In 2007 I tried my hand at a bit of vegetable gardening for the first time for the SA $20 Challenge. I was in a rental house, so I could only do "container" gardening (the containers were anything free I could scrounge up like plastic buckets from Freecycle and no-longer-in-use recycling bins).
Now that I'm in a house I own, I think I may plant an honest-to-goodness kitchen garden. I knew that here in Texas you can plant both fall gardens and spring gardens. The idea of a fall garden is more appealing than a spring garden, both because of the temperature in the fall and because my work schedule is lighter. I thought I had plenty of time still to plan a "fall garden" but today when I was researching on the net (Texas A&M web site has a wealth of info and Gardener's Supply has some pretty nifty stuff too including an interactive plan-your-own garden tool) I learned that fall garden veggies are planted as early as 16 weeks before the first expected frost which is Dec. 1. That means if I'm going to plant a fall garden I need to get cracking!
Here's my to-do list:
- Check HOA rules. See if I have to submit a plan for approval, and if so does that mean I won't be in time to plant a fall garden?
- Figure out where to put the garden.
- Figure out if we'll need to do anything special with the sprinkler system, such as shutting off one or more of the sprinkler heads? (A sprinkler system was not something I had to deal with in 2007.)
- Decide what to plant (I know I want to plant green onions, daikon, okra, tomatoes, and lettuce. Beyond that I have lots of ideas but am not sure.
- Plan the garden, and make a list of necessary supplies.
- Get supplies.
- Get starter plants and/or seeds. I think I'll use starter plants this time as much as I can, since I'd like to have more variety and less of each item than I had in 2007 when everything was started from seed.
- Plant the garden, tend it, and hopefully harvest the fruits of my labor.
For anyone interested, here's a link to the Gardener's Supply site:
Kitchen Garden Dreaming
August 3rd, 2009 at 03:39 am
August 3rd, 2009 at 04:09 am 1249272582
August 3rd, 2009 at 04:45 am 1249274725
Tomatoes won't make it through a freeze, so you'll need to make contingency plans.
No herbs? They are smashing in containers, smell great, and are fairly expensive fresh at the store, so you get a big bang for the buck.
August 3rd, 2009 at 01:33 pm 1249306392
And, lettuce is great for winter, get a seed pack of mixed greens
Start some garlic from a bulb you have in the pantry
Onions are super easy
BIG tip: Where you make the garden, start working compost into the soil. Get a bag and work into the soil just like cutting the grass - regularly. Or make your own compost!!! Use your yard trimmings and food scraps (NO MEAT) in a corner of the yard, in an aerated container if possible. Turn every so often and water a bit if possible. After some months, mix it into your soil.
Believe me, it will make all the difference in the world.
Give yourself a few years to get experience especially with where the sun and shade hit your garden, soil amending, fighting bugs and birds, etc.!! HAVE FUN!!!
now off to make onion soup with the TOOOO many onions we have this week!