HELP! My 1st gardening experience is turning into a nightmare
Melissa
7 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (7)
Melissa
7 years agoRelated Discussions
My 1st garden, many questions
Comments (16)In my opinion, if you are only planting 2 or 3 tomato plants, there is no reason to stagger them. I am in zone 7 North Carolina, so my growing season is likely different than yours, however, my tomatoes grew and produced all summer long and into the fall some, not just 1 month. Plus the tomatoes you are planning to grow are 3 different types used for 3 different purposes (roma, slicing, cherry) so it is ok to have some of all at the same time. Do check to make sure if the tomato varieties you are growing are determinate or indeterminate. Indeterminate tomatoes can easily be trellised 1 per square foot by keeping the suckers pruned as it grows upwards. Tomatoes do not grow onto a trellis by themselves like beans do - as they grow, you weave them in and out up the trellis. I have left about a little over a foot of room behind my trellis that I can walk behind it and tend to my trellised plants from the back side. In fact, my garden interior dimensions are approx 18 feet x 2.75 feet (31-32 inches). I have that 32 inches divided into 3 squares - 12 inches, 12 inches, and 7-8 inches deep for the back square where my trellis is. My trellis sits about 3-4 inches in from the back garden edge over the middle of my 8 inch square. This was plenty of space for my tomatoes planted one plant per 8" deep x 12" wide square last year. I did keep them pruned to one main vine only. I have read that sugar baby watermelon can easily be trellised. I have those seeds myself and will be trellising them this year. I will also note that I have a very strong trellis. I will be growing the following on my trellis ... peas, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew (if I can ever find any seeds!), cucumber, blackeye peas (cowpeas). Peas and beans are planted on the trellis in 2 rows of 4, one row on each side of the trellis, all in one square foot, which will give you 8 bean plants per square foot. Cucumber is planted 2 per square foot in one row along the trellis. Unless you are pickling cukes, I think 1 or 2 plants is plenty. If you do 2 squares of beans, 1 square of cukes, and 3 squares of tomato, that is your 6 feet of trellis. However, here is an idea ... you were going to originally have 2 beds of 4x4, I am assuming they were side by side ? If so, could you do one bed of 3x8 ? There is no such thing as too much trellis in my opinion ! With 8 feet of trellis, you could also trellis your sugar babies. If you do not trellis the watermelon, I think you should plan on putting it elsewhere, as they take up a lot of room on the ground. Or possibly plant it in a corner of the bed and sprawl it outside of the bed. Assuming 3x6, with your 6 squares of trellis planned for, that leaves 12 squares ... I recommend the following ... plant your 2 pepper plants in the middle row next to the tomatoes on your trellis. The 10 remaining squares can all be broccoli and carrots and the watermelon. Staggered planting for those would be good. I have read online to plan for 5 to 10 broccoli plants per person and 20 to 40 carrots per person. Obviously, you will not have room for all that, so do what you can. Mel recommends 16 carrots per square. My carrot packages call for 2-3" spacing between carrots which would be 36 carrots per square on 2" spacing (6 rows of 6) or 16 carrots per square on 3" spacing. Last year, I think anniesgranny planted on 1.5" spacing at 64 carrots per square !! She harvested some of them as baby carrots though and reported great results. Watermelon will likely yield 1-2 melons per plant. This is also my first year for broccoli. I have read that once you cut the first head, more little ones will sprout from the cut area. Broccoli & carrots are spring/fall veggies, while all of your others are summer veggies. In the south, we have a definite spring season and a very hot summer season which does not work for broccoli & carrots thru the summer. My broccoli will be done by about June 1, at which point I will put something else in that space (bush beans) and then in the fall I will plant the cool weather crops again. You grow girl website has a seed planting chart based on last frost date that is easy to use ... http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/, click on The Lazy Gardener's Seed Starting Chart. For companion planting, this website has a long descriptive list http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html. If you do end up using cinder blocks, a lot of people use the holes in the blocks to plant other things like herbs, flowers, onions, etc. Be sure to calculate the width of the blocks in your plan to account for what the interior dimensions of your garden will be. My bed is built with 4x4's of treated lumber and 2x8's of untreated lumber. I do not have an answer on the slugs question, as I luckily did not have a problem with them. I have just started my first compost bin this year as well, so am not speaking from authority, but I think there is no problem with compost being in the shade from what I have read. Mine is, so I really hope it is fine ! You can build a free compost bin by using shipping pallets (find for free on craiglist) and tie them together with wire coat hangers. It also looks pretty nice in my opinion with the boards oriented vertically. Do a google search for compost bins made from pallets. Finally, check out the square foot gardening forum on gardenweb and also read the FAQ's for that forum. Sorry this reply is sooooooo long ! : )...See Moreplease emergency help! 1st-time gardener-killed tree rose???
