I'm making a trip up to Toronto and plan on stopping in to a few seed stores to pick up some unique treasures. I remember a couple of Italian seed stores in the north end that I'd like to revisit (but will have to find again). What are your favourite shops to get vegetable seeds?

Most potting mixes are heavy in peat moss (we can argue the sustainability later). A lot of US peat moss comes from Canada, so be prepared for a price increase on potting mixes.

What vegetables can I sow or grow in shady areas since I still have space there? 🤔

The storage closet is now a plant room. Just waiting for the seeds to ship. These are just last years leftovers

What's happening in your garden today?

The Daily Dirt is a place to ask questions, share what you're working on, and find inspiration.

• Comments in this thread are automatically sorted by new to keep the conversation fresh.
• Members of this subreddit are strongly encouraged to display User Flair.

Hey you! Thanks for checking out the Monthly Seed Swap.

We have a few rules that you need to read before commenting on this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vegetablegardening/wiki/seedswap/

Reminder: We limit participation to community members who have their user flair assigned which displays their location. Members who do not meet this criteria will have their comments automatically removed.

You can set your user flair using these instructions: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair

Trying out the kratky hydrophonics method.

Little mixed veggies. 🥗

If you have any raised bed or trellis projects planned, you might want to get that lumber ASAP.

I completely screened in my raised garden bed and for once I was so happy thinking finally I can grow my vegetables and not have to worry about them. Well, I wake up this morning and all my tomatoes are eaten and there a hole in the top of the screen and tomatoes on top of the cage. So what now? What can I do to further prevent this? I still need access so I can’t just wrap it with metal trellis or chicken wire.

I'm starting peppers indoors this year and transplanting them outside in the spring. I'll be growing them for about 8 weeks indoors. I'm ordering some square plastic starting pots for them to grow inside. How large should these pots be? I was going to order some 3.5 inch pots, but I was curious if the peppers would outgrow the pots before 8 weeks is up and I move them outside.

My question is, would 3.5 inch pots be large enough for peppers to grow in for up to 8 weeks indoors? Or should I buy larger pots?

Hello all!

I'm planning out my first balcony 'victory garden' for the spring. I'm want to focus on veggies that we like to eat and cook with. I am in Zone 6B, on a 3rd floor apartment, south-facing, with no major obstructions blocking sun. Our balcony is 10'x5.5' and is concrete. I want to make sure I choose varieties that will do well in containers. I'm a little worried that the balcony may actually get too much sun, as I had some house plants out there previously that were burned pretty badly! I'm also open to other tips/suggestions!

Planning to grow in 5 gallon fabric bags:

• Zucchini (eight ball, patio star, bush baby?)
• Tomato (we eat roma tomatoes the most, so I'd like to grow some variety of those)
• Eggplant
• Bell pepper
• Okra

Smaller fabric bags (~3 gallons):

• Some kind of bean
• Kale (dino or blue dwarf?)
• Swiss chard
• Jalapeno

Smaller containers (maybe 8 inches deep):

• Radishes
• Spinach and salad greens (I'm worried about these being burned...)
• Herbs (parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary)

Hello all, I just moved and I am planning on starting a vegetable garden this year. I have a general plan, but I wanted to run it by some people who know about this, to see if there is anything I'm overlooking or for some general feedback. I have some experience doing vegetables in raised beds in the past, and they worked out relatively well. I have moved to a place that is basically surrounded by thick woods and I am trying plant in ground to keep costs lower than doing raised beds, while maximizing for total area now and in the future. For reference, according to the USDA Zone map, I'm basically sitting on the line between 6b and 7a.

The Garden

Because I am basically in the woods and squirrels, racoons, and all manner of woodland creatures eating up the garden are a concern, my basic plan is to get some 10ft treated 2x4s and put them in the ground with some footings, and wrap the whole garden, and top with chicken wire to help keep out animals. I'm planning right now to go with a 20'x20' foot print. I picked this size because it seems like it should be large enough to grow a large amount of vegetable, even if I don't use the entire space in the first year, I don't want to have to go back and wrap another space if I want to increase in size in the future. My soil seems to be very clay heavy, so from some reading, it seems like the best thing to do is to till up that space and mix the top 8 or so inches of dirt with compost to help with drainage, and root spread. Is this the correct path to get a good starting bed to work with? The grass in the area I'm planning to use is pretty sparse, so I was thinking that tilling it into the dirt is probably the best way to handle it. My understanding is that after I prep the bed, I will want to put another 4-6 inches of compost on top of it for nutrients for the plants, is this correct?

The Plants

I roughly plan to do the following plants my first year, although I may add to this list before spring: Onions, Bell Pepper, eggplant, Jalapenos, Cayenne Peppers, Tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, Watermelon and General Melon like honeydew, and sweet Potatoes

I am planning to start as much as I can from seeds, I was given a ton of free seeds from a garden store that went out of business, so I have plenty to work with. I have a small grow tent and light that I am using to get everything started indoors, although if that doesn't work, I am willing to buy starters at the store to transplant come spring time.

