Planting a Garden...

"KeyFin wrote:

Any gardeners here with some basic tips? I'm on 5 acres and could plant in a variety of areas....flat, gentle grade, full sun, partial sun, etc. We were going to start with a variety of peppers since we cook with them often, but I haven't researched prepping a garden or what materials to use yet.

Any advice would be welcome...asking mainly because we're locked down and it's something to talk about. =)

Dirt is the biggest thing, in my experience. My wife and I have attempted to start a garden at both our old house and our new one, and haven't been able to overcome the fact that we apparently have the world's worst soil, which has been referred to as "dead" by some experts. We can barely even grow grass. Or in some places, even weeds.

We've tried to mix in various things with the dirt to give it life and encourage the plants to grow, but with very limited success so far. So that would be step one! I hope that you make it further than we have.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Dirt is the biggest thing, in my experience. My wife and I have attempted to start a garden at both our old house and our new one, and haven't been able to overcome the fact that we apparently have the world's worst soil, which has been referred to as "dead" by some experts. We can barely even grow grass. Or in some places, even weeds.

We've tried to mix in various things with the dirt to give it life and encourage the plants to grow, but with very limited success so far. So that would be step one! I hope that you make it further than we have.

Awesome, I appreciate the advice! We were wondering if we should start by planting seeds indoors and then transplanting them in a month. I've never grown anything before though so I'm not sure.

"KeyFin wrote:

Awesome, I appreciate the advice! We were wondering if we should start by planting seeds indoors and then transplanting them in a month. I've never grown anything before though so I'm not sure.

That's what my wife has been doing. We have some pumpkins, melons, squash and beans all in pots that she started a while back. We also have some potato eyes that we've been keeping in a dark corner in the basement that might be ready to go into the dirt. Its warm enough to go outside now, but....of course, the whole global pandemic thing puts a cramp into running to Lowes to buy more soil and such. So, we're going to hold tight inside for a while and see what happens. Tomatoes grow really fast, so we're just going to start those outside.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

That's what my wife has been doing. We have some pumpkins, melons, squash and beans all in pots that she started a while back. We also have some potato eyes that we've been keeping in a dark corner in the basement that might be ready to go into the dirt. Its warm enough to go outside now, but....of course, the whole global pandemic thing puts a cramp into running to Lowes to buy more soil and such. So, we're going to hold tight inside for a while and see what happens. Tomatoes grow really fast, so we're just going to start those outside.

We figured out a way around that last night!

Have you tried WalMart Grocery yet? You order food/items online, select a pickup time, then they load it in your car. You pay online so there's no contact at all.....so last night, we ordered topsoil, tiny solo cups and basic groceries. The trick with WalMat is that you can only book for today or tomorrow, and that "tomorrow" slot opens at midnight. So if you stay up it's easy to get a time slot.

You can't quite order anything with the app, but about 75% of the store is available including their garden section.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Dirt is the biggest thing, in my experience. My wife and I have attempted to start a garden at both our old house and our new one, and haven't been able to overcome the fact that we apparently have the world's worst soil, which has been referred to as "dead" by some experts. We can barely even grow grass. Or in some places, even weeds.

We've tried to mix in various things with the dirt to give it life and encourage the plants to grow, but with very limited success so far. So that would be step one! I hope that you make it further than we have.

Have you tried buying/adding earthworms? I had neighbors who complained of similar issues and did that with some pretty good success.

"rafael wrote:

Have you tried buying/adding earthworms? I had neighbors who complained of similar issues and did that with some pretty good success.

We asked about that, but were told that it wouldn't do any good. The soil itself is just too acidic and worthless. Apparently, parts of our county are known to be that way. Adding lots of fertalizer, and/or just replacing the dirt was the best choice.

I'm not a gardener but I've done some extensive research because it's something I'd like to do. If you take anything from my advice, you should run it through the web and double check me.

