Vegetable Gardening

[buddha_bellies]

It's probably better to start small and expand as you go along. Gardening in a big space might be a put off after you realize how much work / time is taking you. I would say start maybe a off 4 - 4'x4' bed and see how much you like. You can always expand if needed. But don't forget there's only the two of you! Unless you're vegetarians, I doubt you can eat all that food. I'm not sure where about you live, but first to do is find out what "zone" you're in. It basically tells you what you can grow when. http://www.garden.org/zipzone/

Unless you live in the hottest zone down in the States, tomatoes do well in full sun. Most vegetables needs at least 6 hours of sun. Lettuce and some other leafy vegetables can use less sun.

And I like to have raised beds that are about 4'x4' with about 2 feet of foot path for wheel barrows. 4' is good because you can reach in the bed without stepping in it. Ideally, you should have about 12" of good quality compost/soil. Not sure if you have access to "sea soil" down where you are. But I had some one year and everything I planted with that soil grew like crazy!

If you need more help, try http://www.gardenweb.com I learnt a lot asking people in that site. Or email me directly if you have more question Gardening is my passion

[Aggie_Ama]

Oh 4X4 sounds alright. Or maybe two 4X4 so I can position them along the fences. My mom had a graden ages ago and recommended 8X8 but that is a large square. We are Zone 8B, so that is good to know. I already learned a bit about zones and soil planning a shrub/flower/landscape bed with DH.

I will check what the soil places have, I went cross eyed at the selection buying landscaping dirt.

[GLC1968]

A great resource for raised beds, particularly if you are starting small is:
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
The soil mix used here worked great for us - as did the trellis.

For your environment (which is similiar to the climate we had the last summer we were in NC), tomatoes, squash, green beans, peppers and cukes would do well. Those are all the things that suffered here because it was such a short summer this year. You could do all this in one 4x4 space if you planned it out right. You would have plenty for eating, but likely not much for preservation/canning unless you happened to have a bumper crop. If you did SFG, you could also do succession planting and get spring crops, summer crops and fall crops from the same 4x4 space (particularly since you would have a long growing season). It's surprizingly less work than traditional 'row' gardening and it uses less water!

[Aggie_Ama]

GLC- That site is intriguing and looks like it would be something taking little work from DH (a plus). Plus, I guess if I hate gardening I could turn them into flower beds at that size. The backyard is completely barren with just a bunch of struggling Bermuda, I am sure DH would warm to the idea of a tidy garden. I hope.

I don't know how I could forget my Mammaw growing beans and peppers! I only remember the corn, rows of it.

[tulip]

In my experience, 4x4 beds are a bit of a reach (for me). I prefer 3x8 or 3x6. That way, I don't have to stretch so much to reach the middle of the bed. Square Foot Gardening is good, although the author gets a bit compulsive on the measuring!

[Aggie_Ama]

In my experience, 4x4 beds are a bit of a reach (for me). I prefer 3x8 or 3x6. That way, I don't have to stretch so much to reach the middle of the bed. Square Foot Gardening is good, although the author gets a bit compulsive on the measuring!

LOL, yeah he site was a little over excited but my lovely alma mater has a whole web page of how to container garden, terrace garden and what vegetables to plant in various parts of the state updated yearly. All hail Aggie Horticulture!

[OakLeaf]

Aggie Horticulture!

Is that a tautology?