Got Vegetable Gardening Questions?
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My backyard only gets full sun from like 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Is this enough time for my vegetable garden to get a sufficient amount of sun?
@Amy
Yes, I think you can get by with that. A full 8 hours is best, but my own vegetable garden gets sunlight pretty similar to what you have, because of a fence.
IN the spring I winter I planted broccoli. As 9 heads became perfect to pick, I came out the next morning to find all 9 had been eaten far down on the stalk! Then my spinach disappeared while the butter and leaf lettuces remained untouched. Now I return after a week away and find 3 rows of carrots almost ready to eat, gone! The tops are still there, but the carrots gone. What could be eating like this in my garden?
Sounds like you have some hungry gophers.
There is a fungus that attacks squash and melons and I find to be basically the “end” of the plant. I have tried fungicide, which I hate using on something you eat, and it failed miserably. The leaves will succumb to this eventually and the leaves blacken until plant is dead. If you have several plants, pull the affected ones immediateley and discard well away from garden.
My favorite thing for small gardens is Earth boxes. The creator is in Ellenton, FL and you can order them from several places such as Gardener’s Supply. Be sure to buy all the things called for to make the Earth Box successful. I have grown tomato plants, 2 egg plants, 4 green bean plants, or 2 pepper plants in them with success. Be sure to keep the base full of water as directed.
I also like 4X6 raised beds to grow a few things. My mom had success using old tires stacked up.
We had Terminix put around our house, and I was wondering what the safest distance from the house the vegetable garden should be. I have an above ground garden box 4′x10′x10″.
Thanks
Marcia
Would you please help me i have planted tomatoes and squash twice in a month from starter plants and both time they have been chewed off mid stalk i have checked the soil for snails and grubs whatever it is is only chopping the plant down and leaving the leaves there to dry up could you please advise me on what to do.
thanks Mary
I have some raised box beds (6×4 depth 12in.) in a fenced in garden. One side borders woodland…not ideal I know. A few of the boxes along the side bordered by woodland are rather thick with old roots. All the other boxes and raised beds, even those along the woodland side do not have this density of roots. The boxes had beans and turnips last year. My question is this: are these roots likely weeds creeping from the woodland or might they be leftover from beans and turnips? And- I assume I should turn over these beds to loosen up the soil and pull all the roots ??? Thanks
I have an area 21ft long and 4ft wide on the side of the house that I would like use as a vegetable garden. It gets over 8 hours of sunlight. The area currently contains stone and a plastic lanscape fabric. My question is should I remove the rocks and plastic and then prepare the soil with organic material or should I leave it and build a rased bed over the rocks and plastic? Or maybe I should remove the plastic, leave the rocks and create the rased bed over the rocks? Thanks for any info you can give me.
Hi Mike,
You have probably already started with your project but if not, I would suggest you get rid of the plastic for sure to start with. You can get organic landscape fabric now that will work much better. I am just not a fan of plastic being below ground where my food is growing.
Personally, I would go with the raised beds. As long as you can get them to sit relatively level over the rocks, I would leave them. I can’t see them hurting anything.
Good luck,
Bill
My question is, is it better to plant on mouns or just flat ground.
Hi Kathy,
It depends on what your soil is like and what your personal preference is. Last year, I did the mounds because the soil was relatively wet and I wanted it to be better drained. I had pretty good luck considering it was my first year in this garden. This year, I installed raised beds which are a similar concept so I don’t have to worry about the soil being too wet, especially in the early spring.
Good luck!
Bill
Great site…thank you for all of the great info.
I was reading about the companion plants for cucumbers, specifically the ones to avoid. It is mentioned to avoid “other aromatic herbs”. It just happens that I have lavender planted within a couple of feet from the end of the cucumber area. Seems to me it would fall into that avoid category. The cucs did OK last year but they kind of stalled towards the end of August and a lot of the blossoms would not result in cucs. I am now wondering if it was because of the lavender. Last year was my first year with this garden and this year I have put in raised beds so it’s a whole new ballgame anyhow with what will/won’t work. Although I would prefer not to, I can still move the lavender if it’s going to cause an issue.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Bill
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