What I learned - My First Year Gardening

So I thought I'd post my thoughts and opportunities for learning (aka failures). I would love to hear some veterans chime in on these things, because I might still be doing it wrong or they have suggestions.
First off I live in Charlotte, NC Zone 7b. I started with a good sized garden, 150 square feet. I started seedlings a good while back, around March, using the Jiffy peat pots. Tempered them, then planted them outside after the last frost.

If you live in Charlotte, NC and would be willing to chat, I learned 100% from the web how to garden and would kill to see a garden of someone who knows what they are doing. Email me at ryan112ryan {at} yahoo [dot] com

-Seedlings didn’t pan out too well, were very time consuming and I think I will stick to buying the plants next year. For some reason I just couldn’t get them to be very robust, they were certainly alive but not really strong. Also the Jiffy pods seemed to restrict the roots even when I removed the "wrapper" of the pods


-Pruning seems to still elude me. I have yet to really attain full bushy herbs, I get tall, but really strong herbs, especially basil.


-My soil, NC Red Clay is awful, raised beds are the only way to go. I need to get a better handle on mulch, I didn’t use any.


-Zucchini plants grow really big, they grew about 4+ feet wide, so I need to plant them with more space. This was a big mistake because the leaves overtook the potatoes and the tomatoes, which they fought for the sun light. This was all because they were too close and in the end the zucchini won over the potatoes (they died) and hampered the tomatoes allot.

-When I built a raised bed for my fall crops I did this. 60% topsoil (bagged from Lowes) 20% manure and 20% peat moss. I mixed it up and that’s what I am using. I don’t know if this is the proper way.


-I rocked on basil and rosemary. These two really took off and have really grown allot.

-Something killed (ate them, I used soap and some other insecticide) all my peppers and I have no idea why.

-I think the red clay was a bad choice for oregano.

-Onions didn’t ever grow to full sized onions.

Here are some of my other photos for your info:

What I tried to grow:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30979426&l=e69be243ac&id=59700229


Seedlings:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30984612&l=bf7ac26adc&id=59700229


Spring planting:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=31069081&id=59700229


Potatoes that later died:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31069084&l=91025b5039&id=59700229


My new raised bed for fall garden (snap peas, mustard, spinach):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31177780&l=53f73978d9&id=59700229

Hi, Ryan, I think you and I live in the same zip code -- 28270?

Glad to help you via Daves Garden or email - your clay looks just like my clay!

I am in a different zip, but we are very close to each other, I would love to chat with ya Email me at ryan112ryan {at} yahoo [dot] com

Ryan, I could have written your post. Here are my learning opportunities. I'm in zone 9a. Southeastern Houston.

1. Don't be so excited to put seedlings in the ground just because there is a sniff of spring in the air. The day that I put my seedlings in the ground we had a good stiff freeze that very night.

2. Be careful about the bags of soil you buy when at Lowe's etc. I got the mix that was supposed to be added to soil you already have. Needless to say that on top of the freeze stunted all of the seedlings I had. But I managed to amend the soil once I discovered the problem a month later and all the plants made it through, except the dill, which bolted with the warmer weather.

3. You can plant too much okra! It loves the weather this year and I'm pretty sure my family is getting sick of it.

4. Putting seedlings out when its too hot makes them very unhappy and stunts growth, no matter how much you water.

5. There is never enough space to grow everything that you want!

I'm self taught too, so I would welcome the chance to poke my nose in someone else's garden sometime!

Uh, Sapphirestar19,

I'm at 45S and Broadway, 3 minutes from Hobby. I'm in Glenview off Belfort and Telephone.

Stop by on your way home with all the okra your family is sick of. A co-worker brought me a 5-gallon bucket of cowhorn okra last year, and I actually did clean, dice, and freeze every bit of it.

So. LMK when you're stopping by. You can come see my container operation (which ain't very much, I assure you!)

Linda

I wrote something like this on my blog in July. Here's the post:

Not every plant will survive a string of 100º plus days. Go ahead and cut your losses. It's less painful that way.

Now then, having said that, the #1 lesson we've learned this spring/summer with our garden is that you MUST install a drip irrigation system OR use soaker hoses to water your plants. Watering by hand just doesn't cut it and watering from overhead can create havoc on your plants. They can develop diseases, suffer from burns on the leaves if the water stays on them, and a host of other things.

