indoors, and our season isn't long enough to direct-seed. I love trying heirloom varieties, and catalogs definitely have a bigger variety of seed/plants. I will buy many of the herb plants and a few tomato and pepper plants grown at a local nursery. I wish they had a bigger variety, as these plants grow the best because they have been hardened off in our climate.

I have my own worn copy of Mel's book, but you can probably find it in your library.

My other favorite gardening book is an old, out of print, Mother Earth News guide that I use to identify bad bugs and organic ways to get rid of them.

Whatever way you do it, once you get started, you won't be able to stop. It is so rewarding.

[frugal-fannie]

I also think the square foot method is a great way to go. Especially back east or were you get a lot of rain. It helps cut down on your weeding time. They used to have a show on PBS. You might find it archived at the library.I also try that with companion gardening.Marigolds will help keep some of the bugs away. I usually plant garlic or onions intermixed thru the garden or even in my flowers to keep bugs from eating them. Tomatoes and carrots help each other-so I plant a few carrots around my tomatoes.We used to plant a whole field of potatoes, I am not sure I would try square foot if you are doing something on a large scale like that.

[HeatherB]

I just went to chapters on line and ordered a copy (using a gift card I got for doing a survey). I can't wait for it to come! I've been wanting to plant a vegetable garden, but have a small yard, small children, and small amount of experience. This book sounds like a perfect fit.

[imforpeace]

You may also like to check out the book Lasagna Gardening. There's less work as you layer on organic material instead of rototilling. {which they say is harmful to your soil anyway} I add layers of newspaper and compost from my pile in the spring and then newspaper and leaves in the fall.

I start my tomatoes indoors so they are ready to go after the first frost. All other seeds I sow right in the soil.

I agree with the marigolds in the garden. They are amazing at keepng away bugs. If you grow tomatoes, spike a few nails around each plant. I don't know why this works at keeping away the nasty tomato bugs, but it works!

I grew some herbs this last year and was very pleased. In the past, I had only grown fruits and veggies. You can go out and snip the herbs as you need them, you really notice the difference in your foods. At the end of the season, you can freeze your fresh herbs. Just mix them in the blender with a bit of olive oil and pour into ice cube trays to freeze. When frozen, put in a bag. Simple!

Good luck, you won't regret the time you put into growing fresh foods!

[latierra84]

i think im going to try my hand at herb gardening this year. let us know what youre going to plant, im curious!

[frugal-fannie]

My other thing I do is buy mark down shallots, onions. I bring them home and plant them.I then harvest them after they are revitalized, It also keeps them from rotting and wasting money. I have rosemary which is really drought tolerant. sage-drought tolerant and it has pretty purple flowers, and chives which I have all over the place. I also have mint.Once you get most of these established they are pretty low maintenance. I love fresh chives.Lavender for the hummingbirds and to keep away mosquitoes.

[BetterLateThanNever]

First off Happy New Year Everyone!

I've been learning how to garden from my mom. We've planted a garden together for the past 3 years. I'm in Ohio sort of in your neck of the woods.

Growing veggies isn't as difficult as you might think. IN my opinion the most difficult part is keeping up with weeds and remembering to water. OH and as I've stated in a previous post, keeping the ground hogs away.

As everyone said start small. Personally I think tomatos, peppers, beans, squash and pumpkins are the easiest to grow, pretty hardy and can withstand the weeds if weeding gets a way from you.

some good seed catalogues are the Cooks Garden www.cooksgarden.com and Pinetree Gardens www.superseeds.com don't hesitate to call or email seed companies for help. Most of them are really helpful with gardening questions.

Tomatoes and Peppers do needed to be started indoors around the Midddle of March. Also my mom uses plain flourescent bulbs to grow her seedlings indoor. She said that those grow lights even the cool grow lights are too hot for seedlings and will kill them. Mom uses those shop lights with the long flourescent tube bulbs. She cobbled together a shelving unit and attatched the shop lights to chain and attatched the chain to those small hooks you screw into the wood.

Herbs are pretty easy to start from seed but take a loooooooong time to germinate so you need to start those aroung the end of January. The exception is Rosemary which can be very difficult to germinate and I don't reccomend for somone just starting out.

You don't need special seed trays to start seeds. Mom uses black plastic trays or old baking pans to start seeds and once they get couple of inches high she transplants them into paper and styrofoam cups ( Just take a pencil and punch a drainage hole in the bottom.

Okay i'll stop my rambling I hope this helps

Kim

[Peaches]

I've been wanting to garden for years, but with our tiny, postage stamp size back garden, DH and I decided it was time for an allotment. We hire our patch of land from the local Council for around $50/year. It's just around the corner from our house, so we can walk to it. Last year was our first year, and we managed to produce potatoes, beans, lettuce, spinach, onions, chard, swede, beets, tomatoes and cucumbers. We're planning next year's crops already, and I'm really excited about it! I love growing things. I never thought I would enjoy it, but it really is so rewarding to sow some seeds and watch them grow. I never knew a potato could taste so good until I grew one myself, and ate it within 30 minutes of picking it. Lovely!

[missyali]

We have some raised bed gardens that we add leaves and yard matter to in the fall and then compost in the spring and throughout the growing season. I get my pepper and tomatoes from a garden store as well as my herbs (chives are the easiest in my opinion). I start zucchini, beans and soybeans from seed. Pumpkins are very easy but have a tendency to take over (as do my zucchini). We, too, like to try one new thing each year. We will do a small pumpkin patch this year due to the bullying they did last summer in my garden. Seeds of Change is a favorite organic seed supply we use. Good luck! Have fun! It is good family fun at our house and the learning is endless!