It's about that time of year again :D

[johnjf]

Well it's just about that time of year again for me. It's going to be my 2nd year gardening and I've very excited. I can tell you I have learned a bit in my first season and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more this year. So far what I have done was come up with a plan and drew it out on paper. I also wrote down the things I will be growing and will be keeping a journal for it all this year. I know many are still gardening but I will be getting into the indoor gardening when the next winter hits.

Hope everyone has a good year with there crops and can't wait to see some pics of the upcoming gardens

[Dumbo]

I will be getting into the indoor gardening when the next winter hits.

Oh? What do you plan on having/doing?

My wife wants me to try and fix up some sort of small indoor herb garden for next winter.

[OGrubber]

Thanks John,
Hope you have a successful season too.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the learning never ends. laf

[johnjf]

Last season I just dug up the ground, removed dirt and replaced it with bags of new soil, etc. There was about 5-6 rectangular areas I made and planted different veggies/fruits. Peas, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, onions, garlic, pumpkins, strawberries, blueberries, asparagus and a couple other things. I didn't have much of a design plan or anything. I just planted the tomatoes with the tomatoes and what not. It was kind of all over the place. Most of my plants grew real well and I did an experiment by planting some seeds in the original soil and not the ones I bought. The seeds were growing in the original soil so I'm pretty happy.

This year I found some soil testers, bought some new seeds and drew my layout for my garden. I will be planting most of the same things since i have seeds left over from last year. I will be planting the veggies that use trellises on the outside of my garden and on the inside I will have plants like potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, etc and fruit. I want to grow some flowers also, stupid question: is it ok to have flowers close to veggie plants or fruit??

[Dumbo]

is it ok to have flowers close to veggie plants or fruit??

Apparently it's preferred that you do so.

This is called companion planting and/or trap planting/cropping.

See the topic just below this one:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=26351&

[angelinaottawa]

Last year, I grew marigolds, salvia, petunia in front of my eggplants.

It worked well for me, I have a very small backyard.

This year, I have like a canopy...and instead of putting curtains on the four sides to block the sun, I am already drawing the set up of alternating vines to go from the ground up to the canopy:

i was thinking of beans - cucumber- bitter melon - malabar spinach.

Anything else light enough to climb and also edible?
I am afraid the squash are too big and my canopy would fall:)


Angie