Brand new garden (ers) advice

[Simple Gardening]

My partner and I have always wanted to have a garden. Also we recently realized (with all the craziness we've seen going on in the world) we should be more self-reliant. We quickly got overwhelmed with all the information out there and are hoping for some more specific help. Therefore we hope to get some responses to our specific questions we put in a video:

Please help us have gardening success!
Thank you very much,
Fendi and Eric (just two simple gardeners)

 

[oneeye]

Welcome, your in the right spot. Yes you need to amend the soil because you have sandy loam and the water will evaporate and drain too fast. You can amend it with bagged compost from the garden store. Another amendment that doesn't cost too much is Black Kow soil amendment. I would buy 25 bags and incorporate it as deep as you can. The organic matter will act as a sponge and hold water that would otherwise drain away in the ground. As time goes by the organic matter will be converted into nutrients from the microbes and feed your plants.
Just pick the healthiest plant when there's two. Notice how small the pots are, the reason is to better manage water for small seeds. Large pots hold too much water and drowns roots. So save all the little pots for when you want to plant seeds in the future. Lettuce is a cool weather crop and should be planted when its real cool and because they can't take the heat. That's what happens to your lettuce.
After amending the soil you can sow seed directly in the ground. Beans, squash, cucumber, cow peas, and other large seed can be planted in amended soil. Tomatoes and peppers can be bought in plants and planted for faster start.

 

[Meadowlark]

Very nice touch with the video. Fun to watch.

It would help us all to know what growing zone you are in...or otherwise location.

Oneeye covered the soil amendments very well. I'd just add that compost is your new friend. There are often free sources of material...leaves, grass clippings, etc. around the neighborhood to take advantage of...but whatever, get a compost pile going now...imediately.

On the three squash question...you have a couple of options. 1) Plant it as is. I like to plant my squash in small hills. Just hill up some amended soil and plant it as is. It grows better this way and harvests better and is less prone to problems with insects. 2) You could try to split the three into 2 or maybe 3 individual plants and plant those. It looks like you will likely loose the one on its side and the other 2 will make it. Its a bit tricky to split these and other plants but you need to learn a technique that works for you. Always do it wet, always take utmost care to not damage any roots, and kind of let the split happen where it wants to gently without forcing. For me, I would just plant the whole thing in a hill and watch them grow. Squash does fine planted as a threesome in a small hill.

An important, I should say critical, aspect of gardening is knowing when to plant which plant. For example, you mentioned water melon and lettuces in the same video. One is a hot weather plant (watermelon) and the other (lettuce) is a cool weather plant. Never growing in the same season depending on your location.

The other thing I would add is learn to plant what you like to eat. It is motivational.

Come back and see us often, especially after you have amended your soil and be sure to give us your growing zone.

 

[Simple Gardening]

Welcome, your in the right spot. Yes you need to amend the soil because you have sandy loam and the water will evaporate and drain too fast. You can amend it with bagged compost from the garden store. Another amendment that doesn't cost too much is Black Kow soil amendment. I would buy 25 bags and incorporate it as deep as you can. The organic matter will act as a sponge and hold water that would otherwise drain away in the ground. As time goes by the organic matter will be converted into nutrients from the microbes and feed your plants.
Just pick the healthiest plant when there's two. Notice how small the pots are, the reason is to better manage water for small seeds. Large pots hold too much water and drowns roots. So save all the little pots for when you want to plant seeds in the future. Lettuce is a cool weather crop and should be planted when its real cool and because they can't take the heat. That's what happens to your lettuce.
After amending the soil you can sow seed directly in the ground. Beans, squash, cucumber, cow peas, and other large seed can be planted in amended soil. Tomatoes and peppers can be bought in plants and planted for faster start.

Thank you @oneeye !!!
We really appreciate your advice and will implement as much as we can!
I would like to copy your advice into the comments of the video so that your wisdom can help others as well if they happen upon our video.
If possible we would love to have you subscribe to our video series so that you can offer advice all season as we post new videos with questions. I hope you will be able to do that!
Thanks again very much!

 

[Simple Gardening]

Very nice touch with the video. Fun to watch.

It would help us all to know what growing zone you are in...or otherwise location.

Oneeye covered the soil amendments very well. I'd just add that compost is your new friend. There are often free sources of material...leaves, grass clippings, etc. around the neighborhood to take advantage of...but whatever, get a compost pile going now...imediately.

On the three squash question...you have a couple of options. 1) Plant it as is. I like to plant my squash in small hills. Just hill up some amended soil and plant it as is. It grows better this way and harvests better and is less prone to problems with insects. 2) You could try to split the three into 2 or maybe 3 individual plants and plant those. It looks like you will likely loose the one on its side and the other 2 will make it. Its a bit tricky to split these and other plants but you need to learn a technique that works for you. Always do it wet, always take utmost care to not damage any roots, and kind of let the split happen where it wants to gently without forcing. For me, I would just plant the whole thing in a hill and watch them grow. Squash does fine planted as a threesome in a small hill.

An important, I should say critical, aspect of gardening is knowing when to plant which plant. For example, you mentioned water melon and lettuces in the same video. One is a hot weather plant (watermelon) and the other (lettuce) is a cool weather plant. Never growing in the same season depending on your location.

The other thing I would add is learn to plant what you like to eat. It is motivational.

Come back and see us often, especially after you have amended your soil and be sure to give us your growing zone.

@Meadowlark
We really appreciate you adding these additional suggestions! We will definitely use your advice. You and oneeye are exactly the type of experienced gardeners we are hoping to have reply to all our videos this year as we stumble through our first season If you'd be willing to subscribe to the channel and help with questions, we think this series could be very helpful to other newbies like us who are starting out. We hope you will consider it! Thank you so much!