I’ve been asked by several of you if I would share more about what I know about gardening. As my friend Serenity put it, sort of a “Gardening for Dummies” series.
I’m happy to agree to this…as long as you realize that this series is also written by a Dummy. (that wood be me.)
I PROMISE you that my garden grows completely IN SPITE OF ME.
Here are a few things I’ll share with you to start of this series:
- Some years are good years for some crops and some years are not. Whenever I have a poor crop of something, most everyone around me has had a poor year too. If you have a bad crop of something, you don’t need to feel like you failed. (And by all means, don’t give up entirely!) Some years you’ll have so many green beans you’ll be paying others to take them off your hands…some years you’ll barely get enough for everyone in your family to have one bean on their plate at dinner. That’s normal. (Unless I’m the one whose not normal?)
- Worms are good. You want worms in your garden. I have been known to chatter excitedly to the worms I see when I’m digging around in my soil, wishing them a prosperous life of going forth and doing whatever good things God made them to do in my garden. Sometimes I’m tempted to lay my hands pinky on them and pray over them. Worms are good.
- Bugs are bad. I do a different kind of “laying on of the hands” (and feet) when I see them. (I also talk to them, like I talk to the worms, but my words aren’t nearly the same.)
- To help control bugs, if you want to try to have a chemical free garden, like I do….you can try to plant some merigolds here and there when you plant your seeds. Bugs don’t like merigolds…
- Compost is great for your garden (and a great way to use produce waste from your kitchen)…the Happy Housewife has a wonderful tutorial here if you want to learn to start composting.
- Plant your seeds like it says on the package. If it says to plant the seed after the last frost…don’t plant them before the last frost. If it says to plant them four feet apart, plant them four feet apart. You don’t want squash vines working their way into your green beans. Trust me (the dummeee), I should know.
- If you can get your hands of them, heirloom seeds are best. They may not produce as well as hybrid (because hybrids have been genetically modified to produce like crazy), but they are better seeds. I usually have a mix of both in my garden. I’m hoping to work my way toward more heirlooms through the years.
- Don’t plant potatoes beside tomatoes. They are both night shade vegetables (except a tomato is a fruit, but whatever) and for some reason they don’t do well together. As far as I know with the searching I’ve done, there are not others you need to be so careful about.
- You can try starting seeds in the house (for tomatoes, broccoli, etc.), but if you don’t have a good source of light for them they usually get long and spindly very quickly (and non-transplantable). Starting seeds has never worked very well for me so I buy what I can from my 10 year old friend, Hannah, who has started a little “seed starts” business. Her mom has a good set up for her in their house, so Hannah’s already got tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli and other starts going. Yay Hannah…and yay me!
- If you have enough garden space, it’s best to rotate your crops each year since each plant takes something different out of the soil.
This year we’re planting potatoes, peas, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, green beans, corn, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers…and maybe another fun thing here or there. Here’s a (lovely) drawing of our garden plans for the year.
I’ll plan to show you all of our seeds and plants as they go into the soil. I’d love to hear any questions you might have that you’d like me to address in this series. Plus share with us here any great gardening tips you know of to get us started on the right foot!
Where do you get your worms? Do you spread them on top of your soil or gently shovel them in?
We’ve really amped up our garden this year, and we have switched to primarily all heirloom. Never knew there was a difference until last year. Hoping that our seed adventures keep going well–they sure are cheaper than plants! I’ve been chronicling our gardening journey on my blog, if you want to check it out.
Thanks for the tip about potatoes and tomatoes–didn’t know that. :)
I just planted my tomatoes and next the zucchini!! I am so excited. My holllyhock flowers are already a foot high!
I second you on the bad crops. Just because you have one (or a few) crops that don’t turn out very well, doesn’t mean you are a bad gardener and should just give up. Almost every year I have one or two crops that aren’t what they should be. But it’s fun to keep trying.
Because we’ve had two bad years of tomatoes, I’ve deemed this summer the year of the tomato and am looking forward to a great crop.
Yea to Hannah — the little entreprenure!!
Trixie
I agree with you on the seed starting, mine got out of control really quick last year and it was too early to put them in the ground. This year I am just going to plant them directly. I think it will work much better.
Toni
ps-thanks for the link!
Thanks for this post, I’m hoping to try a bit more gardening this year. Where do you buy heirloom seeds?
Any tips for a “garden” on an apartment balcony? I’m interested in growing a few veggies in pots — are there particular veggies that work better than others for pot-gardening?
I look forward to any and all gardening tips as we’re planting container gardens this year for the first time.
I love those tips! I’m just starting my garden and as much as I would love to be a really good gardener, I have to admit, I kill most everything. Thank goodness my husband has a green thumb. I will catch up on my prayer life praying over our worms :)
You can save the heirloom seeds too… I think that the other ones cannot be saved from one year to another.
I was soooooo pleased to find your blog today ! I can’t wait to read more. We have a lot in common and am always looking for new things to learn. I hope you come visit my blog too.
Blessings in Him<
-Mary
I love your blog.
I wanted you to know that I nominated you for the Lemonade award.
You also don’t want to plant tomatoes in a spot where you had potatoes the previous year. They just don’t like each other.
Heirloom seeds are the best! The fruit/veggies taste so much better than the hybrid stuff we get in the supermarkets. And the seeds are very easy to dry out and store for next year.
And to answer Snow White–balcony gardening is easy, and you can grow just about any plant you want as long as the pot is big enough–I used a 16″ tall pot with a stick in the middle to help support a tomato plant. It was the best tomatoes I ever had! Herbs are also good balcony/window plants.
