some questions on gardening

[chris_harper]

i am going to try a garden, and i have some questions. i have a henry field's catalog, and was just going through it looking at what i want to grow. my questions are: in the potato section, it says one offer is 30 "sets"; what does that mean? on jalapenos and such, one offer is a packet of 25 seeds; how many offers do i need per row? my rows will be roughly 8' long. some of the stuff i am going to order is 100 seeds per offer, some 25, the onions are 250. i need some help on this stuff. i don't know anyone that knows this stuff. any explanations?

 

[cajunsmoker]

Hey Chris,

IMO you are better off going down to your Lowes or Home Depot or whatever garden center you have and get some already established plants to put in your garden other than for beans, peas and corn. If you plant seeds you need to start them indoors and then put them in the ground after all chance of frost is over for your area. Unless you want to plant some potatos to make new potato's for seasoning in green beans and roasts and such then I wouldn't waste my time on potatos, just go buy a bag of potato's. To plant new potatos go to your garden center and get potato sets, or cut the eyes out of some potatos that you like and plant them.

PM me if you want any information other than that. I've been planting a garden for about 30 years now:>).

 

[deejaydebi]

Chris -

I don't know how your soil is but for an easy care garden plant in raised bed 4' x 4' you can get alot of stuff in a little space and actually make it look decorative.

Potatoes: You can use local grown potatoes. Just let them sit until they start to grow root horns, cut them up so you have at least three root horns per hill and plant them in little dirt mounds (hills) about 4" deep and foot apart. Make the little horns point up. A set is a hunk of potato that's ready to plant. NEVER add lime to potatoes and don't plant them in the same place twice in a row.

jalapenos (or any peppers): Plant seeds about 1/2" deep and about 3 seeds to a hill, about a foot apart. When they sprout if there's more than one carefully pull the weeker plants out and re plant elsewhere. If you don't they choke themselves out. You can also buy pepper plants already started, just like tomatoes.

Onions/garlic: Plant seeds about 1/2" deep and sprinkle thinly in a row. Don't fuss much here but try to get them about 1/4" apart if they don't they'll just grow anyways in clumps or twins.

Beans: 1' deep 3 to a hill for poles or 1/2" apart for bush beans.

Corn: 1" deep sprinkle thinly in a row. Don't fuss much here but try to get them about 1/4" apart if they don't they'll just grow anyways in clumps or twins.

NOTE: if you plant hot peppers try to keep sweet peppers as far apart and in oposing wind as you can. Sometimes the wind can cross polinate hot and sweet peppers and make them all hot. My sister planted 3 habanero last year at the far end of the lot and all the ppers were hot! Big surprise for kids use to snacking in the yard!

I don't know what else to add ....

 

[up in smoke]

Maybe I will start my peppers in the attic, (I always knew that tin foil and grow lights in the attic would be useful again someday!)

 

[deejaydebi]

Carl -

I hope your attic is warm! ;oX

 

[cajunsmoker]

LOL, you got some too

 

[chris_harper]

thanks for the tips, debi. rodger and i have been PM'ing each other some. i am not going to do potatoes afterall. i will do peppers, onions, squash, okra, and tomatoes. more peppers than anything else; i am doing a variety of peppers.

 

[TulsaJeff]

Is there enough interest for a section of the forum on gardening?

We could call it "Growing Your Own Sides" or something like that.. we might as well make a forum for it if we are going to discuss it

Throw your opinions at me!

 

[chris_harper]

Jeff, I would be interested in a gardening section. Especially if I do a garden. I am the type of person that reads all I can about a subject whenever I get into it. So I guess count me as a "yes" vote.

