Hey Everyone,
Welcome back! We’ve covered lots of information and we’re making good progress. Today we will start to plan our garden and decide what we want to grow.
It’s a good idea to buy seeds soon because there could be seed shortages closer to spring. If you do not want to grow from seed, you can buy seedlings from the store closer to spring. They cost a little more and it’s kind of “cheating” in my opinion. However, it is an effective way to grow vegetables, so please don’t hesitate to go this route. Whether you grow from seed or plant seedlings, you will need to plan out what types of plants you will grow.
Planning
The easiest way to get trustworthy information tailored for your area that I have found is to look at the state universities’ websites where you live. Most states have an agricultural school, and they will have detailed vegetable garden growing guides. It’s amazing how much information they provide for free, and it’s very well researched so you can trust you’re getting good information. Your local real life neighbors and family members, if you have them, can provide invaluable information as well. Facebook is another helpful resource, you can join local gardening groups and easily get advice and answers to your questions.
Here is a row style garden plan that I found from a State Agriculture website. I’m sure you can find something like this for raised gardens and row style gardens specifically for your area.
Once you find a guide tailored for your area, you can adjust it to your preference based on what types of vegetables you like. Also, take suggestions from your real life local garden friends to further customize your plan. It’s important to know that gardening is mostly trial and error, don’t be afraid to try many different varieties and types of vegetables to see what you like and what grows well.
My Plan
My plan is to get plants and seeds in the ground around Easter. I want to try to grow the following list at some point in the spring or summer. I’m purchasing seeds now for the entire spring, summer, and fall seasons. I’ll provide more information on the specific cultivar of each plant later. These plants in the list will be grown over the warm weather growing season from April to October. I’m trying some new vegetables this year with the onion, garlic, horseradish, and artichoke. I’m not sure how these will turn out in my climate, but that’s what I love about gardening! I also always keep an herb garden as well, I’ll cover that in a separate post.
Cherry Tomato
Slicing Tomato
Sweet Potato
Okra
Green Bean
Long Beans/Peas/Black Eyed Peas
Cucumber
Squash
Bell Pepper
Variety of Hot Peppers
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
New Zealand Spinach
Kale
Artichoke Seeds
Broccoli Seeds - Romanesco
Mexican Sour Gherkin
Lemon Cucumber
Onion
Horseradish
This is a huge list, I suggest picking 4 or 5 plants to start out if you are a beginner. Next week we will talk briefly about how much space you need for your plants, after that you should be ready to make some seed purchases. If you already know what you want to plant, it won’t hurt to go ahead and purchase the seeds now.
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That’s all for this week, go through your week doing research to decide what you will plant this spring and I’ll see you next week!
WAGMI,
Farmer