Tips for getting started on gardening.

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

So im moving into a new house, and whilst its not mine, it belongs to my family and Ill be getting cheaper rent in exchange for fixing it up and as Im a carpenter I know plenty about that...

But I also want to fix up the gatden, weeding and planting food producing plants mostly, but also maybe a few aesthetically pleasing plants too.

Im after general advice and any resources online like good article sites or forums you can point me in the direction of would be great.

 

[The Philistine]

If it's a small garden, I'd start out weeding, loosening any tough soil, removing rocks. If the soil is in the typical post-construction condition of having the topsoil scrapped off and sold elsewhere, layer in compost, potting soil, and mulch to get a restart on your soil. For a garden strip, you may be better off tilling the soil up to loosen it, and then planting some winter wheat, alfalfa, or soy beans and tilling them under in the spring to enrich the soil.

Depending on what you're wanting to grow, it really depends on the region you live in, the amount and timing of sunlight, water, and soil conditions. Just about any horticultural site should have that kind of info for each plant. You can start with a gardening website like http://garden.org or seed catalogs http://www.burpee.com for ideas.

You might also want to take into account what wildlife is in your area, as that can greatly impact what you can keep growing. For example, there's squirrels and deer in my area that makes growing anything to see a pain.

 

[kalio]

Following this,because i have actually been thinking of starting a garden soon. A small one though.

 

[Baffle]

Unless you're going to strip and re-seed the whole lawn, don't use quick-growing grass on any patches. It'll grow quicker than the rest of the grass forever, so it'll always be uneven within three days of cutting it.

As you're a carpenter, it might be worth knocking up a small hot-house for overwintering anything you keep in pots (unless you have some sort of greenhouse). Some plants are fragile for the first few years. Actually, not sure who your climate is like.

 

[maninahat]

What you could do is make a raised bed. It is a fairly inexpensive and small scale project. The benefit of raised beds is that you can partition off a bit of garden and have complete control over the soil type and quality, so that you can grow exactly what you want. What I did was order a few railway sleepers online and placed them on their side in a rectangle. Fill the rectangle with good quality top soil, adding in composts to adjust the soil chemistry to whatever plants you want. A top layer of bark makes it look nice, traps in moisture and makes weed growth harder.

Sleepers are a good choice for beds because they weigh so damn much you don't have to cement them down. Just bury them in inch deep and nail some brackets onto the inside corners to keep them level and straight. Sleepers are also aesthetically pleasing, but try not to get oily, "treated" ones. Go for the untreated, coz then you can sit on them without getting covered in tar.

Other tips that are not bed related?

Never stand on the soil that you want to plant things in.

Be aware of the sun direction and how much shade your garden gets. Mine is small, narrow, North facing and has high fences, meaning it gets very limited light much of the day. This makes things grow slowly/poorly.

Always plant things in odd numbers. Even numbered plants end up looking regimented and silly. My wife has a bad habit of planting everything in a dead straight line, which also looks daft. Offset things to give a more natural, balanced look.

Organize your plants based on height. The biggest things go at the back, smaller at the front. Be aware of how quick plants grow as well, as people have a tendency to pick and arrange plants based on the height they were in the shops, only to then have to move them again when they've doubled in size and swallowed up every other plant.