Any gardeners here? I have a few questions. PIOG

[mommy06and09]

I would love to start a vegetable garden, but don't know how or where to begin... I mean yes I understand you plant a seed and water it and something will grow... My problem is that I don't know what to plan when and if you plant one thing in a garden will it hurt it to plant something else in there too? My mother was always a "gardener" in that she would run to the grocery, buy a flower, and replant it at home. She would water it for a few weeks, then it would die and she would go back and get more.... I was actually hoping to grow herbs, vegetables and fruits, but don't know where to begin... I don't have a lot of space and have no garden in the place I am renting, but I thought I could go out and buy a long planter and do it on my porch... Will that even work? Thanks for any ideas!

[SewingMamaLele]

Search for "container garden".    You just want to make sure where-ever you put it gets enough light during the day (really, the more, the better)... good container plants are things like Tomatos, Peppers, Strawberries, green beans and peas.   Herbs work too (but you may want to get a large pot for those!).  

I would buy the tomato, pepper and strawberry plants.. but you can start peans and peas from seed indoors right now and then plant outside after the last frost. 

You don't want to do anything like melons or squash.  Both are vine plants and grow out instead of up.   No bueno for containers!   :)

[aetrom]

Also beans are fun to grow and low maintenance! Onion and garlic too...

[aetrom]

For herbs contain them to their own box cause some can be quite invasive....

[bmw29]

My only steadfast rule is don't plant HOT peppers close to anything else. They bleed their heat over. You can absolutely plant lots of things in a container of some sort. We have plenty of space for a garden but I told dh that I want raised beds this year for convenience.

[krysstizzle]

There are tons of resources, check out rodales online. It will depend on where you live, too, and you can find planting guides for your area online, too. Do you want to start from seed or buy plants to transplant? Seeds should be started indoors now.

Containers are usually fun and easy. Anything that doesn't vine, like a pp said, will usually work.

[danichaos]

Don't plant watermelon or pumpkin next to anything, they will take over the rest of your garden.
Zucchini needs a LOT of space.

[krysstizzle]

Also, you should look up companion planting. You'll find ideas on what grows well next to each other. It saves space, and usually it helps the plants grow better.

[wakymom]

We buy starter tomato plants and grow them in containers on our back patio. As long as we remember to water them, they do well. Dh also adds a little Miracle-Gro tomato plant food every once in a while.

[momof754]

We found out the hard way that cucumbers take over the garden as well. We plant them and quite a few other things every year

[karlie2]

Yeah, we found that out the hard way. We planted too many pumpkins in our first attempt at gardening. They took over everything. We had pumpkins for the whole neighborhood.

Quoting danichaos:

Don't plant watermelon or pumpkin next to anything, they will take over the rest of your garden.

Zucchini needs a LOT of space.