any advice?what do i need?i've never done this before.....
You'll need: space: whether you just dig a square, or use containers, you'll need a good amount of space. 6-8 hours of direct sun for most vegetables and flowers. soil: good soil is needed: compost, etc. water: to get started, you will need to water the plants until established. Tools: a good, sharp shovel, a hoe, some hand held implements to put in the plants Plants: for your first time, I'd go with things from a discount garden center like Lowes or Home depot. Buy a few things and put them in the ground, have fun dude! Experiment. But, you can't go wrong with good soil, water, and sunshine.
Start okorder This is a method of making planting beds that are four foot square, and planting them with a variety of vegies (or flowers if you do not want vegie garden) to get the most produce out of the smallest space. My beds have a mixture of peat, aged manure, compost and top soil. I water the plants by filling 5 gallon buckets with the water, and using a large cup or empty pop bottle to pour the water at the base of each plant.
Start small. The biggest mistake that novice gardeners make is that they go overboard on the size at first. Gardening is a lot of work and the bigger the garden, the more work. You don't say whether you are planning to grow flowers, vegies or both.For your first year, I would recommend that you limit your selection of seeds or plants to not more than two or three different things. If you are wanting to grow vegies, remember that in addition to weeding and watering, you will also have to harvest and store....so be prepared for some work. It is worth it though. There is nothing that tastes as good as home grown vegies.
Short of shooting him...I hope you were kidding. Still in bad taste though! Supervise him outside and tell him no when he does it- he'll get it eventually. In the mean time, put up a tall enough fencing (even just chicken wire and posts will do for now) that he can't get in the garden if he's left outside when you're away. My neighbours had a similar problem with their young lab, and they left that fence up until Aspen was about 2-2.5 years old and he'd stopped digging. He's a puppy, and he'll start to settle down in the next 10 months or so, both of my lab girls were nightmares when they were younger but they mellowed out nicely around 2 years old. I didn't think about this before, I just assumed it was done, but it would probably help to neuter him if he's not already.
