Nothing Rhymes with Lydia…

I did follow through on some of those weekend plans and started working on planning and prepping a space for my garden. This is the first time I’ve ever attempted to grow any vegetables, and, at the least, this whole endeavor should be interesting.

While I was gone for a run on Saturday morning (seven miles, woot!), The Husband cut down our dead old dogwood tree. That afternoon, we hauled it away to a friend’s massive bonfire pile. It is great having a friend who is happy to accept your tree trimmings and old dead tree refuse. Our city would put it to good use as mulch for public spaces, but it’s nice to not have to stack it and tie it up into uniform bundles. This way, we just throw it in the back of my dad’s truck (it’s also nice to have a dad with a truck) and toss it on the bonfire pile.

Today, I worked to turn the space into a usable garden area. I bought black plastic sheeting at the big box home store. I laid it out, working it underneath our sad and awful-looking picket fence. I weighed it down with loose bricks, a couple of scrap wood pieces and lots of random heavy stuff I could find. The hope is that, over the next three weeks, this plastic sheeting will smother all the existing grass and weeds. You can learn more about this process at this link.

Please overlook the dilapidated state of that picket fence and the general nastiness of the porch. I’m hoping that working in the garden will prompt me to spend more time fixing up the rest of the area just so I don’t have to look at it. Right now, I almost never am around this part of the house.

Eventually, that space will be occupied by some raised plant beds and lots of nutritious vegetables. In the meantime, though, those vegetables have to start somewhere. I plan to buy some seedlings for transplants, but I also want to try my hand at growing my own seedlings.

I found an amazing resource (PDF link) for planning, growing and harvesting my home vegetable garden. It’s customized for my state and growing zone, which really helps me figure out what’s what. This resource is from my state’s Cooperative Extension Service – check out your area’s similar service. The document has lots of useful tables and lists. One I’ve found myself going back to is a gardener’s calendar. It lists the dates that the home gardener should use to plant seeds indoors, when to transplant the seedlings into the garden, and when the weather is right to sow seeds directly outdoors.

With that information in mind, today, I started some new seeds. I planted Valencia Onions , Emerald Oak Oakleaf Lettuce and DeCicco Broccoli (all from organic seeds).

I used Burpee Seed Starting 3″ Square Peat Pots and Burpee Organic Seed Starting Soil. Once the seedlings are ready for transplanting, I can just place the pots and all in the garden – no need to cut away the container which lessens transplant shock. Honestly, I need all the help I can get!

In order to aid germination, I covered the planted pots with plastic to hold in the moisture and warmth. With any luck, we’ll see some seedlings soon! The broccoli should germinate within 3-8 days, the onion in 4-13 and the lettuce in 5-10.

While I’m waiting for all the magic to happen, I’ve broken out the handy-dandy graph paper and working on planning out the placement of vegetables in my garden. Additionally, I’m trying to plan out a planting and harvesting calendar so I can maximize my garden’s yield throughout the spring, summer and fall.