Hello everyone, I'm here today to ask a few questions on my mothers behalf who is interested in starting a vegetable garden. With that said I have a few questions that I hope other members of this forum might be able to assist me with, and perhaps guide me in the right direction to finding the answers to my questions. 1.First of all I would like to know what are the key fundamentals that any one person should know about before considering starting a vegetable garden? 2.What are the fundamentals and requirements that one should know about in order to start the actual process? 3.What have been the best methods, through personal experience to maintaining and up-keeping their garden once the actual process has been underway? Are there any references to ideal "systems" that have been proven to work and be effective? 4.What are common mistakes made by beginners to the field of vegetable gardening? 5.Is there a difference in method of Organic vegetable gardening and standard vegetable gardening? If so, what might that be? What is more popular among gardeners? 6.For anyone who is an experienced vegetable gardener, what are some things that you wish you would have done after you started your vegetable garden? What are some things you would like to know yourself in order to perhaps, increase the effectiveness of your garden? 7.Are there any recommended books? I'm really trying to get a basic understanding here of all that might involve the process of vegetable gardening, as myself nor my mother have any experience in this field of endeavor. Any help that could be provided would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all! EDIT: I'd like to add one more question in here and that is: If there could exist the ideal product for either an experienced gardener or one who is just new to it, what would (in your opinion) that product consist of in terms of being most helpful, beneficial and insightful?
I'll preface my responses by saying that I've been gardening for my veggies since I was about 5 (my Mom introduced it to me early) and I'm also drawing on her 40+ years of experience, and my Grandma's 70+ years. I started my first veggie garden in Northern Canada, and have since grown veg in most of Canada's zones, and I now live and grow veggies in the Tropics, which is a whole other ball of wax. 1. The key fundamentals in starting a veggie garden are to know the following things: a) What USDA zone you are in - Click here to see the zone maps and figure out where you are. Knowing your zone will help you determine which vegetables will work for you. b) How much space you have available - whether you have a big backyard and want to put in a large veggie patch, or a balcony and planters, the size of your available planting space will help you determine which varieties and how many of each vegetable you can grow. c) What kind of soil you have, roughly - pick up a handful of the soil from the garden area where you want to grow your veggies. Is it clay, or soft black earth, or sandy? Does it clump? What is the drainage like? Knowing a bit about your soil helps you know whether it needs amendment. Generally, you will want a fairly well-draining, rich soil - you might need to add coir or peat, or purchase topsoil, or turn in some compost. If there are pine trees around, your soil will be acid and require addition of something like lime to bring down the pH. d) What is the light situation in your yard? - if you're in full shade or full sun, your growing conditions will be different. 2. In order to start the actual process, you should know that if you don't have a garden plot already, making one can be a bit labour intensive - if you want a directly in the ground, you will most likely have to rototill, and if you want raised beds you'll have to build those. After you have beds, you'll need to purchase seed or bedding plants, and then plant out (this is the easy part) - after that it's a matter of regular watering and weeding. You should also be aware that some vegetables might have special needs - for example, peas and some beans like to climb, and should be provided with support structures. It's also important to order your seed from a reliable company, so that you know exactly what you're getting. McFayden was the company I used in Canada, and I never had any complaint about them. 3. I've never heard of an ideal "system" for your veggie garden, other than to plant in straight rows and mark them, and keep the bed reasonably free of weeds. Some people swear by a regimented watering system, but I'm personally too laid back to do something like that - I generally just water the garden at dusk every other night, and my veggies seem to come up just fine. You should also not be afraid of thinning out your rows once the seeds have sprouted and the new plants are about 2" tall. For root vegetables like carrots and beets, this will ensure that you get good-sized roots. For fruiting bushes, like beans, it will ensure the health of the remaining plants. Garden upkeep once it's been planted is extremely simple - don't stress too much! 4. The most common mistake made by new gardeners is the selection of plants inappropriate to their zone or garden conditions, followed closely by over or under-watering and not thinning. If you're thoughtful in your vegetable selection, water regularly and sparingly, and thin judiciously, your veggies will turn out just fine. 5. Organic gardening can be a bit more time consuming than "standard" gardening, and requires a bit more thought in the fields of pest control and fertilization. Standard gardeners can use the entire range of products out there to control weeds and bugs, while organics may stress that the best way to get rid of catepillars is to let a chicken loose. Personally, I currently use a mixture of the two in my gardens - I have no hesitation to spray noxious weeds with 2-4D, but I'm more likely to turn my chickens into the garden to control ants.
So I take it that certain vegetables are ideal for specific locations and some locations certain types of vegetables just wont work, or won't work as well?
You got it. For example, if you are very far North, you won't have the time required to ripen corn before your winter kills the plants, same goes for some kinds of tomatoes. The further South you are, the more vegetables you have open to you. I'm guessing that you're in Murrieta Georgia, so you won't have to worry too much. Of course, if you have a greenhouse, you can grow whatever you like out of zone. Most seed catalogues will have zone ratings or days to maturity printed along with the seed and plant descriptions, and you should use this as a guide to tell you which seeds will be suitable. For example, I used to live in Zone 2 (which is Northern Canada) and I could not grow a number of the tomato varieties, hot peppers, and most varieties of corn. Basically, if you live in a higher-numbered zone, like z7, you have a longer growing season than someone in z2, and can use the time to maturity to gauge this. Varieties specially developed for the northern zones have maturity numbers like 62 days (3 months) where varieties that can be grown in warmer climates will have larger maturitiy numbers, up to 4 or 5 months for some veggies. ---- 6. Starting out, I would have been more cautious about my seed selections - I had a number of disappointments my first year out because the plants just weren't suitable for my area. I was also a bit overzealous about watering, and I think I probably drowned a lot of seedlings out of too much love. At the moment, I'm trying to find out everything I can about gardening in the Tropics - I don't have the well-defined seasons I'm used to down here, just wetter and dryer periods. 7. The Sunshine Western Garden Book is a great place to start, since it also suggests plants and garden designs. Other than this, it's a good idea to collect seed catalogues. 8. I consider a well-made trowel, hand-fork (the kind with curved tines) or cultivator mattock, and a sharp knife to be the bare minimum essential for any gardener. With those three tools you can do almost everything you'll need to do in the garden patch once you've got the patch situated. Ideally, you should have a set of garden hand tools, a good spade (one with a rounded or leaf-shaped head), a blunt-nosed shovel and a large fork. These are the minimum you'll need for food gardening - everything after that is something you buy to save you time or because it makes it look easier to kill dandilions. (for the record, the only thing I've ever found that really works for that is a bernzomatic propane torch.)
