New to vegetable gardening

[soodjunk]

Wow thank you guys so much for your responses, you've been most helpful and I now have quite a few resources to turn to. My area is probably a 10x10 area that I can keep for gardening. The rest of the yard has been claimed by the kids so I am trying to come up with a plan for what types of seeds I should plant and how much space each plant will take. I have managed to grow Kale which is my first gardening success story. Can you please recommend a few more websites or books which you have found to be helpful. Thanks in advance

 

[catjac1975]

There are many styles of gardening that you can look up for a small space. The square foot garden comes to mind. Think up when you buy seed. Or there are many new varieties of veggies that are bush types as opposed to sprawling, cukes, squash. There are many beautiful veggies that can go into your front yard decorative garden, sweet potatoes make a beautiful vine. In fact they sell a sweet potato vine for containers that is just decorative. Why not use the real thing? Kale is pretty Lettuce is pretty especially the red varieties, Artichoke is a beautiful perennial that gets large and lush in warmer climates.

 

[digitS']

Neither are quite Mel Bartholomew's square foot gardening, which seems to me to be very exacting and a tremendous investment in soil prep, but here are 2 online resources for intensive planting, how much to expect and what one might grow:

Purdue University - Small Plot and Intensive Gardening (4 page pdf)

Virginia Cooperative Extension - Intensive Gardening Methods

Steve

 

[baymule]

Welcome to growing your own food! Fresh garden produce is awesome. I live on a small lot in town and because the back yard is heavy shaded, I plant in the front yard in the narrow strip between the sidewalk and driveway. I paved crosswalks in brick to make beds. I posted pics of my garden,

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33860

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33864

I have yellow squash, zuchinni, bell pepper, tomatoes, okra, basil, rosemary, radishes, bannana peppers, sweet potatoes (just planted slips) green beans, and marigolds and periwinkles scattered throughout. We just harvested new potatoes and onions.

You can purchase 4 or 6 packs of plants that make it so much easier to get started. I plant seeds and started plants both. I also plant a fall garden in broccoli, lettuce, greens, cauliflower, onions, kale, collard greens, turnips. With a small space it is not about rows, it is about 6 of this, 4 of that, 12 of something else, to give you a good variety of vegetables. Be sure to keep us updated!

 

[jakesebastin]

As you are just new to the growing you need to do some research on which kind of soil it is and which kind of plants will be suitable to the soil and the atmosphere. Here the space will not be matter too much.