Growing your own vegetables

[mm84321]

Now that the ground is finally starting to thaw off, I am starting to think about gardening. I have a rather large plot of arable land in my backyard that I am planning on dedicating to growing vegetables this year. While I fancy the idea of having ready access to ingredients, reducing my carbon footprint, and being able to pick produce fresh from the soil, mostly I am just sick of paying $5.99/lb. for organic broccoli. Does anyone have experience/knowledge with growing vegetables for beginners? I was considering raised beds would probably be the easiest and most manageable way to get started. Living in the Northeast, I also have to consider a form of fencing to deter deers and other pests. I bought a few gardening magazines, but I'd like to see if anyone on here has any experience/tips/resources that they could share with a gardening neophyte.

 

[ter1413]

start with tomatoes. i grew them as a 10 yr old kid.

 

[mordecai]

A friend wrote this book on the topic: http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Front-Y.../dp/1604691999 and a friend of a friend wrote this one: http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Snaps-St...ref=pd_sim_b_2 I gather it depends a lot on the climate where you live.

 

[yjeezle]

growing solutions for a small apartment?

 

[acidboy]

we grow basil and rosemary in our tiny plot.

 

[Dewey]

Contact the extension agent from your closest moo u -- whatever school, probably a public one, that does outreach to area farmers. Google "extension agent xxxx" where xxxx = name of your state. They will have resources for how to grow in your area, and they can tell you if you can grow broccoli, etc.

Raised beds are almost sure to be more work than simply sticking things in the ground.

But get your soil tested. If it's along an old road there could be lead in it (from gasoline). And even if it's free from stuff you would not want to eat, you would want to learn what you need to add to the soil to make it more fertile for the stuff you want to grow.

Also, start composting everything.

 

[impolyt_one]

soil test is a good idea. I really wish I had space to garden, but it's not looking like I'll get to anytime soon.

If I could, I'd mainly focus on growing:

herbs - the typical array of european herbs, tons of cilantro, some asian herbs like thai basil and shiso, perilla. All pretty easy to grow, just harvest them with regularity otherwise they get to the point where they grow like monsters and turn to seed if you don't pay attention to them for a couple days.

tomatoes - also easy. Use marigolds around them to keep bugs away, and I'd salt the soil and water them only very sparingly to force sweetness.

peppers are really easy to grow

radishes and daikon, also easy, maybe some interesting carrots that you don't normally buy at a supermarket, like purple or yellow carrots.

small lettuces and greens, a little more work but easy and quick

i'd grow Japanese and Lebanese cucumbers, since they're less easy to come by at the supermarket

 

[ZhiMingBuFanDe]

^Just wondering, how's domestic food in Seoul?

 

[JayJay]

Various herbs, lettuces, and tomatoes are easy to grow in small spaces.

 

[OldGeezer]

growing solutions for a small apartment?


I grow basil in pots on my balcony. Don't get a lot of sun, but still grows all summer. And smells great too.

 

[Crane's]

Get your soil tested to see where you're at. Treat it as necessary to adjust the pH. Old horse manure will work for fertilizer until you get a compost thing going. If you don't want to use horse manure there's plenty of fertilizers to be had. I grow corn, tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, cantaloupe, watermelons, cucumbers, lettuce, all kinds of peppers, garlic, onions, blackberries and strawberries. It's pretty easy to do and forget about raised beds except for maybe the strawberries. what you'll learn is weeding the garden is where all the work is. Everything else just happens for the most part.

 

[Chico2007]

I also live in the northeast and I'm thinking of growing more veggies this year. In the past we've grown tomatoes, green peppers, and herbs (rosemary and basil).
This year I'd like to add brussel sprouts, green beans, and zucchini.

Been looking at this website for ideas.
http://www.backyardgardener.com/veg/

Maybe we can keep this thread going through this season.
Even post some pics

 

[impolyt_one]

Originally Posted by ZhiMingBuFanDe

^Just wondering, how's domestic food in Seoul?

It's awful, compared to other countries of similar economic stature. One big point to make is that Koreans do actively tend gardens on their rooftops, and in the summers, rooftops are green everywhere - even the doormen/security guards of a building will use a commercial/shared residential building to grow veggies as a hobby/profit source. Real estate is high, land space is low (like Japan) so they're good about using it - but basically, people inevitably grow the same things:

- spicy red peppers (for drying/crushing/using in kimchi and cooking) spicy green peppers, etc - like 95% of the space is peppers. Go find a Korean person's house in America in the summer and they're doing the same thing. Had a Korean neighbor behind us when I was a kid and I thought she was growing for Tabasco.
- big green onions (welsh onions/naganegi)
- a small type of green pumpkin that resembles a zucchini
- garlic

Basically, staple stuff that is easy to grow. None of it is too expensive at in the marketplace though (all very cheap actually), which just goes to show that Koreans don't have much in the way of food repertoire/palates.

Not much variety. Can't get anything on that list I posted above, or at least have them not be hard to find. I used to get my nice veggies in the mail from my girlfriend's mom in Fukuoka, but we got busted by customs and they smashed up all our expensive little fruit tomatoes on a $1000 jacket that was in the box, stuck a big 'no no' post-it on the box, and spited us.

 

[ShayaEXQT]

Originally Posted by yjeezle

growing solutions for a small apartment?

i dont have any space in my tiny NY apartment, when i move somewhere spacious this will be a project of mine!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/gardening/

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by Dewey

Contact the extension agent from your closest moo u -- whatever school, probably a public one, that does outreach to area farmers. Google "extension agent xxxx" where xxxx = name of your state. They will have resources for how to grow in your area, and they can tell you if you can grow broccoli, etc. Raised beds are almost sure to be more work than simply sticking things in the ground. But get your soil tested. If it's along an old road there could be lead in it (from gasoline). And even if it's free from stuff you would not want to eat, you would want to learn what you need to add to the soil to make it more fertile for the stuff you want to grow. Also, start composting everything.
Thanks for this. I was told that raised beds would be easier as it will enable me to have more control of the soil content and I won't have to worry as much about rocks (the ground is pretty rocky where I live). The area of land that I want to plant on is currently grass, so I was considering excavating some plots and installing maybe 4 or 5 raised beds and installing pathways in between. I'm probably going to end up contacting a landscape architect for their opinion on designing the garden itself.