Planting a Home Garden Pt. 2

Okay, so after you have tested your soil, figured out what seeds you want to sow, and where you are going to sow them the next part is to dig!

There are nice fancy tillers, just your run o' the mill tillers, and a shovel. Because I'm going the low budget route, my choice was a shovel.

I used an extra spray paint can that I had laying around the house to mark where I would start each row. You can make your rows as wide or as thin as you'd like. One to three feet is a good choice. You would have already figured this stuff out with the garden plan that you drew up. Once you loosen the ground with the shovel, get the grass and roots out. If you leave the roots guess what you'll have... more grass. Ugh! You don't want anything to deprive your precious plants from getting what they need. 

After you have turned up your soil, you'll want to mix in compost. The ideal time to mix in compost is in the fall before spring. That way your soil has a chance to give it's best when springtime comes and you are growing your little seedlings. But... better late than never. I used composted cow manure, but there are plenty of compost options to choose from. 

Once the garden is ready to be planted, you'll want to make sure you plant your seeds or seedlings when you are supposed to. 'Round here in Florida, the last hard frost is in March usually. Most plants will be planted after this time. You can go to this site to find out what your last hard frost date it. A few but not the only exceptions to this will be carrots, spinach, onions, and parsley. These are frost hardy not frost proof. 

Items you will need for planting:

• Garden trowel - to dig the bigger holes
• 18" Ruler - you will need this to determine just how far away to plant each seed/seedling
• Pencil - you will use the eraser part to make small holes for the seeds
• Garden gloves - unless you want your fingernails to look horrid 
• Tray - half sheet baking trays work great, this is for all your small supplies to carry at one time

Now get to planting! Good luck and don't forget to water... ;) By watering, I don't mean drowning them like I did the first time I used a soaker hose. Ugh...

Happy gardening,

D

Planting a Home Garden Pt. 1

Two years ago, my husband made a 4x10 foot raised garden bed. It worked well, but I figured out quickly that I have to listen to the planting instructions. If it says plant 2 feet apart, I better do it! The first year my garden was over crowded which is not good for producing edible yummy things.

Courtesy of Flickr by Drewsviews

My tomato plants were decimated by leaf-footed bugs! The worst! Not knowing what they were, I didn't realize that they would destroy my tomatoes. I looked at them and thought, Oh they are just hanging out. How weird! The next time I looked at those tomatoes they had small holes in them and the innards were turned to mush! In a violent rage I raced and unleashed Sevin Dust on them. It was a war between the Leaf-Footed Bugs and me. I won...

Courtesy of Flickr by Macroscopic Solutions

Last year I put my tomato plants in containers away from the raised garden that I used the year before. They did much better. No Leaf-Footed Bugs. But here comes the God awful Tomato Hornworms! You have got to be vigilant about sighting them and quickly removing them from your plant. They have one healthy appetite! I read the best way to get rid of them is to just remove them from the plant. I put them into the woods behind my house. Worked for me. 

Besides those pests, I really didn't run into a ton of problems with the small raised garden that I had started. I just realized however, that my unfruitful strawberry plant that I planted last year should produce fruit this year. Did you know it takes a year? Not me. Wish I knew that then. I also have a thornless blackberry bush that I planted two years ago that has not produced a bit of juicy blackberries! I have to look into that. Put it on the list. Ok, so, besides ALL of that I really didn't have any problems (I think I'm having Deja vu). This year however, I am taking a larger and more planned out approach than ever before. BEWARE. 

When you first start planning your garden area. First things first, know where the sun is at all times. You must be a sun watcher for a week. Why a week you might ask? Well, if you're anything like me you will make a note or reminder to yourself to go and take pictures of pre-garden area about 6:30 am. Then you do. Done. Now you need to go at 7:30 and every hour until you know where the sun shines at all times. You don't want to start a garden on a whim and then it not work out because of careless planning. But life gets in the way, so you forget to go at 7:30. You remember again at lunch and set an alarm to remind you at 1:30... You get the point. I had planned on putting the garden by the raised garden bed until I realized that the sun only shines for half of a day there.

Here you can see two sets of pictures that I took of my backyard. I really didn't realize that most of my backyard is shaded until NOW! I used a photo editing app on my phone to arrange the pictures and add the times as well. 

Once you figure out where you are going to plant, now you can figure out what to plant! This is the fun part. I'm sure you probably did this at first, and to be honest I did too. Hehe. Things to think about: What fruits and vegetables are your favorites? What do you use the most while cooking? You don't want to have a bunch of tomato plants if you don't really like tomatoes. You can go to your closest garden center and find seed packets there, but there are also great ones online. Here are a few sites that I have used or looked into. 

www.rareseeds.com 

www.johnnyseeds.com

www.parkseed.com

The next step in planning your home garden would be to test your soil. This is not a must, but if you want the most bang for your buck this is the best decision. 

Amazon.com

My soil didn't really need any changes. I have sandy/loam soil. It's about 7.0 pH. I will add some compost to it after I have dug the rows. Must compost! Must compost! It adds beneficial microbes the soil which is good in starving disease and growing tasty fruits and veggies. 

Here is my planned garden. It's a messy little mess, and if I realized that I would be putting this on my blog I would have made it prettier. (Ha) A ruler, and pencil with eraser are a must. Once you figure out where you will put your garden, you can start drawing it out. You will erase, you may say expletives, you will definitely be glad when it is over. It is a good idea to put all fruits and veggie info down in one place so that you don't have to go back over and over to your seed packets or online to see how far apart you need to plant them. Because let me tell you it matters! 

Here are a few sites that I like for seeds. Or you can just go to your local garden center. 

www.rareseeds.com

www.johnnyseeds.com

www.parkseed.com

Part 2 is the dirty part. Get your shovel, tiller, ground-turner-upper! 

Happy Sunday y'all!

Dannielle

How Do Your Dahlia's Grow?

Reminder: I'm switching blogging sites and this is an oldie but a goodie... enjoy!

Some are BOLD.

Some only put their selves out there half-way.

Some are late to start. But wait...

Here they are, and they are beeeeautiful!

Always,

D ~ stopping to smell the Dahlias

My Not So Bountiful Harvest

I have always wanted to be a full on gardener. Well only during the summer months at least. Ha! I have realized this year that you have got to fully commit or you are going to waste some money and time. I don't know about you, but I am not into wasting money or time for that matter.

Don't let this picture fool you. They may look like regular green bell peppers, but they are a mini version of the real thing. I have tried let me tell you, I have tried to wait and see if they will grow to be mature like their parents, but it never happened, so off the plant they came and into my humble abode. Tomorrow is the time for me to harvest the pole beans. We will see how that goes...