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I find it incredibly exciting to know that I have the ability to grow my own food. I’ll be honest- it initially touches my coupon clipping, sale chasing side. Then it enters my ‘I want to live naturally and know what I am feeding my children’ side. Finally it hits my ‘I need cute gardening boots‘ side. However, truth be told.. a garden is far from free, but if done well, can be VERY beneficial and save you a lot of money.
We planned our first garden spread knowing it was going to be trial and error. I had so many questions: What do I plant? How many? What grows this time of year? We tried to do as much research as we could but if you know me, you know I hate reading! It was only a matter of time before I just dug in started winging it. And that’s what we did 🙂
Finding our Zone-
One piece of information that was new to me – I found is very necessary for any novice gardener. Finding out what ‘zone’ you are. Zones are based on your climate and help you determine what plants grow well in your area. I simply used google to locate the USDA Zone Finder by entering my zip code I am in zone 9B. Once I had this information, it was much easier to find specific details on what plants would grow in my area each month.
Breaking Ground–
Our initial plan was to use the 4 raised beds that came with the house. They already had soil in them but had been overgrown with weeds and grass. Before planting anything we had to pull all of it up. Lucky for us- we purchased a gas powered cultivator which made the job much easier. But that didn’t stop me from letting my oldest mini do her best to pull weeds with the twist tiller.
Plant List-
Definitely didn’t want to overcomplicate our first time, so we stuck with the basics that we had dealt with before.
-Zucchini/Squash
-Cucumber
-Basil
-Peppers
-Rosemary
-Lavender
-Red & Green Bell Peppers
-Banana Pepper
-Jalapeño Pepper
What I Would Change-
– We learned quickly that spacing is everything! Although we followed recommended spacing, in the future I will give it even more. Zucchini/Squash for example apparently needs its own acre or it will slowly smother every other plant you have near it.
– The straw we used around the plants ended up being fancy garden décor. The weeds and grass had no issue growing right up through it. Use weed blocking fabric if you want to save 15 hours a day pulling up sprouts that suck the life out of the plants you are trying to grow.
First Fruits of Our Labor-
Our first loot was super satisfying! All of this work finally starting to paying off. I just wish I was a rabbit so I could eat it as is. But instead I did my best to use the bits of what we had here and there.
