I haven't had an actual garden in over 15 years and will be planting one in about a month. How large of a garden should I aim for, and how much variety should I aim for?

Edited

Blueberry shrubs will also give you some fall color but make sure you have at least two different varieties to ensure fruiting. You can also order mantis egg sacks and live ladybugs online if you want to boost your predatory insect population.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Oo neat I should order me some bugs

[–] Butler_crosley 1 points (+1|-0)

Amazon has a bundle package of 1500 ladybugs, 2 mantis egg pods, and 1000 green lacewing eggs for around $27.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Not bad at all. I feel like half of those would be DOA being shipped, but then again I have never ordered bugs online before

[–] ScorpioGlitch 2 points (+2|-0)

Edited

Do your soil tests first. If things seem okay, do a test plot. Don't sink a lot of money into it your first go around. Sometimes the soil might test right, the sunlight is right, etc. etc. but things just won't grow. There's nothing quite like sinking two or three hundred into a garden that just dies.

Start with the easy things: tomatoes, cucumbers, and other things you can find at Walmart/Lowes.

If things pan out well enough, plant like you want next year.

Also, keep your bushes out of the garden. Unless you're going to be extremely aggressive pruning them, they will take over. Same thing with some types of herbs (mint comes to mind). Both types will have runners along the ground to sprout new plants and that can be a pain to control.

Marigolds are good for pest control. Dill is better. If you can grow it, it will attract real ladybugs which consume aphids and attract preying mantises as well. My garden always attracts all the dragonflies, mantises, and many other beneficial bugs. It's pretty cool to go around and see the baby mantises swarming your garden. Just be sure to snip the dill flowers off before they bloom or your dill will die.

Also, if you have the space and want to try, corn next to cucumbers. It's freaking magic. The cucumbers climb the corn plants and you don't have to bend over to pick them. You'll need to do at least four rows of corn though since they wind pollinate.

And try to keep the cucumbers away from the tomatoes. They're both vine plants though we tend to want tomato plants to grow upright. All the same, they'll fight and choke each other out.

Source: I have a 1600 square foot garden.

Edit: at some point, you'll get tired of tilling and weeding. Mulch is your friend. It's expensive to make friends with it initially because of the cost but it will enrich the soil and keep it warm. All you'll need to do at that point is hand till wherever you plant things instead of the whole plot.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Yeah I was certainly planning on using mulch or brush to keep weeds under control. I'm growing this stuff at my parents' place since I live relatively close to them and they have a lot of extra unused land. I grew a small garden there about 15 years ago so i'm assuming the soil is still ripe for growing. I'll definitely add some dill and maybe next year add the corn next to cucumbers depending on how things go this year.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

i didnt realize mantises could survive so far north, i've never seen one around here. guess i just assumed they were more a southern thing. i dont know enough about gardening to comment about much else other than 5 raspberry bushes doesnt sound like enough.

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

There are a lot of praying mantises in the midwest, but they are generally the Carolina variety and have been heavily wiped out from pesticides. Similar to how dragonflies have become a rarity up here...to much industry has killed off so many of them.

In grade school I used to catch mantises and dragonflies and bring them into show and tell. I'm just hoping I might be able to attract some, or at the very least help release some in my now fast more rural area

Edit: also doing to buy 5 healthy berry plants that wont succumb to disease seems a bit tough, so that is why i'm sticking to just the middle and corners for that for now. Still gives great haven to mantids and keeps them far enough apart on case any are diseased, then I can replant next year with the ones that did well to make more

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

oh man, i didnt realize how long its been since ive seen a dragonfly. suppose its a matter of time before the monarchs are gone too.

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

Man we used to have so many just massive dragonflies that would swarm into my parent's garage. They would be 4-6 inches long and would just start eating themselves when they got locked in for too long.

It has been a long time since that was a common problem even though the property has not moved.

I think taking a stand against modern pesticide is more of a right wing issue than left wing these days. Preserve our land.

[–] E-werd 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

I don't know much about what you're planning there.

I wouldn't recommend corn unless you have a field of it. It can be done, but you have to go out and tap the stalks daily so that the adjacent plants can pollinate its neighbors. My understanding is that each piece of silk is a corn kernel, and every silk needs to be hit with pollen to have a full ear. We had corn for a few years, it was DEFINITELY better when we learned this trick. It happens naturally from wind in the large fields.

Green beans are a nice option, they're good fresh. You have to find a way to keep the deer and rabbits out, though, because they'll eat the whole plant down to the ground. Green beans are more of a vine and will need something to attach to at a certain point, a couple posts along the plot with a couple clotheslines between them is good.

Jalapeños are a good option, I do recommend. If you're going to do pumpkins or melons then just make sure you give them plenty of room, those vines grow pretty crazy and you may need to lead them away from the other stuff.

Sounds ok to me overall, just good luck keeping the local fauna out of it.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Oh yeah green beans would be a good idea. Certainly was planning to put some wire fencing around to keep out rabbits, but deer might just plow over that hmm

[–] Butler_crosley 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

Deer can jump over 8' tall fences.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Good thing I have a 175lb crossbow just in case they get stuck in my garden ;)

[–] Justintoxicated 1 points (+1|-0)

How many dead hookers do you need to bury and how fat are they?

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

They were mostly fat, so 6 feet by 2 feet per....I think I planned the right size

[–] yeti 1 points (+1|-0)

Edited

Between each area should be probably a total of 5 raspberry/blackberry bushes evenly distributed

Blackberries will completely take over the area. Might want to make a different plan.

edit: blackberries are just NOT part of a garden "plan" They're part of the hassle of living in a rural area.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

I wouldn't complain if I ended up with a berry farm. My grandma had 2 bushes that were well contained and never spread, but yeah the swampy areas had those bushes like crazy. I was just thinking it might look cute with one big bush in the middle then a few on the edges, but would make more sense to just do a row nearby, easier to maintain

[–] PHUK_IT 1 points (+1|-0)

What region/state do you live in?

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Just a few hours from Lake Erie

[–] PHUK_IT 2 points (+2|-0)

I can spit on Michigan and Ohio from here.

We have a small 2.5 acre vineyard and a dozen or so hops... (for fun) The hops don't require a ladder if you use a pulley on top of the pole. We've had many large gardens years back, and between deer and weeding, it seems like a full time job sometimes. ;)

The only pest we really have problems with are Japanese beetles. They eat everything. Traps attract them. Pulling them by hand and throwing them in a small container or gas or kerosene works well. Blood meal can keep deer away, but isn't guaranteed.

[–] OeeThaGreat 1 points (+1|-0)

You should grow lots of grains and hops sobyou can brew beer.

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Hops would require somewhere high to string them up. I'm in a wet enough climate to do it, but don't have a great spot to grow them. I'd rather get some bees and make some mead with the honey 😋

[–] OeeThaGreat 1 points (+1|-0)

Just dig a hole and put a 20 foot pole in it. BAM! You can grow hops now.

[–] jobes [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Then I have to buy a 20 foot ladder! I only have a 6 foot ladder

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I haven't had an actual garden in over 15 years and will be planting one in about a month. How large of a garden should I aim for, and how much variety should I aim for?

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