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stephanielindley422
stephanielindley422 Posts: 273
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I want to grow my own veggie garden this year. Problem is, I don't know where to start exaclty...(please don't answer with "a seed and dirt" LOL). Can anyone reccommend a good book on gardening and/or give some helpful tips. I know I want to grow tomatoes, cuccumbers, squash, green beans...IDK what else. I am in AL and it gets HOT in the summer time. Any tips welcome!!

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  • HeelsAndBoxingGloves
    HeelsAndBoxingGloves Posts: 916 Member
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    ummm seed & dirt & gloves? :happy: jk I really don't know but had to say that ♥ you!
  • stephanielindley422
    stephanielindley422 Posts: 273
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    ummm seed & dirt & gloves? :happy: jk I really don't know but had to say that ♥ you!

    This is exactly what my husband said. LOL.
  • ckehoe89
    ckehoe89 Posts: 144 Member
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    My father has been a gardener all his life, and I have picked up on a couple of things. Growing from seed is extremely hard, especially if you are just starting out. I would get small plants that have already started to grow. In the first few weeks of planting new plants in a garden you must make sure to keep them moist! That means dedication. Watering in the morning and once in the evening. I would recommend watering before 10pm because it is not good to water them while the sun is directly over them.

    If you have more specific questions I may be able to help!
  • Carl01
    Carl01 Posts: 9,370 Member
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    Other then beans most of those are inexpensive to get as plants from a nursery or greenhouse.
    There are various fertilizers you can use but the key is keep them watered and weeded.
  • darlingdori
    darlingdori Posts: 7
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    I've been gardening since I bought my first house in 1994. Before that, I always helped my mom in her gardens. Her father was a commercial tomato and strawberry farmer. Two years ago, I took a master gardener class at our local extension office. I guess I know a little about gardening!

    After all that experience, I still don't bother with seeds. I've had very little success with propagating them. Of course, some things you would generally start from seed anyway, like carrots. Even then, if your soil is too hard or rocky, they're not going to grow right. I buy seedlings (baby plants) from a few different nurseries in my town. Look up your last frost date for your area (do you even get frost down there?) and plant after that.

    I've never read it, but in my gardening class, most people could not praise "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew enough. I have four raised beds, but am actually going to put into practice the square foot gardening this year and try it out.

    If you are going to grow your own produce, I would highly suggest learning how to can as well. My garden was a bust last year due to too cool of spring and too much rain, yet I still managed to put up some salsa and pickled green tomatoes.

    Feel free to ask me any questions about gardening or canning!
  • bluestarlight19
    bluestarlight19 Posts: 419 Member
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    www.burpee.com

    Great site to order seeds from and they have tons of articles on getting started gardening. I use them all the time. My grandma hooked me up with them, they used to order seeds from their print catalog back before the internetz existed. I have found them to be a good resource.

    Basically yes, it is about having good soil, good seeds, a lot of times its easier for beginners to shop for baby plants than to start from seed. Any local nursery will have veggie plants come spring. I have been growing a garden since I was a senior in highschool. Mostly tomatoes, cucumber, summer squash, various herbs, strawberries, sunflowers, eggplants, snow peas, green beans, etc. You can ask me anything if you want. I live in New England.
  • blooomers
    blooomers Posts: 61 Member
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    go to cafegarden.com .. it is a great website that can answer any gardening que's you got! It's one of my favorite websites!!!!
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse-b_mrr_0?rh=n:283155,k:Beginners+Vegetable+gardening,p_n_feature_browse-bin:2656022011&bbn=283155&keywords=Beginners+Vegetable+gardening&ie=UTF8&qid=1327433919&rnid=618072011

    Check these out from amazon.
  • JCN_1103
    JCN_1103 Posts: 63
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    The Farmers Almanac. .
  • kd_mazur
    kd_mazur Posts: 569 Member
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    Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work [Paperback]
    Mel Bartholomew

    I found this book to be a good place to start. It details a small garden for one who has limited space. I found when I first started to garden that I wanted to plant everything and all at once but then found that everything also became ripe at the same time too and then there was too much for my family to eat. This book details a plan where you sort of plant in waves so that you have enough produce without going overboard.
  • AmyEm3
    AmyEm3 Posts: 784 Member
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    I really like Ed Smith's The Vegetable Gardener's Bible.

    Grow Great Grub is a nice book for small space gardening.

    I really liked Barbara Pleasant's Starter Vegetable Gardens too.

    I use a lot of square foot principles/small space gardening b/c we have a large yard but a lot of trees so there is a lot of shade. I have to fit my vegetables in wherever I can get some sunlight.
  • LauraHasABabyJack
    LauraHasABabyJack Posts: 629 Member
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    I love to garden! There is absolutely nothing like fresh veggies straight from your yard- my toddler will even go pick things off the plants and eat them straight down (we grow organically). I second the book Square Foot Gardening; it's a simple way to get started and raised beds are awesome. I do start my plants from seeds because I have a hard time finding some of the heirlooms I like at nurseries. I did buy plants when I was first getting started. Good luck!
  • the_journeyman
    the_journeyman Posts: 1,877 Member
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    I can't recommend a book, but I do a lot of gardening in containers since I live in town and don't have room for a garden plot. I also do a few tomatoes in a flower bed with some herbs. You don't really need a book, just decide what you want to grow then plan around your local frost dates before putting anything outside permanently. If you want to put some veggies in a flower bed, choose an area and add some composted manure to the soil, working it in well. It make s a HUGE difference. Containers are easy, just make sure they're large enough. The bigger the better in most cases. Herbs will take over, so be prepared to work with them and keep them in check by pulling the excess.

    JM
  • stephanielindley422
    stephanielindley422 Posts: 273
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    . Look up your last frost date for your area (do you even get frost down there?)

    Ha. Yes, we get frost.

    Thanks, everyone. :)
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Seed to Seed gets my recommendation, it'll take you from planting your own seeds (preferably heritage breeds if you intend to seed save) to growing the plants and enjoying your produce while picking the "best" choices to save seed from for next years crop.

    Check out canning, root cellaring , drying a various methods to save your garden produce from the "over abundance" period to whenever you want throughout the year. I'm going to in February crack open a jar of straight canned raspberries I picked in August, I will do more straight canning this year instead of so much Jam.

    Don't' forget your choices that you won't need to plant year after year... raspberry plants, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb etc. Just remember that they might not be the best choices IN your big garden plot as they will be there for a number of years :)

    All those leaves the neighbours rake up and discard so they can buy commercial fertilizer to add back to the lawn next year? grab em and compost 'em.. tough to beat for soil amendment
  • gerritnking
    gerritnking Posts: 42
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    i did the upside-down tomato plants last year. they tuned out great.
    you can get the kit from lowes\ home depot. you do have to water them a lot though..
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    The "Self watering" water globes work great when used paired with those upside down tomato planters... or planters in general, they do have more water needs due to the low volume of soil / moisture holding ability so the watering globes really help level out the water supply instead of dry / flooded /dry

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