newbie - starting vegetable garden... - March 6th, 2006 at 07:27 AM
Wow! I wish I had found this site sooner.... I am new to gardening getting ready for my first "real" vegetable garden and hoping to have enough for snacking throughout the summer as well as abundance of good stuff for canning as I am experienced with that. I have many questions and hope to find some answers here
I have already started my seeds indoors about one week ago and they are growing much faster than I had anticipated... some are about 6" tall but not too many leaves... I have removed the plastic cover and put them near the window for more light after reading through some info here. I still plan to purchase more seeds - is there a real difference between the more expensive seeds in the catalogs and the cheapie walmart seeds? The ones I have now are the 10 cent walmart seeds?
Also, are there any good methods to keep deer out of the garden that are not too expensive? We have dug up a 12x24 ft patch and enclosed with 4ft fence and are thinking of covering this with netting to keep the deer and birds out? Also, I still need to prep the soil - right now it is just dirt so I am wondering what I need to mix into it? Have begun saving vegetable matter for compost and still need to build a "box" of some sort to put it in next to the garden. At this time I am planning to grow various toamatoes (some for fresh, some paste tomatoes for canning), variety peppers for fresh and freezing/canning, variety zucchini/squash, lettuce, spinach, shell peas, snap peas, eggplant, onions, pumpkin, watermelon, cantalope. I also have a seperate 2x8" patch for strawberries only and plan to reserve a 3x12ft patch in the garden for rasberries and blueberries that I have not purchased yet.
I guess I am wondering if I am on the right track so far or any suggestions for making my garden successful. I am on a pretty tight budget so cannot afford to spend "too much" although I am willing to spend more on plants, that will be more productive or better quality. The primary purpose for my garden is to feed my family on a budget. We are in the pacific northwest. This website is awesome!
I have already started my seeds indoors about one week ago and they are growing much faster than I had anticipated... some are about 6" tall but not too many leaves... I have removed the plastic cover and put them near the window for more light after reading through some info here. I still plan to purchase more seeds - is there a real difference between the more expensive seeds in the catalogs and the cheapie walmart seeds? The ones I have now are the 10 cent walmart seeds?
Also, are there any good methods to keep deer out of the garden that are not too expensive? We have dug up a 12x24 ft patch and enclosed with 4ft fence and are thinking of covering this with netting to keep the deer and birds out? Also, I still need to prep the soil - right now it is just dirt so I am wondering what I need to mix into it? Have begun saving vegetable matter for compost and still need to build a "box" of some sort to put it in next to the garden. At this time I am planning to grow various toamatoes (some for fresh, some paste tomatoes for canning), variety peppers for fresh and freezing/canning, variety zucchini/squash, lettuce, spinach, shell peas, snap peas, eggplant, onions, pumpkin, watermelon, cantalope. I also have a seperate 2x8" patch for strawberries only and plan to reserve a 3x12ft patch in the garden for rasberries and blueberries that I have not purchased yet.
I guess I am wondering if I am on the right track so far or any suggestions for making my garden successful. I am on a pretty tight budget so cannot afford to spend "too much" although I am willing to spend more on plants, that will be more productive or better quality. The primary purpose for my garden is to feed my family on a budget. We are in the pacific northwest. This website is awesome!