First time gardener

[Anonymous]

DH and I just bought a house. We would like to have a small garden this year and are debating between container gardening or a small raised beds.

Is there a nursery I can go to that will just walk me through this? I would like one place where I can find either a container garden or raised bed and talk to the staff about how to plant it, where to put it, etc. Can home depot do this? Or should I go to to a seperate nursery?

Any tips/advice ?

[Anonymous]

You could always do a mix of container and raised beds.
I'd suggest checking out some books from the library.
Since you are already interested in raised beds, and you are novice, I'd suggest "Square Foot Gardening".
Really straightforward approach.
There are also usually lots of great free workshops in the spring for beginning gardeners.
Home Depot staff I'm guessing would be hit-or-miss in their ability to advise.
I would start with books/workshops, then you can go to a nursery with specific questions that you need to get answered for your specific yard.

[Anonymous]

Stay away from Home Depot. My personal favorite is Benhke's Nursery in Greenbelt and Potomac.

Take pictures of your yard to show to nursery staff. Know how many hours of sun a day you get in different parts of your yard before you go.

Check out gardening books and websites to get an idea of what looks you like. Fine Gardening online has some great container ideas.

You can plant a couple of pots with pansies and other cool-weather things now, and then trade out the plants for warm-weather annuals once the pansies start looking bad in the heat.

I would just do some containers this spring and get to know your yard--what plants are there already, what kind of soil you have, how much sun you get where, what plants you like, if you want to grow vegetables or not, etc.

Be prepared to water your containers almost every day, unless it rains that day, and twice a day during the hottest days. Geraniums and vinca are the most drought-tolerant common annuals. Raised beds are harder to get set up because you have to get the landscaping timber or whatever in place, but they don't require such frequent watering.

Gardener's Supply Co. sells containers and raised bed kits, so you could look on their website to get a better idea of what your options are.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Thanks for the responses so far.

Square foot gardening looks interseting. I will check it out.

9:38 - The previous owners of our house did zero landscaping so it is semi alive grass and two dead rose bushes. Not the best looking yard.

We would also like to re-seed the lawn when do I need to start doing that stuff? It is funny my dad is a huge gardening, but lives in AZ so he knows nothing about our zone.

Maybe I will plant some pansies this weekend. We have some front steps and they have this great landing for flowers. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Behnke's is great.

I was a first time non-container vegetable gardener last summer, and I was really unprepared for the rabbits and groundhogs that obliterated by plants and vegetables. Not sure where you live, but if you're going to put the effort in to do a vegetable garden, make sure you take precautions!

Oh--and deer LOVE pansies. I found out the hard way last fall.

[Anonymous]

Start slow and add more each year. Don't try to do it all - or else you will get overwhelmed. I have a mix. You don't have to water the raised beds as much, but when you do it is a longer stint. Weeding will get you every time- that is why you have to start slow and build.

[Anonymous]

Square foot is excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behnke's is great.

I was a first time non-container vegetable gardener last summer, and I was really unprepared for the rabbits and groundhogs that obliterated by plants and vegetables. Not sure where you live, but if you're going to put the effort in to do a vegetable garden, make sure you take precautions!

Oh--and deer LOVE pansies. I found out the hard way last fall.

I know squirrels are likely an issue (haven't seen any rabbits or groundhogs yet, but I am sure they are there). I don't think we get deer (live in S. Arlington and never seen one) but you never know.

I did some container gardening in our apartment the dang birds at my tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Thanks for the responses so far.

Square foot gardening looks interseting. I will check it out.

9:38 - The previous owners of our house did zero landscaping so it is semi alive grass and two dead rose bushes. Not the best looking yard.

We would also like to re-seed the lawn when do I need to start doing that stuff? It is funny my dad is a huge gardening, but lives in AZ so he knows nothing about our zone.

Maybe I will plant some pansies this weekend. We have some front steps and they have this great landing for flowers. Thanks!

Do you have normal-looking grass (looks green now) or zoyzia (straw-colored now and spreads via stems in the ground)? If it's zoyzia, wait until it starts to green up when the weather warms up and then fertilize it to encourage better growth. If it's normal grass, reseed now. I would buy compost and rake a thin layer of it before reseeding. Water daily for 2 weeks. The University of Maryland Extension Service has a really helpful website for home garden and lawn care for our area.

All roses look dead this time of year. Look online for pruning advice and prune back your rosebushes now. With luck, they will surprise you and grow.

I've seen some really pretty containers that combine mini daffodils, pansies, and primroses.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 9:52

Not sure about the grass, I think it looks green but that might be becasue there is a lot of clover. I will have to take a closer look.

mini daffodils, pansies and primroses sounds nice.

[Anonymous]

This was me a few years ago. Square foot gardening worked for me. Buy the book and check out the website.

[Anonymous]

Are you in DC? If so, I would look into RiverSmart grants for environmentally friendly landscaping, subsidized rain barrels and trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you in DC? If so, I would look into RiverSmart grants for environmentally friendly landscaping, subsidized rain barrels and trees.

Nope, Arlington. Too bad!

[Anonymous]

My suggestion: don't try to overdo it year one. Gardening is a process, and it takes several years for plants to grow into their spaces, for you to understand the light and soil within your yard, and get things right. And it is about experimentation.

We did some container gardening year one, and now in our third year we've done a raised bed. In the interim we also renovated the lawn, added a couple of small trees, and transplanted some shrubs.

We still have a few garden beds to ad sometime in the future.

First thing though - get a soil test kit. It is a little late in the season but you can always start amending. If you don't know what your soil needs, you'll waste lots of money on plants. Also, compost. Leafgro in this area is magical stuff.

[Anonymous]

Look up Earthbox.com…They are awesome! (get one or two because they're less "risky" so if your garden fails, you have the earthbox. Cherry tomatoes or tomatoes in general, awesome!