Call for help! Garden novice

[ravensgrove]

If I adopt all of you Big J has to build a much larger house in NY....

[ladyhk13]

Hey Raven just think of it this way....you could have an indentured servent and BigJ could get that house built 5x's faster! LOL!

[izzyscout21]

Do they like broccoli? Pretty easy to grow in our (your) area.

Broccoli , cauliflour, tomato, cuckes, asparagus, celery, corn, beans...........the list goes on. Like I said, it's hard to get the kids to eat meat. They eat very healthy. Tons of raw veggies. I have NEVER seen a toddler ask for more salad, let alone 2 of them.

[izzyscout21]

@ raven:

Wow, that's a plethora a useful unformaion.

I have no idea what zone i'm in. I'll have to go out and measure where the plots are going to be. I have no idea what size, but they should be decent

What kind of mulch are we talking about?

how do you store the squash without t going bad?

[Evolver]

Your diffidently starting out the right way by asking question. This is our forth season of growing and we are still learning and will be learning for years to come.

I would recommend that you start out on the smaller scale by growing just a few plants like tomatoes, peppers and herbs in containers on top of your shelter or by hose bibs around your house for easy watering and maybe get some onions, garlic and a squash placed in the ground.

This way you can get something started now, learn about watering and what bugs/pests that you have in your area and then start planing your main garden for next years crops.

The fist step in your garden planing is finding the best location or locations that get full sun (6 or more hrs of direct sun),
2nd Plan how your going to irrigate (flood, sprinkler, drip or soaker hose) some plants like tomatoes produce more fruit when they're not getting watered by sprinklers.

3rd Plan what crops you want and the layout.

4th Work the soil to build it up nutritionally and get the PH levels right.

5th Add your irrigation.

Now your ready to plant. Like I said... start out on the smaller scale by working just one plot than add plots as you get more experienced. This way you don't get overwhelmed.

[The Stig]

Raven: awesome information. Thanks for sharing.

Izzy: I've thought about this since I got your text last night. After much effort, and getting a headache, I realized I know somewhere between jack and shit about gardening. Other than seeing how far I can throw my father's tomatoes and making obscene gestures with the zucchini I know nothing that could be considered remotely useful.

Evolver: Also great info.

[Sparrow]

Like a wise woman said to me, after my first attempt at producing food failed. It takes time to learn a new place. You cannot just have some seeds and expect veggies to grow. It takes WORK!!!

[izzyscout21]

You cannot just have some seeds and expect veggies to grow. It takes WORK!!!

I know this.

This is why we're beginning the planning now. DO it right the first time.
This will be taking a lot of my energy this spring, so I wnat to be as effective as possible.

[bacpacker]

Izzy, I got your text last night and waited to reply so I could maybe make some sense to you. I tend to ramble and not really say anything. First of all several folks have given some great advice. Some of which I'll probably mention again.

A couple questions for you, is your ground sandy with small gravel or more red clay? Has the area you are wanting to plant been growing weeds or grass? Do you know if someone around could work the space up initially? Do you plan on any raised beds, totally raised beds, or no raised beds? Are you on a well or city water?

First off I live in upper zone 7, with your elevation I'm guessing you are in Zone 6. The plants will be similar that we can raise, but your season will start a little later and end a little earlier. One of the first things you need to do is get in touch with your county Extension Agent. They have a lot of info available and most will do soil testing for you. Some counties agents aren't worth a crap, but hopefully your's will be. They can give you advise on your soil fertility and what minerals and such you need to supplement with. Planning where and what size your garden will be is something you need to do ASAP, and this area needs to get plenty of sun throughout the day. You also don't want the area to be in a low spot where you will have standing water. Wet feet will kill or hinder growth of a lot of plants.

Some great ideas on getting the kids involved from the start. Just remember they will have to know where they can walk and what is a plant and what's a weed. That takes time, my dad wore me out the first couple years I was learning cause I kept wanting to walk in the rows. It sounds like they like to eat a well rounded vareity so you have a wide choice of what to grow.
Some of the stuff I would suggest for your first year would be some early crops such as cabbage, onion, brocholi, califluor, potato. Peas are another cool weather crop, but like Raven mentioned they are not really worth the effort to grow your entire year's worth.

After it warms up, usually by mid April here, you can start planting cukes, beans, corn, pumpkins, squash, tomatos, peppers, most everything else. You will need different growth habits for example, corn should be grown in blocks at least 4 rows wide. This is required for germination purposes. Corn is a very heavy feeder and does take up quite a bit of space. I probably would not recommend it for your first years crop. Beans on the other hand, both green and dried, will give high yields in a given space. Green beans can be grown succession style for each variety you want to grow. One type we like and is a decently heavy yielder is Blue Lake. Can be found at your local Co-op. We have had really good luck raising dried beans and many different varietys. I plant them and keep them weeded and just let them go until the plants dry out and pull the whole plant and find me a shade tree to shell the bean under. I have even stored the whole plants in buckets and go back and shell them on a rainy day or when you can't get out and do other things. All beans can be grown in wide rows, think 3-5 rows sown very close together.. This increase your yields in a given space, helps shade out weeds and helps retain soil moisture. We grow several different squashes and melons and they are well worth the effort and space required. We grow Butternut and Acorn squash as our winter type squash, never tried Hubbard before but will be trying it this year (Thanks Raven). For summer squash I never plant more then 2 plants of each type. If you keep them picked you will have enough that you will get sick of eating it.

You mentioned Asparagus, It will take 2-3 years before you can harvest it. it needs this time to get the roots established, but if done right should last 20 years or more. Let me know if you want to get into this, I found a technique in a gardening book I have and it worked out great for us.

I hope this made at least a little sense. Feel free to question anything and everything. I'll be glad to try and point you in the right direction. Matter of fact I'll dig around a little and see if I can't set you up with some seed for some various things.

[izzyscout21]

Great info, BP. You may have to make a trip up here for advising