Teach me to garden, please.

[Deleted]

I can't even keep house plants alive....

[Deleted]

If plants were more like pets, I'd be better at it.  Lol. Plants can't remind you by meowing in your face at 6am!

[gault]

I have a black thumb. I want to set up a succulent pot for my living room, though - want to be my Gardening for Dummies buddy?

I'm excited for you!

[pinkplasticdoll]

You might start on pinterest and get some ideas on how to start plants. Also, I would research around about your climate because I live in Texas where shit can be scorched in the hot summer months but when I grew stuff in NY it was easy as pie for me sooooo ya climate apparently makes a difference.

[glitzyglow]

I miss my yard. I had a little herb garden that I LOVED. I had a little white wooden border to keep the dog and cat out. I had tomatoes once, my dog kept eating the plant (which is toxic to dogs, I learned) and I tore on them out.

The first year I planted a ton of stuff and only a rose bush survived. Roses are hardy and survived my lacking skills, lol. I adored that rose bush for the next 6 years!

Learn how the sun works for your yard and plan accordingly. That was my biggest mistake. Plants that want shade shouldn't be in the sun and vice versa. Other than that, I think you'll do great!

[lexxasaurus]

I was going to suggest classes, and also you should be able to find a website that can recommend plants that thrive in your area. Not everything grows as well in certain conditions so knowing what you have the best chances with may get you started on the right foot!

[Deleted]

I used to staff natural yard care workshops and they had a ton of helpful info. Here is a link to the resources we used, people found them pretty helpful. I started using many of the technics and had good luck, but ended up moving out of my house right as everything was coming to fruition.

www.seattle.gov/util/EnvironmentConservation/MyLawnGarden/index.htm

[alleinesein]

Will you have room for a small raised box garden? If so, plant some herbs and maybe a tomato plant.

[sweetchix]

Mar 10, 2014 16:38:46 GMT -5 mp said:

worms

Ewww!

That's all I got from this, lol.

[partiallysunny]

Go online and see what you like. Pick a few you'd love to start out with (Daisies? Roses? Lavender? Echinacea?). Also, if
you want to be eat what you grow, what do you eat the most of? Tomatoes? Lettuce? Carrots?

Knowing what you want to grow (and what you can grow) will help.

And by what you can grow, I mean what zone are you in?

[partiallysunny]

Also, knowing basic terms like annual and perennial is a good way to start.

Then think where you'd like a garden. And where that space "faces" (North, South, East, or West).

[Deleted]

When we were in the apt, we used to plant everything in giant pots. We planted squash, peppers, tomatoes and zucchini. Sometimes you can get better results if you actually get good seedlings and plant them rather than planting seeds. Herbs you can do in smaller pots and they are super easy and you can use them in lots of dishes. Rosemary is one of my favorites.

[partiallysunny]

(I'm sorry, I can go on and on forever about gardening)

Using a raised bed kit or pots is a great way to start.

And buying plants from a big box store (Home Depot/Lowes) is a good way to start. Don't think you have to start from seed. And the perennials usually have a warranty, so it's okay if things don't go so well on the first try.

[partiallysunny]

Mar 11, 2014 8:05:53 GMT -5 chalupa said:

partiallysunny - want to design my front yard? I'm perfectly aware of what grows and what kind of plants I want, but I don't have the creativity to imagine where everything should go, and where I should place the shrubs vs short flowers vs tall flowers.

really?! I'd love too! :: picture eyes getting as big as saucers::

[hazel]

Part of my old yard was fenced off with about 12 raised beds. It was amazing and I really miss it. Obviously a space that big was a lot of work, but I had fun with it too. I didn't worry about it if something didn't grow.

My favorite plants were strawberries, cherry tomatoes, various types of lettuce, and snap peas.

Also, you might not need to get worms if you layer your compost correctly when you start it. They should show up naturally!

[partiallysunny]

Mar 11, 2014 8:12:54 GMT -5 chalupa said:

Mar 11, 2014 8:07:01 GMT -5 partiallysunny said:

really?! I'd love too! :: picture eyes getting as big as saucers::

I only have access to a single crappy front yard photo here at work, but I'll FB message it to you

I'll warn you, I'm just a back yard tinker-er. I'm no master. But I'll teach you everything I know, lol.

[prettyinpearls]

I love this post.

We have an entire yard and pool area to landscape this year AND are doing a garden. We’ve done a shared garden with our neighbors before (at FF’s old house) but we’re flying solo this year. I have a whole long list of things I want to plant, but I’ve read you shouldn’t plant certain things next to other things because they’ll kill each other off?

And I want to grow strawberries, but aren’t they difficult to grow??

[becwheat]

I use pinterest for gardening ideas and tips.

[udscoobychick]

Last year, I did bell peppers, habaneros, and tomatoes in big pots, and mint, basil, parsley, cilantro, green onions, and chives in herb pots. I don't have much of a green thumb, so my yields weren't great, and I managed to kill off a few of the plants. But, a few survived. So, those ones were not too tricky for me! Green onions are super easy to grow--when you buy them at the grocery store, save about an inch of the root end, and put it in a glass of water in the sunlight...the roots and green parts will grow, and then you can plant them! So long as you don't trim them all the way down to the root, they'll just keep right on growing, and you can just trim them off whenever.

[cuddlyevil]

I do dahlias every year (stbx hated them but I love them). They're easy as tomatoes.

We've done tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, and some herbs. Really only had good success with tomatoes.

If I get the house I applied for, they have a small kitchen herb garden