Starting a Vegetable Garden

[Juan]

Hello! I'm interested in starting a vegetable garden in my backyard, however, I'm new to this, and I have no idea where to start.

I live in Texas and the climate is hot. My backyard is full of grassy weed-ish stuff.

I plan on growing tomatos, cucumbers, cantaloupes, squash, peppers, and onions.

I'd be interested in any tips or advice you guys have. Thanks.

[Newt]

Hi Juan,

Looks like you have sandy soil and it will need lots of compost. The best thing you can do for your plants, veggies or ornamental, is to add lots of organic matter to the soil. The best way to do that is with compost. A 3" or 4" layer on top of the soil and then mixed in will make your plants happy. You can purchase it by the bag or in bulk if you need alot. It's usually less expensive in bulk. You can also make your own, but that takes time. It would be best to start your compost pile from the weeds and turf you will remove to start your garden. If you decide not to plant now, you can start by preparing the site. Remove weeds and grass (you can rent a sod cutter), add compost and mix in. Then plant a cover crop for the winter. In spring, about 3 weeks before you intend to plant, you can turn in the cover crop and let it decompose. Then you can plant.

Here's some sites on planning a veggie garden, cover crops and organic matter.
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1228/

Supressing weeds
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8101.html

Veggie garden calendar - when to plant what
https://www.savvygardener.com/Features/veg_garden_calendar.html

Veggie growing guides
https://oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC/vegindex.html
https://www.explore.cornell.edu/scene.cfm?scene=home%20gardening&stop=HG%20%2D%20Find%20a%20Vegetable

When to harvest
https://www.savvygardener.com/Features/harvesting_vegetables.html
https://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/L291-w.htm

Compost and soil info including green manure and a compost calculator.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/knowhow/pp/soil.html
https://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/orgmatter/index.html
https://vegweb.com/composting/what.shtml
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/tips/03/compost.html
https://www.attra.org/attra-pub/covercrop.html#principle
https://www.cedar-grove.com/calculator.asp

How to garden organically.


I'm sure you will be reading for a while, but don't hesitate to ask more questions. You've got a nice big yard and planting some flowers around the outer perimeter to help control insect pests would be a great idea. It's covered in the above link about organic gardening.

Newt

[Juan]

Newt, thank you very, very much! It'll take me a while to go through all the links and information, but it all looks like great stuff one should know for a vegetable garden. Thanks.

[Newt]

Juan, you are very welcome! My veggie garden is so small it's a shame! It's only about 10' by 10' as that is all the room I have in my tiny garden. I grew peppers and tomatoes in pots this year so I wouldn't be growing them in the same spot too many years in a row. That can lead to attracting pests. After you get all that info 'digested' you can start looking into crop rotation and companion planting for the following years.

Newt

[Juan]

Hehe. I do have a pretty big backyard, but I guess I'll take things slow at first and see how it turns out. I'll try to keep ya updated on the progress. Thanks.

[opabinia51]

Hi Juan, I started out with soil that was very similar to what you have. Read the threads in the organic section. Lot's of good information there.

Anyway, the best way to ammend sandy soil is to add organic matter but, you don't just add manure, grass clippings and coffee grounds, you also need to add what are known as browns (compostables that are high in Carbon as apposed to Nitrogen).

Some examples are:

Black and White Newspaper (I personally don't use this because the C:N ratio is about 2000:1 and it is slow to break down and doesn't add any other nutrients other than the two noted above)

Leaves (I use as varied varieties as possible but, Apple and Maple seem to have the highest micronutrient content as well as the usual NPK, if memory serves leaves generally have a C:N ratio of about 300:1)

I also have several piles of leaf mold around the garden and yard. This way I can start early with my sheet composting in the fall before the leaves of the current year have fallen.

Anyway, you can put leaves in whole but, it does work a little better to mulch them up first. I use the lawn mower to break up fallen leaves.

For sheet compost:

Just spread the leaves followed by a layer of green like: manure, seaweed, grass clippings, coffee ground and so on.

I usually plant a cover crop of Rye and some sort of legume like clover, Vetch or peas in mid August and mow and turn that it before adding the first layer of leaves. And I also add as many layers of leaves and greens as possible.

[Amigatec]

I use what ever I can find. I bag all my grass and let it decay, I add leaves, hay, manure, whatever I can find. I added 2 large truck loads of wood chips last year, most were broken down, but you need to be careful with adding to much uncomposted stuff, it can bind the nitogen in the soil.

[Newt]

Hi Amigatec,

You said,

...you need to be careful with adding to much uncomposted stuff, it can bind the nitogen in the soil.

From this site with great info about using wood chips in the garden. Lots of great info:
https://www.klickitatcounty.org/SolidWaste/ContentROne.asp?fContentIdSelected=178631264&fCategoryIdSelected=965105457

The micro-organisms that decompose wood chips require nitrogen in amounts greater than are available in the wood chips alone. If additional nitrogen is not mixed with the wood chips, the micro-organisms will get the nitrogen they need from the soil, competing with plant roots for the nitrogen available in the soil. This is why bark mulch works to keep weeds down.

Just so you know it doesn't bind the nitrogen, the micro-organisms that break down the ingredients use up the nitrogen as it breaks down (ages).

Newt

[Amigatec]

This is what happened this year, next year I will be adding lime and some nitogen to the soil.

[Anonymous]

I have had amazing success using colloidal humus compost in my garden. I know that it sounds complicated, but it is actually the absolute easiest way to compost. This type of composting is completely organic and requires no turning of the compost pile.

It is so easy to grow healthy, strong plants using colloidal humus compost. Also the flavor and harvest of my vegetables is amazing since I started using this composting method.

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Please read this:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2739

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Happy Harvesting!