Next spring is the year...

[iamwhatiseem]

We have talked about starting a garden for several years, but always something got in the way.
Dammit.... next year we are.
Anyway...so... anyone have advice for a good book on getting started?
I don't know where else to get good, basic info other than a book.
My parents had a great garden, but my father past a few years ago and my Mom is still with us, but not 100%...she forgets a great deal of things.

 

[Concerned American]

We have talked about starting a garden for several years, but always something got in the way.
Dammit.... next year we are.
Anyway...so... anyone have advice for a good book on getting started?
I don't know where else to get good, basic info other than a book.
My parents had a great garden, but my father past a few years ago and my Mom is still with us, but not 100%...she forgets a great deal of things.

Spent most of my life in the SW US. Gardening was easy. I moved to the NW a few years ago and I'm finding that it is a whole new ball game--growing season dropped from 8 months to about three. I discovered this year that I need to start my plants in Feb. under grow lights inside until April and temper them outside during the few nice days in April until the final freeze comes in May. After that, the plants do quite well. If I wait until May and plant store-bought starts, I have had mixed results. This year I had great luck with my peppers and a mixed bag with tomatoes--problems with blossom end rot. Found the solution was consistent (but not too much water) and limit fertilizer as it inhibits the plants calcium intake and apparently that is what causes the rot. I have been using the internet for advice, so I can't recommend a good print source.

 

[Natural Citizen]

When I was a kid, our garden was about the size of a football field. We had pretty much everything in there.

I always got stuck pulling weeds. I was probably around five.

Making the mounds for planting the cucumbers and whatnot was kind of fun, I guess.

My dad plowed it with horses.

 

[Natural Citizen]

We have talked about starting a garden for several years, but always something got in the way.
Dammit.... next year we are.
Anyway...so... anyone have advice for a good book on getting started?
I don't know where else to get good, basic info other than a book.
My parents had a great garden, but my father past a few years ago and my Mom is still with us, but not 100%...she forgets a great deal of things.

Do you know how to can?

Even a very small garden yields quite a bit of food.

Probably should decide what you're gonna grow first.

If it were me, I'd prep the ground this Fall. Get the ground turned over and chop some manure into it nice and good and leave it be over the winter. And heirloom seeds are preferable.

Don't overthink it, though. If you start overthinking it, nothing will grow.

Heck, I spit some watermelon seeds in the yard a couple years ago and these starting growing on their own...

 

[Natural Citizen]

Oh. Heh heh. Btw. Plant extra...

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Already talked about canning, luckily my mother canned a LOT for decades, and still has the stuff.
And we DO have a lot of ground hogs around here... some of them I swear have to be getting close to 20 lbs.
We live about 100 yards from a large forest.
We have a black walnut tree also, so tons of squirrels as well.
Thought about a chicken wire fence, but that obviously would do nothing to stop ground hogs.

 

[Concerned American]

would do nothing to stop ground hogs.

Raised beds with chicken wire below them defeat the moles and voles that we have in this area.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Raised beds with chicken wire below them defeat the moles and voles that we have in this area.

Ahh... these are the thing I need to know.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Already talked about canning, luckily my mother canned a LOT for decades, and still has the stuff.
And we DO have a lot of ground hogs around here... some of them I swear have to be getting close to 20 lbs.
We live about 100 yards from a large forest.
We have a black walnut tree also, so tons of squirrels as well.
Thought about a chicken wire fence, but that obviously would do nothing to stop ground hogs.

We had black walnut trees everywhere when I was a kid. I love those things. Especialy when they're nice and moist, right out of the shell. I used to sit out on the porch and crack em open all day long.

I like to make heavy poundcake with black walnuts in the batter and then a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top after it comes out of the oven.

They're kind of expensive up here in Yank territory and they're always minced.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

We had black walnut trees everywhere when I was a kid. I love those things. Especialy when they're nice and moist, right out of the shell. I used to sit out on the porch and crack em open all day long.

I like to make heavy poundcake with black walnuts in the batter and then a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top after it comes out of the oven.

They're kind of expensive up here in Yank territory and they're always minced.

I have tried to find folks who would want them. We keep some of them, but this is a large, mature tree. This thing produces 1000's.
It is the food source for, no joke, probably every squirrel within a mile. When they are ripening, from dawn to dusk there are squirrels in the yard

 

[Natural Citizen]

I have tried to find folks who would want them. We keep some of them, but this is a large, mature tree. This thing produces 1000's.
It is the food source for, no joke, probably every squirrel within a mile. When they are ripening, from dawn to dusk there are squirrels in the yard

A lot of companies will buy them. Both the inside and outside are used. The shells get used for polishing metals and stones.

They set up buying stations yearly around the country, if you felt like going to the trouble of picking them up off the ground.

Black walnuts particularly bring in more loot. You could have that new outdoor jacuzzi in no time.

Hulling & Buying Locations - Hammons Black Walnuts

The Home of Hand-Harvested American Black Walnuts

black-walnuts.com

 

[Dekster]

We have talked about starting a garden for several years, but always something got in the way.
Dammit.... next year we are.
Anyway...so... anyone have advice for a good book on getting started?
I don't know where else to get good, basic info other than a book.
My parents had a great garden, but my father past a few years ago and my Mom is still with us, but not 100%...she forgets a great deal of things.

Youtube and look around twitter (if you have an account) for gardeners who actually respond to people and don't use it as a way to direct traffic to their youtubes and instagrams. Ask very specific questions, not "how do I grow a garden". A few years back Charles Dowding and I messaged back and forth several times, for instance, when my attempt at having a no til bed wasn't going so well. He is sort of the youtube guru on those. My 15 truckloads of compost wasn't completely cured so I was having several issues, most notably and inability to get enough water into the root zones of a lot of the plants.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

A lot of companies will buy them. Both the inside and outside are used. The shells get used for polishing metals and stones.

They set up buying stations yearly around the country, if you felt like going to the trouble of picking them up off the ground.

Black walnuts particularly bring in more loot. You could have that new outdoor jacuzzi in no time.

Hulling & Buying Locations - Hammons Black Walnuts

The Home of Hand-Harvested American Black Walnuts

black-walnuts.com

WHoah... thank you!!
These things are worth, to sell to them, for about $12/ 5 gal bucket in husk to the guy
Not a doubt in my mind I can fill at least 50 buckets... easy. That's $600 for essentially raking the yard every few days for a month or two.
I also have two large, but young, persimmon trees. One began producing two years ago, this year it is finally going to be a bumper crop.
My understanding is I can get an arborist to pollinate it, as persimmon trees often have trouble getting cross pollinated.
Or they may both be one sex. I don't know. But only one produces.
Can't really sell persimmons around here unless it is pulped. Persimmon trees grow wild in Southern Indiana... a lot of them.

 

[Stann]

We have talked about starting a garden for several years, but always something got in the way.
Dammit.... next year we are.
Anyway...so... anyone have advice for a good book on getting started?
I don't know where else to get good, basic info other than a book.
My parents had a great garden, but my father past a few years ago and my Mom is still with us, but not 100%...she forgets a great deal of things.

What type of garden, flower or vegetable ? Fall is an ideal time to buy topsoil, mulch, Hardy plants, shrubs and trees. Nurseries off and have them clearance priced so they don't have to carry him over another year. Ask the nurseryman in your area, they can give you the best advice. Whatever prep work you do in the fall you'll be that much further ahead in the spring. It evens out the work load too.