Any advice for first time gardener?

15 years ago

This is my first time with a vegetable garden. I have always wanted one and finally just started one in November. At first I thought it would be a bad time to start, but the weather here in central Florida has been quite nice this Winter. I built a raised bed garden using 8' X 6' pieces of wood. I had stirred up the existing soil in the area and when I constructed the wood rectangle, I added some garden soil and a couple of bags of composted cow manure. I planted tomatoes better boy, sweet 100, and husky cherry. Red, yellow, and green bell, a smaller sweet orange variety, and jalapeno peppers. Zucchini, Cucumbers, and a bunch of "buttercrisp" lettuce. Everything has at least tripled in size so far and looks very healthy. No issues with bugs so far or the health of the plants. There are very small green tomatoes forming on the sweet 100 and flowers on the peppers. What I realize that I have done wrong so far is not adhering to the recommended spacing. Much of the lettuce is now crammed together. The zucchini and cucumber plants are getting huge and will soon be cramming adjacent plants (they are also sending out tendrils that want to grab their neighbors). Any advice would really be appreciated. Should I remove some of the lettuce early to prevent overcrowding? How long will all of these plants last in a warm subtropical climate before they need replaced?

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Comments (6)

tedgrowsit
15 years ago
jkrup,
You obviously have a green thumb. Your first attempt at a garden is thriving and lovely. Here in our Pennsylvania garden we eat the lettuce thinnings in our salad as we pull them out by the roots to make room for the others to grow.

I hope you are willing to let your garden vegetables spill out of the proposed bed, otherwise you will have to do what you don't want to do-chop them back to keep them in the frame. You will end up with a tomatoe jungle, with cucumbers climbing all over them. This first garden will be a valuable learning experience for you. You made no mistakes. You are only experimenting. It will all work out in some way.

Also count your blessings! You can garden in the winter! Our plot is now barren and bleak.
Wishing you success,
Ted
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jkrup44
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the advice, Ted. So when harvesting lettuce, do most people pull out a head of lettuce completely or just trim some leaves? When you say that I will have a tomato jungle with cucumbers climbing over them, do you mean that will happen if I chopped them back to stay within the square, or that it will inevitably happen anyway since such large plants are growing close together? Thanks again for the kind advice and encouragement.
Josh
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Yes, thank you for asking! Well..improvement? we shall see. Progress? yes! I had all of the cardboard from underneath the soil removed. Leaving it as the native clay-like soil underneath. Which still had some weeds/grass but i am assuming that is okay. I waited about 5 days to let the soil reestablish (and there were two days of rain), and I literally just got done replanting most of the plants. I put a handful of rock phosphate in each hole. I switched up the beds, so that the tomatoes are in the furthest bed with the most sun, as well as a couple of the summer squashes. The middle bed now has 4 of the kabocha plants in it. My cucumbers didn't take on the transplanting very well so i threw those out. I am now just waiting to plant some new seeds that I have started. Bell peppers and some more (saved seeds) kabocha. I am crazy about kabocha so I am okay to donating one and a half beds to them:) after 5 days the kabocha have already sprouted!! I don't know that the original plants will produce, but I have til the end of the month or so to see how they adapt and if they don't...I still have enough time to plant new seeds for the second season of summer. After planting them about an hour ago, I hand watered them with the hose (sprayer attached) a couple of times up and down. Im not real sure how to measure with this method but it will just take trial and error i suppose. I also plan to fertilize them later this week with "hasta gro" organic liquid fertilizer. pics! removing the cardboard.. replanted tomatoes and squash replanted kabocha kabocha sprouts!
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Without knowing his setup and dirt content, he very well could be getting great results. My guess is that his soil is draining too quickly...or quickly enough to warrant that frequent of a watering schedule. If that is the case then I am willing to bet he is having to fertilize frequently too due to the nutrients being washed out of the soil. Again, just a guess. For your vegetables, you want moist, but well drained soil. If your beds are still waterlogged after a couple days of not watering then you have a drainage problem with your soil. There are organic (read "non-toxic") soil amendments you can purchase at your local nursery to help this. However, I suspect you are just over-watering. As you are doing, let the beds dry out and then replant. Your neighbor's plan suggest building "wells" around your plants. This is good if your soil drains too fast, as it helps direct water straight to the roots of the plants. If your soil is not draining fast, then in my opinion the wells are not necessary. About the mulch, knowing I use hay, I pile up about 6 inches of hay in my beds. So, a couple three inches of mulch should do fine. I would start on the smaller scale and see how fast your soil dries out with backing of the watering. You want the soil moist, but not bone dry, and not sopping wet. Keep the mulch away from the base of your plants by a couple inches minimum. For the mulch type, my rule of thumb is to not use anything that has been treated with chemicals/pesticides, as over time those chemical remnants will leach out of the mulch and into your soil where your plants will suck it up with the water and it could be present in your vegetables. My last thought about your setup is about pollination. I noticed that some of your plants have flowers on it. Have you noticed any pollinators around the beds? Bees are the first and usually the best pollinators. If not, this is another contributing factor to not bearing any fruit. Your plants should have male and female flowers on it, but sometimes that is not always the case. For example, look up pollination of a watermelon vine. There is a female flower (with a tiny watermelon) and a male flower (without). The pollen from the male flower has to be rubbed into the pollen of the female flower and if nature takes it's course, the tiny watermelon swells and then it takes off growing. Yeah, just like a human. So, you might look at planting some flowers mixed in to attract pollinating insects and such. Otherwise, you might have to do what I had to do with a couple watermelons- give them a "helping hand" :o) Anyways, I'm not an expert in any way, shape, or form. This is just based on my experience and also growing up helping an elderly neighbor who was a retired horticulturalist for Travis County. I say "was" in that he has passed on. But his half-acre garden produced a ton of vegetables all year long. Keep posting your progress- pics, story, ect. There are plenty of people on here that have had different experiences and tried different things to have successful gardens. You should also look at the square foot garden forum of the website. Many different ideas in there too.
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As Flora said, it's really much better to grow outdoors. But, I've been in similar situation and do a lot of indoor growing, as well as overwintering within apartment (now townhome) situation, using both window and artificial light. It is possible, but you really need to know the plants needs because it is a completely different ballgame in many ways. First, I have several EarthBoxes and Earthbox Jrs. They are by far the easiest way to start, and I have good luck with most herbs in them. For a beginner, it may be a good way to start. Being plastic, they're not the most attractive, but are much easier than assorted pots. Second, I would not recommend a window box where you're trying to grow multiple herbs together. It's possible if you match needs (ex--thyme and oregano have similar needs, and basil and cilantro do, but not mixing thyme and basil). The EB's work a little different, so I do mix in them, but there's other considerations to consider with that. My current indoor herb EBjr has oregano, thyme, lemon thyme, and lemon savory. But I have to keep them pretty pruned back, as all are really small shrubs and want more space. You really are much better of with dedicated pots instead of a plain window box. Basil is a tougher indoor plant because it wants more light and heat than commonly indoors, even in a sunny window. I have done it, but the flavor wasn't same par as my outdoor pots, so I gave it up and consider it a summer treat, and freeze as much pesto as I can. I have not tried cilantro indoors personally--here it bolts so quickly that I grow it for coriander seed and just purchase my leaf at the grocery. Thyme and oregano are small shrubs that need very well draining soil, and are more difficult to grow indoors. They are prone to rootrot, as well as powdery mildew (rosemary and lavender too). For my individual pots, I mix bonsai or succulent soil in with my potting mix to help the drainage, then have to be very careful with the watering. Have you considered chives? They're an easier start and very useful. I'm sure your book on containers is interesting, but many herbs are much pickier than most container plants. Here in Denver I am doing well. It's a beautiful day and my yard is full of plants hardening off and just waiting for better weather?
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tedgrowsit
15 years ago
Josh,
If the lettuce is planted too close it will not form a nice large "head". However it will produce plenty of nice leaves which you can simply cut. The plants will continue to grow out after cut as long as you don't cut so low as to destroy the central heart or core where the leaves grow from. Leaving space between plants always yields a more satisfactory result.

