organic vegetable garden

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's late for tomato, eggplant and peppers from seed.
Cucumbers, squash, greens and beans are still OK.

I meant that it is late for sowing your own seeds for these plants. Those will take 6-8 weeks to grow to planting size.
Seedlings bought at a nursery are perfectly fine to plant.

[Anonymous]

is it too late to start carrots from seed now?

[Anonymous]

I just found this spring/summer planting and harvesting schedule fron VTech that I thought people might fing helpful with this thread.

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-331/426-331_pdf.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is it too late to start carrots from seed now?

The only way to grow carrots is from seed. It is too late to plant spring crops. You can put in fall crops later on.

[Anonymous]

op here- yes, I am thinking about a container garden. I just got my own townhouse...I have a small backyard, I already planted a bunch of flowers in the small space I had. Further, I was concerned that if I planted organic vegetables in the gorund it might not make sense because there might already be a bunch of chemicals like fertilizer/pesticides in the dirt and then it wouldn't be very healthy to be eating food grown from there... so I thought a container with orgranic soil might be the better way to guarantee an organic vegetable garden...

[Anonymous]

American Plant, hands down. Very knowledgeable and helpful and most everything they sell is organic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op here- yes, I am thinking about a container garden. I just got my own townhouse...I have a small backyard, I already planted a bunch of flowers in the small space I had. Further, I was concerned that if I planted organic vegetables in the gorund it might not make sense because there might already be a bunch of chemicals like fertilizer/pesticides in the dirt and then it wouldn't be very healthy to be eating food grown from there... so I thought a container with orgranic soil might be the better way to guarantee an organic vegetable garden...

How old is your townhouse?

Fertilizer/pesticides in the soil is really not an issue, except under some truly exceptional circumstances. The main thing to worry about would be lead, but only if your townhouse was built before 1980. And in my experience, most vegetables do better in the ground than in containers.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone grown vegetables on a vegetable table? I saw a video about the u of maryland vegetable table and thought it looked cool. There are instructions about how to make one...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One other note. While I always try to buy organic seeds or organic plants, sometimes my timing regarding shopping availability is off, and there might not be an organic version of the item I want.

I allow myself to go ahead and make the purchase, because while the plant might not have started as organic, I will raise it in an organic fashion, which I feel is still acceptable.

If it's a choice between that, and buying from the store (meaning gas to go to store, gas from trucks that transported the food from perhaps long distances) I feel like I'm still making a very earth-friendly choice by purchasing a non-organic seed packet/plant and then raising it without pesticides/fertilizers.

I agree.

We do start a lot from seeds saved from last year's crop and from farmer's market purchases. But we still buy several seedlings at the Depot, Merrifield etc. It may not start out organic but it is raised in our pesticide free yard as organic.

[Anonymous]

Can you do a raised garden bed? I've had better luck with that than containers. I do a 50/50 mix of organic soil and compost and have great results.

PP who said not to worry about soil if your house was built after 1980- I don't think it's that simple. What was there before your house was built? Is there or was there pressure treated lumber there? Etc. I don't worry a ton about that but it is one more reason I feel better about a raised bed where the plant roots will barely, if at all, reach the ground soil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you do a raised garden bed? I've had better luck with that than containers. I do a 50/50 mix of organic soil and compost and have great results.

PP who said not to worry about soil if your house was built after 1980- I don't think it's that simple. What was there before your house was built? Is there or was there pressure treated lumber there? Etc. I don't worry a ton about that but it is one more reason I feel better about a raised bed where the plant roots will barely, if at all, reach the ground soil.

Yes, it's possible that the OP's house is built on a former orchard, and the builders left the topsoil. Or that OP's house is built on a former gas station. Or that OP's house is built on dumpsite for industrial chemicals. It's unlikely, though.

And while you're at it, what's in that soil? What's in that compost?