1) As Unlucky said, you want to have great soil. There is no magic recipe because all plants are different. I personally believe in doing it organically so that the plants can grow as they would in nature to a degree. Also lowers our footprint in the world. However, you're going to want to find out the correct PH levels for each plant and adjust your chose base soil accordingly.

2) Certain plants need more or less time in the sun. Make sure you know the area and how the sun hits it during the different seasons. You may not have the perfect spot for everything you want to grow, but you can do your best.

3) If you grow any vegetables, which I'd totally recommend, you want to swap out which spot you're growing in. I honestly forget the reasoning, but if you grow the same vegetables from the same soil repeatedly they say it causes issues unless youre resoiling after batches.

4) You may want to consider making your own compost. It's cheap, easy, and if you get into it at all you can try your hand at making new mixtures of different composted foods and whatnot.

5) Start small. 5 acres is a lot, so dobt overwhelm yourself. Get accustomed to gardening and grow it outward. If you try too much at once you might give up.

6) If you have money, you could always hire or consult professionals.

5 acres would basically be a farm, not a garden!

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

I'm not a gardener but I've done some extensive research because it's something I'd like to do. If you take anything from my advice, you should run it through the web and double check me.

1) As Unlucky said, you want to have great soil. There is no magic recipe because all plants are different. I personally believe in doing it organically so that the plants can grow as they would in nature to a degree. Also lowers our footprint in the world. However, you're going to want to find out the correct PH levels for each plant and adjust your chose base soil accordingly.

2) Certain plants need more or less time in the sun. Make sure you know the area and how the sun hits it during the different seasons. You may not have the perfect spot for everything you want to grow, but you can do your best.

3) If you grow any vegetables, which I'd totally recommend, you want to swap out which spot you're growing in. I honestly forget the reasoning, but if you grow the same vegetables from the same soil repeatedly they say it causes issues unless youre resoiling after batches.

4) You may want to consider making your own compost. It's cheap, easy, and if you get into it at all you can try your hand at making new mixtures of different composted foods and whatnot.

5) Start small. 5 acres is a lot, so dobt overwhelm yourself. Get accustomed to gardening and grow it outward. If you try too much at once you might give up.

6) If you have money, you could always hire or consult professionals.

I appreciate the advice! For now, we're starting with pepper varieties (bell pepper, jalapeno, Serrano, habanero, etc.) because they're supposed to be easy to grow. We have about 30-40 seedlings planted on our dining room table for now (in Miracle Gro) and we're hoping for 10-15 sprouts since we don't know what we're doing. My brother in law has grown veggies for years so he's going to come till a small area of my property this weekend and show me some basics...we probably won't be ready to plant for another month though since we can't just buy small plants at the moment.

We're also thinking about doing a few fruit trees....researching what will grow well in the carolinas outside of peaches and apples. I'd like to add maybe a plum and something from the orange family....I'll update as our little experiment grows!

"KeyFin wrote:

I appreciate the advice! For now, we're starting with pepper varieties (bell pepper, jalapeno, Serrano, habanero, etc.) because they're supposed to be easy to grow. We have about 30-40 seedlings planted on our dining room table for now (in Miracle Gro) and we're hoping for 10-15 sprouts since we don't know what we're doing. My brother in law has grown veggies for years so he's going to come till a small area of my property this weekend and show me some basics...we probably won't be ready to plant for another month though since we can't just buy small plants at the moment.

We're also thinking about doing a few fruit trees....researching what will grow well in the carolinas outside of peaches and apples. I'd like to add maybe a plum and something from the orange family....I'll update as our little experiment grows!

You have much bolder taste than I do, lol. Anything spicier than a green pepper is far too much for my mouth.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

You have much bolder taste than I do, lol. Anything spicier than a green pepper is far too much for my mouth.

I mean, we don't eat them off the vine or anything...but putting a habanero inside a pot of chili gives awesome flavor and just a touch more heat. I'll mainly use the peppers for veggie omelets in the morning since that's the healthier way to go.

