Does anyone else suck at growing veg?

reply to post by Ex_MislTech


Thank you!

I am composting for environmental reasons but it takes a long time and doesn't make enough for the space I need.

I would kill for the kitchen composter.

My mom found soil pretty cheap, 35$ a pickup truck load. So I will go that route.

When it rains worms come out all over the place, so I take the stuck ones and throw them in the garden. But our soil is mostly clay. There is only so much that can be done.

My husband and I love gardening from all types of flowers to a good
variety of veggies.
This year we are over abundant with all kinds of
peppers hot and sweet, zucchini yellow and green , eggplants, gourds
herbs & salad greens.

Sadly my yearly pride and joy tomatoes were hit with a blight that affected
every plant I had over 30 plants 10 different types. I had to rip them out some covered with tomatoes and blossoms GRRR
I was told that a lot of people were affected by this horrible North East blight.

Our corn was horrible unless you wanted to use it for a oriental stir fry.
Along with a few other varieties that just never took off from the get go
I try to start everything from seed.

I always rotate my veggies never planting the same variety in the same spot it depletes the soil. I grow them in raised beds rich with organic leaf material I also add worms to the beds and fertilize with a good organic fertilizer.
The slugs were a huge problem this year with all the rain we had
diotamatious earth took care of them.

Many people plant their garden by the moon certain veggies and flowers
benefit from being planted during the waxing and waning of the moon
I have done this method a few times I am not sure if it made such a huge difference.

I definitely have to say that it has been a horrible veggie season for us in general with the blight, and with the weather it has been so cool and rainy here in PA . I look forward to next year !
Everyone will miss the home made Italian Sunday gravy!

We had our first garden this year. I was so excited that we would get some fresh veggies, but as it turned out, I do not know how to garden.
We got lots of jalapeno peppers...a couple of cucumbers...tomatoes didn't work out...1 pumpkin out of the humongous plant, hmmm...everything else just didnt work out so much.

seems like the stuff in our box garden thingy grew better, (jalapenos).Not sure why, probably the soil or something.

I hope to try again next year, in the meanwhile will need to read about how to grow a garden to your stuff will grow....

I totally rule at growing veggies! You really have to put some great "Miracle Gro" stuff on them, or if it's a large garden, just go to the garden center, and tell them what the problem is, and they usually can tell you what would be best to put on it, and what it is lacking, etc. I haven't grown any in a few years, so I'm not up on all the new products. Also, I would plant my tomatoes far enough apart, that I could mow in between the tomatoes. I'm not crazy about weeding, ha ha! Good luck with your garden!

My tomatoes were doing great until about 2 weeks ago when they developed these black spots on the fruits and leaves. The tomatoes still grew but were really tiny. I used most of them in sauces. All of the pepper plants (green, mild, jalapeno and habanero) were fantastic, we're still harvesting, pickling, drying and cooking with them.

But I made a mistake I think in putting the zuchinni, squash and cucumbers together in one 4x4 raised bed. We got about 5 gigantic zuchinni and 2 cucumbers before the squash vines strangled the others!

The green beans are doing fine, but the spinach was a failure even after a second planting.

My herbs all did very well even the ones started from seeds.

There wasn't as much sunlight as last year though the temperatures were mostly mild all summer. That helped in keeping the japanese beetles away. But we have a bumper crop of crickets and praying mantis this year.

I'll try again next year and hope for more success. I think I'll try potatoes and onions, zuchinni, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, beans and broccoli.

It seems that we would all benefit from having a real farmer do a few housecalls!

I live in zone 5 and I can tell you the weather has played a huge roll in my garden this year. I have tons of tomatoes, but most of them are still green. Tomatoes need heat/hot weather and this summer has totally sucked. It's been the coldest summer that I can remember.

My zucchini and squash came in on time, but my beans, corn, and tomato's have been really late in getting ripe. I've been canning the past few days and have managed 24 quarts of tomato sauce and corn. Froze a bunch of corn and beans.


The weather does play an important part of how well your garden produces.

