I need help with a Garden

[Expat]

I have a pretty small garden 60x50, not counting asparagus, strawberry and raspberry beds. It is just enough to eat fresh and can/freeze a few odds and ends. But we grow a large variety of stuff rather than concentrate on a few high producing items. To grow a big enough garden for what you want, you and the family will need to be out working it everyday. That is a lot of weeding and hoeing all summer.

The book I always liked best was the Joy of Gardening. I don't think it is still in print but could be wrong.

 

[car53]

Nope, I'm raising planted beds......I have in the past and it works well if drainage is an issue.

It is for me for sure...

 

[crawfish]

GARDEN

I WAS TOLD TO ADD SAND TO MY SOIL IS THIS CORRECT AND IS THERE A WAY TO KNOW WHAT TO PLANT FOR A LITTLE MORE USER FRIENDLY WEED PULLING AS IN WHAT PLANT TO PLANT NEXT TO EACH OTHER ALSO COULD YOU TELL ME THE FLOWER CERTAIN INSECTS DO NOT LIKE I WAS TOLD TO SUROUND MY GARDEN WITH A THREE FOOT WIDE ROW AROUND GARDEN

 

[Expat]

I WAS TOLD TO ADD SAND TO MY SOIL IS THIS CORRECT AND IS THERE A WAY TO KNOW WHAT TO PLANT FOR A LITTLE MORE USER FRIENDLY WEED PULLING AS IN WHAT PLANT TO PLANT NEXT TO EACH OTHER ALSO COULD YOU TELL ME THE FLOWER CERTAIN INSECTS DO NOT LIKE I WAS TOLD TO SUROUND MY GARDEN WITH A THREE FOOT WIDE ROW AROUND GARDEN

Who told you to add sand? Did they say why? What kind of soil do you have? Sometimes adding sand is good like if you have clay, but it also requires a lot of organic matter. Otherwise you mix sand and clay together and you get something akin to concrete. Much of the rest of your note is incoherent without punctuation and all in caps. Are you new to the internet where you don't know to not post in all caps? I think you are asking about companion planting, google it. It is complicated and I have never really noticed that much difference.

 

[longbow]

this year will be different

I'm giving up on corn, last year was a waste with the drought.

tomatos
green peppers
beans
cucumbers
squash

----plus one third of my garden is being returned to grass. It has never been productive and gets too much shade

----and weekly planting, so I don't get swamped on the day I need to be doing something else.

I'm also going to try bucket gardening for the small stuff. Now I just need to aquire the buckets.

We also have been stocking up on canning supplies in the off season. We got two pressure cookers from Macy's on sale for $19 after Christmas.

 

[XtremeVel]

Having a shelf and a half of books on gardening, we always refer back to just (1). While the author does recommend organic and raised beds, there is a ton of info for everyone. Info ranging from fall prepping your soil, soil structure/PH ranges ,soil temps for best seed germination for specific veggies, make floating row covers, soil born diseases, pest/weed control, watering/feeding to how to build a make shift root cellar, just to name a few. He also covers about all the major vegetables and their specific needs. If a person was going to buy just (1) book, this would be the one I would recommend.

Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gardeners-Bible-High-Yield-R-D/dp/1580172121

 

[troutline]

How do you guys keep the racoons out of your sweetcorn.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

How do you guys keep the racoons out of your sweetcorn.

Some people use a dog, I use .22 rimfire. Seriously though you can buy crystallized fox, tiger, etc..urine and sprinkle it around your garden. Different types keep different pests away.

 

[Expat]

How do you guys keep the racoons out of your sweetcorn.

I put up an electric fence around it. I sometimes hear the little bastards squall

 

[BigMatt]

I use an electric wire about 6" off the ground when it is almost ripe. It shocks the heck out of the racoons and kills the birds that touch it.

 

[smccabe17]

Don't use sand. In my agronomy class, they said you will have to make a least half the soil 50% sand. I use a lot of compost and peat. Spend the money and time to make sure your soil is great. It will give you a lot less problems and head aches. Start out small, it is very easy to become over whelmed.

 

[PistolBob]

I love to grow sweet corn. It is pretty easy and very gratifying to grow. You can also feeze it for the winter and it tastes very good.

We never grow corn. I don't have enough room, and besides, we can go 1 mile out the front door and buy all we can eat for about $25...lots of sweet corn for sale around here.

I put it in my veggie soup mix that we can...otherwise we don't eat it.

 

[PistolBob]

I have to agree here. Last year my garden was 60' x 100' and planted a bit of everything. I had about 25 dozen ear a sweet corn give to me on top of the 10 rows I had planted. I ate the last bag of corn last night and all I have left is 1 bag of green beans and a 6 quarts of tomato juice that I canned. I had to do a lot of watering but my crop turned out pretty good. I'm feeding a family of 6 as well and none of them are teenagers yet!

There is nothing as tasty as a big slug of ice cold homebrew tomato juice. We grind it up with a few jalepenos or red peppers to add a little boost. The stuff is just delicious.

 

[hip shot]

Tomatoes

Tilling is probably the best thing you can do for your gardenalso you may want to consider composting your cow manure before you put in the garden

My favorite thing in the summertime is to take the tomatoes out of the garden slice whole tomato slices and put them on pizza. It is my favorite thing to eat on a pizza. I just go to the store and buy a cheese pizza and put all the extra stuff on it myself.
We've had some luck keeping the weeds down by putting newspaper between the rows. Because it will compost down just like everything else in the summer.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Tilling is probably the best thing you can do for your gardenalso you may want to consider composting your cow manure before you put in the garden

My favorite thing in the summertime is to take the tomatoes out of the garden slice whole tomato slices and put them on pizza. It is my favorite thing to eat on a pizza. I just go to the store and buy a cheese pizza and put all the extra stuff on it myself.
We've had some luck keeping the weeds down by putting newspaper between the rows. Because it will compost down just like everything else in the summer.

Best use for the STAR I've seen yet...

 

[BigMatt]

We never grow corn. I don't have enough room, and besides, we can go 1 mile out the front door and buy all we can eat for about $25...lots of sweet corn for sale around here.

You can buy all you can eat of any veggie for $25 (except green peppers). We eat it right out of the garden. We eat it every night for dinner, we eat it all the time. SWEET CORN IS GOOD!

I have a 14'x25' plot and I got about 50 dozen ears least year. This year I am planting about 4 acres for all of my employees and their families. Some of them have boys in Scouts and they are going to raise some funds with sweet corn stands.

 

[Keith_Indy]

For anyone new to gardening, the Purdue extension is the BOMB for information...

https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/

They have an extensive library of free information, that covers just about everything you could ever want to know about plants and animals.

For raised bed and container gardening you can download from here: https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?itemID=19094

BTW I've got a small tiller that's great for raised beds, and small areas. I also have a tiller that attaches to my John Deere riding mower. Great for large areas. I'm sure we can work something out in terms of bartering for its use. Once we get our garden done, it sits idle.