vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

my husband and i are trying a vegetable garden for the first time. We need help.

we'd like to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, basil and strawberries.

do we plant them all at the same time?

now how do we keep the weeds from coming up?

how do we prepare the soil or what kind of soil do we buy?

does anyone use any organic fertilizer?

how about tomato trellis? what kind? where can i buy?

i told you we need help!

Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

no one?

vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

i'm pretty sure that we aren't planting our tomatoes until may. we don't have a trellis, we just have a cage that sticks out of the middle of the pot and we tie the plants to that when they get too tall.

i think we are waiting until may for our basil, too.

we aren't doing the others because they are viney and need space, and we just have a little brooklyn backyard.

i'd suggest going to a garden store and picking their brains - I hear Hick's is good.

ps - your profile pic is super cute!

Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

This year would have been my 3rd year with a veggie garden, so I'm in no way a pro or anything lol. I am due with twins this summer, so I might have to sit this year out. It is a lot of work!!!!

I usually grow tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers and lots of herbs (Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Chives). I plant all of these in May. I've never grown strawberries, but they need to be planted much sooner... I'd say nowish or when it starts getting a tad warmer.

I haven't really found a way to prevent weeds from coming up, I just go out and pull them whenever I see them coming up.

I just use the soil from my backyard and turn it quite often... maybe once a week as the veggies are growing. I don't use much fertilizer at all. I've never really had to. I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the soil. I'm sure HD or other nurseries have organic products you can use.

I have these for my tomato plants.



HTH!!!! Good Luck! There's nothing like picking and eating your own veggies.

Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

I don't have much experience with Strawberries but I do plant cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, string beans every year and have planted peppers in the past.

I usually plant right around Mother's Day.

For tomato trellises, you can buy wire cages at any home improvement store that work great. I use the same ones as seen in the picture above!

As far as tips...the best piece of advice I can offer is this:

Move your plants each year. If you plant in the same place each year the bugs that attack certain plants will have an easier time finding them. Last year I had a problem with squash vine borers and so I am moving my zucchini and cuke plants completely to the other side of the yard this year!

Pinterest is a great source of inspiration and good ideas with gardening!

I also started composting last summer/fall. No frills composting. I simply collect scraps from the kitchen such as fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grinds, egg shells etc....keep them in a ziploc under the sink for a day or two and then when the bag is almost full I bring it out to the garden, dig a small hole, and burry it. I also mix in with it grass clippings and leaves. I did this in a prepared bed for about 3 months before it got too cold and then it was left all winter. What I have there now is amazingly black soil, and that's where I'm moving a portion of my garden to this year.

They also sell composting barrels and you can make bins, but you can just bury scraps in the ground also and it will help.

Other then that I've never used any type of fertilizers and have just used whatever soil was there in my yard!

Good luck!

Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

If you have time read Square Foot Gardening - it's a simple, easy to read book that has tons of information.

http://www.squarefootgardening.org/?page_id=2192]The 10 Basics[/L]

For fertilizer I'm just using compost tea, but I need to find a recipe...there are so many that are on the internet - I'm overwhelmed.

We just built a 3 bin compost system last weekend, so I won't have our own compost for this year's vegetables, but next year we will.

Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

lorich --- on pinterest there is something called "worm" composting. You put PVC pipe with holes drilled in them into the ground and put your fruit & veggie scraps in them and worms will go through the holes and eat the scraps and then help compost them in your garden. Since I am planting ON my compost pile this spring, I will probably put some tubes down to continue adding organic matter to the area even though I can't actively run a compost pile there.

Also I have heard that it is totally fine that dig little ditches, fill them with scraps and cuttings, cover it with soil and just leave it within your garden, just to get some immediate organic matter into the garden. Just an idea so that you don't ahve to wait until next year when your compost is ready!

vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

I would stay away from square foot gardening with tomatoes, tomatoes are tough because they can get blight, and you have o consistently prune them and trim the runners or it becomes a jungle.

We have had great success with cucumbers, zucchini, sting beans, snap peas, and peppers.

Compost is the best soil you can get, you can make your own but it takes a long time.

There's no real way to keep the weeds out but pick them. If you lay hay in top it helps though...

vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

My dh also built raised beds out of cinder blocks...

vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

Lay newspaper down under the compost if you are doing a raised bed that helps with weeds too...

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Re: vegetable garden- newbie- needs help

If you're using the SFG method aka Mel's Mix & raised boxes you wouldn't have to pull weeds or compact the soil as you're never stepping inside the boxes. I'm hoping this is going to save me a lot of work - and be able to enjoy it this year!