I'm new to this gardening thing and need extensive help!

This is what I know, all plants need soil, water and sun. Uh, that's about it! Last summer I jumped right in, wasted so much money and everything died! My old man says, "Welcome to the plant morgue!" I tried it all...plants, tomatoes, herbs and pond plants. Yes, I know I tried too much at once, but I'm excited about it. My son just went to college this fall and I'm dealing with that empty nest thing, so I thought, "Hey, I'll become a gardener!" Ah, the depression ran even deeper. I killed plants and 12 fish. I thought, okay, new year, this time I'm starting early. I have a bunch of seeds in my fridge and some on order. I have 3 big babies (dogs), so I need plants that won't hurt them. Any guidance would be much appreciated. I can't sit at the computer for a long period of time, but I'll check everyday. Thank you all! I accidentally put up the wrong picture...can't get it off or changed, sorry!

Hi! I tried a just a very few veggies last year and everything went pretty well so this year I'm going to try a regular vegetable GARDEN. I'm excited too. I just ordered some seeds this morning. The company I ordered from even has a beginners collection called "Direct-Sow Easy-to-Grow Vegetables." I ordered that and a few other veggies and herbs.
My main concern is getting the ground ready. The soil here is really sandy but forms a very hard crust that water won't get through so I'm going to have to compost a bunch. I look forward to keeping up with how you do. Wishing us both lots of success!

Angele

I don't have the experience that many others on the site have, but I can try to help get you started. I've had my vegetable garden for 5 years running with overall very good success. I started with the knowledge from my parents garden growing up and have been learning ever since. I have learned a great deal from this site and hope to get to the point of being that helpful to others.
That all being said, what are looking to grow? And what kind of garden are you using to grow it in? I'll see what I can do to at least get you started.

Thanks! And ANY & ALL advice is helpful!! I am looking to grow everything! I think I'm going to start with some raised beds. The old man is going to make them for me. I want to do the beds because of my dogs. I won't take a chance on any plant, seeds, etc. There's so much conflicting information on what is poisonous and not to children & animals. My goal is to grow some herbs indoors and start some plants for the beds. I have a variety of seeds (veggies, herbs, annuals, bi, etc.). I have some lights, flats, etc. to do the germination (is that right?). I'm also trying to compost, ah, and yet again, I know nothing except that nothing containing any meat products, grease or oil. I wish you all a successful garden!

Since you are so new to gardening, this site may be useful to you:

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies

They have a pretty extensive list of veggies with all kinds of info about each. And keep asking question here on DG--lots of experienced folks here who are more than willing to help.

I have raised beds for my veg & herb gardens and they have done very well. I have seen a great deal of talk revolving around EBs but don't have any myself. When I first built the beds I added top soil that I got from our recycle center and have added manure, leaves and grass clippings at the end of year. In the early spring I turn the soil over to prep the beds for the growing season.
I started my gardens with a few vegetables and herbs and have added to them every year. I usually pick a couple of new entries and trial them to see if they do well for me or not. If they do well they get added in and if they don't, I move on to the next new selections. Be careful not to over burden yourself with too many vegetables and too many varieties in the beginning. If you run into problems it can snowball on you quickly.
My first garden had tomatoes (4 types), cucumbers (2 types), squash, peppers ( hot & sweet), lettuce and herbs (basil, dill, parsley and oregano)
4 years later, I now have 15 types of tomatoes, 3 types of cucs, squash, peppers, eggplants, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, oriental greens, melons, rasberries, ruhbarb, strawberries, and of course the expanded herb garden.
I do have a compost heap that I continue to add clippings, leaves, dead plants, etc. I don't do much to it, except turning it periodically and get beautiful rich soil from it. I probably need to spend some time with this to get more from it, but at the moment, I get enough new soil to continue to add to the garden every year.
I have been starting many of the plants from seeds using a lighting system that has been displayed on DG by many. It is made of PVC and shop lights and works well. I'm sure the more expensive lights are better, but it's an investment I'm not willing to make at the moment.

What kind of veggies and herbs are you interested in starting with? Be careful saying everything. There are thousands of kinds of tomatoes alone. I am constantly amazed at all the varieties I keep stubbling upon.

wow! yall are so excited! i am too and i can't wait, but i'm def gonna start slow, especially with kiley, bf daughter, i dont' want her to get disappointed and she does really easily. i want this to be a great deal of fun for her.

i can't wait to read how things go for you!

Loren

Sounds like you might want an all-encompassing book to get started with.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Ed Smith.

