Planted my first garden this weekend.

[flyin-lowe]

My family are not not huge vegetable eaters so this is a hobby learning endeavor for my kids as much as anything. I started small this year, I tilled a 16x24 foot area several weeks ago. Based on what my family does eat I planted strawberries, cucumbers for pickles, broccoli, and tomatoes all from small plants from a local garden center. Then I planted two rows of corn and two rows of green beans, both from seed. I didn't have time to do a soil test before I got started. The area I tilled has just been lawn before now. Prior to planting I put down 600 pounds of compost and tilled it in with my mini cultivator. I planted everything far enough apart so I could use my cultivator to help keep the weeds at bay. Hopefully by this fall I will have some compost from my new coop to start adding a couple times a year.

 

[Percheron chick]

Sounds like plenty for your first garden. Strawberries will come back year after year so it's best to locate them in a permanent place. Chickens love everything you have planted so any extra will not go to waste.

 

[lazy gardener]

My family are not not huge vegetable eaters so this is a hobby learning endeavor for my kids as much as anything. I started small this year, I tilled a 16x24 foot area several weeks ago. Based on what my family does eat I planted strawberries, cucumbers for pickles, broccoli, and tomatoes all from small plants from a local garden center. Then I planted two rows of corn and two rows of green beans, both from seed. I didn't have time to do a soil test before I got started. The area I tilled has just been lawn before now. Prior to planting I put down 600 pounds of compost and tilled it in with my mini cultivator. I planted everything far enough apart so I could use my cultivator to help keep the weeds at bay. Hopefully by this fall I will have some compost from my new coop to start adding a couple times a year.

You're going to find gardening to be as addictive as chicken keeping. Some suggested reading: Any of the books by Ruth Stout. Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew, Lasagna gardening by Patricia Lanza, Hay or straw bale gardening (do a google search) And Four season harvest by Eliot Coleman.

 

[flyin-lowe]

Thanks
My house was built in 2008 and before that it was farmland. At some point it must have been a strawberry farm. A large portion of my lot (5 acres) has strawberry plants all over it. I honestly didn't realize what they were. I just assumed they were some type of broad leaf weed. My neighbor told me what they were and I was a little skeptical at first. I let some of them near the fence grow and the started to sprout small berries. I realized how tuff of a plant they are since I have been mowing them every week for years and they are still there.

 

[lazy gardener]

If they are cultivated berries, you could salvage some of those plants and put them in a bed with lots of manure and compost, and you'll have a bumper crop next year. If you are intending to keep your garden small, you could even plant those strawberry plants between your corn rows, and let the runners go in that space. Then, when the corn is harvested, just cut the stalks off close to the ground, and mulch the berries when it's time for the winter.

 

[BruceAZ]

personally.. the main problem with gardening is pest control..

 

[pennyJo1960]

I too have my first garden as a an adult, grew up we had
2 acres of garden we all had to weed and hated with a passion.
I bought a little joe tiller from home depot and have had to
rent a bigger one to do the first tilling

I have a major huge greenhouse 17 square foot geodesic dome
for a greenhouse,, I live with my best friend his adult 34 year old son
the sun in my life that spoil me rotten with chickens and my garden.

 

[Randal Scott]

Share some pics of your garden Flyin.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have my first garden in VA and something keeps eating everything but peppers and tomatoes. I am up to three rows of wire hooked to a solar hot box. Planning to plant more seed and try again.