 

[gunslinger]

Buy potato and onion sets locally. A set is one seed potato. Don't go crazy with your potatoes if you are using store bought russets. When the eyes start to sprout, you'll get 10 or more plants from 1 potato. Every eye will produce a plant. I buy seed potatoes.
I start my onions and garlic in the fall, and it is usually ready late Spring.
Buy good quality hybrid seeds from a reputable company. Burpee sells the best seeds on the market, hands down. Don't bother with the cheap seeds they sell at stores like Walmart. Trust me, it isn't worth the headaches.
We have 3 greenhouses that my wife starts her plants in. But we have a huge garden and she sells the surplus.
Bucket gardening is getting very popular. Do a web search for it. It's easy and doesn't take a lot of space.
Remember one important thing. A small well managed garden will out produce a large, poorly managed garden 10 fold.

 

[TulsaJeff]

Great Advice, Tom!!

 

[gunslinger]

NOTE: if you plant hot peppers try to keep sweet peppers as far apart and in oposing wind as you can. Sometimes the wind can cross polinate hot and sweet peppers and make them all hot. My sister planted 3 habanero last year at the far end of the lot and all the ppers were hot! Big surprise for kids use to snacking in the yard!
quote]

About 5 years ago our sweet and very mild jalapenos got raped and brutalized by the cayenne peppers. We usually make bread and butter jalapenos and freeze a couple of bags as well. Those jalapenos were so hot, I thought they were going to melt the jars. NEVER again will we plant them in the same row. Now we plant them on either side of the corn. And the dry corn stalks don't come down until ALL pepper blossoms or gone. In this part of the world peppers will grow well into November even through 2 or 3 hard frosts.

 

[gunslinger]

Chris, my wife does quite a bit of okra. Be sure to stay on top of it. They grow a beautiful blossom, and once the fruit starts to grow, it goes fast. Don't let them get any longer than 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches. Otherwise they get woody. Unless you like chewing on oak twigs.

Speaking of blossoms; ever notice how beautiful the veggie blossoms are? You never see pics of them. It's all about roses and lilac and such. Some of the prettiest flowers I've ever seen have grown on our squash and okra plants.

 

[cajunsmoker]

When its time to harvest Okra be sure and were gloves or long sleeves. They will cause your arms to break out big time

 

[ultramag]

Count me in as a yes too.

 

[gunslinger]

I don't break out, but my wife does. Must be an alergy.

 

[msmith]

Chris here in our area because of the black dirt potatoes are hard to grow. Usually all I plant here is okra, squash, cucumbers, onions, sweet banana peppers, and tomatoes. Onion planting time here was in janurary. japs grow good here also, havent had good luck with bell peppers though.

 

[chris_harper]

i have heard about wearing gloves and long sleeves when picking okra.
i decided to just buy potatoes. i am going to try and grow the following: annie oakley II hybrid okra, onions (green onions and texas grano), fooled you jalapenos, tam mild jalapenos, anaheim peppers, big chili II hybrid peppers, elite II hybrid bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, cold set tomatoes, and early summer golden squash.
*note: all names are what they are called in the henry field's catalog.*
the spot where i am going to plant it has had numerous gardens in the past, so i feel like it will do good there. when i first moved here, there was a garden there from the previous tenants. they told me i could have whatever came out of it. i gave it all away, as it was stuff i don't like. i also have a good idea on fertilizer- i have two fish aquariums, and the water i pull out when doing water changes is good for plants and grass; so i figured it will be good for a garden.

 

[cajun_1]

Fortunately I can get "spuds & sweet corn" by the pick-up load for free. So my garden consists of tomato's & chili peppers.

 

[gunslinger]

Chris, since you are a stick burner, check the web for plants that like wood ashes. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I put all my ashes into a 55 gallon drum with a lid for the wife. She uses it all in the garden. Also check with your city or county run recycling center for compost. Here you can get it by the pick-up load for free as long as you are a resident. Rotted chicken and rabbit manure are very good fertilizers, but overdoing them, as with any fertilizer will burn your plants. I spread them thin and even, then till them in a month before planting, then till again just before planting. Then we side dress with triple 13 fertilizer.