Newbie from Oklahoma

[ninnymary]

Welcome Kelly, you will really enjoy our group and have fun gardening. Glad you are finally starting. Get yourself some plants since they are easier than starting from seeds for a newbie. You can plant a little bit of this and that but keep it small to see what does well for you.

Mary

 

[seedcorn]

Welcome. Ask anything you want. They will help you figure things out.

 

[KHaws]

I am thinking we are wanting to do raised beds. we have an acre and a half. but most of it is wooded currently. so we will be working with our decent size front yard and the 2 car driveway worth of dirt between our shed and garage. (its not a drive way, just a good way to explain size). I have started making a 2ft by 5 ft area for strictly worms (some flowers probably also) in the "driveway" area. it is no where close to done, so they are in my hall closet. they have been there almost 3ish weeks now. i just counted there are 12. (i aerated the soil and then fed and moistened them). my 4yr old daughter got a kick out of helping me with that. I had more, but the DH decided to go fishing earlier today.

anyways, i tend to ramble... but the reason for raised beds is because our neighbor uses chemicals on his yard. our property is lower than his, so we get the run off to an extent. also it is harder for the dogs to get it. and easier to keep mischievous kids (ours) out of. well easier to catch them getting into it. the kids will be allowed to help with the garden, but with supervision.

thank you everyone for the ideas/help.

 

[Smart Red]

Ah ha! You will love raised bed gardening. You can weed or work right after a rain without getting all muddy, you don't need to leave space for walkways in the bed -- the best size for raised beds is 4 feet wide by whatever you want long. 2 feet is about as far as you can reach to tend the garden properly -- and the soil stays soft since you never walk on it.

My DH made 10 foot long beds. Then he cut a 10 foot board in half for the ends. Five feet wide is a tad too hard to reach, so I have 6 square feet in the center that I use for long season plantings or must leave untended. Sh-h-h, don't tell him, though. The beds are so nice otherwise that I just appreciate what I have without complaint.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Hi from Montana! I agree, raised beds are the way to go! I made mine too big - my whole garden is 10' x 20' raised. So i have to walk in it, which is less than ideal. If i did it again it would be long narrow beds, 3' to 4' wide like Red was describing. We all live and learn from our mistakes, obviously!

Here with our short growing season i like the raised beds because the soil warms up earlier in the spring. But it makes it easy to cover with a hoop system or greenhouse too. Sounds like with the Oklahoma sun and hot that mulch will really help you out - keep the soil more evenly moist.

 

[journey11]

You will love raised beds! They are so much easier to tend to. And you can really fit a lot in a small space since the soil is richer and weeds are less of a problem. I have 3 long raised beds in addition to my 2 regular gardens and am hoping to put in 3 more this summer in time for fall crops.

 

[Lavender2]

@KHaws, lots of helpful friends and inspiration here, you will love it! WELCOME to the group!

 

[baymule]

Could you put a trench next to the fence line to drain off the neighbors run off?

 

[KHaws]

@baymule there is no fence line. or defined property lines. there is an imaginary line of where everyone thinks it is.

 

[baymule]

@baymule there is no fence line. or defined property lines. there is an imaginary line of where everyone thinks it is.

No fence, we can still work with this.....dig a shallow trench, put the dirt from the trench on your side of the trench to make a "hill" the nasty ol' neighbor chemical water can't get over. Does your neighbor garden or just have a fabulous chemically treated lawn?
Maybe if you bribe the neighbor with fresh veggies, he won't take offense at being "ditched" out of your yard.