A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum New Veggie/Herb Garden

Getting a brand new Veggie/Herb garden started has been tough. Had to dig down beneath the sod line a bit over a foot just to get out the #$%#@ crabgrass AND some netting that someone used when sod was put down, way back when. Got some homemade mulch and store bought mulch mixed in and the dirt back in place. Going to start planting soon. The plan is to companion plant herbs and veggies.

I will get photos up when my arms, shoulders and back, stop aching long enough to hold a camera up!

Yay on the new garden, it's a lot of work but certainly worth it in the end. What will you be planting?

It is a ton of work to start a garden. Good thing it will get a bit easier.

What we have in the ground, so far:

3 Red Beefsteak Tomato plants

Some baby Basil plants (hope they grow!)

1 (so far) California Wonder Bell pepper

2 Red Sails Lettuce

2 Arugula

1 Italian Oregano

Some Mini-pumpkin seeds (were tossed onto the ground. We'll see what comes up)

What will go in, when it sprouts and gets big enough to transfer:
Radish
Carrots

May put parsley and dill in there too.

Sounds good, I hope it grows well for you.

Gosh, I'm amazed you've got all that planted already. Have you transplanted radishes before? I've always planted from seed.

Excited about the pictures.

I just decided to give the radishes and carrots a jump-start by dropping the seeds in pots and using saran wrap to create a "greenhouse." I've done it successfully before with flowers, so I thought it would work with radishes and carrots too. I peeked today and the radishes are sprouting. I'll let them grow until I think they are strong enough for the transplant.

I'm going to try it in my green house only I'm going to plant the radish seeds in cups I can plant right in the ground. Aren't we smart. Thanks for the idea.

You could try them in egg cartons... the cardboard will decompose in the ground. I peaked again today. No carrots yet, but the radishes are still going. Also got 2 more California Wonder Bell peppers in the ground and 2 chive plants. I am thinking that I can fit the parsley in there too and the baby basil plants are still alive.

I make starter pots out of newspaper....you can find on-line how to make oragami boxes, they work pretty cool. I have to water my seedlings less as the newspaper seems to hold the moisture better than a plastic pot....I'm not really sure why! Egg cartons work ok, by they are not very deep,
Happy Planting

I've got some egg cartons and can get some newspaper. All I've got growing in the greenhouse right now is butter crunch lettuce. Had salad for lunch.

Was cleaning the fridge out and found a garlic bulb that had sprouts. So I separated the cloves out and planted the five that had sprouted, over by the "Peace" rose bushes. Which are in a planter that lines the back wall of our yard. Its right "above" the garden location. I may put the parsley in there too as I need to save some space for the carrots and radishes!

I can't even break the ground in my greenhouse yet!!! It is not heated, it would probaly cost too much to keep the ground from freezing. But I got onions started under the grow lights and am getting ready to strart some broccoli and cauliflower this week.....yeah

fabric, my sister lives in Indiana and has broccoli growing right now under the snow. She said the snow doesn't seem to bother it at all.

I may have to re-think the carrots. Nothing yet. I did plant the parsley over near the garlic. Cilantro went in that area too. Everything in the garden is growing, getting bigger. That's good to see.

ive tried growing radishes in my greenhouse over the past two months and have had very little success. ANyone have any ideas?

Wow, I am going to have to keep that in mind. We didn't get the greenhouse ready for planting until April of last year so everything I do is new! We had some other issues in our lives this past fall/winter, but I am hoping to do a little more that will go into early winter...maybe not too early to start some spinach in the greenhouse?

I promised some photos and here they are.
1) Main Garden overview (on the left are chives and oregano)


2) Tomatoes, Basil, Calif. pepper


3) Red Sails Lettuce and Arugula


4) Looks like a Mini-Pumpkin seed may have sprouted!


5) Cilantro and Italian Parsley (not in main garden)


6) Garlic sprouts (way at the bottom) and roses (not in main garden)

Gosh. Your plants are healthy looking.

That is looking very good. We have had some excellent weather for this. I hope it keeps up and the cold the last couple of days did not harm anything.

Looks great..

You'll have noticed that I am using the lawn clippings to mulch the top now. That should hold water in better and protect the plant's root systems. So far it hasn't dropped into the 30's,the low is around 45 so the plants seem to be doing ok.

Well some the leaves on the tomato plants seem to be curling up though the plants are still growing and now producing flowers. Its not the new leaves curling up either. Wonder if they are too damp? I will cut back on the watering now that everything is mulched and see if that helps. Though Mother Nature is supposed to dump a bunch of rain this Saturday.

Hoping they don't have 'leaf curl virus'.

Hope not. The new leaves seem to be ok. They are beefsteak tomato plants. They've gotten pretty big and are still growing and flowering.

I need a suggestion. Anyone know anything that would make plants taste horrible to grasshoppers? My basil plants are almost dead from being eaten and the Calif. peppers aren't growing because they are being eaten. Now I've discovered that the new radish plants are getting eaten too.