Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

I would start at the local extension office website. All states are listed here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

You can also look at neighboring states. These websites will give you an idea what will grow in your area, when to plant, helpful tips, etc.

Decide what kind of garden you want: traditional, container, raised bed, organic, companion, permaculture, etc. Then google it! There are plenty of blogs, websites and how tos out there.

The world is your oyster. You can do it!

P.S. My grandmother had decent enough soil in her yard. When I was growing up, we had a spade, a hoe, a water hose, a rinkler, and a garden rake. Each year, she generally bought topsoil (for aesthetics), gardening gloves (for us kids), some seeds, and some flats (seedlings). Whether she bought seeds or seedlings depends on the length of the growing season. We would look at the back of the seed package for directions on how to grow the plants.

GardenersCardiff answers:

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GardenersCardiff answers:

I live in Seattle, Washington which gets very little sun until July. I also have neighbors with 3 fir trees that block a portion of the sun that we do receive. Last year we did not get enough sunny days to ripen my tomotoes.

I agree with FarmCzar that if you can grow tomatoes which need plenty of sun, that you will be able to grow most summer vegetables with out any problems. Besides choosing early season varieties, you can also get an earlier start on many of these vegetables by starting them indoors from seeds. Here is a good blog on starting vegetables indoors to transplant to your garden:
http://urbangardensolutions.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/should-i-be-growing-vegetables-from-seed

Also there are many cool weather vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, etc that perfer some shade and a little cooler temperatures to grow. These are great to start the spring garden with and to plant in places that do not get enough sun for your warm weather vegetables. Here is a link to a list of cool weather vegetables:
http://www.urbangardensolutions.com/Cool-Weather-Winter-Vegetables-a/152.htm

You can learn what grows best in your area, by seeing what the local farmers bring to the farmers markets. Your local extension office is a great resource for information in your area and will allow you to find a master gardener in your area. Here is a link for all 50 states: http://www.urbangardensolutions.com/List-of-Extension-Offices-By-State-a/266.htm

For Michigan:

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http://www.umassextension.org/index.php/about-extension/locations