OT Might be problems with our food chain this summer or fall, so thinking about planting garden

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ITS A POWDER. SNIFF IT TO GET THE MOST EFFECTIVE USE OUT OF IT

 

Great idea. I assume it will be a community garden for all us Taborites. Let me know when the tomatos and corn come in.

 

Just my opinion, but 2' should be plenty. We only go 12" on our raised beds. But.....

Corn takes up a lot of space for the amount you harvest. Your going to need a huge raised bed for corn. We don't plant corn.

Potatoes can be grown in a 5 gallon bucket.

Onions are easy to grow, and provide a lot of harvest in a small space.

There are a ton of good gardening youtube videos. Even videos on mixing crops in the same raised bed.

 

Corn is planted all over the midwest, and doesn't rely on by hand harvesting. I don't think you'll see an issue with getting corn. I'd probably try to focus on things that might not be available.

 

The reason we garden is, home grown tastes muuuuccchhh better than store bought. Store veggys/fruit are grown to be shipped, and often harvested before ripening.

Example,
Once you eat a home grown vine ripe tomato, it's hard to swallow store bought.

 

Sly, like someone else pointed out, unless you have enough land I wouldn't mess with corn...you'll get a lot better yield per square yard with other veggies.

https://www.gardenersmag.com/high-yield-vegetables-to-grow-in-small-space-gardens/


And I'm sure there are others.

 

I plant my potatoes not grown at the big farm in old tractor tires.
As long as there is no metal showing on the tire it's 100% safe. People will debate that with you but I just don't have the patience.
You can also plant potatoes in pots. They're easy to grow and as long as you add water + remember to keep topping them with soil. You should find them easy.
Personally though I've found potatoes grown in pots/raised beds to grow smaller than potatoes grown in the ground.

Green beans are also easy to grow.
However I advise against bush beans. My experience with bush beans is animals eat them before you even start to see them being grown.
Cucumbers are super easy as well. The whole Cucumber family is... Just be aware their leaves can block sunlight if not spaced far enough apart.
Broccoli can be easy pending you have enough direct sun.
Green onions can be grown in mason jars on a window sill.

If you want to plant corn, get a half barrel or something similar size and plant based off instructions on label. Do not plant in your garden bed with everything else. As they'll block sunlight.
You can mix things together in the same bed. But do know certain things thrive better together than with others.
My Strawberries are put in pallets that I hang on the side of my shop. They do far better in groups, than by themselves.

There are other vegetables that grow very well for inexperienced gardeners. Let me know if you'd like their names.

 

Corn takes a lot of space for very little food so unless you have a big garden not your best bet. There is a book Carrots Love Tomatoes you can order, some vegetables grow well together while others need to be separate. Easy crops include lettuce, kale, carrots, radishes, green beans, chard. You can start most of those now.

Squash, summer and winter, is very productive. I don't plant zucchini because people will beg you to take it off their hands.

Potatoes are easy to grow.

 

I will add to that...I plant pole beans between the stalks of corn...no need for a "pole" for the bean vines to climb on.

 

Oh Tomato family is also quite easy to grow.
Can be placed in the ground, or in pots.
For cherry tomatos I place them in hanging baskets just outside of my front door.
For roman tomatos I've placed them in buckets, the ground, tires, raised beds, pots. The best production I got out of them was when I placed them in tires.

Now this is all home gardening, not farm land gardening.

Just know that if you place things in tires they will require more supervision. Especially if you don't bury said tire.

 

Great thing about taters is that once they start bearing fruit you don't have to dig them all at once...simply stick your hand in the dirt, feel around, and pull out what you need, and leave the rest for later. Plastic 5 gallon buckets with holes for drainage work well.