Trying gardening this year

[Chuck]

I just noticed your newer pictures. I see you are planting in rows which is OK but raised rows are a lot better. Once the seeds have sprouted watering thoroughly every 5-10 days without any rain is best.

 

[Jamie Calloway]

Well Chuck you were right, I do believe I have to much shade over the garden. My corn and bush beans are thriving but everything else seems to be really declining. I have only a few good carrot sprouts and the rest of the vegetables are non existent as far as I can tell. I was afraid this might happen but the oak tree that is laying over the garden is huge and to high to trim back. I guess I'll just wait and see what actually comes up this July and start over again afterwards. I am afraid I have just waisted a bunch of good seeds. I hues the really is a learning experience, garden 1 and Jamie 0.

 

[Chuck]

Well Chuck you were right, I do believe I have to much shade over the garden. My corn and bush beans are thriving but everything else seems to be really declining. I have only a few good carrot sprouts and the rest of the vegetables are non existent as far as I can tell. I was afraid this might happen but the oak tree that is laying over the garden is huge and to high to trim back. I guess I'll just wait and see what actually comes up this July and start over again afterwards. I am afraid I have just waisted a bunch of good seeds. I hues the really is a learning experience, garden 1 and Jamie 0.

Don't give up yet. You probably rotted the first seeds by overwatering. Seeds are cheap, replant. Being shaded wouldn't stop the seeds from germinating. There might well be enough sun for a crop of something

 

[Jamie Calloway]

So I had a huge problem with a couple of massive trees casting to much shade over the garden, Well that is no longer a issue. Took down 1 hardwood and 3 Tulip Poplars. Hopefully I can still savage the rest of the seeds that have not come up yet.

 

[(Sub)Urban Farmer]

New to the garden game myself.

Would Jamie have been better off starting the seedlings inside and then transplanting to to his garden?

 

[Jamie Calloway]

I thought of that, and yes I think in the long run that would have been better the only issue is I planted over 200 seeds. My hope is that with the sun now coming in all day I will be able to salvage some of my seeds. The corn and bush beans looks amazing. I think one thing I have learned is that I will probably buy my tomatoes next year already grown up, at least 6 to 8 inches at least.

 

[(Sub)Urban Farmer]

Probably depends on the vegetable. Before all is said and done you might have some crops that do really well being directly sown.

Maybe those that don't do so well for you can be started indoors in waves next year? E.g. 75-100 early, a few weeks after that another 75-100, and so on... I would guess that you have a pretty long growing season in Georgia?

Only speculating. Like I said, new to this myself.

 

[Jamie Calloway]

Yea, I'm thinking that after harvesting vegetables in July a lot of my seeds can be planted once more and taken in September October. That's the hope anyway, I know the corn can be grown once more

 

[Beverly]

You should be able to get at least 2 crops annually. With your hot humid summers, things grow very fast. You might think about which vegetables and fruits have a short enough growing season. People here who grow edibles can get at least 2 crops annually and sometimes 3 crops of certain things.

 

[Jamie Calloway]

I have been keeping up with everyone's harvests in here and I must say I am very impressed and a bit jealous.
Update on the Calloway garden, well not much has changed. I am very excited about my corn and bush beans although I planted 20 beans I only have 12 that are up, but those 12 are doing very well. I have 38 corn stalks up out of 50 and they look great. Early today I went out and counted around 30 carrots which I am also pretty excited about the only problem being I planted at least 100 of those. I am,not seeing much else, which is very Depressing, but I am really having a hard time differentiating the weeds from the vegies. I assume the more I till up that area the led weeds I will have in the future ( I hope). I have cut back,months watering to every other day for 30 minutes at 1:00am. Of course from my previous posts I have also gotten rid of all the shade that was laying over the garden. I do thinkbi am seeing what looks like a couple of tomatoe plants coming up but can't be sure at this time.
One thing I do have now is ants. Two big ant beds in the middle garden. Down the road ibsaw my neighbor puffing some white powder in his garden, I assume it was 7 dust but not exactly sure. Should I be doing that also? I am afraid the ants are going to eat up all my veggies before there ready. Anyway, just wanted to check in, now it's over to the fruit thread.

 

[Tech]

Nice job, I commend you for under taking a new garden shaped from the wilderness. Not an easy feat. Keep at it.

 

[Jamie Calloway]

Well it's been about a month in a half since I put seed to ground and I am not impressed. I am absolutely astounded by the carpet of weeds I am growing, they are absolutely thriving. I figured I would have some weds but this is rediculous. Thankfully the corn and beans are doing great, if it wasn't for them I would have already tilled that sucker up and started over. The biggest problem I am having is that I can't tell the weeds from the veggies and I am afraid to pull anything out. I have taken numerous pictures at Wal-Mart and from the internet but I can't tell them apart. This first crop has given me a lot of life lessons that I will definitely take into consideration when I restart the garden in July.
Here are some major problems that I could have avoided has I known (maybe this will help newbies when they start there new gardens)
.1 make sure when you till up your garden you till down at least 8 to 10 inches, make sure you get all the roots out or they will just sprout up all over your garden.
.2 make sure you plant your seeds in rows and more importantly make sure the seeds go into the raised part of the rows, not the lower part.
.3 please make sure you Mark your seeds so you will know exactly where they are in the garden in case you get all the weeds, better yet put down some newspaper or line it with some kind of weed guard. Of you don't have the rows plainly marked you might end up like me and not know where anything is.

I guess in my situation it's just as likely that I only have corn and beans because before I cut a huge tree down that was casting a shadow over half the garden, and the only part of the garden that got full sun since they went in the ground was the corn and beans. I think i,923am going to give it until June 10th, that will have been 60 days, and hopefully if there is anything alive in there I should be able to tell by then. Also here are some pictures I took of what kids looks like some brasica, maybe cauliflower, letuce or broccoli, let me know if you guys think it could be one of those.
Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[headfullofbees]

The plant at the bottom left of the last photo is a carrot, weed out the rest in this area, even though two are brassicas.

 

[Jamie Calloway]

Alright so I'm thinking of pulling up the garden, and need some advice. My corn and bush beans have not grown an inch in the last month and I am pretty sure they have been stunted. I also planted a ton of other vegetables which after almost 60 days have not sprouted at all. I know I had some major problems from the beginning but I'm not sure if one or all of the issues were the problem. So here is my plan.
First I am going to take a sample of my soul to take and have tested, of course I will add whatever I am lacking. I have already cut down the trees that were casting shade, the garden is getting a good 8 hours of sun now. One thing I was told to try was to lay newspapers down beside my raised rows to help keep the weeds down and then later it can be mulched into the garden. Not sure if this will work. I am hoping that the more I till up the ground the less weeds I will have. Is there anything I can put down that will kill the weeds but not hurt the veggies? Of there is anything else anyone would suggest, I am open to anything.
Thanks
Jamie Calloway

 

[Tech]

Annual weeds aren't that big of an issue, perennial weeds need to go. Don't expect to be growing heavy feeders like brassicas when starting a new crop from bushland. There just isn't enough nitrogen to go around. You have to supply nitrogen or grow less demanding crops, d you try beans?