Starting a Garden

  • Research/ Planning , location, Research/Planning, oh yeah location!

 

I’m sure you have all heard of oh you’re a total  “green thumb” or yeah, I have a  “black thumb”.

Gardening is a great hobby that offers a variety of outstanding benefits. The feeling of becoming more  self-sufficient, not  to mention being ablet= to have the fresh, yummy taste that only comes from farm, fresh/garden fresh. I don’t know about you but that is   enough to get me started, and the money I would be saving helps too. So where do I start? I do I start a garden and not how do I keep my garden alive?

 But if you think about it like this, when you are in school and you have a test coming up are you either planning  and studying  (green thumb) or maybe you semi study and hope for the best. (Black thumb) like everything in life you have to do your homework. ( See what I did there)

Things that you want to know beforehand are, different types of soil, your climate, pests, what good to grow together and what’s not. Yes, that right some plant like each other company, and other can’t stand them.  

I used to live in Arizona, and people always think you can’t have a garden in AZ, and while yes something I could not grow you would be surprised at what I could grow. I learned that winter worked better for some plants, I also learned that if I had a sunshade over my garden I could grow carrots, tomatoes, and peppers during the summer.

 I’m sure I could grow more, but I was in a back yard and planting in raised  garden box my husband made for me.

Some of this was trial and error, and honestly after my first summer, nothing made it. I went online to read up on certain plants. The sun is so hot that the sunshade gave my plants full sun but covered to it was not so hard giving them sunburns. I also asked my local nursey workers. They told me why my lemon tree was  not be giving me lemons. They also told me that the first two-three years of planting a fruit tree you should pluck off all fruit to help your tree focus on growing and building it up in nutrients so that later it will produce sweeter and more fruits.

  I also weirdly enough found some cool books at the library, I read them while my kids were playing or doing story time. And got a lot of tips and  tricks.

This also goes into location, where you plant is important, knowing if your plants need a lot of sun or maybe just a little sun. also like me making sure when putting them in the sun to remember if you’re in a desert climate, that sun does a lot of damage so make sure you plan on that placement so they’re not sitting in that smoother heat all day. Or if you were like me and did have a choice.  Think about sunshades.  

  • Now it’s time to get your hands dirty. Unless you wear gloves then it’s time to get your gloves dirty.

Now you can’t just walk out and start throwing our seeds. I mean you can, and you would probably get some  veggies or flowers or whatever you are planting. But not as much as you would like. So, prepping your soil is important, it also will  look like a lot different depending on what type of garden you have. It also depends on the way you live. If you’re doing raised garden boxes your soil prep could be buying bulk soil or buying bag of soil. If you have an in-ground garden that could mean your rototilling your ground, adding mulch or fertilizer to your soil to get the vitamins your plants will need.

 For my garden we  are able to go  to our local Starbucks and get a few bags of the left-over coffee grounds. They contain tons of nutrients that are super beneficial to your garden. And I believe most Starbucks give these away from free. It helps with waste and helps your garden, so it’s a win, win win. If your Starbuck does not do this, and you drink coffee, save your ground’s  and you will have your own to help mix in your soil.

  • Guess what, if you have stuck with me through all that, you made it to the fun part. And that is planting.

This is the fun you get to pick  when, what, and where. You can decide to buy plants that are somewhat mature from your local nursery, Home Depot etc. You can also buy seeds and start growing them yourself in a greenhouse (if you have one) if you don’t do threat, you can start with some and keep them inside. This is good for those who live in colder climates, this helps you get a head start on plating . When it is warm enough for planting you already have your seedling ready for planting.  

You can also just go ahead and plant them in the ground and watch the excitement of your seed growing where you planted them. Also, planting seeds could help keep costs down if you’re trying to stay on a budget. You get way more seed for almost the same cost as buying a plant itself.

 

Overall, my fellow gardeners. If I can have a garden, you can too. If I could leave you with something that has stuck with me, is this, some talent you are born with or come easy to you. Others take time and hard work. Gardening can be a talent if you take the time to learn about what makes your garden grow, hard work pulling weeds, getting the soil ready. And then the reward is you have yummy fruits and veggies and herbs if you are growing herbs. This is meant to be fun, so go out and have fun. Good luck

 

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