Hi my name is Ms. Rankin. I want to start a garden, but I don't know how. I believe I am in zone 8; I reside in Cottonwood, Alabama. I want to start planting at the end of this month (April) or the beginning of May. I want to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, cranberries, peas, sweet potatoes, watermelon, corn, okra, and beautiful lilies. How or where do I even begin?

Yes, you are in Zone 8b

You've already made a good start by identifying what you want to grow. Your choice of vegetables look good, except maybe the cranberries. I've never grown cranberries but I understand that they need very specific conditions including acidic soil, lots of water and just the right temperatures.

If you look at the planting calendar for your area (https://garden.org/apps/calend...) you'll notice that you could have begun planting a couple of weeks ago. That's ok since your season is so long you'll still have time to get a good crop in. But you should get started soon.

Here's what you need to do now to get started (you may have already done some of these things):
1. Get some seeds, small pots and seedling mix and plant your indoor starts according to the calendar linked above. Or you can buy the plants already started (much quicker than starting from seeds).
2. Pick a spot for your outdoor garden. It should be as level as possible and close to a water source.
3. Clean it up and remove any debris, weeds or grass. You might need a fence if you have deer, rabbits or other hungry animals.
4. Loosen up the soil. You can use a shovel or other hand tool, or a rototiller
5. Add manure, compost or other amendments to your soil as needed.
6. Plant your seeds and seedlings according to the calendar.
7. Weed and water
8. Enjoy your produce!

This is just a simple list. There's a lot more to say about all of the above steps, but that should get you started.

Please come back with any more questions and we'll try to answer them for you.

And we love pictures, please include those where ever possible.

Good luck

MsRankin said: I reside in Cottonwood, Alabama.

I want to start planting at the end of this month (April) or the beginning of May.

I want to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, cranberries, peas, sweet potatoes, watermelon, corn, okra, and beautiful lilies.

How or where do I even begin?

Ok... the plants mentioned need full all day sun.
So... pick a spot that grows grass really well.

Most people fail, because they try to grow vegetables in a spot where grass doesn't grow.

Next...
Lets go out in the yard and dig a hole...

I just googled Cottonwood, Alabama. You're south of Dothan!
I imagine you are going to find a ton of sand when you go out and dig a hole.

Sand is very difficult.
moisture and nutrients drain away as fast as they can be applied.

Finding ways to keep that from happening is going to be your major focus.

As mentioned above adding organics to the sand helps. adding mulch over the soil next to the veggies, and all the rest of the bare sand also helps... mulch prevents the moisture from being sucked out of the ground by the sun, and helps to prevent that hot sub tropical sun from burning through all the organics from the soil... and, helps to prevent unwanted plants from coming up.

Sweet potatoes, watermelon, & okra are good choices.

by "peas" did you mean purple hull or other summer peas? or english spring peas?

Summer peas AKA cow peas are a good choice, English peas... are not going to grow.

Cucumbers... may not grow for you... At my house, they require entirely too much water, and have serious issues with cucumber worms.

There is an alternative...
Maxixe "Cucumis anguria" AKA spiny cucumber doesn't have any of the issues of store type cukes.
https://worldcrops.org/crops/m...

Tomatoes are also kind of difficult... in the heat and sun here, the fruit may scald... growing inside a home made cage and allowing the leaves to protect the fruit helps... all the clipping that they do up north should be avoided... growing "cherry" types increases the likelihood of success.

Corn is difficult... but... Planted soon enough is sometimes possible to get some decent sweet corn... plant in a "box" pattern for successful pollination.

Lilies? daylilies?
Suggest finding a local hybridizer... There are daylily enthusiasts everywhere, breeding new varieties in their backyard gardens... ask about "reblooming" types.

As mentioned above, cranberries is a northern shrub.

Good luck!

stone said: Cucumbers... may not grow for you... At my house, they require entirely too much water, and have serious issues with cucumber worms.

So I'm somewhere where it snowed on Monday and making a guess.

Maybe Armenian cucumbers would work down there. They are a different species that is genetically more a melon. They look and supposedly taste pretty cucumber-like. (It's my first year trying them here so... ) They are supposed to be pretty heat tolerant. Water is still going to be an issue if the soil is sandy. Still if the watermelon works they might too.

Having big ambitions is great, but I'm going to temper that a little bit.

It's good that you know what you want; don't grow things that are 'in fashion' Getting started with seeds is a great way to get into gardening.
Buuuuut, know that they take more care and the rate of failure might be high, which can cause you to give up early. My advice is to enjoy the process and focus less on the end results, especially if you're a newbie.

Long term though, I'd really start thinking about the site that you're given: your garden space. Observe how the sun moves across the sky (sun vs shade), what your soil is like, any drainage issues etc and then make (permanent) plans.

You already have lots of good advice above, but may I add a few things, my 2cents worth, if you will?

I'd advise you not to try to grow corn. The main reason is that it takes up a huge amount of space, water, fertilizer and doesn't yield very much for all the work you do to grow it. It's what's known as a 'garden hog'. Watermelon are also garden hogs. For the corn, you MUST grow several short rows together, not one long row, or a 'clump' of plants spaced at least a foot apart because otherwise they will not pollinate each other and you won't get any ears at all. Wind pollinates corn, so a field of corn is much, much more productive than a few corn plants in a garden.

The other reason is that you can buy corn and watermelon at the store or farmer's market that are just as good or better than what you can grow. You should always give your valuable garden space, resources, work, time, and effort to edibles that will taste much better grown and picked fresh. Not things that you can buy. This is why tomatoes are by far the most popular home-grown edible - they taste SO much better when ripened on the vine.

You also must pay attention to the needs of the plant, and some things like peas absolutely need cooler weather. Since it's already getting hot, it's much too late to plant peas now, but you can plan, buy seeds and get a bed ready to plant peas in September, when the nights are cooling off some.

Many types of tomato also will not set fruit when the weather is hot. They need the night time temperatures to drop below 70, or the flowers simply bloom, then fall off the plant. Cherry type tomatoes will set fruit better into the hot weather, but you are a bit late already to start tomatoes, too. Buy transplants, do not start from seed.

For lilies, I'd advise you to go and visit a real nursery, not a box store garden center. Choose some Daylilies and take a look at the Daylilies forum The thread "April Blooms 2023" in Daylilies forum on our site here. They are the easiest lilies to grow for a beginner, and give good return for not much effort. A nice planting hole amended with a few shovel-fuls of compost, a spot in the sun and regular water, and you will have beautiful flowers in a couple of months.