For those of you that garden...

[TKDmom]

What kind of time commitment does your garden require? And how big is your garden? I'd imagine bigger gardens take more time.

 

I just went to a gardening workshop in my area. I've tried to garden before but the heat, bugs, poor soil, nematodes, weeds, etc. always do me in. The guy running our workshop recommended double-digging to enrich the soil. So I know I'll have a big upfront time commitment if I go this route. We're entering our fall planting season here (which is the best time to garden in FL) and I'm just wondering how much time I'd need to put into this on a daily/weekly basis to keep my plants alive.

Edited August 11, 2010 by bonniebeth4

[ChristusG]

I want to make a garden too.....and I'm here in Florida as well. I had no idea that fall was the best time to garden! I just figured it would be spring. I want to make a raised bed garden in a small portion of our yard. I wonder if I have time to get that started before fall gets here? Are there certain things that are better planted in the fall here? I want to grow some tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, and beans.

[Paintedlady]

I gave up traditional gardening this year and instead started a square foot garden. Do a google search for SFG and read. Pick up the book and get started. Now the bugs, weeds and poor soil are no longer an issue. The only change I'd make that differs slightly from the advice in the book is to make the boxes 12" deep instead of 6". You can also do a search on the forums here. There are several threads about it. Have fun!

[TKDmom]

I want to make a garden too.....and I'm here in Florida as well. I had no idea that fall was the best time to garden! I just figured it would be spring. I want to make a raised bed garden in a small portion of our yard. I wonder if I have time to get that started before fall gets here?

 

I'm sure you have time. Sept-oct is really the time to be planting. I'll look for some info for you. If you're interested in the PowerPoint presentation we had at our workshop, pm me. He had a lot of really good info. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed and I want to know what I'd be getting into as far as time goes.

 

Are there certain things that are better planted in the fall here? I want to grow some tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, and beans.

 

Yes. Blueberries can be planted anytime, since they are shrubs. Now (during the rainy season) is good, since you won't have to water quite as much. I know tomatoes can go in the ground now. Carrots are cool-season veggies, so you may want to wait until Oct. (and anytime up to Feb.) to start planting them. I can't remember with strawberries. I think they go in ground Sept./Oct. and you can expect a harvest in Feb.

 

It seems so complicated. Right now I want to move farther north where gardening is "normal". I always feel like this at this time of year. Other folks are anticipating having cool weather just a few weeks away, and we have another 3 months of summer to go. :glare:

[hornblower]

square foot gardening etc works very well for 1-4 seasons IME. Sooner or later, the weeds WILL come. It's not like raising a bed all of a sudden makes weed unable to seed there. It's just that it helps you start with a clean slate.

 

We used to garden a 1000sq foot community garden plot. I'd say that was about 4-8h/week just to keep it going. Any extra stuff (turning compost, planting, harvesting etc) was additional time. We dropped the plot & while we have a large city yard & a greenhouse, I don't always garden each year. This year is kind of an off year.

 

We have a lot of our beds filled with perennials & shrubbery & I need to weed a lot.

 

A hoe is your friend. My motto is constant irritation. I bug those weeds so much they give up. Dutch hoes are great for this.

 

I also like to weed when I'm talking on the phone. So if someone calls me & it sounds like it will be a longer chin wag, I slip on my shoes & wander around the yard weeding (lately I've been pulling morning glories out of the creek) as I talk on the phone.

 

Like so many things, a little bit every day or two is much better than a big blitz once a week.

[TKDmom]

I gave up traditional gardening this year and instead started a square foot garden. Do a google search for SFG and read. Pick up the book and get started. Now the bugs, weeds and poor soil are no longer an issue. The only change I'd make that differs slightly from the advice in the book is to make the boxes 12" deep instead of 6". You can also do a search on the forums here. There are several threads about it. Have fun!

 

My problem with raised beds is drainage (too much of it). We have sand in our yard. If I put a raised bed above that, it will dry out quickly and I will have to water every day. My thinking is that, if I can mange to double dig and enrich the soil (actually, if I can convince dh to double dig ;)), the soil will hold moisture better.

[hornblower]

I just read in a thread about California gardens (um, who was that? a few days ago asking for help?) that sunken beds work better in dry climates - stay moist & cooler.

 

We're temperate rainforest so raised beds make sense here. It's soaking wet & cool here already & the only way to grow heat loving crops who don't want to be in a puddle is to raise the beds.

 

You'll want to amend the sandy soil with manure & peat. Peat holds water. If you are planning on growing veg, get some nice organic manure. Do you compost? Your own compost pile is invaluable to getting soil enrichment for free.

 

If you're doing a large area, it might be worth it to rent a small rototiller. Depends how much your time is worth, kwim?

 

A u-bar digger would work nicely too: http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10521&cat=2,42578,40769&ap=1

[Nature]

I did my first square foot garden this year and it was so much easier than a traditional garden. It is 8 X 4 ft. The most time-consuming aspect was mixing the soil (vermiculite, peat moss and finished compost). I love the raised beds! I get a few weeds, but not many. Since you don’t walk on the soil, it’s really loose, so the weeds come up very easily. I probably spend less than a ½ hour per week on it. I do get some bugs that eat the leaves, but overall. It’s not too bad.

[keptwoman]

Double digging is my idea of hell!! We are using the no-dig system, also called lasagne gardening. We live in a climate that is hot and dry (average summer temp is around 85F but it gets up to 110F with about 10% humidity)in the summer and very cold in winter. I've found the raised layered beds work great, there is lots of straw and organic matter in them which holds the moisture in, and mulching is absolutely crucial. We had a massive crop last year from a relatively small space, this year we are doubling the size of the garden.

The garden took about 30 mins a day last year, but I enjoyed the time spent and the rewards of my labours. It's been pretty much ignored all winter, but we are getting ready to double the size of the garden and I'm hoping to get the kids really involved in the garden this year.

Edited August 18, 2010 by keptwoman

[Audrey]

What kind of time commitment does your garden require? And how big is your garden? I'd imagine bigger gardens take more time.

 

I just went to a gardening workshop in my area. I've tried to garden before but the heat, bugs, poor soil, nematodes, weeds, etc. always do me in. The guy running our workshop recommended double-digging to enrich the soil. So I know I'll have a big upfront time commitment if I go this route. We're entering our fall planting season here (which is the best time to garden in FL) and I'm just wondering how much time I'd need to put into this on a daily/weekly basis to keep my plants alive.

 

 

I don't think it has to be horribly time intensive -- weed a little every day, water a little every day (as it needs it), thin seedlings a little every day at the beginning, harvest a little every day when it's producing.

 

If you do it as a little a day, it doesn't seem so overwhelming. I think the most time input is in preparing your garden, then seeding and planting it. Also, if you get frosts, then watching the weather and trying to cover things in the nick of time can be time consuming, too.

 

I find my daily garden routine rather relaxing and enjoyable. I have a full acre of garden, though, so it also gets worked by a small tractor which doesn't eliminate weeding, but sure does help. Other than that, I do all my 'close-up' weeding by hand, crawling around on my knees. It's very theraputic.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Audrey