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This weekend we had a great time at the farmers market and doing some seed shopping for our fall garden. With that in mind I thought this would be a good time to share with you a little bit about our garden.
My husband and I are first year gardeners. It started out being one of my little projects, but has become a hobby that we both share.
Something I learned in the beginning of our garden adventure is that not all seeds are created equal. After some research and a recommendation by a friend we decided to go with Sow True Seeds, a seed company out of Asheville, NC. They offer open-pollinated, GMO-free seed in organic, heirloom and traditional varieties. They have just about any type of vegetable you could want.
We use the square foot gardening method. Mel Bartholomew, is the guy who started this way of gardening, it is a plan to grow more in less space. It’s a very easy way for gardening new-comers to get started, but will work for the more experienced gardener as well. Not only have we grown quite a bit in 2 – 4′ x 4′ boxes, but we haven’t had to worry about time consuming maintenance, like weeding.
This summer our garden consisted of 4 tomato plants, 2 red pepper plants, 2 eggplant plants, 16 lettuce plants, 48 carrots, basil, 8 cucumber plants, 14 green bean plants and 24 corn plants. We also made a third bed (last minute). It’s 4′ x 4′, containing 20 strawberry plants.
Like all beginners we did make a few mistakes. We planned to have the beans, cucumbers and corn all in the same bed. The beans and the cucumbers climbed up a trellis we had put on the north side of that bed. We then plant the corn on the south side of it. Well, not only did our corn grow faster than the other two, it grew to almost 7′ tall and was shading out the other vegetables. We had to make the tough decision to cut down the corn in hopes of getting more of a harvest off of the cucumbers and beans. I hated to do it, but we are seeing results in cucumbers already. The other mistake was planting our carrots and lettuce too late. We are getting somewhat of a harvest off of these two but it has really been to hot for them to grow well in those conditions.
Here are some pictures of our garden’s progression.
We will start planting our fall veggies soon. They will be: Carrots, Lettuce, Spinach, Peas, Broccoli, Onions and Garlic. As of right now that’s it, but there could be more.
Rachel
I’m so jealous!!! I cant wait to have a garden of my own. Yours looks so great! I’m sure having your husband help makes it even more fun too!!