Any tips for the gardening NOOB?

Don't use salt for a mulch

[link to aussieorganicgardening.com]

- the seeds go in the soil

- water stuff

Thanks for the help. I used seedlings though.

Cheers for that.

Gardening and weeding is much more pleasant when you listen to music. I can dig and plant and nurture for hours when I've got my music playing.

Keep the tomato plants readily available to move..i.e. bring indoors.

I usually listen to audio books. It does make a huge difference listening to something, and it drowns out the sound of my children fighting.

Watering - look at the leaves. The plant will tell you when it needs a drink, then water until you get a puddle.

bubble-ponics,

Don't handle anything in the nightshade family, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, if you smoke.

You'll pass tobacco mosaic virus to your plants, the virus itself is passed in smoke, among other vectors, and will end up on your fingers.

Wash hands first, always.

If tomatoes are close to being ripe, and rain is in the forecast, harvest them or many will crack when the plants take up too much water.

Better to pick under-ripe then to lose them.

The smaller the particle size, the hotter the compost pile, the faster it's done and ready to use, but the faster it's broken down, the less nutrients will be available to plants.

It's a trade off.

Too much nitrogen makes hairy carrots.

Plant corn when the leaves on an oak tree are the size of a squirrel's ear.

You can get an idea of whether the next year's spring will be wet or dry by looking at grass and weed seeds.

The larger the seeds, the dryer the coming spring will be, small seeds mean lots of moisture in the spring.

interesting

Awesome. Thank you so much. This is the stuff that you can't read in a gardening manual.

You are my new hero.

Thankyou. That helps alot.

Asian greens will tolerate hot weather better then mesclun mix. Mizuna, Tatsoi, Hon Tsai Tai, red and green mustard, Shiso, Shungiku, etc, all make excellent summer crops as " cut and come again " greens, also great for braising greens.

Lettuces tend to bolt during hot weather.

You can keep kale plants alive for 2-4 years by heavily mulching them over the winter( If you live in a cold zone )

You can make your own tomato hybrids by collecting pollen from one plant with a paintbrush, and painting it into another plant's flowers. The fruit that sets from those buds will bear your hybrid seeds.

If you're crossing f1 hybrids ( first generation crosses and not heirlooms ) the f1 cross you make will be stronger then the two parents in the first year, called " hybrid vigor " and subsequently weaker each year after unless crossing is done yearly to maintain genetic stability.

When garlic " pigtails " at the top, snap the top off ( it will snap like asparagus ) and stir fry, delicious and a delicacy in some areas, it will also make your garlic bulbs much larger.

Thankyou.

So if I plant lettuce now, should it be ok, or should I wait for autumn? It's spring here.

John Jeavons is well worth checking out

[link to www.johnjeavons.info]

" How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine "

[link to www.amazon.com]

Permaculture is great

" Introduction to Permaculture "

[link to www.amazon.com]


Masanobu Fukuoka

" The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming "

[link to www.amazon.com]

Also the Nearings, definitely check out the Nearings, they were the first " back to the Earthers ".

" The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living "

[link to www.amazon.com]

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Good luck Flo !

It all really depends on what kind of lettuce you're growing. There are " slow-bolt " varieties that can take more heat then others, some can't take it at all.

Lettuce should be an early or later crop of the season, it just does better in cooler weather, that was my experience.

if your plants are thirsty, you will notice. just don't water them in the scorching sun; water them after sunset or before sunrise.

tomatoes need a lot water, in my experience.


even too much manure can make soil unfertile. don't overdo it; i won't do the liquid fertiliser. did you do the manure well in advance of planting the seedlings?


just make sure they have room to grow, and won't interfere with the rest. difficult to say without seeing your garden.

Thankyou. I put the manure around the seedlings and watered it in. It's good to know tomato's need lots of water, I had them on rations because I was frightened of overwatering.

it's excellent to eat raw too.


true. a rainy day can ruin a lot tomatoes if they aren't protected. if you pick them unripe, put them in a dry and dark place to ripen up (and check them regularly for mold).

- Profit

i would have mixed the topsoil with the manure, at least a month before planting or seeding. horse manure is generally much better than cow manure.


it depends on your soil, and the plants. don't overwater them, look at how the plants stand erect, or hang.

????

- food!

by the way, you might want to keep a close eye on your seedlings if they are surrounded by fresh manure. too much can easily kill a young plant.

get a earthbox

Look at sources for companionplanting, there is plenty to find online, with what you should or should not plant next to each other etc.
(asin, some plants will create nutrition other plants need so its beneficial to put them close to each other, or the other way around, same with warding off bad or attracting beneficial pests)

Tomatoes do need a lot of water, I am in denmark and it is usually rather wet here, but there were times I did water my tomatoes each day. Just keep an eye on them, you'll see when they need it.

Potatoes wont take over your garden, they dont spread. They do need a bit of room though to grow.

The manure is hard to say, it all depends on how much nutrition there was in the soil, was it planted, was it abandoned, what was planted there etc.
In general what you have planted is not very dependable on nutrient rich soil, especially not the poatoes and onions.

Zuchini you have to keep an eye on, do not overwater these, i think cucumbers the same, and watch when they start producing, make sure the produce is not touching wet soil because it will start rotting fast.

Cheers. Over/under watering is going to be my biggest problem I think.

That's what worried me also. Luckily, the weather hasn't been too hot, so I think I'm going to be ok. My potato patch is going to be the patch of death though, I fear.