Gardening Questions

Factual Questions
1

Due to hard economic times at the Broomstick household, and because I’m no longer spending several hours a day commuting, I am seriously considering put in a garden in the backyard this year. The landlord has already approved ripping up the weeds in the backyard for this purpose.

A couple of questions, as it has been a couple decades since I did something like this:

  1. What is the best tool for breaking up sod and stuff? Is it something called a “roto-tiller”? How does one go about procuring one? As the landlord is also considering putting in a garden (the economic woes extend past the immediate household to much of the area) he said he’d consider buying one for himself and lending it to me if I could find a good deal. How would one procure such a thing?

  2. I think the soil is reasonably viable - the weeds, after all, grow wonderfully and require frequent mowing all summer (this may be a factor in the landlord’s approval - less he has to mow). Do you think I can forgo fertilizing for at least the first year or two?

  3. What, if any, insecticides/pesticides should I use or you would recommend? This is not, after all, a commercial operation but rather a garden to supplement our food purchases. Emphasis should be on “safe for non-insects”. I’m willing to accept some losses, but I don’t want to wind up feeding the local bugs more than me. I also doubt I’ll have the time to spend hours out back picking the bugs off by hand - I’m looking for a low-maintenance garden. Yes, yes, I know there will be some work involved, but I am NOT starting a small farm here. I hope to be working full time by summer.

  4. I’m trying to decide what to grow. Corn and tomatoes are NOT on the list - I am allergic to both. I’m thinking… lettuce, spinach, and other greens (perhaps some rows planted a week apart to stagger the harvest), onions, 1 (just 1) zuccini plant, carrots, green beans, wax beans, bell peppers… I’m looking in particular for things that will either keep for awhile, or can be frozen with home equipment. I am not canning because, first of all, I’ve never done it and second, I don’t want to outlay the money for equipment. I am considering putting the money into a small chest freezer since it would also be useful for freezing meat I buy on sale or in bulk to save money. I also have a home dehydrator. In other words, I want to stick to processes I already know and equipment I (mostly) already have.

2

  1. Around these parts, most of the hardware stores rent rototillers. The cost is about $25 for two hours, which is plenty of time.

  2. You’ll likely need to dust the zucchini for squash vine borers. When I forget, I get only a couple zukes per plant before they die.

3

The pests you have depend on your location. I’m in Northern California, and I only have to worry about snails. Your local county extension agency should give you lots of information for free, and help you select the kinds of things that grow well in your area.

To save money, you probably will want to start stuff from seeds. I suspect there are many web sites with cheap planters. I don’t have any place in my house to put out seedlings, so I cheat and buy plants.

Definitely rent or borrow a roto-tiller. Very valuable when you start. I use a shovel to help dig more. You also need a small spade for fine work, and a string to help you plant in rows.

As for what to plant - Lettuce is an early season plant. The middle of the summer will be too hot for it, but you can reuse the space for something else. if you have limited space, check out vegetable prices, and plant the stuff you like which is most expensive. I used to plant jalapenos, but they never got hot, and the farmers markets here practically give them away. Snow peas, on the other hand, are expensive.

I’ve had very good success with different types of squash, like 8-ball squash and French zucchini. Last year my eggplant went crazy, and I had tons of green peppers. Green peppers and green beans freeze very easily. Someone gave my wife a way of freezing eggplant, I can ask her if you are interested. It will take a season or two for you to learn what grows best in your soil. There are lots of factors. Last year we put a fence in by the garden, and we think the reflection of heat from it cut down on the squash I got and increased the eggplant.

When you rototill, you’ll see what kind of soil you have. I’ve improved mine with composted horse manure. My daughter rode, so we brought plastic bags to her barn and filled them up. Barns often have to pay to get it hauled away, so they may be happy for you to take some for free. You should start a compost pile if you haven’t already. It cuts down the volume of trash you have by a lot, and when it is cooking it makes great soil.

So my main advice is: talk to your extension agent. Plant expensive stuff. Get that horse poop.

4

I suggest using more compost than you could ever imagine being needed. Many locals make compost available free as part of their recycling programs. For the first year, plan on putting down 3-4" over the whole area. You’ll be amazed at how much you need. Next year you can top it off with 1-2".

I second the rototiller. First rototill. Then spread the compost. Then rototill again to mix the compost in. You want to have nice loose soil at least 10" deep. If you add enough compost, you won’t need to use fertilizer. You can also use insecticidal soap rather than more toxic insecticides to keep insects under control. Insecticidal soap is available at most good garden centers. Follow the label instructions.

