Learning to Be a Gardener

I recently got the notion in my mind that it would be a brilliant idea to plant my own vegetable garden this year.

Did I mention I might be insane?

Two toddlers, two big dogs, three cats and eight kittens, and somehow I thought I needed more on my plate? Bring it on, life! Let's do this.

So of course I had no idea where to start. I researched the crap out of how to start a garden. I found what veggies should be planted indoors first, and started those.

They grew faster than I was prepared for. My gardens still aren't even remotely ready, and I'm running out of growing space! My hubby is going to help get my outdoor gardens ready so that they can be planted outside by the end of this week.

Anyway, first thing's first: I made a plan for my garden. Now because I am still new at this, I am trying this thing called "square foot gardening". 

Square Foot Gardens

The concept is basically this: divide garden into square feet, assign a vegetable to each square foot (you can have more than one of each vegetable), and then find out how many plants you can have in that space.

For example, you can sixteen carrot plants, nine beet plants but only one broccoli.

I drew up a diagram of each garden to plan it out. To simplify it further, I am doing a row of each vegetable. So every foot at the front of the garden is a different vegetable. Except for the back, which is dedicated to "tall" plants, so will have a trellis for my tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peas.

I looked up which veggies grow better together, which grow in the shade vs. sun, and what "helper" plants I could use.

Helper plants

Marigolds: help tomatoes grow better

Basil: make tomatoes taste better

Nasturtiums: keep bugs away from squash and broccoli

Petunias: protect beans from beetles

Oregano: protect cucumber from beetles

Geraniums: keep bugs away from corn (specifically Japanese beetles)

Chives: make carrots grow sweeter

Now I have the whole garden figured out, I just have to wait (patiently) for my gardens to be ready so I can finish planting all my vegetables! So excited!

Do you have any gardening tips to share? Any of you first-time vegetable gardeners?

God bless,

- M.