Welcome to GW Janel! I think you'll find GW is a great source of information. I'm still kind of a veggie gardening newby myself (going on my 4th year) but I'd love to share what I've learned so far.

What are you planning on growing this year? Will you be doing most of your gardening in raised beds, directly in the ground or in pots?

Hi there Janel. Gardening is a very forgiving activity.

This is the place to be if you want to learn to garden. You will have alot of support. Just ask away and you will get the answers.

Vegetable gardening: Think about starting with leafy veggies first. They don't take alot of room, germinate quickly and mature within 2 months. Try:
radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale.

Think about buying a bag of onions sets(bulbs in a bag). They are sold in many stores (grocery, hardware, Menards)in the Spring. You just place them in your loosened soil, water them and they almost grow themselves.

Check out some of the other forums: vegetable gardening, composting, etc. There is a wealth of info. Check out each forum's FAQ list first. Many of your questions will be answered right there. Soil prep is a biggie...see if there is a forum on that subject.

This is the best time to start thinking about gardening. You are already ahead of the game. :) SB

Thank you so much for the positive encouragement! Thank you also for the tips on what is the easiest. I have a wishlist of veggies (and some fruits and herbs) that I would like to grow. Although it is very tempting to just jump in and try them all, I know I should pace myself! If you have a moment, give me some feedback about what a newbie should steer clear from!

Zucchini, Tomato, Squash (winter, butternut & spagetti), Broccoli, Eggplant, Lettuce, Jalepeno Pepper, Strawberry, Raspberry, Spearmint, Oregano, Garlic & Parsely.

This year, I will be planting directly into the ground. I haven't tested our soil yet, but I know the previous owner had a garden a few years ago. I am really interested in composting, so I will head to that forum and the others suggested. Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you again!
Janel

Plants that you want to grow from tranplants: eggplant, tomato, broccoli, pepper, herbs. Buy transplants from a nursery or go to a Madison Farmer's Market (great fun!)to get your transplants.

I have never grown eggplant, so no input there.

Plants you can grow from direct seeding into the ground: squashes, lettuce.

The vine plants (squash, zucchini) like to have warm soil before they will grow. Plant around June 1st. I am planning to put black plastic on the area where I will grow vines this year, to warm the soil faster.

Lettuce seed you can sow right on the ground. Just keep it moist while the seeds are sprouting.

Pepper & tomatoes are transplanted about June 1st, maybe a little sooner.

Strawberries: buy them through a seed catalog (or get them from a friend). Keep them moist till you plant them about mid May (sooner if the weather is tolerable--no snow storms) Plant them up to the point where the roots meet the stems. They are picky about this. Planting level makes a difference. If you are worried, just try it. Not all the strawberry plants will live anyway. There always seems to be some die off.

Garlic: treat these like daffodils: plant them in the Fall(Sept\Oct). You can plant them in the Spring for harvesting garlic leaves. The bulbs may not have time to develop if planted in Spring.

Raspberry:(saved the best for last) If you order raspberries from a catalog: when they arrive, soak them in water for 12-24 hours, then bury them in moist soil till you can plant them. April, in a rain shower, is the best time to plant these. Be sure your soil is prepared (loosened, weeds pulled, any organic matter added--they love compost). Place the roots under about 4-6" of soil-- gives them a good anchor. Water in well and cover with a mulch so they can't dry out. Water them everyday and don't let them dry out. Of course, the soil should drain well.
If you get these from a friend, prepare the soil first, dig the holes. Then get the plants. Place them in their new home as soon as possible. Just don't let them dry out! Did I mention that, yet? :)

Composting is a great idea. Check out your local recyling center and see if they allow you to get mulch, many place do.

Other ideas out there? SB

When you plant your tomato plants, take all but the top three or four leaves off the plant. Plant it deeply so that all you see are those remaining leaves. Tomatoes will form roots all along the stem, thus making a healthier plant.

Zucchini is available in a bush form as well-which really helps save on space. Oh, and send all extra ones to my house lol

Remember to have fun and figure out how you want to reduce weeds now-for instance, you can mulch your paths heavily, etc. My dad used to have chickens...they would help with any creepy crawly things :)

Hello Janel! Here are my thoughts on the veggies and herbs you mentioned:

Zucchini ~ Very simple to grow and very productive. I'm just south of Madison and I'm able to direct sow zucchini in the ground about 2 weeks after our last frost. That works out to a late May or early June planting here. They virtually grow themselves. Zucchini plants are bushy and can get to 3' in diameter or larger so they'll need a lot of room. One zucchini plant produced enough squash to feed my family of three easily.

