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CandaceC
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| Posted: Feb 12 2008 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
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Ladies, starting a garden is something I would LOVE to do...but have NO CLUE! I'm a city girl. LOL! But, through homeschooling am completely loving nature study with my children. Last spring we enjoyed planting several things around the house - inside the house I should say! In cups, etc.
So, would it be impossible for someone with my lack of knowledge to start a garden? We would love the veggies (or whatever else easy anyone might recommend!) but a lot of what I would be doing would be for learning and the experience of it. We would all love watching things grow and getting to eat our own veggies!
We do live in a very small city, so we are talking SMALL, just planting a few things to try it out?!?!
What can you recommend? Books to read? Websites? What tools would I have to have? What should I grow? Do you think I can do it??  What else should I know?
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Feb 12 2008 at 8:20pm | IP Logged
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I recommend the Sharon Lovejoy books, such as Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, Sunflower houses, and Hollyhock Days. Your local library should have them, but they are well worth purchasing, too.
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Theresa
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MaryM
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| Posted: Feb 12 2008 at 8:26pm | IP Logged
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Theresa beat me to it - I would recommend the same books. Here are links to the other two.
She also has Trowel and Error which is a book of garden tips and hints.
And Marilyn has just started a garden planning thread as well.
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Mary M. in Denver
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CandaceC
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| Posted: Feb 12 2008 at 8:48pm | IP Logged
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Oh yipee, the library has the first 3 books you mentioned actually IN...and tomorrow I can pick them up! Thanks!! :)
Any other tips or suggestions?
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Feb 12 2008 at 9:03pm | IP Logged
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Sure. Since you are thinking small, you may want to focus on container gardening or Square foot gardening. You probably should get an all-purpose comprehensive gardening guide like Rodales guide to Organic Gardening.
And then you will want to do some soil testing in case you need to do any amendments (highly likely). Soil test kits are easy, fun, and a great learning experience for kids. Go ahead and start a compost pile now so you will have some ready by spring. Directions for this should be in any decent gardening book or can easily be found online.
Have fun!!!
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Theresa
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SusanMc
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I second the Square Foot Gardening approach. It took me about half a Saturday to dig, build, and fill my little 4x4 square. Some things have done better than others but it is a nice managable way to dip your tow into vegetable gardening. I'm enjoying lettuce, radishes and carrots right now.
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stefoodie
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I must sound like a broken record to some of you by now, but I just gotta put in my vote for wintersowing! It's the easiest way to start a garden IMO!
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stef
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~Rachel~
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stefoodie wrote:
| I must sound like a broken record to some of you by now, but I just gotta put in my vote for wintersowing! It's the easiest way to start a garden IMO! |
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Tell me more. You can tell me on either gardening thread... but you posted this link before and I STILL can't find out much about it 
and I am lazy and don't want to wade through all those posts to figure out what it is and how to do it
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Rachel May
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In my square foot gardening book, there's a special section in the back for kids' gardens (the basic recommendation is that it be 3x3 so they can reach). That's what we're going to try this year.
wintersowing? It looks intriguing but my battery is running out so I'll have to look more later!
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MarilynW
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stefoodie wrote:
| I must sound like a broken record to some of you by now, but I just gotta put in my vote for wintersowing! It's the easiest way to start a garden IMO! |
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I would love to try the winter sowing. Stef - what plants have worked well for you? I want to do direct sowing - but I have to figure out if it will work for what I want. I will be using a mixture of deck containers, wading pools and an outdoor patch. I am still figuring plants - but I am hoping for zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, onions, some salad type, maybe a barrel of potatoes. Seeds of Change has an organic container gardening section. Maybe I should order container varieties from here. Any other suggestions for direct sowing?
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stefoodie
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I've tried everything -- perennials, annuals, herbs, veggies, flowers... I have it in my notes that I had 95% or so success rate in 2004, but I have to dig through my boxes in my basement to see exactly what those are.
