Vegetable Gardens...

[JanetMegan]

See I'm full of questions this morning...

So does anyone plant their own vegetable gardens? I never have, but with the growing cost of produce and a nice open area in my backyard I am considering it. My question is I am concerned about fairly poor soil quality as well as a couple other things. Anyone have any good websites or books to reccomend for first time farmers? ;)

[offwego]

hmm I'd check out your libary for some basic veggie gardening tips. Martha also does alot. Most of the ones I know are Canadian so of course that's not too helpful.

Poor quality soil in what way? Too sandy? Too much clay? Not enough nutrients?

It's fairly easy to get what you need to ammend any of that at a garden centre. Raised beds (built up with even just lumber as long as it's not treated) are a good way to add things to the soil & keep it easy to use.

Make sure you read seed or plant space requirments carefully. Veggie plants can get much bigger then you think. Container planting for cherry tomatoes, herbs and lettuces is a great way to start as well. (the lettuce container can be replanted with tomatoes if you want)

[Ed]

Great stress reliever. ;)

And there's nothing quite like plucking a fresh tomato off the vine and eating it while it's still warm. When we lived up north, we used to grow all kinds of veggies - - corn, tomatos, zucchini, green beans... you name it, we grew it. But the sandy soil in Florida seems to be good only for growing fire ants. :bug:

Take a look at this site (http://www.plantcare.com/gardening-guides/vegetable-gardening/starting-a-vegetable-garden.aspx) for a few tips.

:cool:

[MsMin]

Janet, I'm almost in the same region as you for planting if not the same. I plant 2 box gardens every year and fight off several problems.(moles, voles :ack:) Seriously thinking about getting a cat to help chase them away. I've planted several fruit trees, lime, lemon, mandarin, two satsuma, kumquat, fig and grapes. My box gardens are planted and I have tomatoes (creole and roma) and green, banana and jalapeño peppers. Then a few herbs like parsley, rosemary, thyme, basil and anise. I don't know if I save any money on it but we love trying.
I also plant garlic around the base of my trees and plan on planting it in the garden as a natural way to deter other garden pests.
Every year I throw a couple of bags (50lb) of miracle grow garden soil) and after a few weeks throw in some tomato food.
As I mentioned the critters give me the most problems b/c they destroy the roots w/ the digging and then it's hard to keep them watered.
I've tried squash and cucumbers but I think they cross pollinated and gave me some strange stuff.
I'm no expert but love to talk about it and would be happy to share tips. Do plant soon if you haven't already...

[kakn7294]

I haven't yet other than a patio tomato each year, but this year I'm planting an entire vegetable garden. Our soil is horrible - or so I thought. DD 13 is doing an experiment for school and has planted 15 little pots with 5 spinach seeds each. 5 are in plain old yard dirt, 5 are in plain potting soil, and 5 are in Miracle Grow infused potting soil. All 5 of the yard dirt ones have sprouted and are growing quite well - some even have 2 or 3 sprouts. Only 2 other pot have sprouted - one each of the plain potting soil and Miracle Grow soil - and they are still quite tiny and only 1 plant each. I find it very interesting and enlightening. I can't wait to complete the rest of the experiment and see what happens over the next month as they continue to grow. It's great research for my own garden. My biggest obstacle for a great garden is going to be the chipmunks and rabbits.

[Marilyn Michetti]

DH grows some really amazing things in the heat of Az. He got one of those herb gardens for Christmas, and now he's set up everything outside for hydroponics. I got him the Gardens Of The World, (I think that's the name). It's about how Disney grows things. It has a section on topieries, and explains how they grow things in The Land.:thumbsup:

[LottaLubes]

Last year was our first attempt at a veggie garden and we did pretty good. We rented a rototiller for a few hours and we were good to go. This year we are going bigger and we are going with a raised garden to help control the weeds. This will involve importing some soil but we have a family member in the business so it shouldn't be too costly.

I am going to branch out and try to grow some melons this year.

Marilyn, thanks for mentioning the book...I am very interested in how things grow in the Land. I hope it's at our local library!