"KeyFin wrote:

I mean, we don't eat them off the vine or anything...but putting a habanero inside a pot of chili gives awesome flavor and just a touch more heat. I'll mainly use the peppers for veggie omelets in the morning since that's the healthier way to go.

Oh I get it. I just have extremely sensitive taste buds, and am a very picky eater. I know lots of people like to eat things at varying degrees of spiciness, and to each their own certainly. I'm happy sticking to potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and romaine lettuce. I'm a mild, mild guy, lol.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Oh I get it. I just have extremely sensitive taste buds, and am a very picky eater. I know lots of people like to eat things at varying degrees of spiciness, and to each their own certainly. I'm happy sticking to potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and romaine lettuce. I'm a mild, mild guy, lol.

We thought about potatoes, corn, carrots and such...but they seem like they'd be a lot more work (and in a much bigger area) for a fairly minor yield. For instance, my wife thought about green beans for a moment and then realized how much work it is to prep and preserve them...I honestly have no idea how a can of them in the store is less than a dollar.

We're thinking about spices too- maybe oregano, basil, wild onion, etc. It's more of a hobby at this point than anything; we mainly want to see if we can grow something just for the experience.

"KeyFin wrote:

We thought about potatoes, corn, carrots and such...but they seem like they'd be a lot more work (and in a much bigger area) for a fairly minor yield. For instance, my wife thought about green beans for a moment and then realized how much work it is to prep and preserve them...I honestly have no idea how a can of them in the store is less than a dollar.

We're thinking about spices too- maybe oregano, basil, wild onion, etc. It's more of a hobby at this point than anything; we mainly want to see if we can grow something just for the experience.

My wife has had some luck growing spices in pots inside. She likes them a lot more than I do, and has grown basil and oregano.

"KeyFin wrote:

Any gardeners here with some basic tips? I'm on 5 acres and could plant in a variety of areas....flat, gentle grade, full sun, partial sun, etc. We were going to start with a variety of peppers since we cook with them often, but I haven't researched prepping a garden or what materials to use yet.

Any advice would be welcome...asking mainly because we're locked down and it's something to talk about. =)

I do a ton of gardening. have 7 flower gardens, 3 veggie gardens and built a big greenhouse. Important notes for my gardening:

• well aerated dirt - this is best accomplished by a raised bed garden. you can also use a ground garden, but I would suggest renting a tiller to open up the soil. can also be accomplished by a shovel, but it's a lot of work

• type of soil is important. if you have good topsoil, you can mix in a little compost and you'll be good to go. If you have crappy soil (like clay that is common everywhere) you need to mix in better soil and compost to get it to grow

• place your garden in reach of a hose so you can water in dry times

• One trick that has worked wonders for me when I grow my tomatoes, and I believe it also works for pepper plants. when you plant your plant in garden (presuming you are buying a plant or transplanting a good size seedling), put a cracked egg at bottom of hole (or pot if you are planting in a pot). this provides big boost of nutrients as the plant grows. I did side by side comparison of a tomato plant with and without the egg. the ones with eggs grew 2-3 times bigger.

• the biggest key for gardening: understanding the vegetative vs fruiting stages of the life cycle of a plant. vegetative stage (growth stage) requires different fertilizer (nitrogen rich) for growth. fruiting stage is when plant starts to flower and getting ready to reproduce (producing the veggies). requires different fertilizer.

"KeyFin wrote:

We thought about potatoes, corn, carrots and such...but they seem like they'd be a lot more work (and in a much bigger area) for a fairly minor yield. For instance, my wife thought about green beans for a moment and then realized how much work it is to prep and preserve them...I honestly have no idea how a can of them in the store is less than a dollar.

