"How does your garden grow?" - Event Date: March 03 2007

    I'm going to plant a garden towards the end of April, and wondered how many others are doing it. I'm looking into the catalogs online now and ordering some to be sent to me so I can study them further. I'm not one that normally takes on more agricultural/horticultural duties than I have to, but I figure this will give me a better idea on what grows well in my area, in my own soil, what I like to eat and how to can it, the whole sha-bang. I did it last year but lost my motivation about 1/4 the way through the whole process and it was a disaster, so here we go again!

My pondering: Any other there annual growers that can give a newbie some tips on things to start with? Size? Pest issues? Tools you prefer? What seed companies do you like best or is just buying seeds where-ever OK? Is it OK to plant a 50/50 garden with hybrid and non-hybrid, so I can taste/experience the differences or would they mess one another up somehow?

    

I've been gardening for about 30+ years. I prefer using heirloom seed because I collect seeds for the following year. This can't be done well with hybrid varieties. It's fun to experiment though. Have fun in the dirt and enjoy.

This helps me. Last year was my first time. The wind blew my corn down and I could not understand why. Any suggestions? I read on this site about heirloom seeds and order them to plant this year . Grammjo, is there anything I need to know about them?

Were thinking about putting out a simple little garden potatos,onions and tomatos.Manure isnt and issue here due to the horses and goats.

Grammajo can you recommend herloom tomatos that you like I know we have cherokee purples locally.

Satomick It may help if you could put your seed just a tiny bit deeper Lord knows corn has s******ow roots the rain and hail can beat it down in no time can you put it were it will have a bit of a wind break?

I kept finding our neighbors out in my pasture gathering manure for there gardens last year but I was scared to death they were going to get hurt climbing in with my stud so when I clean out the barn I put it in a little trailor and set it out beside our driveway with a sign that says free manure that way I dont have to worry about people getting hurt or the law suits that could follow.Not to mention it helps me out
    

Abbie good luck with your gardening its a great skill to learn,i am in the learning zone myself,Pests,for Slugs i use beer traps they love beer and die happy i suppose,use a cup or jar place a few inches of beer inside and collect the monsters in the morning,replace the beer every two days.For aphids i use a mixture of garlic and chili,crush the garlic and chili peppers stain them tho a filter then spray on to the enemy as you would a normal pesticide its not 100% so i follow up killing them by hand.Companion planting and netting offers a natural form of pest control,planting Garlic and i think its marigolds offer some protection from bugs.For a natural fertilizer i use Stinging Nettles,soak them in a tub of water for a week drain them and use the rather smelly water it works well.
A few people have mentioned having a garden in a pandemic will draw unwanted attention,there is the option of growing food plants indoors with dwarf varieties such as Tomato Minibel,Cucumber Fembaby,Aubergine Long Purple,The Peanut,Strawberry,Sweet Pepper,Mushroom,Okra,Kumquat,to name but a few,i have not grown all of these yet so this year i will try to grow indoors as well as outside.As for seeds i buy organic if i can,we have saved seeds from store bought foods dried them and used them with good results in the past,also store bought eating potatoes gave us a good crop last year,but are prone to decease so i have been told.
I had the same problem with my corn one year satomick,so i planted them closer together and feed them more often,that worked for me.

satomick

Heirloom seeds are seeds that have passed through generations of people without change. Hybrids are varieties that have been combined one with another. The seeds from these don't usually do well for the average gardener. Also corn should be planted in blocks of at least 8by8 for support. Another tip(sounds gross but really works),place a fish head in the hole before you set the plant. Just experiment and enjoy.

 

God bless. Jo

carolina kid

My grandfather had a saying about the garden that I've always gone by, "Carrots love tomatoes, but don't plant onions near the beans". Don't know the reason, but I do it just to be on the safe side.

hi dixie girl, raised beds are the way to go. mine are 24x30' gated and fenced to keep the deer and pests out.   one is all various beans, another with all the goodies. also a plot of all corn. thought i mention anyone using this type of garden, make sure you use untreated lumber. built ours in '98 and still in good shape. pressure treated (green) lumber is treated with arsenic, don't use railroad ties ether. and of course we are canners too. if the power goes away for good , besides jerky/salted, canned is the only way to keep meat. will easily last for years. hey... fist (survival} food of the new season , won't be long now, ice leaving the bay and river, that means SMELT RUN mmmmmmmm. we would be happy to help anyone grow the essentials.

