Desirai
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Posts: 79
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:50 pm
Location: Alabama

Advice for a newbie, please?

well. hello there!!!

if any of you noticed I have been nurturing a single pepper plant for about 4 months.

I am proud.

I am also inspired to grow vegetables in 2011. (happy 2011 btw)

Do any of you have advice on starter plants?

You know.. plants that I might not be able to kill easily. Haha.

I've grown tomatoes and now this pepper pant. Also I grew 3 sunflowers that exceeded 7 ft a few years ago. Those sunflowers are what got me really into gardening. They inspired me to start a garden (which became a jungle. our front porch was quickly swallowed by about 10 different bushes, a bunch of vines and dozens of different flowers.)

So.. heelp? :)

I live in Alabama which I think is zone 7.

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Avonnow
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Location: Merritt Island, Florida

Well are you going to do it in the ground, or in pots on your patio / in home. It will probably make a difference what others suggest. I live in Florida, so I assume you probably have colder weather then me, so hopefully someone farther north can make suggestions on what to start and when. If they are inside you may have more options to start earlier. Let us know. :D

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Halfway
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Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 9:48 am
Location: Northern Rockies

Cilantro.

Beat it.

Slap it around.

Call it names.

Trim it to butt-ugly.

It will stand tall and when it has had it's fun as Cilantro, it will turn into Coriander.

:lol:

Odd Duck
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:34 pm
Location: DFW, TX

Halfway wrote:Cilantro.

Beat it.

Slap it around.

Call it names.

Trim it to butt-ugly.

It will stand tall and when it has had it's fun as Cilantro, it will turn into Coriander.

:lol:
Might not be quite so easy in Alabama. Cilantro can't take the heat, so it can be a bit trickier down south than you might think. Bolts if you look at it cross-eyed (but obviously still useful as coriander).

gumbo2176
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Location: New Orleans

Lots of choices for your climate in the spring. Bell Peppers, Jalapeno, Banana, Pablano peppers all grow well in the south. You know about tomatoes so why not try some zucchini or yellow squash, eggplant, pole or bush beans, cucumbers and okra. All those plants grow well in the spring and most survive the summer heat in the deep south=====especially Okra. For pole beans, I've grown Japanese Yard Long beans for a few years and they are great producers and are fast growing.

For the leafy stuff, try swiss chard, spinach, various leaf lettuces in the early spring and they will last till it gets too hot in the summer to survive.

For herbs, try sweet basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary and some chives. All of them survived my summer heat with the exception of the parsley.

Desirai
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Posts: 79
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:50 pm
Location: Alabama

Hmm I am not sure if I will grow them in the ground or in pots.

Good question. I live with my grandparents and my grandfather is very neurotic about his grass.

I'll just assume I'm growing them in pots until I know for sure.

Thanks Gumbo!!

All that sounds really fun. More fun than tomatoes. :)

garden5
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Location: ohio

Some really fun and easy crops include pole beans, radishes (there are some really different varieties), and bright lights Swiss chard.

These can all be container grown, though you may want to set up some poles or something else for your beans to trellis up.

If you're up for a new experience (and want to extend your gardening time) so a forum search here for terms like "seed-starting," "growing indoors," "grow lights," etc. Starting things like tomatoes and peppers indoors is not hard at all and will allow you to grow a much better variety than what yo can get at the store.

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soil
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Location: N. California

want inspiration? look up permaculture.

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Where ever you garden, it is important to plant at the right time for your area. Do some research on the weather and find your average date of last frost in the spring. This is an important date. You can plant things such as beans, and squash, that easily freeze, on that date and by the time they come up, they are likely going to be safe from frost. Things like tomatoes and peppers that we often plant from nursery plants, should be planted out a week or two after the avg date of last frost. Or, if you cover them with caps, you could plant on that date.

Onions, lettuce, cabbage, peas, carrots, and kohlrabi can be planted three weeks ahead of that date. Beets and chard a week before that date. Try a few radishes any time in the spring.

Warm weather plants like melons, cucumbers, cataloupes, should be planted when the ground is warm and the danger of frost is past. Probably a week after the avg date of last frost.

Check with your local extension service. They usually have loads of good info about gardening and crops for your area.

I suspect it gets quite warm there in summer. For that reason it is going to be important to plant as early as possible (avoiding frost), but at the same time get some good growth before the hot weather.

Plant what you like to eat is my advice!!!

Have fun.

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

I just looked up the Jefferson County Alabama Extension and see that they have some good info on the site.

[url=https://www.aces.edu/homegarden/fruitsandveggies.php]Click[/url]

Desirai
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Posts: 79
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:50 pm
Location: Alabama

thanks everyone.

I told my grandpa I wanted to start a vegetable garden this year.

You know what he did?

He went to some place and bought me a bunch of packets of vegetable seeds. How sweet!!!

He's going to help me clear a small plot of land for me to plant some things.

I'm so excited! I can't wait for spring. It needs to hurry up and get here!!!

DeborahL
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Location: Coastal Southern California

What a nice Grandpa !

mansgirl
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:23 pm
Location: West Michigan

More Peppers! What I wouldn't give to live in Alabama with your warm climate! You can do lots of peppers in pots if you want to save room in your garden for bigger plants. But experiment and have fun with peppers! I would do Okra in a heartbeat too if I could live in a warmer place. Mine in Michigan did Ok last year, they might have done better if I knew what I was doing. : )

Definitely go with peppers.. they're easy, they're pretty, and there is a HUGE variety out there for you to pick from to meet your taste. Not to mention, if you preserve them, you can save a ton of money. : ) Don't mind the Dutch girl! : D



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