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| April 18, 2010 - New bed |
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| April 18, 2010 - The expanded garden |
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Another Bed
Sometimes when I start a new project I get a little obsessed, so I decided early on that 4 beds was not enough. I bought a 4' x 8' bed from eartheasy.com. It took about 5 minutes to put together...in the dark. It was so easy! It was much more expensive than making it ($100 vs. less than $20), but I was pretty sick of construction by then.
Seed Starting
I decided to start my hot peppers and basil inside. I bought the Burpee Ultimate Growing System and put it in my spare bedroom window seat. I can not begin to describe how excited I was when the first little basil leaf poked through the soil.
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| Feb 28, 2010 - First basil |
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| March 13, 2010 - Peppers and basil |
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| April 10, 2010 - Getting bigger! |
First Planting
I planted lettuce, onions (sets and seeds), Swiss chard, chives, sage and rosemary in the middle of March. I put these cute copper labels in every row, they lasted about a month before they tarnished and were unreadable. Lesson learned.
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| March 13, 2010 - Lettuce & Onions |
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Seeds
I decided early on that my garden would be organic, ALL organic. From seed up. Organic seeds are harder to find than you might think, but I did find two sources with an extensive variety.
Seed Savers
A non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations.
Seed Savers also has an exchange program, where you can buy and sell seeds with thousands of members, and have access to thousands of seeds not available on the website.
Burpee
Burpee is one of the oldest, largest seed stores. They mostly sell non-organic hybrid seeds, but also have an extensive organic selection.
Seed Savers
A non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations.
Seed Savers also has an exchange program, where you can buy and sell seeds with thousands of members, and have access to thousands of seeds not available on the website.
Burpee
Burpee is one of the oldest, largest seed stores. They mostly sell non-organic hybrid seeds, but also have an extensive organic selection.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Soil
Now that the beds were made, I had to fill them with something. I used a soil recipe recommended to me by Jackie Owen which she got from The New Square Foot Garden book. I have since bought that book, and found it to be very helpful. It makes things WAY simpler than traditional row gardening, and the results are great.
The recipe:
1/3 sphagnum peat moss
1/3 vermiculite
1/3 compost
When I started this process, I had to buy all these things separately and mix them together. Now they sell them all combined in a bag for about $10, which is about twice as much as making it yourself but it's organic and much quicker.
The recipe:
1/3 sphagnum peat moss
1/3 vermiculite
1/3 compost
When I started this process, I had to buy all these things separately and mix them together. Now they sell them all combined in a bag for about $10, which is about twice as much as making it yourself but it's organic and much quicker.
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| March 2010 - The beds are filled, and I've got my tee-pee for the watermelon. |
Building Raised Beds
I went to the local Lowe's and picked up 8, 8' x 10" pieces of untreated plywood and some nails. I had the wood cut in half in the store, so I could make 4' x 4' raised beds. I did not own a drill at the time, that would have made the whole process much easier...
Over the course of two weekends (Jan 29, 2010 - Feb 15, 2010) I made all 4 of my beds, the title of the last picture is "F*#$ These Beds". I was pretty sick of hammering.
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| January 29, 2010 |
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| January 30, 2010 |
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| February 14, 2010 |
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| February 15, 2010 |
Over the course of two weekends (Jan 29, 2010 - Feb 15, 2010) I made all 4 of my beds, the title of the last picture is "F*#$ These Beds". I was pretty sick of hammering.
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| First day of bed making. Grr. |
The Space
I knew as soon as I moved into my house that the large side yard would be a garden. There was never a question, unfortunately it took me a year and a half to make that happen.
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| January 2010 |
I've given in to societal pressure...
I started a blog, it won't be about me, don't worry. It's about food: growing it and cooking it, and hopefully soon composting it, hence; Full Circle.
About a year and a half ago I made 4 raised garden beds, which turned in to 6 raised beds and two other beds where decorative (useless, inedible) bushes used to be. Since then the explosion of cooking that has taken place in my kitchen, and my continued obsession with growing as many things as possible has become a major part of my life, and also endless facebook posts.
I decided that starting a blog would be a more streamlined way to share the wealth of knowledge and pictures that I am acquiring. Mainly, I want to archive my experiences for myself, but if I can convince someone else to grow their own food along the way, or cook a meal rather than eat fast food, then I won't feel like this is a total waste of time.
-C.
About a year and a half ago I made 4 raised garden beds, which turned in to 6 raised beds and two other beds where decorative (useless, inedible) bushes used to be. Since then the explosion of cooking that has taken place in my kitchen, and my continued obsession with growing as many things as possible has become a major part of my life, and also endless facebook posts.
I decided that starting a blog would be a more streamlined way to share the wealth of knowledge and pictures that I am acquiring. Mainly, I want to archive my experiences for myself, but if I can convince someone else to grow their own food along the way, or cook a meal rather than eat fast food, then I won't feel like this is a total waste of time.
-C.
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