We're thinking about spices too- maybe oregano, basil, wild onion, etc. It's more of a hobby at this point than anything; we mainly want to see if we can grow something just for the experience.

corn is pretty hard without lots of land. also tricky knowing when to water them.
carrots and onions are easy, especially if you have a raised bed garden (aerated dirt). you just plant the seeds and harvest in fall. one of my dogs loves carrots and he'll actually pull them out of the ground to eat.
potatoes are not too bad to grow, but you also need more space.

on a related note. for those living in small spaces with unfavorable yards for growing, the aerogarden works pretty well, especially the bigger units. hard for me to grow lettuce outside because of the billion rabbits on my property (which is adjacent to wetlands). Use the aerogarden for lettuce. I also use it to get many of my flowers and veggies started before I transplant outside. On Leap day this year, they had a 50% off sale that made it worth buying. It's an investment, but I'll never have to buy the small potted veggies again that I use for starters in my garden. The tiny unit they sell for spices works, but not nearly as well.

I live in a large space with a yard unfavorable for growing anything, lol. This will be our third summer here, and I'm delighted to have some sort of various grass and weeds covering about 75% of the dirt!

We've looked into the raised box gardens, but are worried about the wood rotting. Have you had to deal with that? If so, what was your solution? We get a lot of rain some years, and its generally pretty humid.

To this point, my wife has had her greatest success growing flowers in the mulch that surrounds the house. Some species seem to really love it. Beyond that, things have been pretty bad. This was going to be the week that she took time, with me as her forced labor, and really made an effort to start the garden anew for the year, but the global situation has put an end to that. So we'll probably focus on just fixing up the natural plant life that's already here this season.

"Ohio Fanatic wrote:

I do a ton of gardening. have 7 flower gardens, 3 veggie gardens and built a big greenhouse. Important notes for my gardening:

• well aerated dirt - this is best accomplished by a raised bed garden. you can also use a ground garden, but I would suggest renting a tiller to open up the soil. can also be accomplished by a shovel, but it's a lot of work

• type of soil is important. if you have good topsoil, you can mix in a little compost and you'll be good to go. If you have crappy soil (like clay that is common everywhere) you need to mix in better soil and compost to get it to grow

• place your garden in reach of a hose so you can water in dry times

• One trick that has worked wonders for me when I grow my tomatoes, and I believe it also works for pepper plants. when you plant your plant in garden (presuming you are buying a plant or transplanting a good size seedling), put a cracked egg at bottom of hole (or pot if you are planting in a pot). this provides big boost of nutrients as the plant grows. I did side by side comparison of a tomato plant with and without the egg. the ones with eggs grew 2-3 times bigger.

• the biggest key for gardening: understanding the vegetative vs fruiting stages of the life cycle of a plant. vegetative stage (growth stage) requires different fertilizer (nitrogen rich) for growth. fruiting stage is when plant starts to flower and getting ready to reproduce (producing the veggies). requires different fertilizer.

Awesome, thanks for the tips! We've had seeds planted in little tiny cups for about a week now and we don't see any sprouts yet...hoping we get at least a few though. If not, we'll try round two. We do have red dirt/clay here but things seem to grow well...we have flower beds here that we haven't touched since we moved in, but they spit out tulips and other flowers like clockwork every spring. This used to be a heavily planted property maybe 15 years ago, so most of our time outside has been maintenance and cutting back overgrown areas. I can't tell you how many times I've cleared an area of overgrowth/brush and then three months later, it explodes with flowers we didn't even know were there.

We were told the prior residents spent $40k on plants alone...no idea if that's true or not. We do have 4 varieties of Japanese Maples all 6+ feet tall, so I'm thinking they did spend a small fortune. I honestly probably need to get a gardener out here to clean all the beds the right way and tell us what we have.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I live in a large space with a yard unfavorable for growing anything, lol. This will be our third summer here, and I'm delighted to have some sort of various grass and weeds covering about 75% of the dirt!

We've looked into the raised box gardens, but are worried about the wood rotting. Have you had to deal with that? If so, what was your solution? We get a lot of rain some years, and its generally pretty humid.

