Gardening and Greenhouse

Green Thumb answers:

There are many things you can use to “fertilize” your garden:

1) mulch- tree trimmings, flowers, sawdust
2) compost- mulch and vegetable waste
3) fertilizer- minerals some natural, some man ‘manipulated’
4) manure- from steers, horses, goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens (any vegetarian) animal

Mulch and compost- benefits (free), don’t smell as much as manure, are completely natural and organic. Down side, if not kept well, will attract rodents

Fertilizer- benefits can improve growing and speed up growing of veggies. Downside, can burn plants and some are chemically bad for the plant

Manure- benefits, can be free if you own animals. Sometimes farmers or persons with lifestock are more than willing to give some of it away, or you can trade for veggies. Downside, smell, and burns leaves of plants.

I prefer compost and mulch with manure. I say this because. Compost and manure is free and when I have a garden I raise chickens and other poultry, ergo the two combined chicken and garden I have free eggs, free meat, free pest control and free manure. Also with the chickens you can feed the cuttings and the remains of the plant itself to the chickens and save on feed. Most neighborhoods will allow you to have 4-10 chickens if they are for food.

If you are willing to take the time and care you essentially can grow year long. I live in AZ and I have planted in the summer even when the temp was 115 in the shade.

To prevent water loss and the suns rays from damaging the leaves, I plant sunflowers that grow 6-12 feet tall to provide shade and also to be stakes for tomatoes, beans, peas and cukes. The benefits of planting the Sunflower is shade, and attracting pollinating bees and you can eat the seeds. I also plant corn and okra to provide shade since corn can grow as high as 6-8 feet depending on what kind you plant, and you can eat it and use its entire body for compost, as with the sunflower. I plant Okra because okras is everygrowing and will continue to produce so long as you do not allow its okra to get to big and harden, it also can provide shade. Some grow into bushes or little trees 3-6 feet high.
To also prevent water loss you can plant melons, cukes and squash which will cover the ground and slow down evaporation.

Essentially you can plant year long so long as you do not allow the ground to freeze or get too hard.

E-mail if you have further questions been organic gardening all my life and have raised just about every vegetable and fruit. And have raised poultry.

Green Thumb answers:

I like planting directly in the ground but depending on your space that may not work as well. In the ground is much more work for sure. A couple things about in the ground, watering more difficult, critter problems if they are around and more weeds. You simply cannot grow as much in pots and some things do not do well. I’ve grown lettuce and tomatoes in pots and they have done nicely. I could keep them away from the critters and no weed problem. You do have to be more careful about watering as the pots can dry out more quickly than if in the ground. Have you thought about a raised bed? You get some of the benefits of pots, and not the problems of in ground planting.

Green Thumb answers:

For a really good detailed list of what should be planted when in your area, get a farmer’s almanac. Also, the information will be on your seed packets. They will show a small map of the U.S. To show what zone you’re in, so you’ll know when to plant. Good crops to start with will be tomatoes (from plants), peppers (also from plants), zucchini (be sure you have a lot of friends/family if you plant much), radishes, carrots, beets, pumpkins or other winter squash, and lettuce. I wouldn’t start with green beans (a lot of work) or corn (not a lot of bang for your buck). Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and cucumbers can all be planted under black plastic, and if you plant much, I’d recommend it. Roll out your black plastic, secure the corners and edges to keep the wind from pulling it up, cut X’s (every 3′ for all but the zucchini, and 4′ for them) in the plastic, and plant your plants/seeds in them (make the holes a little bigger for seeds, and watch them to make sure the plants don’t get covered by the plastic when they sprout). For tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, pour a cup of Miracle Gro for tomatoes (mixed per the directions) in with them (they’re all members of the nightshade family, so it will work for all of them). For the others, use regular Miracle Gro. Plant the tomato plants all the way up to the first branch of leaves–the small hairs will turn into roots and make them more hardy. The rest should be planted only to the level they come at. When you plant the zucchini, plant about 3-4 seeds in each hole. Again, the seed packets will tell you how deep you should plant everything.

Green Thumb answers:

No, it is to late in the season.

Green Thumb answers:

Tomatoes are easy to grow along with peppers (bell, jalapeno, banana, etc).

There’s a great website I found when i was getting started….

Www.idigmygarden.com Alot of people are willing to help newbies out, and they give some excellent advice.

Check your local library for some gardening books that look like they would be easy for you.

Have fun!

Green Thumb answers:

If you mean will the vegetables be safe to eat–yes, you’ll wash them anyway.

If you mean will the garden be dangerous for the doves, no, they’ll be fine.