What began as a science/art project with my second grade class has evolved into a full fledged garden in my backyard. This is the first entry to what I hope will be a guide to others who wish to experience the thrill, excitement, and fresh taste of gardens and vegetables they have grown in their own backyard. My plan is to garden by environmentally economical and friendly means. I hope that you will find the information in this blog encouraging, useful, and helpful.
Now to begin:
I started with two small greenhouses purchased at Wal-mart, one will house 36 cells and the other 72, with expanding peat moss pellets and a packets of the seeds I intend to grow:
- Tomatoes
- Hot Peppers
- Garlic
- Cilantro
- Green Onions
- Corn
- Peas
- Watermelon
- Cucumber
- Caesar Lettuce
- Iceberg Lettuce
- Lettuce Mixture
- Mammoth Sunflower Seeds
Additionally, I keep a few potatoes from each 10 lb. bag I purchase at the grocery store and set them aside to place in the garden. We'll get back to the potatoes in another posting.
This is what the gardening green houses I purchased look like
First, plan your garden - what will grow where
- There are several websites you can visit and books that you can purchase to find out what vegetables and fruits will grow in your climate. All of the items listed in the above bullet list will grow in the desert with adequate attention paid to amount of sun exposure, time of sun exposure, and soil and water requirements.
- Plot your garden out on paper according to the amount of space you have. This step cannot be omitted if you want to save time, money, and effort. To do this, plot out on a piece of paper, preferably graph, the dimensions of the area you will be planting in. According to the directions on the packets of seeds you have purchases for plant spacing, begin pinpointing what will go where in your garden, keeping in mind the direction your garden will be facing in relation to fencing or any other structures that will cast shadows throughout the day. Additionally, keep in mind the heights your plants will reach when fully mature and anticipate any shadows that they will cast on adjacent plants.
This is what one of my garden plots look like along with the seeds that will be planted there
In the next blog we will discuss preparing garden soil with tilling and amendments.
