Beginning (food) gardening

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I'd like to try my hand at growing a few of my own foods and herbs in a little

backyard space -- but I've never grown anything but bored before.

Does anyone know any good online resources for beginning food gardeners? I

live in the city, so I know I can't grow anything organic/pure -- but I'd like

to learn how to grow what I can -- safely -- for my own consumption (meaning,

no chemicals, high nutrition, etc).

Jent

" The greater part of what my neighbors call good, I believe in my soul to be

bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What

demon possessed me that I behaved so well? " -Henry Thoreau

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

Looking for last minute shopping deals?

Find them fast with Search.

http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

[Guest guest]

In the early spring you can grow a lot of greens in a little space -

think the high priced ones like mizuna, pak choi, rapini, arugula,

cilantro, and of course lettuce and spinach. These are good

broadcasted over the area and then just snipped to make a mixed

salad, or planted in thick rows (especially if you think you'll have

trouble identifying weeds).

Later when the soil is warmed, you can clear small areas to put in

some tomato plants (start indoors in yogurt containers or buy) and

green beans. They are the easiest for beginners to grow and give you

the most harvest for the amount of space. They can also grow right

in with the greens for a while, so you can use the same space.

Peppers are another favorite but if you don't put them out at just

the right time you won't get much. My favorite for production was

gypsy if you can find it - I've gotten as many as 20 peppers from one

plant.

Herbs you can grow in a windowbox, if your kitchen window is sunny

that's the best place so you can reach out and snip them as you need

them.

I don't know of good internet sites, but if you go to the public

library you can find loads of information. I read tons of books on

gardening before I started.

If you drink coffee, put the grounds around the lettuce/greens

because the caffeine in them kills slugs.

One other thing you can try in a small yard is strawberries - they

taste sooo much better than what you can buy and are pretty low

maintenance; also they can grow in semi-shade. June-bearers will

multiply like crazy but all the berries are done by July, everbearers

will give you one or two berries every couple of weeks.

--- In , Jent Lynne <jentlynne@...>

wrote:

>

> Hello all,

>

> I'd like to try my hand at growing a few of my own foods and herbs

in a little

> backyard space -- but I've never grown anything but bored before.

>

> Does anyone know any good online resources for beginning food

gardeners? I

> live in the city, so I know I can't grow anything organic/pure --

but I'd like

> to learn how to grow what I can -- safely -- for my own consumption

(meaning,

> no chemicals, high nutrition, etc).

>

> Jent

>

> " The greater part of what my neighbors call good, I believe in my

soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be

my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? " -

Henry Thoreau

>

>

>

______________________________________________________________________

______________

> Looking for last minute shopping deals?

> Find them fast with Search.

http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

>