Having success so far with my fall planting(Florida). put seeds in the ground 2 weeks ago and have radishes, carrots, beets, onions, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cukes, beans, watermelon, marigolds all growing pretty vigorously. Only thing that hasn't come up in force is spinach. Still a long way until fruit bearing so we will see what happens.

After poor success last year I went with the square foot method. I couldn't find the reccomended mix components so I went for 3B mix, cow manure and chicken litter(3.1.1). Seems to be working well.

Something I read after struggling last year with beets and carrots was to add soil after they have grown a bit. Should keep the bulbs from forming above ground.

I am by no means a good vegetable gardener. However, my grandpa had quite the victory garden in his day. He would spend hours tending to his veggies everyday. For him it was all about building up good soil. It took him a couple of years to really nail the balance down. But when he got it, the soil was "black gold" as he called it. Well aerated and full of rich organic matter. He grew it and my grandma canned the excess to store for Winter and for family and friends. She had her canning operation set up in an old Summer kitchen off the back of the house.

If I ever have the time I would love to set up a nice plot in my backyard. I have the perfect amount of sun to grow just about anything.

Good luck!

reply to post by jibeho


Since you mentioned "good soil" do you remember what your grandpa did to make into black gold? And how long it took him?

I've got clay and rock to work with, so my husband built 2 4x8 raised beds and 2 4x4 raised beds which we filled with a load of "garden ready" soil.

I'm not sure, but I think I read somewhere that you should let your plants die and brown before removing them after their cycles have ended. Should I chop them up and mix into the soil or discard them?

I also read somewhere that if you prune back your herbs during growing season, you should use them for mulch. Does anyone know if that is right?

Thanks to those who are trying and those who know how to do it right.

reply to post by Hazelnut


I was pretty young when the garden was in its prime. However, I know my grandpa had some help from a neighbor who had a small farm with plenty of manure on hand. He also had a nicely aged compost pile behind his shed. From what my grandma said, it took him a couple of years to really nail down the balance in his soil. However, his plot was quite large.

He would till in the soil amendments and also most of the dead growth after the season. He put the rest in his compost pile. His compost pile was the source of worm supply for fishing.

You definitely have an advantage with your raised beds. You should have some really nice soil after a season or two. Just be sure to add the sweet stuff to your beds and let nature take over.

Okay so with the raised beds...once the growing season is over and the plants begin dying, do we chop them up and leave them? It sounds like it would enrich the soil but I am experimenting with the square foot method this year.

Wealth of information to compile with my experience and the experience of the 'old' folks around me.

reply to post by Henygirl


I've heard that covering the base of plants with hay during the winter can keep them from freezing and dying. I haven't tried it yet, though.

[edit on 1-9-2009 by northexpedition]

Originally posted by Hazelnut
reply to post by jibeho

 

Since you mentioned "good soil" do you remember what your grandpa did to make into black gold? And how long it took him?

One key to good soil is nourishment through plenty of well rotted organic matter. Horse manure, farmyard manure, compost etc.

If your soil is clay based, it will be quite heavy, and will benefit from some lightening of its structure. Organic matter will lighten the soil, as will adding some sand.

Acidity is also an important factor, with most vegetables prefering an alkaline soil. You can get ph testing kits from garden shops/centres, and add lime to the soil if it is too acidic.

I'm no expert and someone will likeley give you much better tips, but I hope this helpsa little at least!


Regarding the original posting, I too am a novice gardener, with this being my first year of 'proper' gardening. I've filled my head with information as much as possible, and though that has proved useful, I've learned that to be a seriously good gardener, you need the kind of knowledge that only comes with experience!
I've had mixed results accross a wide range of vegetables: a monumental harvest of peas, early potatoes, salad, beans and soft fruit. There is a bed full of great onions coming up to harvesting, and the root veg seems to be doing ok. Main-crop potatoes however have been ruined by blight, a spring-planted damson tree wilted within a couple of months of planting, celeriac bulbs are tiny piddly little things, and tomatoes have been very mixed (5 varieties, some doing great, others terrible.)
The thing is, with the exception of blight stricken potatoes, I reckon that the other failiures could have been prevented, or at least mitigated through various measures. It seems a case of trail and error - learn what works and what doesn't work, make mistakes and learn from them. You can't learn it from a book, and you can't learn it overnight.

reply to post by CX


Yes so far I really suck at growing veggies and I come from a farming background.

