Since then, I have decided what I am going to plant and mapped out my garden space. It was rather hard narrowing down my choices of what to plant…too much produce and not enough space! So I compromised, and squished and squeezed, until I came up with this list. Here it is, in no particular order:
~Nasturtium~*
~Dianthus~
~Lavender~
~Zinnias~
~Lavender~
~Zinnias~
~Cucumbers~
~Lettuce~*
~Cantaloupe~*
~Bell Peppers~*
~Jalapeno Peppers~*
~Spinach~*
~Zucchini~
~Summer Squash~*
~Tomatoes~
-The 100’s variety*
-Chocolate Cherries*
-One larger variety
~Oregano~
~Rosemary~
~Rosemary~
~Chives~
~Basil~*
~Parsley~
~Cilantro~*
~Ornamental Gourds~*
~Yarrow~*
* My Mom purchased seeds for these fruits and veggies.
Unfortunately, I got everything planned out and then realized I can’t start any seeds until at least April! In Michigan, we can’t safely plant much until Memorial Day weekend. I know some people cover their plants with greenhouse-type material, but I didn’t want to get that fancy this year. So I will just have to wait patiently until then. *(Sigh)*
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My gardening notebook, my terrarium, seed packets, and garden diagrams. |
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I love all of my colorful seed packets! |
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Keeping a gardening notebook has proven to be a valuable tool for planning a garden. I can collect seed packets, articles, diagrams, and other notes in the front pocket . . . |
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. . . keep a record of each visit to my garden, what problems I have, what I harvested, and what tasks I performed . . . |
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. . . keep a tally of how much I harvested . . . |
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. . . keep a list of recipes that use our produce . . . |
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. . . and plan my new garden! |
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You can click on this picture to enlarge it. This is a map of my garden layout and dimensions. I plan on having raised beds as well as pots of herbs and flowers in the garden. I’m looking forward to trying the raised bed/square foot gardening method! |
So, do any of you have tips/advice for a novice? Have any of you started seeds yet? Are you trying any exotic or different types of produce? Please leave me a comment! I’d love to hear about your gardens! And I will keep you posted on mine!
12 comments:
How exciting, Bianca! I loved this post, and found it to be so inspiring. It looks like you have everything planned and laid out so well! I am sure you can hardly wait until planting time! We usually begin planting our garden mid-April, but I think it is going to be the end of April before it will be warm enough for planting. Patience is certainly necessary for a gardener to have, isn't it?!
So how many vine plants are you planning on? and how many tomatoes? The tomatoes get pretty tall and big around. We plant our tomato plants 28" apart and our Zucchini 4 feet apart and still their leaves touch.
You might be about to save room by planting your lettuce in the vine part of your garden. By the time the vines are big, your lettuce will be bitter and ready to pull out. Spinach also has a very short growing season before it bolts.
How happy I am to see a comment from you again, Sarah! You have been missed! I'm glad that you enjoyed this post. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your garden plans for this year. Yes indeed, being a gardener requires much patience! :-)
~Bianca
Thank you for your comment, Technoprairie! Right now, the vine plants I have are cantaloupe, cucumber, zucchini, summer squash, and gourds. The first two share a bed, and the last three share a seperate bed. I am only planning on 1-2 plants of each variety. I know I may be pushing my space, but I plan on having the cucumbers and cantaloupe on trellises, and for the other bed I was just going to let them take over. I will try to space them so they have maximum space between each other.
Thus far, I am planning on having three tomato plants. I will have these in upright trellises. My neighbor used a box-like trellis last year that she bought from home depot and her plants did great. I'm hoping they will grow further up than out this year.
The only reason I had planned on growing my greens in their own section of the garden was because I would like to do some succession planting so that we can enjoy the greens through the summer. My fear is that the vining plants would grow so big I would run out of room for lettuce and spinach later on. But thank you for the tip on bolting. We had never heard that term before, and when we looked it up, we realized that's what happened to our basil last year. We will be on the lookout this year and make sure we harvest BEFORE that happens. :-)
Thanks again for all your advice, Technoprairie! I really appreciate it!
~Bianca
Actually, your basil was just flowering. Cut off the flowers and your basil plant will then work on making more leaves. If you do this all summer, you will have wonderful basil leaves until frost. You can also use the cut off flowers as they have some of the basil flavor.
Bolting as in spinach is a little different. Spinach and some lettuce are either heat or light sensitive (I can't remember which) and once a ground temperature has been reached or the amount of light has been reached, they put all their energy into making seeds. You can't stop them from making flowers and seeds like you can herbs like oregano, mint, and basil. Plus the leaves also get bitter. So once they start to bolt, best to pull them out and put them on the mulch pile.
We keep garden records too. Be sure to put how close or far apart you plant your plants or your rows. Then as you garden, take note whether they are too close, just right, or too far apart. Do this during the summer because you won't remember next spring if your layout was okay (we've tried the remembering thing - doesn't work so well!). Sometimes I even put in my notes "28" was just right" if I think I'm going to question my measurements the next spring.
Bianca, your garden plans are impressive! Have your ever tried growing tomatoes upside down in special containers or amended buckets? I saw this in a gardening catalog and thought it was a neat idea.
Thank you for your tips on the basil, Technoprairie! I didn't know that you could use the basil flowers. I like that idea! I hate wasting food, almost to a fault. :-)
I'm assuming that even if one crop of spinach bolts (I doubt this will happen as I have a feeling we'll be itching to eat it as soon as it's ready) I can plant another crop of spinach in place of it? Our neighbor cut down her spinach and lettuce and allowed it to grow back, and they enjoyed fresh salads throughout the whole summer.
Thank you for the tip on recording my planting spaces. I didn't do that last year, and I may regret it this year.
Thanks again for all of your tips and advice! They are really appreciated!
~Bianca
I have never tried growing "topsy turvy" tomatoes, Aunt Debbie! But the idea has intrigued me. I just haven't been willing to pay that much for a container, since I have no idea how they work. Maybe you should test it out and let me know how it works! :-)
~Bianca
You can cut your leaf lettuce and your spinach and it will grow back. But at some point, it will immediately start growing a tall stem faster than it grows more leaves. That is when it is bolting.
You could try sowing lettuce and then sow another crop 1 month later and see if that will help you have more lettuce over the summer.
We've found one spinach that doesn't bolt at all. It makes a lot and it isn't quite as light as spinach. I like it but my family prefers the regular spinach. It is called New Zealand spinach.
We also plant Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard produces all summer and you can use it in salads or cook it like spinach.
Thanks again for your helpful comment, Technoprairie! I will definitely plan on doing some succession planting so that once one crop bolts I have another one available. We eat a lot of salad around here!
I will have to remember the New Zealand spinach and the swiss chard. Perhaps we will buy some at the farmers market this summer and if we like it enough, grow it next year!
~Bianca
Bianca,
I enjoyed your post on gardening. I'm also a novice gardener. As part of our homeschooling, we planted our seeds last weekend. We have cilantro, green beens, carrots, sunflowers and sweet peppers. I also want to add spinach, oregano and mini watermelons. I read about a neat idea to use reyse a sandbox as a raised garden. I might try it. Nancy
I'm so excited to hear about your gardening endeavors, Cousin Nancy! That's so neat that you are using it as part of your homeschooling! Gardening teaches so many valuble lessons. That is a really creative idea to use a sandbox as a raised bed! I never thought of that before, but it would make an excellent, movable garden. You will have to let me know how it works if you try it!
~Bianca
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