I moved! To the country!! I finally can have a garden!!!
The last time I had a veggie garden was in 1999. That was the autumn my then BF and I broke up, but that summer we tried to get along, and we made this awesome veggie garden and I really enjoyed it. He was a massive pothead and drug cultivator, but I forbid it when I lived there. But I'll give the guy credit, he was a good gardener. I learned a lot from him. LOL Bumper crops of everything, and I started everything from seed, learning how to do the seeds, peat pods, hardening off, etc. from the internet.
So this year, I started the seeds several weeks ago, and it's SO exciting to watch them sprout!! I think I may have overdone it, though, however my front lawn is 400 feet deep, so it's not like I don't have the space. I have to rent a rototiller, though, and it's TERRIBLE clay soil, so I have to do the mulch and stuff myself. I actually think I might hire someone to do it, just from lawn the first time. Years after this will be easier, it's just the first year will be the hardest.
I have seedlings for:
Roma Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Brandywine Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Spinach (organic + regular)
Peas
Snow Peas
Squash
I also have seeds in strips (to be planted right in the ground) for carrots and onions.
Today I bought a small RASPBERRY BUSH! I'm very excited about this!!!!
AND!!!
I also bought two rosebushes -- one red Chrysler Imperial and a white Moondance. I have always always always loved roses. I know nothing about rosebush gardening, but the front of my house is stark empty with no flowerbeds at all, so I'll start with the rosebushes and we'll see how it goes from there. If I'm going to rent a rototiller, I might till the land in front of the house and edge it and just stick some perennials in there for now... better to have something instead of nothing.
Anyone else garden? Veggies or flowers? Tips for a newbie such as myself??
We have a garden - it's about 14x15'. We have several flower beds and also a lettuce bed and Jim just tore up another bed for the kids in our neighborhood to plant pumpkins.
You're going to need a fence - otherwise you'll lose your hard worked on plants to woodchucks, deer and rabbits. Fencing can be expensive and is a real bitch to put up - you'll want some help. Find out what wildlife is in your 'hood and that will help inform what height fence you need.
Clay soil is OK - that's what we have. Do you have to remove sod? That's a heck of a job, if you do... For the first year you may not have time what with getting the ground prepared and the fencing up - you can use a basic fertilizer instead of trying to mulch.
Good luck! We adore our garden. All the work is in the spring - then you just watch it grow and ultimately harvest, pretty much!
I don't know if I have to remove sod. What are the reprecussions of just rototilling the grass into the ground? I know nothing.
If not, yeah, I guess I will have to get it removed.
Later today, when I have more time, I will try to address many of the gardening issues that you bring up.
To begin, please consider natural gardening methods to sustain the life in your soil and garden.
Rototilling is not necessary, although many urban gardeners are used to that method- it has problems.
Try looking up terms such as " easy start garden"
Also consider " lasagna garden" to avoid rototilling.
Congratulations on your new hobby!
Start slow small and simple.
Jo - if you have grass on the area where you want your garden you will most likely need to remove it. Most rototillers are not powerful enough to til the grass in. Even more importantly, if there are weeds you are not going to want to just till the weeds and their seeds into your garden. That is going to present a problem for you later on when your garden is full of weeds. Uou could ask the place where you are renting the tiller if they think it has the capacity to till in the grass.
cassia - she has clay soil. Have you ever worked with it? It's like cement if you don't rototill. She also doesn't have time for a "lasagna garden" if she wants to put the plants she's already started into the ground this year. We don't usually till our garden (we turn it over by hand) but this year our neighbor lent us his tiller and it was like heaven!
Given your clay soil, I'd suggest putting boxes filled with good soil on the surface. Then you don't have to worry about tilling and trying to keep the clay friable. The majority of the roots stay above 6" so the clay won't even come into play. My introduction to gardening came from a show I saw on PBS when I was a kid called Square Foot Gardening. The show is long gone, but you can read about the method at
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/whatissfg. The website seems a little slow but I hope you don't have any problems. The gist of it is a home garden shouldn't be run like a little farm with rows of crops. Instead of planting the seeds in a row and then pulling a bunch out to get the right spacing, just plant them at the ideal spacing to start. Makes for a very productive garden!
