Stephanie at Keeper Of The Home is having a great little Organic Gardening Carnival! I knew I’d be searching the entries for information to help me out next year, but I’m not sure how much I can offer as this past year was my first to truly garden by myself. But, I’ll tell you what I learned, and heck - it might actually help someone!
First, we tilled the area and then hoed it and threw out the clumps. I hoed it into rows and even made a diagram of where everything was. I really really encourage using a diagram, by the way. Mine was really detailed, and next year, I’ll probably draw what the seedlings will look like for new plants so it’s easier for me to identify them and not mistake them for weeds. Actually, when most of my produce began growing in, I left weeds and all. I wasn’t quite sure what would be a weed, and what was something I planted.
All of my seeds were bought from Walmart. I needed something fast and cheap and while I realize this isn’t the BEST way to go about it, it worked OKAY for us (although next year, I’d like to buy some other things from catalogs).
How and what we planted. As I said, I planted in rows, taking care to plant the herbs in the last row which was closest to the woods to help discourage rabbits and deer from having a snack. Next year, I think I will pot my herbs so it’s easier to bring them in during the winter - and I’ll probably throw in some marigolds and other flowers to help keep the animals out. I didn’t really have an issue with animals this year but figure once they find my garden, they’ll be lunching. There wasn’t really a huge method to my madness when I planted, I just tried to give the more “bushy/viney” (like tomatoes) plants more room, as well as ensure enough room for any root vegetables.
Things that didn’t work so well. I really wanted to try composting this past year, but wanted to try it small scale to see if it was for me. I had read that you could use wooden pallets and nail those together, but seeing as I’m so tiny, I thougt it’d be hard for me to get to without some major readjusting, so I bought a school crate. I piled in leaves and food peelings and any veggie/fruit leftovers to no avail. I was able to turn it and all, but nothing really came of it. I’m asking my brother to make me this composter for Christmas. Also, my squash, potatoes, asparagus and a few others didn’t really come in like I’d hoped. So, I’ll be looking to plant those in different areas and will be picking out different seeds or starters.
Other issues. Fortunately, I didn’t have much of a problem with pests or mildew or anything. There were some slugs but I found some organic spray recipes that got rid of them quickly.
Things I plan to change:
- I want to explore composting more, and hopefully with a real composter!
- Order more organic seeds from reputable companies
-Make my drawings/diagrams a bit more complete with seedling drawings
- Pot the herbs
- Make a bed just for the asparagus
- Plant edible flowers, as well as some extra fruits and vegetables
All in all, I was pretty happy with how things turned out and am really excited to try my hand at this again next year!
Here’s the link I used for Organic Pest Control that really helped me!
Welcome back!
November 6th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Composting is very easy. You can check out this post I wrote previousely for how we did it.
http://thisabode.blogspot.com/2008/06/wfmw-compost-pile.html
November 6th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I had the same problem distinguishing weeds from seedlings in my garden. I pulled a lot of seedlings.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I, too, have a hard time distinguishing weeds from seedlings.
That’s one of the reasons I don’t spend so many hours on my knees weeding - I wait until they start to grow and if it looks like a fruit or vegetable plant, I leave it. Otherwise, it gets plucked! That’s also why I was so glad my husband was gardening when the green pepper started growing. Otherwise, I’d have pulled it out and we wouldn’t have had the two peppers we’ve gotten from that plant. 
Thanks for visiting my blog. For your questions….I edited my post to include the book my husband has: Burpee : The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener : A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically (i hope that works)
We really like the book, and like I said, it’s our top reference book. I’m not sure what the name of the Yahoo group my husband belongs to is, but if you go to the Yahoo groups page (the link is somewhere on the Yahoo homepage) and search organic gardening, I know at least a few groups come up. His is primarily organic vegetable gardening, but there are others that include flower gardening, too. I might join one, since I can’t seem to get any flowers to grow! A must-have for pollination.
For composting, we use an old garbage bin to put all our scraps (food, yard clippings, paper, etc.) in. We keep a small, air-tight bucket under the sink where we dump all our food scraps throughout the week and then my husband will empty it about once a week or every other week into the garbage bin out back. We don’t compost meat, but you can. There are many different ways of composting, you can use a pile or bins or an actual composter. We happened to have an extra bin so we just use that and my husband turns it whenever he adds more to it. We have another little bin that my husband will occasionally put a little bit of ripe compost in and let rain and dew moisten it. He calls it a compost tea and that’s what we’ve been using to combat our nitrogen problems. I can’t find the article we used for beginning our compost, but a google search will bring up lots of information. I would try to search a university that’s in your area, since they would have information and tips specific to your zone and climate. I don’t know much about Kentucky, but I can’t imagine why you couldn’t begin to compost now, especially since it seems no matter where you live you’ll need at least six months for it to be ready for use.
I hope that was helpful! Stop by again anytime.
annie
P.S. I’m 14 weeks and 5 days pregnant with my second child and I know exactly what you’re talking about with the food and itchiness and thirstiness!
Good luck with your pregnancy! I loved my first pregnancy (and baby! delivery wasn’t a picnic, though) and love it now, too. 
November 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Wow. I am quite impressed! Good for you!
November 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Ya know…it takes 2 years for Asparagus to come in. You plant it and it grows up and looks like a fern. It should be “harvestable” the next year or the year after. I’m not sure…but it’s not something you can plant and it sprouts immediately into something you can eat…that’s the bad part!
I’m Jennifer’s friend btw. She didn’t mention you are preggo. Congrats!
Crystal
p.s. I want to go to the BlogHer conference too!