Vegetable Garden: Help!

[Chicago526]

This is going to be our first spring in a single family home!

I grew up with a vegetable garden in the back yard, and want one of my own. I bought a book "Gardening for Dummies" that has a section on vegetables, but I thought I'd get some DIS advice. Since I grew up with one, I know all about the work of weeding and watering and keeping the bunnies out.

It's just DH and I, so I'm worried that we'll wind up with WAY too many vegetables to eat ourselves. So, how many of each should I plant to get a usufull amount w/out having more than we can handle.

We'd like to grow:

Green Peppers
Cucumbers
Leaf lettuce
Carrots
Green Beans
Strawberries (can never have too many of these!)
Rasberries (or to many of these!)

If you're currious, we WON'T be planting tomatos (I hate them raw and it's too cheap to buy canned from the store to bother canning our own) or squash (don't care for it).

Any other tips or suggestions will be appreciated!

 

[Glynis]

This is going to be our first spring in a single family home!

I grew up with a vegetable garden in the back yard, and want one of my own. I bought a book "Gardening for Dummies" that has a section on vegetables, but I thought I'd get some DIS advice. Since I grew up with one, I know all about the work of weeding and watering and keeping the bunnies out.

It's just DH and I, so I'm worried that we'll wind up with WAY too many vegetables to eat ourselves. So, how many of each should I plant to get a usufull amount w/out having more than we can handle.

We'd like to grow:

Green Peppers
Cucumbers
Leaf lettuce
Carrots
Green Beans
Strawberries (can never have too many of these!)
Rasberries (or to many of these!)

If you're currious, we WON'T be planting tomatos (I hate them raw and it's too cheap to buy canned from the store to bother canning our own) or squash (don't care for it).

Any other tips or suggestions will be appreciated!

Congratulations! We do a garden every year, but I don't think I'll be too much help with the amount of plants you need. My husband tends to go overboard. Last year I think he planted 37 tomato plants. We couldn't eat or can them fast enough.

We usually do a "salsa" garden. We plant tomatoes, onions, peppers (bells and jalepenos). We also plant squash, carrots and cucumbers. We've tried green beans, but haven't had much luck with them. Maybe this year. One thing I absolutely insist on is cherry tomatoes! We plant Sweet 100's, and then I pick them and dry them myself. My own sundried tomatoes. They are so tasty and I can just toss them into a pot of spaghetti sauce, etc.

I would say plant 3-5 of each thing you want and see how it goes this year. It will give you a starting point for next year. Good luck!

 

[Chicago526]

Congratulations! We do a garden every year, but I don't think I'll be too much help with the amount of plants you need. My husband tends to go overboard. Last year I think he planted 37 tomato plants. We couldn't eat or can them fast enough.

We usually do a "salsa" garden. We plant tomatoes, onions, peppers (bells and jalepenos). We also plant squash, carrots and cucumbers. We've tried green beans, but haven't had much luck with them. Maybe this year. One thing I absolutely insist on is cherry tomatoes! We plant Sweet 100's, and then I pick them and dry them myself. My own sundried tomatoes. They are so tasty and I can just toss them into a pot of spaghetti sauce, etc.

I would say plant 3-5 of each thing you want and see how it goes this year. It will give you a starting point for next year. Good luck!

Good advice! I forgot to add, I'd like to plant an herb garden too, especially basil, since I can't get fresh basil in the stores around her (well, you can, pre-packaged for $4 for a handfulls worth!).

Do you freeze any of your veggies? If so, any tips?

 

[malibuconlee]

Just a head up I don't think you'll get strawberries off your plant the first year you plant it. We didn't last year.

Also, don't put your basil out too early. I bought it and was told to keep it inside until it was warmer. DH got all planting crazy and put it in too early. They didn't grow like they should have. I REALLY wanted basil too. Just the same as you. It's impossible to get good fresh basil. Even those expensive little packages aren't very fresh by the time we get them.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I would only plant a few green been plants - they are good producers and we quickly got tired of eating them because we had so many. Towards the end of the season, I was just leaving them.

I liked the idea of strawberries but they turned out to be too much work for too little (keeping birds/bugs away, pinching blossoms and runners).

I've always planted eggplant and broccoli with good luck.

Pumpkins and gourds are fun also. They are easy to grow from seeds. But the vines need a lot of space.

 

[Oh Kay!]

Last year was the first time we planted a vegetable garden, and we planted the most of vegetables you mentioned. Here is our experience:

Green Peppers--we planted a whole packet of mixed bell pepper seeds and none came up. This year, we might just buy a couple of plants from a nursery.

Cucumbers--we ended up with 6 or 7 good plants from the seeds, and had more cucumbers than we could eat.

Leaf lettuce--our best crop. We planted a packet of mixed lettuce and we ate the best salad through summer. This year, we will try to stagger planting so we can have lettuce through fall.

Carrots--didn't plant them; didn't want to invite bunnies.

Green Beans--we got lazy and didn't stake the plants early enough so we ended up with a tangled mess. This year, we are only planting snap peas.

