TanyaL

I want to start a veggie garden. Would appreciate all the tips y'all will give to make this easier. My neighbor is going to plow the plot for us. It is going to be about 20 x 40. We have our own well. The area will get afternoon shade. I hope that keeps it from burning up next summer. Last summer all the gardens, field crops, etc. burned and it was so sad. Please, let's have a good thread on gardening.

Millstream Mom

My husband went over-board this year with squash / pumpkins / pickles / zuchinni .... and I made him swear that next year NO plants that extend beyond 6" beyond where they were planted! The vines were everywhere and it was a nightmare midway thru the season! Next year He is allowed a section of the garden for "viney plants" and we thought perhaps if its fenced, that anything over the fence gets lopped off! I have to admit we had a great haul this year, but the pickles were a failure.
I learned DON'T plant your Mega sunflowers (8' tall) as a natural fence / windbreak if you have something nearby that requires lots of sun. We had to use a machete to get to the beans!

TanyaL

Isn't it time to start planting spinach and English peas?

QuiltingNinaSue

Plant a trio of corn rows together for the pole beans to climb onto; consider shade cloth if the sun hits the garden hard. Trelis the peas (chicken wire works well) and cucumbers (cut wooden x trelis in half the long way) in an upside down V...in short rows so you can reach under the trelis to pick the produce. My dh got a whole thing of wire used in cement reinforcement (4x4 welded wire) and cut it into pieces so it would make a cirlce about 30 to 36 inches for tomato support. Works well and can be reused every year. He threads a steel post through one side and drives it into the ground so high winds do not destroy the plants.

We use old semi or tractor tires, mix our own soil like greenhouses do that holds mositure for the roots of the plants. Easier to weed, easier to pick, and really produces the lovely produce. Sand is needed for any beet or carrot seeds. Try some Heritage seeds...and some resistant to disease. Have fun!!

Purchase a square foot gardening book for help from Amazon or other sources.

romanojg

all areas are different so you need to check with your local stores to get tips as to what to plant when.

TanyaL

Oh man, I've got about 20 books on gardening from the last time about 10 years ago when we had a garden. LOL This time since we know next summer will be another summer of draught and heat we are putting the garden where it has afternoon shade. Hope it helps.

ptquilts

I used to love to grow peas (what you call English peas down south, lol) - used to grow them on a wire fence staked with posts at the ends and the middle. Every year, without fail, we would get a windy day when the vines were mature and the whole thing would blow over.
So I took some wire fence and made it into a circle, grow peas on the inside and outside of it, - no more problems.

Ramona Byrd

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MULCH..MULCh...check out Organic Gardening and Farming mags, old or new.

Grow TALL plants on the North of the plot, shorter ones towards the South..and like others have advised, corn can hold up lots of viney plants and still produce ears of good tasting corn. My smart little WV hillbilly Grandma used to plant corn, then beans and pumpkins in the same rows. Soon the vines killed the weeds and kept the corn roots shaded.
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We use old semi or tractor tires, mix our own soil like greenhouses do that holds mositure for the roots of the plants.
----------Use LAYERS of tires for potatoes. masses of potatoes. You MUST, and I say MUST keep on top of these and keep adding more soil and more tires, since after about 4 days in the sun, the potato vine decides it is a VINE and not a ROOT...and the roots are what produces potatoes. Just leave most of the green stuff but cover the stems and you'll get more potatoes, but needs masses of water. If you could find the stuff nurseries use to add to soil to hold water cheaply, it'll sure help. I found a lot of cheap, new but damaged packages of adult diapers (NEW ones..NEW) and took
them apart and added them, minus the covers, to pot plants and it held masses of water. Didn't have to use much water for those pots.
Be sure in pots to put coffee filters over the drainage holes, and if you have a problem with slugs or snails, get some copper screenings for your more valuable plants. It'll kill or discourage slugs that only dine on top grade plants.
And add Epsom Salts to all in your yard and garden..it's NOT a sodium but a magnesium supplement. Nurseries use it by the hundred pounds in their plants. Makes them grow stronger. In my lemon tree in the back yard it makes them grow bigger, skin thinner and juice sweeter.

TanyaL

The major crop in our garden will be okra, some corn, spinach if we get it going soon enough, tomatoes, a little squash, english peas, black-eyes, etc.

oldswimmer

Tanya,
Just want you to know that you can PM me anytime with questions about gardening. I have been a horticulturist most of my life, and worked for the UNL Extension service for many years.
All the advice you will get from others is going to be some of the best kind.....the kind you get from experience. I would encourage you to check out your Extension offiice in your county ....they may have wonderful publications (maybe online) to help with specifics in your area.

Your area should be coming into the time when you can grow crops that like the cool weather. Spinach, peas, snap peas, lettuce, green onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. These like to mature in cool weather, and usually fade when the weather turns warm.
The others you mentioned...corn, squash, black eyes (which are actually "beans" ) and need warm soil and weather to grow well. I have a suggestion for growing sweet corn with great success if you are interested. It takes a little more work, but it allows you to have a good germination rate, and no open areas in your corn plot. Also consider planting your corn in successive plantings so it doesnt all mature at one time. Let me know if you are interested, and I will PM you this....or share on the thread so other board members can see also. Just dont want to hog the thread or anything.
Pegg