GARDENING WEEK

This week we are focusing on gardening and all the wonderful things that come from planting a garden.  Gardening is not easy work, but it is rewarding. Knowing you have the ability to supply your family with some of the necessities of life (i.e. the value of hard work, finish what you start, and food that you all helped cultivate.) Some other benefits you can get from growing your own food include: • Satisfaction of self-sufficiency • Better tasting food • Generally less expensive • The act of gardening itself is good for your physical and mental health.
   This last statement alone is one of the reason I love gardening.  Sometimes if I just need a little time to myself I go out and weed or work in my garden.  One of the best memories I have as a child was picking the peas out of the garden and cracking open a pod and eating those delicious little peas.  SOOOO yummy!! We will be posting all this week about different types of gardens and different ways to garden.

   BABY STEPS: If you are just starting out and not sure what to do here is a great article that will get you going.  It covers everything from where to put your garden to what kind of soil and how often to water. If you think it is too late in the year to get your garden going, never fear it is actually the perfect time to start planting warm season plants.  The threat for any hard freeze has generally passed, so get planting. If you really wish you had planted some of the cold season plants, no worries, you can plant them in late summer and have a great fall harvest. Some great alternatives to have a garden space is planting herbs and other things in different size pots.

5K: While it too late to start any seeds indoors for later transplanting it is not to early to learn how to do it for next year so that you don't have to rely on the nurseries for all your plant needs.   Keep a journal of what you planted and where.  That way you know what worked and didn't work and it is also important to rotate your crops so you aren't always planting everything in the same spots.  Each plant requires different types of nutrients from the soil and if you plant the same thing in the same spot every year it could turn the soil there sterile.  Plus it's good to grow a variety of things each year.

MARATHON: Grow heirloom seeds.  What makes a seed an heirloom seed?  It is one that has had at least 100+ years of successful growing without any alterations to the seed (unlike a hybrid seed). Growing heirloom seeds allows you to be able to "harvest" the seeds at the end of the growing season and save them for the next year.  If you don't already try your hand at making your own compost for your garden.  Make a greenhouse to extend your growing season or start it earlier next year.  Here is a plan for a small tunnel greenhouse and here is one for a high/bigger tunnel.