What do you tell a new gardener?

[seedcorn]

Friend of mine who is great mechanic and businessman, wants to garden-and his son in another location. What do you tell them?

No gardening experience, wants to live off the land (question his time and dedication), wants chickens (ever try to buy layers this time of year?). Talked him out of steer-found farmers that raise and sell beef as he wants. Same. With pork. Didn't try on friers-once experienced, he'll either be sold on NEVER doing that again (my bet) or will be hooked. Did I mention, he is extremely busy?

Ok, fire away.

 

[Smart Red]

My first thought would be to start small. Probably not going to happen here.
Second thought would be to make lots of farming and gardening friends to get needed information on growing in his location.

I found gardening to be more of a learning process -- lots of trial and error -- as I gained experience. Learning to live off the land is NOT a one year deal.

 

[Wishin']

The most important thing to know is start small, an consult people who actually do the things you want to know. Before starting gardening, and raising livestock, (goats, sheep, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys) I read every book that covered every subject. The books make things seem harder and more complex then they are, in every arena, and starting big on just book knowledge becomes very difficult, and in the end you get burnt out and just give up.

most times people who are selling, or giving you something are more than happy to share their knowledge, and love to help a newbie, and want you to ask as many questions as possible, even the "stupid questions". In other words if you are buying chickens, steer, livestock ect. ask the seller all sorts of questions, ask for their contact number and if you can call, or e-mail them if you have more questions. People who try to live self sufficiently, farm, ect. love it when others take interest, find and meet other people, see their set ups and get a feel for how they do it. Then get a couple small animals(poultry), and slowly work your way up to your goal. When I tried it that way iit was much more enjoyable.

This forum pretty much proves that gardeners are like that as well, so I would recommend the same thing for gardening, start small, ask questions, meet people, and work your way up to your ultimate goal.

 

[baymule]

Tell him to join TEG, SS, BYH, BYC and read, read, read, read, join the forums and ask questions.

Chickens-build Fort Knox and he can order chicks from a hatchery. He'll have to brood them and raise them to be layers, but he would appreciate them more. Sounds kinda like he wants an instant farm. Farms don't come in a jar-add hot water.

 

[catjac1975]

Start small. The son will probably be little or no help. You do not save money raising meat-you just get better quality meat. Only do it if it's fun.

 

[thistlebloom]

Be humble. Be teachable. Be patient.

 

[seedcorn]

Need to make this clear. It's a HE. "HE's" don't read!

Son is 80 miles away. Both will have seperate gardens.

Agree with "start small" but it's a HE. He does things in a BIG way.

How about practical things.

What you would recommend for size, perennials vs. annuals, etc.

 

[digitS']

Farm in a jar, add hot water! Hahaha.

I like the idea of getting to know people who "do" and find out what it is they are "doing."

If he has to go into it BIG, maybe it could be only one or two things. You know, a milk cow can make quite a contribution. Focusing on how to care for that cow properly would be an important learning experience.

I used to make the simplest of cheeses so as to cut down on the fluids. It was an important part of the diets of the dogs, cats and chickens.

The chickens would lay eggs and one egg a day/cat, I felt was a complete diet. The dogs would sometimes get eggs. Naturally, I was drinking a lot of milk and eating eggs.

Gardens often take several years to be decent places to grow crops. About the best thing I could grow on a piece of forest land that I turned into a garden was turnips! Ha! I don't even like turnips! I was trying to grow everything else and had some idea of what I was doing. I made that garden TWICE as big the first year as what it was the third year. It easily takes 3 years but there was every bit of food coming out of that garden in Year 3 as in Year 1.

I guess I'm saying that maybe he could start big but keep it really limited. I mean, cows like turnips!

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Ok Steve. U r starting over from scratch. Do u concentrate on annuals-tomato, peppers, beans, sweet corn or perennials-strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, etc. plant fruit trees? Go crazy.

Thing I like about trees, plant them, water them, good for a few years.

Talked him out of hogs, beef-would have been epic failure!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Go to a local farmer's market and see what grows in the area that he likes and would eat. That can help him decide what to grow. He can chat with people there to maybe learn something about varieties or how to grow them. He's can shoot the bull, especially business-he's. The question is, can he listen?

I don't have a clue what he envisions. Is he planning on turning a piece of land and planting that or maybe square-foot garden or raised beds? Does he have the land already? I think I'd need to know a bit more before I could get very specific.

Living off the land is not a casual hobby. It's a lifestyle change with really long work hours. Start-up is not cheap and there is a huge learning curve. It's not just growing but harvesting and preserving. Somehow I doubt living off the land will wind up being one of his goals. He's not planning on quitting his job and going bush is he?

If he has the place and room, tell him to plant some fruit trees. Those take a while to start producing so he doesn't want to wait around to get started. The clock is moving.

For vegetables, I'd probably start him off on annuals. Those are easier to control the weeds than perennials. He may be surprised at how much time weed control takes.

I have no idea what to say for size.