Getting ready for a garden isn’t hard at all. You just need to put a bit of thought into it and plan ahead BEFORE you get lost in those colorful seed catalogs. Ask yourself a few questions like “What do you like to eat?”, “How much room and time do I have” and “Can I compost”?
What do you like to eat?
A “rule of thumb” that my family likes to follow is to plant what you eat. No sense in planting acorn squash if no one in your family likes it, right? So, we go down the list and think of what we like to eat. Things like pizza and salsa (needs tomatoes, onions and peppers), salads (lettuce, spinach, kale), peas, green beans and corn. So, those top our list for what we plant. Then, we pick one “new” item to try in a small bed each year, like okra or butternut squash.
How much room do you have?
Obviously, if you only have containers or a small space to plant, you most likely are not going to plant corn, or lots of squash. You may want to stick with lettuces, spinach, kale, and a tomato plant. Of course, if you don’t like spinach, or tomatoes, you will want to stick with things you DO like. Other things that grow well in pots are carrots, bell peppers, and even a couple pole bean plants. I’ve seen a cucumber plant growing in a 5 gallon bucket, with a large stake in the middle for it to grow around. Another idea is to re-purpose 2 liter bottles and hang them on a fence.Think outside the box, and you’ll find you have more space than you ever realized! The best thing we have ever done is to plant more of less items. Instead of 12 different types of beans or tomatoes, we planted 12 beds of 1 kind of green bean, or 12 roma tomatoes instead of 12 different tomato varieties.
Continue on for more inspiration your 2014 Garden.…………………
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