New Gardener
 

I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

I wondered if the gardeners on this list had a favorite tip for gardening that I could pass on to him. Mine was to weed constantly to prevent the weeds from taking over.

Paul

New Gardener
 

On 3/31/2020 2:31 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

I wondered if the gardeners on this list had a favorite tip for gardening that I could pass on to him. Mine was to weed constantly to prevent the weeds from taking over.

Paul

Cover the ground between plants with cardboard followed by a 3"-4" layer
of straw . Saves a LOT of weeding , and enriches the soil as it
decomposes .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

New Gardener
 

Pavel314 wrote:
I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

I wondered if the gardeners on this list had a favorite tip for gardening that I could pass on to him. Mine was to weed constantly to prevent the weeds from taking over.

it takes a few years before you will get a lot of
the weed seeds taken care of in a new garden patch.
you want all the paths to have some kind of edge
down into the ground a ways otherwise any weeds
that you have under the path will get into your
garden and exploit any gaps or sunlight.

figure out where you want the garden as soon as
you can the year before and then smother it with
cardboard through the winter and put some mulch on
top of the cardboard to hold it down. overlap
the seams at least 8 inches to make sure nothing has
an easy go of coming up through the cracks. it may
take more than one year to smother some grasses
and weeds, that's ok, just do the same treatment
a second time leaving down the original stuff to
keep decomposing.

the best tool for weeding is a stirrup hoe. i use
that and a good straight bladed shovel, a large knife
for close weeding, a trowel for planting and moving
single plants or bulbs and a pointed hoe for running
long lines for dropping seeds into and then i use it
to move the soil back over the seeds and the back of
it to tamp down the soil before i water the seeds in.
sometimes i like to use a smaller mason type pointed
trowel for weeding.

a ground pillow to sit on is really nice and can
save your knees and back a lot of wear and tear. i
have three ground pillows in case i want to lay them
out and watch some clouds, but i've only done that
like once. :) i usually am way too busy to actually
take much time to daydream.

don't buy a tiller or expensive machines. they break
and they really aren't needed. low-till, no-till works
just fine. tilling stirs up weed seeds and ends up
making more work not counting the noise and expense.
pretty much the same with raised beds and greenhouses.
i like larger gardens with fewer edges and wasted space
in pathways. i plant as much as i can including paths
once i have the main areas already planted.

good hoses and connectors are worth paying something
extra for.

always wear a hat and keep your neck covered. i hate
sunscreen so i wear long sleeved shirts and keep the sun
off me so i don't get fried when i work outside.

learning about the soil community will teach you also
about other things. you don't really need to do formal
compost piles. just bury stuff and let the soil creatures
figure it out. they will. :) saves a lot of work to
not have to fiddle with a lot of turning of piles and
keeping track of how many days and such.

this is what comes to mind at the moment. :)


songbird

New Gardener
 

On Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 3:31:57 PM UTC-4, Pavel314 wrote:
I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

New Gardener
 

On Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 9:40:21 AM UTC-4, Pavel314 wrote:
On Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 3:31:57 PM UTC-4, Pavel314 wrote:
I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

I wondered if the gardeners on this list had a favorite tip for gardening that I could pass on to him. Mine was to weed constantly to prevent the weeds from taking over.

Paul

Thanks for the ideas posted; I passed them on to my friend.

Paul

The very best thing for a garden is the gardeners shadow.

New Gardener
 

New Gardener
 

On 2020-03-31 12:31, Pavel314 wrote:
I have a retired friend who decided to take up vegetable gardening this year. My wife and I discussed various basic gardening techniques, like tilling, composting, fertilizing, weeding, etc., with him. He's planning to plant tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, and similar common vegetables this first year.

I wondered if the gardeners on this list had a favorite tip for gardening that I could pass on to him. Mine was to weed constantly to prevent the weeds from taking over.

Paul


Hi Paul,

I am getting in on this a little late. I also
do not really know what I am doing, so take
what I say lightly.

My big mistake and one I am probably still making
was not realizing what I am actually growing is
the soil.

-T