I have been growing some plants (inside of course) for my garden this year and it has got me thinking about my first garden I planted. Last year for my birthday my awesome husband built me a good old fashioned garden box in our backyard so that I could grow some delicious veggies for our family. I was so excited since I had been wanting to have a garden for quite some time.
One Saturday morning we packed up the kiddos and went to a local garden center and picked out bags of soil, a variety of plants (goodness they are expensive), a small jug of plant food and a watering can. I was thinking to myself “how hard can this be, I mean all we have to do is dig some holes, place in the green little plants, water them and we will have a thriving and bountiful garden”…yeah, I know very naive.
I had no clue what I was doing planting a garden
Upon our arrival home we then got ready to “play in the dirt” by placing all the rich soil in the large rectangle just built and picking a spot for my new little plant friends to live for the next few months. To be honest with you all…I didn’t have ONE clue what I was doing! I didn’t really “plan” what plant was going where I just dug a hole and placed them in in a nice little row. Oh how they looked so cute! We then realized that we had some friends that also thought my new plants were oh so cute too so then came the four posts and the netting. It was so nice to walk outside and check in on my garden to see the progress it was making and I sometimes wondered if I was being an overbearing garden mom. lol.
I became a garden mom
After a few weeks of watering and beautiful sunshine, the plants were growing green and tall. Let me tell you, this garden mom was ECSTATIC! It was such a proud feeling to know that something I planted was growing in my backyard. I knew that the fruits (in this case veggies) of my labor were going to bountiful and taste delicious!
So how did it go you ask? Some plants thrived more than others but I would say it was a success for my first attempt! We had some yummy tomatoes, a few snow peas, 3 strawberries (yes only 3) and lots of jalapeno peppers and other pepper varieties….Our zuchinni plants did not survive…someone said they didn’t have enough space? Anyone out there have some advice on how to successfully grow zuchinni?
What I learned from my 1st garden experience
So now let me tell you what I learned from my first garden experience now that I am getting ready for round #2….
- Planning. I need to draw out and graph the plants I am planning and where the best placement for size and sunlight it needs.
- Purpose. I need to pick vegetables that my family will actually enjoy (we planted too many peppers that were sadly not used) and later wished we had more zuchinni and tomatoes
- Price. I couldn’t believe how expensive the plants were-so this year I am trying to grow my own seeds at home to cut down on the number of plants I will need to purchase
- Patience. This year instead of stalking my little garden plants I am going to sit back and enjoy my amazing creators work. Don’t get me wrong…I know that I need to “tend” to the garden with watering/picking out the weeds that can creep in…but I want to let go of the control factor that I tried to have last year and this year really enjoy the beautiful and rewarding process a garden can bring.
Who knew that gardening could help me with my lack of patience?! Oh, and to my husband who is reading this post wondering if he should build another garden box for me to help me attain my goal of having more patience…no honey, one garden is plenty for me. 🙂
Share your gardening advice
What tips/advice can you give that you have learned over the years? What plants have been successful? Any books you recommend reading?
when is the class? that sounds like fun beth! 🙂
Michelle,
You do have some gardening stories girl! I can’t imagine having poison ivy while pregnant-you are a trooper! A nice warm piece of Zucchini bread sounds so delicious right now on this cold and gray day in Akron doesn’t it?!?. Would you share your recipe with me? 🙂
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I love gardening. I had to take a break last year with a sick baby and no income, but am planning on a thriving crop this year. I have a horrible story, I’m not going to share about my father in law, the tiller and some little friends. Also, my terriers tens to keep the yard small animal free, so no worries there. It’s just weeds are insane, and being a fan of organic, no chemicals for me. Which leads to the story of the year I got poison ivy from my garden. uck! and I was pregnant that year. So fun, but I always love my garden. Tomatoes and Zucchini are my biggest success, so lots of spaghetti sauce and zucchini bread (I have the best recipe around, passed down). Have Fun this year!!!!
kids will actually eat more veggies if they help grow them–at least mine will! 🙂 I used to grow zuchinni, but they take up so much space. Nothing beats heirloom tomatoes and basil plants. I’m taking a class @ my CSA–wanna join me?!
Andrea,
Thanks for all your great advice! Our zucchini plant did grow last year but we never got the actual “flower buds” and thus no zucchini. I am going to try again this year and hopefully will have some luck since I adore zucchini! I have never heard about rotating the plant placement from year to year although now that you mention it, it does seem like a wonderful idea. Thanks! All this talk of fresh veggies is making me hungry! 🙂 Your garden plan sounds superb…..I would love to see a picture when it is time for pickin’.
I love gardening and am looking forward to getting started soon. Zuccinni and cucumbers take a lot of room but you will get an abundance of each with just 1 or 2 plants. My cucumbers went crazy last year and so I canned a bunch of pickles. Make sure you rotate your garden. Plant your tomatoes in a different spot than last year. This helps to keep the worms away from them and keeps them healthy. We do radishes, banana peppers, green beans, potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes. I might try lettuce this year again. My carrots never do well so I’m not even gonna try this year. Also, our corn didn’t do well last year. We have a local amish road side market that we order our corn from. Usually order about 15 dozen and then we are able to freeze it. All my gardening info comes from my aunts and uncles so I don’t have any recommendations for books for you. Happy gardening!