[Updated] Gardeners? Daughter wants daddy to help her start a garden. (1 Viewer)

[lombardi]

Don't put anything with a fat in there. Nothing that butter or milk or animal fat has touched. Egg shells, vegetable skins/cores, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc. You can buy a plastic garbage can with a locking lid and drill nickel sized holes all over it for ventilation. Then accumulate the stuff mentioned, adding grass clippings to help bind some of the "muck". Wet it down when you're watering your garden and turn it over from time to time to stimulate the decomposition. Pure gold.

So if I'm understanding right you collect this stuff and let it break down all year then next year when you start your garden you mix this in with your existing soil (form this year)? And plant right in that, is that the idea?

 

[Cunk]

Don't worry about over-watering the plants. That's one of the beauties of raised beds, they drain so well it's tough to over-water them. This also means raised beds dry out fairly quickly. Just make sure it's damp. If you see water pooling up, it's time to stop watering.

It doesn't matter how many seeds you dropped in the hole. Just pluck the extra plants that sprout.

One thing that got me through the cold New England winters was starting seeds under florescent lights in the basement. I bet your daughter would get a kick out of that. You can start onions as early as February. Tomatoes in March. Also another suggestion (sorry about the amount of suggestions but I'm excited to help anyone starting out on this great hobby), I really enjoyed getting the FedCo seed catalog every winter. I bet you and your daughter would have a fun time going through it, choosing what you want to plant. The FedCo seed catalog is a fun read, it's not just a listing of seeds. "Armchair gardening" is what we call it. Here is a link to the catalog request page. They also have pdfs you can view but getting the catalog in the mail is more fun. http://www.fedcoseeds.com/requests.htm

For the tomatoes, I think a traditional cage may not work with your setup. I don't think 6 inches of soil will support the cage and the tomato plants once they are large. Since you planted the tomatoes in the back I think stringing them up a might work best for you. I had trouble keeping my cages upright in a foot of soil. But I found bending the bottom of the cages so the legs spread outright helps provide more support. Also, you'll want to cage them sooner than later so you don't cause any root disruption for the tomatoes or surrounding plants. Here is a link I sent to my mother-in-law who is just starting her own garden regarding pruning and stringing up tomatoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJgA4n-sCE8

I never replaced my soil (aside from the tomato buckets which I did every 2 years). I always just amended it with fresh compost which we made. I tested my soil (sent to a university in the mail) after 4 years of gardening in the same box with the same soil (amended yearly with compost) and the test came back with flying colors. I sent the soil out because I wasn't having luck with some plants. Turns out I just wasn't getting enough sun. Doesn't look like you'll have that problem.

One thing I would stress is just don't worry too much about it. When I started I found myself over-flooded with different opinions on what to plant where, how to do it, blah, blah, blah. Just plant the seeds, observe, sit back and enjoy. Nature knows how to take care of itself.

BTW, where are you located?

Just ordered my seed catalog.

We live in North Carolina about a half hour south of Asheville (almost in South Carolina). We're at about 2k feet elevation.

I wasn't sure whether to build a trellis up the back of the box or do a cage. I was thinking we probably need to build some kind of removable protection on top to protect from critters, some chicken wire on a frame that I can remove. So whatever that is, my trellis/cage will need to fit under it.

That book I recommended shows how to build removable protection. Basically it's what you said, make 6 wooden frames (4 for the sides, 2 for the top. All the same size). I built a trellis on the back so the protection frames didn't have to fit under it. Once the plants got started hitting the top frames, I just removed them. Here's a photo of my raised bed with the tops (and back) off. The tops just rested on top. http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w365/richardwscanlon/IMG_2763_zpsojmqh4b0.jpg

Cool setup. How old is your box and what kind of wood? I didn't want to use treated wood because I'm eating what grows in there so I ended up using regular untreated pine. I'm guessing it is going to rot out in a season or two. I could have used cedar but it was going to cost 3X as much. I figure since it's my first one I would start inexpensively and if I have success and want to build something better I'll spend some money then.

