Time to plan the garden

[DFen911]

So I have a very small space to garden in. Our winters here are not harsh but we have had some cold weather. So I'll probably wait till March to plant. I am not a gardener so want to get some experience in before we move to Oregon.

My question is, I need to add nutrients to the soil so will get 2 bags of manure. Do I add it now or wait closer to planting?

So far I have enough room for 1 maybe 2 tomato plants, 6 heads of lettuce and in the front was going to do a row of onions and carrots. Onions seem to have the longest grow time up to 95 days and carrots at 85 days.

I calculate I should start my tomatoes, wait 2 weeks then start my onions, 2 weeks after that my carrots and 2 weeks after my lettuce.

Any tips, tricks or suggestions?

[Gourmet_Mom]

First, did you do a Ph test to determine the need for the manure? Then, are you planting seed or plants? Finally, did you get the growing times for your zone? Here, we'd plant the lettuce soon and tomatoes later. It gets so hot here in summer, that the lettuce only lasts until early May before it bolts.

[foodfiend]

Since you're planting in such a small area, be certain that the plants you plant like each other.
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

I buy pest control stuff from this place. They also have a lot of info on pest and disease identification, and also products on how to amend your soil.

http://www.gardensalive.com/Default.asp?...1296349324

I'm trying to decide if I should try to get my garden in very early this year, or plant a much smaller one, since we'll be going on vacation during the usual harvest time.

Good luck, Denise. It's nice to think of summer, isn't it? Even if you are in CA!

[DFen911]

A ph test? Um..no I always just put the tomato plants in the ground. Can I get a kit at Lowes or Home Depot you think? I was gonna go everything else from seed. I had thought about starting them in the house but the weather here should be really nice by the end of Feb or early March. I went out and turned all the soil over and will do it again before I plant. I thought I'd plant the seedlings and when they started coming up I'd thin them out. Daphne can you come out to Calif please and help me get started?

Vicci yes I did do a check on the stuff I want to plant to make sure they would all play nice Love that link, that got saved to my "garden" folder. Lol I have a garden folder now. I never thought about bugs, I've done tomatoes before and always just spray garlic water around them and no bugs.

My only concern is we will be gone for almost 2 weeks in April for our anniversary but my mom is always willing to come by and help and she LOVES growing things. So I know she'll keep a good watch on things.

[Gourmet_Mom]

Denise, our Home Extension Service does it for free. You just mail a couple of soil samples, and they send you a report of what your soil needs to produce a maximum garden. It's a government agency. Check your County Agency listings.

[foodfiend]

Lucky you, to have your Mom live close enough to come over and take care of your garden while you are away.

Daphne, thanks for the reminder about the soil samples. Our garden isn't too large, only about 24' square, but I try to get the soil analyzed every 5 years or so (it costs about $10 for the test kit from the county extension office).
Thinking about this makes spring seem a little closer.
Oh, wait, the garden's currently under 8" of snow...

[cjs]

Of course we were in Northern California, but I usually waited until Mother's day and planted everything at once. Then every 3-4 weeks add more onion, carrot, radishes and lettuce. Speaking of lettuce, I always plant leaf lettuce so I can just cut the amount of leaves I want per salad and it continues to grow, rather than plant head lettuce. Butter lettuce and red is what I usually plant.

We're going to have another large garden this year - sure missed it last summer!

[Gourmet_Mom]

That's what I do, Jean. I got what I thought was Frizze (sp?) and didn't get the right thing last year, so I was disappointed. I'm not going to make that mistake this year...I hope. I'm going back to red and green leaf lettuce.

Although, we do ours earlier due to earlier warm temps. It's almost time to plant Italian parsley, lettuce, potatoes and onions here.

[DFen911]

I am so antsy to start planting But I know Feb can get a bit cold so holding off.

Daphne I checked our county government offices and they don't offer anything like soil testing. So going to check Lowes and see if they have a kit I could use. The neat thing that I'm reading up on is all of the stuff I want to plant has very close pH levels. I've never grown onions before and was told that if I plant them in one spot one year then next year they should go in a different spot. But can I plant anything on the old onion site next year or is that spot a dead spot for one year?

[Gourmet_Mom]

Yes, I'm pretty sure you can plant something else there. It's called rotating your crop. The same is true for corn and many other items. These plants suck certain nutrients from the soil that they need, so they need a fresh plot next year. So you just rotate where everything goes. You may want to draw a diagram and keep it for next year. You could also make notes on what did well where, etc.