I read that you shouldn’t go overboard. I definitely want tomatoes. I was thinking some fresh herbs. I need one or two more ideas and tips on being an effective gardener. Thanks!

I have a recipe for a Red Pepper Pasta and Feta Salad. It needs 1 tablespoon of small fresh marjoram leaves. I don’t recall ever tasting Marjoram, some websites say its like Oregano, but I only have that Dried, and I like to use fresh herbs where possible. I have Basil and Parsley growing in my garden. Could I use one or a mixture of all three as a substitute?

Other indredients are- pasta
red peppers (roasted)
feta
pine nuts (toasted)
Dressing- white vinegar, olive oil and black pepper.

Thanks for your help

Miss your garden right now? My mouth is watering for some fresh garlic chives? I miss the smell and I miss walking through every day and picking fresh herbs to use for the day.

When I say "beginning" I really mean "dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to plants and their care". I do have a herb garden because I cook with fresh herbs daily, but my gardening service tends that for me and I just pick the stuff I need for the meal I’m cooking. I want to learn to do this stuff effectively by myself though. I tried some tomato plants last year that I bought as seedlings, but I got a gopher who promptly ate their roots. By the time I convinced Squint (what I named the gopher) to go away and find new tasty gardens to eat, the tomato plants were beyond saving. This year I want to try again, but I’m going to go all-out and start with seeds rather than seedlings, and I want to plant more than one type of plant.

1. Can you recommend any good sites, preferably with an active forum, that will hold my little virtual hand through the entire gardening process? I really do know next to nothing other than dirt+seeds+water = stuff grows. Theoretically, at least.

2. What are some good, easy plants for a beginner gardener? I’m going for a vegetable garden. I have the herb garden and several flower bed, but those are all cared for by my gardening service. I want something I can point to and proudly say "Look what I managed not to kill" and that will also give my household fresh veggies (we’ll eat almost anything here, so anything goes as far as that’s concerned)

3. What kind of supplies and/or tools that may not be obvious do you recommend I have? I already have bought the so-dorky-it’s-cool giant hat to keep the sun off of me and some little hand trowels and a little hand claw/rake. I *think* I have a pair of gardening gloves, but will buy new ones anyway so they match my hat. Anything else?

Oh, the area I have to work with used to have a storage shed on it and is trapezoid shaped. It is bordered on the North side by my house, the South side by a tall, wooden fence and there’s a dry sauna and a spa on the East side. It’s about 10 feet at it’s widest, 8 feet at the narrow end and there’s about 6 feet between the fence and the walkway next to my house. It does get good sunlight most of the day. I’m pretty sure that information is important.

Thank you so much for any help/suggestions you can give me! ?

A couple years ago we planted some lavender in our garden and this year it’s finally grown enough that we’ve used a little of it in some of our cooking. So far that’s only meant spaghetti. One of the things we’ve noticed is that suddenly we get a much sweeter sauce. We don’t use any sugar nor do we use a rather sweet sauce. We do use other fresh herbs and a dry white wine, but the result is only sweet when we add the lavendar. Has anyone else run into this?

I like to do some gardening and grow some of my own vegetables, e.g. tomatoes (different varieties), Kirby cucumbers, eggplant, various herbs, etc. (I’m a male). Do you consider this an effeminate thing or off-putting?

Some of my friends have joked that this is not a manly thing to do but I enjoy this.

How do you feel about this? Please speak about this greatly.
I enjoy having lots of great home-grown vegetables for summer barbecue events.
@Victoria, no I haven’t tried gardening squash; my garden is not too large. I like fresh herbs, grape tomatoes, scallions pretty much all vegetables, but haven’t done squash since I reckon they are very large.
@Tasha- It is very scientific and at the same time like an art form. I think that’s why I dig it.