Gardening Advice

[candace]

We will be moving to our new place in June, and what I'm most excited about is our yard. I'd love advice on gardening. We don't have a lot of space, but what I'd really like is a small, raised bed vegetable garden. By the time I can plant, it will be well into June. Is that too late for most veggies? I do live in Southern CA, so early frost isn't an issue. Oh, and I've dreamed of having a lemon and/or lime tree, so if any of you have luck with them, I'd love your guidance. Thanks.

ps. We've decided as a memorial to our two lost babies, we will be looking for a fountain - ideally with 2 angels. I wanted something that can move with us as needed.

[Miss Sunflower]

I'm also curious about raised bed veggie gardens, and anything anyone knows on when you can plant what.

I live in the desert, does that make a difference as long as I water a few times daily?

[trishannbo]

Gardening is kind of my life right now. We just moved to a new house after Christmas 09 so we have been busy planting. Google 'ifas extension'. They are a big help. Here is my list of what I planted so far and how:
Raised Veg Garden: mine is 2 ft. deep and I layed down weed preventer fabric ($11 @ Walmart) and then put up a barrier to keep the dirt intact (you can use whatever you like, I used leftover concrete cylinders from another project). I made mine where it is sunny at least 6 hrs of the day and 10 ft long, 5 ft. wide. So far I planted cucumbers, carrots, and potatoes. Keep them watered well the first month and then keep them moist after that.
Kumquat Tree and Strawberries: I planted in 20"x16" pots. First drill or punch holes in bottom of pot and fill about 1-2 inches w/ small rock for drainage. Fill w/ Miracle Gro potting soil and plant just the roots. For water and deco purposes, you can put mulch or peat moss on top of soil. **I discovered these round wire plant holders w/ wheels at BigLots ($3 each). I can wheel the pots around, they get heavy.
Candace, you can plant lemon and lime tress in a pot too. They are so pretty in pots. We plan on that next.
Darcy, I don't know anything about the desert. I would Google 'desert gardening' and see what you can find. That is how I got started, I just Googled Florida gardening and got busy.
I'll post more as I have planted muscadine grapes, orange and apple trees, blueberry bushes, and butterfly plants.

[trishannbo]

Oh yeah, the best advice I can give as far as buying the fruit trees and veggies is buy from a local seed and garden instead of a mega store like Lowes or Home Depot. The seed and garden only gets in local stuff that can grow in your area and they are so much more knowledgable and helpful than the mega store guys. Believe me, we have spent hours at a seed and garden asking questions and looking for the best plants for us versus a mega store worker who usually says, "I don't know about that". Also the seed and garden guys seed their own plants sometimes and you get a real deal.

[wuvmyangel93]

Raised gardens are awesome. I do the square foot gardening method. Yes its pricy to get started but awesome.

I am also doing miniature trees and put them in the 3 gallon utility buckets in a section of the yard than put cranberry as a ground cover around it. I've done many unique and normal trees. I get them online all for about $8 each. Takes a lot of time to get them going but boy is it addicting and fun.

Here's a great link.

squarefoot.creatingforum.com and you can buy the square foot gardening book at home depot for $22 great deal. Don't waste your money on the predone boxes you can build a box around $15-20.

[wuvmyangel93]

OH for raised beds you can also do the tabletop style and add wheels and a bottom if you want to be able to move them about the yard.

Southern CA planting in June is fine.

[Debs]

If you are looking for something easy to grow that is really fun to eat (and can even be grown in a big pot on the porch), buy mesclun (mixed greens) seeds. I have them scattered in a large planter by my driveway, and they are growing beautifully! It looks pretty, and you can just cut our break off what you need. Talk about a fresh salad...

[Miss Sunflower]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[candace]

Thanks for the ideas! I can't wait to get busy in the new place. I really want to do a planter herb garden, so I'll absolutely do some mesclun greens. I love the idea of having fresh herbs and salad right outside my door. Trish, you'll have to post pics of your garden some day - sounds amazing. I imagine the planting we can do in coastal SoCal and FL are fairly similar? We very rarely get frost. I think the last one was about 3 years ago, and people freaked out. Wuvmangel, thanks for the link!

[trishannbo]

Candace, we went through a rough winter this year and a lot of people lost much of their crops. We only had an orange and apple tree at the time, and they both made it. Weather wise, yeah I think we are about the same. I live in between zones 8 and 9. I haven't taken pics of the garden yet, but I'll have to.

[missingisaiah]

In the midwest, we don't plant veggies until June! This year I just planted beets, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and carrots. I would buy tomato and pepper plants, if you plant those. Beets, radishes, cucumbers, and carrots should do fine from seeds.
All veggies need lots of sun.