TTMA: Vegetable Gardening

[mustloveerica]

So yesterday I started a  nice big compost bin (thank you Pinterest).  My goal today is to gather some big planters and seeds and start a container garden.  This is a test run before I decide to put an actual garden in my yard.  I want to try container gardening first to see if I can even grown anything. So talk to me about what to grown and how to grow it.  We live in Northeast Ohio so our weather is pretty temperamental.  We also don't have the greatest soil (thus the compost and starting with containers).  So what's a good hardy, beginner veggie I can attempt to grow? Please share you tips and tricks and help me be successful!!

[BabyStandish]

I'm a beginner gardener as well. Herbs are pretty easy to grow. My rosemary, thyme, and oregano will never die. Herbs that die quickly in the warmer months for me are cilantro, basil, and mint so I've learned to pick them before we get a huge heat wave.

Currently I'm growing green beans, broccoli and spinach. The green beans are doing the best so I would suggest them for sure.

I usually do peppers and tomatoes during the spring/summer months too but I haven't been to Home Depot yet to buy some. I'm slacking. All my veggies right now are leftover seeds from last year.

Good luck! I love growing things!

[Deleted]

We had our first raised garden last summer. It's still too early to plant here, but we will replant the garden this summer.

I highly recommend looking into square foot gardening, it was really easy to follow and you don't use any native soil. I suggest checking out the book "the all new square foot gardening" by Mel bartholomew.

As far as easy hardy veggies: carrots, bush beans (green or yellow beans that you don't need to train up), cherry tomatoes, and lettuce is very easy from seeds.

[Deleted]

I can share some pics of last year's garden when I get home from the grocery store

[ironbaby]

No suggestions, but how did you build your compost bin, mustloveerica?

I had one in an old house, but I didn't love the design. I want a tumbler.

[mustloveerica]

Apr 17, 2016 8:29:03 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

No suggestions, but how did you build your compost bin, mustloveerica?

I had one in an old house, but I didn't love the design. I want a tumbler.

It's just s big black garbage can with a kid that I drilled a ton of holes into. We'll see if it works I guess.

[Deleted]

I've always had good crops of tomatoes in containers. I have better luck getting starts from the store than growing tomatoes from seed.

Other vegetables that have grown well for me in containers: strawberries, lettuce, spinach, beans, sugar snap peas, beets, carrots. I also grew basil, parsley and nasturtiums.

Last year was my first year doing a vegetable garden with a real yard, and I had some pretty good pumpkins. My melon plants grew nicely, and the couple melons we got to eat were amazing, but the rest didn't ripen before the first frost

[samanthasays]

I love doing cherry tomatoes They are so tasty, and I think the plant is pretty. I am in central OH, we have badsoil too (clay) so we just added a raised bed. Last year I did a container garden on my patio at an apartment, it got direct AM sun and I grew jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, Basil, and sugar snap peas. The basil was so easy, very instant gratification. I got so much I ended up freezing it in ice cube trays. I also made a ton of pesto sauce! Jalapenos were easy too, I got a big harvest so a friend and I made jalapeno poppers. We made a huge mess of it, but they were good

[samanthasays]

H works for Scotts, so I am not being a team player here but the best soil is Fox Farm Happy Frog Potting Soil. And if you want to add fertilizer/nutrients Fox Farm's Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, or Big Bloom are the best. They are definitely pricier, but it is all but impossible to kill a plant with them. I joke that I have a black thumb I have killed so many plants. But that stuff makes them indestructible. It's also the most widely used for growing pot, so if someone trusts it with a plant worth hundreds of dollars it is good enough for my lettuce

The Scotts Organic Potting Soil (in the blue bag) is also good, and much more affordable. Tomatoes definitely prefer Fox Farm, so I am thinking it is a PH thing. But that soil is easier to find, cheaper, and I have still had healthy, large plants with lots to harvest.

[wannabmama]

I never even thought of jalapeños! I'm going to try that this year. We do tomatoes and basil most years. We tried squash but they never really grew. We have bad soil too (sand) though, so I think raised beds or containers are our best option. I want to try lettuce and some other herbs, too. I am no good growing things, though. H grows the tomatoes and basil hydroponically and we get so many we don't know what to do with them.

[Deleted]

Here is a shot of our 4ft square raised garden over last summer. Most things were started from seeds outside, with the exception of the tomatoe and pepper plants. The raised bed contains no top soil, just mels mix (1/3 each peat moss, mixed compost and vermiculite).

[fuzzylogic]

Swiss chard. That shit's indestructible. I found out this year that it's perennial in Oklahoma with a mild winter. I have so much. And I only planted two plants.

Otherwise, lettuces are easy, and grow well in containers. Peppers and tomatoes can do well in large pots, if you get the right varieties. Ask your garden section person at the store, or go to a local nursery where they help with that sort of thing.

Herbs usually do great. Let basil have its own large pot, though. It doesn't like close neighbors.

The hardest thing about container gardening is watering enough. But in Ohio I don't think you guys get the insanely hot, drought-y summers like we do here in OK, which can wipe out a container garden in a day if you're not careful!

***lurking, sorry, I love all things garden

[rablissful]

I somehow missed this thread so I'm reviving it #dontcurr. Stupid work being so busy /kicksrocks.

Potatoes are really easy to grow and home grown potatoes are AMAZING. Seriously. They're the best. I want to grow ALL THE POTATOES this year.

Tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, and carrots also do well in containers. If you do mint give it its own container because that shit turns into an unstoppable weed real fast.

ironbaby my compost bin is basically 3 pallets all drilled together in an open back square. It's butted up against our garden wall so we didn't need a 4th side. It currently just has some random wood boards on top of it but I'm hoping to make a legit top at some point.

[ironbaby]

Apr 22, 2016 6:27:38 GMT -5 rablissful said:

I somehow missed this thread so I'm reviving it #dontcurr. Stupid work being so busy /kicksrocks.

Potatoes are really easy to grow and home grown potatoes are AMAZING. Seriously. They're the best. I want to grow ALL THE POTATOES this year.

Tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, and carrots also do well in containers. If you do mint give it its own container because that shit turns into an unstoppable weed real fast.

ironbaby my compost bin is basically 3 pallets all drilled together in an open back square. It's butted up against our garden wall so we didn't need a 4th side. It currently just has some random wood boards on top of it but I'm hoping to make a legit top at some point.

I had that style at my old house, but it was hard to turn and lost moisture easily. Our yard is smaller now, too. I need a mini-bin.

[gabride2010]

I am growing onions, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peas, green beans, tomatoes, and sweet peppers. We might grow more, but that's all for now!

We started seeds inside, and they grew like crazy! We might lose our beans and peas, but we can start those over if we need too. We started them inside too soon I think.