Urban gardening attempt

TekiusFanatikus · Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:38 am

Next year, I'd like to grow a garden in my backyard. However, I figured I should ask a few questions first.

Questions:

1. I'm curious about runoff, since my garden would be at the end (and the lowest part) of my lot and I'm having someone look after my lawn. Any specific things should I look for?
2. At the peak of summer, the portion of my lot that would have this garden gets at most, 4-5 hours of sunlight during the day. I have a lot of shade on my lot. Would this be enough to get a garden going?

Here's to new possibilities!

a0c8c · Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:56 pm

I'm not sure about the runoff but I can answer the other question. 4-5 hours of sun is just under full sun, so it should be good for most full sun plants. They really prefer atleast 6 hours, but 4-5 will keep them going. As for shade, you can always by shade flowers and crops, or partially shaded flowers and crops. Alot of flowering vines like shade since they gow up trees in the wild.

TekiusFanatikus · Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:50 pm

Thanks for the tip.

Any specific vegetables that require "less" sunlight to grow than others?

smokensqueal · Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:57 pm

If your worried about your garden being in a low spot then you could possible just do a raised bed there. That way your plants will be lifted enough to keep it out of constant wetness.

When you say shade are you talking about complete shade as in not a single drop of sun light get's in or shade as in under some trees and the sun light get's filtered out some. If you get 4-5 hours of complete sun and an hour or two under a filtered shade then you will be good to grow most any veggies that need full sun.

rainbowgardener · Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:50 pm

4-5 hrs isn't bad, but it will seriously stunt sunlovers like tomatoes, peppers, melons.

There are lots of things that will thrive in that situation: All the cool weather crops do better once the weather has warmed, with less sun rather than more. That includes lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, carrots.

A lot of herbs don't mind less than full sun, including mint (grow it in containers, it will take over the yard!), parsley, fennel, lemon balm, oregano and others.

Some perennials such as asparagus, raspberry, blueberry, rhubarb will do fine in that situation. None of the perennials will produce for you the year they are planted, but once established, they will come back more and more each year with little effort.

TekiusFanatikus · Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:44 am

smokensqueal wrote:If your worried about your garden being in a low spot then you could possible just do a raised bed there. That way your plants will be lifted enough to keep it out of constant wetness.

When you say shade are you talking about complete shade as in not a single drop of sun light get's in or shade as in under some trees and the sun light get's filtered out some. If you get 4-5 hours of complete sun and an hour or two under a filtered shade then you will be good to grow most any veggies that need full sun.

The only thing that worries me about the garden being in a low spot is runoff from the lawn maintenance.

I'd say complete shade, yes (even though, I'll try to take a specific look next time it's sunny). Not much sunlight makes it through as the trees are tall and rather thick. The spot in question only gets sun from 10ish to 2ish. The rest of the time, it's in the shade.

I should have taken pictures... darn.

How about squirrels, chipmunks and cats, how can they impact the garden?

zone9garden.com · Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:16 pm

Raised Beds are a great cure for low land. You can often find some pretty good compost from your local dump. They should have an area where they compost yard waste. It is not certified Organic, but if that is not a concern for you, it is a good place to start.

applestar · Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:47 pm

I had another one of my wild ideas and thought that you might possibly isolate your raised bed of edibles from the run-off, etc. (I'd be worried too) if you put a base of cinderblocks down then build your raised bed on top of that. It sounds like a project, though....

TekiusFanatikus · Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:27 am

applestar wrote:I had another one of my wild ideas and thought that you might possibly isolate your raised bed of edibles from the run-off, etc. (I'd be worried too) if you put a base of cinderblocks down then build your raised bed on top of that. It sounds like a project, though....

That's not a bad idea. I'd have to level off where my garden would reside as there is a degree of slope.

So, the box would simply have to be filled with top soil and that's it? I think that the size of the garden I'd like to have might make the raised box approach unfeasible. I was thinking in the 12' x (3' or 4') range...

Maybe I could isolate my garden by putting some sort of liner at the bottom (and something to anchor it above ground), thus runoff wouldn't affect it?

I'll try to snap pics in the next few days to illustrate where I'm at.

TekiusFanatikus · Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:41 pm

Marlingardener wrote:Please do not put a lining on the bottom--that prevents drainage and you end up with mud soup with little plants floating in it!

What kind of run-off from lawn maintenance are you worried about? If it is fertilizer, most of it will be absorbed by the lawn, and what reaches your garden won't hurt anything. If it is pesticides/herbicides, that is potentially harmful.

I will remember your warning next year when building my garden!

As for pesticides/herbicides, the product is called Dicamba (Oracle). I've yet to take any considerable amount of time researching this product.