I’m a first year vegetable gardener, and while I’ve tried different google searches, I can’t seem to find anything that fits. I have some questions about my garden, (Like am I doing this right?) and other gardening gems?
So I turn to you the Teeming Millions to point me to a good site.
Thanks in advance!
I have no special site. Full sun, organic rich soil, and good drainage, with that you can grow anything.
If you post your questions, we’ll answer them!
I always liked this site
I’m with Shoshana. There are lots of hobby gardeners here and a couple of experts. Post questions here!
I was going to recommend to you the Michigan extension service, but I just went to their site and found it pretty durned hard to find anything.
So I will instead recommend – GASP! – the home, yard and garden section of Ohio’s extension site.
Tons of fact sheets and bulletins on any number of topics.
And if you’re a real geeky gardener, I highly recommend Buckeye Yard and Garden.
Thanks for the links everybody, (even the Ohio one, it seems to have some good info.) The Michigan one is harder to navigate.
Okay, here’s a few questions;
- We tilled the area (About 15 by 15 ft.) and I planted in rows, north to south, and I planted in this order, from west to east- corn, hot peppers, tomatoes, peas/zucchini/cucumbers, squash/squash, and more squash, muss melon, cantelope/watermelon, with two little strawberry plants way off from that. (Now we had some tree branches shading the northern part of the garden, but we took those out last week), Does this seem like a good order to put them in?
- Do peas climb?
- Does squash climb?
- I bought a soaker hose system, I have it running down my walkways, will this provide enough water? How often should I water?
- How will I pick these plants? (The fruits)
- Even with everyday weeding, can you really keep it weed free?
- I never tested the soil, and I’m using organic everything, and it’s never been used before. I’ve seen lots of worms while Digging and such, I’m pretty sure I have decent soil. (It used to be where they kept the dogs until a few years ago.
- I planted seeds and starts (The only seeds were the corn, peas and one variety of squash.) How soon should I start seeing action? I’ve got flowers and 7 hot peppers off one kind, and not much off the other.
I’m sure I’ve got plenty more, I just wish I knew someone around here who could see what I’m doing and tell me if I’ve got it right, or if I’m doing something horribly wrong. My grandmother was the only other person I’ve ever known to garden at all, and she’s passed. I’m 29 years old, I feel pathetic that my knowledge is so lacking.
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Some of your cucurbits might cross pollinate and cause some funny tastes. Cucumbers, squash, and melon plants are usually planted a good distance from each other, or alternated with other garden plants. But don’t worry- your plants will flower at different times, and you may not have much of a problem. But if your musk melons taste a little flat, or your squash is a little mealy in texture, you will know that the plants cross pollinated. (I put lots of space and plants between my cucurbits, and sometimes I still get funky cucumbers.)
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Yes, peas climb. You can put posts in the ground on either end of the pea row and wind string from post to post. The peas will put out tendrils and grab the string for support. If you just have a few plants, grab some fallen branches from your yard, and shove them in the ground like a teepee.
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Squash does not climb, but it will spread. If you planted bush type the plant will spread 3-5 feet. If you planted heirloom squash, the plant will run all over the garden. Don’t worry about keeping it in place- just let it do what it wants to do.
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The soaker hose is a smart idea. Remember to water every couple days during dry weather, and really let the water soak in deep. Infrequent deep soaks are better than light watering every day. Light watering will cause roots to stay near the surface, and this makes for a weak plant. Deep soaks encourage roots to dig in.
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Pick the plants when the vegetables look just like they do in the produce section of the grocery store. **Harmonius Discord ** started a thread about gardens a few weeks ago- I will find it and post some pictures of my garden plants tomorrow to give you some ideas of how things will look.
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Weeding is a pain. Find a good hoe, and don’t break your back. Just pull the hoe towards you and cut the weeds just below the soil level. It isn’t necessary to pull up and hack out every root of a weed- just cut the weeds down as you have time. But remember- weeds compete with your garden plants for nutrients. Get rid of all the weeds you can.