Comments (30)Hi, everyone! great news is that the Rosarian couple were very nice. I actually tried calling them last night but couldn't get through because they had their fax machine on. Then tonight they explained that they couldn't return my call because the number I had left them had been cut off by their answering machine. They too have not grown tree roses because like Karl had feared, rose trees do terrible in Kansas. Stupid me should also have thought far ahead about our tornado problems as well. I didn't think about this issue before the terrible winds this past weekend. Flower2sew, in Overland Park we got hit real bad. There is still debris from knocked over light poles on Hwy 69 from people crashing from the ice... But the snow lasted just one terrible day, it was very thick snow,and we were blasted with both ice and snow at once and in some parts of Overland Park, the cable lines and phone lines were down ...then argh, it shot up to near 60 degree warmth right the following day, then dropped down again the following evening. The rosarian couple agreed that they would never leave out the tree roses at this point because of last weekend's extreme swing of temperature (including this week) but they too felt I really needed to speak to a Master Rosarian, so they gave me the emergency helpline for the Rose Society. The nice rosarian couple I spoke to explained that they themselves have never grown tree roses because of how erratic Kansas weather can be in the spring and they said that the people they know who had rose trees all had either greenhouses or would go to a nursery and "rent" out a space for the winter. In other words they wouldn't know how to advise me on how to keep my roses indoors in my particular situation. They did feel that since my rose trees still have buds sprouting, that keeping them in a completely dark, cold, poorly insulated garage at this point is a question that only a master rosarian could answer. It is a tough call because no sane person/gardener would ever be in the crazy predicament that I am in now... I am doing crazy stuff like lightly spraying my roses with warm water in the morning and when I come home, then again before going to bed to keep them as close to a greenhouse effect and reducing my house temperature from 68 degrees to 65 so that I don't shock the roses when I bring them outside to 58 degree sunshine (but that makes me super cold indoors and I end up having to wear a few layers of clothing in the house and shivering under the covers when I try to sleep LOL). So hopefully I can reach the helpline before I get "outta control" and do more crazy outta control guesswork. Anyway, thank you EVERY One and All for your help and ongoing support! Hugs to each of you... P.S. forgot to say that to me the membership dues for the American Rose Society is very reasonable, and wouldnt have hesitated for a second had I not been so broke from all the training with Eluane and house payments but in due time if I can just make the baby steps and get both trees to survive....See MorePeeGEE 1st year flowers turned brown please help
Comments (3)PG flowers normaly transition from green to white to pink to brown. If yours skipped the pink stage they are burned. Could be a young plant issue or the burn. Are you in z10? If so, definitely move it to part shade location. Full sun is for colder zones....See MoreMy 1st time gardening is becoming a nightmare...HELP!
Comments (5)You don't need to cut the canes. Brambles (raspberries, blackberries, and any other rubus plant) can grow in clay. Yes, you did bury them too deep. But brambles are tough. You fixed that anyway. Do not put tomatoes or peppers outside until night temps are above 50F, you can but they need to slowly be exposed to colder temps. You can bury stems of tomatoes and peppers, so not a big deal there. No need to water unless dry. The spring is wet, I hardly water if at all. Tomatoes and peppers need to slowly be exposed to light. Often grown in greenhouses if you bought plants, so you need to take 2-3 weeks to slowly increase sun exposure before you put them in the ground. Complete shade the first couple of days then an hour of direct sun a couple days and increase to 3 hours, etc. Back to the brambles the fertilizer is fine don't worry about it. It should not have been added until established, but it should not kill them. It sounds like you're loving them to death, leave them alone! If your garden beds are wet a lot you may want to consider raised beds. Wetness will kill just about anything. If water is pooling on top and staying there more than 2 hours, it's too wet for garden plants. Building raised beds will work well to keep them drier, but will require more water in dry periods....See MoreMelissa
7 years agoJean
7 years agoLaurie (8A)
7 years ago
Related Stories
HOME TECHTurn 'Obsolete' Tech Into Fun Home Help
Here's how to put your old Mac, Atari or Newton to work around the house
Full StoryLIFE12 Effective Strategies to Help You Sleep
End the nightmare of tossing and turning at bedtime with these tips for letting go and drifting off
Full StoryLIFETurn Off the Video Games and Turn On Your Kid's Creativity
Going nuts planning summer activities? Kids overdosing on screen time? It may be time to foster more self-directed play
Full StoryWORKING WITH PROS3 Reasons You Might Want a Designer's Help
See how a designer can turn your decorating and remodeling visions into reality, and how to collaborate best for a positive experience
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESHow to Turn a Side Yard Into a Glorious Garden Room
With just 8 feet or so, you can turn a plain side yard into a garden that lets you get carried away
Full StoryURBAN GARDENSExperiments Aplenty Fill Vancouver Edible Garden
Lush and brimming with test landscape plantings, a Canadian garden appeals to the eye and the palate
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSHouzz Tour: Prairie Grain Bin Turned Bucolic Retirement Home
An agrarian structure and a big dream combine in this one-of-a-kind home that celebrates 250 acres of Montana grasslands
Full StoryLIGHTINGGet Turned On to a Lighting Plan
Coordinate your layers of lighting to help each one of your rooms look its best and work well for you
Full StoryLIFEThe Good House: An Experience to Remember
A home that enriches us is more than something we own. It invites meaningful experiences and connections
Full StoryLANDSCAPE DESIGNArt Brings a New Experience to Modern Home Exteriors
Sculptures and paintings on a home's exterior can create impact and interest before anyone even steps inside
Full Story
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)