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We had our first garden last year. And it was an adventure!
The cons:
- I was pregnant - bending to weed was rather difficult. Add in the heat and it was a recipe for disaster. The warmer it got, the larger my belly grew.
- The weeds! If you love weeding, please call me and we can arrange a set up for this coming summer. We just couldn't keep up. Between working on our new house and getting ready for Baby Girl, weeding just didn't take a priority.
- It was a very wet summer. A lot of things didn't grow as well as they could have and we lost our peas early due to the soaking wet ground...
- Mowing around the garden was a pain...poor planning...
- We didn't do our research about when to start plants and which ones should be direct sow or started indoors.
The pros:
- We did it! At the end of the season, even though it wasn't perfect, we had accomplished something we never had before. And it was worth it!
- Fresh vegetables right outside the door can't be beat. Want some cherry tomatoes for a healthy afternoon snack? Just go out and pick some! And peas straight out of the pod taste better than any other kind of peas. Hands down.
- We were eating veggies that we grew ourselves so we knew exactly what was put on them. No fertilizers and no pesticides. The only thing we used was liquid molasses to try and keep nasty nut-sedge away!
- The seeds we started with were heirloom and gmo-free! While we can't easily cut gmo's completely out of our diet, it is nice to know we can grow veggies that don't even know what a gmo is!
I definitely think the pros outweigh the cons and because of that we are already starting another garden! We ordered our seeds a couple of weeks ago. They are already here and Hubby is busy planning out the layout (he is a landscape designer...so it has to be functional and look nice!).
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| From a beginner. Learn from our mistakes. ;) |
To learn from our mistakes from last year, here are some insider tips:
- Don't be pregnant during garden season (just kidding....)
- Lay newspaper and cardboard to help prevent weeds
- Pray that it doesn't rain too much (another joke...but seriously....not a horrible idea).
- Plan out the shape and layout of your garden so that mowing isn't an issue and so you can easily access everything to weed and harvest.
- Do your research! Find out what veggies should be sown directly into the ground and what ones should be started inside and then transplanted. Also look into when you should sow the seeds...I think our beans didn't do well because we started them too early and inside...
Hoping for a better garden this year!
Anyways, if you are interested in getting your own heirloom, gmo-free seeds I highly, highly recommend SeedsNOW. Their "sample" packs are perfect for the home gardener and they are only .99 cents!! Heirloom, gmo-free seeds for .99 cents is a steal! And we know, first-hand that they work well! The website is also full of great tips and hints for planting.
Two awesome things:
1. Go here to shop and use this code for 10% off: SAVE10NOW
2. I am sponsoring a giveaway for some of our favorite seeds!!
One reader will win a brand new pack of:
- Spaghetti Squash - 20 Seeds
- Spinach (Bloomsdale) - 70 Seeds
- Chives - 115 Seeds
- Cilantro (Slow Bolt) - 80 Seeds
- Basil (Large Leaf Italian) - 120 Seeds
- Thyme - 350 Seeds
- Rosemary (Classic) - 20 Seeds
- Onion (Tokyo Long White) - 80 Seeds
And we're also throwing in a few partial packs of seeds we had leftover from last year (we ordered more and forgot we had stored these away):
- Cherry Tomato
- Broccoli (Waltham)
- Zucchini (Black Beauty)
- Bush Bean (Blue Lake)
- Cauliflower (All-Year)
- Yellow Pepper (Sunbright)
- Green Pepper (Yolo Wonder)
- Jalapeno Pepper
- Kohlrabi (White Vienna)
so we haven't gardened yet , planning to do that this spring and experiment with it for teh first time. But from the reading I've been doing, my gardening tip would be for beginners to start out with raised beds. Raised beds that are 4 feet long and 2 feet wide mean much less weeding, much easier to weed and pull, and you can also grow more in the space vs the traditional row. Raised beds is how we will be starting out!
ReplyDeleteWe really want to do raised beds. But our budget is zero. It is the plans for the future. Just have to save up to get wood or railroad ties or something.... But Hubby is planning our beds as if they were raised. Access for me to weed but more space to plant!
DeleteBrianna see if theres a local company near you that will give you broken shipping pallets. they can be pieced to make a low budget raised bed fairly easily! they also make good compost bins!
DeleteAh! Great idea!! I will definitely have to mention this to my hubby!
Deletehave fun, & patience as well :) i can be so impatient wanting my garden & yard (& life) to be perfect and vibrant instantly before its time, but the sewing and the ripening are all part of the process as well! as for the actual gardening, i've found that mulch has helped to keep our plants alive and well.. we're in colorado and i had strawberry plants still alive last time i checked!! in the middle of winter! in snowstorms! i amended the soil with compost and dug it down before planting, and mulched heavily with leaves in the fall. we'll see how they end up growing this spring, but i was impressed they were so vital in the cold! thanks for the wonderful giveaway!
