Newbie needs advice on when to plant starters/seed

Hi, as I stated I am new to the board. I have a little experience w/ vegetable gardening as I have helped my in-laws with their garden. We always had a garden when I was growing up as well. So I know enough to get myself in trouble.

I live in Southeast VA (20 miles inland from the coast) and due to circumstances out of my control, I am starting my garden late. Better late than never, so they say!

Now for my questions/concerns:
1st) We are expecting a great deal of rain tonight and tomorrow. At least an inch, if not more and they have put up flood warnings. I have only planted corn so far. I have a great variety of seed to put in the ground as well as some starters of tomatoes, peppers, cucs, and squash. I don't know whether to plant this afternoon before the rain, or wait and plant on Mon/Tuesday when the soil has dried out some. Any advice???

2) I am trying to be as "green" and environmentally friendly w/ my garden as possible. My space is large about 40' x 100' and weeds are a concern.

Has anyone had success with using newspaper as a weed control/mulch? If so, how did you use it-- shredded or in large sheets?

What about clover as a ground cover? Where would I find clover seed?

Thanks for any advice, suggestions, or referrals you can give me. I hope that this is the beginning of a rewarding hobby for years to come.

Well, they are now predicting at least 2 inches of rain, so any seeds would probably wash away. I have opted to wait until after this storm to put anything in the ground.

I'm still interested in hearing about ground covers and mulches if anyone has input.

Newspaper will work either way, but you have to anchor it down or it will blow around in the wind. Grass clippings, leaves, and straw ( either wheat or pine) work a lot better and do more to condition the soil.

Thanks Farmerdill. I have two recycle bins full of newspaper. I was trying to figure what I could do to keep the newspaper down. lol Maybe if I put on a rainsuit and go out during the rain tomorrow and let it get good and soaked then lay it down it probably won't go anywhere. lol

On another note, I have access to all the pine straw I want to rake. I am just worried about having to correct for the acidity. I tested my soil prior and it was neutral. As far as grass clippings, will they promote more grasses to grow in the garden? My other option is horse manure. We have plenty of that as well. Does the manure need to be decomposed or can it be spread "fresh"?

I have a compost bin I haven't been using. I know, shame on me! After I get everything planted, I am going to focus on getting my compost bin going again, so that in time I will have a good dressing to apply to my plants.

Sorry for so many questions.

1. As soon as the newsprint dries it is ready to blow around. Rocks , bricks, planks, or dirt can be used to hold it down. One caution if you have slugs, they love to live under it.

2. If your soil is "neutral", pinestraw won't generate enough acidity to move it out of vegetable growing range. If you have a pH around 6, then just a little ground limestone would take care of it.

3. Depends on what grasses are used in your local lawns. Most well kept lawns mowed before they seed. I am originally from central Virginia where lawns are bluegrass or fescue. no problems with those. Hay is bad because of the seeds contained, Because horses eat hay, their manure is usually weedy, so composting is highly recomended.

Hi lookinforoz and welcome.

I decided to try the lasagna method of gardening when I started my garden... and the first step is to either put brown cardboard down and/or newspaper. I did both, starting with the cardboard and wetting it thoroughly, then I took about 8-10 sheets of newspaper at a time, dunked them in a bucket of water to saturate and put them down, making sure to overlap about 2-3 inches. Then it's all hooked together and harder to blow around but still can. So putting your pine straw down and wetting that too will help anchor it down. (This late tho, I don't think I would use the cardboard)
By doing this, I have very little weeds and if I do get a couple to pop up...they are so easy to pull up.
I also added grass clippings, shredded leaves, egg shells, pine needles, coffee grounds and alfalfa.
So far, my garden is doing great and it's so nice not to have weed all the time!
Good luck!
Ping

Pinger, thanks for your suggestion. I hadn't thought about using both. I have a tilled plot with rows, but I am thinking I can put the paper down between the rows and then put pinestraw overtop of it. This way I can use the pinestraw to mulch around my plants and seedlings as they come up. I am so excited!
I cannot wait to get started tomorrow, if the ground's not too wet.

Thanks Farmerdill and Pinger.

