What Are Your Gardening Secrets?

Hi~
I'd recommend going small the first time. Plant a few things you LOVE, but keep in mind that any crop can 'fail' for many reasons (animal invasion, draught, too much rain, etc) so don't be too disappointed if it does fail. Also plant a little of a couple 'novelty' things just to experiment. Potatoes and corn take quite a bit of space and need to be 'hoed' (which is piling dirt up arount the root), but leaf lettuce can take just a small corner. Tomatoes take quite a bit of care (hoeing, removing the 'suckers' [darker shoots of the plant that have no blossoms -- which means they don't bear any fruit, but they 'sap' or 'rob' water & nutrients from the rest of the plant] weeding, staking or caging, etc.), but they sure are nice to have! I'm thinking of trying those upside down planters for them. Onions are easy, fun and tasty to have. I love beets for pickling. Beans are great ('bunch' or 'bush' beans are easy and don't need staked).

1 mom found this helpful

The very first thing before planting ANYTHING is amending your soil. You can take a soil sample to you county agriculture extention office for testing and they can give you exact information on what your soil needs. For example...really hard clay soil is going to need lime. Most soils are going to need sand tilled into it, but that doesn't deliver any nutrients. You'll also need to till in organic compost, manure, peat moss etc.
Depending on the size of garden you're going to have, you may just choose to do container gardening and fill your posts with a sandy loame from someplace like Lowes or any nursery etc. Then when winter comes just dump your containers where you would have your garden takes a little longer, but it is much less work. I save all my organic garbage such as coffee grounds potato peelings any vegetables and such as long as you haven't put butter on them and compost them all year long. Grass clippings make wonderful compost material.
Just remember that gardening is a journey not a destination, and the garden is finished until the gardener is planted!
Hope this helps and enjoy!
T. S.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi K.,
Preparing your soil and location is key. Square foot gardening is loaded with ideas for getting as much produce compatibly situated in the smallest space. You can start really building up your soil by keeping a compost bin, but this requires turning every week or so. When it breaks down by the end of the season, it will boost your garden soil remarkably! That's covered in the square foot gardening book. Your energy level is also a consideration. If your daughter loves to be outdoors, you'll probably be OK with a garden that you can check on, weed, water a little every day. Mulching around your established plants will save a lot of weeding and watering energy. A good leaf mulch about 3 inches thick works well, and isn't acidic. When it breaks down, it will add to your soil. In your perimeter and walkways, you can lay down several layers of newspaper under the mulch to keep weeds out. You can buy alfalfa meal at your local agrisupply, and just sprinkle it around your plants for great fertilization without the risk of burning. It's a natural fertilizer (not chemical) so it will add to, not leech from, your soil. If you have water near your garden, you can place a soaker hose about 4" from the base of your plants throughout your garden. Water seeps out tiny holes along the length of the hose right into the soil, watering everything at once with minimal water evaporation. You can put a timer on your hose to make it easy to keep track of watering, and insure you won't forget and leave it on. Been there done that ; (. I keep herbs up close to the house, on the sunny side of the deck, so I can get to them while cooking. My favorite (and Rachel Ray's) is sweet basil, whose leaves can be cut all season, rinsed, patted dry, and frozen for use through the winter. Loose leaf lettuces make pretty borders right in your flower garden, but won't do well in scorching heat. Any vining veggie can be trained up fences, deck lattice, poles in teepees, etc. Green beans are fun for little kids to plant and harvest. If you plant 12 plants, 2 weeks apart until the end of June, you'll have a continuous harvest until fall. Roma tomatoes are the densest, and are great fresh or to cook with. You can freeze them whole, without peeling or anything. When you're ready to cook with them, just run them under warm water, and the skin will just slide right off. The rule of thumb for most plants is to grow 3-4 of each thing (at least) to insure good pollination and the best crop. (Except corn, which takes 3-4 rows, requires trenching and lots of water.) I try to weigh how much I'm really saving by growing something. For instance, a 4' x 4' square of garden sweet peas yields about one can of peas, which isn't worth the effort and space it takes. However, tomatoes yield about 20 per plant per season, which would cost $10 or more at the grocer. Spices are expensive to buy, and are stronger, fresher when used right off the plant. Even if you dry them, you're saving a lot of money by growing them. Some are natural insect and deer deterrents, too. In the winter, you can plant winter rye throughout your garden plots. It will grow bright green all winter, and then you turn it right into the soil a month before you plant in the spring. It's a natural fertilizer, will keep weeds from landing and taking root in the off season, and will build up your soil's nutrition for the new planting season. Sorry this is so long, but there are so many things to consider. Feel free to email any questions? J.

Even though we have lots of room for a garden, I am finding that having the small plots are so much easier to care for. The last two years, we had an area turned up to make our garden, it never got done.

This year, I have already planted my tomatoes. I have them in larger (small tree size) plastic planters. These work great, because I can move them if it should turn cold again. I need to get more of these as they make gardening so easy!

I am also going to be trying cucumbers and lettuce. And maybe some green beans. These are some of our favs (we love a good salad). I would like to do corn, but don't really want to do any row gardening.

Two other tips that I use for growing our garden. I am using a horse manure mixed with a small amount of top soil and all our household organic waste, for our potting soil. I've been using this mix on my flowers and it does absolutely wonderful! I also use Conklin's 9-13-9 spray fertilizer on the plants. This helps the roots grow deep to get the most out of the soil, and gives them a good strong hold.

Good luck with your garden, and enjoy the summer months outdoors with your child, and enjoy your fresh home grown veggies all year!

M. Steiner
Conklin Team Leader
http://diamondmenterprise.com
http://homebuisnessdm.com

I read somewhere that radishes are easy to grow and are ready to eat at about 25 days. I planted some in a windowbox with my 3.5 year old son and they have germinated within a week. He is thrilled that what we planted is growing. I'm not a gardener either. Before this, all I've grown has been herbs, so I am excited, too. (And I don't even like radishes!)

THe soil in KY is hard to work with so we went with Square foot gardening. We built the boxes about ground and filled them with a good organic mix. They are a bit expensive to get started, but once they are done you have a great garden with little watering and weeding. I just bought a new book on it. Pretty cheep though amazon, but if you have any questions feel free to contact me ____@____.com.

M.

I love to container garden. I love impatiens, they are easy, the colors are gorgeous. I love the dark vibrant colors, one of my favorites, is to mix the bright orange, purple and lavendar colors, but I love them all. Enjoy!

To help with the bug problem in a small garden, plant merigolds around and thru the garden. They help keep the bugs away and will give your daughter flowers to pick. Don't use chemicals on your garden. Jerry Baker has booklets about how to grow gardens using things we have in our homes to control pests etc. He uses coke and vinegar and baking powder etc so the things we eat out of our garden are healthy.
Have fun and stay healthy.