Gardening tips?
8I'm hoping to start gardening some herbs/ veggies in the next few weeks. Honestly, I'm a total noob and have no real idea what I'm doing.
Was thinking about doing basil, cilantro, oregano, lavender, thyme, green onions, asparagus to start.
What do you all recommend?
- 22 comments, 29 replies
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Don't do mint unless you want your neighbor's cats visiting all the time to get high.
@narfcake or unless you really like mint. because it will take over everything.
since you are new and your garden space is new, find the soil mix for new square foot gardening and lay down newspaper on the surface and enclose your spice wheel then put your soil mix on the newpaper and fertiize and plant. If you don't do it this way you will be weeding every couple of days. It takes about 3 to 5 years to make a productive garden from land that has not been worked in years. Weeding now is not bad, weeding when it's in the nineties is easily put off until the garden is an overgrown mess
@cranky1950 Oh man I can only imagine weeding in the hot Texas summer sun
Damn, I thought this was going to be about xkcd
Either that or do container gardening again with new sterilized soil.
@cranky1950 this seems a bit safer, might start with that.
You could get your soil tested, and then they give you recommendations on how to make your soil better (if it needs it):
Texas soil testing
http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/
Also, don't grow mint- it grows like a weed, and is pretty damn hardy.
You could try getting drip hoses to help you with watering.
Accurately mark what you planted where so you know what that strange thing in the garden is later in the year.
If you are just getting started, I would recommend beginning with containers. That way you can keep things in different pots and learn their preferences for water and sunlight. If they are getting too much/little sun, the containers can be moved to a better spot. Herbs tend to like more sun and less water, while things like tomatoes and onions need more water and some protection from the sun. That also keeps the weed problem to a minimum.
There's also a tendency to be too ambitious with a new garden. (Hey, how can I stick to a dozen plants? There are 200 seeds in the packet!) Plants tend to look manageable until the week when you are tied up with work and other activities, when they will suddenly become a jungle and invite all of their little weed friends in to join the party, flower, and send seeds everywhere.
@rockblossom I couldn't agree more. Never again will I plant the entire package of basil. I still have a freezer full of basil/oregano/parsley butter from two years ago.
@OldCatLady that sounds amazing!
Container gardening, with large (30" or so diameter) heavy plastic containers from Home Depot is the way to go. If you use smaller ones, you'll be watering twice a day in summer. Herbs- parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, lavender, and oregano are pretty friendly toward each other except when they aren't. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants) Some vegetables don't get along with some herbs. Asparagus doesn't produce until the second year, and it really needs to be in the ground; it doesn't like onions nearby. Keep mint in pots, or you will regret it. Go to your local 'County Extension Office' and see what they suggest for your area. I hit the local 'Herbal Faire' yesterday and have a dozen things that need to go in the ground NOW. Would you like to come help?
@OldCatLady great advice! Definitely starting with herbs for me. If I do end up planting asparagus and onions, I'll be sure to separate them!
I'll be right over to help as soon as I can find some gardening tools! ;)
@OldCatLady i see what you did there.
Get starts instead of seeds. Don't need to worry about germination and there's no way you'll use the whole packet. Is just easier.
Make sure nighttime temps aren't too low. I'm guessing this isn't a problem in Texas, but on your list the most sensitive is basil; prefers 50+ temps.
Asparagus is weed-ish here in Oregon, but takes 2+ years before it's harvestable. Just know this. Throw it in the ground, water it, but don't worry about it. Just let it do its crazy thing.
Plant tomatoes, squash, zucchini. If you water and feed on a schedule these are almost guaranteed producers. It feels really REALLY good to get big fruit, even if you don't like those veggies.
And just Google about a given plant's specifics. And come back in late summer to ask about winter and cover crops!
@Mehntok oh good idea! Hadn't thought of that really!
I'm not worried about it getting too cold but I am worried about it getting too hot come summer time. Tends to be pretty consistently high 90's to about 105
@hollboll as long as you keep stuff watered most things should be fine in heat. I used to grow tomatoes on the south side of a white garage in MN summers, which (surprise) would be in 90s-100s In august too. They would get like 6-7ft tall with tons of fruit. Get a soaker hose or drip line and just run it a bit each morning so watering doesn't become an annoying chore.
in my experience, successful gardening involves 50% soil and 50% a willingness to consistently put in a low-level of labor. Good luck!
