Canadian Woman asks: Advice/Instructions for maintaining veggie garden?
My husband and I are moving into our first rental house, and the last tenants planted TONS of plants including various beautiful vegetable plants. There is a big vine of beans, tomoatos, different types of squash, and cucumber. I have never gardened before much and I have no idea how to take care of vegetables day to day, over the winter.. etc. so any advice would be much appreciated! I really want to keep the garden looking great and have fresh veggies to eat 🙂
PS- we live in oregon so our winters are VERY mild, but we usually do have at least a few days/nights where it is in the low 30s or high 20s.
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Answer by smurfs
I live in Oregon too. I am in Albany. I did volunteer at a community garden at the YMCA. But I don’t really have much experience. I just know that you need to water them every day and harvest the food by picking it. Oh, and you will need to pull up weeds. And even grass is considered a weed because grass can take water away from the veggies. Good luck!
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Keep up with the harvest. Make SURE you pick everything as it becomes ripe.
Keep it watered–water early in the morning, or after dark. Soak it really well.
Cut out everything dead and SAVE ALL THE PLANT MATERIAL.
If you get too many beans, you can freeze them.
Buy some miracle grow shake ‘n; feed for the tomatoes.
Get one of those tubs with the rope handles, or a big plastic bucket. Save all the leftovers from cooking, like ends of tomatoes, eggshells, coffee grounds, anything plant material, no meat. Put the bucket outside with a good lid on it. You’ll need this later.
In the fall, you can actually plant some spinach or something if you want, but here’s what you should do before it freezes: Pull up everything dead and lay it out right on top of the plant bed. Get some peat moss and throw some of that over the dead plant material. Spread the contents of the bucket on top–if it’s messy or dry, get some black plastic or landscaping material, lay it over the whole thing and anchor it with rocks. This will guarantee you will have fantastic soil for next year.
Keep saving scraps–you can build up compost all winter and use it for soil amendment next year–you’ll never have enough. Keep some peatmoss to cover the scraps up with, or get an indoor, under the sink container for kitchen scraps. You can actually plant anything right in this garbage. Or you can mix it into compost.
Next spring, keep in mind that you start with cold-weather crops like broccoli, cauliflower, peas, lettuces, carrots and spinach. In Oregon, we’re talking April. You can plant tomatoes and vine stuff in June. For this coming fall, I would highly recommend reading books like “Lasagna Gardening,” with great tips on using compost and kitchen garbage to plant in. YouTube is also a wonderful resource for advice and tips on gardening. You live in a glorious area for gardening, and I envy you your new hobby. Good luck, and keep cutting out the dead stuff!
I suggest that you check out some gardening websites for some basic gardening information. Check out this site: http://www.e-gardening-tips.com/index.html
It has a lot of gardening tips. Im sure you will be able to find some of the answers to your questions
I know what your favorite vegetable is!
Most of the veggies are annuals that will die as soon as it frosts good. So, little or no winter care is needed. You should keep weeds (any undesired plants) out of the beds, water when you don’t get an inch or more of rain per week, and keep an eye out for insect pests. A great resource for veggie gardening advice and information is The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith. It has all the information you could want to get you growing.