AboutSojourner Expertise Intensive gardening along the lines of square-foot gardening and no-till methods such as Ruth Stout and "lasagna" gardening. Fed a family of 7 from the produce grown in the backyard of a city lot. Knowledgeable about most common garden crops, excluding cole crops other than cabbage (e.g. broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower etc. are not my cup of tea). Can help you to make the most of the space that you have - for instance, many community garden plots are fairly small. There are ways to maximize the space you have. Smaller is often better because it's not only more efficient spacewise, it's also easier to take care of - and the easier it is to take care of, the more likely you are to have a successful garden. No yard space whatsoever? I can help you with container growing as well. Give me a shout and I'll try to help.
Experience Vegetable gardener for most of my life, homesteaded for 8 years. Currently have my tiny yard (1'x15' strip along the back fence and a 3'x20 strip along the south side of the house) planted with 2 eggplants, 2 tomatoes, lettuce, coriander, green onions, basil, 4 bell pepper, 4 green pepper, watermelon, 3 yellow squash, 3 zucchini, and green beans. And flowers galore.
Education/Credentials College educated, currently working out a mid-life crisis by getting my doctorate and changing my profession
Question I have looked around for information on beginning a vegetable garden. However most of these sites assume you know basic gardening terminology and many contradict each other regarding different methods of gardening.
Can you recommend sites, books etc on how to start a vegetable garden.
I would like to work towards having a simple garden that can provide food for my wife and I.
I live in North Alabama, if you have any tips on climate, vegetables for my area, methods, tools, etc that would be good to know.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I just want to have a simple garden, but I am not sure if I really need all of these things like drip lines and chemical fertilizers.
Answer Mel Bartholmew's book on Square Foot Gardening is an excellent beginner's guide to gardening.
There is a lot of free information about seed starting and gardening on the internet. Here are some links you might find useful:
I'm a Northern gardener so I can't really help you with information specific to your region, but try checking with your local extension agent for help there. Alabama probably has a Master Gardener program through the extension office as well - you might like to check into that.
Moderate use of commercial fertilizers in a small garden is probably not harmful, but mulching and using as many natural products as you can is probably better. The problem is that many "organic" fertilizers available for purchase are very expensive, and many of the do-it-yourself variety are unavailable to the town gardener. Leaf mulch is always good and you may be able to get that from the city. Grass clippings are also great, but you need to compost them first, especially if you use any lawn weed 'n feed products.
Definitely start your own compost pile. Depending on where you live (and how much the neighbors might complain) it could be anything as simple as a pile of leaves and grass clippings, to one of the expensive composting bins or tumblers available from garden supply stores. Or if you're even remotely handy, you can build your own. Here are some composting links:
