Home Garden

[KingBlack]

with spring around the corner I decided to start a garden this year. i'd like to grow tomatoes, potatoes, onions and maybe lettuce. i will either make or buy an elevated garden bed, so it wont be growing a bunch, just enough to test my green thumb and make a salad or two.

any of you guys have a garden as well? any basics or sites that you'd like to pass on?

 

[Led_Zep]

Fence it in! Pellet gun

 

[bssmith1220]

For sure. I had several groundhogs get into mine last year. I need a better fence this year.

Fence it in! Pellet gun

 

[GOTSVT?]

Id suggest getting a beehive as well. The honeybees will do wonders with other fruits and vegetables. Try to buy non GMO seeds as well.

 

[08mojo]

We have a garden and love it...but so do the deer. The only thing I can grow long term is jalepenos, habeneros and okra. The deer destroy straberries, bell peppers, banana peppers, lettuce. I'm going to have to try some new fencing this year that covers the garden.

The only tips I have are to make sure you put in good soil--your local garden supply will know the soil you need. Get a soaker/drip hose, route it around the base of all your plants and water daily or every other day for about 20 minutes. Fertilize with your choice of vegetable fertilizer per the label. That's all I do and it works really well.

 

[Blown 89]

My family maintains a garden at their house. Rather than going to the gardening store for soil have a local rock company dump a load on your street. I can't speak for where you are but the soil I get from the rock company down the street is amazing and it's a fraction of the cost of the bagged soil from Home Depot and the gardening stores.

Id suggest getting a beehive as well. The honeybees will do wonders with other fruits and vegetables. Try to buy non GMO seeds as well.

One of my employees just told me to do that a few minutes ago. How exactly do you go about putting a bee hive in?

 

[MovingZen]

Clemson has great info on starting a garden -

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/gardening/hgic1256.html

An easy start would be container gardening -

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/gardening/hgic1251.html

I've done tomatoes in a 5 gallon planter and had to give tons of them away because my 3 person family just couldn't keep up. I also ran an Aerogarden in the kitchen for lettuce and it worked out really well. My wife could pull what she needed for salad nightly and the plants just kept right on growing. You'd better hurry if you're planing on doing Irish potatoes.

 

[GOTSVT?]

[QUOTE="

One of my employees just told me to do that a few minutes ago. How exactly do you go about putting a bee hive in?[/QUOTE]

Its pretty simple! You can order everything you need online.
You'll need the actual hive, and a package of bees.

 

[ashleyroachclip]

Raised beds can be built easily with 2x12 cedar planks and deck screws .
Raised beds are great , as it helps to reduce the amount of weeds you will need to pull.
The suggestion to get bulk soil is a very good idea , as then you can get the best results , and don't need to amend your soil with a tiller and amendments.

For fertilizer , I use Steer compost and Chicken compost .
You won't need to add anything else .
Deer , I have plenty to contend with , and I use 1" schedule 40 pc pipe , an assortment of fittings , to make a tent frame , that runs the length of the beds .
Drive 2' long sticks of 1/2" rebar , into the ground leaving a foot above , to slide the pvc over .
Then drape the frame with deer net , and fasten it to the ground with tent stakes , the likes of what are used for small pop up tents .
Easily available in small packages at a garden shop.
You probably only need to plant 1 tomato plant , like said , you will get more than you can use , and at the end of the season , let the extra lay in the bed , and you will have tomatoes next year .
Nice thing for me , is I get my vegetables , and meat at the same place , since I can legally shoot the deer , as they try to ravage on fresh veggies .

Nothing tastes better , than eating the fruits of your garden.
The bees work great , but you need to also plant flowers that attract and feed the bees , looks nice as well .

 

[2000gt4.6]

Start with tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, they seem to grow the easiest.

Also, be aware on a raised bed you need to dig down for root vegetables. I didn't do that the first time we tried it and we ended up with dozens of one inch carrots lol.

Another thing to look at is price of an item vs growning it. Never bothered with lettuce as it's so cheap and other than crispness the flavors pretty much a moot point. Peppers/herbs are expensive (especially on quantity) comparatively

We process 100 pounds of tomatoes on a bad year and 300 on a good one, in the past living in town we bought the maters from the Amish at dirt cheap and grew the spices for salsa, spaghetti sauce, etc.

 

[ur bittn]

We grow tomatoes and zucchini every year,

 

[YJSONLY]

Look into the tire method on potatoes.

 

[KingBlack]

interesting...ill look that up for sure