If you prune back your tomatoes and cucumbers to stay within your frame, you will be seriously impeding the productivity of your plants. My advice: let them grow. I have had many similar situations over the years. I have always chosen vegetables over grass.

Blessings,
TED
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plant-one-on-me
15 years ago
Josh,

If you can, train the cucumbers up some kind of trellis. You will probably find the tomato cage way too small and if you cut off the vines, you will probably not get much of a yield. Makine a trellis can be as easy as taking some of the (not sure what they are called) green fence posts and driving them into the ground with a sledge hammer and winding some strong twine around them....better yet buy some netting and attach.

As far as the lettuce as they start to crowd each other, cut off every other plant at ground level and the ones left will have room to grow. As the weather gets warmer, watch the lettuce so it won't bolt. The center starts to grow taller and then the lettuce becomes bitter. If you think they are starting to bolt pick and eat them.

You will probably find out, as I did, that the tomatoes are way too close. You can help by pinching off the little shoots that will sprout between the leaves to keep them from getting too wide. This will make them want to grow up though. You can also trellis tomato plants to get maximum yield this way or you can cut them off as tall as you want them. It will take a little work keeping them on the small side but it is very doable. It looks like you have space behind this garden. Could you make a smaller box and dig up the tomato in the middle? It would make more room for the other 2 tomatoes and I think all would be happier in the long run.

Hope you have fun! I bet after this your little garden will continue to grow...it is so hard to stop once you get growing.

Kim
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jkrup44
Original Author
15 years ago
Ted, Kim,
I will definitely thin out the lettuce as soon as they get more crowded. I am really looking forward to eating some, as well as the pride of bringing something homegrown to the dinner table. I don't have any plans to prune back the tomatoes and cucumbers to stay within the frame, but I am not sure what I will do to support them when they begin to wander out. Is it ok for cucumbers to run along the ground a little? I like Kim's idea of building a trellis. I do have plenty of room behind the garden and in front of it - enough to add about another 16 feet of length if I need to. I have already thought about expanding to another 8'x6' square behind it which would leave room to move a tomato, cucumber, and zucchini if I need to. I would also like a little room for herbs. How well do they respond to transplanting? I don't want to move anything if I can help it. Also, thanks for the advice about "bolting" lettuce, I did not know that.
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sumala
15 years ago
jkrup, come visit us at the Florida forum here at Garden Web. Usually very active and you can get local advice. These good people have given you some excellent tips but very few of them are currently harvesting bananas, pineapples and papayas :)
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Any advice for first time gardener?

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Any advice for first time gardener?

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