On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 23:49:13 -0500, "noone" wrote:

Hello. Long post sorry. Well the background is I am a teenager almost 18
now you know the age . I know little of what I have read so far since I
know nothing about planting. Still I don't know much at all. I have a
little area in the back of my house, a yard. I want to garden do something
with that yard. It is a yard covered in grass in weeds we just cut it when
it gets high. So its not a nice grass lawn but just a common grassy spot
hehe. Regular crud. Problem is I don't know where to start. I know I have to
remove some grass I don't want to remove the whole thing I would get in
trouble with the folks. So I have to start with a small section.

I absolutely know nothing of terms I have read example mulch, spading, etc.
I just want to see if maybe some nice people may help me get started in a
small project in my yard. My budget is really small lol. Maybe some veggies
might be too tough. so there it is I do not know what to do and need
help.
AREA DESCRIPTION:
Its a small yard.
Seperated by a wooden fence but connected to the neighbors yard. Fence runs
above the dirt. So its like a big lawn that was constructed then divided by
a fence. But I have my share. Dont know if that matters.
Gets good sun out there. I am in South Florida. The dirt in the yard is
black.

If anyone can help a complete beginner I would really appreciate it because
I would like to grow something and feel proud about it.


Are there gardens of the type you'd like to grow that you've seen
around? One thing about gardeners, we're talking the people who do
the gardening themselves.. not someone who hires a landscape company,
they're usually willing to talk with folks about their garden and
gardening experience. So, if you have seen some gardens around that
you like, talk to the folks. If they're outside stop by and say I've
admired your yard for some time now, and I want to learn how to do
these things, have you any pointers?

If you talk with several people, you'll likely get some good advice
that applies to your situation, because they live and garden where you
live and want to garden.

I've seen most of the general suggestions I'd have .. but I haven't
seen you mention the *size* of the area you have to work with. That
makes a great deal of difference in what I'd recommend as what I'd
suggest for a 10 x 10 or 5 x 20 garden is much different than what I'd
suggest for a 60 x 100 foot garden.

So, measure the area you want to work with. Keep track of the sun
patterns on that area when you can, what time does the sun hit it,
what time does it leave it? If there is shade, where and how much?

What do you want to grow? Food, or ornamentals? Herbs? etc?

I started working on our yard when I was 14 because I was bored, and I
asked if I could plant a vegetable garden, and my dad not only said
yes, he thought it was a good idea, and he started digging and
actually kind of took it over, but we had a large garden that year,
and we grew a lot of food, which we needed as we were pretty much
broke. Mom and dad canned a lot of green beans, mom made pickles,
pickled beets, froze corn, peas, canned tomatoes, made relish, chili
sauce.. like the stuff you've perhaps tasted..it's sold near catsup,
red like catsup, but a little different seasoning. Not "hot".

Dad pretty much had a garden everywhere he lived after that except for
2 or so years we lived in a large city and didn't have a place to
garden. But after we left there he had a garden every year up to his
death at 94. He made raised beds part of the time, part of the time
just slightly mounded beds. He mowed lawns in the summer .. all this
after he was 62 .. and he hauled home literally TONS of grass
clippings and put them on the garden beds as mulch, and turned them
under at the end of the year. Put the overflow into compost bins.

So, get your tape measure, some scraps of wood to use for stakes.
Even tree trimmings, anything you can use to pound into the ground,
pieces of angle iron.. but make sure you can SEE any metal well..
spray paint it orange! If you have some string or twine take that
with you. Determine what your family will allow you to use, measure
it out, write it down and pound a stake at the starting point, to the
next corner, or edge, and then to the next and so on. Take the string
and wrap that around all the stakes around the edges. That makes it
easier to visualize, as well as a guide to where to start digging.

If you have a lot of long grass.. you could either mow it very very
short.. or.. leave it long, and take a shovel or better if you have
one, a spading fork .. sink the digging implement of you choice into
the ground and tip it bad a bit to loosed the soil enough to be able
to take hold of the long grass.. and pull it out of the loosened soil.
The spading fork really works best for this, but experiment with it,
figure out how deep to dig and how far to rock back on the shovel/fork
handle that it will just loosen the soil enough to let you get that
grass out without it breaking off in your hand too much.. as that
won't get the roots out and it'll just come up again right away.

If all this is just way too daunting for you, and you aren't averse
to it .. you could mow the area like usual, around 3" long, then do
your measuring and staking, water the ground well if needs be .. if it
doesn't rain enough, and then get some roundup, spray the grass &
weeds within the area you can garden in, and it's supposed to let you
see where you've sprayed in 24 hours time, and it should kill most of
it within a week or 10 days. You can spot spray or dig what's left.

After that, just keep the area cleaned of weeds by hand weeding means,
hoeing, mulching. You can use the trimmings from the rest of the
yard, ..cutting it more often will keep weed seeds out of it.. to
mulch and/or use to make compost for next year too.

You can lay down newspapers on newly dug ground to keep seedlings from
sprouting and taking over. If you are going to put out started
plants, just cover the area with several thicknesses of newspaper, wet
down, and then cut an X through it to put your plants out and then
cover around . If you're wanting to seed, do so, then put the paper
on ether side of the areas you seed. I'd recommend a 2 or 3 foot wide
bed to plant in rather than rows...if growing veggies. Starting a few
lettuce seeds every week and setting them out as transplants is MUCH
better than seeding it into a row where it will just attract slugs.

Half whiskey barrel planters are good too for other areas to spread
out. Drill a hole or several .. in the bottoms before filling with a
potting mix you buy or make with dirt/peatmoss/bag composted
manure/sand mixed to make a light mix.

I'll shaddup now. ;-) Walk around, look for gardens, talk to
gardeners in your area.. you'll gather a wealth of knowledge, and
perhaps some starts of plants for your garden! And could be some new
good friends that could last for many years to come!

Janice