@Mehntok rad. Thanks!
Strawberries! I couldn't believe how easy they were to grow and keep growing. I am in PA and even during the harsh winter by the spring those things survive and produce amazing amounts of fruit!
Gotta keep the birds away from them which is pretty easy then the only problem is eating them fruits fast enough then start giving away plants the second year!
I got about 6 starter plants and now have about 50 after giving away 50. Crazy easy to transplant.
They like sunshine and planted up on a hill against your home is great as they really don't need that much water.
@fjp999 oooooh good call. I'm from California and that's one of the things I miss most! Those little roadside stands with freshly picked (still warm from the sun) strawberries!
Cilantro likes to bolt in hot weather.. I would think you would need to keep it inside??
love the Bonnie plant site: https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-cilantro/ -- for example, they have lots o info
@mikibell agreed. I tried to grow cilantro in our last apartment and it wilted as soon as it started getting warm. Now to find a good spot for it...
You've got to plant tomatoes to go with all those herbs! Nothing beats a fresh, ripe tomato grown in your own garden.
@pitamuffin -
@pitamuffin deal! @dalek and I definitely want to make our own sauce and stuff, can't think of a cooler way to do it!
Find out what your neighbors like, if you're successful you'll probably be sharing.
From my limited gardening experience- most of the herbs will grow in pots so they can be easy. I grew asparagus once and didn't know about the 2 year thing, but the plants got pretty big. Onions can make other things grown with them taste like onions. They're also prolific. My grandfather grew green onions in his garden until the late 90s. I bet I can still go to his garden and dig some up.
If you are planting in the ground or large containers, tomatoes, zucchini and squash are fun and pretty easy. Watermelons too, plus it's impressive to grow something big.
Prepare the pot or dig the hole BEFORE you buy the plant. Trust me.
@hollboll I saw your request on the other thread, but figured I'd check in here instead. I'd recommend against asparagus unless you have locals that can provide advice. I usually just buy 30 pounds or so from one of the locals for canning, and call it good.
Herbs are great to start with. They're very forgiving, and rewarding. I usually plant a basil or two near each of the tomatoes, since it improves the flavor (and attracts the bees).
Remember the important rule about zucchini. One, or at the very most, two plants is enough in the neighborhood. Please trust me on this.
I don't do any real container gardening. I have a big yard, and I like gardening. I also don't do any of that square foot gardening, nor any raised beds (although you might consider my tomato beds to be raised, slightly). You've already received a bunch of advice, and I'd have a couple of questions before offering anything else.
Where are you (i.e. which part of the country)? How much space do you have? I wouldn't bother too much with soil testing. Find a good local nursery, and ask what the normal conditions are in your area. That's free, and they'll be motivated to be helpful (because sales).
@Shrdlu thanks!
I'm up in the north Texas area in the metroplex. Our backyard isn't huge but it's big enough that we can plant a few things.
I'm not big on zucchini but planting some basil next to tomatoes sounds like a wonderful idea! Any specific breed you recommend?
I think I'll hold of on asparagus for the time being but I'll definitely check out some local nurseries and see what they recommend. Maybe a fruit tree of some kind?
@hollboll I'd recommend any basil that you can find. Basil is basil, in my book. I'd steer clear of fruit trees, myself. They are a lot more work than you'd expect them to be. Many trees require at least two trees just to set fruit (but not all).
I'm not a fan of the lemon basil (it seems too fussy, as a plant), but those purple and green leafed, or just purple leafed, seem very hardy.
www.hightimes.com/grow . . .
has all the info you need to know . . .
@Pavlov
Herbs? yeah, sure. Veggies? Aw hell no! By the time your plants start producing veggies, the same veggies are cheap in the store. If you do the math on the cost of your first tomato you'll be astounded.
