Reissuing Ferida's Wolff's Backyard: Home Farm Produce; Hibiscus Beauty and Wouldn't That Be Peachy?
Editor's Note: We've received a note from an interested reader who brought to our attention another site to add to Ferida Wolff's post:
"I recently wrote a detailed, yet simple guide to starting a healthy vegetable garden!
"If you think it's good, perhaps you could link to it from your site?! : D"
Tim Graham
Yard and Garden Guru
And now, back to Ferida Wolff's original post:
How to Start a Vegetable Garden for Beginners
Do you have space that is going to waste, and you have decided to put it to good use and have a veggie garden? If so, you have made a smart choice. Not only will it save you money, help you to eat healthier, but it is also good for the environment.
You should know beforehand; it is not possible to grow everything even for the yard and garden guru. And also some vegetables are easier to buy as they need too much attention to make it worthwhile.
Home Farm Produce
We have a small home farm, well, that's how we think of it. It is more of a teeny tiny carved out section of our suburban yard.
Each year we plant tomatoes not only because we like them but also we know that they will grow for us. We planted potatoes because some of our store-bought ones started to sprout and we figured we might as well give them a chance. We planted the bottom of a red-leaf lettuce when I read somewhere that it would grow*, and it has; we've been enjoying the crispy new leaves in our nightly salads. The zucchini plants have grown high and with the bright yellow flowers, we expect some yummy veggies soon.
Last year we bought a small, thornless blackberry bush. It produced a few berries but most of them went to the birds before they ripened. This year the bush spread out, sending shoots in a wide circle. I haphazardly tossed some netting around them to see if we would get any berries for ourselves this season. Boy, are we getting fruit!
We wrapped screening around the plantings to keep out the squirrels. We (mostly my husband) fertilize the plants with natural products and water them but otherwise we kind of leave them alone. Yes, I talk to them, telling each how much I appreciate its providing us with such beautiful, edible products.
We are delighted with it all, considering we really know not much about farming; we are more improvisers than farmers. But our home farm produce connects us with something larger than ourselves. Each time we bite into a tomato that has come from our own garden, we pay attention — to its flavor, its value. When we pick the berries, we know exactly where they have come from. We are all part of nature. What a joyful thing to experience.
Two sites to help you make your own vegetable garden:
http://www.vegetable-gardening-online.com/making-a-vegetable-garden.html
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/vegetable-gardening/5069.html?SC=XNET9465
*Editor's Note: We can confirm the replanting lettuces theory ourselves as after we read this growing tip, we've been growing new heads of lettuces. We now plan to plant garlic this fall; here are some tips from the Farmer's Almanac:
www.almanac.com/plant/garlic
Old Farmer's Almanac: Garlic can be planted in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked, but fall planting is recommended for most gardeners. In areas that get a hard frost, plant garlic 6 to 8 weeks before that frost. Break apart cloves from bulb a few days before planting, but keep the papery husk on each individual clove ...
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