I had looked at something like this but would have problems with a trellis.

http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2009/04/victory-garden-for-school/

I used ash, not treated. The box in the photo was about 4 years old at the time. It got weathered looking but was still solid when I gave it away to someone on Craigslist. We disassembled it and moved it, soil and all, to a town about 1/2 hour away. I gave it away because last August my g/f and I moved to Argentina. I have a raised garden here to but it was one that already existed and is bordered by stone. I'm totally thrown off by the seasons/warm weather here. Here's a pic http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w365/richardwscanlon/IMG_3275_zpspfsh8y29.jpg

 

[VA703]

when adding drainage holes in the elevated garden bed. how many - how far apart etc?

 

[Deepster]

Don't put anything with a fat in there. Nothing that butter or milk or animal fat has touched. Egg shells, vegetable skins/cores, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc. You can buy a plastic garbage can with a locking lid and drill nickel sized holes all over it for ventilation. Then accumulate the stuff mentioned, adding grass clippings to help bind some of the "muck". Wet it down when you're watering your garden and turn it over from time to time to stimulate the decomposition. Pure gold.

So if I'm understanding right you collect this stuff and let it break down all year then next year when you start your garden you mix this in with your existing soil (form this year)? And plant right in that, is that the idea?

Yes. That's right. You almost get a rotating batch of it since you don't use all of "this year" to plant with, then you add to it over the season. And, it shouldn't smell at all. Maybe a very slight funk, but nothing like rotten food.or garbage at all.

 

[lombardi]

I planted but I have a TON of seeds left. I was google'ing how to save them and it seems like fridge vs freezer vs neither takes on a kind of Chevy v. Ford or Apple vs WIndows type of vibe.

What shoudl I be doing with all these seeds packets. Probably spend $35 on seeds and if I can save and use them again next year I'd rather do that then just chuck them.

 

[VA703]

I planted but I have a TON of seeds left. I was google'ing how to save them and it seems like fridge vs freezer vs neither takes on a kind of Chevy v. Ford or Apple vs WIndows type of vibe.

What shoudl I be doing with all these seeds packets. Probably spend $35 on seeds and if I can save and use them again next year I'd rather do that then just chuck them.

take them back to the store and say they didn't work

 

[Cunk]

I planted but I have a TON of seeds left. I was google'ing how to save them and it seems like fridge vs freezer vs neither takes on a kind of Chevy v. Ford or Apple vs WIndows type of vibe.

What shoudl I be doing with all these seeds packets. Probably spend $35 on seeds and if I can save and use them again next year I'd rather do that then just chuck them.

Just put them in a box out of the sun and they will be fine for years. You don't have to put them in the fridge or freezer. I've been using seeds I bought five years ago without any special treatment and they came up just fine.

 

[Jaysus]

Did the new garden explode yet?

 

[Cliff Clavin]

I planted but I have a TON of seeds left. I was google'ing how to save them and it seems like fridge vs freezer vs neither takes on a kind of Chevy v. Ford or Apple vs WIndows type of vibe.

What shoudl I be doing with all these seeds packets. Probably spend $35 on seeds and if I can save and use them again next year I'd rather do that then just chuck them.

Seal the bags and throw them in a drawer.

 

[lombardi]

https://scontent-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11252007_10202845264452899_1216450762393847450_n.jpg?oh=311a20455eb3670d667496da2dd81800&oe=5606EC8B

This is what is in each box going top to bottom, left to right...

Peas | Peas | Roma Tomato | Roma Tomato
Kale | Kale | Broccoli | Broccoli
Row of Lettuce
Parsley | Cilantro | Basil | Sage & Rosemary
https://scontent-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/11165299_10202845264332896_2648125158212535252_n.jpg?oh=e5c0174c3d13896f523af314243a89ee&oe=55C5334A

This is what is in each box going top to bottom, left to right...

