Gardening for Dummies (or, what can I do now?)

[RealLifeMama]

OK, so it is the beginning of December. But DH and I are seriously talking about the garden we have wanted to start for years but have not.
We have belonged to a CSA the past 5 years to try to learn more about growing food, but since the farmer tells us just what to do on work days, I have not learned much.
I really want our own garden, but DH is convinced that if we do not join the CSA and try to plant our own stuff that either 1) He will be the one doing all the work (his words : "it will be just one more project that start and drop before it even gets started and I take over and do all the work." :bag or 2) I won't do all the work and weeds and bugs will take over and we will be foodless.
We will have the new baby in Mid-February, and I guess we would need to start getting it going in March, so I will not be really prepared to go "work the field" then. But I think it is really important to do so, at least to get it started and maybe, Lord Willing, we would be able to have a thriving garden the following year.

The most I have ever done is to plant seedlings in peat pots, and while a few have sprouted, nothing has ever made it past my transferring it to a pot or container.

Is there anything I can do *now*, before the baby comes, so that it will be easier to put in during the spring?
How much work is it on a daily basis? I know we will have to weed. What else?

What is the easiest to grow?
Where do I start?
We want an in the ground garden, not containers or sqft, as we have a good amount of space.

[canadiyank]

Check out the forums at www.organicgardening.com - very helpful! :tu

I don't even weed my garden daily - just a few times a week, and I have a drip irrigation system in so I turn that on when things are dry.

What kind of things do you want to plant?

Also, find out what zone you're in and when your average last frost date is. I did that through my county extension agent's office, which I googled.

[RealLifeMama]

What kind of things do you want to plant?

Also, find out what zone you're in and when your average last frost date is. I did that through my county extension agent's office, which I googled.



We are in zone 7B. Some charts put us in zone 8.

I *think* we want to plant carrots, lettuce, spinach, peppers, green and yellow squash, pumpkins and fall squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and green beans. Maybe some strawberries. Although, I am pretty sure that our farmer has already put his strawberries in, so it is probably too late for those. That seems like a lot to start with.

[canadiyank]

Well, strawberries you can plant in the spring and then they're stronger if you pluck the blossoms and let them develop good roots to harvest in the next year.

How much room do you have? Squash take up a *lot* of room and are relatively inexpensive to buy at the farmer's market or something, so that wouldn't be my first choice to plant if I had limited room. Easy to grow, though.

Lettuce can be grown very early. I usually throw the seed down in early spring and it sprouts when it's ready, same with cilantro. Lettuce needs light to germinate, so you either cast it on top or with just a bit of dirt over top. Thin it out according to the package.

I plant my peppers and tomatoes at the same time - full sun and planted far apart according to directions. They look sad and small at first but they fill out wonderfully. I plant only romas now as far as tomatoes.

I've had the worst luck with carrots! Last year I planted them three times. :doh I think my soil is still too clay and dense for them, plus I kind of forgot to water them. :shifty I got one carrot. One singular carrot. :giggle

Potatoes are easy to grow, too, but again, take up lots of space and produce a fairly cheap crop, so not one I'd do if I didn't have the room. Dig a trench, put the seed potatoes in (not ones from the grocery store as they may carry soil disease and potato diseases are *really* hard to get rid of), then cover with some soil. When they start to grow, cover them up gently some more, and some more, so that eventually the trench is filled and they're backfilled and even up to little hills. The kids like helping harvest them.

I've never grown spinach. Similar to lettuce, I'd guess. I'd just check out the package directions.

I prefer bush beans to pole beans but lots of people like the pole beans. I just don't want to shade the other things.

I also grow peas, which are so delicious out of the garden, and a spring crop so once they're done you can plant something else there.

Another thing that's rewarding is having a herb garden. I also grow broccoli, horseradish, cucumbers, onions, green onions, garlic, shallots, rhubarb, etc.

Do you have places prepared in your yard yet?

[RealLifeMama]

Do you have places prepared in your yard yet?


Thank you for all that info!

No, we do not have places in our yard prepared yet. I guess that is what I am asking about....Like what do I need to do to be able to get started? We have a large yard, but no beds or anything.
I was thinking of putting in a plot for herbs along the fence, and then maybe doing the tomatoes and peppers next to the patio in a raised bed that is there but does not have anything growing in it. I am pretty sure it gets good sun.
The rest of the stuff, I was going to maybe put towards the back of the yard in an area where no grass grows currently, but I think that the sun is only there for half the day, so I don't know. I am pretty sure that is where the previous owners had their garden, though.
I do not know what to do to prepare the spaces, though.

[canadiyank]

Are there weeds growing there right now?