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Simple soil test kits are about ten bucks. You can skip this step- if your plants are lacking a certain nutrient or mineral, they will tell you. If you notice yellow leaves, or brown spots, or just generally small and unhealthy plants, you may want to test the soil. If the plants thrive- no worries.
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Most of my garden starts producing heavily in July. Can you take some pictures to post? Would love to see how your plants are coming along.
My grandmother is who inspired me to garden as well. She contracted Alzheimer’s when I was 18, and I never got a good lesson in gardening- I just followed her around and helped when I was a child. I learned by trial and error, just as you are doing and by reading Organic Gardening magazine and checked out a lot of gardening books from the library. I am happy that you are pursuing this- nothing is more gratifying than walking out and filling a basket with healthy food that you grew all by yourself.
Shortest stuff goes in the front where the sun is coming from. The tallest in the back. You don’t want to shade the short stuff. I use beds for most stuff that are 3 to 4 feet across and plant in blocks not rows. Depending on how you will garden and control weeds, this can be better.
Squash and pumpkins will send out roots at the leaf nodes, and this should be taken advantage of. I make sure that they are in contact with the soil. It provides for more food and water uptake by the plant, and squash bores don’t kill the plant right away by eating it out at the original root site. Squash bores will show up, and you need to kill them immediately. Look for any wilting or yellowing, and go there to look. They will leave a hole in the vine and some trailings. You can slit the top of the vine open to remove them. Open it up and kill them. This is where the rooting habit can save the vine if the original root section is lost. I use nasturtiums by the squash seedling, to prevent squash bores there. They hardly ever attack the squash there with nasturtiums present. I use a small flexible or piece of wire to kill bores on different plants. Insert the wire into the hole and push it until it reaches the end of the tunnel they dug. The bore is squished.
Many peas are bush peas and don’t need support. The vines will get maybe 3 foot long. The other ones are going to need support. All peas are good climbers so you need only provide the trellis. Don’t leave the peas mature past filling out.
Most of the green squash has a dark yellow orange color to the spot where it lies on the earth.
Muskmelon will have a strong smell to them and they also get a darker orange color where they contact the earth. The tendrels at the leaf node will have died by the time melons are ripe. Watermelons will have a deep solid thunk when you rap it with your knuckles. Have your other hand on the melon when you do this. The vibration you feel is much lower when ripe.
Look where the water soaks the soil. It’s doing a good job, if the water is reaching the plants. Everything requires different amounts of water. The general rule is water enough to soak the soil inches deep, and then let it dry out. before the next watering. You waited to long if everything is starting to wilt. You will eventually be able to look at the garden and spot the change in the leaf color that means in a few hours wilting will occur. The same for insect damage. The plants leaves become a lighter green.
Vining plants are often planted with corn and they get along great. You use the same space for two crops at once. Super sweet corn is something you don’t want to pollinate with any other corn. It loses the super sweetness, and it’s regular sweetcorn then.
Squash, pumpkins, cucumbers and melons have flowers of bothe sexes, and both have to be open at the same time. Females flowers will have a bulge at the base that become the fruit. You may wish to ensure pollination by picking a nale flower and using it to pollinate the females flowers.
The best thing you can do to ensure a great garden is through it in the morning and in the evening. You should catch anything bad, before it does extreme damage.
You have to sharpen stuff like hoes when you buy one. They require a cutting edge. File the hoe before use, and the weeds will cut off with no resistance. You have to sharpen it again, if you feel resistance or the weeds are dragging through the soil instead of being cut.
I hope this has helped. I tried not cover too much at once, even if it seems so.
I highly recommend mulching your vegetable garden. It’ll reduce the weed problem dramatically and keep soil cool and moist.
Corn is best planted in blocks, not long rows (for best pollination).
It would probably be better in future to put the corn and other tall vegetables on the north side of your patch so that shorter plants don’t get shaded.
I predict you will have more squash than you’ll know what to do with.
There are a surprising number of gardeners on the Dope, but I also highly recommend http://www.gardenweb.com/forums. There are even specialty forums for certain vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, gourds etc.).
