Britches asks: Advice for my first vegetable garden?
Hello! This summer I plan on planting my first real garden (growing up my dad made us plant gardens, but they were his, I never got my own really). I do have a lot of plants/flowers around my apartment… I just love growing things! So I know I have a bit of a “green thumb”.
My question is really about two things in particular:
1) Should I start my vegetables from seeds or from the little baby plants? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? Is it nearly impossible to grow vegetables from seeds?
2) What are some good first garden vegetables? Like which are easiest, and would grow best in my area (SE Michigan)?
Thanks for any advice you can give! 🙂
The answer voted best is:
Answer by Dayna
I’m from south texas and we always use seeds. I don’t know what grows best up there, but I know the easiest here are green beans, cucumbers, squash and zucchinis. Corn and tomatoes are always a little challenging because of bugs. And My family did Potatoes last year that came out wonderfully. Carrots were a bit of a challenge too. But, like I said, this is Texas…and its much warmer and more humid here.
I do know that if you’re doing herbs, like dill or rosemary, its easier to start with the plant than the seed…
What do you think? Answer below!
Powered by Yahoo answers!
First and foremost, amend your soil with lots and lots of clean compost. Healthy soil is the foundation of a productive garden. Since you are just starting out, buy small plants from your local (reputable) nursery or garden center. Starting from seed is something that you should do at the same time, but unless you have a mentor then failure is not unusual with the first attempts.
Good choices for first time veggies are pole beans, snow peas, cucumbers and of course tomatoes and peppers. Aromatic herbs such as thyme, sage, rosemary and (later in the season) basil can repel many insect pests when planted near and in between the veggies.
Try to avoid buying too much and being overwhelmed.
Seeds are a lot less expensive, but they take a lot longer to become mature plants. For tomatoes, I would use small plants, but for hardier plants I would use seeds.
Try some perennial plants like rhubarb. It comes up every year, and you can make pies from rhubarb earlier than you can from other fruit.
You can ask your friends and reliative for divisions of perenial plants that are in their gardens.
I would suggest planting some plants from seed so you have the experience – you have to try everything once, right? 🙂 I grew melons from seed with great luck. From experience, vine plants seem to be easiest from seed because that same year I also started tomato plants from seed, but they are a bit needy. Apparently, they do well if you have the grow lamp so they don’t get so tall they fall over, which is what happened in my case. Of course, I’ve also planted vegetable plants from the store and they worked out great. Gardening is definitely a little bit of trial and error. Good luck!!
It is very rewarding to start plants from seed but also takes a little practice and a few failed attempts. To get started I would buy plants from you local nursery until you get the hang of starting from seed. Make sure you check the plants for disease and bugs like spider mites and thrips. If you have a bug problem spray neem oil on the plants. My first garden consisted of different varieties of tomatoes and peppers. I do live in Nebraska not Michigan. Find out when to plant up there so that frost doesn’t kill your young plants and they have enough time to ripen before the weather gets to cold