Gardening for dummies?

I am starting a garden, I have cleared the spot of all grass and weeds, tilled the dirt and am ready to put down potting soil to mix in to existing dirt. Now I am ready to plant. I have zuchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, and tomatoe seeds, what is the best way to do this? Need any and all advice for novice gardener.....PLEASE

Gardening for dummies?
Best thing you can do at this point is to blend in your potting soil and start planting. With seeds, you'll need to read the packets to find out spacing for the seeds and the plants themselves.. after seeding, water to keep the soil moist (but not soaking wet).





wait for the plants to germinate, then thin them out, as recommended.





Keep record or mark what you planted where.. that way, you can know what's coming up, what's doing well and what's not.





Be ready to stake or cage your tomatoes as they start to grow.. they tend to fall over and be messy. cukes and squash spread out.. a LOT, so give them room to grow.





Good luck.. enjoy your veggies!
Reply:Mound up the soil for the vine plants and plant 3-5 seeds in each mound equal distance apart(about 4 inch" in a circular pattern) When they start growing you can thin them out to the strongest plants. Each mound should be 3-4 feet apart to allow for the long vines you will get and for weeding. As far as planting depth for the seeds, I just stick my finger into the dirt all the way and toss in a seed and cover it. I have never grown tomatoes from seed, I just buy the plant.
Reply:Depends.





Have you started the seeds indoors?





Do you have lots of rabits or deer in the area?








most of te time, starting veggies indoors, a couple weeks before spring is a good idea. If you are in north america, we are already past that. But its still a good idea to start them inside.


if you opt to start them inside, all you need is a tray/lid, potting soil and a little bleach.


wash down the tray with the bleah, only enough to clean it, not enough that the smell overwhelms you.


after that, fill the tray with the potting soil. And you are using potting soil because it is a steril soil for the seeds. Once you fill the tray, soak it down, then wait for the water to soak up, or drip out the bottom. Once its done, scatter the sedds on top, then add a dy layer of potting soil, sprinkle water lightly, and cover with the lid. Place the tray somewhere warm, sunlight isnt needed right away for sprouting.





Start each type in a differnt tray, and lable the day and month you started them.





Once the seedlings haver emerged, you can put them away from the warmth, and into the sunlight. Once they have grown about 4-5 inches, you can plant them outside.





A good idea to keep rabit and deer out of your garden is chicken coop mesh, a few 3' wooden stakes and some hair and daffodils.


Getting mesh from a store shouldnt be too hard, and it should come in various lengths, and about 2 or 3' high, if you can find it, get the 2', and measure the paraimiter of your garden, and but that much.


If you've tilled the ground, it should be easy to hammer the steaks into the ground. Drive them in every couple feet, and down 2' into the ground.


Using a simple staple gun, attach the chicken wire to the wooden stakes, with the mesh 1 and 1/2' on the wood, and curling the top 1/2' outwards away from your garden. This will help prevent rabits from hopping into your garden.





The hair and dafodils will help keep deer away, but not at well as other options, I will disuss these after I explain the hair and flowers. You hair, your families hair, even the hair from pets (expesally dogs) will help frighten deer away. They smell the hair, and assume that you, or another human or animal has been, or is in the surrounding area, they dont like this, and most will leave.





As for the flowers, dafodils are a slight poison to deer, and they wont eat them, unless they are young and dont know any better. So a small ring of them around your garden may help keep them away from much loved squash and pumpkin.








A much better way, though harder to stand and a bit expensive, is condensed cyote urine. A few drops around your yard, about a teaspoon every 8 feet, should keep both rabbits and deer, as well as stray cats or dogs, well away from your property. Reapplied every month or so, this is a quick and easy way to ward off pests fropm your garden.


I've never seen The urine in a store, so you may have to order online if you take this option.





Good luck with your garden!





PS: cucumbers can be an indoor potted plant! Always put 4 or more seeds together with squash plants, and make sure they have at least 4 feet between each plant grouping.





Tomatoes can be planted all the way up to the first leaf shoots after transplanting, the whole stem will become a root, but do not try this with other transplantings, because it can cause the stem to rot out.








sorry about spelling, the spell checker isnt working %26gt;.%26gt;
Reply:The only thing I really see it that you should have already started your tomato and cucumber seeds. Growing tomato's from seed is a time consuming process. My dad grows tomatos from seed and he starts the seeds indoors in February. You will probably need to buy tomato plants because its so late in the year. The squash and zuchini will probably germinate ok. Remember that cucumbers run so you need to probably have some cage or string for them to run up. The potting soil really isn't necessary - just use some compost from your yard.
Reply:Mixing potting soil into your garden is not necessary. You should add compost or composted manure. It's getting a little late in the gardening year to be planting tomato seeds in the ground, you'd be better off buying plants this year and starting the tomato seeds next year. Read the seed packets, there is a wealth of information contained there including spacing, planting depth and germination times as well as how long it takes to bear fruit.





There is a lot of information on our website at-





http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.c...





Good Luck and Happy Gardening!
Reply:Ewww... seeds are a pain. I suggest trying to germinate them in little pots first, then transfer the seedlings to the garden beds.





Also, when I started I didn't realize how big plants can get. So make sure you follow the spacing guidlines! 1 metre means 1 metre!!