Until now.
Been wanting to go a little more green lately. Started small - reusable grocery bags. Then, working on going all natural with the cleaners and soaps and other things that we use in the home and on our bodies. And for some time I've been thinking about a vegetable garden. My cousin Mark started honing in on my little desire. Then I went to visit my sister-in-law Lindsey. Ok, she's a single mom, owns her own home, works full time and managed to build a veggie garden! It looked great too!
So - there's no reason I can't start one too!
I've been doing a lot of research and talking to people who have gardens of their own. But mostly I'm bugging my cousin Mark.
So far I've found some sites that seem very helpful:
Square Foot Gardening - I have a small yard so I'm totally in to this concept. Gotta get the book...
No-Dig Vegetable Garden - lots of useful info here
Composting
Start Growing It - finding lots of veggies I want to plant but this site has a lot of info about fruit to plant
Too much info to add anything else about this site - just check it out
Awesome article about plants that deter pests and no-good bugs
I'm not planting anything until next year. But I'm hoping to get a start on the beds by fall... I am thinking this will be great bonding project for Gillian and I.
Here's some plans I have come up with:
- I am going to have four 4x4 raised beds. These beds will be split by 16 square feet. Each square foot will have a different veggie or fruit in them. So, I will potentially have 64 different areas to plant 64 different veggies or fruits. Realistically though, I will be planting only veggies and fruits that I know my family will eat. So most likely I will have a couple square feet of the same veggie.
- I am going to lay down news paper in the bed, then hay, then organic fertilizer, then straw, and compost.
I have a small yard so I'm going to be lining up the beds against my fence line:
I have already started composting thanks to the generous donation of a compost bin from my parents and the generous filling-up-of-grass-clippings by Jonathan.
- Some of the veggies and fruits that I WISH to grow: (keep in mind these are just ideas, I have not done a lot of research on what I can actually grown and how to do it yet) (Also - the last few items in bold are either doubling as asthetically pleasing/herb and pest/animal control)
- Romaine lettuce
- Asparagus
- Tomatos
- Green beans
- Potatos
- Zuccini
- Squash
- Red peppers
- Egg plant
- Banana pepper
- Broccoli
- Corn
- Watermelon
- Strawberries
- Cucumber
- Artichoke
- Sweet potato
- Mushrooms??
- Basil
- Catnip
- Chives
- Chrysanthemums
- Dahlias
- Dill
- Garlic
- Marigolds
- Petunias
- Sunflowers
More to come about my veggie garden experiences!
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