I grow flowers. Lotsa flowers. Something that's never cheap in the store. Here's a wonderful website of a Texas wildflower farm. Besides real wildflowers they have easy to grow stuff like zinnias and cosmos. They're cheap and sell by the packet, ounce, quarter pound, pound. (Have you ever seen an ounce of zinnia seeds? It's crazy!)
http://shop.wildseedfarms.com/
@Teripie My tomatoes cost me nothing but a little time and effort. I keep seeds from old tomatoes, or if I find some in the market I really like, then keep the seeds from one or two. They germinate in pots made from rolled newsprint (I use old telephone book yellow pages) filled with a bit of garden soil, then go out in the raised beds when it is past the usual last frost date. When they need supports, I use old grape vines, sticks, or whatever I have and tie them up with twine or strips of old t-shirts. Not dainty or elegant, but I get lots of tomatoes.
@Teripie herbs for sure. I always feel so wasteful buying a bunch at the store and I never use them all! I want to try a few simple and low Maintainance veggies more to see if I can do it than anything else :)
@rockblossom whaaaa I need like step by step of that! With pictures!
@hollboll
It's a bit late to start tomatoes from seed this year , but here is the super easy way:
I usually open an old tomato, separate the seed, let them dry out a bit, then put them in newspaper pots like the ones shown here that can be planted, pot and all, into a garden bed or container.
Supports can be made from anything handy, like the ones shown here or just find 3 long sticks and make a teepee/pyramid. Or if you are short on time and sticks, you can get bamboo sticks from the hardware store/garden store and make these for individual plant supports.
@rockblossom that's awesome. You're the best!
@rockblossom Here in NW Florida I can not get tomatoes to produce. It's either too wet, too hot, or too buggy. I've tried in the past and, every year, I almost always have some volunteer pop up. I'll coddle it until it starts producing fruit, then watch as the tomatoes it produces explode, rot, or get eaten, all happening before they get even a little ripe. And they never produce big enough green ones worth frying.
@Teripie In NE Florida, I had limited success with cherry tomatoes in a big pot, on a cage, wrapped in chicken wire. Still had to water twice a day when they were producing, and that meant never leaving home. The damned squirrels like to take one bite out of each tomato, just before it's ripe, too. I had a fig tree for awhile and this past winter I took it out, because I simply could not win. Easier to go to the farmer's market down the road.
For fast results, you can't beat radishes. Thirty days to first crop. Plant them in batches, three weeks apart.
Dill grows easily from seed. There are all kinds of things you can do with dill. And buy yourself a hardwood rosemary plant. They are tough as nails and even if you don't use any, let your hand just caress the plant for a great smell.
@Teripie I love dill on a salad!
I bought a fig tree this weekend. Should be fun trying to grow in Maryland. It's a tough variety though, so we'll see.
I'm also trying to convince my wife to let me raise chickens, but that's a different story.
@kevlar51 When I lived in Virginia Beach, my Brown Turkey fig produced lavishly once it got established. It froze every winter, and came back on the same branches plus new ones. Give it lots of space and cut the top off every so often, because that makes it spread out more. Mmmm... figs!
@OldCatLady I got a Hardy Chicago. I'm thinking about picking up a Celeste too. Fresh figs are amazing.
Let's hope for a mild winter!
This is a really great topic.
I had a secondary property which had a house fire and we are thinking of starting a Community Garden on it.
It is a lot and a half. My grandmother had a huge area for a garden and for the past three years my neighbor had restarted it with great success. Lots of good earth, strong sunshine and if it doesn't flood like last year ugh! - want to bring back the grape vines that have gone crazy wild ... discovered the crazy looking thin stalks were Jerusalem Artichokes which also went wild ...
We are in Amish country so after the house comes down am hoping to get some good toping from some Amish farmers and start a non-profit of Community Gardens. The mentioned neighbor next door is a top rated chef so what he grows then cooks is the best.
Oh, forgot to mention Garlic. I think he said it may take an additional year to come up strong but also an easy crop and so many varieties. and green beens so many green beens! He tried Brussels Sprouts and the stalk came up really big but I didn't see if it was successful or not. Love me big stalks of Brussels Sprouts!
Oh and his Beets were amazing! Fresh beet juice was so good.
@fjp999 I've had success getting brussels sprouts to grow, but I'm terrible about bug control and they end up getting massacred by cabbage worms. the little suckers blend right in, and they eat from the center of the plant first, so unless you know what to look for, it might be too late when you notice.
Plant some radishes. They are quick and easy the seeds go in now and will be pulling radish before you are ready to add in summer crops like tomatoes. They are very very successful and it is an annual spring confidence boost.