Strawberries (can never have too many of these!)--we planted 50 plants. The instruction said to pinch off the flowers in the first year, so I am looking forward to eating our first crop this spring.

Rasberries (or to many of these!)--we planted 3 but 1 died. But we still managed to get a few pints the first year.

We also did quite well with spinach. Cantaloupes(sp?) and watermelons weren't very sweet, so we are skipping them this year.

Have fun planning!

Kay

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think I would keep the fruit and veggies seperate as you can, they have different soil requirements, sprays, season, etc....

First order of business is to import soil mixes and make your beds. The success of your gardening starts here. Note your sun/shade requirements for each crop and and placement.

I would consider installing drip irrigation since you will be building from scratch. Watering with drip irrigation will save you time, money, and prevent disease in the long term. Watering from the top is bad, it is the roots that need water. The less water that sits on your plant leaves the better they will do.

Make sure you get well informed with pesticide spray schedules for the plants you want. Tender young plants will get eaten up if you are not careful.
Considering our winter this year, you can expect the bugs to be out in full force this year.
You can contact your local Agricultural Extension agency for the lastest news, help, and pest #'s. Sometimes you can call and they will tell you what is out in full force.

 

[Chicago526]

Thanks, everyone!

I know somethings about gardening from helping my mom growing up, but it's sure differant doing it yourself rather than just helping!

I've got a lot of reading to do. Oh, and thanks for the drip irragation system suggestion, I never would have thought of that, and we'll have to look into it. If it won't work for us, I'll be sure to use a watering can and just water the soil around the plants and not the leaves themselves.

 

[MsDisney23]

We just love our garden, you only need a few plants. We always have extra and share with our neighbor's and family!

 

[Glynis]

Good advice! I forgot to add, I'd like to plant an herb garden too, especially basil, since I can't get fresh basil in the stores around her (well, you can, pre-packaged for $4 for a handfulls worth!).

Do you freeze any of your veggies? If so, any tips?

Good idea on the herb garden. I do that as well, and dry my own for use in the winter.

I've frozen squash, and peppers. The peppers do quite well, and it makes the day I do salsa much easier as the peppers are already cut up. The squash didn't freeze too well. Of course, I didn't have a vacuum seal thingie then. Now we just eat it all before we can freeze it. DMIL just bought me a pressure canner, so I'm hoping to can some more veggies this summer.

 

[Glynis]

Just a head up I don't think you'll get strawberries off your plant the first year you plant it. We didn't last year.

Also, don't put your basil out too early. I bought it and was told to keep it inside until it was warmer. DH got all planting crazy and put it in too early. They didn't grow like they should have. I REALLY wanted basil too. Just the same as you. It's impossible to get good fresh basil. Even those expensive little packages aren't very fresh by the time we get them.

If you can do a window box for a while herbs do well with that. Then you can transplant them outside, or just leave them indoors. I've done that as well.

 

[Glynis]

We learned a nifty trick for our tomatoes from our local agriculture department. Before the first frost, dig up the plants and hang them upside down in the garage or basement. If you still have green tomatoes on them, they will ripen and be yummy! We had ripe tomatoes well into December! It was nice not having to pay an arm and a leg from them like everyone else was doing.

 

[hucifer]

I had a veggie garden for a few years and my best secret is this website for all your garden needs:

Garden's Alive!

I had beautiful plants that grew quicker and had bigger fruit (and more flavor!) than those I knew who used conventional fertilizers.

 

[hucifer]

One more thing:

If you want more earthworms attracted to your garden (you do, trust me), then do this:

Before you start your garden, dig about 6-12 inches deep into your soil. Lay down newspaper and water it. Throw planting soil over it and plant your garden.

It sounds strange, but it really works. DH and I never saw so many earthworms! And they stick around for years afterward. They are absolutely wonderful for healthy soil.

 

[yeartolate]

We do lots of tomatoes.

Our favorite cuke is the "Amira" -- mild flavor, you can eat the skin.

Sugar snap peas - lots!!!

Pumpkins (we try new seed every year - some of them are bread for exceptional mildew resistance)

Strawberries galore.....but these seem to disappear when the neighbor kids come to visit.

Different types of summer squash. Sometimes eggplant - which are beautiful plants as well.

We do try lettuce - but since we don't use anything but they seem to attract little bitty baby slugs.

We planr lots of catnip - lots of cats means the birds are more apt to leave all of the above alone.

We have a small apple tree, large loquat tree, large lemon tree.

 

[Caradana]

I am so ENVIOUS. Would LOVE a garden one day. Good luck!

 

[Denine]

Some interesting ideas.

I am planning a garden this year as well. I haven't had one in several years because it was a deer smorgasbord. We moved here a little over a year ago and I intend to start again.

About Gardens Alive: I just got their lawn fertilizer. I hope it works like they say, because it is a lot safer than regular fertilizer. I have gotten other stuff from them as well and plan on getting stuff for the garden too.