Yes, if you have clay, you need to amend the soil -- or just go with Mark's method of putting above-ground buckets of dirt. We put our tomato plants in five-gallon buckets, but even that is really more depth than is necessary for tomato plants. The advantage to five-gallon buckets and fresh soil from a bag in the garden store is that you avoid spotted wilt (can't be treated -- the ground is ruined, so planting there next year will just produce more spotted wilt).
If you want to amend the soil, it will also take time. You add some this year, and next year, and sometimes it takes three years to fully amend. Talk to your local garden center, and they can advise you on the proper mix for what you want to produce, but commonly what you need is something to fluff up the soil and make it more porous (peat moss, for example), and then some organics like compost, because clay is virtually dead.
The local market near me sells above-ground garden boxes in the spring. They are four very solid pieces of wood that slot together in the corners. There is no bottom, but you can slot the wood together to make a box, put it on the ground (probably with a plastic sheet under it or something to keep out the weeds), and fill it up with dirt. They have all sorts of different sizes, up to about 5 x 5 feet I think.
I'm not sure if I'd use them as a really long-term solution as I have illusions of growing a big garden, but my plan is to buy some of these and then slowly expand my garden built into the ground.
We have clay - it's not that big of a deal. Just remove your sod and either turn over what remains by hand or with a rototiller and then throw down some 10-10-10 fertilizer (we use Scott's). No need to do raised beds and all that. Yes, you can amend the soil and it would be a good idea, but you'll be able to grow your food without all that, at least the first year.
PG - spotted wilt doesn't winter over up this far north. It was a disaster last year but we're all hoping it's gone. But up here you can plant in the same spot as long as the winter was tough enough.
I would think if a rototiller can go through clay, it certainly can go through grass. I know the rental place I was looking at had three types of rototillers... one light duty, medium and heavy duty.
I was thinking of doing a spot about 12' x 24'. My friend was trying to talk me into the boxes, but that's more money I'd have to spend on 'stuff' that's not really necessary. The soil is expensive enough! I don't think I bought nearly enough of it. I might need to buy peat moss too. Crazy. Expensive. Hobby. But very worthwhile. I remember the soup I made that year with all the veggies from my own garden. WELL worth the crazy price of getting it started!! LOL
ROTOTILLING VS NO TILL:
If you have never operated a rototiller before- consider getting someone who has done so.
It is a dangerous machine to operate.
Consider looking up " no till gardening "
It is a much more sustainable method to garden that keeps the soil healthy.
Here is ONE of hundreds of article about issues with tilling.
http://desertification.wordpress.com/200...http://desertification.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/no-till-gardening-sustainable-alternative-to-the-rototiller-dav
SMALL SPACE GARDENING:
To save space, work, water and more look up " Square foot gardening" and "French intensive gardening'
In a small space, you can get far more productivity for far less work than in traditional gardening
ORGANIC/GREEN PRINCIPLES:
Since you are already ecologically oriented, start out your garden that way.
You guys are awesome. Thanks so much for all the links. I will meander through them this evening. I have NO CONCEPT of size. I just know I planted too many seedlings (insofar as I'm one person HAHA) but I don't want them to go to waste, so I'll plant them and give away whatever grows. I know the local foodbanks or even freecyclers love stuff like that. Plus, it's the joy of growing it. I am going to TRY and steam the bumper crop of spinach I'm expecting and freeze it for later use. We'll see. As well as tomatoes. Tomatoes and spinach are really the only two vegetables I eat regularly, that's why I planted so much of each! As I said, I'm new to all of this... so I expect to make mistakes this year, but hopefully I'll have fun doing it! HA
Let's see... Right now I have about 40 tomato seedlings. Yes, I'm well aware of the fact I over did it. HAHA But Each plant is supposed to have a 3x3 spot... the math is really adding up. I think I have about five or six peas and five or six snow peas. About 10 spinach. Two squash. I also have the taped seeds for a row of carrots and a row of onions. Plus the raspberry bush.
