Where should I start??

[PotterWatch]

I am trying to start a garden for the first time in my adult life. We finally have a house with room for a garden, and it's only taken us a year of living here to get our yards set up to actually be ready for the garden. I have no idea how or where to start though. We have three irrigation pipes installed that we will be attatching drip hoses to spaced evenly along the back of the chicken run (that's in progress right now). So how should I proceed from here? This is the plot we will be using, it is about 10x20:

 

[PotterWatch]

I thought that I should add that I want basic vegetables. Things like carrots, beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, broccoli, ect. I know they can't all be grown in the same season, but I don't know which ones to grow in which season. I really am a total newbie at this. I know it's not going to be nearly the same as the garden my mom had when I was little (in Alaska). I'm in So. California now.

 

[beavis]

This will tell you what to plant when in So Cal.

http://www.digitalseed.com/gardener/schedule/vegetable.html

How's your soil, are you planning on adding any amendments to it?

Have you thought about raised beds?

Good plan to hook up a drip system, your going to need it in So Cal.

What direction does that block wall face?

 

[patandchickens]

First, make real sure that runoff from the chicken run in a big rain isn't going to flood into the veg garden, and that irrigation runoff from the veg garden isn't going to make the chicken run damp. Neither of those things would be at *all* good. A partial safety measure would be to use pavers set vertically into the ground, or landscaping timbers if you like them better, to make an actual, part-buried divider between the two parts.

As far as how to get started, I think there are two main approaches to choose from: either concentrate on a few easy crops so you will probably get SOME of SOMEthing, without much failure; or plant a little bit of a lot of different things, many of which will quite possibly fail to some degree but you will get to see how different things behave. Really it just depends on personal taste.

For relatively foolproof crops I would recommend tomatoes and beans, also lettuce if you have a lettuce-friendly climate.

Try to work a whole lot of well-composted organic matter into the soil, which looks a bit poor in the photo. Preferably at least a month before you plant. The better shape the soil is in, the more your plants can 'take a joke' and stand up to disease and suboptimal watering and so forth and so on.

Have fun! Nice looking coop and run (in progress), btw

Pat

 

[hermeneutics]

I like the look of your garden. This is going to be great fun for you. One of the things I would do is raise up the sides by adding a perimeter of cinderblock, timber or whatever you've got. Then, I'd rent or borrow a rototiller and turn that soil over deeply -- at least a foot deep.

Slowly, start adding stuff to the soil. I'd add a load of manure, for instance, or whatever you've got locally that's relatively cheap. Every year, add a truckful and rent the rototiller again to mix it up.

It looks like the sun isn't obscured by a tree or building -- nice! If you're in the hot desert area, you may want to put some sunshade up in the summer. Draping it over stakes will work.

Tomatoes take the sandy, poor soil so grow them where your soil is the worst. I'd attach some sort of trellis or strings to the fence and plant peas/beans so they'll grow upward on these supports. This should be pretty easy.

Scroll down this gal's website and look at her garden set-up. This may be the sort of garden you want. I love the raised beds.

http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/tomatoes/

Two bits of advice: 1) Grow only what you eat (don't grow exotic stuff that you really don't like or want to eat); 2) Use heirloom seeds or plants.

And enjoy!

 

[PotterWatch]

Thanks so much for all the advice and links. I am hopeful that I will get at least something to grow and be useable this year. I really appreciate the help!

 

[PotterWatch]

This will tell you what to plant when in So Cal.

http://www.digitalseed.com/gardener/schedule/vegetable.html

How's your soil, are you planning on adding any amendments to it?

Have you thought about raised beds?

Good plan to hook up a drip system, your going to need it in So Cal.

What direction does that block wall face?

I have no idea how my soil is and I don't know how to find out. I am planning on working in some good compost as pat suggested. I have thought about raised beds, but I think for this year I won't end up getting anything planted unless I get on it fairly soon and who knows how long it would take us to put in raised beds. The block wall is on the southern side of our yard, so the garden area pretty much gets full sun, though we do have some vines we are training to grow a few feet above the wall, so those will eventually provide some shade to the south part of the garden.

 

[homesteadmom]

Remeber that the wall will get hot & add heat to the garden also, so make sure you do not plant heat sensitive plants right next to it.

 

[PotterWatch]

The wall is about 3ft from the edge of the garden. Do I still need to be careful of it if it is that far away?

 

[inchworm]

Yes. It's going to act like a radiator - soaking up the sun and releasing the heat later.