NIFR: Anyone have a garden?

Bella2u07

I am attempting my very 1st garden this year.  It's very, very little.  I bought 2 window box planters, 2 strawberry plants and 2 romaine lettuce plants.  Oh and I will also be growing 4 different herbs.

I am so clueless and nervous about doing this.  I want it to work, but I have a history of not watering things, lol.

Have any tips to offer me??

Thank you!

SweetDahlia

I have never had luck with container gardens, except my basil. Basil is super easy to grow. We have a small area where we put tomatoes and usually and eggplant and a zucchini or two. I am usually bad about packing stuff in to close.
Our life saver is our soaker hose. I think consistent watering is a must for any plants. We have it on a timer for once or twice a day. DH turns it off if it rains.

And to side track into my scary salad story...

I tried lettuce last year in pots. I was so excited. It did well. I even bought a salad spinner and enjoyed a few salads. I have 3 kinds in 3 huge pots. Except I skipped eating it a few days, but the leftover was still in my spinner and I didn't rewash it, it was still crisp, and I had washed, soaked it in the water, and spun in and you will not believe as I was sitting here at my office eating my salad with some crab meat that there were tiny, and I mean tiny green bugs on it!!! Not a ton, but this killed my appetite for lettuce. I just left the rest of it. It looked pretty, but I was done.

I mean I washed it really good. So lesson, wash very very good and still look. There must have been eggs on the leaves I couldn't see.

madhatterxo

This is our first year growing a garden as well.  Actually, DH is doing it.  He's super obsessed with growing fruits and vegetables.  He bought a topsy turvy to grow tomatoes, and in 2 weeks we're thinking about spices.  We're just afraid of the squirrels in our neighborhood.  They're so sneaky, and I know they will mess up our garden.  Thanks for posting this. 

Bella2u07

SweetDahlia:

And to side track into my scary salad story...

I tried lettuce last year in pots. I was so excited. It did well. I even bought a salad spinner and enjoyed a few salads. I have 3 kinds in 3 huge pots. Except I skipped eating it a few days, but the leftover was still in my spinner and I didn't rewash it, it was still crisp, and I had washed, soaked it in the water, and spun in and you will not believe as I was sitting here at my office eating my salad with some crab meat that there were tiny, and I mean tiny green bugs on it!!! Not a ton, but this killed my appetite for lettuce. I just left the rest of it. It looked pretty, but I was done.

I mean I washed it really good. So lesson, wash very very good and still look. There must have been eggs on the leaves I couldn't see.

OMG that is gross!  That just kind of turned my stomach from having my salad for lunch.  lol

Thanks for the info!

Mandy_Lou83

This is my first year to do a garden too! I planted about two weeks ago and so far everything seems to be growing well. I'm doing squash, bell pepper, sweat basil, lemon thyme, oregano, chives, parsley and strawberries.

I would like to make herb infused olive oil, but I need to learn how to dry my herbs.

Did you plant seeds or plants? I tried seeds before and never got them to work so I went w/ plants this year.

Temp590840000005378

Congrats on starting your 1st garden.  It's so much fun!! I always have a lot of success with lettuce, however, it doesnt' like a lot of Heat so it definitely does better in the Spring and Fall.  Herbs are easy and fun to have on hand for cooking.  I have a lot of veggies growing this year, so excited for my garden!! Good luck!!

theworms

planting marigolds around the edge of your garden and few throughout is a natural way to help keep pests out. 

also if you have deer or squirrel problem, baby powder helps keep them away.

GL cutie

i have a habit of killing everything   thankfully my parents have an amazing garden that i steal from

SweetDahlia

Mandy_Lou83:

This is my first year to do a garden too! I planted about two weeks ago and so far everything seems to be growing well. I'm doing squash, bell pepper, sweat basil, lemon thyme, oregano, chives, parsley and strawberries.

I would like to make herb infused olive oil, but I need to learn how to dry my herbs.

Did you plant seeds or plants? I tried seeds before and never got them to work so I went w/ plants this year.

I usually just get plants. Seeds alwasys take so much loner. I have tried basil and nothing came up. The lettuce was from seed. I liked doing it in containers so I could tell what was lettuce and what was weed.

I think that it's worth the extra money to buy nice healthy plants that you know will do well.

SweetDahlia

Bella2u07:

SweetDahlia:

And to side track into my scary salad story...

I tried lettuce last year in pots. I was so excited. It did well. I even bought a salad spinner and enjoyed a few salads. I have 3 kinds in 3 huge pots. Except I skipped eating it a few days, but the leftover was still in my spinner and I didn't rewash it, it was still crisp, and I had washed, soaked it in the water, and spun in and you will not believe as I was sitting here at my office eating my salad with some crab meat that there were tiny, and I mean tiny green bugs on it!!! Not a ton, but this killed my appetite for lettuce. I just left the rest of it. It looked pretty, but I was done.

I mean I washed it really good. So lesson, wash very very good and still look. There must have been eggs on the leaves I couldn't see.

OMG that is gross!  That just kind of turned my stomach from having my salad for lunch.  lol

Thanks for the info!

Sorry:< I have salad for lunch too. I just know I really washed the lettuce, it was a spring mix, so I could not believe that it had bugs.

 

SweetDahlia

Swiss Chard is really good and very pretty. We have done it both in pots and in the ground and it did way better in the ground. It was able to have better roots. I did pots because I thought They would be easy to cover and really I had expanded and put cucumbers in. Last year we did the ground again and the rabbits devoured them! I was so mad.

So we fenced it and it somewhat recovered.

But it is super healthy. Lots of vitamins. You can get red, yellow, and white stalks and they have pretty green leaves. You can eat the stalks too. We clean, chop up, and satue with a little olive oil, crushed garlic and red pepper flaskes. --YUM

It's funny though, our outdoor mall plants swiss chard in their HUGE pots and it's always so pretty.

softbalangel

We are attempting our first gardent this year as well. We plan to plant tomato plants, cucumbers, peppers and few other things.

My H is really into because he wants to try his hand at canning this year.

I suck at remembering to water plants. I kill them every time. I plan to put a reaccuring reminder in my phone to remind me to water the garden. Not sure how it will work out though.

Bella2u07

Mandy_Lou83:

This is my first year to do a garden too! I planted about two weeks ago and so far everything seems to be growing well. I'm doing squash, bell pepper, sweat basil, lemon thyme, oregano, chives, parsley and strawberries.

I would like to make herb infused olive oil, but I need to learn how to dry my herbs.

Did you plant seeds or plants? I tried seeds before and never got them to work so I went w/ plants this year.

Congrats on your 1st garden too!!!!  I figure if I can manage not to kill these 6 plants and 4 different herbs, then next year I will expand.

Herb infused olive oil sounds amazing!!!  Don't you just bake the herbs for that?  I could be wrong....never done it before.  

For my lettuce & strawberries I planted plants...for my herbs I planted seeds...we shall see how things progress.

Good luck sweets!!!

madhatterxo

theworms:

planting marigolds around the edge of your garden and few throughout is a natural way to help keep pests out. 

also if you have deer or squirrel problem, baby powder helps keep them away.

GL cutie

i have a habit of killing everything   thankfully my parents have an amazing garden that i steal from

That's really interesting about the baby powder.  Thanks for the tip.