Great practical tips for the rest of us dummies! ;-)
Questions:
do you have your own tiller?
what type of fertilizers do you use?
do you use anything for pests?
do the boys like to help?
how do you work around them when they don’t want to be out there?
:-)
Great tips…I have used companion planting to help deter bugs. planting certain veggies together will deter particular pests.
Also planting veggies that grow under the ground with veggies that grow above ground saves space.
I also know that you can’t plant onions near either potatoes or tomatoes…not sure.
I’m starting compost this year to save waste. I can’t wait to see how it all works out.
I got some great pamphlets from territorial seed on companion planting
great post, I love finding others who love gardening.
I LOVED todays post!!!! This year I am going to grow green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes and marigolds :) Awesome tip about the marigolds and buggies! Thank you, Laura, for the lesson :)
I’m new to the world of gardening but hoping to start growing a few things this year, so your tips were very helpful (and fun to read)…thanks!
Great post. Last year was my first year gardening and I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can to make my garden more successful this year. I actually did buy heirloom seeds last year and I got lots and lots of tomatoes. I bought my seeds through a local gardening store and on ebay. I am looking forward to growing more this year. I’ll be back to check for more tips.
Great post! We are starting our first garden this year! I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. I found a REALLY great book called “The Vegetable Gardners Bible”. It is awesome! It has very detailed info about growing an organic garden. I highly recommend it! And it has a complete list of veggies and herbs in the back that includes the items that can’t be planted together. There are other things that don’t do well together, and things that will attract bugs to other things if planted next to each other.
Have fun and Good Luck with this years crops! I can’t wait to put all the info I have learned on your site about canning and freezing to good use!
Great stuff! I love to garden and we do garden chemical free.
Don’t forget companion planting. I have basil starts to plant with my tomatoes. It makes them happier.
Since seed starting isn’t your gig and it was my WFMW post for today, I hope that you don’t mind that I’ve included the link for you here:
http://baileysleaf.blogspot.com/2009/03/works-for-me-wednesday-starting-seeds.html
I’ve got another WFMW gardening post in the archives, as well. We have new little sproutlings. They were born yesterday. We’re so excited! :)
Green thumbs up!
Haha “laying of the hands” bwahahaha! Reminds me of me and spiders last year in my garden!
Thanks for the tips. I am not so nervous about starting my first garden this year!
Good advice! I just started to compost with worms and I am loving it!
I’m backing off the variety this year. I’ve found that I’m the only one who enjoys everything! I’m planning to stick to the basics that my family will eat OR that I can sneak into their food : o) Tomatoes, green beans, corn, zucchini, peas, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, radishes, spinach, pumpkins, HERBS, herbs & more herbs! I’ve never been able to grow carrots or tomatoes – any advice???
OK, two things:
For the love of your blessed tastebuds, DO NOT plant sweet peppers (like bell peppers) next to hot peppers. Cross-pollination is oh, so very real, people. Unless you WANT to slice up a bell pepper for a salad and have it burn like a jalapeno, in which case… you know, do whatever.
Also, hybrids are NOT “genetically modified” in the creepy, bubbling beakers in a lab way. They’re just cross-bred, like people do with dogs. There are some very old, reliable hybrids that are extremely tasty, like “Mortgage lifter” tomatoes!
Almost all the veggies we eat have been fooled around with by intrepid gardeners trying to boost production, get a particular trait to emerge, or whatever. Remember Mendeleev and those peas?
For example, all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, etc.) came from one type of wild parent plant thousands of years ago, and people in different places bred it over time to exhibit characteristics they wanted.
All that to say, some hybrids are great. Grocery store hybrids, not so much. But old-fashioned ones, yes!
My mom (I guess it came from dad, originally) always said that her plants stayed alive to spite her, not because of her. I have inherited her unusually brown thumb. She drowned a cactus! The only thing she ever did well with was the helicopter/parachute ferns. They kept coming back, no matter how much she tried to kill them!
One of my good friends from CO who now lives in OK said she missed having the Earth between her fingers… she enjoys getting dirty and seeing what God rewards her with after gardening. This is a hobby I fear I shall never understand.
Just thought I’d mention, my mom told me never plant tomatoes by cucumbers- they don’t like each other either. And squish grubs. They’re “bad” bug/wormy things. :)
I love your blog and enjoy going through the older posts when I have time. You are a great encouragement to me!
Here are my few tips
– Gardening is mostly about trial and error!
– Gardening is more about soil quality and prep than the plants or seeds.
– When you plan tomatoes, take off the lower leaves on the stem (giving yourself more stem to plan, if that makes sense) and then plant the tomato kind of like an L shape (the horrizontal part in the ground and then the verticle part coming up, of course). Stronger plant w/ more roots.
– Save your egg shells in a bucket all year long to use with your tomatoes when you plant them. Clean the shells first, of course. When you ready to plant, crush up very fine and put a little in each hole where you going to plant. It’s calcium and helps with blossom end rot.
– Plant peas after tomatoes (in their place)to replenish the soil.
– Again, you are totally right about marigolds. They work GREAT. I also like it b/c in early spring, when you just planted, it gives the garden some pretty color. Hehe.
– You are better off watering less often but when you do water, water for a longer period of time. This encourages the plant to dig deeper for the water and become stronger.
– Check out your local university’s agricultural extension and see if they have a gardening guide for your area. Most states have them and they are super helpful in picking varieties that do well in your area.
– I get my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange and Seeds of Change.