Works For Me Wednesday ~ Backwards Edition (Beginner Vegetable Gardens)
Folks, I need your help.
I’m about to embark on a journey of (potentially) mammoth proportions.
I’m starting a vegetable garden - Dum dum dum DA!!!!!
Okay, here’s where it stands. I haven’t grown anything edible (or inedible, for that matter) in many, many years. I once grew a tomato plant to about a metre high but it died before producing fruit. Just so you know, this is the level you’re working with, LOL. So why on earth a vegetable garden now? I just got the bug. I want to see if my black thumb needs to be severed or if there’s hope for a resurrection!
Oh, and it seems likely that this’ll be a container garden. I’m looking for alternative (and frugal!) options for containers and other gardening supplies.
So, some questions…
- Best (ie, EASIEST!!!) beginner vegetables to grow? (Tomatoes are a given)
- Suggestions for alternative containers?
- Best overall vegetable gardening tip?
- Sources for cheap gardening supplies? (Bearing in mind, the US chains aren’t down here, but we do have some equivalents)
- Best vegies to grow to provide a good ‘bang for our buck’ for the kids?
Trust me. If left to my own devices, I’d probably end up eating weeds…
Cheers,
Lizzie
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Just an Aussie mother to three, wife to one, special needs advocate, sometimes crafter, always procrastinator and awesome baker. Well maybe not bread. Bread alludes me.
It all depends on your climate… but we always win with zuchinni…. easy to grow, will grow in a big pot, you get lots of them from one plant and you can cook them in heaps of different ways - even make a delish cake.
Other things we like to grow -
lettuces - also good in a pot or a styrene box from the fruit and veg shop.
basil - to go with your tomatoes
pumpkin - though they need a lot of room
peas and beans - you just need something for them to climb up and the kids can eat them straight from the plant
strawberries - great in pots and eaten straight from the plant are the best!
HTH
My husband and I did our first garden this year. It was great. We bought a lot of seeds, then planted them first indoors in disposable aluminum cake pans until they got started well, then planted them outside in a raised bed. You can check out our blog for pictures. We did tomatoes - which we are still drowning in, basil, peppers, some lettuce (I wish we’d had more), carrots (these didn’t do so well.), rosemary, dill, sage, and cantaloupe. Oh and zuchinni. It has been great, so just get a few books. But growing stuff from seed is pretty cheap and not that hard.
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I haven’t tried this - but love the idea of this book - http://www.amazon.com/All-New-Square-Foot-Gardening/dp/1591862027/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I23KS76Z97BUEH&colid=2MBFVITCVTXFP
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I have blogged extensively on the amazing success of my garden… head over and check it out! We have been astounded at the amounts of produce.
As far as inexpensively filling containers, if you have access to straw mixed with manure, you can fill the containers 2/3 full of that, then soil on top.
Petersonclan? For some reason I can’t click on your name to come and visit your blog. If you happen to pop back in, you can add the URL here. Thanks!
Cheers,
Lizzie
Just a little side comment- I think tomatoes are among the more difficult plants to get right. We did summer squash (super easy, big yield, I’d definitely recommend for first timers), basil (another must-plant! Think of the cheap pesto, which you can freeze!), green beans, cilantro, watermelon, peppers, cucumbers (also very easy), and corn, and the tomatoes were the most finicky. I’m hooked on growing tomatoes, but I do think it will take us a few years of practice before we are able to get mostly great tomatoes.
I’d love to keep up with how your garden progresses! Keep us posted!
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All the good vegetables have been mentioned already so I thought I’d mention herbs. Parsley, (of course), dill, (let it flower to bring bees to pollinate your other stuff), oregano, it spreads fairly wide and forms a “mat”, fresh picked oregano on a homemade pizza, yum. Sweet basil grows easily and well, also brings bees when it flowers. (as do most things). Capsicums are also good value for money. Get different colours of these to make a rainbow salad.
Chillies, potatoes, spinach/silverbeet, herbs (thyme, chives, parsley), spring onions, carrots
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I have a copy of the square foot gardening book, it’s a good idea for someone who is just getting into gardening. You section the garden you want to use into 1 foot squares, that way no section is too big to look after for a beginner. There are lots of other ideas in there as well.
I wish your of good luck in your undertakings.
Instructions for self watering containers.
http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf
I made a half dozen of this type of container out of plactic buckets I got free.
I planted tomatoes, eggplants,cucumbers,peppers, and on a whim, the top of a pineapple. Excellent results with everything.
Best gardening tip… don’t be afraid to experiment.
Veggies for kids… cherry tomatoes, the sweet ones.
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I’ve personally found the easiest thing to grow are hardy herbs like parsley, cress, garlic - tomatoes (as you mentioned) aren’t too bad.
Good veg for kids eh? hmmm anything you can make them eat haha! get a good balence - carrots, broccolli, peas, potatoes, spinach - lots of different vitamins and carbs/fibre etc.
hope this helps!
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