Looking for guidance

[Northern Gnome]

Is there a learning center among this site? I am looking for basic articles on various topics to get started as a novice.

 

[baymule]

I’m not aware of one. What do you want to know? Ask questions and we will do our best to answer. We need your general location, climate has a lot to do with gardening. What works in Alaska might not work in Texas. LOL

What do you like to eat?
How much space for a garden do you have?
What is your soil?

Welcome from east Texas, so happy to have you here!!

 

[digitS']

At the top of the Harvest subforum is a pinned thread on food preservation.

The TEG Project Manager has written quite comprehensive articles lately ona number of subjects. Here is a "search link" on those.

Some of us have favorite websites Cooperative Extension Services that have been of help. It depends on the subject but I will go off fairly often to one of those.

We probably all have gardening books on our bookshelves that were important for us and that we could recommend.

Steve

 

[Alasgun]

Welcome from Alaska as well!
Would you define “get started as a novice”? Do you have any growing experience at all?
If not; this might be easier than you think as long as you don’t get over whelmed with information too soon.

Up here i’ve got some folks i’ll say “I've brought along” and the thing i try to impress on them is “dont try to do all this your first year, it’s not possible”!
Folks come and see this or that and they want it all right now; there’s plenty of folks on here who will offer bits of advice, chew on it a bit and decide what fits where you are, your budget etc. Hold onto what works!
In time you’ll be offering you’re own advice!

 

[Northern Gnome]

Thanks for all of the responses. I have basic backyard veggie garden experience, but want to have an heirloom veggie garden. I will start some plants indoors and eventually set up a small greenhouse. My learning style is best with structured reading moving from basic refresher to more complex. It seems this forum would serve as a good reference once I brush up and then do Q&A on an as needed basis.
If anyone has a recommendation for a reference book on vegetable and herb garden planning, care I would really appreciate it.

 

[heirloomgal]

Hello @Northern Gnome ! Welcome!

There are so many great gardening books out there, but if you want to focus on heirlooms in particular a great book for both heirloom variety info as well as practical gardening advice is by William Woys Weaver, called 'Heirloom Vegetable Gardening'. Wonderful information.

My own 2 cents for garden info help would be 2 things - keep your starter plants on the dry side. It's very easy to overdo water with small plants as we fuss over them so much in that tiny state. This keeps the plants nice and strong and compact, not all floppy and drooping over your pot edges. #2, bottom watering is your best friend when it does come time to give water.

 

[meadow]

Thanks for all of the responses. I have basic backyard veggie garden experience, but want to have an heirloom veggie garden. I will start some plants indoors and eventually set up a small greenhouse. My learning style is best with structured reading moving from basic refresher to more complex. It seems this forum would serve as a good reference once I brush up and then do Q&A on an as needed basis.
If anyone has a recommendation for a reference book on vegetable and herb garden planning, care I would really appreciate it.

I'd recommend Stacey Murphy's, gardening series (videos). Last year she ran "The Joyful Gardener" class from Feb 14-21, and I believe this class may be offered a couple of times a year. It's a lot of information to absorb though. Each episode is free for a time (maybe 24 hours?) then all are available at the end in case you missed any. Of course her ultimate goal is to sell unlimited access subscriptions.

You may be able to glean some information from her youtube channel. But her actual class videos are hidden until the class is running.

@heirloomgal gave some excellent advice about not overwatering. I'll add that keeping seeds too moist is a good way to cause them to rot before sprouting. If you stick your finger in the dirt and can detect moisture, then it's golden.

As far as keeping a compact growth habit, I think lighting (and distance to lighting) is the most important factor. Too weak or too far away and the plants will be reaching for the light.

Another good resource is On The Grow youtube channel. Their focus is on growing microgreens, but they have an episode that details putting together a growing shelf system that is pretty nice (and many of their tips are helpful for seedlings). Ha! Found it!

 

[flowerbug]

how long have you lived where you are at? for starting out i always suggest doing the hardscape planning for gardens during the first few seasons because you really don't want to put things in the wrong place (in the middle of a low area or where floods might run through after heavy rains or spring snow melts). prevailing winds, shading from trees and working around other features of a landscape can take some time to figure out. for us we are in a low area that sometimes would flash flood so overall one of the better things we could have done before putting gardens where we did was to build it up using better topsoil than what we have, but that wasn't a consideration at the start.

also you want to make sure you have access for wheelbarrows or if you want to use heavier equipment to move things.

over the years the biggest thing i've found out is that it is much easier for me to take care of a larger garden space than a bunch of smaller gardens. every edge is work so i've been combining gardens and eliminating pathways where i can do that and that has saved a lot of unnecessary work as time goes on.

i don't like hardscaped pathways because from season to season i may want to plant a different layout to take advantage of crop rotations and other factors.

for your first gardens if you have places closer to where you spend the most time (at the house) it is often a good idea to put your garden where you will see it because that also means it might help keep some of the herbivores away.

fences are still an issue here (because they weren't put in to start with or what was put in were the wrong kinds of fences built out of the poorest materials that didn't last or don't really work to keep the varmints out completely). like having the cedar trees planted right along the property line meant i can't fence them on the outside to keep the deer from trimming them so they're mostly now always getting eaten during the harder winters. i have some trees that were planted at the same time about 24-26 years ago, a few have been eaten so many times they've never gotten above 4ft tall and a foot across, yet others are 30+ ft tall and 25 feet across.

 

[nune]

You seem to be in Michigan. Great Lakes Staple Seeds has a lot of articles that might be helpful for you, but they're mainly focused on grains.

We need your general location, climate has a lot to do with gardening. What works in Alaska might not work in Texas

On this note, if you're buying seeds from a company located far away from you, adapt their instructions appropriately for your area.

 

[Branching Out]

Welcome Northern Gnome! I have only been part of this group for a few weeks but already I have learned a lot, and I hope that will be your experience also. My number one tip would be to plan for improving the soil (manure is a good idea; cover crops are a lot of fun too) and developing a very basic crop rotation; once those two things are taken care of the heirloom vegetables can be slotted in, and the garden becomes a horticultural merry-go-round. Emphasis on the merry.