Advice for a newbie? (growing, butterflies, containers, tomatoes)

[happeemommee]

Hi ya'll,

For the past three years I have threatened to grow a garden, but something has always happened, but this year will be different! I just have no idea where to start. I think I want to grow tomatoes, lettuce, cukes and watermelons. Does anyone have any advice?

Oh! And I seem to kill every plant I have ever brought into my house, so I'm hoping this will be different.
Thanks!
M

[mamh]

Hi
Where are you located, which direction will your garden face, whats your soil like, how much space do you have,is there water readily avaliable all of these and more are questions you need ask your self , get a note pad and start makeing notes..
Also look down a thread or two as there is a lot of chatter on raised beds, square foot gardening books to check out and read ...
Also go to your local Ag extension Master gardener, they can give you lots of info on what works in your area...
Good luck and happy gardeninng

[happeemommee]

I hadn't thought about asking them. I did talk with the people at one of the bigger home improvement type stores and they seemed just as lost as I am. Thanks tho, I'll go to the Ag place.

[mamh]

Happi
Sadly most of your local home improvement store people are not full of the info you need..Talk to your neighbors, go to a couple of local nurseries, if you have a local garden-patio show go and talk to people there..Out here Portland has two shows coming up later this month..
Starting a veg garden is a big project..I garden in containers but volunteer at a local public garden and we do 8 acres of demo veg gardens they are a year around project...
Have patience and happy gardening

[FOAD]

Some general advice...

In the Northern Hemisphere, we usually face our gardens south, with he tallest plants on the north side to avoid overshadowing the shorter plants.

Picking a spot that is close with ample supplies of cheap water is important over the long haul.

Laying out your garden so you can easily work around the plants in a comfortable position is often overlooked by newbies, and they pay for it.

Since this is a learning year for you, make it easier for yourself...

Consider a loose leaf lettuce that is both bolt resistant and tolerates the heat well without getting bitter. Simpson Black Seeded lettuce is an option.

Consider an early to medium season determinate tomato variety. Long season varieties (90+ days until harvest) do best in places with ideal tomato weather and long growing seasons. Determinate tomatoes are easier to care for, require much less staking and shouldn't be trimmed. The Celebrity variety is a good, disease resistant, trouble-free workhorse. Any of the determinate Rutgers may serve you well too.

Consider a bush or dwarf bush cucumber variety, unless you have a trellis to contain a large, climbing variety. A good standard variety that can be harvested at different stages of maturity is the Straight Eight variety. Just don't let them get dry, or you may have tough skinned, bitter cukes.

And um... Let's see... Watermelons.
You'd better research them yourself. Location and growing season make selecting a good variety of watermelon a puzzle. Some melons take well over 100 days to mature, and will never make it if you are in the north. Some melons get very large, and require a steady source of ample water. For a small garden an old standby variety of melon that will likely do well in most locations is Sugar Baby. This is an icebox variety that only grows to about 8lbs in size... Maybe not what you had in mind, but far easier!

Good luck, have fun.

[happeemommee]

Thanks for all the great info! I can see I def have my work cut out for me. But I'm really looking forward to it. Ya'll have brought up a lot of great points I never would have thought of!

[swbtoo]

Great info here from everyone! Thanks. Last year was our first year of veggie gardening and we had moderate success due to not leaving enough space to comfortably work the garden ( ), an attack of squash bugs, and a fungus that killed 2 of our 20 tomato plants (not bad, all things considered). Fortunately the two were some distance from the other tomato plants, so maybe that helped protect the rest of them. We grew the sugar baby watermelons and they were delicious!

I made the mistake of planting too much, and the garden turned into a chore rather than the fun activity that I had looked forward to. So, this year, I'm not planting as much.

[Jaxson]

southward bound I tell myself each year we are cutting back too but we don't.

With the economy the way it is I look for more newbie gardeners they would be very wise to do so. I am ready to get in the dirt but have to wait a couple of more months before that starts around here.

[ihynes]

I'd just say, choose the sunniest spot in your yard, work the soil with a garden rake and a hoe and add topsoil, then plant the award winners because they're easy, water regularly until you see sprouting and then a little less after plants are established, and decide for yourself what grew best when it's all over. You might want to wrap chicken wire around your garden to keep bunnies or dogs out. I've had great luck with Jung's seed catalog. Don't forget, tall plants will shade shorter ones, and not much likes to grow in the shade. And have fun! It's so rewarding to see birds and butterflies visiting your garden.

[Rtom45]

Soil preperation is very important, especially in an area that hasn't been used before. Take lots of time to work up your soil, and if you are very sandy or have a lot of clay, you need to add peat moss or compost.