my very first garden
So my lovelies… In 2016 I planted my very first garden, with the help of my husband of course! We planted over 300 individual plants and that is not counting the herbs and potted tomatoes.
We did enrich the soil with manure and covered it with mulch after planting to help cut down on weeds. I am not a fan of the thought of putting down plastic but admittedly I have not researched that option either.
My experience is as follows: Your cucumbers and squash will immediately take over and try to run the place, pushing the other veggies out! The beans did love to climb so I am happy I put up fencing for that purpose. My cabbage was a complete failure because I did not treat it for bugs… ugh… I could not kill the Brussel Sprouts even if I tried nor the onions for that matter. My peppers did great as well! My eggplant did OK, my lettuce got bitter for not picking it quick enough. The squirrels wiped out my corn and cherry tomatoes. My own fault I suppose as I feed them sunflower seeds in the winter.
I did research companion planting from Farmers Almanac and picked up the plants from a variety of places so there was no better supplier over another in terms of how well they did or hardy they were.
We took advantage of the sunny weather and cleaned out the remnants of last year’s garden and am deciding what we will plant this year. I will be researching organic sprays for the cabbage. We will not plant corn at all and may do a separate garden for the squash.
Stay tuned for a step by step of how we enrich the soil, what we plant, what order we plant it and how we do. I also join a CSA each year through Bay End Farm in Buzzards Bay MA which is organic. Between the CSA and my own plantings, no need to purchase vegetables at the supermarket!
