My very first vegetable garden. HELP!

[Herechickchick]

Hi all, I am going to plant my very first garden this spring. I have not been to the library to get any reference books yet so I thought I would ask you all for some guidence first. I am in zone 7 Memphis, Tn. I would like to start with carrots, green beans, beets, turnips and tomatoes. I am also going to plant a patio blueberry bush and a Montmorency cherry tree. My questions are:
When is the best time to plant (I will be starting from seed indoors except the tomatoes)?
Can any of the vegetables be planted in containers? I have a small space.

I am thinking of purchasing this mini greenhouse . What do you all think of it, good idea or waste of money?

Any and all advise will be greatly apperciated. I am a complete novice!

Thanks

Adam

 

[jc12551]

I grow my carrots and tomatoes in containers. Beets and turnips would be too big (couldn't get enough in a container) I think. Green beans I don't know about. I can buy those around here for $1 a gallon freezer bag so I don't grow them. Carrots should not be started in a sep. container and then transplanted, you get crooked and deformed carrots.

When is your last frost date? According to my The Old Farmer's Almanac Southern Edition you have 228 growing days and Last frost is Mar. 23. This is about the same as mine. Read the packs, they will tell you how many weeks to start before the first frost/when to direct sow.

 

[patandchickens]

(I will be starting from seed indoors except the tomatoes)?

Unless there is some particular other reason, like you're getting tomatoes from a relative, why not start them from seed too? They are plenty easy and forgiving. As others have said, don't start the carrots indoors though, it won't work right.

I am thinking of purchasing this mini greenhouse . What do you all think of it, good idea or waste of money?

Enh, probably not the best use of money, IMO. The thing about any kind of greenhouse type dealie is that a) it will get just as cold as the outside air at night, unless you put a whole buncha black-painted jugs o' water inside (which in one this shape, you couldn't fit very many), yet it will also get waaay too hot during sunny days unless you are there to manipulate the venting. (Real greenhouses, and in fact many cold frames as well, have thermostatically-operated venting so you can do wild and crazy things like go to work during the day.) The cheapie little greenhouse-lookin' things like that are really not as useful as the ads make them sound. Primarily they hold in humidity and keep out strong wind, is all. And absorb money

If you want an outdoor growing-on/hardening-off space, which is not at all a bad thing to have!, you can arrange it much more cheaply by cobbling together a cold frame. Sorry for my laziness, but just google for descriptions of cold frames... you can build one with cinderblocks and an old storm window sash, or really whatever you have around or can scrounge. Then save the extra money for, well, whatever you use extra money for such as gardening books or a larger chicken coop or whatnot.

Hope this helps, welcome to gardening,

Pat

 

[Herechickchick]

Thanks for the info! I will not buy the greenhouse and will look into building my own. everyone else feel free to respond.

Thanks

 

[1acrefarm]

Here is a simple built one. http://projectsby.us/index.php/Cattle_Panel_Greenhouse

 

[digitS']

1AcreFarm, that little cattle panel greenhouse looks a lot like my tunnel. I start plants in a small greenhouse (actually a sunshed) and use the tunnel for early veggies in the ground. It also "catches" some flats of plant starts when things get too crowded in the greenhouse. There's a picture of the interior below.

You can see that I used pvc pipe rather than wire and I've wondered how safe the wire is. Would it rip holes in the plastic?

Adam, I think you've got some good ideas. My problem with anything too small is what Pat has pointed out - it's hard to control the temperature. The tunnel is 10 by 20 and I really think you'd get a lot of mileage from it but it would probably cost about the same as the shelter from Jungs.

There are lots of books in the library about starting a garden. It isn't rocket science - avoid all books that pretend otherwise. Here's a short pdf file from Cornell that has some good basics.

Steve

 

[Herechickchick]

Thanks Steve! I will not research too much, I agree it can lead to problems.