I Want To Grow A Garden

[MarinaVanessa]

Okay so usually around this time the DC kiddos and I plant a flower garden in pots in the back yard. This year however we have less space than we usually have. We live in a condo and I only have about 15 x 20 sq ft amount of space and late last year we got a playhouse. The playhouse takes up the space that we used previously to put our pots.

I looked around and found out that we have a community garden within a 5 minute walking distance that I can get a plot in (for a fee) to plant a garden in. The plot looks to be right around 10x10 sq feet, WAY more room than I had for our flower garden here at home. So I'm really interested and I'm thinking about planting vegetables too since there will be way more space.

Only problem is ... I've never planted vegetables and I have no clue what to do ::. Have any of you planted veggie gardens? What type of veggies are good to start planting right now? I'd really like to take multiple walks a week to the garden with the DC kids to tend the garden but I've never done anything other than flowers and spices (all of which were planted in pots). Any ideas?

[Mary Poppins]

Yes, we garden here.

We have an indoor and outdoor children's garden and are sprouting seeds in the indoor one as I type this. We use indoor greenhouse kits to sprout our seeds and place them on shelves in a huge, glass enclosure that we have in my dining room. It has grow lights in it right now and I use it this time of year for indoor gardening, (the rest of the time it is our parrot's "other cage").

This year I bought the kits with the little dirt pods that expand when you add water, the kids thought that was magical .

My advice would be to go to a local nursery and ask for help. Everything depends on where you live and they will put you in the right direction. Good luck and have tons of fun!

[Oneluckymom]

I was just at home depot this weekend and was thinking about buying some vegetable plants. But I was worried about not being able to spend enough time tending to them. For all you guys who do this when do YOU find the time?

[Mary Poppins]

I was just at home depot this weekend and was thinking about buying some vegetable plants. But I was worried about not being able to spend enough time tending to them. For all you guys who do this when do YOU find the time?

I garden with the kids, actually. Plus I have two full time helpers. On warmer days I will get up at the crack of dawn to garden and will be out until after dark. I lovethis digging in the dirt!!

Weekends, weekdays, holidays, today even. I just watered my seeds.

One thing, though, be careful buying from Home Depot or any "box" store. Local nurseries plants are much better and have a better chance of surviving IME.

[MarinaVanessa]

I was just at home depot this weekend and was thinking about buying some vegetable plants. But I was worried about not being able to spend enough time tending to them. For all you guys who do this when do YOU find the time?

Ha ha, this was one of my concerns too ::. But I figured if we planted the seeds and seedlings as a group and we all took care of watering and weeding then it would be okay but who knows right? It worked well previous years but I never planted directly into the soil. It was always in pots. We never had the issue with weeds, gophers etc.

Each DC child planted their own flowers and herbs and cared for it (I helped the smaller ones) but if we dedicate an hour or two a week to tend the DC garden and the kids helped that would be enough wouldn't it? I guess if I needed to I could go in and work another hour or two on Saturdays.

My DC kids already know that April is the time that they plant their flowers and are already asking me when we're going to start. Tomorrow is the day that we go in to buy the supplies so I was really interested in maybe starting them in small pots and then transplanting the seedlings into the ground once they sprouted.

[MarinaVanessa]

One thing, though, be careful buying from Home Depot or any "box" store. Local nurseries plants are much better and have a better chance of surviving IME.

Good point however I do LOVE that Lowe's has an awesome 1-year plant guarantee ... well ours does anyway. If you get seedlings or any other plant from them you keep the container it came in and if it dies all you have to do is dig out the plant and take it back. They give you either your money back or a replacement plant. I don't usually buy the flowers from them for the DC kids though, we use seed packets and watch them grow.