Posted: 6/13/2011 5:12:11 PM EDT
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I've been thinking about starting a garden since we moved in to the house about 4 years ago. I've got a decent size back yard (100x150) and my neighbors tell me that one of the previous owners had half the yard as a garden.
The problem was I knew zero about planting a garden. A friend of mine and his dad offered up their knowledge and tiller and a few hours on a Saturday afternoon to get me started. I decided to keep it small for the first year to see what I can manage. It's only 15x15, so I've got plenty of room to grow. We planted the first Saturday in June, so everythings been in the ground for just over a week. I've got 2 rows of potato's, half a row of carrots and radishes, 6 red/green pepper plants, 4 cubanelle pepper plants, parsley, basil, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, and 2 types of onions. I've read so much stuff on gardening in the past two weeks that my brain is overloaded. Being a city boy the only thing I've ever grown was a bean in a cup in elementary school. I was so excited when my radishes started poking up through the ground after 4 days. Now I've got cucumber and squash showing too. My onions are all standing up and I'm hoping for some buds on my peppers this week. I never thought of myself as a gardener, but man I get excited every time I go out there to check on it. And thats usually twice a day. So here's a pic, it's not much to look at now, but hopefully she'll really get going this coming week. We had a very hot stretch of mid 90's and no rain for it's first week so now that its cooled down a little I'm hoping for good things. 
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| Looks nice you are lucky to have good dirt I have clay and have to haul dirt in. As for potatoes be aware that all potatoes grow above the potato you planted so growing them requires you to add additional dirt above the original potato to keep new potato's covered with dirt. You add dirt as the plant grows so plan ahead. |
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Welcome to the n00b Gardener Club.
My first year as well. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=19&t=645836 TRG |
| Update.......so it was 2 weeks Saturday since I put everything in. 17 of 26 potato plants are up, no carrots, only 1 squash and 1 cucumber. I planted 6 and 6 of squash and cucumber and only one of each came up. I dug around in the dirt and didnt find a single seed where I planted them. I'm assuming it was birds that got them, I haven't seen a single track in my garden. I also had a couple of broccoli plants and 2 pepper plants picked clean of leaves by birds. Even my radishes didnt come up that good. I did half a row of radishes (8ft) and maybe a 1/4 of that is up. I tilled up all the spots that didnt grow and replanted more radish and carrot seeds. I bought squash and cucumber plants and put them in the ground too on Saturday. I then hit it with some miracle grow organic feed, so we'll see what happens. If I get a chance I'll put some pic's up later. |
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Update.......so it was 2 weeks Saturday since I put everything in. 17 of 26 potato plants are up, no carrots, only 1 squash and 1 cucumber. I planted 6 and 6 of squash and cucumber and only one of each came up. I dug around in the dirt and didnt find a single seed where I planted them. I'm assuming it was birds that got them, I haven't seen a single track in my garden. I also had a couple of broccoli plants and 2 pepper plants picked clean of leaves by birds. Even my radishes didnt come up that good. I did half a row of radishes (8ft) and maybe a 1/4 of that is up. I tilled up all the spots that didnt grow and replanted more radish and carrot seeds. I bought squash and cucumber plants and put them in the ground too on Saturday. I then hit it with some miracle grow organic feed, so we'll see what happens. If I get a chance I'll put some pic's up later. Sounds like my experience as well. Prepare soil Plant Wait Scratch head at lack of seedlings Re-plant Wait Prepare soil Add fertilizer Plant Kick and cuss Re-plant... It gets better. TRG |
| Yeah it's been a little frustrating. I still get my hopes up every time I go out there though. I'm hoping with all the plants I put in, and the miracle grow maybe things will get better. I was originally worried about deer and rabbits, but the birds did me in. Any recommendations for keeping birds out? |
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[red] I was originally worried about deer and rabbits, but the birds did me in. Any recommendations for keeping birds out? I built some windmills with eyes on them. I also placed/hung DVDs and CDs around the garden on wires hanging from tree limbs. The movement, eyes, and motion may have nothing to do with anything, but... I have not even seen a deer track, or found a bird anywhere near my garden this year. My neighbor, who does not have the same DVD/Windmills has been forced to use an electric fence to keep the deer away. If you have a smaller garden, you might just try making some rough cardboard shapes and hanging them around. Google image some Owls, snakes, etc. Print them out. Glue them to cardboard, hang them on strings. TRG |
