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Spring is coming!
So, the days are getting warmer and your getting excited to get outside and start doing some yard work. Whether you’ve just bought your home, lived in it for a few years or forever, planning a garden should always be the same. You will want to know that you are comitted to taking care of it, if not your basically wasting your time and money. Growing your own food can be so rewarding, being able to go out back and pick some things to go with dinner each night is not only coinvent , its liberating. You wont be getting your fruits and veggies from across the world prayed with tons of pesticides. You know where your food came from and its an amazing feeling.
I always say, the best thing ever did was start a garden when my boys were barely walking. By the end of the summer they were toddling over to the tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries and strawberries getting their afternoon snacks each day. It was a site to see, it warms my heart and I will never forget those moments. Even now at age 4 & 8 they love helping in the garden and will eat green beans and zucchini right off the vine!
Check out the cute pics of them enjoying their fruits & veggies as toddlers!
Knowing When to Start
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is mostly zone 7b for planting, but what does this mean? The United states in divided up into hardiness zones bases off the temperature in that area throughout the year. Knowing your planting zone number is great for knowing when you can start certain types of plants and when picking plants at the store you should always check the hardiness zone. I can’t tell you how many times I have forgot to do this and ended up with fried plants at the end of the summer simply because it got too hot for that type of plant.
First, I would make a list of the vegetables you’d like to grow. Check the chart below to see when each should be started.
You might want to map out which way the sun shines on your garden each day and plan where things go before you start them. You wouldn’t want to grow tall corn on the side the sun comes from and have it block out all of the sun to the other veggies in your garden. I’ve learned this the hard way.
Some plants like, squashes and melons should be grown away from other smaller plants. These grow long vines and need lots of room so make sure to spread them out. The long vines tend to invade and attach to other plants which will be a problem by the end of summer. I have 6 small flower beds and like to keep melons & squash together in one bed away from all the rest.
Seeds Or Plants?
Next, you will need to decide if you’d like to start your seeds indoors or just get plants when gets a little warmer. Starting seeds indoor can be fun to watch and your going to hopefully end up with a ton of plants. A pack of seeds will only cost you $2 to $5 depending on the brand. Seed packs come with 10-50 seeds each, typically only about 80% of the seeds you plant will germinate. If you are like me, your cats will sit on 50% of the tiny plants and you will forget to water the other surviving plants which wont leave you with much to plants outdoors.
Typically I “try” to start a few seeds indoors, mostly for the kids to help and watch them grow. They love running to the window each morning to see how much their seeds have grown. But, like I said before I don’t do well with seeds and usually end up purchasing 2-3 of each type of plant at the store when it gets warmer. Buying plants from the store is usually more expensive, about $3-5 per type of plant but the chances of them surviving is higher since they are already a few weeks old.
Don’t Take On Too Much
Having a garden can get overwhelming quickly if the weeds start to take over. You could start with weed barrier over top your soil if you have the money or opt to just pick the weeds as they come. Weeds will need to be cleared weekly for the garden to grow properly.
After the plants are put in they just need to be watered daily if it isn’t raining that day. Keep in mind not to water them mid day while the sun is on them of it will burn the leaves. Watering in the morning before the sun gets to them is usually best but I typically only find time in the evenings and it turns out just fine.
Tomatoes will need cages or stakes to keep them from falling over, they get very heavy after a while. Things like cucumbers, pole beans and green beans (if not a bush bean) love to grow up some sort of trellis. If your planting strawberries make sure to have plenty of room, maybe even their own little bed. These will spread over time and you will get more and more each year. Strawberries are very easy to grow put them in one year and let them go!
I’ve learned through out the year to scale back and not try to do to much. The past few years I opted to just plant what goes well in a salad like different types of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. Last year was my first ever successful year with melons, I blame the success on the new garden bed that we made with fresh soil. In the past the grubs always got to the root before the melons were able to grow. In the new bed last year we had mouth watering cantaloupe all summer long, the kids said it tasted like candy and I agree! These were the perfect dessert to enjoy on the deck after dinner when the sun is going down. Summer days are the best!
Berries are always a good idea! Some raspberry and blackberries have thorns so make sure to buy the kind that doesn’t if you have kids that will want to pick! We have wonderful blackberries that come back with more and more year after year and its soo rewarding. We have them growing up a large trellis. Blueberries are also a good option but realistically you wont have many until your bushes are 15-20 years old! We did not know this when we bought ours, they are about 5 years old now and we only get a hand full of berries each year. If you can afford it buy older bigger blueberry bushes if you can find them! Here on the eastern shore you can find big ones at the local U-Pick blueberry patch called Garden of Eden in Quantico, MD. Its a little ways off the beaten path but it will be worth it trust me!
Now Get To Planning!
So the key is to start with just a few plants if your in the first few years of gardening. As the season gets closer I’ll post my plans and more details about our garden. Right now it looks a lot like the picture above, leaves and dead plants from last year. Although my rosemary is starting to get beautiful blue flowers!
If you have any questions about gardening or if you’re already a pro gardener send me your tips and tricks below! Best of luck!
