First timer vege garden

Seems that you are off to a really good start. I look forward to reading about all that you learn and seeing the progress of your garden.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

excellent goal/plan and start!!
going to be fun and rewarding to watch the progress

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Beautiful garden beds and encouraging sprouts! Best of luck for this upcoming season…

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

You have a beautiful bed to start your vegetables in, I’m sure you will enjoy all the fresh veggies that will come out of their this season. I also like the brickwork around the bed very nice.

-- Louise Edgwood,Md.

thanks! actually i only just moved in so i dont have too much to do with the bricks. I do like how they make the backyard structured, there are garden beds everywhere. I decided to dig up the little patch of lawn i have, because the garden beds against the fence had all these fantastic trees and bushes which i couldnt bare remove.

Ill post some more pics up when i finish digging the bed, and of course when the seeds germinate.

One thing I finally figured out (around here it’s called a “big red truck” moment.) Hybrids often don’t propagate very well. Because they are hybrids, they’re not exactly natural. So the seeds don’t always germinate (how do you save seeds from a seedless watermelon?)

Of course, the trend is towards “heirloom” plants. These should have no problem germinating next year. We’ve taken to getting as many heirlooms as we can for our own seed bank. Unless you want something new, there should be no need to ever get seeds again.

I think I see one there, but, don’t forget to get a few larger containers to put some things in outside of the garden. Whether it be a wiskey barrel or recycled 5 gal. container. I know alot of people that grow chilis in containers. A real easy way to expand the garden without alot of effort. And you get to redecorate every now and then by moving them about.

I wanna see how you get the pumpkins in there (they like to spread out….alot.)

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

hey catspaw, thanks for the info!
yeah ive got another ‘area’ rather than plot where im going to throw the pumpkins.

I like the idea of a whisky barrel! your right about the larger pots too. that patio roofing you see is the north side of the garden so the area just below it gets a lot of shade during the day. so im going to end up putting lower sunlight veges there and the higher sunlight ones in pots right in the sun. there are a lot of italians in my area so i see heaps of massive tomato plants in pots as i walk down my street. its great!

one question about propagation though. Im using non-hybrid seeds, are they able to be propagated like the ‘heirloom’ plants? i hope so. everything is germinating ok from my first round. Ive only stuck the second round in recently so havent sen any poking their heads out yet.

actually another question… ive read that seeds need plenty of nutrients sun and water to germinate. easy. but ive also read that they can get some kind of rot if the soil is always wet.

so the question is should the soil always be moist with daily watering? or should it be a less regular event so the soil can dry a little?

any help on this would be greatly appreciated

Should be no problem with the non-heirloom seeds. The object here is sometimes people cross stuff to make a hybrid…and while it might make something neat, it wouldn’t normally occur in nature. “Regular” seeds should be fine to use next year. They don’t have to be “heirloom” to be viable. I think heirloom probably has some sort of criteria in order to be called heirloom. It just means it’s the same plant that has been growing and re-seeded for many generations. In other words, if you want a red rose a hundred generations from now, don’t let it play pattyfingers with any yellow roses (for the next hundred generations.)

I think you should just keep the soil just slightly damp so the seed doesn’t dry out. It doesn’t have to be soaking wet, tough. If you let it dry out at the wrong time, say…right when it splits open and forms a seedling, you might kill it. You wouldn’t see that it has opened because it’s still all under the ground, but, you might damage it just the same. When those little peat pots dry out….they really dry out. Not like regular ground. If the peat pot or soil itself feels dry and crumbly, it probably needs a bit of water.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

thanks catspaw, that all makes sense.

There is a heatwave here, 104degree days. Which is great sun but pretty hard to look after the seeds from work. so i water them well in the morning and evening.

everything seems to have germinated well, though chillis are still hiding. ill give them a few more days before i start to worry.

Nice garden.Can hardly wait to see the pics of everything growing.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Nice garden, melanger. Do you have any shots of it now that you are in the harvesting season?

-- jroot