Your own Garden?

[UNIQUE_VISION]

I was considering on creating an herb + vegetable garden this year but I am clueless to when and how to create my own little food source. So my question is has anyone or is anyone currently growing their own certain vegetables, herbs, or fruits. Is there any tips or start off suggestions you may have? also how do you keep the pesky bugs away without using pesticides and such. Is there any precautions?


Thank you! to all whom may respond!

[michigan roman]

hi UV , welcome to the site :)

am busy now but i'll come back to this thread .
for now you might want to check over in the gardening forum from yesterday when i made a thread for seed catalogs . itd be a good way to start learning by getting any of the catalogs that appeal to ya .

goodday :)

[JGex]

Welcome!

Where do ya live? What sort of soil do you have there?

[UNIQUE_VISION]

Welcome!

Where do ya live? What sort of soil do you have there?

I am in the upper suburbs of Chicago, I am not quite sure about what type of soil. If you can assist me with that question I will try to answer that for you! We do though have a large backyard and there is about 12feet of area I would like to play with.

[trinity082482]

I live in Canada so I can't really thrive off my own garden all year round. But during the warmer months I grow many things!

I am not the best at planting things cause they die so the ones that I found that don't die on me are:

Onions.
Some of my decorative lettuce lived.
Peppers spicy and bell ones.
Tomato's
Green beans
Sugar cane
Mint and lemon leaves
and
Cucumber (although they arent like the store kind. they have bumps)

[JGex]

I am in the upper suburbs of Chicago, I am not quite sure about what type of soil. If you can assist me with that question I will try to answer that for you! We do though have a large backyard and there is about 12feet of area I would like to play with.

well, there are sandy soils, heavy clay soils, rich loamy soils... what you need to know about prepping your little garden plot is how to amend the soil to best nourish the growing veggies. Also, you may need to dig out all vegetation and double dig the area to break it up if it has never been gardened before.

Prepping the area is probably the most important part of growing successfully. Proper prepping will save loads of headaches later!

[michigan roman]

heres one place ide go searching = www.motherearthnews.com .

your prob gonna be starting in a soil thats more compacted than you want for gardening (unless you have alot of sand then its more about enriching the soil with composted straw leaves and grass and such to enrichen it . you could also get manure or top soil ) so my move would be to assemble your work force and first dig , if any , the sod out and throw it to the side . then dig down like a good 18" over thee entire area to loosen the soil up so the roots can easily grow into it . this , along with rich soil , is a giant factor leading to healthy plants . and a key move at this stage that should be easy for you to make is get a bale or 2 of straw and mix it deep into the entire garden because this shall greatly slow down the compaction action of your soil plus add nutrients . the straw in the soil shall make it crumbly and loose which is ideal for plants as opposed to hard and compacted which makes it difficult for the roots to grow through . cut the straw up good with you shovels as ya dig it in .

at this point if you have a clay type or sand type or maybe like a fine nutrient deficient soil that you have to add nutrients of either compost manure or top soil , or weeds dredged out of non treated lake beds .
and dig that in .

then for weed control , which is big because weeds choke out your plants , i create a pile of grass clippings and leaves mixed together (leaves from previous fall , grass from the season) to sprinkle all around my plants to prevent weed development .

on bug control some people put a little dish soap (several drops) and powdered cayene pepper in a spray bottle full of water to spray on pested plants .

and if im you , i go to the pine tree seed company i mentioned in seed post and get their loose leaf lettuce mix and spinach mix for a season long supply of greens . you can plant both , were in the same zone 5 (weather conditions) so have same planting times , in like mid april or earlier if springs warm . to get a quick start after seeding cover the seed beds with plastic to keep warmth trapped in soil in order to quicken sprouting . when seeds start to break through soil remove . remove tarp for rain or watering . water everyday if can . and dont plant the entire area you have marked for these greens right away . only seed half . then say 21 days later plant the other half . this way when the first beds done you have a 2nd one coming . then when first beds gone plant for another crop there .

this lettuce mix is all the different colors and textures of mild loose leaf lettuces , which along with the spinach give ya a delicous and nutricious salad mix . im assuming though you like said greens .
then ide buy good sized tomato cages and plant them 3 foot apart early may depending how weather looks . have things like old sheets or tarps or 5 gallon buckets at ready to cover plants incase a late frost hits .

and if you like basil its easy and fresh its great .

i also like green peppers in my salads so grow them , there easy and you can crowd them in at about a foot apart .

i grow my tomatos from seed indoors by windows starting them in 2nd half of february because it takes about 8 weeks for them to get near a foot which is good transplanting size . but you can just get your plants from nursery because you prob dont know what varietys you like best like i do which makes me grow my own because nurserys dont grow the kinds i want . so until you experiment with varietys itd be easier to just buy starts .


well theres a whole bunch im missing but thats a little idea cuz i gotta go now , oh and on digging out soil its gonna lower that area and make it floodable if you get alot of rain and thats dangerous cuz the flood could drown out entire garden so may want to bring in soil to raise entire garden above surrounding area . just depends how far your getting into gardening .

well heres to getting our hands dirty , goodday :)

[garden granny]

If I were you, I would start small. Just go to a nursery and buy a couple of pots, and some soil for starting seeds in, buy some seeds (organic), like basil, plant them, and set your pot in a window with southern exposure. They will be growing like crazy in a week. You can also plant lettuces this way with seeds, and just use your scissors and trim off enough for a salad every few days. When the weather is warm, say, April-May, just dig a hole in your yard where it is sunny most of the day, stick in a couple of tomato plants, every 2-3 weeks fertilize with an organic liquid fertilizer. I've found that the cherry tomato's grow like crazy till October or November, but I'm in the south. :)

[UNIQUE_VISION]

If I were you, I would start small. Just go to a nursery and buy a couple of pots, and some soil for starting seeds in, buy some seeds (organic), like basil, plant them, and set your pot in a window with southern exposure. They will be growing like crazy in a week. You can also plant lettuces this way with seeds, and just use your scissors and trim off enough for a salad every few days. When the weather is warm, say, April-May, just dig a hole in your yard where it is sunny most of the day, stick in a couple of tomato plants, every 2-3 weeks fertilize with an organic liquid fertilizer. I've found that the cherry tomato's grow like crazy till October or November, but I'm in the south. :)

wow thank you for all the vast information! truly thank you! I think I may start small and even grow cucumber or tomato for a first try. I will take photos to show progress!
thanks everyone!