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. We do have compost from last year. The mulch is a great idea! And that is crazy awesome that you still have strawberries!!
Deletewell, they're not fruiting, just alive! :D i guess that's fairly common- at least that's what a co-worker was saying. i thought i had an extra magical garden. & i do :) & i don't really sew my garden. i may sew *in* my garden this year, though! silly typos!
Deletewe had great success with our bean tipi last year, & all i did was amend the soil with some mushroom compost around the tipi and stick 'em in the ground!
thanks for the info on the great company! we do organic seeds, and their website has so much wonderful pictures & information about the plants! happy gardening to us all! :)
instead of tearing up all the ground. we line our beds with newspaper and cover with compost. it kills the grass and weeds underneath without herbicide and then we can roll it all in. makes the planting go so much easier!
ReplyDeleteSo you don't till at all?? You just lay the newspaper and then the compost? That would be such a time saver!
DeleteOur garden didn't do the greatest either - but I know it is because we didn't do something with it every day. You just honestly have to do SOMETHING, even if it is just wedding one small section. We also got a very late start - husband got a wild hair in May to build a raised bed garden......Hopefully this year will be better -
ReplyDeleteDoing something every day is a definite must and definitely something we didn't do last year. We will be better this year.
DeleteGood luck with yours!
I am still learning a lot. I guess my tip is to listen to others that have grown a garden; I have listened to my dad and my neighbor who both have and still grow gardens. The right soil and location are very important. As well as, maintaining and pruning.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! We couldn't have done it without my dad last year!
DeleteMy favorite tip is Find out what veggies should be sown directly into the ground and what ones should be started inside and then transplanted.
ReplyDeleteI started my garden by placing seeds in the rototilled dirt.
Research is vital!
DeleteI like to reuse gallon size milk jugs by cutting the bottom off and planting them upside down in the garden as self watering jugs. That way they get the water they need but only what they need. Saves me from having to water the garden when I know I am going to be out of town for a few days too.
ReplyDeleteI'd seen this somewhere (probably Pinterest) and wondered if it actually worked. Might have to give it a try!
DeleteWe use a lot of raised beds. It is so much easier to maintain. We also use old tires, fill with dirt, and plant our squash, zucchini, and potatoes in them. I don't know what makes it work so well, but it is what my father in law has always done, and they grow like mad!
ReplyDeletemmjohnson555 at gmail dot com
I had forgotten we had done that when I was younger!! I'll have to see about getting some tires! But as a landscaper...I'm not so sure Hubby will appreciate that method...... ;)
DeleteOur garden is often hit and miss so I'm not sure I have many good tips! I do grow my eggplant on my porch in a container so it doesn't get eaten by flea beetles.
ReplyDeleteHuh. We haven't tried to grow eggplant yet....so I'll have to remember that if we ever try!
DeleteI am a gardening novice so I don't really have a new or great tip. I did learn that you can grow potatoes in a trash can full of dirt or lawn clippings.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading about that!
DeleteI am just learning to garden :) My grandmother passed away last year and I have been trying to learn how to keep her rose bushes beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your loss. I hope the rose bushes bloom like crazy this year for you!!
DeleteSquash is incredibly easy to grow. Start with that. You can ignore it and it will still grow. I planted one tiny plant and ended up with three huge ones. I never weeded and only watered when I remembered. It was perfect since I had a toddler who didn't give me much time to garden.
ReplyDeleteLadybugs help keep more destructive bugs away. You can buy a ton online for fairly cheap.
Our squash did really well last year despite our neglect so you're definitely right there! And I've heard of the ladybugs. Might have to keep that in mind!
DeleteEnjoy yourself! Gardening is work, but you get to reap and enjoy the rewards.
ReplyDeletePam C.
:) LOVE this tip!
DeleteMy only tip is to never stop learning. I like to take gardening classes from a local nonprofit gardening center, and use calendar apps to keep me on track.
ReplyDeleteAh, the wonderful world of apps. Is there anything they can't help with?? ;)
DeleteMy tip is if you plant tomatoes, to choose plants that will yield fruit at different times so that you have tomatoes spread out over a longer period of time! Last year I got 3 different types of tomato plants that yielded fruit at different times so we ended up with fresh tomatoes for months!
ReplyDeleteandysavi.mom@gmail.com
That's awesome. Never something I had considered before. We will definitely have to keep that in mind for next year....
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