To this point, my wife has had her greatest success growing flowers in the mulch that surrounds the house. Some species seem to really love it. Beyond that, things have been pretty bad. This was going to be the week that she took time, with me as her forced labor, and really made an effort to start the garden anew for the year, but the global situation has put an end to that. So we'll probably focus on just fixing up the natural plant life that's already here this season.

I bought the treated wood for box gardens. (2 x 8's). climate is pretty harsh in New ENgland. Imagine I'll get several years out of the boxes. they are already 5-6 years old and still strong.

alternative is just a raised bed with no box, that's what I just built this past week. For those of you with crappy soil or clay, plants can certainly survive in that, but if you're starting a new garden, I'd suggest doing 50/50 mix of topsoil and clay and till together. allows roots to better grow but also get used to the acidic nature of clay

"KeyFin wrote:

We're also thinking about doing a few fruit trees....researching what will grow well in the carolinas outside of peaches and apples. I'd like to add maybe a plum and something from the orange family....I'll update as our little experiment grows!

I tried a number of fruit trees when I lived in Texas and couldn't get them to last past a year. I would do some research to see exactly what you need and actually invest in things like soil tests if you want a good shot. Also be aware that some fruit trees don't grow fruit unless you have other trees nearby that can cross pollinate.

"texanphinatic wrote:

I tried a number of fruit trees when I lived in Texas and couldn't get them to last past a year. I would do some research to see exactly what you need and actually invest in things like soil tests if you want a good shot. Also be aware that some fruit trees don't grow fruit unless you have other trees nearby that can cross pollinate.

The more I research, the more I'm thinking of having an arborist come out to the house and help us get started. It might cost us a $100 but at least we'd know what we could plant and what to avoid. With even small fruit trees starting at $40-75, it seems like a good investment.

Our back yard has about a 3 acre field that gradually slopes down to a pond and there's maybe 6 trees total back there. So we were thinking of doing a single row of fruit trees on one side between us and the neighbor if possible. They grow peaches, strawberries and apples within a few miles of us so I'm guessing the soil is decent...I'll definitely share what I find out going thru this process!

"KeyFin wrote:

The more I research, the more I'm thinking of having an arborist come out to the house and help us get started. It might cost us a $100 but at least we'd know what we could plant and what to avoid. With even small fruit trees starting at $40-75, it seems like a good investment.

Our back yard has about a 3 acre field that gradually slopes down to a pond and there's maybe 6 trees total back there. So we were thinking of doing a single row of fruit trees on one side between us and the neighbor if possible. They grow peaches, strawberries and apples within a few miles of us so I'm guessing the soil is decent...I'll definitely share what I find out going thru this process!

Probably not a bad idea. Ultimately I have no idea what I did or didn't do to kill all of mine. Over/under watered, didn't treat them for winter (it was in Austin, Texas, so not really a big thing), bad soil, etc. The overall land there was garbage though, so I'd lean toward that.

I am semi-interested here in Michigan, but the variety isn't as available due to the weather. Focusing on year 2 of our garden - this time with labels so we know what we planted where and don't need to play the "weed or vegetable" game. :tongue2:

"texanphinatic wrote:

I tried a number of fruit trees when I lived in Texas and couldn't get them to last past a year. I would do some research to see exactly what you need and actually invest in things like soil tests if you want a good shot. Also be aware that some fruit trees don't grow fruit unless you have other trees nearby that can cross pollinate.

trees are tricky to get them past the first year.

• research which fruit trees do well in your area (very few up here in boston)

• find a sunny spot that is in area you can water when needed

• if you have crappy soil, dig extra wide hole and mix in good and bad dirt 50-50

• planting depth and making the right crown of soil over root ball is something I've seen make a big difference. want soil to cover root ball and also to slope down from the trunk to the edge of the root ball so water drains to edges of roots and not stick around the trunk where it will rot