Starting a garden...

[sarea]

Are there any amateur gardeners out there?

I've had this desire, on and off since I bought my house 4 years ago, to start a garden. A vegetable/fruit one, to be exact. But I don't know anything about gardening. :( I don't even know if having a vegetable/fruit one is possible in the soil I have, or whether they can be grown together, or other obvious things that an experienced gardener would know. I don't need anything fancy ... it would have to just be things that can grow in Seattle's climate.

I'd love to be able to make dinner by going out in the garden and plucking whatever's available. I'd love to have an excuse to be outside more, and to dig into the soil and work the land a bit. I think I would enjoy it. I'm not trying to be extremely ambitious and have a huge vegetable garden or anything. It'd have to be something I could manage spending maybe an hour a day, if that.

I have a huuuuge yard that I do nothing with. My house is about 1,500 sq ft while my lot size is 9,500 sq ft. So I have a lot of room for a garden. Right now all I do is pay someone to come mow it for $980/year (which I am thinking about stopping ... they come like once a month and it's an expense I feel is kind of wasteful). If I had a garden that would mean less grass to mow, too.

So ... anyone have any pointers for a beginner starting her first garden? I know if I want to start one I need to do it soon in order to get things planted by mid-May, I think. That's what I've been told, at least. Maybe it's already too late for this year?

Comments

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think you should put back the swingset.

[lyndsiefenele.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's too late to plant, but I'm not really from this area. I guess Michigan's pretty close, and I probably would be planting there sometime in the next few weeks. The thing to look for is the temperature at night because you don't want the plants to freeze.

What you can do now is start ripping up any sod where you're going to put the garden, because that can be ridiculously hard. (Re: my icon. I had to use the super-sharp archaeology trowel I got in my field school to cut through it, and even that was rough. So I took that picture for fun.)

You'll also pretty much have to start with the pre-grown seedlings from a garden store. Many seeds that you buy you're supposed to pre-grow them yourself inside in little cups, and you don't really have time for that anymore. (Unless you do, here....)

I've been thinking of growing some tomatoes or something just for fun, but I think my aunt's yard is to shady. Oh well.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the info!! I do think you're right and that it's going to be hard to get through the soil that's there now ... it hasn't been touched in like 20 years.

Pre-grown seedlings are a good tip. You're right that I probably wouldn't have the time to do it myself ... any shortcut for me would be good!

It does get pretty cold here at night, prob high 30s/low 40s right now, though obviously that will rise in the summer. I'm just going to stick with stuff that's known to grow OK in the pacific NW.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

LOL that whole area is so wasted. It's like this gravely spot I can't do anything with.

[fearthainn.livejournal.com]

Well, if Seattle is anything like Vancouver Island, all you have to do is stick plants in soil and they will grow like it's going out of style. My sister and grandma both live on the west coast, and they both grow all sorts of stuff. My sister had a small vegetable garden last year and they grew so much stuff half of it went bad (and they're a family of four). Pretty much anything you might want to grow, you probably can. Except maybe cactus. :)

If your ground is too rocky or hard to till, you might want to consider getting raised beds and filling them with decent soil. I've seen tutorials and they seem pretty easy to make.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Oooh great tips! And that is GREAT to know re: Vancouver, I won't give up before I've even started. :D Thank you.

[leiliaxf.livejournal.com]

up here, you're pretty much ok to plant starting now--you're not late.

I'd check out Cisco Morris on King5--he usually has good tips on gardening in this climate (check and see--I think he may have a book out). There's also a local legend by the name of Ed Hume--if you can find any of his writings you'll be on the right track.

By and large, we use starts instead of seeds because of the growing season (I recommend the Fred Meyer garden center--decent prices). Tomatoes can do extremely well if you have a warm east/south facing location (we plant ours against the side of the house, so they get reflected heat). Berry bushes do well too, and friends of mine have had great luck with stuff like beans and peas.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

A coworker told me to check out the same King 5 guy. :D I went to the site and he doesn't have anything that's what I need right now (i.e., starting a garden from scratch, beginner style), but I'll definitely check him out more once I've got something preliminary set up.

Part of my yard does get a lot of sun, but it faces west... I think. Not too good with my directions. :P The east facing part of the yard isn't fenced in, so I don't want to have the garden there.

Fred Meyer and Lowe's are on my list of to-go locations this weekend!

[ladyreeana.livejournal.com]

Make sure you talk to them about exactly what would be perfect for you to grow. Oddly enough plants and veggies are kind of like pets. Not only do you have to worry about the climate, but you also have to keep in mind how much work you are willing to put into the garden. Do you need simple plants and veggies that don't require a lot of attention due to a busy work schedule? Or do you think you'll have the time for the attention hogs? Lowe's (at lest the ones I've delt with) are really good at answering questions and being helpful to make sure you have what you need, but just make sure they aren't trying to get you to increase their sales for the month. I had that happen once, and never again. Also, takling to people that work at plant nurseries are really great for different ideas on what to get and how to take care of them. They would have beeter info than most people at Lowe's. The library is another great source. I wish you luck! It's a lot of fun as long as you keep it that way.