I love growing beets and carrots as well as tomatoes and corn. (I know the latter two are not an option.) All taste nothing like what you can buy in a store. My kids actually enjoy eating beets from the garden and specifically request that I plant them – their friends think they’re crazy until they taste some. If you want to have some fun, try growing pumpkins. Beets, carrots, and pumpkins grow well from seeds planted directly in the garden and are fairly easy. You should also plant some herbs that you use. Parsley and basil are generally easy to grow and don’t take up much room.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time weeding. Weeding is the worst part of gardening.

5

Good answers so far – and as I say in the “three most important things” thread, the three most important things in a good garden are compost, compost, compost.

What you can grow will depend, in part, on how much sun you have. You need 10 hours a day for peppers, beans, (tomatoes, corn, for those who grow them), eggplant, squash, etc. You need 8 hours a day for root veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes). You need 6 hours a day for leaf veggies (lettuce, spinach, chard).

6

For pest control you can order praying mantis egg sacs and ladybugs, which will help everybody around you as well. Don’t use insecticide because you just end up killing spiders too and that’s totally something you don’t want to do. You definitely want to compost the hell out of your garden–just because weeds grow there doesn’t mean anything else will and compost is your friend. I have great success with snow peas, usually can’t keep up with them and end up freezing a boatload. Eggplant is good, I definitely recommend the Ichiban variety of Japanese eggplant, they’re long and skinny and are hellacious producers for a small size plant, relatively speaking. Go heavy on the squash, summer and winter varieties–spaghetti squash is fun and gives you a lot of food for the space commitment. I always grown cucumbers because there’s nothing better than a fresh cucumber with a splash of rice wine vinegar and a little salt, mmm. Yellow wax beans are delicious fresh cooked, freeze well and also make the best pickles ever and they’re heavy producers.

Don’t forget putting in an herb garden! Grow lots of basil in different flavors and varieties, it’s incredibly versatile in cooking and salads and at the end of the season you use it all to make pesto for winter. Rosemary and sage are perennials which just get bigger, better and tastier every year. Mints are good for drinks and teas and to add into desserts. Thymes come in dozens of flavors and are hardy as all get out–some of them can be used as groundcover or to cascade down a retaining wall. Herbs are great because they’re delicious as well as being decorative, you can landscape with food!

If you have an area that you can’t really grub up but it still gets a lot of sun, experiment with growing potatoes in straw! I’ve tried this a couple of times, the method in the link is pretty similar to what I did. You get one hell of a return out of not too much an area, definitely worth it to grow small young potatoes like Yukon Golds or red potatoes.

Look into vermiculture and other forms of composting to secure your own supply because gardens always need compost and you don’t want to spend money on fertilizer when you can get it free. Not to mention it cuts down on how much garbage you send to the landfills, bonus!

Mulch the hell out of your garden and you’ll spend a lot less time weeding, as well as conserving water. Use soaker hoses instead of spraying above ground, also cuts down on weed growth.

Maximize your space by putting containers everywhere you can find a spot, and don’t be afraid to experiment with containers–recycled tires make excellent planters, and I’ve used free urbanite chunks from Craig’s List to make small planters.

Mostly, have fun with it! Gardens are always a work in progress no matter how long they’ve been growing and there are no wrong answers, just better ones.

7

Around these h’yar parts, the place to go to rent a rototiller is K & M Rentals, a.k.a. “the rental place”, which is a grubby, testosterone-laden facility that rents Guy Stuff like power washers, scaffolding, and portapotties. No doubt there is something similar in your neck of the woods; I’d inquire at the nearest TrueValue or Ace Hardware store, they’ll know.

The most important thing you need to know about running a rototiller is to have somebody else do it. Trust me on this.

And since it’s one of the things that falls naturally within the purview of Guys, I’d find a Guy to run it. You’ll thank me later. Pay him if necessary, or just underwrite a case of beer and a couple of large pizzas.

Of course, if you’ve already got a SO Guy in captivity, it’s his job. Goes with the territory.

But you can bring him beer anyway. :smiley:

8

Dude, if I’m lucky I’ll have money for seeds - I am really short of funds these days. Besides, we are downright plagued with ladybugs around here thanks to other gardeners in the area.

I’m an arachnophobe. Don’t tempt me. :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t think so. Compost is great, but the last gardener in this building did Bad Things with compost, which reeked of putrid meat, bad eggs, and other foulness that probably should not have been in a compost heap. It left such a bad taste with the other building tenants that I don’t think my nearest neighbors will tolerate such a thing, even a properly maintained one.

