Complete noob gardener

Sup guys and possibly but unlikely gals...

I've only ever grown the ganja and maybe one or two houseplants in a window.

I finally have some space where I'm able to have a garden outdoors and I don't even know where to start.
I have a fenced-off area in my yard that was labeled as a dog run, probably about 20'x5 or 6'.
I let my dog run everywhere, but I was thinking it'd be a good fenced-off garden?

I live in colorado and there are limited things I could grow here, but any suggestions where to start?
I'm most interested in growing some food, not very interested flowers or other plants....yet.

I want to grow something super easy like radishes, except I'm not a big fan of them and probably wouldn't eat them.

I'm really interested in fruit trees, but I've heard they are only able to get pollinated and produce fruit if you have 3-4+ of the same variety.

I know melons groq quite well here, but I'm also slightly intimidated by trying to grow melons my first go at a garden. I've heard they grow quite easy but to get any sort of good flavor is kind of hard.

Any other relatively easy foods I could try out? Any advice for my first time growing in a garden? Should I add good quality soil to the mix or just throw it in the ground?

Thanks

i bet theres a woman or two on here that could teach you a thing or too when it comes to growing. not a good start.

theres a forum full of info on growing orgabnicly in soil outside. take a look and see what you want to achieve b 4 asking for hel[p. that way you will have more spacific questions that you will get help about.
but some good dry amendments
and some water
seeds potting soil and water and your off

Tip #1 start collecting leaves in the fall in a central location or two. I use a backpack leaf blower and push everything into one big pile from one section of my house that goes with the prevailing breeze...the other side i just push into the garden beds willy nilly. Pure leaves are bad to plant in, they root rot plants, but they are very useful later on.
Carrots are stupid easy to grow and fun to chomp on as you saunter through your yard from time to time. Lettuce, finicky and heavy rain messes them up but still stupid easy and you feel good grabbing some to put in fridge for sandwiches. cucumbers are intermediate level, you have to pollinate them by hand sometimes, fk that noise. Same with pumpkin. watermelon i love, but idk, pain in the ass if you want a good one and ur still new at this. At least that's my exp. Soybean is fun, late summer you can pluck em early and that's edemama...neat little treat that surprises visitors during a walkthrough. Lastly, fresh pine needles are a striking, awesome mulch cover.

Potatoes, tomatoes, beans, corn. Colorado is like Oregon with different growing conditions in different parts of the state so the 4 vegetables I mentioned are just what should grow everywhere.

There are self pollinating fruit trees. I have a peach and a pear that don't require another pollinator of the same kind. It can take a few years before you get any decent yield off of fruit trees so keep that in mind and also make sure that where you plant them is where you want them.

I'd be a little concerned about that soil in that area. How long was it used as a dog run, how many dogs, how long ago? I say that because the dogs would have been doing their business there. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get the soil tested.

I don't know what your soil is like but you might need to get a load of compost and till it in getting started.

And most definitely start composting everything.

Have fun

Ben123456733 said:

Sup guys and possibly but unlikely gals...

I've only ever grown the ganja and maybe one or two houseplants in a window.

I finally have some space where I'm able to have a garden outdoors and I don't even know where to start.
I have a fenced-off area in my yard that was labeled as a dog run, probably about 20'x5 or 6'.
I let my dog run everywhere, but I was thinking it'd be a good fenced-off garden?

I live in colorado and there are limited things I could grow here, but any suggestions where to start?
I'm most interested in growing some food, not very interested flowers or other plants....yet.

I want to grow something super easy like radishes, except I'm not a big fan of them and probably wouldn't eat them.

I'm really interested in fruit trees, but I've heard they are only able to get pollinated and produce fruit if you have 3-4+ of the same variety.

I know melons groq quite well here, but I'm also slightly intimidated by trying to grow melons my first go at a garden. I've heard they grow quite easy but to get any sort of good flavor is kind of hard.

Any other relatively easy foods I could try out? Any advice for my first time growing in a garden? Should I add good quality soil to the mix or just throw it in the ground?

Thanks

Click to expand...

a simple raised bed for squash and courgetts are old car tyres . cut all but the tredded bit off with a stanly blade and tyou can then fill them up with soil and put some fertilizer in there, chicken manure pellets, fish blood n bone pellets and some seaweed meal work well. you can bury a plant pot into the soil next to the plants to water the root zone imediatly.
once you put thre tyre down, break up the ground beneath it about half a fork deep and place stuff like the leaf mulch mentioned earlier, mix with ordinary soil half n half and you have a mini raised bed for them.
yiu can also grow mange tout in them ,it makes it sipler to tie a string around a fer caines in the pot to keep them standing up.

if you have any cattle around, you can fill a hessian asack with the shit and hang it in a 55 gallon plastic oil type drum and leave for four monyhes and you have liquid plant food for all your veggies and fruit bushes

xtsho said:

Potatoes, tomatoes, beans, corn. Colorado is like Oregon with different growing conditions in different parts of the state so the 4 vegetables I mentioned are just what should grow everywhere.

There are self-pollinating fruit trees. I have a peach and a pear that don't require another pollinator of the same kind. It can take a few years before you get any decent yield off of fruit trees so keep that in mind and also make sure that where you plant them is where you want them.

I'd be a little concerned about that soil in that area. How long was it used as a dog run, how many dogs, how long ago? I say that because the dogs would have been doing their business there. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get the soil tested.

I don't know what your soil is like but you might need to get a load of compost and till it in getting started.

And most definitely start composting everything.

Have fun

Click to expand...

It would be pretty cool to grow my own potatoes, who doesn't enjoy a good potato?

I didn't know that there were self-pollinating fruit trees, that's definitely the route I'd take rather than having 3-4 of the same tree. I realize the fruit trees will take quite a while to produce anything, but it's just like an investment. Work now, pay out later. Not to mention it would be a selling point for the house if I ever decide to sell it.

The dog run was used for only 2 years or so and only by 1 dog to my knowledge. The previous homeowner installed it and only owned the house for 2 years. The rest of my yard is rock currently, which makes it nice for low maintenance, but no so great for gardening.

I will look into composting, I throw away plenty of rotting fruits/veggies.
Thanks

mudballs said:

cucumbers are intermediate level, you have to pollinate them by hand sometimes

Click to expand...

Look into parthenocarpic cucumbers