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Vegetable Gardening

New Gardener...What Am I Doing?

6 years ago

Hello everyone! I am new to the gardening world and am excited about learning more! Specifically, I'm interested in vegetable gardening. After doing a little research, it looks like this is the best forum online to discuss. So, what kind of tips and tricks do you have for a newcomer? How often do you water? Do you add garden soil? What else should I be doing to help them grow?

For reference, I just planted cucumber, squash, pepper and tomato plants in a raised bed that gets direct sunlight. It was full of sandy dirt and I used Daddy Pete's planting soil when planting.

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Comments (5)

User
6 years ago
For starters, WHERE is this raised bed? City and state?

How big and how deep is this raised bed?
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
6 years ago
A forum is a good place to ask specific questions but probably not a good place to ask for "tips and tricks", since books and websites can and are written about "tips and tricks". But as noted, your specific questions about watering and soil properties can't be answered without knowing a lot more about your circumstances.
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rgreen48
6 years ago
Yeah, each step of gardening has it's own specifics. It's in those details where you'll be able to use the forum to it's greatest potential. Think about the number of volumes written on gardening... that's how much it would take to respond to a question too general. But think about how you want to begin... like what you mention... adding garden soil comes before watering. The product you bought... I've never heard of it, so I can't comment on it at all. However, you said you already planted... it's too late to discuss adding 'garden soil'.

So, watering might be your question.
digdirt2
6 years ago
Agree with all of the above and will add that it is best to ask before you doing something, not after. ;-) Winter is a good time to begin planning and learning. Don't get me wrong - enthusiasm is a good thing, but it pays to first know what you don't know before acting on it and making it difficult to fix.

For example, Daddy Pete's makes 9 different soil mixes - some good for a raised bed, some no good at all. So which specific mix did you use? The color of the writing on the bag at least let's us narrow it down.

Second, I'd suggest you begin by reading through some of the many other 'new to gardening' posts here as many of the basic questions have already been discussed in them in detail. Then posts any specific questions you have. And please do include your location in your posts.

Dave

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FastInk
6 years ago
Water often in sandy soil, a little a day is better then a lot once a week and in containers water when dry.

Best tips I could give you is not too spend to much money gardening, with that said, do things right or don't do it at all otherwise you'll burn yourself out from high expectations and poor results. Start experimenting each year and keep a good log book. Stick to easy to grow crops and don't diverse too much. stick to what works and master it, once you master 1 crop, do another, rinse and repeat.

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