I’m going to pass on the squash - I’m the only one around here that eats them at all, I’d rather grow something that everyone in the family will eat.

I’m not doing pickles - I don’ t know how and I’m not interested in learning that particular new skill right now.

I’m not putting in an herb garden - well, maybe parsley. I really do not want to bite off more than I can chew. It has to be a project I can manage fairly easily.

Sunlight won’t be a problem - the yard has a southern exposure with no shading trees and gets LOTS of sun.

This is a potentially good idea.

Have I mentioned I’m not the landowner? And I have limited funds? This would make installing such an irrigation system (even a small simple one) problematic.

Water supply is not a huge issue - the area gets much rain, and if we have a dry spell we have a reliable well.

I am not buying a bunch of containers.

There is NO way my landlord will tolerate “recycled” tires in the backyard.

There are some good ideas here, but to reiterate, I am NOT the landowner, my resources as far as time/energy/money are limited, and I am NOT starting a small farm.

Fun? You make it sound like I need to take out a small loan to capitalize this project. I don’t know, this may be more than I want to take on…

9

My “SO Guy” is disabled. That’s why I’m so concerned about not overreaching on this project. He is physically disabled and not able to help me. It has to be something I can do entirely on my own.

10

Radishes and leaf lettuce are practically weeds in the spring.
Toss some seeds on a dug up patch of ground, and they’ll grow into something tasty you can eat.

11

You don’t need to rototill or use any heavy equipment. Check out Square Foot Gardening:

12

You don’t have to make your own compost in order to use compost. Go buy some from a gardening center. Or check around and see if your city maintains a composting facility; if so, they might give it to you for free or sell it for cheap. The stuff you buy is completely composted, meaning that it basically looks like black dirt. It will not smell like rotten meat, kitchen waste, or anything else like that.

Here in central Ohio, our back yard soil is very clay-ey, meaning it’s hard to work. After spending some time fruitlessly trying to churn it up (sans rototiller) a couple of springs ago, we basically said, screw this, and just put in raised beds (constructed out of 2x4s from Home Depot) filled with 100% compost. Just dumped the compost right on in there. The vegetables turned out great.

I’ll second the recommendation for Square Foot Gardening.

Something to remember is that while you can maximize your vegetable production by getting really nitpicky with your soil composition and fertilization and watering schedules and whatnot, vegetables tend to be very forgiving. I stuck a couple of tomato plants out back last spring and really didn’t do much with them at all, and we had tomatoes out the wazoo. Same for the sugar snap peas and the bell peppers.

If you’re only considering planting a very small number of each vegetable, personally I’d recommend skipping messing around with seeds (except for peas and root vegetables, i.e. carrots and beets, as they don’t transplant well) and just get some started plants from your local garden center. Garden centers are also a great resource for figuring out what grows well in your climate and how to cultivate it (i.e., how much sun and water it needs, when to plant, etc.) Your local extension service - just do a Web search on “[your state] extension” - will provide much of this info as well. Or you can just read the back of the seed packet, if you do decide to go that route.

Gardening is as easy or difficult as you make it, and either way you’ll get plenty of vegetables. Good luck!

13

homemade compost is much better than garden centre stuff,to keep pests of your veggis use companion planting, and use bark chips between plants to restrict weeds growing. then you have more time to spend in the deckchair :slight_smile:

14

Two books to go take out of the library, for free: Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch, and The Big Book of Garden Skills (no single author, I think it’s published by Storey Press).

15

I’ll second twickster’s recommendation for the Garden Primer. I learned a ton from that book and still refer to it often. You might be able to pick it up secondhand. I’ll also join in on the compost chorus. If your intended plot has been lawn for a long time, the soil will be very compacted, and you’ll need compost to lighten it up a bit as well as add some nutrients. Your municipality or county might have a free compost pile.

Newspaper–black ink only, or so I’ve read–makes a great weed barrier and can cut down on the amount of relatively expensive mulch you need, and it’s free if you get all your friends and neighbors to give you their old ones. You just wet it with a hose (or convenient puddle) and lay it over the soil between plants/rows and spread a layer of mulch on top of it.

We don’t use insecticides on our garden but haven’t had a problem with insects so far. We do have rabbit and deer troubles and find a good fence and some hot pepper wax spray come in handy. Planting marigolds (nice, cheap, easy to grow) around the garden is supposedly a good rabbit repellant, but I haven’t tried that yet. I’ve heard cayenne pepper suggested as well, but that seems kind of expensive to be scattering around in the yard from what I’ve seen in the spice aisle at the grocery store.

