Seeds and a vege garden. I need a clue

Seriously. I have some black eyed susans, some sunflower, some Alaskan Peas, and probably 25 others that will need to be dealt with. I have some little trays and some new cups and some seedling soil, but I need a clue, a book, a website or something from DG will be just fine.

I just need a clue.

Did you check out the thread called "planning for our gardens"? The first post is a record of what people recommend for planting . . . or are you looking for information about how to sow them and when and where?

Hey, I thought it was your wife's garden? Maybe you need to consult with Soferdig about how to 'share' a garden space with a wife.

Yes, it is my wife's garden, but I still must help out with the details.

Yes, I saw the thread on recommended species, now I just need to know how to sow, and when to sow or start indoors.

Okay. Got it. Maybe you should list what you want to put in there and then people can chime in?

This message was edited Feb 28, 2010 9:10 AM

A couple of resources that you might find useful are a book, Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Steve Solomon, and a magazine sized publication by Seattle Tilth about gardening through the year (I can't remember the name, but it tells you what you can plant indoors and direct seed each month in our region).

Rob - what happens this next month for planting outside is Peas & Potatoes. You can trellis the Peas along the back of the bed. By the time you're ready to put Tomatoes in the Peas will have finished. In any case. I would not bother planting potatoes in the bed - takes up too much space & they can be easily grown in a wire cage.
If you want the details, let me know.
Depending on the weather, the next crops would be Spinach, Cabbages, Broccoli, Scallions, Carrots, Parsley, Radishes. No Basil, Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant, Beans until end of May UNLESS the weather turns warm. Make use of that reflected heat at the back of the bed - that was a very smart place to build the bed!
You done good, Rob - enjoy yourself!!!

Forgot to add - if possible, check out Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Great ideas & his planting densities work VERY well in our climate.
I'll see if I still have my planting chart.

When I was in your same exact position last year, I found that a combination of the Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest book and the following site helped me out: http://king.wsu.edu/gardening/gardenfacts.htm. These master gardener fact sheets gave me some idea on when to plant, and Steve Solomon's book helped me decide what to start inside and what to plant out and when.

This year I'm planting lettuces, arugula, and peas outside, and broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, basil, and peppers inside now. Then I'll plant beans, squash, corn, and melons directly outside after the soil warms up. A good resource for looking at soil temperatures in your area is http://weather.wsu.edu/awn.php and also Cliff Mass's weather blog.

Good luck!

I want the details of potato growing in wire cages! Also, I will have plenty of straw to deal with, considering I used wire cages filled with straw to protect some tender plants. So, cages + straw + maybe, compost? And potatoes?

yes Pix - a circle of fencing (2"x4" - easy to obtain, inexpensive & more substantive than chicken wire).
This can be whatever diameter you choose. Put about 6" of soil/compost in the bottom; make divots for the taters, cover with combo of soil/compost/dryleaves/straw or whatever you have. When they reach about 6" above this layer, cover to within 2" of the top of the new growth. Repeat this until the growing medium layer is up to the top of the "container". they will flower & do their thing.
Harvest by reaching into the pile, no digging necessary depending on your mix.
What you have done is grown them vertically instead of laterally.
Don't add manure, and the mix can be fairly lean - think root/tuber growth as opposed to top/leafy growth. Water when they look like they need it.

Growing Vegetables-West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon, has got to be the book that I was looking for, well written, scholarly and right to the point. I have only read a few pages of it and it rules. I was only able to find it at Sky buy hunting, so look careful.

Seattle Tilth's The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide is a great reference to gardening the year, with the tips for the experienced. It really helps with varieties to choose how to start, and when for the average year.

Thanks for the tips on books.

Those are the ones! I lent them out to somebody last year, and now I can't remember who, but they have been 2 of my most used reference books.

I'm going to try that potato growing method this year too. I have some hogwire hoops that I used for tomato cages last year. Now I need to get ahold of some straw.

Steve has probably the best advice for our reasons - i've had that book for a very long time.
Square Foot gardening has more general "highest & best use of space" information. I recommend it as this too, has worked well for me with raised beds.

I think I gave my Solomon book to my older son to learn how to grow vegetables -- great book.

I had another great book I lent to a former friend and have no hopes of getting it back. I'd replace it if I could remember its name or author. Perhaps someone will recognize this: it was about the size of Solomon's book, paperback, written by a man, but about perennial flowers. The guy was rather opinionated and didn't mince words on plants he didn't care for, although he did include them. He had great advice on what to do with the plants during their decline - something I always kind of struggle with (cut back hard, leave it for the birds, over plant, what???). Does this sound familiar to anyone? I got it at a used book store, so no clue if it is still in print or not. It probably had the word 'perennial' in the title.

