Pretty new to gardening... help? Tons of questions

[RedneckCowgirl]

Thanks for all the replies Unfortunately we do not have the extra cash to spare to get any soil tests done, and we will be bringing in all of the soil anyways. The dirt in this town is wonderful for gardens, fairly dark, rich soil in most places (thankfully ours is one of those places) I am hoping to be able to barter with someone local to get some starts. We are getting soil from my moms house, as well as the wood to build the beds themselves. We measured the garden yesterday and I underestimated the size, its about 50ft by 50ft. I'm thinking about starting with 2 raised beds that are 2ft by 8ft and growing carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, beets, and a couple varieties of onions. One of my roomies wants to build a pallet garden (an idea I found on here) full of strawberries plus grow some tomatoes in 5gal buckets. We also have a small area that appears to have been a garden at ones point that we are considering planting a blueberry bush and a raspberry bush.

 

[odd_duck99]

Know that blueberries take time to establish before they really do well. Not discouraging, just making sure you know. Ours are very young, but have seen their second season as of last year. I think we got 2-3 handfuls of berries from 4 bushes, but you know we were beaming like peacocks!

Also, raspberries are "canes" and will spread. They send out runners (or something) and new canes pop up each year fairly close to the parent. It's nothing crazy, and you might just have to keep up with it once a year as you see them popping up. Just wanted you to be prepared, and not plant them right next to a neighbor's fence or something if you can help it. More berries for you, if you chose to keep them!

 

[User4960]

Mmmmmm! Raspberries! Mae West once said, "Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL!".

I'd only suggest you plant the Raspberries where you can easily dig up the root sprouts to plant in new Raspberry patches!

 

[~gd]

Thanks for all the replies Unfortunately we do not have the extra cash to spare to get any soil tests done, and we will be bringing in all of the soil anyways. The dirt in this town is wonderful for gardens, fairly dark, rich soil in most places (thankfully ours is one of those places) I am hoping to be able to barter with someone local to get some starts. We are getting soil from my moms house, as well as the wood to build the beds themselves. We measured the garden yesterday and I underestimated the size, its about 50ft by 50ft. I'm thinking about starting with 2 raised beds that are 2ft by 8ft and growing carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, beets, and a couple varieties of onions. One of my roomies wants to build a pallet garden (an idea I found on here) full of strawberries plus grow some tomatoes in 5gal buckets. We also have a small area that appears to have been a garden at ones point that we are considering planting a blueberry bush and a raspberry bush.

At the risk of being "too negative"again might I suggest Tomato plants sold as Patio tomatoes for your 5 gallon buckets? My native soil is red clay that makes very nice bricks but won't grow much. I went to 5 and 6 gallon buckets years ago. First of all tomatoes come in two different growth habits, Indeterminate ones keep right on growing and bearing fruit until killed by frost,they usually need to be staked or caged but in buckets become root bound fairly quickly. They may produce one ftuit/week throughout their life.Most but not all Heirlooms are of this type. Determinate plants produce bushes, they may get up to 4' tall when they stop and put all their effort into fruit and they will then produce a bunch of fruit all at once. This type is favored by commercial growere or rhose that supply fruit for canning [It is like the difference between main-crop and everbearing strawberries] Patio [sometimes called semideterminate] plants were selected to be grown in containers, usually small bush with fruit production spread over 2-4 weeks. These can work really well if you can manage when they are planted [New bucket every 2-4 weeks] I root cuttings from earlier plantings to do this. and sincce they are in buckets you can slow them down by moving them into shade and speed them us by moving to full sun [move slowly so you don't shock the plants too badly] remember that you usually have to keep an eye on soil moisture when growing in conntainers. The help of a local nurseryman can give details on what and when to do if he knows what you are trying to do. ~gd

 

[Mr.Andersson]