BUT

Now that I am unemployed (job outsourced to India). I've got plenty of time to study up on how to do this.

I've already started preparing the ground area for next spring. Were I am located we are heading into fall.

Your soil is the most important thing, you need good rich soil with compost . You can buy compost or make your own. The last video shows you how to make your own compost.

When we were on the farm, we had the best veggies, but we mixed our cow manure and dry raked leaves from our 150 ft oak trees in the dirt. Our cows never had growth hormones, antibotics and only ate organic corn, hay and grass and were free range happy cows.

Our veggies were watered every day right around dawn, very early in the morning.

I'm not going to use pesticides or chemicals on my garden.

There's tons of free stuff on the net about growing your own veggies.

Hopefully these will help start you out.









www.youtube.com...

I do think the secret is in the soil and not to overwater, to water consistently.

I'm buying heritage seeds. Seeds that are not gentically modified.

It's going into fall soon and I'm going to first start out planting my lavender and sunflowers.

Wish me luck.

Next year, in the spring, I'm going to start veggies and herbs, but for now I am preparing the soil, you also need fencing of some kind to keep the bunnies and other critters out. The garden beds need to be raised as well.



[edit on 4-9-2010 by ofhumandescent]

Thank you all for all the replies and advice, i have been ploughing through it today and applying it to my garden.

Basicaly i'm having to start from scratch again. Hopefully i'll get it right this time.

I have found some tomato plants growing nicely that i didn't realise i had, so thats a bonus.

I am going to try growing tomatos from hanging baskets, maybe they'll be easier to manage.

Cheers for the videos ofhumandescent, i'll take a look at them this evening.

Thanks again everyone,

CX.

'Usually' my garden is pretty fruitful, this year though it was an epic fail.
Nothing, nada. plants were burned by something. I don't think it was a fungus.

Just found a great website...

www.allotment.org.uk...

Looks like lots of great information on there to get people up and running.

CX.

Everything calls for it's own space, sun, shade, and water. I'd say look up what needs the most sun and plant it where the most sun gets and then look up what needs the less a mount of sun and plant those there and so on and so forth and instead of having it in a nice little patch, you have a more wild growth system as they'll be a little more spread out and get a little bigger and sweeter because of the room. I'd say that route, because you say you don't water often and that you don't eat it as often...Like you said live and learn. Only way you can do anything is after you learn what NOT to do...

Originally posted by nomorecruelty

Canning foods has to be done with a pressure cooker - you can buy those
at Walmart. And then learn how. lol I've never done it but have watched
my Mom for decades.

Nope, you do not have to use a pressure cooker for canning. I have decided to do some home canning myself. I purchased a 21.5 quart canner from amazon.com for 18 bucks. It comes with a rack that holds 5 quart jars at once. I got all the tools I need to in one nifty little package and a book on canning from the Dept. of AG. All this cost me under 30 bucks. Mason jars I got at Tru Value - 12 with lids and rings for 12 bucks. I will start with canning some sweet fuji apples.

Here is a link on how to can apples. Site tells you step by step, lists all the tools you need and gives links on where to purchase supplies.

www.pickyourown.org...

On another note... Make sure to get Heirloom seeds if you are going to grow from scratch. Genetically modified seed (mostly sold by Monsanto will grow you one crop from their seeds but the seeds you get from the produce you grow will not reproduce.

I have purchased a "seed vault" for $99 that will grow enough produce for 2 people for one year.

Fertilizer or plant food is a must. I use Eleanors VF-11 plant food. I use it each time I water and the results are astounding.

Good dirt is a must as well, you can mix worm castings into it, or manure to make it richer.

I have been out in my garden today. I had 25 baby amarylis plants that I repotted.

reply to post by CX


Practice makes perfect.

Next year will be a breeze for you...

Look into ways to preserve food.

Print out planting schedules for your USDA zone.

Do the research...

Irrigation is a must:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 6-9-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]