Why does that surprise you?
I’m not surprised by it* (for one thing I’ve been posting there for about 12 years). I mentioned the specialty forums to indicate to the OP that info about specific crops as well as general advice are available on GardenWeb.
actually, I’m shocked - SHOCKED - that vegetable growing is going on here. 
No, I was referring to your “There are a surprising number of gardeners on the Dope…” – wasn’t knocking your link, which is a good resource.
Actually, cross-pollination wouldn’t affect the taste of the fruit that is produced that year. That fruit developed from the genetic material contained in the seeds you planted. If your plants cross-pollinate and you save the seeds and plant them, the fruit from those seeds could conceivably be funky. Same thing with peppers. If you plant sweet peppers and hot peppers together, cross-pollination is not going to have any effect on this year’s crop.
Thank you,** freckafree**- I have misunderstood that for 20+ years. Since I’m a seed saver and grow mostly heirloom vegetables, I’ve no excuse. I should have known this. Thank you for the correction.
That’s a lot off good info so far. Here’s a little more.
Corn is pollenated by wind, not bees. Instead of one long row, it’s better to have at least 4 rows together in a block. Otherwise, you may get sparsely kerneled ears. The male part with the pollen is the tassel on top. The female part is the silks on the ear. Each strand goes to one potential kernel, and for every strand that doesn’t get a grain of pollen, you get one empty spot on the ear. When the silks turn brown and collapse, the corn is probably ripe. To make sure, peel back the husk a little. Use your thumb to pop a kernel. If the liquid is milky, it’s ripe! To pick, just grab an ear and yank down.
3 principal corn hazards:
Cutworms. When seeds first sprout, cutworms bite off the stem near the ground. You can make little collars out of cardboard, one for each plant. The worm can’t climb the paper wall. After a week or two, the stem is too strong to bite.
Earworms. You peel back the husk, and a little caterpillar is staring back at you, singing Achy Breaky Heart 
. I don’t know any preventative, but you can cut off the worm-eaten part. The rest of the ear is perfectly fine, and safe to eat.
Corn Smut. A few kernels will be grey or black and enormously swollen with fungus. It looks like the first scene of a horror movie, but it’s just a little mushroom. In fact some folks cook and eat them. Cut off the smutty part, and the rest of the ear is fine. Don’t put any part of a smutty ear back in the garden, to avoid replanting the fungus.
Oh, OK - for some reason I missed that.
I guess I just have the general impression (largely from hanging out in GD, Cafe Society and the like) that Dopers are suave cosmopolites who are more likely to go clubbing than to grub in the soil. 
See, I think of us as renaissance nerds – for any obscure interest imaginable, there are half a dozen experts (and a legion of more casual participants) amongst us.
ETA: And I don’t think of gardening as an “obscure interest.”
The best way to plant small numbers of corn is in three foot diameter circles. Plant them about 8 inches apart through the whole circle including the center. You can grow a couple pole beans up the corn if you like. Not too many or they’ll smother the corn. These circles of corn work great for sweet corn to be planted one circle a week so you have fresh corn through the summer. You can leave the squash vines go all around the corn, just keep them off the corn while it’s short. That will maximize the usage of that area nicely. Remember that something will try to grow in an empty space. You can fill it with what you want, or fight the weeds all summer. Look into square foot gardening, it’s about planting at spacings that give you healthy plants, but not leaving space for weeds. Look into intensive gardening also. The only reason to go with rows with walkways is because you want to use a rototiller to cultivate. You use a lot more water irrigating bare soil, than if it’s planted solid. Planting solid with plants also removes the need to mulch soil to keep it cool and moist. I throw in leaf lettuce where I have removed a crop, and it stops weeds from taking over the spot and the soil moist. Just turn it into the soil when you want to plant something new.
A few drops of castor oil on the corn silk is used by some people to stop the worm from getting into the ears. Smut should always be removed when found to prevent it’s spread. Don’t put it in the garden or compost.