Nature and Gardening

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Seeking advice for vegetable gardening (self.greenspace)

submitted 4 months ago by remington to c/greenspace

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So far I've planted fruit-bearing trees and other perennials over the past 12 years living in rural Maine. I have zero experience with annual vegetable gardening. My, initial, plan is to start with one vegetable next spring/summer. I've chosen cucumbers since it is the most popular amongst my immediate family members (wife and two boys).

The motivation behind this is NOT for sustenance. It is to add an enjoyable hobby for my self. In the off chance that it is NOT enjoyable, then I haven't invested too much time, effort and money. If I end up enjoying it (which I believe I will), then starting small would be less overwhelming and conducive to a gradual learning experience. Henceforth, since this is not for personal sustenance, we have a local food bank that I could contribute to.

My initial idea is to start growing the cucumbers in a large plastic pot located in my back yard.

And that is how far I've gotten in the planning process.

Any and all advice is very welcome.

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[–] memfree 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What type of soil do you have? To simplify, let's limit it to three choices: sandy/loose, loamy/rich, or clay/rocky/stiff?

My biggest advice is to use your own tree leaves and any lawn clippings that weren't mulched back into the yard to make compost and NOT use things like MicracleGro that add salts to your soil because -- while the initial crop may benefit -- the salts will linger in that soil after the nutrients are absorbed and you won't be able to keep using that soil if you keep adding those chemical fertilizers. You don't have to go crazy about composting. Just pile the leaves together and let it sit. If you have lots of leaves, make your pile a row-shape so it is as long as you want, but no thicker than 3-4 feet. Thicker than that means oxygen can't reach the center.

I learned that from this radio show back when I gardened: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1087444113/you-bet-your-garden

That guy has all kinds of advice for the serious gardener, too, and I was never serious about it. There are people who actually FLUFF their compost! Can you imagine going out every week or so to toss around dead plant matter with a pitch fork just for aeration? Noooooo! I just let it sit and didn't worry that it would take longer.

If you want to go beyond the pot and have a spot with sun, I recommend trying strawberries. Get live plants and pop them in the ground, then wait until the next spring. They are an easy early crop and they will replenish themselves with runners so you can get years of enjoyment out of them without having to buy more plants. Also, home grown are going to taste a thousand times better than anything in the grocery store. It looks like Maine has already figured out which grow best there. Note some are more disease resistant than others. https://extension.umaine.edu/highmoor/research/strawberry-variety-testing-at-highmoor-farm/

Other easy crops (2 for pots, the rest for ground):

cherry tomato -- does well in big pots
rosemary -- extremely pottable! then take it inside for the winter. I'm told this is a winning strategy, but my rosemary always dies in the winter despite coming inside.
mint -- not just easy to grow, but hard to get rid of once in the groud
garlic -- my yard is too rocky for garlic, but I grew it for years anyway. It even survived getting mowed down several times.
leeks -- mine were scraggly, but they made for gorgeous flowers so I let them go to seed and lo! They kept coming back from seed on their own! https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-leeks
lettuce -- cold weather crop. Lettuce becomes bitter as it matures, but you can throw seeds on the ground in the early spring and harvest before summer. If you miss the window and it starts to 'bolt' (gets tall), let it go to seed and more will come up next year.

[–] remington 2 points 4 months ago

Thanks for all of that information!