Seeking a Vegetable Gardening Expert

Joined
Jul 19, 2022
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Huntington Beach
Country
United States
I have questions for an expert on growing vegetables.

My goal is to create an ensemble of vegetables that are all fresh and still living, but ready to be picked, or planted.

I am hoping to find a greenhouse or another gardening expert to work with or at least to get some advice.

Can anyone help me??
 

Twigs

Nature Hobbyist
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
214
Reaction score
205
Location
Southern States Z8
Hardiness Zone
Zone8
Country
United States
Welcome to the forum.
There are tons of people here that can help...it helps is if we know the zone you live in (8,9,10) and what types of veggies you are interested in growing.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2022
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Huntington Beach
Country
United States
Hello, ALL: I live in

Huntington Beach, CA 92649 - Zone 10b​


While I would like to grow and do this entire experiment myself, my question is a bit more Hmmmmm in nature. I would ideally like to find a grower that can facilitate what I am after, once I figure out what can be reasonably done. I want to grow various lettuces, and other vegetable/fruit fixings for a given salad that all need to be in bloom or flowering /fruiting at the same time. I want them all to be planted in such a way, such as hydroponic pods, so that I can take from the grower, and have all the fresh ingredients in the basket still alive and ready for eating or planting whenever possible.

I want to find out what veggies and fruits that can be grown individually and/or they are either Small or Dwarf

Examples of the veggies / fruits that I am thinking about include, but are not limited to:

Romain Lettuce
Spinach
Arugula
Butter Lettuce
Ice leaf Lettuce
Possibly a Cabbage / Red Cabbage

BASICALLY ANY SALAD LETTUCE-LIKE VEGGIE THAT CAN BE GROWN INDIVUDIALLY, AND/OR SMALL/DWARF

Peppers - What kind work? Again, think Salad...

Sprouts of all Sorts (Should be Easy enough)

Baby Broccoli?
Baby Brussels Sprouts?
Baby Cucumber of some sort(s)?
Chickpeas?
Snap Peas?
Edamame/Soy?
Tomatoes - What Kinds stay small for the first bearing?
Blueberries
Strawberries
Figs?
Dates?


Possibly Onions
Scallions/green onions
Chives
Beets
Radish

Herbs I think are the easy part:
baby dill
Mint
Basil

Any Veggies that also flower, but are small are possible additions as well.

IF they can grow and bear the fruit/leave when they are Small or Dwarf, I want to identify which ones will work, how long each takes to get to the harvest stage and then ideally work with a grower that will facilitate my orders.

For starters, I want to try to do it myself or working with one of you all on the project. This is just one of a few steps in this little green creation.

Any and all feedback is most appreciated
 
Last edited:

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
2,608
Reaction score
2,130
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
At one time or another I've grown each of those on your list for many years as I'm sure others here have also.

To start with we need to know about the growing medium.

1) how much space? 2) what type of soil? 3) have you ever tested soil? Results? 4) Soil Ph? 5) sunlight conditions over the growing space, describe. 5) if containers please describe 6) anything else we need to know about the growing area?

It all starts with the soil. Once we understand that then we can talk veggies.
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
508
Reaction score
312
Location
Western Michigan
Hardiness Zone
6B
Country
United States
It all starts with the soil. Once we understand that then we can talk veggies.
Or it doesn't...

I have a very simple hydroponic setup I do all my lettuce in even though I have a medium size garden. I call it my salad factory and we pull a weekly salad for 5 out of it plus 2 or 3 lunch salads for me each week. Realistically I spend 20 mins a week tending it and we keep it in a book shelf in our family room.

@dbezar is there a reason you want to buy plants ready to eat? To me a CSA or farmers market sounds like a better solution.

This veg forum has a pretty strong DIY push in growing a garden. Or DIY is just a key of gardening.

There are easy systems you can buy that set you up well but you'll still be going from seed for most of the lettuces or "weirder" things.
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
368
Reaction score
278
Location
Middle Tennessee
Country
United States
Geographical location, soil, weather, climate, rain, day length, growing season, determines what you can grow and how well it grows. My locations is 30 miles south of Nashville TN. Our last frost is April 20 and first frost is Nov 5. We typically have 47" of rain every year January to May. We go from 32° April 1st to 95° June 15 we have a very short spring.

Each plant needs its own, fertilizer, water, sun, requirements.

Melons, sweet potatoes, okra, red potatoes, love hot weather full sun all day. Red potatoes need 5-20-20 fertilizer. Sweet potatoes & okra never seem to care if they get fertilizer. Sometimes I give melons 15-15-15 fertilizer but they don't seem to care about fertilizer wither.

Tomatoes & potatoes do best for ME in 100°F weather with 5 hours of early morning sun they shade the rest of the day.

If tomatoes & potatoes get too much nitrogen I get very large plants and not many tomatoes or potatoes. 5-20-20 fertilizer is good.

Beans do best for me in full sun all day several 40 ft long rows 12" between rows. 15-15-15 fertilizer is best.

Tomatoes do best for me stakes not caged. For some reason cages cause blight? Maybe not enough air flow??? I typically get 30 to 40 lbs of tomatoes from each plant.

Peppers need soft soil roots need to grow large to support a large plant.

CORN, super sweet corn is usually a 72 day crop germination is usually not good about 50% some times less. If you have a short growing season you only be able to grow 72 to 90 day corn. 72 day corn plants are short 5 & 6' tall ears are small 6" long. 90 day corn is 7 ft tall with 7 to 8" long. If you grow 100 plants of 90 day corn you need to grow 200 plants of 72 day corn to get the same harvest of kernels. Corn need 40-0-0 fertilizer 1 week before planting. When corn is knee high corn needs 1 lb of Urea = 40-0-0 fertilizer for every 40 feet of corn. When ears have silks you need to fertilize with Urea again 1 lb for every 40 ft.

I don't grow squash bugs kill it quick we often only get 1 squash per plant.

Cucumbers are a bug magnet in my garden they attract so many bugs the whole garden has bugs but if I don't grow cucumbers the rest of the garden seldom has many bugs.

BER = Blossom End Rot can be a problem for, melons, tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers.

Hard neck garlic is easy to grow put garlic in refrigerator July 1st then plant it in the garden Sept it starts growing tops on 4 days. I feed it 15-15-15 fertilizer, harvest is about first week of June.

Intermediate Candy Onion PLANTS not sets grow best in TN. Plants are 2 to 3 months old, set are already 1 year old, plants will grow 3" diameter onions. I plant onions March 1st they need 21-0-0 fertilizer until day length 12 hr hours long or tempers are 90°F then switch to a different fertilizer, 0-20-20. Try to grow 9 to 10 leaves with nitrogen they grow large bulbs with P&K. My onion bed 32" x 25 ft needs 50 gallons of water once a week when growing bulbs.

I can't grow lettuce in our weather but I can grow Pac Choy.

Carrots grow good only if I can get seeds to germinate Feb 1st.

Peas don't grow well here if I plant 1 lbs of seeds I can harvest 1 lb of peas a few months later. I can do better to eat pea seeds and not grow them.

WHEN I lived in Phoenix AZ I plants my garden Nov 1st I grew 18 lb cabbage heads. Everything grow so large and so easy except corn. Corn will not pollinate in extremely low humidity climate. 8 ft tall plants with ears and no kernels.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 19, 2022
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Huntington Beach
Country
United States
At one time or another I've grown each of those on your list for many years as I'm sure others here have also.

To start with we need to know about the growing medium.

1) how much space? 2) what type of soil? 3) have you ever tested soil? Results? 4) Soil Ph? 5) sunlight conditions over the growing space, describe. 5) if containers please describe 6) anything else we need to know about the growing area?

It all starts with the soil. Once we understand that then we can talk veggies.
I plan to grow hydroponically, because I want the product to be easily transplanted into another hydroponic system, or to be placed in the ground. For this initial prototype, I was hoping to find all the veggies that I could theoretically grow this way and the timing needed each variety to reach fruiting or harvesting stage. Or, ideally, I find a hydroponic grower that can supply the plants at the ideal time.

AGAIN - HYDROPONICS or some close quarters growing that can be transplanted easily is key to the project. If successful, I am trying to promote DIY and gardening by getting them started in a unique way, thus the prototype.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2022
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Huntington Beach
Country
United States
Or it doesn't...

I have a very simple hydroponic setup I do all my lettuce in even though I have a medium size garden. I call it my salad factory and we pull a weekly salad for 5 out of it plus 2 or 3 lunch salads for me each week. Realistically I spend 20 mins a week tending it and we keep it in a book shelf in our family room.

@dbezar is there a reason you want to buy plants ready to eat? To me a CSA or farmers market sounds like a better solution.

This veg forum has a pretty strong DIY push in growing a garden. Or DIY is just a key of gardening.

There are easy systems you can buy that set you up well but you'll still be going from seed for most of the lettuces or "weirder" things.
I have an Aerogarden, and theoretically I could grow my experiment, but I'd need about 10 of them, and several months. Still searching for the variety of veggies, ready for harvest, but still in a small transplantable format.
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
508
Reaction score
312
Location
Western Michigan
Hardiness Zone
6B
Country
United States
I run a very simple hydro setup

This is my take on the Kratky method using RubberMade clear shoe box size bins on a wire rack with Barrina Plant grow light. I use General Hydro liquid nutrients per the label. The plants sit in 2.5" CZ net cups and Rapid Rooter grow plugs.

The plants in the pic are all less than a month since the seeds hit the soil. I typically start 4 or 8 new plugs a week.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20220727_160808659_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20220727_160808659_HDR.jpg
    99.7 KB · Views: 8

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,588
Messages
256,637
Members
13,258
Latest member
amndwltns01

Latest Threads

Top