OMG Solomom's book is a trip, part science, part mysticism, part down and dirfy farmer, but he' got me looking at my methods, since I pulled myself up by my bootstraps as a gardener, and now I have my eyes OPEN WIDE!

Bone, that book sounds interesting - I hope someone recognizes it!

Me, too. That sounds like an interesting book.
Thanks,, Katye. I will try that this year.

That book is a wild one, one of the pioneers of Organic Gardening, writes a book on what works. Its very wild. I do not know what I will do without it.

I'm going to try raised bed gardening this year, too. Instead of building a bed, though, I'm going to get some wine barrels and use them. Kind of like Mel Herbert's square foot gardening, but more a half-sphere so it's 1/2[4*pr*r^2] gardening?

Geeking out there...

Anyway, I'm new to the Portland area and new to gardening so did a bit of research trying to find supplies and wanted to share what I found:

Low cost Earth Machine composter at Metro Paint, 4825 N. Basin Avenue (on Swan Island), $39.

Wine Barrels: sometimes in supply at Portland Nursery on Stark, saw once at Lowes by Delta Park

Soil and Compost: Dean Innovations off SE Foster Road and I205 sells soil and compost that is organically certified and purported to be non-herbicide/pesticide, weed seed free. They'll deliver.

Great resources, rockems! Where did you live before you got to Portland? I'm up near Seattle but love Portland. I have two sons who go to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, so I get down in that area quite a bit. I wouldn't mind living there at all!

My veggie garden is raised only in the sense that I mound up the areas where I'm planting. I have areas where I have rows and I've hilled up the rows and then I have areas that are squares and I've hilled up those squares. The squares are harder because I can't get into the center to weed or harvest without walking on the nicely built up dirt. So I'm still working on that. I may lay some planks in there to walk and kneel on.

I brought in some really nice compost that is absolutely weed free. It makes a huge difference to get really good compost. Here on the island we have the regular stuff, but I had this brought down from Anacortes.

I'm way late with everything-we took out my main veggie bed to put in a second compost bin and I've been trying to figure out where I can put its replacement(s). I still intend to do tomatoes and peppers in containers regardless.

I've also been thinking about using wine barrels (think I'll skip the geometry though, lol) and have been pricing them. HD Vancouver had them for $36 ea, which seems like it's gone up. Rural or larger BiMarts (not my fav store, but a deal's a deal) usually have them for less than HD/Lowes. I saw them at $27 at one south of Portland last weekend, but I was in the wrong car so I need to find some closer.

Rockems, I'd be interested to hear how you like the soil & compost from Dean Innovations. Their mixes look interesting.

One thing that I struggle with is getting the succession planting right from cool to warm season stuff. I seem to be more successful with the cool season things and then end up with gaps.

@Gwendalou - originally I'm from Bainbridge Island. What Island are you on? My family is still on Bainbridge and my parents started an organic community garden last year that had a great harvest, much of which was donated to Helpline House. I moved to Portland from NYC 1 1/2 years ago. First time home owner, first ground I can garden in years and years. I have much to learn but it is such an enormous pleasure for me to be out there. Hugely therpeutic.

@Susybell - thanks for the price shopping. I'll let you know about Dean Innovations' soil. Do you know the Seattle Tilth handbook on gardening in the Pac Northwest? They have a calendar to help guide one through the seasonal transitions. That's way too advanced for me at this point.

I'm on Whidbey, on the south end, in Langley. I've only been to Bainbridge once. All the islands are so pretty!

It's very exciting to be a first-time homeowner - I remember the feeling well. The home we're in now is only our second home. We owned a home in Calif, then kept it when we moved here in case we wanted/needed to move back. We rented 3 different houses, then sold that and bought our current home. Of course immediately after selling, the company that moved us up here closed down their WA office and dh was out of a job. At that point we couldn't afford to buy back into the CA market. :( So here we stay and after 5 months, he did find another job, which he loves, so all is well.

Rock, you're welcome, but if you find wine barrels at an even better price, let me know? And, yes, I've seen the Tilth handbook but don't have a copy of it. :)
Portland Nursery has a great planting calendar that draws from it as well as Steve Solomon's book. You can pick it up there, but here's a pdf of it. (I posted this in another thread earlier this year, but I'm finding it really helpful) http://www.portlandnursery.com/plants/docs/veggies/veggie-cal09.pdf

In truth, I've been "playing" at vegetables for a couple of years, moving things around, trying different spots, figuring out what I like to grow. But it's been kind of scattershot without a real organized plan. So, I think that's my "extended" goal-realistically for next year. This year I'll be playing catch up again, but I've learned a lot, and I'll experiment with more new things this season and see how it goes.

Discussion in forum at Rainyside about when to plant peas . . .

http://rainyside.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4665