Also Square Foot Gardening books might be helpful if you are container growing. SFG is really too tight in my opinion for the type of heirloom tomatoes I grow however. I give each plant 2-3 feet in both directions.

you mentioned starting herbs in your garden, be sure to plant them in pots, buried in the soil, or else they will take over your garden....like mine did!

Thanks for all the advice. I experimented and started to germinate some herbs. I put them in jiffy pellets. I read a little and then realized those are only meant for 1 seed! Oops, I put a few seeds in each. Some of them have made it to their first tiny leaves (I think) though. I so far have: oregano (5 VERY TINY seedlings) sweet basil (3 seedlings, 1"-1 1/2" tall ), red robin basil (2 sdlgs in 1 pellet, 3 in another, not quite an inch), thyme (2 sdlgs, not even 1/8" yet), cilantro (4 sdlgs, 1 1/2"), dill (2 2" tall sdlgs, very thin and sick looking) all of those have a set of tiny leaves; parsley is just now sprouting, spearmint & chives nothing. Since I put more than 1 seed in each, what do I do? They are all under lamps. I mist them about 2 times a day. Do I need to put them into pots now? I don't think I'm going to put these outdoors. These are going to be window herbs. I want to get my veggies started, but it may be too soon. My other half hasn't started the beds yet. Not sure how big to make them or out of what. This is a picture of my generic set-up.

mmmm, what tasty looking youngins you have my dear! Exciting isn't it? I bought one of those peat pellet starter kits last week mostly because I'm running out of containers. Still haven't planted it so far but maybe this week. :-)
I'm recycling everything for starter pots, soup cans - you name it. We have this huge jetted tub that we don't use because our hot water heater can't fill it and I haven't mentioned it to DH but I think it would make a lovely vegetable garden, Maybe if you threaten to turn the tub into a raised bed your DH will get inspired LOL!!!
I have peas & eggplant coming up and 1 pumpkin that I don't know what to do with, it isn't supposed to go in the ground for months and it looks like it is going to get huge fast... jumped the gun on that one (maybe it would like a jacuzzi!)

Since your in Pa you have a way to go before you can do anything outside :>( but you have the right idea to start. I wont start any seeds til mid March here in NY, the sun just isnt strong enough, unless you want to get into grow lights and all that. I would read alot of the forums here and make a plan, last year was my first year with seeds and I did great and I only used mostly containers then. I learned so much by reading this forum and that is my advice to you. This year I am planning a nice size garden which is VERY hard to imagine now with all the snow on the ground LOL
Christine

I love your enthusiasm! One thing I would say is very important is your quality of soil. If you don't have good soil, you won't get strong healthy plants. Different plants need different soil types. Raised beds are great because you can add compost, soil, manure, etc. Also, be sure not to over or under water. Usually a good long deep drink once or twice a week is better than a sprinkling every day. Also am watering is better than evening watering. And you need to fertilize many plants. (Some don't need it). I use diluted fish emulsion.

Regarding raised beds...3-4 feet wide is good if you are able to garden from both sides. Shorter if you will only reach through the bed from one side. Any more than that and you will have to stretch to reach into your beds.

What zone are you in? I'm in New England zone 6 and haven't started my seeds yet. I'll be starting the leeks soon. Our last frost date is right around memorial day. In regards to transplanting to larger pots...you can do this when your seedling has it's first set of true leaves. From your picture they look a little small and may not need it right now.

Also, make sure you set the lights 1 inch above your seedlings or they will get leggy.

Good luck!

Thanks a bunch for all the advice! Wow, how quickly they died! I checked on them the day after that picture was taken and all but 2 were shriveled and pathetic looking. Well, the only seedlings that survived were the 2 basil red rubins. I put them into a couple of small pots. It's so discouraging. I don't know what exact zone I'm in, I am about 50 miles south of Erie, 90 miles north of Pittsburgh. I haven't the slightest idea when our last frost date is. About the first true set of leaves--I'm assuming that the little leaves shown in the picture aren't true?

To angele, threatening to turn the tub into a bed wouldn't work with my DH, he & my son share another bathroom with a shower! lol, any other ideas?

I wish I could get that stupid picture off this thread!

thumb, you can do this! It IS too early to start seeds for your actual gardens, but there's no harm in a few practice runs. I've been killing herb seedlings for months! But I think I'll be able to do this on the next round.

First: Your best local resource is the Cooperative Extension Service: http://extension.psu.edu/ They're there to help you with gardening concerns.

