All you Gardners out there!

[critter crazy]

I want to do a huge Veggie Garden this year! I have tilled the spot out, and fenced it off. I want to do:

Corn
Tomatoes
Cuccumbers
Carrots
Peas
Beans
Peppers
Broccoli
Radishes
Lettuce

What plants need to be started inside, and what can I start outside. I havent done a garden in years. Also which plants should be planted next to each other?


Here is what i was thinking, do you think this would work?

[Freedom]

Have you done veggies before? You seem so organized and know what you are doing! I do like you, plan it all out. Dad keeps all his ideas and plans in his head, so I never know for sure what is where!

Dad does most of those, so here are some thoughts.

Lettuce and radishes are cool weather crops. Typically, Dad plants them outside as early as possible. He puts in a second crop in September. He puts the lettuce and radishes where the tomatoes will be as those are warm weather crops. As we pick the first batch of lettuce and radishes, we are picking in circles for where he will plant the tomatoes. Those won't be large enough to kill off the lettuce and radishes until we are done eating them. You are further north than we are, so it is possible you can get the lettuce and radishes all summer. Just an FYI.

Corn-I am glad to see you have a large plot. Corn is difficult to pollinate. I usually have one row of sunflowers at the rear of Dad's corn to attract the bees for the pollination. Dad puts in two types - a fast and a longer one. I think the fast one is ready to pick in 61 days, the slower one in 75 days. You might like to do something like that. Just put one together in one set of rows, then switch over to the other type. You can plant the corn directly in the soil, after May 15th.

Peas - Dad does the traditional peas. Tall vines which need to have a twine to climb up. He puts them in the rear part of the garden like you have. I do the Burpee Oriental (red package) sugar snap peas. It is a short 18 inch plant and you eat the whole pod, and the peas inside. (I go for the easy stuff - no tying, no shelling, he he.) Those go closer to the front because they are short. there is another type of peas that youe at the pods, but the peas inside never develop. I don't like those, don't plant that type at all.

We plant the peas directly in the soil.

Radishes: Dad does THREE types: red glode, red icicle and white icicle. They all go in and are ready to pick at the same time. Just makes a different mix for your salad.

Lettuce: Dad does Bibb, I like: salad bowl, red salad bowl, and I do put some arugula as well. The salad bowl and red salad bowl lettuces are "cut and come again." The Bibb lettuce is a head lettuce. Pick the head and you are done with it. The Bibb is the one which goes where the tomatoes will go later (see above). As mine is repeating over and over, that has to go in a true lettuce patch.

Cucumber. Dad starts those in the cellar. Those vines take up a LOT of room. Dad puts them in the front and drapes them over the front fence as they grow.

Peppers: start those in the cellar as well.

Carrots and broccoli: don't know, Dad doesn't do those.

Beans: I did red scarlet pole beans one year and LOVED them! They need a twine to grow up and around as well. The flowers were SO pretty and attracted humming birds! I bought the starter plants at a local rare plant sale.

Hope all this helps!

Oh, tomatoes: Dad is a great believer in cow manure. Dehydrated cow manure. If you use it, don't put the tomatoes right in the manure; it is too strong and will kill the roots. Dad puts a circle of manure, and then 2 tomatoe plants, one at the top of the circle, one at the bottom. That way the root can tap into the nutrition when it wants, but has plenty of dirt to go to as well. He puts the manure circles about a foot apart. He starts those in the cellar but, he gets anxious / excited, puts them out too early, the birds eat them, and tehn he has to go buy starter plants. He he. He's done this four years in a row, grumbling at the birds every year.

[critter crazy]

WOW!! Thanks!! I have done a veggie garden before, but It has been a few years. Now that I am home all day long, I figured I better strat one this year!

[Freedom]

Two more tips.

1. corn and tomatoes don't like each other. That said, Dad puts them next to each other, just as you have in your plot plan. He just doesn't have enough room to move them so he says. The rows nearest each other may not do as well as the rest of them.

2. When you plant your tomatoes, plant some marigolds around them. Marigolds keep the aphids away naturally. As the tomato plant grows, the marigold will die, it will get covered over and not see the sun. When I can, I go in and move the marigolds to my flower garden area.