Recapping everything I’ve done to plan our first garden for the warmer months this February!
It’s happening. It’s happening. It’s REALLY happening. I, Allie, am planting a garden this year.
Well, that is, if I convince my husband to build me a raised garden bed amidst the construction of our garage. Hopefully putting this our on the interweb will kind of guilt trip him into it. (I kid, I kid).
No but really, it’s happening. Last summer was tough. We were about 5 months into a waiting game with the sale of our current home, living in a second story apartment that literally had no sun exposure or room to be outside, at all.
I basically got myself through thinking about planting a garden one day, in my very own backyard with the hot sun on my back. So, I started to do a little research.
Turns out – planting a garden is NO JOKE, folks. It like, takes planning? Who’da thunk.
But really though, through my research, I learned that if you plan to have a garden, especially if you plan on starting your own seeds, you have to start planning in the winter. I’ve had a ton of fun so far, and I’m going to share each month my progress, the steps I’ve taken, thoughts, and resources I’m using.
Disclaimer – I have no idea what I’m doing here, and this is all a learning process. I may not even be able to grow one sprout, but I’m going to have fun trying!
Goal setting
Like with all great things – goals are important. They help you understand they why behind doing something! Here are mine:
- Rely less on the grocery store/ be more self sufficient. I’d love the majority of our diet to come from wild game + home grown produce.
- Save some smackers.
- Reduce our carbon footprint
- Get dirty 🙂 – I’m a farm girl at heart & I really think this will contribute to my quality of life
Started my compost pile + hoarding eggshells
All of the research I was doing came back to one thing – quality soil is key & compost can be a great addition to a garden to enrich
I simply started mine in a big tub with a lid that I got for $4. I drilled ventilation holes in the top and drainage holes in the bottom and I’m filling it with 1 part green matter (plant based kitchen scraps, grass clippings) to 1 part brown matter (leaves, existing organic soil from pots, cardboard, paper). I’m only using plant based items like peels and veggie + fruit ends & cores, no animal products. It works faster + reduces small.
Here are some resources I found helpful:
- https://www.familyfoodgarden.com/the-badlazy-composters-guide-to-making-awesome-compost/
- http://compostguide.com/compost-materials/
- https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/compost/how-to-compost/
Planned out my garden
Okay so as a total beginner, I was a bit tripped up reading all of the seed packets and I felt a little daunted knowing when to start my different seeds since I
You might think I’m a little nutty or hardcore, but I’ve been using a garden planner – it’s called Grow Veg. I did end up spending the $30 yearly fee, but I love that it tells me when to start my seeds, when to plan, how many I can fit in my 4’x8′ raised bed & when I can expect to start harvesting. I’ll be back to tell you if I think it’s worth it.
Ordered seeds
Once I narrowed down the size of my raised garden bed (4’x8′), and picked out my 5 things to grow (lettuce, basil, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers) it was time to order seeds. Here are a few good resources on picking out seeds:
- https://www.familyfoodgarden.com/seed-companies-buy-vegetable-herb-seeds/
- https://www.familyfoodgarden.com/garden-planning-seed-catalogs/
And here’s what I ordered! I decided to go with High Mowing Seeds.
- Aerostar Lettuce
- Cucumbers (thinner skin, like English cucumbers)
- Jalapeno Peppers
- Bell Peppers
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Basil
I hope this is helpful to all of you hopeful green thumbs out there! Stay tuned next month! xx – A
Doctear says
Hey Allie! Goal setting is very important in anything and everything we do 🙂 I am hoping your garden would turn as lush and fruitful as you wanted it to be. Cheers!
Miss AK says
Thanks SO much!
Jasper Simon says
I love gardening. I have never killed snails or slugs.i really like them and they have never ruined my plants. But saying that i love you’re ideas
Miss AK says
thank you!
Md Tariqul islam says
Responding to comments really gives the sense of community to readers, it really shows them that you care about your readers and that your not some robot behind a keyboard. I think it is my favorite tip on this list. Good work!
Miss AK says
Thank you
Jamie says
Gardening is a great activity and it’s a real pleasure to enjoy the end product. It is nice to see your garden grow over time and to see the result of all your creativity and hard work. Thanks for sharing!
Rifat says
I like your blog, thanks for sharing. I love this information you shared with us. I am waiting for your next post. Keep it up.
taylor says
Autumn february is a magical season when the falls on the ground and made garden with full of plants and flowers.
Romany Lambert says
Awesome list with most of the best kid’s gardening collections. For kids to love gardening, they should be trained on how to garden at very early age and they will grow liking it.
Josh Theoh says
Thanks for sharing helpful tips and ideas for beginners in gardening. To begin with, significant information essential for gardening these tips will be fruitful.
Jane says
Congrats on starting your first garden. It’s nice to see what all your work has grown into!
Dan Collins says
This is such a good read. I also love gardening with my wife and its feels so good everytime we harvest our vegetables. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Miss AK says
glad you enjoyed!
kyli says
I love gardening activity and this article is really great reading for me. Thank you for sharing this amazing article.
Tim says
Sound advice, thanks, Allie! The broken eggs remind me of my grandmother would always sprout her vegetable seeds in them, then plant them – she always grew the best produce, full of calcium too 😉