Call for help! Garden novice

[izzyscout21]

perfect example:

here is a typical lunch/ dinner for my kids. They WILL get seconds and thirds. I use a lot of produce

[ravensgrove]

I think that is AWESOME! Just be sure they are getting enough protein. Little growing bodies need protein. I see peanut butter....other dark green leafys in your garden will help....spinach, kale et all.

[ravensgrove]

On to the questions....

If you are truly in zone 6...I suggest raised beds if you can at all afford them...if not a load of aged steer manure or other manure to raise the temperature of your soil...it'll help you immensely in the long run. As soon as you can work the soil get that manure in, then cover it with black plastic for x 2 weeks. It will raise your soil temp easily 5-10 degrees.

Not knowing the quality of your soil...its hard to tell you what to mulch with, but a good rule of thumb is a nitrogen fixer, pretty much all soil can use extra nitrogen. As the product breaks down it will return nutrients to your soil. Here I use hay..not straw which will actually pull nutrients from your soil...HAY....a good grass hay, if your soil is particularly dead alfalfa can rejuvenate it in one season. You could also use found items such as: newspaper, cardboard, leaves, grass clippings.

Transplants: You want to cover trhe entire surface area of your garden with mulch 2 to 4 inches thick depending on how much weeds you think you have, wet the holy hell out of it then put hole through the mulch and plant your plant. You'll have virtually no weeding this way. Seeds....seed the row then cover entirely with mulch, and wet the holy hell out of it. The mulch acts like a sponge and keeps the plant smoist indefinitely...even in arid areas I never have to water more than once a week this way.

[izzyscout21]

I think that is AWESOME! Just be sure they are getting enough protein. Little growing bodies need protein. I see peanut butter....other dark green leafys in your garden will help....spinach, kale et all.

I hadn't gotten the cheese brat and string cheese on the plate when I took the pic.

I'm sure there are a lot of parents that wish they had my problem.

[ladyhk13]

My son's fav food was spinach if you can believe it. Don't know many kids who will eat that. I raised him that he will try everything once. If he doesn't like it, fine...but he will at least try it. We never ate at fast food and even though we ate out a lot it was at good restaurants and he ate well balanced meals. He was also raised to read labels to see what was in the food so when we went to the store we looked at everything and it's a habit still today (at 21 yrs old) he does. Good habits start early. Young children are molded easily. If they don't like something this week, they might eat it next month...keep trying.
Izzy you are in my zone and you can grow about anything you want. We have a pretty long season. Start your seeds indoors if you aren't going to do plants. I have read the Mother Earth News has a free garden planner although I haven't tried it yet (meant to). The book Ravensgrove and I mentioned is actually pretty good for a lot of things altough there were some things that due to where and how my existing garden was set up I didn't find it helpful so I used a hybrid of his system (4 beds that were 4'x12') and then did all kinds of stuff around them (they were in the center). I used straw as my mulch everywhere in my pathways - do NOT use hay because it sets seeds and you will get more weeds. It will decompose and add nutrients over the winter and you can either till or burn in the spring (next year). I also add all of my grass clippings as mulch too. It's free. I can't tell ya what to plant because I don't eat cabbage or beans other than green so my plantings are different than most I guess. But that's key, plant only what you and the kids will eat. If you like corn you have to plant A LOT of it since each plant only yeilds one or maybe 2 ears. I usually go down to my local farm and buy in bulk. Then I can what can't be eaten right away. I still have jars from last summer. It's really cheap to do it that way and it frees up a lot of space, time and energy from you. Plus there always seems to be bugs! I do have corn seeds in my stash but I have them put back for shtf. They will last for years before I have to plant them and harvest new seed.
Don't forget your herbs...they are easy, you can do them in pots and can dry them for storage.

[Evolver]

Raised beds are nice because it's easier to build up and maintain good healthy soil, protect plants from frost and birds, longer growing season as Raven mentioned and irrigation. They do have there draw backs though... First is the cost, with the price of lumber now days you can spend in the upper hundreds for the lumber needed to build 4 4'x12'x15'' beds with top quality lumber so they hold up for many years. Second is the amount of raised beds needed to fill your desires would be at least 8 4'x12'x15'' if you only plant in the beds.

What would work well is a combination of containers, raised beds and the traditional row and mound planting. Again... start out on the smaller scale and work your way up from there... It well save you a whole lot of frustration.

[ladyhk13]

I don't think the wood was that expensive for ours, regions may vary. Also remember that you will have to fill those beds. We got 4 yards of soil (not regular soil but what the growers use, top quality with vermiculite in it because remember our soil here has a lot of clay in it so it's heavy) which cost us around $100. and was WAY too much to fill the beds so I've been using it for my pots and anything else I can think of! Totally miscalculated on that one but hey, it wasn't a bank breaker so I just covered it up with a tarp and use it as I need.

[Evolver]

Here is your go to that BP mentioned. It's a link to the University of Tenn Extension services.


https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Se...ng%20calendars

[bacpacker]

Lots folks using raised beds it appears. I need to try some of your guys tricks. I've never used them before. I've always used typical rows and hills for all my crops. Learned that from my parents and grandparents. It does require more space than beds would, but with beds you will have to rotate crops to grow early, mid, and late season crops and feed them heavily. More crops from a small area, vs the same amount of crop from a larger area the beds will deplete the fertilty quicker. Like everything else, there are pluses and minuses in each technique.

[ladyhk13]

BP, maybe just try one or 2 beds and see how you like it? Like I said before, I do both. Some veggies do well in beds and others do not.