Swiss Chard | Swiss Chard | Beefsteak Tomato | Beefsteak Tomato

Beets | Eggplant | Green Onions | Green Onions

Carrots | Carrots | Onions | Onions

3 Bell Pepper | Hot Pepper

https://scontent-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11262142_10202845264052889_734144074212686453_n.jpg?oh=b4dea3bb1326de242ced43ee2a973868&oe=55D180CB

She is very proud of our garden!

There are from a few days ago. Everything is starting to come in. Some of spots have a couple plants coming up and I think I have to "thin" them by plucking them out until there is just one? Not the ones that intentionally have rows or multiples, but a place where there was 1 hole with a copule sees, more than 1 plant coming up in the same spot.

We water every day it doesn't rain. Do I need to add fertilizer or does all that compost I put into the soil mix take care of that?

The back row has peas and tomatoes so I'm going to build a trellis climbing up the back sometime this weekend for them to grow up. Maybe some kind of critter protection lid too, a frame with chicken wire or something, not sure.

 

[Jaysus]

:greenthumbup:

 

[Cunk]

Looks great. Really nice.

If your careful you can pull out the plants you need to thin and plant them in other spots. I've always had good luck with that. It looks like you have a few basil you'll need to thin. Just put you hand under or take a shovel far enough under the bunch so you don't disturb the roots. When you get them up carefully separate them (the roots will probably be entwined) and plant them within the same square. I just did this with a ton of beets. I've even successfully done this with carrots even though I've read that carrots don't like to be transplanted. Just did that a couple of weeks ago. The transplants looked dead for about a week but started new growth shortly after. So if you do this and the plant looks wilted right after you do it, don't worry, they will perk back up in a bit.

If you didn't already know, you can keep cutting the leaves off of stuff like kale and lettuce and they'll keep growing back. If you see the basil start to flower, pluck off the flowers so it will keep producing and won't start tasting bitter.

You won't need fertilizer/compost for a while, I'm talking months. Especially since this is your first season with this soil. But in a couple of months you could side-dress the plants with some compost. That's all they'll need.

I'm looking forward to more updates.

 

[Timmay]

Im really getting into this gardening thing. I had my first year with trying out a raised garden bed while doing square footage/companion gardening, it went really well. It is currently a 8'x4' bed that is raised about 1 ft off the ground. Im looking at adding another bed the exact same size close by. The 4 ft. width really helped with being able to reach the middle of the beds easily. This year my plants were Zucchini, Butternut Squash, Watermelon, Tomatoes, Onions, Basil, Oregano, and Garlic. Mixed with that I put some Marigolds and Nasturtiums throughout the garden to help pollinate and keep bugs away. The main reason for the onions and garlic were too keep the squirrels and rabbits away. I planted them along the exterior every 8-12 inches or so. My most successful plants were probably my herbs and squash, those suckers got to be humongous. I put the Zucchini and Squash plants at the edge of my bed knowing they would get so big and try to take over the entire garden. I was able to force them to the outside of it, along with my watermelon plants. It stinks liking these veggies that have such huge plants that come with them. I also planted some Asparagus knowing that the first year, it wasnt going to yield anything. The plants did get pretty tall, about 5 feet tall, but I cant wait for next year when hopefully ill be able to eat some. After a sluggish start to my tomatoes, they are still yielding now, which is the only thing doing anything currently after i pulled the basil and oregano plants this weekend. 

Next year I know im going to plant the same plants as this year and at this time im going to try my hand at some lettuce, spinach, and sweet potatoes. More i'm sure will be added. I would really like to start a strawberry patch, but I dont want that to be taking up all that space every year. I also thought about growing some peppers (green, banana, jalapeno) but they dont grow that well with other plants, so I might leave those plants to single pots. Any one have any experience in growing any of these that can offer any tips? 

I also started some lemon trees from seeds from Lemons earlier this summer. 4 of 6 have come up and 2 of them are about 7 inches tall, the other 2 are about 3-4 inches tall. They look pretty good for not being in a tropical zone. I live in the mideast. Any tips on growing lemon trees? I plan on moving them inside before the first frost.