Planting flowers and a vegetable garden for first time in NC - What do I need to be ready for?

[rparkerj]

Hey folks,

I am doing my first garden here in NC and Im not sure what I need to be worried about here. Ive had bad luck overusing pesticides in the future so are there any plants that might be good for helping protect?

I'd really appreciate any tips or tricks you know of or what I should look out for. Thank you so much!

 

[Silentrunning]

Welcome to the forum. Before we can advise you it would help to know what type of soil you have such as clay or sand. The very first thing I did when I started gardening here in N.C. Was take some soil samples to the county extension dept. I think it is $4 per test. You will get a complete printout of what your soil is lacking. This will save you time and money and give you way better results than the hit and miss method. Good luck.

 

[rparkerj]

Oh that is brilliant! For the vegetable garden, it will mostly be prepackaged soil from Lowes, so the
composition should be pretty solid.

Are there things other than soil I shpuld look for? I know my crepe myrtle were murdered by aphids last year before we moved in. Anything like that here? Thank you again!

 

[roadrunner]

I've never used pesticides and don't have a major issue with pests

This is basically what I do