Experiments in Gardening

Hello Readers! I am going to take a break from the wedding posts and write about my first gardening adventure. Jon and I are living in sin, so to speak, and I am in charge of cooking and groceries. I am an avid coupon clipper, I check all of the local store's ads, and I shop at Aldi from time to time. But, produce is always a killer on the wallet. Hence, I am growing a vegetable garden. Last year, I grew some herbs (Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, and Parsley), which went okay. My basil was amazing, my oregano and parsley were okay, but my cilantro was a dud. This year I am dramatically expanding by attempting to grow: yellow squash, cucumber, kale, egg plant, mesclun, swiss chard, jalapenos, bell peppers, green onions, Roma tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and a repeat on the herbs. BTW: if anyone has any extra mint seeds, I would love some. I have searched everywhere, and just can't seem to find any.

Three weeks ago I started my plants indoor with a couple of plastic starter greenhouses. I bought mine at Lowe's for maybe $7. They are very inexpensive and super easy to use. Its good to start indoors, so you have an earlier harvest or bloom with flowers. Its been exciting to watch them sprout. Even Jon gets excited about them. The peppers (both jalapenos and bell) and the egg plants have been the slowest to sprout, but they're coming along. My zucchinis are monstrous!



Flowers are in the left tray and Veggies are on the right



Zucchini Monsters

My friend Aja, Jon's amazing groomswoman, recommended that I try the Lasagna Gardening technique. Its a great way to garden organically, and its much easier to build. Instead of digging your garden out, you build your garden up from the ground. First, start by layering newspaper or cardboard to kill any grass and weeds on your plot. Then you layer 'Browns' and 'Greens' alternatively until you have a fairly deep plot. I think mine is about 8 inches. Now, what the heck are Browns and Greens? Browns include fall leaves, shredded paper, peat, pine needles, straw, and even dryer lint (who'da thunk it?). Greens are veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves/bags, grass trimming, and garden trimmings. You can find info on Lasagna gardening with the help of Google. I used Lasagna Gardening - About.com

Having decided to do this last minute, I didn't have most of the materials on hand. I had been collecting newspapers, but definitely did not have any good compost started. So, we went to Reading Feed and Seed to pick up some 'Layers'. I bought 9 bags of organic topsoil, 9 bags of organic peat, 3 bags of mushroom compost, and 2 bales of straw for about $60. I used the topsoil, peat and straw as my brown layers plus whatever remnants I could find around the yard. I did dig through our trash in the laundry room for some dryer lint. I used the compost and whatever else I had collected for the green layers. Now I have to let it set for a few weeks to let some of the material decompose. The rainy day we've had today is great for decomposition. On dryer days, I'll turn the sprinkler on. In Cincy we can plant in April to June. I think I am going to hold off until the end of April, just to be on the safe side. I would hate for my hard work to go to waste.



Laying newspaper.




Watering my newspaper layer so it doesn't blow away.



The newspaper layer that will smother anything underneath.

He!

Ho!

The finished plot waiting to be planted.

Me. Covered in dirt with my shoebox of seeds.

After we get our patio built later this spring Jon is going to build me a Brown and a Green compost bin, so I'll have good compost this fall to use in building my garden for next spring. I am really looking forward to watching my 9x12 foot plot of earth grow into (hopefully) a successful victory garden.

Riley in the rose bushes.

Flossing her teeth on some thorns.

Sunday's kill. First time she has ever brought us a snake. Jon walked out onto the front porch and she just looked up at him, so proud of her hunt. At least it was dead and outside of the house.

Tell me about your gardening experiences. What is your favorite? What has been the easiest? I can't wait to share stories and fresh organic food this fall with my friends.