New + First Attempt at Vegetable Garden

[naheerameer]

Hello!
Well firstly I apologize for spamming this forum so much so quickly!
The thing is I am moving into a house with a garden for the first time in Karachi and i need alot of help from you experienced folks!
Here are my dets:
1. Established garden in front with a vegetable garden at back (will post pics when I go today to the new place)
2. Vegetable garden will probably not receive high winds or more than 6 hours of sunlight a day.
3. Need to sow anything I can now to try and learn seed germination and then take this up full time as a pro like you!
4. First time gardener (lets not think about the pot based attempts from yonder!)
5. Very interested in growing: Tomatoes, carrots, spinach, broccoli, mooli, mint, spices etc.
Now the thing is the season is hot and humid in Karachi presently. Actually its very hot. My vegetable garden is going to start from the ground up. Four cement kiyaaris are in place currently against the rear wall. Will empty if necessary and refill with new and necessary compost mixes as suggested by the forum.
My questions are as follows:
1. What can I grow in the month of June from seed? Are there any vegetables I should just purchase from nursery if I've missed germination period?
2. My brother is coming from the UK in July, so I can order seeds through him also if there are any vegetables that will do well if started from seed in July. Please do advise a good seed store for UK and pinpoint which varieties I should go for! I would really like to know which ones I can sow this season preferably as I want to dive straight in to this like right now right now!
3. What should my ideal compost mix be at this point? If there is any particular watering technique, staking, or anything like that I will get it off the internet. But the ideal compost mix for growing different vegetables in Pakistan is sadly impossible to find on the net and rests in your knowledge banks up there!

Please help out a young gardener I would love to be able to harvest my very own vegetables for the first time in my life!
Already have a pregrown shareefa tree that I just plucked from today so its making me even more anxious to start my own!



Thanks everyone for the help and the moderators for not blocking me! I will definitely post pics of my garden areas today!

[jdashraf]

Welcome on board naheerameer ... its good you are pumped to learn and do every thing ASAP...You have joined the most appropriate forum, for sure, to help you achieve what you want to grow in your garden .. Wait for some senior members to respond.. All the best and happy gardening ...

[Farhan Ahmed]

1. What can I grow in the month of June from seed? Are there any vegetables I should just purchase from nursery if I've missed germination period?

Nothing should be tried in these few hot months.

2. My brother is coming from the UK in July, so I can order seeds through him also if there are any vegetables that will do well if started from seed in July. Please do advise a good seed store for UK and pinpoint which varieties I should go for! I would really like to know which ones I can sow this season preferably as I want to dive straight in to this like right now right now!

You should be ordering autumn sowing seeds now meaningby cool season plants. You can check out Thompson and Morgan, Sutton and chiltern seed website. Except sutton they deliver directly to Pakistan also. For further info read international seed vendor list in gardening resources.

Choose what you like. For vegetable sowing guide see vegetable growing calender in kitchen gardening.

3. What should my ideal compost mix be at this point? If there is any particular watering technique, staking, or anything like that I will get it off the internet. But the ideal compost mix for growing different vegetables in Pakistan is sadly impossible to find on the net and rests in your knowledge banks up there!

Compost, seed sowing mixes, perlite etc all are available though at higher rates.

My mix for next season would be something like this....

40% Peat, 30% Sand, 30 % compost

There is discussion at length in the forum in compost/fertilizer section

[naheerameer]

The Vegetable garden area at the back

Random flower, the name of which I do not know

Front. More light than can be healthy for a plant I'd say!

[naheerameer]

One of two kiyaris at the back for vegetables

A relative told me this vine is fruit bearing. If that is the case I will let it be. Otherwise I'll relocate it. Are there any experts to guide me on the nature of this vine?

[Farhan Ahmed]

Flower is Hibiscus........
Vegetables won't grow good in partial sun.

There is too much cow manure in veggie beds....either mix or remove some.

Tomatoes can't be sown now.

[M Farooq]

2013-06-08 15.01.20.jpg

This vine looks like "saim ki phalli" or Lima bean vine to me. It is a robust climber. Provide it with a good support and it will shower you with lots of beans once it matures. You can make pickles etc. with it.

[naheerameer]

2013-06-08 15.01.20.jpg

This vine looks like "saim ki phalli" or Lima bean vine to me. It is a robust climber. Provide it with a good support and it will shower you with lots of beans once it matures. You can make pickles etc. with it.

Thank you! I think I will research on this Lima bean now, and try to figure whether or not this type of vegetable is on any use to me!
If it is a robust climber it will look very good here and I will definitely keep it around!

Flower is Hibiscus........
Vegetables won't grow good in partial sun.

There is too much cow manure in veggie beds....either mix or remove some.

Tomatoes can't be sown now.

Farhan Sb, this picture was taken at roughly 5pm, and I think there is more sunlight in the back during the day. I'm not sure. The house is north facing, but the general term for that is always used as West open here, so I don't know. I think I'll give it a try since the owners did put it in originally, so I'm sure it must be of some use to them!
I will definitely remove the cow manure in the pot, since I feel the current plants are all perennials and the manure looks a little used up as well. I'm going to start fresh here so will definitely try to include more sand and peat!