Do you have a green thumb? A Brown thumb? A Black thumb?
Do you even attempt to garden or do you leave it to the “experts” you know? I enjoy gardening as a hobby. I may not take it seriously enough, and that’s why I’m posting this.
I tend to take a rather nonchalant view of my gardening. Our flowers out front are in a very large haphazard, free-flowing form and they are just BEAUTIFUL! For vegetable gardening, I’m very serious about getting the dirt prepared and planting according to the instructions on the seed packets or seedling containers. But then I see these gardens packed to the brim with plants bearing large vegetables or flowers and think – “Why Didn’t I Do That?”
For my vegetables, I have a raised bed. My husband and dad built it for my back yard. I have 4 large squares allowing me to separate varieties as necessary, and I don’t really take advantage of the space and need some help. We LOVE our tomatoes – and this year, I think I might even be brave enough to attempt some canning (if my friend, Kelly, is willing to guide me). Here are the things we love:
Lettuces
Tomatoes
Garlic
Chives
Zucchini
Sweet Peas
We’d also like some herbs, and while I love growing them, the harvesting & drying has me a bit intimidated. I’d like to grow some lavendar, chamomile, peppermint and lemon balm and try again to make my own herbal teas.
Honestly, we’d love to have some berries too. I’d love some raspberries or blackberries, but have only ever picked them in the wild or in a commercial patch. I love homemade jam and would love to make some of our own. We have enough back yard to have a good patch, but I’ve seen some overgrown monstrosities that I want to avoid…
We live in ZONE 5 for planting, so I need to get my garden plan together and get some seeds started soon.
If you are an experienced gardener, what can you advise??? Do you have experience with square foot gardening? Herb gardening? Berry plants? Canning?
Any recommended varieties for good production? Any tips or advice for taking advantage of long-term storage methods? Any books you’d recommend?
About Debbie T
Welcome to my blog. Grab a latte and settle in for a good read! I'm Debbie - aka The Queen Mommy. I'm really just a Right-Brained woman who loves God, her husband, and her three children. I This means I'd rather write than clean... I enjoy writing about family & home, faith & life, marriage & parenting, food & addiction. I do participate in affiliate programs and use affiliate links and graphics throughout my blog. If you follow a link and make a purchase, I may make a small commission to help support my family at home. Click here for my Disclosure Policy.
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I am by no means an “expert”, but this is what I do… I keep the majority of my herbs in pots. The original thought was that I would just move them indoors when the fall hit, but so far, that’s not happened. Either way, I like having them in the pots, because it cuts down on the weeding and I can go straight to what I need without having climb around in the garden. I have chives, parsley, basil, mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, thyme and chamomile in the pots. And I plant lettuce in a flower box on my deck… easy access for burgers! We have 3 garden plots in our yard as my desire to plant things has expanded over the last few years. This year, I’m going to do plants from the greenhouse in addition to my seeds since I didn’t really feel like starting things indoors. We are skipping the potatoes but adding in the broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and a few different kinds of pepers instead. Wish me luck with the broccoli etc… I’ve never done them before.
I have a blackberry cane that someone gave us in the back yard and 2 wild blackberry canes that I planted from another friend’s bramble. Last year I thought they were going to die for sure. This year I see some green. My expensive red raspberry bushes do not seem to be faring as well, though. We’ll see. I usually go to a patch in Olivesburg to pick and those people are so kind that I won’t be brokenhearted if I can’t grow my own berries!
As far as books go, I have one called Carrots love Tomatoes or something like that. It’s supposed to help you lay out the garden to it’s best potential. It hasn’t worked so well for me. I get online and search and sometimes, stop by Kingwood to ask questions. I’ve gotten the most help by finding people who garden and asking question after question.
Square Foot Gardening is the most fun and productive way to garden. Not only do you use only 20% of the space a traditional garden, it also saves water and time spent weeding and digging.
For more information on SFG please visit our web site http://www.squarefootgardening.com/gardensupplies
Happy gardening everyone!