At the risk of being "too negative"again might I suggest Tomato plants sold as Patio tomatoes for your 5 gallon buckets? My native soil is red clay that makes very nice bricks but won't grow much. I went to 5 and 6 gallon buckets years ago. First of all tomatoes come in two different growth habits, Indeterminate ones keep right on growing and bearing fruit until killed by frost,they usually need to be staked or caged but in buckets become root bound fairly quickly. They may produce one ftuit/week throughout their life.Most but not all Heirlooms are of this type. Determinate plants produce bushes, they may get up to 4' tall when they stop and put all their effort into fruit and they will then produce a bunch of fruit all at once. This type is favored by commercial growere or rhose that supply fruit for canning [It is like the difference between main-crop and everbearing strawberries] Patio [sometimes called semideterminate] plants were selected to be grown in containers, usually small bush with fruit production spread over 2-4 weeks. These can work really well if you can manage when they are planted [New bucket every 2-4 weeks] I root cuttings from earlier plantings to do this. and sincce they are in buckets you can slow them down by moving them into shade and speed them us by moving to full sun [move slowly so you don't shock the plants too badly] remember that you usually have to keep an eye on soil moisture when growing in conntainers. The help of a local nurseryman can give details on what and when to do if he knows what you are trying to do. ~gd

Nice info.~gd

My input as a berrier, buy everbearing raspberries (primocanes). My first year shoots, do not produce any fruit (floricanes). I cut them at the end of the second season, because they do not produce again either. The new canes will be your new fruit bearers. I have a lot of room, so I don't bother with the everbearing. I probably have 5,000 sq ft of berry patches. Last point, don't put them near potatoes, tomatoes, peppers or eggplants cuz of some fungus. Good luck, and have fun with it.

 

[User4960]

Full sized tomato plants grow ok in 5 gallon buckets. Not quite as big. Use triple the dose of Bone Meal in good potting soil, not garden soil. Make sure there are PLENTY of drain holes on the bottom, and either have the bucket on a couple 2X4's or make sure there are holes on the bottom at the sides. Lots of drain holes. Holes are the most important part of a pot! I always get a kick out of saying that, but it is true.

The full sized varieties will not get as big as in the ground, but they will get big enough to need staking, a good 4 feet or more. Stake and tie, lots of that. I grew one of the biggest tomatoes in Montana in a 5 gallon bucket! (Giant Syrian)

 

[hwillm1977]

We've used 5 gallon buckets for full size tomatoes too... they do really well for us, but I do like growing them in the garden better... we've also used rubbermaid totes and put two plants/rectangular tote, they didn't do as well that way there was always one stronger plant that would end up choking out the weaker one so that it hardly produced anything.

If you do grow indeterminate tomatoes, start picking off all the new growth and new blossoms about a month before your frost so the plant will put the energy into ripening the tomatoes that have already started growing, otherwise you can end up with a ton of green tomatoes. I've found ours produce a lot more than one tomato a week but we could have just grown different varieties than gd. We grew 8 indeterminate plants last year and generally got 10-20 tomatoes a week.

Potatoes did beautifully in the totes and we'll use them again. We fill them with nice soil... a peat/compost/perlite sort of mixture and then dump the potato totes out into a new raised bed each fall... pick the potatoes out to store them and we've got a new bed full of great soil. That's how I've been expanding my garden each year so I don't have to invest a huge amount all at once, but we get one new bed each year (my beds are 3x20 feet, I didn't like reaching across 4 feet and I found 2 feet too small) This year we'll have 9 beds

 

[Mattemma]

Ground cherries and tomatillos grow well too. My big regret is not planting fruiting trees and shrubs the FIRST year we moved in. I am still waiting for my apples,plums,and cherries....but my elderberry,currant,and strawberries gave fruit after a year.Lettuce is a good thing to grow over and over.Various greens you can get multiple crops in the summer.Just check for bugs and slugs well. I missed ONE slug ONE time years ago and no one lets me forget it,lol.My dh loves the big tomatoes,but dd and I love the cherry tomatoes.