A small patch of Earth

[hippychickmommy]

I'm planning on starting a small garden. I want to grow some bell peppers as well as cubanella peppers. Some tomatoes. I'd like to put some fresh herbs in there too. Can I plant all of these within the same vicinity?

I also wonder if I would be able to grow some lettuce, onions, and carrots? Or are they difficult? My kids are requesting the lettuce and carrots and I was hoping I could try my hand at it?

Any suggestions from the garden pros here?

[I'minmyunderwear]

i'm no pro, but i've grown carrots, onions, and lettuce, and all are very easy.

and again, no pro, but i don't see a problem with planting peppers, herbs, and tomatoes in the same garden. just make sure you position them so that the taller plants don't block all the sun from the shorter ones.

[hippychickmommy]

Sweet. Thanks for the info! :D

I can't wait to start my garden. I've been looking forward to this for goodness knows how long!

[raz5]

when i was younger i lived on a farm and my dad had a little veggie section in our garden and he grew cabbage, lettus, carrots, and tomatoes... i wish i could do it now, you should give it a try anyways even if it may be difficult :cool:

[hippychickmommy]

Yeah, I think it will be so great to have my own little garden. And to think, if I can get those plants to grow and thrive, give us food that we can pick right out of our backyard, well I think that would make me feel pretty darn good! :D

[raz5]

yes! i've been saying to myself i was going to plant some veggies but where i live my back yard is too tiny, im good with my flowers right now, once i have enough land i'm ganna have a cute little garden with little baby plants :)

[dilligaf]

yes HCM you can grow them all together in a small area..Carrots love tomatoes... Lettuce and carrots are real easy to grow but they do better in cooler weather. Lettuce can be grow inside too.... peppers and tomatoes do well together , they are from same family.. Many herbs compliment or do good deeds for certain plants... Those are all good choices for newbie gardening.. So are beans n punkins, fun for kids too...

[hippychickmommy]

Pumpkins! Yes! That would be fantastic!!!

Thankyou for all of the advice everybody! Can't wait to start!

[earthmother]

Ya, lettuce needs cooler weather or it bolts. Carrots can be a bit picky, because the plants are so small at first and they grow kind-a slowly compared to the WEEDS. Also, carrots need particularly loose dirt to do well. I have heavy clay soil (not so much as when I first started here!) and found that if I hoed a row for the carrot seeds, placed compost in the row, THEN planted the seeds and placed more compost on top of them, they got a much healthier start.

Only thing about planting more than one variety of peppers (or anything else for that matter) is if you intend on growing heirlooms and saving seeds you need to keep the different kinds FAR apart. Like on opposite ends of the garden, or in different plots all together. I am finishing up on 4 separate gardens. One kind of squash, one kind of corn, one kind of tomato in each garden. The bigger garden area gets 2 kinds of squash and beans, each at opposite ends.

Don't forget the "three sisters". Plant your corn, wait 'til it gets up some then plant climbing beans to climb up the stalks, and squash to crawl around on the ground between the corn plants.... Works much better in hills than in rows 'cause it makes harvesting without stepping on squash vines kind-a hard, and the beans want to climb EVERYWHERE and not just where you want them.

[hippychickmommy]

Wow, thanks so much for all of the info! Very helpful! :D

[hippychickmommy]

Well we did it! Planted a little garden this weekend! I have green bell peppers, red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes, buttercrunch lettuce, zucchini, basil, oregano, and parsley!

A friend that my husband works with has a lot of land and brought him in a bunch of plants from his own garden so that we could transplant them into ours. I thought that was so nice of him to do! I went and got a few more things from the local nursery to add.

I was nervous at first because for a few days after the tranplant, things weren't looking all that good. But our friend reassured us, said they'd come back around, and they have. :)

The kids are so excited about their garden. They like to go out in the yard and just keep looking at it.

Here's hoping we get some good veggies out of it!

[hippiehillbilly]

thats great!! always happy to hear someone is playing in the dirt.. :)

[hippychickmommy]

Oh, and playing in the dirt I was! May sound kind of silly but I find that having my hands in the dirt is so incredibly relaxing. The heck with garden gloves, I want to feel the earth in my hands!

It's rained off and on the past several days and my plants are looking great. I'm definitely noticing growth. I'm so happy!

[dilligaf]

aint nothing like the feeling ya get from mother earth... its one of my most relaxing "zenful" , grounding type things i can find to do...

should post a few pics of your garden hcm .. would love to see them

[hafreed]

Remember that pumpkins will take a lot of ground space, they vine out over a long distance. Also, the larger your garden becomes the more time and energy you will have to put in during the heat of August. I recommend moderation to start with. A heavy layer of mulch can cut down on weeding later.