Tomatoes ~ I personally think tomatoes are fairly simple to grow as well. I start my tomatoes from seed and then transplant them into the garden. Whether you start them from seed or buy tomato plants, you'll want to transplant them into your garden roughly 2 weeks after your average last frost date. In my neck of the woods, I usually transplant them right around the end of May. I second what Putzer said about planting the tomato plants deeply. I don't remove any leaves before planting...I just bury the plant deep enough to cover up most of the bare stem portion at the bottom. Most tomato plants will need to be staked or caged to keep them off the ground. Which method you choose seems to be mostly a matter of preference. I could go on and on about tomatoes so if you want any more info, just holler.

Winter Squash ~ Winter squash has been somewhat of a challenge for me. In my area, squash vine borers are a real problem. They look almost like red wasps but they are actually moths that lay their eggs along squash vines, usually at the base. The eggs hatch and the little hatchlings literally bore into the vines and munch their way through, often killing the plant in the process. Aside from the borers, winter squash is fairly simple to grow. In my area, those mean little moths are only active in early-mid June so I have to directly sow my squash seeds at the end of June. Squash vines grow quickly and they usually get very long. Spaghetti squash is quite prolific in my experience.

Broccoli ~ I have no input on this one because it seems that I am broccoli challenged. I cannot for the life of me get it to grow properly.

Eggplant ~ I tried eggplant in my first garden. From what I remember, it was very newby gardener friendly. I grew it from a store-bought tranplant and the only thing I ever had to do with it was keep it watered. That's it. The plant basically took care of itself. Eggplant likes hot weather, as do tomatoes and peppers.

Lettuce ~ You can't go wrong with lettuce. I generally grow looseleaf lettuce. As soon as the soil can be worked in the early spring (i.e. soil's not frozen or waterlogged from melted snow) scatter the seeds about according the recommended spacing on your seed pack. Barely cover them. They usually sprout very quickly. Lettuce likes cold weather and will get bitter/pungent in hot weather.

Jalapenos ~ These buggers are very easy to work with. I start my peppers from seed but nursery transplants will work just as well. Either way, peppers like hot weather so don't transplant them into the garden too soon or it'll retard their growth. I plant mine out in early-mid June. Basically, I try to plant them out when I know daytime temps are around 70 degrees on average and nighttime temps are no less than 50 degrees. They like full sun.

Garlic ~ As SandiBluffs said, Garlic is planted in the fall. I have found that garlic works great for deterring hungry bunnies and squirels in my yard. My garden bed is square, so I literally plant a garlic border around the outside to keep the pests away from my food. (Thankfully we love garlic!) Basically you take a garlic bulb, split it up into cloves and plant the individual cloves about two to four inches deep. I think you're supposed to plant it 4 to 6 weeks before your ground freezes. I aim for September. Also, I've read that you're not supposed to separate the bulb into individual cloves until the day you plant them. After planting the cloves, don't let them get too dry. Garlic likes moist (not waterlogged) soil.

I don't have any input on the other items. I've never had any luck growing strawberries however I think that's because I'm doing something wrong...not because they're terribly difficult. I have a devil of a time getting oregano seeds to sprout so I've only managed to grow it one year out of three so far. It was simple once I got the seeds going though. I've never tried raspberries, parsley or spearmint. I'm planning on growing parsley this year though so I guess we'll learn about that one together.

Good luck and happy planning!

Wow. This is wonderful information! I started taking notes on what you have all said, and I just decided to hit the print button instead! Thank you doesn't even begin to say it!

While I am on a roll with getting great advice...

What should I be doing now? We just moved into this house, so I am starting new. I don't have a compost pile. Can this be started during the winter?

What should I plan on doing this spring in terms of preparing the soil?

Thank you so much in advance for your input!

Janel

Hi Janel!

