Gardening is harder than it looks!

Ask friends if you can get some of theirs... That way you are likely to get healthier plants. I only have one good gardening buddy that I trade things with, other than my dad. Dad is always a good source for tomatoes because he gets a lot of volunteers each year.

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Oh, Bourbonred I am late to this thread (very busy these past few days) BUT

I understand. I had such plans for this year's garden, too. But we are selling our old house and it's a long way away and needed work... and the tiller we rented was broken on the two days I had to use it, etc. So I've downsized my expectations and plans. But one of our clients has offered free tomato and cucumber plants, yay! So hang in there and do what you can. Gardening is a process, apparently .

you should have time to just plant seeds. Double up if possible. You won't get two flushes with tomatoes. But you will get one. with tomatoes I plant them in the peat pots one week before I intend to put them out. I basically just sprout them. they grow real well after that. No need for larger plants.

This is S&P....
Want food when needed?

Plant the following. Cabbage, Potatoes, greens(not lettuce) ,Summer squash, Winter squash, beans, radishes, turnips, corn.
They all are easy to grow and produce a ton of vegetable.

plant cold tolerant crops every 3 weeks till 8 weeks from a killing frost
plant heat lovers every 2 weeks till 12 weeks from frost.




Thinking a food garden is about variety is a good way to starve the first time it's needed.

With the growing season here you can't go too long on tomatoes anyway.

I've planted them as late as July 1st and still gotten a yield.

Raising my hand here as another gardener who doesn't do too well. I'm all for trying easier to raise crops so I'll try the above ideas. What type of greens do you mean? Kale? Spinach?

Mutti-what part of MO are you in? We haven't had problems with zuchinni or winter squash here. My dad grew some massive Waltham squash two years ago. He called it his Armageddon squash lol.

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no carrots?

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squashnut & bassketcher

Champagne D Argent, White New Zealand & Californian Cross Rabbits

I find a large tilled garden patch overwhelming. From weeds to watering to flooding to making nice soil.

I love raised beds, and container gardening. It's easy to build the soil (and not have it wash away, or get trampled on), easy to weed, easy to rotate. I grow all of our tomatoes and peppers in pots, as well as strawberries and herbs.

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It is in fact the hardest thing I have taught myself... and that is including learning to build a house...I love it though and find that most days that I am planning or doing something garden related..this year I had the most perfect garden ever.. all heirloom plants...all growing great and pretty..first harvests were only a few weeks away..when a twenty minute hail storm and tornado passed through here and completely destroyed it all...I was so frustrated and just wanted to call it quits for the season... yet the Lord "nudged" me while I slept and the next morning I replanted... not as much (had to buy seedlings that were more expensive than growing my own)..not the same varieties..but it is out there once again growing... Oh BTW grow swiss chard.. it lived through the 100 degree heat last summer, heavy rains/winds in the fall/ freezing under several inches of ice during the winter...then was pummeled by baseball hail this spring down to the nub of plants... I trimmed them right to the base.. they quickly grew back...I call it the survival plant and is on my list of plants that I would grow in a survival situation if limited to what I could grow.. and the seeds planted were three years old...all germinated. Take heart... and then keep with it.. it will pay off.

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

Ask the old timers or what did grandma grow for greens. It is very regional. For instance in the deep south Mustard and collards would be appropriate. Here in NEPA turnips grow with almost no effort.

The Idea is to find what does well for you in your particular conditions before you need it.

That's my forbidden fruit. They grow small and knotty. Then the ones that are nice are generally eaten by the field mice.

If they do good for you... Grow them. Also try parsnip. It will tolerate harsher conditions if they happen.

It gives anyone more appreciation for the food they buy to try and grow it themselves. I've been gardening for over 20 years and people often comment what a great gardener I am....but I know the truth....I've barely scratched the surface of great gardening talent.

People who are good at growing food are, in my opinion, extremely talented and gifted. One of my favorite biographies to read is George Washington Carter. He was a scientist with a soul of the artist.

Gardening IS NOT something to be learned in one season, as you have learned. I spend many hours educating myself every year...by books, by gardening forums (my fav. is www.Idigmygarden.com ) and by asking questions of my gardening mentors.

Don't be discouraged, it will come in time.

And if your a total newbie... START OUT SMALL!

See folks the Idea is to plant many times. This limits the losses from the various issues that can affect a crop. For instance a small cabbage might make it fine through a dry hot period. But the larger almost ready to harvest one may bolt. A damp period only helps young pototoes... But near harvest it can cause blight. A wind storm may blow down corn if it's taller than 4 feet, but that same storm wont blow over corn 18" tall.


Here I can't really space out the planting times. So what I try to do is plant various crops that require different conditions. It would seem strange for instance to plant corn when it is rarely hot and dry enough to get a good crop. But if this year is that one in five. The normal crop of cabbage will not do nearly as well. So I do both. I think you get the idea.

This is interesting. I'm sort of doing this, too, because I have no idea what would be the growing season here for different items, since I don't have the same seasons as non-tropical locations, and most of the gardening info I can find is for temperate regions. I just keep planting small amounts of things and finding out what happens. I do need to keep a better record of my results though.

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I'm trying to keep records here on my first garden: planting dates, when I started plants, what varieties, successes, failures. I don't have a great memory, so I need to put it in writing.

I switched from Imperator (which is long tapered carrot) to RED CORE CHANTENAY (which is short and stocky). Here in my rocky clay soil the short carrot does very well. The Imperator never grew over 2 inches long.
We do grow parsnips and the seed is easy to save your self, even though it takes 2 years.

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squashnut & bassketcher

Champagne D Argent, White New Zealand & Californian Cross Rabbits

One thing to go along with what Ernie said. Pay attention to your first frost date and days to maturity of what you plant. You can use that to make life easier. Like if its going to take three months to eat your freezer down you may want things to mature about that time. Your garden is also part of your food storage. by planting over time you can regulate your canning and not overburden yourself with harvest, storage and canning at the same time. And you can also help determine when you will have time to can by planting accordingly.

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