I googled it, and you're in Venango County? Here's the county information: http://venango.extension.psu.edu/

Second: You'll need to decide if you're planting in your existing soil or if you'll be using containers.
If you're using the existing soil, you'll need to have it tested to find out what you're working with and how you'll need to ammend it. Here's the link to the information for your state's soil testing: http://www.aasl.psu.edu/SSFT.HTM
If you're gardening with containers, you'll want to consult the container gardening forum for their recommendations on soil mixes.

Third: Find out when to plant. I can't seem to find PA's vegetable planting calendar online, but you should be able to request that from the extension office. The chart should show planting dates for each vegetable and indicate whether that's by seed or by transplant.

As for seed starting, I think you're almost there. The jiffy pellets are great, but I'm not sure that you can sterilize them. Read this excellent article article about preventing dampening off, which it sounds like you're experiencing: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/277/ Seed starting can be a little more tricky than you'd think. So keep in mind that if all else fails, you purchase transplants locally or online.

Also, find out which zone you're in. On Dave's Garden, click My Info in the banner, click Manage Your Preferences, and in the box on the right, click Your Location. Use the tool to find out and display your USDA Hardiness Zone. Select the appropriate zone and update your preferences. This is good for you to know, and displaying it will help other members advise you.

Sorry! I meant to explain first set of true leaves.

They are the leaves after those baby leaves you see.

Seedlings need to be kept moist when under lights. Were they too dry? They need to be watered daily or sometimes more than once a day. Too much water not so good either.

My guess is you are also in zone 6. I think Pittsburg is This website will tell you...

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-ne1.html

I'm in either zone 5a or 5b. All I know for sure is that about 2 weeks ago it was almost -10, w/o the wind chill factor! But that's rare, it's usually about 0-30. It sure has been a snowy winter so far here! We're running out of room to put the snow shoveled from our driveway!

Thanks again for the links and all the help!

I'm in MA so I here you about the snow. We lost power for a week before Christmas what with the big ice storm. Seems we're getting more snow tonight!

I always thought I was in zone 5...but the chart says zone 6 for here. I play it safe and still plant zone 5. Sometimes I push the envelope and try planting new things...sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. With this snow, my guess is a lot of things won't survive.

I wanted to mention that if you are starting seeds for herbs...they sometimes take longer and so it wouldn't be too early right now. Plus, you can grow herbs indoors under lights.

Good luck with your planting, spring can't come soon enough for me!

Ruth

Try not to get too carried away with the earliness of your transplants. I live close to your zone 5, start most of my transplant seeds between March 15 and April 1st. You will need about 6-8 weeks of lead time to plant in your garden on June 1st. Your local Extension Service will gladly help you with this, they are nice people.

Good Luck

Some random advice, entirely reflecting what failed for me when I was starting out. :)

I'm not assuming that you're growing all of the things mentioned below, I'm just mentioning the ones that I have an opinion about:

- I'd focus fairly heavily on purchased plants in your first year. That's not to say that you shouldn't seed some things, but growing your own transplants from seed is something that takes practice and may fail a few times, so you also want to plant a few things that are closer to a guaranteed success.

So if I were you, I'd focus on purchased plants for tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, eggplant, and other greens, and perennial herbs, rather than trying to seed them, or at least rather than _only_ trying to grow them from seed.

- And I'd direct-seed peas, beans, corn, squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers, rather than trying to grow transplants, because the transplants for these plants really don't get you much of an advantage, and there's always a risk in the transplanting process. On the flower side, nasturtiums are really easy to grow direct-seeded.

- Onion plants and sets and bulbs (for things like shallots) are much closer to a guaranteed success than onion seeds, even though seeds give you a much more exciting variety of choices. Go ahead and try seeds, if you want, but I'd also put in some sets so that you can have the pleasure of some pretty quick home-grown scallions.

- And I'd direct-seed carrots and dill, because they really, really hate being transplanted. Also, I find that dill is pretty easy to grow, but carrots can be hard to get started, so you may not want to devote too much space to carrots until you find out if they'll cooperate with you.

- Mint will try to take over the planet. If it escapes or you ignore this advice, don't despair, because you can eventually get rid of it, but it's always best to confine mint to a pot from the beginning. Preferably a pot in the middle of some paving so that it can't easily seed or root into the soil while you're not looking.

Burnet

My sowing was almost identical to Burnets. The plants i did start from seed i planted with plastic wrap over them. I get venitian blinds for very little at Salvation Army and i cut 3 or 4 inch lengths to use as supports for plastic wrap and also for id strips in the garden. I take the plastic off after the true leaves develope.
I'm in Z6 and don't start seeds till March 1ST. But i live on top of a mountain with wind always blowing I protect them as much as possble. In the valley is z7