Advice on creating a small garden

TEXASBGE2018

So now that we have moved into our house. My wife and I are wanting to build a small vegetable garden. We have plenty of space but being new to this we don't want one that's not manageable.  Our plan is to mostly grow herbs, garlic, peppers, onions, maybe some cucumbers or squash, and tomatoes. My question is how do I get started? How big of an area will I need to grow the items above? Are these items difficult to grow/ maintain? I'm in North Texas by the way.

fishlessman

look at raised beds, 42 to 48 inch wide so you can reach the middle makes it easier to weed.  i planted mine on a ground seap (underground spring) no watering needed

Kayak

Get a copy of any edition of Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening".

Gulfcoastguy

Just don’t use treated wood for the raised beds, toxins leak into the soil. Put in 4 or 5 foot wire cages for the cucumbers to climb on the North side of the bed.

ColtsFan

Raised beds for sure. Cucs grow well on a trellis. 

The raised bed let's you control the soil that goes in it. Start with good quality top soil and I like to add peat moss and manure. 

fishlessman

some plants grow well together, some dont

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/companion-planting-guide-31301

did the steak and weave method with the tomatoes this year, never going back to cages.

https://youtu.be/dtAUQIniypg

with the tomatoes get some early ones and some late ones, makes for a longer season. and plant indeterminate tomatoes, the determinate ones all harvest at once. the indeterminate ones keep putting out tomatoes til the season ends

fishlessman

lots of info here

https://dcmga.com/north-texas-gardening/vegetable-gardening/

Mattman3969

You might find some of this interesting 

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1203785/2017-garden-thread/p1

Brisket_Fanatic

Gulfcoastguy said:

Just don’t use treated wood for the raised beds, toxins leak into the soil. Put in 4 or 5 foot wire cages for the cucumbers to climb on the North side of the bed.

Seriously? Now I have to start all over again..........

DoubleEgger

You can grow that in a few pots. No need for a bed. 

fishlessman

weber kettle makes a great herb garden in the grilling area.

make sure to really contain mint and horseradish well, they tend to explode into the yard. the mint even grows in the lake

Gulfcoastguy

Brisket_Fanatic said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Just don’t use treated wood for the raised beds, toxins leak into the soil. Put in 4 or 5 foot wire cages for the cucumbers to climb on the North side of the bed.

Seriously? Now I have to start all over again..........

Sorry but I have been on gardening forum since 1997. I also redid several piers and bridge fenders. We couldn’t use the green treated wood where people might touch it with bare skin.

JethroBodeen

Cracked Egg bases make nice herb gardens if your dealer will let you keep it. Mine wouldn't.

I would suggest container gardening at first until you figure out what you want to do. You can DIY a container garden if your that type or Earth Boxes work great for starting out. https://earthbox.com/

BugFreak72

Wow great thread. Thanks for all the info. 

SciAggie

I’m pretty new to back yard, small scale gardening. One decision I made was to try to grow items that I couldn’t get locally. We grow lots of herbs.

alaskanassasin

I would take a soil sample to your local soil and water district, They can recommend fertilizer apps.  Till it, plant it, run a soaker hose on a timer so you don't have to worry about watering.

YukonRon

At your new home, do you have rabbits and other type critters around? Depending on how many and type, you may need to consider some burrow resistant fencing.  Before adding that feature, I had to lower the rabbit population (-13).

TEXASBGE2018

YukonRon said:

At your new home, do you have rabbits and other type critters around? Depending on how many and type, you may need to consider some burrow resistant fencing.  Before adding that feature, I had to lower the rabbit population (-13).

Haven’t seen any rabbits yet. I’ll take note though.

TEXASBGE2018

Great suggestions so far. Keep em coming. Any particular types of peppers you folks recommend? What types of quantities do I need to plant to ensure a good yield?

JohnEggGio

As @YukonRon suggested, give thought to the critters that might want to enjoy the fruits of your labors.  I spent the summer of 2018 trying to fend off persistent attacks from squirrels and chipmunks.  They won.  I didn’t bother this past summer - and I found it to be a much more peaceful summer...

fishlessman

TEXASBGE2018 said:

Great suggestions so far. Keep em coming. Any particular types of peppers you folks recommend? What types of quantities do I need to plant to ensure a good yield?

if its full sun you should be able to grow every pepper there is down there. up here in maine i have problems with a few as the season is so short. jalapenos, thai, cayenne are easy. ghost and scorpian need more time and sometimes i get some and sometimes the frost in the fall wins out.  pruning the peppers is key in the first month, your season is long enough to do two or three prunings. this gives you a big bush with lots of peppers

Legume

In Austin we have always had better luck planting several varieties of cherry and pear tomatoes than with larger tomatoes.  We plant early and most years get to replace plants that start to play out and we can get a second season in.  The smaller tomatoes give you a great variety of tomatoes every day and the surplus actually freezes very well for sauces, etc down the road.  San Marzanos and Roma’s also do well.

Gulfcoastguy

https://www.rareseeds.com/craig-s-grande-jalapeno-pepper/

this is the best and most productive jalapeño. 

fishlessman

Legume said:

In Austin we have always had better luck planting several varieties of cherry and pear tomatoes than with larger tomatoes.  We plant early and most years get to replace plants that start to play out and we can get a second season in.  The smaller tomatoes give you a great variety of tomatoes every day and the surplus actually freezes very well for sauces, etc down the road.  San Marzanos and Roma’s also do well.

those san marzanos really produce well up here, ive had them reach 12 feet in our short season and covered with tomatoes

SGH

@TEXASBGE2018
You did not say if you was going to do a container/box style garden or a traditional in ground garden. With that said, if you are doing a traditional in ground garden, invest in a tiller. It will save you tons of labor. Best money you will ever spend. 

If you are doing a container or box garden, forget the tiller. 

SonVolt

Just accept that you'll plant everything too close the first year and wind up with an overgrown mess the first season. Squash and tomatoes take up a lot of room... more than you realize when planting the seedlings. Each season you'll have more and more success. 

TEXASBGE2018

SGH said:

@TEXASBGE2018
You did not say if you was going to do a container/box style garden or a traditional in ground garden. With that said, if you are doing a traditional in ground garden, invest in a tiller. It will save you tons of labor. Best money you will ever spend. 

If you are doing a container or box garden, forget the tiller. 

Sorry it will be Container/box style. Above ground. Plan to make a box at least 4ft by 10ft but could go as big as I need to. May even do (2) 4ft by 10ft's side by side or an L shape. The area I'm considering putting it in is roughly 30ft by 40ft so plenty of room. It will be within 30ft of a garden hose or I may tie in to my existing sprinkler system and add a drip system. Haven't decided on all that yet hence the asking for tips/advice.

TEXASBGE2018

The area towards the far end fence is where I plan to put it. That area is roughly 30ft wide and it’s about 30-40ft from that fence to the back corner of my house.

alaskanassasin

Morning sun afternoon shade

TEXASBGE2018

alaskanassasin said:

Morning sun afternoon shade

That area gets sun most of the day. That picture was taken at about 6PM

Ike

Google raised bed gardens and view images.  So many neat ideas to make your garden into yard art as well as a garden.