I am using Seedtime.us for scheduling all of my activities, I have the onions planted right now and they are starting to pop, I plan to start the rest of the plants according to the dates I got on Seedtime, next is the bell peppers in a few weeks. I have a few questions about starting the seeds indoors. I bought some starter trays at the hardware store that came with coir pellets to start everything in, it wasn't clear from my reading, but I assume once they start to get true leaves I will want to move them to well drained solo cups with some kind of dirt specifically for seedlings? Will solo cups be large enough to hold them until its time to transplant them outside? If I'm using dirt specifically for seedlings, will I still want to supplement with fertilizer before they get moved outside? I see a lot on info on making Sweet potato slips, and know they need to be moved outside after the last frost, but when should I start the slips indoors, Seed time lists seeding as may, but surely that's when I should be moving them right? So should I start the slips indoors in Early march or earlier/later than that?

I would also like to do some Strawberry and blueberry plants, should I plant these in my regular garden area, I wasn't sure since I know they will take a few years to establish and produce fruits, or if I should designate a separate area for plants that will be around a while, rather than needing to be replanted each year.

Other General Questions

If I'm starting with a bed of compost on top of my bed, do I still need to use fertilizers throughout the growing season? Some of the plants say they should be planted on hills, I assume that means their rows should be mounds that extend the length of the row? Do I need to be thinking about pesticides before I have everything growing and established, or is that something I should deal with on a case by case basis throughout the season? Having issues with my clay soil is my biggest concern, is there anything I need to do besides what I outlined above to deal with that? I have very little grass right now, and the rain/snow melt seems to pool on the surface, my house is on a hill, with a flat yard, would I be better to put the garden on the hill to promote drainiage or am I just getting pooling because I have little to no grass at the moment (its mostly mud, as this was new construction that we just finished up)? Are there any additional concerns I should be thinking about that I might have missed?

I appreciate any help you all can provide, I'm sure I will have more questions once I get into it, I am just trying to make sure I cover all of my bases, and am asking the right questions so I can have a relatively successful first growing season.

This will be my first year with an in ground veggie garden. 4x12’. In the past I’ve container gardened and had very little success due to lack of space as well as every disease known to man.

I want this year to be successful and I want to maximize my space. What should I plant, how do I prevent disease (fungal, powdery mildew, spider mites, tomato bugs, squash bugs, white flies, etc). It’s a never ending list.

I really want to grow some kind of vining pickling cucumber, vining green bean, tomatoes, bell peppers, and squash/zucchini.

What’s the best spacing, the best placement to avoid nutrient depletion, the best fertilizers, the best disease prevention, etc.

I’m overwhelmed with the research. Do I start from seed? If so, which plants need to be started early inside vs which can go straight in the ground? Should I just buy sprouts?

I also have a pergola and I want to vine a blackberry/raspberry/or muscadine grape plant around it. When is the best time to plant?

How can I get rid of thrips on my plants? I live in an apartment and can't get rid of thrips on my tomato and bok choi plants. Not sure what's safe to use and how to access it in Europe.

I missed this turnip on my last harvest, and it's HUGE. I'm in 7B, and it's sat through the arctic blast that came through.

Literally one of my favorite parts of gardening

Getting my seeds from Hudson Valley Seeds.

It's the end of January now. NE Texas. We have had about 3 weeks of mixed winter weather, with some hard freezes, some sleet and snow, and some thaws in between. Today the sun is out and it's 50 (F) degrees at 10 a.m. and I'm cleaning up the damage. Before cutting back these three plants, I took a picture to show how well they had handled the challenge.

Rainbow Swiss Chard on the left, Perpetual Chard in the middle, Vates Collards on the right. All three were only covered with light frost cloth. Looks like two will probably come back and have additional yield, but the Rainbow Chard (far left) might not.

Left to right: Rainbow Swiss Chard, Perpetual Chard, Vates Collards. 31 January 2025.

What in the picture Sweet pepper x 20 Hot peppers x 20 Sweetcorn x 90 Melons x 8 Cucumber x 8 Red Brussels sprouts x 18 Green Brussels sprouts x 12 Savoy cabbage x 8 Green cabbage x 8 Cherry/roma/slicing tomato x 16

What's happening in your garden today?

The Daily Dirt is a place to ask questions, share what you're working on, and find inspiration.

• Comments in this thread are automatically sorted by new to keep the conversation fresh.
• Members of this subreddit are strongly encouraged to display User Flair.

Of course it's healthier to grow your own and you have more options but is it really worth it? I'll admit I've not done nearly enough research but most places seem insanely expensive. From what I have read you don't get a massive amount. Seems a lot cheaper just to buy from a grocery. We own property in a good foraging spot but I don't think I'd ever be confident enough to actually pick wild.mushrooms.