Creating a New Veggie Garden and Need Advice

[MichelleVL]

Hi everyone! I'm creating my first veggie garden, and I'm in need of a little advice. I want to be able to grow my own herbs and vegetables in order to be able to enjoy my own produce from home, not store bought. What would you guys/girls recommend be the first herbs and vegetables that I could start my new garden with? Remember, I'm a newbie so please go easy on me.

 

[Chuck]

Hi everyone! I'm creating my first veggie garden, and I'm in need of a little advice. I want to be able to grow my own herbs and vegetables in order to be able to enjoy my own produce from home, not store bought. What would you guys/girls recommend be the first herbs and vegetables that I could start my new garden with? Remember, I'm a newbie so please go easy on me.

Being in 13b you are rather limited in vegetables. You can forget spinach, carrots, broccoli, beets, cauliflower, brussle sprouts, lettuce, most greens and all but cherry type tomatoes. What you can grow are all types of legumes, corn, citrus, herbs, different types of tropical fruits. Also you can grow false spinach know as New Zealand spinach. You can grow swiss chard in your cooler season. Hot peppers will be easy as will tomatillos. Some varieties of squash such as Tatume and okra will be also be easy. There are also certain types of hot weather onions but I can't remember their names. You can grow melons if you have the right type of soil. You can do grains like amaranth. If you look around your farmers markets you will see what can be grown and by sharing on this forum probably things they have never heard of.

 

[Corzhens]

I would suggest that you try ginger. Buy a piece of ginger and break it off when you find buds, that's what you plant.It is sturdy although it grows slow. I agree with @Chuck on the melons since it is also easy to grow and quick to bear fruit. But you would be needing more space for the melon since it is a crawler like squash. But the easiest vegetable to raise is sweet potato. Just get a cutting and plant it. That's it.

 

[claudine]

All herbs are very easy to grow Be careful with mint, because it's a spreader and it can take over your whole garden As for fruits and vegetables, I like all kinds of berries, radishes, tomatoes and squash. They don't need any special conditions to grow.

 

[IcyBC]

For herbs I think mint, basil, rosemary, thyme would be well if you water them often. The mint will spread so I would plant them in container. As for vegetables, I would try green beans, egg plants, tomatoes and sweet pepper. It depends on the area that you're planning to garden, the sun light or lack of sun light and such. It's exciting to have a new garden

 

[MichelleVL]

Thank you all for all the great advice. I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. My computer was down for several days. Chuck I was able to see your post before my computer died, and you really made me take the climate factor into perspective. So far I've planted coriander, a plantain tree, and a lemon tree. Quick question, I'm a little worried about my lemon tree because I noticed some black spots on it that weren't there before. Could that mean that it's sick or has mold?

 

[Chuck]

Thank you all for all the great advice. I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. My computer was down for several days. Chuck I was able to see your post before my computer died, and you really made me take the climate factor into perspective. So far I've planted coriander, a plantain tree, and a lemon tree. Quick question, I'm a little worried about my lemon tree because I noticed some black spots on it that weren't there before. Could that mean that it's sick or has mold?

More than likely it is either black spot fungus or sooty mold. The mold is caused by insect excrement called honeydew, usually from aphids. The fungus is airborne. Close up pics of both sides of the leaves would help determine exactly what it is

 

[MichelleVL]

Oooh that doesn't sound so nice! Thank you Chuck, I will take pictures this weekend and load them here. Nighty night!

 

[KimmyMarkks]

I think tomatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. I grow them every year and have never had a bad year with them. They seem to be pretty consistent every year. Also, I would try growing cucumber and zucchini. I likewise have luck with these vegetables every year.

However, over the years I have found that I have had trouble growing peppers, broccoli and carrots. Some years these come in great and other years they are duds.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

First I recommend to lime your soil -----way before you plant any veggies. Let the lime naturally leach into the soil through the winter, then in the spring till as normal, and plant. The lime will help sweeten the veggies in your crop. the Amish do it each winter, each winter you see a haze of white on their fields, its the lime powder laid down for the winter.

 

[djordjem87]

Depends on climate in your country. I am not an expert on the subject but i have learned from my grandmother and my mother. I really love gardening and during the summer we had a small outside and open garden with tomatoes and cucumbers. They were in the same place because they accept each other, they do not interfere. Usually we put tomatoes in the middle and around it we put cucumbers. For this you will need a good cultivated ground, of course. Then you will need small/young plants of both veggies ( they are botanically speaking fruits). You make an appropriate amount of holes in ground to put the plants. Now it is not an easy task to explain fully the process but you will have to start like this. When you plant everything, you will need some poles to make the plants firm and to provide the place to crawl especially for cucumbers. They can climb a lot. I have a lot more to say and to learn about this and if this helped let me know and i will continue to write. Cheers.

 

[djordjem87]

And i forgot about the herbs. I have an indoor garden. It is small but big enough for me. I put some soil in few bigger flowerpots and there you go. Right now i have planted basil, rosemary, dill. In three different pots of course. And in a big one a have hot peppers. These are very decorative and small. They grow from yellowish to bright red. They are extremely hot and i just love them. When they past the red colour they will go dry and then you take the seeds and plant them for another season. So tomatoes, cucumbers and basil are more than enough for start. If you like these.

 

[NicoleM]

Hi everyone! I'm creating my first veggie garden, and I'm in need of a little advice. I want to be able to grow my own herbs and vegetables in order to be able to enjoy my own produce from home, not store bought. What would you guys/girls recommend be the first herbs and vegetables that I could start my new garden with? Remember, I'm a newbie so please go easy on me.

If you are starting now in the colder months, I would look into leafy greens. I am currently growing spinach and kale, and am looking into starting cabbage. These types of veggies fare well in the colder months and are easy to start and maintain. The herbs are also a good idea, I am about to start a few myself as well!

 

[Tropical Gardening Noob]

Hello fellow Puerto Rican gardener! In supermarkets, I tend to notice a lot of seed packets that are locally produced. Buying locally-produced lettuce seeds, for instance, may yield you a lettuce that is already suited for growing in the a Puerto Rican climate. So in all honesty, I wouldn't say goodbye to cool-growing vegetables like lettuce, as long as the seeds are grown here.

I've germinated some lettuce seeds already, and they seem to be doing fine. We'll see as time passes.

 

[Chuck]

Hello fellow Puerto Rican gardener! In supermarkets, I tend to notice a lot of seed packets that are locally produced. Buying locally-produced lettuce seeds, for instance, may yield you a lettuce that is already suited for growing in the a Puerto Rican climate. So in all honesty, I wouldn't say goodbye to cool-growing vegetables like lettuce, as long as the seeds are grown here.

I've germinated some lettuce seeds already, and they seem to be doing fine. We'll see as time passes.

Please let us know what variety of lettuce survives in hot weather as we will all get some