I haven't tried composting yet so I'll be no help on that subject. I honestly do very little to prepare the soil in my garden bed each spring. Here are a few things I do throughout the growing season that are at least a little beneficial to the soil:

1. In the spring we grow a ton of peas. (We love fresh garden peas.) Legumes like peas and beans are 'nitrogen fixers', meaning they are able to take nitrogen from the surrounding air and turn it into a more useable form for other plants. Apparently the roots of the legumes are the important part for the purposes of adding nitrogen to the soil so when the weather warms up more and it's time to get rid of the peas and plant my warm weather crops, we just cut the pea plants off at soil level and leave the roots in there. Since plants like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers love nitrogen and we love fresh garden peas anyway I figure it's a win-win thing.

2. In the early spring, after the ground has thawed and stopped being all waterlogged from melting snow, we till the top 6 inches or so of the soil. I don't like to till down too deeply because I don't want to bring too much of the clay soil up to the surface. We made the mistake of tilling too deaply our first year and the soil was like concrete the next year because of all the clay we brought up to the surface. That early spring till loosens up the soil enough for us to plant our peas, spinach and lettuce.

3. Throughout the growing season we mulch with grass clippings and shredded leaves. In the fall, after all of our plants have been pulled, we toss a generous layer of grass clippings and shredded leaves over the surface of the garden and till it in. By the next spring, the leaves and grass have broken down and we're left with nothing but pretty black dirt. I think it works along the same lines as composting, only on a much smaller scale.

One thought re: "What should I be doing now?"

Right about now I'm finalizing my plans for what I'm going to grow (i.e. specifically what kind of tomatoes, peppers, etc.), how many of each thing I want to grow and where I'm going to put them all. I have found that if I plan out my garden layout carefully, I can fit more plants in there. It certainly simplifies planting time too. I already know where I need to put each plant, where each walkway is going to be, etc.

Aside from that, right now I make a hobby out of drooling over all the fun exotic looking fruits and veggies in the catalogs. Most online retailers have updated their websites for 2006 by now and I started receiving paper catalogs in December. It's a great way to fight the winter blahs.

There are some great book in the library on composting. Check out Lasagna Gardening. SB

Hi Janel, you've gotten allot of great advice here! About the only thing I can add is a note about the spearmint. I do all of my mints in pots these days because these plants always try to get away from me. Walla, aroma therapy while mowing the lawn!

Jane I have a small greenhouse and start all my garden plants. I drive through Madison every weekend in summer. If you want some plants let me know, we always get off I 94 by Wanakee for gas, could drop them off for you. I always raise more than I need. Just let me know.

Bill

Have you seen the wisconsin garden guide by Jerry Minnich. This is my bible. I am on my 3rd edition but I had him autograph my first one from 1976-It no longer has a cover but my oh my, that book has tons of garden Karma. It's covered with dirt splotches-It feels like it was only yesterday that I could have posted your post. Planting my first garden-cut from sod on a very early spring day in 1977. I thought this book was a bible and followed the planting dates only to be saddened because we did not have a late frost-I could have planted tomatoes that year prior to Syttende Mai-the weekend that Norweegians plant around here.
Have fun!

You definitely want to have a good "Gardening" bible or two. I use the "Joy of Gardening" by Dick Raymond. I have also heard good things about The Lasagna Garden and the Square Foot Garden. You can pick up books cheap on discount websites like allbooks4less.com. The library is a good source, but it is nice to have a book you can tab, highlight and write notes in (such as "worked great!" or "this idea really sucked")

Composting is good too do, but if you don't have something going yet, don't worry. Just start one this spring. They don't have to be fancy, I just pile my leaves and compost material in a few piles behind my garden shed and let nature do the work. I usually throw some composted manure on the garden in the spring and till it in.

Knowing when the last frost date and first frost date is important too. Most seed packets tell you to plant so many weeks before or after the last frost date. They will also tell you how long it takes before you can harvest, which hopefully will before the first frost date!

As far as your crops go, the raspberry need lots of water and manure. The spearmint will need to be in a container or it will be all over (you can cut the bottom and sink it in the ground). I would not start broccoli from seed, buy the plants. I would also get some BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) to keep the cabbage loopers away. I get them every year. I have not grown lettuce or garlic, so I am of no help there. I have grown strawberries, make sure you cut off the daughter plants.

Some of the mistake I have made (and still make) are growing way more food then we can eat, planting too close together (you won't believe how big the plants grow!) and making my garden too big.

I hope you enjoy your new garden!

Thanks again you guys. This information is so helpful. I have printed it out and started my own little garden guide. I will be taking it with me to the garden show in Madison. I know I will be totally overwhelmed there, but it will be exciting!

Thanks again!!!