Lesson #2: Erect your trellis or support system prior to or at the time of planting. Do not think that you have all the time in the world to do that before the plants really need it. It just doesn't work that way. I have tomato plants with branches falling all over the place because my DH wanted to build his own tomato cages. I'm still waiting for them to be built.

Lesson #3: You can't have enough mulch. Mulch is absolutely essential in Texas. Not only does it help retain moisture and cut down on weeds, it helps cool the soil. If the soil gets too hot, the plants' roots will burn up, thus killing the plant. You can use native pine bark mulch, grass clippings from the yard, or hay. Whatever you use, use it generously. Your plants will love you for it.

Lesson #4: Have a plan. Don't do like we did this year and plant willy-nilly. Make sure you give those zucchini plenty of room to sprawl.

Lesson #5: Keep good records. Not only should you keep a list of what you planted and where, you should also know when you planted it so you know when to start looking for fruit to set and then appropriate harvest time. We were very clueless about this and kept no records this year. We had no idea when stuff should be getting ready to set fruit, much less know how long to wait for a good harvest!

Lesson #6: Be prepared for bugs and disease. Plant it and the bugs will come. Aphids, ants, squash vine borers, tomato hornworms, and a host of other problems. Know if you want to be all organic or if you want to use chemicals and have items on hand to combat the beasts.

Lesson #7: Celebrate the little things, like peppers setting fruit in the hot July temps and tomatoes setting fruit when it's warmer than 92º during the day.


http://haphazardgardener.blogspot.com/

It is my first year with a full veggie garden too--here are some of the things I learned

1. Don't plant more than 2 squash vines at a time--next year I will plant 2 at 1 month intervals--we can't keep up with eating it with more plants

2. Watermelons and cantaloupe are delicious and take up A LOT of space, but the raccoons love them--have to figure out a new system for next year

3. Bird netting worked for keeping strawberries safe--need to put out earlier next year (but it also makes them difficult to pick--any ideas?)

4. Tomato cages made of concrete reinforcement wire from Lowes work great! Tomatoes are 8 feet tall and still going

5. Plant a gourd where you want it and it will be pitiful--throw some seeds where you don't want one and it will be beautiful

6. "Upright" growing blackberries still need a support--mine are a crazy tangled mess on the ground right now--maybe a half as tall tomato trellis for them next year?

7. yellow, stringy mess with flowers is not a parsnip flower--it is a noxious weed that I let go waaay too long until I had to pull out all my parsnips, beets, and carrots...

8. I do not like rutabaga and will not plant them again--I also do not like yard long beans

9. Seedlings do better started in the outdoor sunshine--trying inside requires a lot of fluorescent lights (and space)

10. Cukes, melons, gourds, pumpkins, and squash all got powdery mildew--need to find a good preventative spray for next year--I am terrible at spraying...

Hey Gymgirl. My grandmother lives off of I-45 and Broadway (Easton St...the other side of the tracks so to speak) so it was kinda funny to see that intersection posted here.

Anyway, this is a good thread. I will take Stephanie's point #1 to heart. I watered by hand for a couple of weeks then started to feel like a chump standing there just burning daylight, especially since I would water whenever I got home from work in the evening. I still use a hose but I just turn on the water to a trickle and set it on the ground next to the plants and just move the hose every so often. I will look into the drip systems, though, no question.

What I've learned during my first year of gardening.....

I ROCKED the herb part of the garden without really knowing what I was doing. Oregano, sweet basil, lemon and lime basil, chives, english thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, pineapple sage, stevia, parsley,elephant garlic, cilantro, dill, french sorrel, and lemon balm. Whew! Now my veggie part of the garden, I learned that I have no idea what to do when trying to grow shallots and onions. Next time separate the garlic into cloves, too much rain on the tomato plants wrecks havoc on the production of said tomatoes. Cherry tomato plants will get HUGE and spread.Strawberries are SCRUMPTOUS right off the vine. Next year I will plant more carrots, and move the summer squash and zucchini to a larger area. Cut the lettuce more so that I have more production and plant fennel specifically for the swallowtail caterpillars that scared me half to death last week! All in all I am very proud of what I've been able to do just going by instinct and managed to keep it completely organic. Next year will be even better.

Ryan, I just sent you an email, let me know if you received it okay.

Ryan112ryan,
You ever figured out why your potatoes died?

How big is that veggie bed for the fall? 650 lbs of planting medium??!!!