You asked so here it goes.  I read each and every post and what a great group we have here. 

You go girl! this is great!!!

    Manure has a 3 fold use. The manure is food for the plants. The manure porvides texture for the soil. Each year you work the soil with manure and mulch, it gets easier. This probably the most important. Manure provides food for earth worms. The worms tunnel and burrow in the soil. This makes it easier for the plants roots to grow. It also helps drain the soil. You want it to drain, otherwise you got mud all the time. Worms will die in mud or pure water. The worms also poop and this plant food. Earth worms are probably the gardeners best friend. You can take a turning fork, get one scoop and you got enough worms to fish all day. You put the manure
out and work in good, the worms will come.

    Abby,

I cant add much more that has not already posted.
We have talked about all kind of things. Saftey would be next. Wear boots. Safety glases are a plus. The bugs will eat you alive. What ever cure you find, dont do it when the wind is blowing. I use sevin 10% dust. You get a couple whiffs of this stuff and you know what a dyeing
bug feels like. Good luck. Keep up posted as to your progress. Like jo said, have fun in the dirt. It will be what you make it. Pick a good spot out. Work that dirt and it will reward you.

I have a 2,000 square foot garden that is an on-going experiment. Here's a run-down of where we are at this point:

    Abby,

A few words about veggies. Probably my fav is tomatoes.
I use better boys. This is a hybrid. If you want a heirloom consider Rutger. It is smaller(the tomato not the plant). Tomatoes are vines. Now days most people use stakes or cages to suppor the vine. When the plant grows out the top of the support. Eventually each branch of the plant will break, due to the weight of the tomatoes.
When this break happens verticle growth will stop, for that section.
When I make a tomato cage out of concrete wire, it is 6 feet tall. Usually the verticle growth is stopped about sometime in August. Remember the tomato is a vine. I extended my cages up to 10 feet. I started this as an experiment. I thought 6 feet is good. 10 feet is better.
On a good year I have to go each day and pick the tomatoes by the bucket full. By late summer, early fall I have to use a step ladder to pick them. I bought more of the concrete wire to do this with. When I brought the first roll of wire home, I went and got my wire cutters.
I sqeezed as hard as I could, nothing. What I am telling you is you are going to need a pair of bolt cutters to cut this wire with.

Thanks for the info on the potaotes, I think I will try planting some.

Last year I tried ideas for making food accesable without going too far from the house. We stacked cement blocks 2 high and filled with dirt along our patio for plants. Also used rabbit fence along one side from ground to roof for growing beans. We had beans growing across the roof of our patio and had to pick them every day. Does anyone have other ideas for making the food easier to get to if things should get really bad?

God bless. Jo

Grapes, use espson salt mixed with water once a month in the summer. does wonders for them . Use 7 dust or they will be eaten alive with beetles. apache thornless blackberrys are larger than a quarter in size and taste worderful. Given a couple of years in the ground and you will get more than you could imagine. If you have a fireplace and burn wood spread the ashes in the garden. It gives potassium and other mineals to your plants. Great for Iris and for that matter all flowers and vegies. Just do not use in soil around potatoes. They do not like it.

    Abby,
A word about potatoes. I have never had much luck with potatoes. The spirit was here but the turning plow was not. All I have is a medium size tiller. It will at best work the dirt about 6 inches. You need to go down at least a foot or more for potatoes to do good. Potatoes wont grow in hard dirt. The dirt has to be worked and loose. Sure, I had some. They never got bigger than a golf ball. They were all on the top 6 inches of dirt that I had tilled. This is about all I have. Keep us posted. Gardening is a lot of work, If you experiment you can reduce that work some. I dont know yet if I can hold up to do much gardening. I hope so. I love to play in the dirt. You work the dirt. You plant it and GOD will grow it. Good luck and have fun.

    I am not planting a garden this spring. Last season the weather was so off....way to much water and I wasted SO much time,money and energy it just isn't worth the trouble.

We've had a garden for over 40 yrs and it is alot of work but well worth it. This year I'm going to try to grow some baby veggies in the house. Then if people starting stealing the outside stuff we'll still have the baby veggies in the house. I saw an article about baby lettuce and other tiny veggies and I intend to order some seed and see how it goes. If you google baby lettuce seeds for example, there are alot of places that sell them. Since these plants are small, they mature much faster that the regular size.

Ok, here's a few tips. I'm not much of a gardener, but i'm learning. Mom, on the other hand, her yard is the envy of the area...but maybe i'm just biased