Last Spring was the first Spring that I owned my own property. As such, it was the first opportunity I had to plant my own vegetable garden.
I... FAILED... MISERABLY.
To give you an idea just how miserably I failed, I ate one tomato from the garden. The squash, zucchini, and cucumbers never bared any fruit. The deer got at the small number of tomatoes that did come to fruition before they were ripe enough for me to pick.
I had no idea what I was doing. My back yard has lots of trees so it's pretty shady. I was too lazy (apparently) to put up any sort of fencing. I also didn't do a very good job of weeding.
This year I... still really don't know what I'm doing, but at least I'm ahead of where I was last year. I've done some research and erected a fence around a 5' x 5' area. I've bought some plants and put together a plan.
A friend from work introduced me to the following web site: Gardener's Supply Company. One of the really cool features is Kitchen Garden Designer where you can drag and drop different vegetables into a grid divided into 1' x 1' squares. So far I have bought (but not yet planted due to frost warnings) the following plants/seeds: tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, leaf lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, red peppers, and zucchini. Once you're finished, you click the GO button and it will print out all kinds of information about each of the veggies you selected for your garden. The picture below is what I've got planned so far.
Hello,
I love the grid. What a neat idea.
I have about 50 tomato plants all in pots at the moment waiting to be planted out. It should be warm enough here now (just outside London) but the weather is looking more like November. The only thing I know I won't be troubled by is deer ! It sounds very romantic to have them visit your garden but I guess not if they picnic on your crops !
I look forward to hearing further gardening installments !
I blog about tomatoes. I'm learning blogging and tomatoes. So for this year I am a one crop woman !
Here's to a bumper crop ! ( lets hope both us exceed 1 tomato this year !)
Hi Sally! So glad you found my blog. I think it will be great fun to compare notes and experiences. I just spent some time on your blog and really enjoyed it. I bet I will be able to learn a lot about my tomato plants by visiting your blog throughout the summer. :) Your plants look great and best wishes for a very successful growing season!
I am so jealous! I grew up on garden-fresh produce. I miss it terribly. Unfortunately, even if I didn't live in an apartment, I do not have a green thumb. At. All. Can't wait to see how your efforts come out though!!
Dawn, I seem to be good at keeping the indoor plants alive so hopefully I'll have something to show for my gardening efforts! I'll be sure to update now and then as I plot along.
I've picked Monday as the day to officially plant the veggies. It is supposed to be down in the thirties on Sunday night. Brr.
Alas, I have a black thumb. Nothing grows for me except weeds. Even my flower garden has more grass in it than flowers. I am a failure as a plant nurturer.
Inside I'm just as bad. I have one single live plant that's on the kitchen counter next to the sink. That's the only reason it's still alive because otherwise, it wouldn't get watered at all.
I'm going to steal your amazon widget. It works, doesn't slow your site down and might actually be making you some money unlike the Amazon widgets I've previously tried at my book review blog.
Maybe I won't be a failure at one thing....
Mararet, don't fret. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. For example, I can get some plants to grow but I could probably never make such a nice quilt as the one you posted about the other day. :)