Pinger--that's beautiful country where you are. A few years back after attending the Charlotte race, DH and I drove into Mooresville and had a look around. We drove through lots of agricultural areas on the outskirts of town. I'm a Dale Jr fan and DH was a Dale Earnhardt fan his whole life, so we went by DEI but it was closed. Anyhow, it was nice to see a place not too grown up. In our part of Virginia, development (both residential and commercial) is replacing most of the farmland.

Lookingfor oz, boy your gonna be busy eh, the veg you grow, will be far tastier than any you buy from the store, cheeper as you wont be paying extra as you do, because the stores seem to think we want all things the same size, no blemishes ect, and you can store things better as the veg are fresher and have not travelled miles to reach the store, so good for you, I sugest for the first year, you grow only what you know you or the family like to eat as veg, then you can experiment next year once you have got the hang of your soil and worked it into the right condition for the veg you want, things like root veg dont like fresh manure as it causes the carrots, parsnips, beetroots etc to split, however veg that grow on top of the soils like cabbage, peas etc, can take any amount of manures so long as it is dug into a trench and covered with soil before you plant into it, it then gets the neutrients as the roots go deeper, then next year, you plant your root veg in that spot because the manure has lost some of the neutrients.
It is a good idea to split your veg plot into four beds/areas, like 1, 2, 3, 4, first year if you grow root crops in bed one then brasicas in bed 2 then beens and corn bed 3 and say soft fruit in bed four or potato's which take up a lot of room in bed 4, then the next year, you would grow, brasica/Greens in bed 1 and add your animal manure to that bed, and root veg in bed 2 etc, this way all the veg that need and take different foods from the soil are happy, plus it stops the spread of deseases that can build up in the soil by constant growing in the same spot, well thats how we do it in UK. it is also good to make the beds/areas smaller as you dont want to be standing all over the soil that you have just spent ages getting into good condition and standing just compacts it again, so try work on a plank of wood and move it along as you plant/sow etc.
If you get manure this year use some on the green beds and the corn, peas, beens etc, let the rest rot down so you can add it to any beds next year except the root bed. and peas/corn. You are always going to have a weed problem when you are growing the green way, but mulching is the best deterant, old cardboard cartons covered shalow with earth will help as will nespaper, but as said, it has to be soaked, it helps retain moisture, it will be dug into the soil for next year as it will have broken down, also black pollythene will work too, again you will have to ancor it down, you will have to be so vigilent for slugs and snails but if you encourage wild life like birds etc, then they will help eat the slugs, or cover your veg with fine horticultural fleece, this is like a light web and it needs loosened off as your veg grow higher, go to the librery and get books on Organic veg Gardening, as this space is not big enough for all the tips and hint I could give you, but for this year, just grow what you eat, and sew only some seeds at intervals or you will have a glut all at the same time, say 2 weeks appart, then you will be gathering for longer as they mature in stages. hope this helps you some as you are trying to garden the way I do it, have never used chemicals for over 25 years and I am happy, dont want a quick unflavoured crop of anything, but it all takes time to get the ballance right and NOT in 1 season, good luck and happy gardening. WeeNel.

You are most welcome! I've asked so many questions on here since March, it's nice to finally be able to answer some in return!
Sorry to hear about all of the development but unfortunately, it's seems inevidable in today's time. I remember spending summers in Emerald Isle at the Coast and it was so peaceful, hardly anybody on the beaches and you had to go over the bridge, back to the mainland to get groceries at the Piggly Wiggly. Now...there's hotels, grocery stores, restaurants and probably a movie theater by now. It's like a mini Myrtle Beach compared to 20 years ago.
But the area you're talking about around DEI is still the same...lots of farm land, very quiet. I live kind of near where the race shops are or the Racing Hall of Fame. And believe it or not, just 8 years ago and just a mile down the road from here...there used to be a landing strip! Mooresville had one stop light then. We're up to 17, last I counted....all in 8 years. This little town grew way too fast. But nobody's gonna touch my little acre! lol
Feel free to email me if you have any more questions about the lasagna gardening.
Pinger
It's raining today...all day!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!