After three long years of waiting, I finally have a garden. (It's really more like a spot of black dirt at the moment, but you get the picture.) The hubby has given me what he enthusiastically refers to as The Garden Mahal.Now what do I do? I would like an assortment of vegetables - lettuce, peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and carrots but am CLUELESS in the ways of gardening. In fact, I have an unusual knack for killing leafy things. Do you have any tips, favorite shopping places, website resources, or words of gardening wisdom to share? If so, I'd love to hear them! (Please, really... I am desperate.)
6 comments:
tina - i'll email you this week w/ ideas ... I <3 gardening!
Peace, Kelli :)
Try seedlings your first time, as opposed to seeds.
You can try seeds for herbs, like parsley, but use containers.
If you just put seeds in the ground (instead of containers), you will likely get mixed up in terms of what's a weed, and what's a seed. It quickly becomes hopeless.
Also, I'm going to try putting hay over the plant-less areas this year, to control the weeds without pesticides. We'll see how that goes.
I can't wait to see your pictures!
Definitely go for good sized healthy looking seedlings - it's worth it to buy them from Gertens or Linders or another larger (more expensive) greenhouse because they are healthy and will withstand more extremes of temperature and if you forget to water etc. Definitely have a plan to keep the rabbits out - they LOVE to nibble new little plants (and can squeeze through very small places!)Especially for tomatoes - water the heck out of them - the more water the more tomatoes.
I second the advise about those pesky rabbits! I finally had to put up a wire fence to keep them out. I had tried all the sprays, remedies, planting marigolds, chasing them off, etc...but they still managed to eat flowers down to the ground. Be on the lookout! My favorite places to shop are Gerten's, Linders, and Highland Nursery. I can't wait to get out there and plant. Good luck with your garden..have fun, fertilize and water often!
I recommend the seedlings as well. It can take a long time to get from seed to full grown plant if you haven't started them inside. In the past having something for green beans to grow up on has worked well. My father-in-law always cuts out the bottom of his plastic containers and put them in the dirt around his pepper & tomato plants to keep slugs away. I plant marigolds around the perimeter of my garden and spray 'deer away' to keep away animals. Oh and watering the plants always helps too! :)Good luck and have fun playing in the dirt!
Thank you all SO MUCH!
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