I have no idea. Man this is overwhelming! LOL
Cassia, if we hook up this summer, clear out a spot in your sidesaddles... I'll be loading you up! LOL
Oh, and re: tilling vs. not tilling... sadly, this year it's too late in the season to start doing composting and layering ... I think that is a fall activity, and I might try it this fall to expand the garden, but for now I'm probably going to hire someone to till it. I would like to get the seedlings in the ground the first week of June. I'm going to a wedding the last weekend in May, so June it is. Although I might like to try doing it myself, I agree with Cassia... it's a big job, and I'm still injured from the car accident, and I don't want to actually hurt myself further.
I want this to be fun and get me outdoors and in the sun and doing something both physical and spiritual. Never mind yummy. LOL
OH and one more thing... LOL
Re: fencing...
Before this damn thing bankrupts me, I really think I'm going to get four wooden stakes and some deer netting! LOL I live in the middle of several farmers' fields. They do not have fencing around their crops. I don't know how they prevent critters from eating their crops, but I know I do want to protect mine as best I can. I'll have to look around and see what other farmhouses' gardens look like. ACTUALLY, as luck would have it, I found an old schoolmate of mine from elementary school lives down the street from me and is an avid gardener! We were going to split on the rototiller rental, but I'm not sure, now. We've been chatting on facebook, so I'll pick her brain and see what is up with her.
Luckily when you live on a farm, you don't need to fancy things up with the best 'white picket fencing' LOL ... so I think deer netting might do. I also know peas and snow peas need support and I was thinking about wooden stakes and either twine or gardening wire... I have a huge roll of it I got at the dollar store.
Canadian Tire had tomato cages on for 99 cents on the weekend so I got 25 of them. Perhaps I'll limit myself to 25 tomato plants this year.
At first you want to keep it small, simple and manageable.
I used to do about 50-75 flats (200 to 300 seedlings) of vegetables .
Plus- I would plant about 600 sq ft of gardens.
That was intensive (ie square foot style) so an equivalent "normal" garden would be 4 times the size.
This year, I will be doing one community garden (15ft x 25ft) in one town, another community garden near home ( 25ft x 40 ft ) and door yard gardens at home ( total about 15ft x 20ft)
I do them all intensive and organic.
I just returned from a second workshop on permaculture and may try " keyhole gardens" this year.
Basically, I try to garden as lazy but productive as possible.
I appreciate fresh organic produce for health and budgetary reasons.
Good find on the friend to split the tiller. Ask her about fencing. She'll let you know. My folks lived on a 100 acre farm and they had 8' high deer fence. It wasn't white picket! LOL! It wasn't fancy - it was actually pretty ugly. But they had deer jump their fence so it got higher and uglier over the years as a preventative measure.
Farmers have different crops than you do and they also factor for wildlife damage. One rabbit, groundhog or even a family of voles can ruin all your hard work. But maybe you'll be lucky! Or learn the hard way, either way!
Just a couple of pictures... I am 'hardening off' the seedlings, and transplanting the larger ones into larger pots...
Also, I'm particularly excited about these bushes... roses and raspberries!!! They will go in front of the house.
You can start composting now, using your vegetable peelings!
We have clay soil too so I got one raised bed and started a lasagna garden. I planted tomatoes,squash, and peppers in it. I am not sure if it's going to work well this year, I don't think the cardboard has decomposed so the plants can't grow deep roots. Live and learn and next year should be better.
I left town for 3 days and DH did not water one of the squash plants and it doesn't look like it will make it.
Long-term plan is to get rid of the front lawn and create a drought resistant landscape(this is California).