Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your Garden grow?
April 21, 2011
Last year we had big plans for gardening but they quickly got put on hold due to the Nashville Food (more on that soon). This year, our garden is up and running and I’m so excited. However, I don’t have the greenest thumb. In fact, it’s known to be quite brown. It’s still early in the season but I have high hopes and I haven’t killed anything yet. Yay!!! Actually, several of our plants even have buds. Teeny, tiny buds. Still, that means they are alive and growing.
First of all, hubby built me this awesome garden box. He has no idea what the dimensions are. He says he just cut what looked right???? Either way, I love it!
Inside we have broccoli, onions, basil, parsley, rosemary, and cilantro. Despite it being elevated we still have to use chicken wire. Apparently the bunnies in our area are super hoppers.
I also invested in some Topsy Turvy planters last year when they were on clearance. We’ve got tomatoes in this one purchased from Eaton’s Creek (They also have a great CSA).
Hubby also had to rig up a way for us to hang them high on the fence due to the above mentioned bunnies. In this planter we’ve got strawberries and a variety of green, red, and yellow peppers.
See those TWO strawberries on the bottom? Told ya I was growing! In hindsight, I wish I would have bought more of the “strawberry” planters. They are much more versatile in being able to plant a variety of items.
Last but not least we have garlic. Did you know that garlic grows from it’s own cloves? This was, by far, the easiest and most inexpensive item to plant.
When choosing what items to put in our garden, I simply thought about my cooking and what foods I am always buying at the store from week to week, and which herbs I use the most often. In all honesty, I think we need about 3 times what we have planted but this is a learning year. I want to make sure I have the basics down before I make a huge investment. Minus the planters but including everything else (plants, soil, ect.), this was about $75. Now, do I think I will get that much of a yield? Maybe. I’m going to try to keep up with it throughout the season.
The most important part of this gardening experience is that we are doing it and working together as a family. We all love getting to water and checking the plants each day for new buds. We are also bringing organic foods into our home, which are grown (extremely) locally. 🙂 The $75 is a small price to pay for summer-long entertainment. But, hopefully we will have something to show for it in the end!
