Mrs.Kocal or others with green thumbs

lawby2005 · July 2009

As I type this, our backyard is being cleaned off all the debris we have removed from our new home (finally!) and this weekend DH and I are going to cut the grass/weeds etc. So I wanted to know, am I too late for planting anything? Where do I start? I wanna have a mini vege/herb garden. I am ashamed that I am from an agricultural based country yet, I have no idea where to start and I don't have a green thumb. Tongue Tied

Thanks!

dnagal · July 2009

Fall is the time to plant bulbs--so start picking out your favorites!!

And you'll see fall plants offered in the store in another few weeks: Mums and Purple aster for example, and Montauk Daisy

You can plant perennials--in fact look for them on sale! they may not flower this summer, but next year you'll have nice healthy plants! Great choices: Hydrangea, shasta daisy, rudbeckia/black eyed susans, echinacea (purple coneflower), sedum, salvia

If you are desperate for flowers right now, you can also put in annuals (impatiens, geraniums, etc. Look for big plants that are not terribly root bound in thier pots-they'll die though at the first freeze)

As for veggies, you can plant late summer things like

Semi-hardy vegetables (can stand light frost, 30-32?F)
Beets	Mustard
Chinese Cabbage	Radishes
Collards	Spinach
Potatoes	Swiss Chard
Bibb Lettuce	Green Onions
Leaf Lettuce

Hardy vegetables (can stand several frosts, but are killed when temperatures drop near 20?F)
Cabbage	Carrots
Broccoli	Turnips
Cauliflower	Rutabagas
Brussels Sprouts	Kale

YOu also might be able to find some mature tomato plants that are about ready to produce fruit!!

If you are starting an herb garden, bunching onions and chives grow as perennials, as do thyme and oregano, so you could also plant those.

MrsKocal · July 2009

LOL, this post should really be for MR.Kocal - he's the one with the green thumb. Anyway, dnagal had some great advice to get you started! I would just add that, for most veggies and herbs, it is too late to start them from seed (which is what we did, but we started them indoors in April!). But, you can certainly buy them as plants and then transplant them into your garden!