Gardening

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PaprikaPrincess
PaprikaPrincess Posts: 89 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I want to start a small garden this spring/summer. Nothing too adventurous: lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, maybe green peppers and herbs. Part victory garden, part hobby.


Could anyone give me advice on how to start or good magazines or books to check out?

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  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    Dig the ground in the spring in a sunny spot, rototill and dig in lots of manure. Start your plants inside or buy flats of plants to start not seeds unless it's something like carrots, beans or lettuce. Put up a trellis or strings for the beans to climb. Cukes can climb trellises as well. Gives you more ground space.
    I've successfully grown tomatoes and peppers in buckets right in the driveway as well.
    Start a compost bin if you don't have one.
    Good luck!
  • niftyafterfifty
    niftyafterfifty Posts: 338 Member
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    Organic Gardening has both a magazine and website. You can get a lot of helpful information including what you need to be doing now to get your spot ready.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    Is it an organic or pesticide free garden? or traditional?

    what kind of climate/region are you in?

    it's really hard to grow tomatoes for example bc of the humidity and the pests.
  • BrotherBill913
    BrotherBill913 Posts: 661 Member
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    If it's going to be a small one you might want to think of building a garden box. Or have someone build it for you. It would be a raised bed and make it easier for you to work in, not bending over as much, they are really popular in suburbs and inner cities. Family HandyMan magazine could give you great ideas. I build stuff like that allll the time. If you have any questions write me..
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
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    Fruit Trees in Small Spaces by Colby Eierman
    "How To Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavon’s
    Quarter-acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for A Year by Warren, Spring

    Depending on how into it you want to get ...
    Seed to Seed: Seed Saving Techniques by Suzanne Ashworth -
    Creating a Forest Garden - by Martin Crawford (blurb from Amazon product description) A forest garden is a managed ecosystem modeled on the stucture of young natural woodlands, with a diversity of crops grown in different vertical layers. Unlike in a conventional garden, nature does most of the work for you.

    Putting some fruit trees in the front yard here, but they'll be varieties I'll use as they have great tasting fruit, neighbours have apple trees and they do nothing but drop the fruit in the yard..

    stick with Open pollinated varieties instead of the hybrids that may not run to form next year because of the crosses... heirloom seeds with some real flavour as opposed to "modern" varieties often bred for shelf stability over taste...
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    Are you in the U.S.? Go to your local extension office and they should have a book on how to garden in your area, what vegetables do well there, how to space them, how to deal with pests, mulch, etc. If not, add me as a friend. I've gardened for yearssss with much success and would happily get you started in the spring. :)
  • PaprikaPrincess
    PaprikaPrincess Posts: 89 Member
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    I'm in Ohio outside of Akron. I come from a family of Hungarians who started greenhouses when they immigrated to the U.S. so my gene pool contains some green thumbs. I had good luck growing tomatoes and japapeno peppers in 5 gallon buckets. I know the former owners kept a garden behind the garage and I have garlic growing on my fence line. My former neighbor told me that buckets of tomato sauce came from my back yard so that was encouraging!

    I have a raised bed made from pallets pinned on Pinterest and have a access to as much compost as I can haul. Thanks for the suggestions!

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