New to gardening.....

[austinhart123]

......well actually, i never have. but i want to make a garden in a certain part of my farm. i like one part flowers and one part fruit/veggies. so can u tell me what i need to buy and what to do. It is just a piece of barren land. and one more thing.........does the roll and grow really work

 

[austinhart123]

anybody???

 

[blue fire]

Sure, but maybe you should start with more specific questions, I am sure that people are willing to help.
Dont know if the roll and grow works It might with certain seeds, but I would not count on it.

 

[aquarose]

what is roll and grow? it sounds like seed tape. Never have used it. I say the first thing you need to do is read a lot. Go to the public library and get a basic gardening book. While you are doing that, start figuring out exactly where you want your garden and start amending the soil with compost or manure or some such good stuff. There's a lot of stuff that it is too late to plant this year already, but lots of other stuff that can be planted now or even much later. I think most people on this forum would agree that they have learned most of what they know through trial and error. You might even want to skip my second piece of advice and just jump in (the part about amending the soil). You will learn a lot and next year you will begin the year with experience. Blue fire is right however, with more specific questions you will get better responses to your questions.

 

[sunnychooks]

I am absolutely new to gardening, but most of the good advice I've received has been from this forum.
Some of the best advice was to see what your neighbors are having success with. Those will be the things that grow best in your area.
Another bit of advice that I found useful is to start a garden journal. I've written down everything I've done and the dates. I'll see what I need to "tweak" for next year and I've already decided on a few things I will do differently.
Another essential is a compost! I've built two. I plan on using one every other year so that each has time to age. We'll see how that goes, but some type of compost pile will be a real plus for you and your plants.
I hope this helps and have fun!

 

[Tutter]

I'm not sure where you are to know the length of your growing season, but you can still grow some this year, and then expand next year.

First, clear a small area. Till it, either by hand, or not.

Buy aged compoast and till it into the soil you already turned.

Choose some already started plants from a nursery, if you want to catch up to the season, or try seeds from things which will still be ready this season.

If you can find nice starts, you can put in a couple of tomatoes, a couple of peppers, a couple of melons, a couple of summer squash, maybe a winter squash and pumpkin. You might also want to try some beans, cucumbers, and eggplants.

Herbs also come as starts. Depending what you like you can try basil, marjoram, sage, and oregano. A nice permanent area would be a good place for rosemary. Break a leaf before buying though, and only buy a plant which you love the smell of. They vary....a lot.

From seeds, with, or without the above, you can put in some green onions/scallions, some pearl onions, parsley, carrots, beets, etc.

Some flowers you can buy starts of, some grow quickly from seed. I assume you want flowers sooner than later.

While everything is growing, spend the early part of summer expanding the garden areas, if you like.

Depending upon where you live, you can plant for winter carrots, collards, kale, mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, garlic, etc. Read the packets, which will tell you when they need to be started, and make sure they are a winter variety of the vegetable you choose.

You can also put all, or part, of the garden in cover crops over the winter to improve the soil for next year. Something like Austrian field peas, or a mix of fava beans with vetch, maybe clover. In the spring till them back into the soil.

While your plants are growing, especially with basically unimproved land, dress with compost, and maybe feed with foliar spray of kelp, such as Maxi-crop, and/or a fish based food, such as Neptune Supreme.

Get gloves, simple hand tools, a sprayer for your foliar feeding, make sure a hose....if that's what you use to water....reaches the garden area etc.

That's all that comes to mind right off the bat for a late-start garden. If you have specific questions, though, let us know! :happy_flower

 

[austinhart123]

well i live in southern california so its never freezing. thanks that was all very helpfull