I am very excited for the coming weeks to start my garden. I finally have a backyard to call my own and cultivate some veggies and fruits (aka saving money and food you grow just tastes that much better!) Also I'm a big fan of cooking with fresh herbs especially. I had a good sized herb garden when I lived in ABQ. 10 different herbs giving a lot of variety and full flavor. Fresh herbs make a difference! They can be grown all season from spring till beginnings of fall depending what the local climate is. Last year I watched my friend Laura grow a bad ass garden with the most surprising plant. Artichokes. You don't really think of how they are grown but man, pretty cool and if you don't cut the bloom (the actual artichoke) it blooms this insanely gorgeous bloom somewhere between light indigo and a tad bit of periwinkle in color. She also grew bell peppers, tomatoes, and other things. Over the past year I through some food docs and books by Michael Pollan, I changed the way Dustin and I ate. Instead of buying everything prepared, actually take the time to make it from scratch myself. Have the power over what goes into the food as well really make it what we want. Major removal has been HFC or high fructose corn syrup. I also want to make jams and can some of the tomatoes/make pickles/peppers to have for the winter :)
So here is my garden:
Veggies:
Artichoke
Beans: (Greensleeves, Royal Burgundy, and Yellow Wax)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots (Kaleidoscope)
Chile (self explanatory!)
Cucumbers (Bush Champion and Pickling)
Bell Peppers (Multicolor and Sweet Gypsy Minis)
Lettuce Mix
Summer Squash
Tomatoes(Roma, Sweet Cherry, Heirloom)
Zucchini
Fruit:
Blackberries
Blueberries
Melon (Charemtais-French)
Raspberries
Strawberries
Watermelon
Herbs:
Basil(Sweet, Lemon, Lime)
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Oregano
Parsley (Italian Flat Leaf)
Rosemary
Safe
Stevia
Thyme
Dustin and I will be using 2 x however long they are's to make a box that will be two 2 x's tall staked with posts at each corner. Saw it done at the Depot ;) Lol Looked official, and they had the boarder stuff flagged off for repairs on the outdoor shelves. I still want to go back and take a look, but the 2 x whatever length looks good to me :) I just want them built so I can rent the roto till and dig some ground up. In the process we are also going to reseed the grass. After a long hoooot summer and a hair storm that beat it to crap we are going to start fresh. We both really want a green lawn. So we are getting a cracked out seed that apparently will also grow on bricks and is heat tolerant.. so here's to hoping!!
Once the planters are built and grown tilled we are going to use the existing sprinkler heads to turn into a drip system. You just buy a different head that has multi ports to then run watering tubing. Plants watered. Also I will do spot watering and weeding. I read a few places to put mulch on top of the soil to keep it warm and moist and prevent weeds.. we will see. I will need to mix in some good stuff in the existing dirt to make it healthy. Also a trick from Laura. EARTHWORMS. The woman is a genius and her mom's garden is insane.. :)
So there it is. I'm also going to be chronicling the progress of the garden and what I learn here and on my blog. Flow me :) Ask Questions. Growing your own food is fun, rewarding, and yum! No wax, no worry, no chemical pesticides.
Get ready for some gardening!
Ash!
PS: Make sure you check your Zone for gardening. You can do this on Burpee.com The also have great seeds. I will get my seeds anywhere I see them. Walmart/Target/Home Depot/Lowes. Home Depot is around the corner so that will be mostly where I get mine and they are Burpee seed sellers. I also will be ordering seeds from Burpee. Their kaleidoscope carrots are to awesome to not grow. I will also buy plants at the Depot or Walmart (yea guilty) or Target.. and a website that is bad ass. Possibilities are endless. You can also Google seeds.