From what I remember, the things I wintersowed that year (zone 5) that I was very happy with were:
- centaureas
- poppies
- lupines
- hollyhocks
- cosmos
- tomatoes
- peppers
- lettuces
- cutting celery
- parsley
- zucchini
- scarlet runner beans
- eggplant
- borretana cippolini onions
- basil
- marigolds
- different herbs like thymes, perennial oregano, etc.
but I remember sowing 200 or so seeds, and 95% (or was it 98% that year? i forget now) germinated and were thriving. I just didn't get to plant all of them in the ground because of travel :(
my biggest frustration (but i'm trying again this year) -- are artichokes. i've tried those started indoors, wintersowed, direct sowed, etc. -- someone told me i should start them in the fall. maybe i will if i'm still not successful this spring.
Rachel, basically what you do is:
1. gather containers -- anything around 2" and up deep will do. I used milk containers, cut-up 2-liter bottles, yogurt containers, tofu boxes, mushroom containers (the plastic ones they use in the supermarket).
2. poke holes in the bottom -- i used a heated knife -- careful! wintersower diehards get one of those electric rods -- please don't ask me the name, i don't remember :D
3. fill with potting soil
4. either water from the top or the bottom until medium is wet through but not overly so
5. scatter seeds on top and rake them in (this can be done before or after watering depending on your preference)
6. put a plastic cover on top -- here's where people vary a lot. many use ziploc bags with little holes poked on top. i've used different things, like in 2004 i had my "plants" in a plastic crate and used the plastic that our mattress came in, cut into pieces and stapled to hold. whatever you can use that will hold up in the snow/rain/wind, etc. this year i have a cold frame with a plastic cover that i'm using -- it holds maybe 80 containers or so.
7. you just leave everything outside until the weather warms up and the seeds will know when it's safe to sprout. once you've got true leaves you can plant them out -- either teased out to separate, or as clumps.
8. the trickiest part (if anything) is the watering. you need to make sure the containers don't dry out or cook once it gets warm. but really, once those greens pop out, you just water like any other plant -- when the soil feels dry, water, when it doesn't, let it be. i had my containers in 2004 on our deck, so I just turned on the hose, put it on mist, took all the covers out and watered that way. Or you could use a spray bottle -- more tedious but really gentle on little ones (the plants I mean) and little hands will want to help too.
9. the wintersowers have a rule that i didn't follow back then, but i will now: if there's a brown spot (bare soil) in the garden, use it. i used to worry about spacing requirements, but i won't this time.
wintersown gardens at gardenweb -- for inspiration!
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stef
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CKwasniewski
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Stef,
This is an exciting idea and I'm going to try it!
I've got lots of seeds, it's certainly worth the experiement....
Now, I'll have to find some containers...
Thank you!
ck
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stefoodie
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i forgot to add -- if you think "mini greenhouse" you can't go wrong. once the seeds sprout you progressively make the holes in the plastic bigger to let in more air, at least until you can plant them out. this results in really hardy plants because there's no need to acclimatize them.
good luck, everyone! hopefully we'll get to share some pics here. my arugula is already up!
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MarilynW
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stefoodie wrote:
i forgot to add -- if you think "mini greenhouse" you can't go wrong. once the seeds sprout you progressively make the holes in the plastic bigger to let in more air, at least until you can plant them out. this results in really hardy plants because there's no need to acclimatize them.
good luck, everyone! hopefully we'll get to share some pics here. my arugula is already up! |
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Stef - do I have to do the flats and seedlings - can I directly sow into wading pools and deck containers?
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Marilyn
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~Rachel~
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| Posted: Feb 14 2008 at 12:21pm | IP Logged
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I think I wintersowed by accident... my lettuces apparently self seeded and I had one coming up in the path and one in the bed from last year 
Now, when I think cold frame and greenhouse, I think I am getting it... it is a technique for season extension... and appears to be very much a modern coldframe
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~Rachel~
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Starting a garden?
