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Rec'd your veggie garden plants/layout or help me plan mine! :)
So I'm extremely new, brand new, never-done-this-before new to gardening. I just turned SAHM to a 6m DD and we need to cut costs and I've always wanted to try a veggie box garden. We've got a large lawn but I think we'll go the boxed route because of rodents and soil probs. Anyways...I can't wrap my head around all the new information, plus trying to cross-check the companion planting tips.
Can anyone help rec'd the veggies they plant and the layout based upon what's good/not good to be planted together/near eachother?
Here's what I'm interested in, give or take whatever tips I can get.
Tomatoes
Lettuce
peppers
herbs (parsley, dill, basil, etc) and garlic
cucumbers
zuccini
eggplant
green onion
And I'm open to suggestions to whatever else if something would help keep pests away, or help another plant thrive, etc. If you can help me plan the layout and if I can plant these together, I would be sooo grateful. TIA!!!!!
BTW - I'm in Zone 6 (NW Ohio).
Re: Rec'd your veggie garden plants/layout or help me plan mine! :)
I highly recommend checking out www.smartgardener.com. You can enter in all of your information and it will help you figure out what and how many of each thing to plant based on where you live and the size of your family.
We have three smallish beds (4x5') and live in Zone 8. This is our first year with a veggie garden and we planted sugar snap peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots, pole beans, onions, beets, and space saving cucumbers (cucumbers and zucchini will take up a lot of space). We also planted some tomatoes and peppers in pots, but it's cold enough out at night still that we put them out during the day and bring them in at night. I love eggplant and am hoping to try some, but have heard it isn't hot enough here for them to do really well.
We also have two large pots for herbs - including dill, chives, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, mint, and lemon verbena (I just love the smell of it). We'll add basil when it warms up a bit.
Thank you both for your responses!
1 - That website is awesome. I'm loving it! I can't thank you enough!!!!!!!
2 - Thanks, PP, for mentioning the plants you have in pots. I can read all the information in the world but it helps me when I hear of actual people doing it successfully. And - Thanks for the tip on the larva! That's one thing that I am very concerned about; good pests and bad pests. Which do I need, want, and don't want? Sigh...I guess this is going to have to be years of trial and error.
So, I'm planning my garden on that website and something came up. Since my last frost date has probably come, and the first 6 weeks prior to that frost date has surely come and gone, what do I do now that I didn't start these plants indoors? Is planting from seeds not in the cards for me any longer? Do I have to buy already growing plants from somewhere? What do I do now?
I didn't see if you posted your USDA zone or not. But, if you live in an area with a long growing season, you can still start from seed. Instead of doing the seeds indoors, sow them in the containers/raised box/bed. I'm in zone 7b and I can grow crops well into October. So, starting them in May is no big deal. But, check the days to maturity on your seed packet. Let that guide you.
Also, go to a local nursery or Lowes/Home Depot to get transplants.
I think I mistyped and said that I was in Zone 6b? but I'm in Zone 5, Toledo, Ohio.
Are you saying that I should check the days to maturity on the seed packets because if they will take too long to mature before frost then I probably should skip that vegetable?
Oh, and I just re-read your post. Since I'm past the frost date, I could skip the indoor part and just plant them where I want and skip the transplanting since they would already be where I want them?
Hopefully I didn't embarraas myself with the above understanding...lol.
ETA: Also, does anyone have a good website to buy transplanted veggies from or should I try and search locally for whatever I want to plant?
And one more thing...any rec's on what you suggest to just buy as a transplant versus what to buy as a seed? Like, are tomato plants best to buy ready to transplant...etc.