New gardener, help wanted!

OK. Having recently decided that our family needs to become as self sufficient as possible, the first, obvious thing to do is to plant a garden this year. We live on a large, double, city lot, so there is plenty of room. I got the recent issue of Mother Earth News last week, and read the article in there about mulching. So, this weekend we are tilling, and laying a genrerous portion of hay down (which was given to us, since it got wet, or something). My main problem is that I have the exact opposite of a green thumb. I am very nervous about starting a garden, and spending money on seeds, etc, and then having everything die! Can anyone suggest websites that have gardening basics, from scratch? Dumbed down, so I can understand it? Feel free to suggest books, also, but it's not in my budget to buy any for about a month or so. And if it's any help, I live in Oregon. Thanks in advance for any help.

Marcy

 

Have you read Ruth Stout's books on permanent mulch? Although I've never used the permanent method, I do mulch *everything* after it comes up. I find that here in northcentral Montana, if I mulch too soon the ground doesn't warm up fast enough to get the early things going, and stays cool too long for heat lovers like tomatoes, etc. So I mulch some time in June, when everything is off to a strong start.

Perhaps laying mulch as soon as you finish tilling may cause you the same problems?

 

All the advice was great. I've been reading everything I can off the internet, especially the back articles available on the Mother Earth News website. It is so wonderful that they make all those articles available for free!

I also discovered that one of my friends loves gardening, so she is helping me.

Marcy in Oregon

 

Hi, Marcy (this ended up a bit longer than I originally planned, so bear with me!)

I, too, seem to have a black thumb...at least for indoor plants. My main suggestion is not bother with starting your seeds indoors...that almost always failed for me. Instead, I usually direct-seed right in the soil, except for the two or three tomatoes plants, which I buy young. Some places sell tomatoes as six-packs, but my plants tend to get so big that we don't even need the extra. If you do decide to buy tomatoes and find you don't need that many plants, you can split the six-pack with your gardening friend.

I live in the Kansas City area, and I found tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and zucchini very easy to grow, even in the horribley hot and dry weather we have been having lately (my corn completely burned up last year). In better years, I can get some good broccoli, too. I can't seem to get huge heads of lettuce, but you can harvest just the leaves themselves while the plants are very young. "Baby Greens" is the hot ticket lately, anyway. Here's a few little tricks that I do...

Zucchini: Dig a shallow hole, completely fill it with compost, dead leaves, or grass clippings (so it mounds over), and then cover the top with the dirt you removed. All in all, the hill you create should end up being about a foot across the middle, and about 3-6 inches tall. Then plant 4-8 seeds around the edge of the hill. One word of caution...zucchini don't like to get their feet wet, so make sure the ground is dry before you water again (My first year, I made the mistake of using the hose to clear some bugs off...) Last year I had such great success that I'm going to try other kinds of squash this year.

Tomatoes: Believe it or not, you can bury part of a tomatoe's stem...up to the first set of leaves (Other plants tend to not like this). My favorite master gardener on HGTV suggests this as an extra little step to help keep the tomatoe plant safer. Watch out for Horn Worms...they are a light green caterpillar with orange and black markings down their sides (it looks like a bunch of orange eyes). I caught one a couple of years ago and kept it as a "pet"/science project for the kids...and let me tell you, they eat a lot! They can do a lot of damage to a tomatoe, their preferred food. (They do make a pretty moth, though). Just take it off and kill it. Spring and early summer, you need to watch out for little tiny red or pink bugs (you have to look very close to see them, they often aren't much bigger than a pencil point, and often hide on the underside of leaves). You could get a whole infestation without even seeing them. These are mites (velvet mites, if I'm correct). Although I try to keep my garden as organic as possible, I will pull out the bug spray whenever I see more than two, since water doesn't seem to get rid of them.

General: Personally, I don't bother with "rows"...I gave up on them a long time ago. I have "patches", sections of garden 3 feet wide. I don't walk or put any pressure on the patches, and being only 3 feet wide (and however long as you want), I can easily reach every plant. I used some rocks that I rescued from a construction site for pathway's in between the patches. This gives plenty of room to larger plants, like broccoli and tomatoes, and creates a little "broad cast bed" for smaller plants, like lettuce and green onions. (Broadcast, in case you haven't heard the term before, is just sprinkling the seeds over the entire spot). I guess today this is called "raised beds", even though mine aren't exactly raised.

Always plant more than you think you will need. Always, always, always. Every year, a little rabbit comes into my garden and picks on a single tomatoe plant, leaving everything else alone (except the lillies in the front yard). I don't know why...he just does. (Sometimes I wish they allowed rabbit hunting in the suburbs). Some master gardeners suggest planting two to four times what you think you'll need to allow for nature and other little "oopsies" (like children and dogs). If you have extra, family and neighbors are always happy to get fresh-grown produce, plus stuff can always be frozen, canned, or dried.

You don't really need to go through the rigours of composting. Just put leaves and grass clippings directly on the garden (you can even grab your neighbor's bags...they tend not to mind). It will act as a mulch, and at the same time compost itself right there. Just turn it under in the fall. I always felt bad that I didn't compost the correct way until one of the master gardener's on HGTV said that it was okay to do this. However, I do have a "compost bin" where we hold a lot of our stuff waiting to be used as mulch...I simply used three shipping pallets that, otherwise, would have gone in the trash. (I don't know if you know what a shipping pallet is...its a wooden base that some companies put underneath their boxes, allowing them to use a fork lift to move them...If you shop at SAM's or some place similar, you will see what I mean.) I just nailed three together to make a cage.

Use plastic milk and pop bottles to store water in case of a drought. Last year, the drought got so bad that our city threatened to jail or fine anyone who watered their lawn or garden. My corn "burnt up", but I was able to save my tomatoes and several other plants by having that extra water on hand. (The Red Cross suggests keeping stored water in the case of other emergencies). Just replace the water every six months. Pop bottles can also be used as an underground waterer...when you put your plants in the ground, also "plant" a pop bottle or milk jug, with holes punched in the sides. Plant it deep enough so just the top sticks out. Just flip off the top and stick the hose in the hole. It also soaks up excess rain water, redistributing it back into the soil as the soil dries up.

Hope this helps you and anyone else!

Laurie

 

The main thing to remember is Never get discouraged and give up. Every year is a learning experience even to us old timers. (I'm not really and old timer but I have been gardening ever since I was a child back in the 60's)