Garden

[Miller]

I am going to plant(try to anyway) a garden this year and was wondering what is the best time to plant? I have always wanted to plant a garden but by the time I get to it, it is too late. I am going to plant just a few rows, nothing extreme. But, any tips you all have would be great.

[jlaughlin72]

My dad always had on when we were growing up, decided to make one last year. It was a small one, but it done pretty well. We done best on tomatoes and cucumbers. We planted about 10 cucumber plants and picked over 400 off of them. And about 15 tomatoe plants and picked over 200.
Fertilize it well before you plant but don't over do it, it will burn the plants. And we used ALOT of miracle grow.(the powder one that you put in the water hose attatchment) We mirale grow'd every couple days unless it rained.
Check out this site, it may help you.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/

[fiddlefarter]

Warm seasons plants, (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, peas, cucumbers, okra, etc.) after the threat of frost has passed. Around here it's pretty safe about tax day, April 15th. Cool weather plants (lettuces, spinach, turnip greens, radishes, onions, potatoes) you can plant them earlier.

You should contact you local county agriculture extension agent. They'll give you all sorts of great advice and help you out real well. I am going to suggest a soil test for the area you plan to plant. Extension agent will too. You will be able to tell what kind of soil improvements your soil will need. That way you don't waste money on fertilizer that you don't need. Most people skip this and just give it a go. You might do well with some plants and some might fail. It's just a guessing game if you go that route. That a waste of money to me. Soil test is real cheap and easy. Now's a good time to plan what you would like to try to grow and where you are going to plant which plants in your garden. A garden is like anything, you get out of it what you put into it. I suggest you check out a gardening site. But here's some good reading from the University of Tennessee Agriculture Extension Agency:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publi....asp#gardening


I don't have a garden now because I just don't have a place to have one, but I used to and I have spent a huge amout of time working in them. My dad has a great garden every year and since he retired he grows and sells turnip greens, tomatoes, watermelons and corn. My Uncle grows and sells pretty much all vegetables at a roadside stand at his house. He plants about 400 tomato plants every year and about 2 acres of turnip greens. They work hard at it but they make good money. I figure in about 30 more years I'll retire and continue the family tradition. Good retirement plan I figure.

[Glowgood Jigster]

Here in the Northwest, peas are the early crop. Everybody has their peas come on first, get the tomatoes going indoors early as possible to get some picked by June, Bush beans are easy and tasty, corn needs to be knee high by the 4th of july, carrots are easy in good loose soil, and spinach and radishes can't be beet.
Couple of good songs to listen to first: Home Grown Tomatoes, and John Denver did a good one called The Garden Song. INch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow, gonna mulch it deep and low, gonna make it fertile ground.
Old crow watching from a tree, got his hungry eye on me, in my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there.
I'm gonna go listen to that right now!

[fiddlefarter]

What kinda peas are you talking about?

[suzieq]

Any advice on what kind of tomatoes and cukes to plant, mine didn't do well last year?

[horseshoer]

I am going to plant(try to anyway) a garden this year and was wondering what is the best time to plant? I have always wanted to plant a garden but by the time I get to it, it is too late. I am going to plant just a few rows, nothing extreme. But, any tips you all have would be great.

Even if you are starting with a small plot Miller the wisest $7 you will ever invest in it is to get ahold of your County Extension Agency (Co. Gov't) and
they will give you everything you need to have a soil test done. This will tell you your soils' Ph-whether it is acidy or alkali. The ideal Ph is around 7.0
and depending on what the results are you will either add lime or sulphur
which are both a cpl $ inexpensive-literally 2 or 3 dollars. The test will also
give you the amounts of various nutrients and have recommendation on what type of fertilizer to apply & how much. Again, very inexpensive.
(A 12 dollar bill will get you the test, soil additive to neutralize the Ph, and fertilizer) Until you do this you are kinda spinnin your wheels-you will get a crop probably but kinda like crappie fishin with a 1/2 lb of beef heart on a #4 treble hook, can be done but not optimum approach.

Another very important piece of info the Co. Ext. Agent will have is a planting guide for your part of the state, with the AVERAGE DATES OF 1ST FROST IN AUTUMN & LAST FROST IN THE SPRING. It should also have all the different kinds of vegetables listed and suggested planting date, depth, spacing, etc....

Talk to the successful local gardeners, search em out, stop & talk when ya see someone out in the garden. I am no pro but have been raising a garden all my life and enjoy it. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.
There is nothing complicated about it but you do have to follow a few rules for it to do well. It drives me crazy to see a person eager to get into gardening and then run into something as simple as the rabbits are eating everything, get disgruntled, and quit. Nothin a little fencing or some quiet reflection with a .22 won't solve!!
Good luck. Here's my new one as of today-lived here 2 yrs and have been
doing a 20 mi. round trip the last 2 yrs keeping at it in the garden at our old place in Williamsburg.
The peas are garden (English) peas. Either edible pod, snow peas, or pod peas you let mature and shuck peas out of. (Sugar snap peas, etc..)

[Miller]

thanks for all the info. Horseshoer, nice garden thanks for the advice, I will get in touch with the CEA