Go to Garden Center at spring time and buy plants to put in our pots and some hanging baskets, Plus few tomato plants and that has been it ( plus Callies Roses etc. )
Loved the idea of a salad garden and a vegetable garden because I love fresh vegetables straight from the garden but hated the thought of weeding, weeding and more weeding because the chances I would not know the difference between a vegetable plant and a weed.
Plus has anyone else noticed when you bring veg home from the shops they seem to last a much shorter time than they used to.
This year during the winter I looked into something called above ground gardening and eventually settled on a highly recommended book called "Square Foot Gardening" By Mel Bartholomew, The joy of this for me are multiple fold, so I bought the book costs from $11.00 on Amazon BTW
1. NO WEEDS
2. Grow much more in smaller space
3. Easier to tend to and easier to water
4. Simple and quick ( How I want to Garden )
To go alongside my new found enthusiasm for gardening, I thought I would try and grow my veggys and flowers from seed.
Now luckily for me the Zoe Mo is home ( the perfectionist and does everything by the book ) so off we go to buy our seeds and something to grow them in.
Now I had tried few times before to grow from seed and was highly unsuccessful so thought I would try something different and bought 2 Burpee Seed Starting Growing Systems ( Veggy One for 72 seeds, Flower one for 36 seeds )basically a seed tray with fancy growing compost, cover and tray underneath with water and fancy cloth that delivers the water to the seeds. So now we are 6 days in and seeds sprouting up as per the packet info ( Highly unusual for me so could well be Zoe's Green Fingers I suspect because when she put 2 seeds in a container 2 plants have come up ).
Next weeks project is to buy some wood to make our above ground garden, some weed stopper mat, Vermiculite, Peat and Compost and mix it all up before filling up our wooden containers.
So I will try and keep you posted through out the year and let you know whether the book theory and actual results sort of tally
Steve
PS Callie is highly skeptical of this venture because of the number of times I have failed miserably over the years.
9 comments:
I thought I was the only mad hatter around??? Great! Its fun its fresh and its for you! I love my veggie patch, every year we do our own!
I also grow an excess of carrots for the horses, and they also get the apples from the small orchard we have! I look forward to watching yours grow!
Go Steve!! We're pulling for a GREAT yield for you!
Callie might need to make room in the freezer for a few of your veggies ;)
Another really good gardening book is "Gardening When it Counts--growing food in hard times" by Steve Solomon. Good luck with your garden, and start with some easy and satisfying crops, like onions, lettuces and greens, and tomatoes.
Lol, you and me both. I'm always amazed when I actually have a garden. This year I'm doing pots on the porch.
I like your way, it looks super easy. Keep us posted, I want to see how this works out.
Steve, I can just hear Callie taunting you. Tell her to give you a break. Afterall you have Zoe's help and it seems to be working so far. I think just getting seeds to sprout is a good thing. You can tell how greem my thumb is, now,can't you. LOL
I'm sure before you know it you'll all be eating fresh veggies while looking at your beautiful flowers.
Good luck with the project. I'd never do it, I can kill a cactus garden, no green thumbs here.
I have been going by mel's method for a few years now and each year I build few more boxes. The initial investment in the materials and soil are annoying but I always call it the lazy mans garden. You will get some weeds but the pull out extremely easy because your soil is so loose. If you have a hard time finding vermiculite go to the insulation section of a hardware store and they sell big bags of it. If you do what mel says to do you will love it.
Thanks all for the comments and encouragement.
Mikey, one of the best comments was from Amy , it is great when someone else who has tried it tells you it works.
Amy thanks for that making me feel even more confident
Arlene , take it from me if this works for me it will work for you, I think my fingers are not green they carry some weird thing that kills most plant life with out even trying.
Now 1 week in and seedlings all coming up as per the packet that itself is pretty amazing.
I will try to get some piccys next week when Zoe Mo and I make the boxes ready for our seedlings when the frost ends
STeve
I love to grow my own stuff last year i had peppers tomatoes and so much more, at the time my horse wasnt at my house, but now that she is i definately plan on putting in carrots, i thought of putting in a apple tree, but my, lets say, more then picky horse refuses to touch them! Keep going with the garden it pays off literally, much cheaper then going to the store and buying your veggies
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