Also, as Duck Duck Goose suggested, find a large, very strong person to run the rototiller. My husband wanted me to try ours and then laughed as it dragged me across the yard–and I’m no Mary Kate Olson. If the cost of rototiller rental is too steep, a good garden fork is a good (if more labor-intensive) substitute.

16

You can buy a soaker hose for about $10.00 it’s made of a cloth-like substance. You’ll have to move it round, but it does a good watering job, without wetting the plant leaves.

17

Right. A rototiller is a fine machine, but probably more than you need. It will prepare a garden bed of the size you’re likely to want in under 10 minutes. You could do that by hand in a couple of hours.

The rototiller would be a good choice if you can make friends with someone who owns one. Lots of owners use theirs a few hours per year, and would probably be happy to come by and show you what a great tool it is.

I concur that you’ll be happier with your results if you don’t forego fertilizer. One good option here might be to find a farm or someone with horses and procure some manure. It will be free, you won’t need much, and it will certainly make a difference in your garden’s productivity.

18

Dissent: We broke sod and started a small garden BY HAND last year. It was several hours of backbreaking work. The labor was much worse than we thought. My clothes were soaked completely through, and my arms, back and pectoral muscles hurt. It was a degree of magnitude harder than shoveling heavy snow. Have a good sense of your physical ability.

If we ever try to expand the area, we are definitely getting the rototiller.

19

A nice idea, but I’d have to buy something with which to construct the boxes, then buy this guy’s “mix”. I admit I’m doing this on the cheap - which I have to.

OK, let me make it clear that I really appreciate the suggestions. I do. Really. But I would have to buy bark chips and I have very little money on which to do this. I’m looking at a sitaution where I’m going to borrow a rototiller (the sod out back is about 3 inches thick - this is prarie territory, after all, I couldn’t possibly do this by hand), buy some seeds, and stick them in the ground. If I can find free compost that would be great. I don’t have even $50 to put towards this, I am really that broke. IF by spring I have a job and I can afford to do more I will, but right now that’s my situation.

Oh, I see - I was mistaken as to what that was. That’s a possibility.

The idea is for me to locate a decent bargain on a rototiller, my landlord buys it for his purposes, but comes over and spends 10 minutes on the backyard.

I’ll probably have to give him a little “tribute” in the way of the ocassional vegetable, but he’s always been reasonable about the strawberries, roses, and marigolds (he liked mine so well that every fall he takes the seeds to plant next spring around his other buildings).

20

I have used the principles of square foot gardening for about 35 years. The basics are to concentrate on the grown medium, and plant optimization. Raised beds are desired, but not necessary. You grow in the same beds and don’t use amendments on soil that is a walkway. It’s always the same compacted soil that is the walkway. I have had to adapt to my problems over the years, so sometimes optimal production is sacrificed for what is less labor intensive. Using a fabric cover and cutting holes for the plant helps greatly, when you’re not able to do much physically. This is not something you can always use due to cost, but I mention it for the labor savings. A square foot garden that is maximized for production will leave you having to weed less, because there isn’t room for weeds to thrive.

I suggest you make a list of what food you will eat, and list it here. We can tell you if it’s easy for a newbie, or a problematic crop. Canning is not cheep and is a money sink if you don’t have the supplies already.

I will suggest you may wish to container garden, if you find only a few things to try. You don’t have to buy pots, but not having milk jugs on the patio does look better. You can use large coffee cans, poke holes in the bottom and paint the cans. People throw out old containers in the spring so let people know you could use pots, and keep your eyes open. People have just slit the potting soil bags and planted in the slits.

For a cheap low cost productive garden go for raised beds. Once the ground has been deeply worked, you take soil from the path areas and move it to the plant beds to the side. You want a difference of 8 to 12 inches, between the beds and paths if possible. You can mow down the foot paths a couple times a month to control path weeds, provided you made paths wide enough. A different solution is to go to the cities free wood chip pile and cover the paths.

All improvements to the soil are to the raised beds, and you only water the beds. I rim the bed with soil raised about four inches high. This allows a hose to fill the bed and soak in. I try to contour a bed top that will direct water flow to every plant in the bed.

Look for a cheaper seed supplier and purchase all the seeds you can from them. Always look at the seed weight when deciding if it’s a bargain. Always check the germination rate on the seed packet, and buy only seed that has been tested for this growing season. Do not waste money on indoor plant starting. It costs money and most gardeners have problems doing this.