i started planting loads and now i can't remember what everything is so i'll have to wait for smells and flowers!

BASIL
MIXED SALAD LEAVES
CHERRY TOMS
other TOMS
onions
wild flowers.

my mums fella grew some bad ass spring/green onions. they're really big and tasty. i'll be surprised if the tomatos work but i am talking to them all.

top, I could really use some help, and I know there are people here who do this

dirt, sun and rain.

The dirt is the part you have the most control over. You have to work the hell out of the soil the first year or two of gardening.

horse manure and wood chips are shoveled out of stables on a daily basis. Find someone with an old beater truck, find a stable and go get a bunch. Make a pile of manure and wood chips in the yard (if you have a yard) and turn it once a week with a shovel. It will heat right up eventually, and steam when you crack it open. This is a very good thing.

Once the pile has rotted down to black dirt, till that into your garden plot.

Make sure your plot is in full sun most of the day.

Lessons I have learned the hard way:

do not use railroad ties to make raised beds. They are treated with creosote, which kills plants.

try to stay ahead of the weeds. Get out there a few minutes every day if you can. Don't think of it as weeding the whole garden at once unless you have all day. Just hit it in patches when you have a few minutes.

Don't walk on wet soil or work soil after a rain. Compressing wet dirt will make your garden into a concrete patch.

Water in the morning if you can.

Full sun and good dirt do more to keep pests under control than all the chemicals in the world.

"top" your tomato plants if they start to grow too fast without fruiting. This will increase their productivity in the long run.

Hanging up some purple martin houses will cut down on the number of pests in your garden considerably.

Marigolds keep many bugs away.

Rotate your veggies around the garden. Some crops, like string beans, are nitrogen fixers and put good stuff back into the soil.

There's probably a ton of stuff I have forgotten. I have done a lot of gardening, but the last two years have been too busy with the studio, so there's probably stuff I am forgetting to mention.

Ringo your advice is muchly needed...

so here is what I am working with, a 10-15 foot plot, it has been worked in the past, for the last 3 years, the land lord has used it, but said we can go nuts this year if we want.

I have never done something like this before (I have worked on my great grandpa's farm when I was young so I am not totally a nube) but I hav eno clue how to plan such a thing.

here is what I know.

I want to spend not very much time working the garden (although the GF will help me) I am a busy person, I haven't done any work yet, I haven't bought plants yet, I also own and use a areo-garden hydro-ponic system, so I can start growing stuff now (its 1/2 full of mint and basil, but I can get rid of that) but I know nothing.

I want hot Pepper and tomatos/beans the Gf wants green beans, so what is really easy to grow? and what show I avoid... I want to start on this in the next few weeks...

Here's a fairly important question:

Where are you?

Depending on when your last frost is/was will be a major factor about when to plant.

I would say you should start your tomatoes and peppers indoors as soon as you can. If you live in Zone 7 or warmer you could put plants in the ground now, probably. But plants started from seed are much healthier in the long run.

Plant green beans from seed around one week or so after the date of the usual last frost. I like to stake my green beans on seven foot bean poles. You can also run string, but I find that I like the aesthetics and ease of picking of poles.

I also like to run my Roma tomatoes up poles, since they're more vine plants than bushes. Every other tomato variety gets cages.

If you want to save a lot of time in the garden, roll out some mulch paper and you can plant through that. Just cut holes where you plant your seeds or plants. This keep volunteers from coming up, and it makes the garden less chaotic. I kind of like both of these qualities, but it also suppresses weed growth. Weed control is a HUGE amount of your gardening time.

I would recommend finding a seed and feed close to where you live and getting someone who will talk your ear off to tell you what grows best locally. Then, you're buying from a local merchant AND you're way, way, way more likely to get seeds and plants that will flourish in your area.

I like growing potatoes. Plant your seed potatoes (for white potatoes) or your slips (for sweet potatoes) and keep mounding soil up around the plants all summer.

Last year the missus and I grew 50 pounds of sweet potatoes. Digging them out of the mound at the end of the summer is pretty rewarding. Kind of weird cross between digging for treasure, breaking the piñata and a scavenger hunt.

tomatoes and hot peppers are pretty easy and they get MUCH better if you work the soil. Hunt down that horse poop. It's amazing for your plants. Just make sure it's composted before you apply it, or the high nitrogen content will burn your plants.

also, plant fruit trees. Just do it. You may move before they're ever able to bear fruit, but if everyone did this, we'd have fruit trees in our front yards when we moved. If/when you do move, make sure your landlord knows that you have planted fruit trees and that the next tenants should be informed so that they have the option of maintaining them.

I have planted peach trees at every house I have lived in since we left Chicago.

The house we bought has ten 50 foot pecan trees on the land. Having your own food sources is nice.

This book is an amazing primer on everything from "where to shoot the pig" to how to dry violets for use in soaps. I can't recommend it enough.

I would not see a band called 'Gardens'

dontfeartheringo wrote:Here's a fairly important question:

Where are you?

Milwaukee.

The lady who owned the house before us for forty years used such an assortment of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and I don't know what in the yard that we only grow flowers from pots. I have plenty of room, but I'm afraid consuming anything that came out of the soil would affect my sperm. Not that we will ever have another child, you understand, I just don't want the little guys to suffer.

If you start your plants from seed indoors, make sure to "harden them off". This is a process in which you set your plants out in a protected area outside a little at first, and extending the time and exposure as the days pass. When plants start indoors, they grow soft, long, and fast. If they are not slowly exposed to the elements they can get beaten up pretty badly. Don't allow indoor plants to get to "leggy". Plants are tough, let em germinate and sleep indoors, and spend the nice warm days outside. Get them in the garden as soon as feasable.

I've bought tomatoes and peppers as plants from the local hardware store the last few years and they have done well. Last year they didn't get planted till late May, and I still ended up with a ton of stuff. Loose soil is the key, and a good watering schedule during the dog days of summer goes a long way.

The cherry tomatoe plants I've done the last few years have been my favorite, they cranked out a ton of fruit and keep going till the cold fall finally kills them.

Keep the garden simple, don't overcrowd, the specs on the seed packs are accurate. Even tho they seem so small, now they will get big. Squash/cucumbers can take over a garden if you plant to many or don't allot enough room.

I'm no pro, but thats what I've learned thru trial and error thru the years.

Good Luck.