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So I could hang up my fake owl that I use for crow hunting? LoL. I took this a little while ago, it was getting a little dark so its not crystal clear. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/tpapaleo9/137.jpg I think you could hang the owl. Might add in some way to make it move a little. Add in a rubber snake as well. TRG |
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So I could hang up my fake owl that I use for crow hunting? LoL. I took this a little while ago, it was getting a little dark so its not crystal clear. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/tpapaleo9/137.jpg Just an FYI, I've got one of those plastic owls suspended in my garden and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference with the birds. |
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So I could hang up my fake owl that I use for crow hunting? LoL. I took this a little while ago, it was getting a little dark so its not crystal clear. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/tpapaleo9/137.jpg Just an FYI, I've got one of those plastic owls suspended in my garden and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference with the birds. Never heard a lot of good about the owls, unless they were made to appear 'natural'. For example, placed on a post one day, a roof the next, on a limb, etc. I've used mine to draw in crows, but that was with a tape and some crow decoys. TRG |
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Quoted: Quoted: So I could hang up my fake owl that I use for crow hunting? LoL. I took this a little while ago, it was getting a little dark so its not crystal clear. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/tpapaleo9/137.jpg Just an FYI, I've got one of those plastic owls suspended in my garden and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference with the birds. Tried all the tricks and the only thing that has kept birds out of my stuff is netting or chicken wire. |
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Update.....apparently it was a rabbit that was getting in. I picked up a couple of rolls of 1" hole fencing and now my plants are still around. Some weird things though.....My potatoes are growing like a fiend, but I have 4 or 5 that didn't grow at all. I also have 2 very small potato plants.
The rabbit picked my broccoli clean, and I didnt bother replanting. I've got a couple stems that are starting to leaf up again, and one with some big leaves on it. He also got a couple cauliflower too. I replanted some of those, but they haven't done much. I have one really good size cauliflower though. I also added 6 tomato plants. Starting out I did a half row of radishes and had only 4 pop up, so I dug up the rest and replanted and now I have a bunch of radishes. Weird huh? Exact same spot, exact same package of seeds. Same thing with carrots. No sign of carrots for 3 weeks. so I dug those up and replanted and have sprouts in under a week. I bought plants for cucumbers and squash since only 2 of the original 12 came up. Those seem to be doing ok. My onions are all standing up too. I also replanted my parsley and basil since I only had 2 or 3 basil sprouts in the 3 weeks. Here's a pic. 
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Nice! Part of gardening is learning what will grow and what won't. If you're like me, you'll find out that some things thrive and some don't, and doesn't get replanted.
Miracle grow is wonderful. I had a rubber snake in my garden and the birds were terrified of it. It was comical watching them discover it. |
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If you soak your seeds in a cup of warm water for a couple of hours or overnight, they will often sprout in one day. This technique is especially helpful when you re-plant. Try it instead of buying replacement plants next time. It works just like the bean plant experiment you mentioned. I've had squash plants that I started this way catch up with store-bought replacements in about a week.
*Some seeds work better for this than others. Large seeds like beans, squashes, melons work great but tiny seeds are more of a problem. I have successfully started basil this way. |
update.....looks a little different than my last pic. Potatoes are 3 feet tall, and the tomaterers are getting bigger daily, also on my 3rd planting of radishes. I've got a bunch of little green peppers growing, but no reds yet. Also my carrots and celery are sprouted up very nicely. Same for my replanted parsley and basil. Squash is finally starting to flower. One large cauliflower and broccoli, and a bunch of smaller ones. Steady as she goes......
ETA....just picked a few more handfuls of radishes. I should have peppers by the end of the week. 
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