Veggie Garden Update {Things Are Looking Up!}

12 Responses

1. ok, my little gardener-in-training, be careful about adding compost to your ‘maters. It’s best to mix it into the soil b/c if it’s not fully broken down it could burn the plants. Bone meal you need to be careful with b/c it will draw critters to your yard & they will dig things up. You could also consider saving your egg shells, grinding them up really fine and digging those down in the soil. Tomatoes like the calcium (hence, the bone meal). If you haven’t bought any bone meal yet, try the egg shells. Both will draw critters if you’re sloppy with them, however. (dang, that was wordy!)

   1. :scribble, scribble: mix compost in soil :scribble: eggshells (have to get from farmers or in-laws, since we’re egg-free) :scribble: watch for critters til fence is up. Thank you Oh Wise One. You rock lady!

2. Dorothy, thanks for the tip about the egg shells. I’ve been saving a bunch in my freezer with grand plans to use them in my garden, but no idea how fine to grind them or how to do it. Any recommendation on how to grind them?

   1. Tilney, once they are dry you can either put them in the food processor or coffee/spice grinder until they are powder. If you are feeling very industrious, you can powder them in a mortar and pestle.

3. P.S. Jen, I am so jealous of your veggie garden! It’s looking great! My backyard is full shade…one year I attempted growing tomatoes in a spot that gets maybe 1 hour of dappled light each day. They grew big on the vine, but stayed green and hard as a rock for 3-4 months!

   1. You think it looks great? I like you even more than I did before! 😀 I can’t wait until the end of summer when the fall garden is going like gangbusters. That will be the fun stuff.

      You could try to grow some things in the front yard or on the porch. I plan to replace the lawn over the coming years and mix some edibles in with the ornamentals. Our front flower box is where my herbs are, and our blueberry bushes are snuggled in there too as they grow.

      There are some veggies that will grow in 3-6 hours of full sun too like lettuces. Take a look at different growing conditions and you can start to tucks some plants here and there around the house. Come homestead with me! Oh, and don’t forget Red Robin tomatoes if you want something small. lol

4. Jenifer, it’s so nice to meet you through the TGP (thanks for linking up!). I’m so glad you’re willing to learn how to grow your own food – it’s worth it, even when it is hard. 🙂 And there is a learning curve, so don’t get disappointed! Like, you’ve already learned to know your varieties. 🙂 That’s one of the reasons I like to start things from seed.

   My biggest suggestion would be regarding watering- I find that a combination of soaker hoses (or a drip irrigation system) and red or black plastic mulch for tomatoes and peppers helps to keep the soil evenly moist without the “feast or famine” cycle of hand watering. Plus, you’re not enslaved to daily holding the hose (or setting the sprinkler) over them. And it’s not good for tomato leaves to get wet, too. You can get a timer and make it even easier.

   Also, be careful about adding one soil element at a time- it’s easy to do too much and mess up the balance. I find that my plants do well with a yearly addition of compost and an all-purpose organic fertilizer added at planting, plus maybe one more time during fruiting (if I’m really with it – which isn’t often!). If you’d like to make your own fertilizer, I’ve written Steve Solomon’s recipe (founder of Territorial Seed) at the end of my Organic Gardening Year-Around Checklist ( http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2009/05/organic-vegetable-garden-checklist.html ). You might find this helpful even though you live in MI – just adjust the dates according to your frost dates (which won’t be as off as if you were in, say, Alabama).

   Well, I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll leave you with that. If you have any other questions, I’d be happy to help, ’cause I love seeing others embark on gardening! And of course, I look forward to seeing your posts at more Tuesday Garden Parties. 🙂

   1. Eek- I just realized I misspelled your name! Sorry, Jennifer. {blush}

   2. Jami, no worries about the name. 😉 Thank you so much for having me over at An Oregon Cottage! I am excited to share information with more experienced gardeners and see more of your beautiful home. As you can see, gardening is a new area for me. I have figured out the decorative plants and herbs and am now moving on to vegetable gardening and herbal foraging. It should be fun once I get a little more comfortable with it and get past most of the oopsies.

      I will look into making our own soaker hoses for all three boxes. Everything has turned into a homeschool lesson recently. 🙂 It will definitely save us quite a bit of work and time when the full garden is planted! The tip on soil amendments is a good one too. I am still working on my initial mix. Sigh. I roto-tilled my soil, added peat moss, and still have to move the compost from my pile over to the garden to mix in. I will definitely try the fertilizer recipe! I love the idea of having a ready-made general recipe to start from that I can use in the whole garden. I would rather do that and tweak here and there for individual plants.

      And feel free to overwhelm! I will look forward to your advice, so I can get some of my own food on the table for once!

5. I think whether you are new, experienced, or whatever….that the first vegetable or flower etc is still always exciting! I was thrilled to death to pick my first zucchini yesterday! 🙂

   1. It really is Debra! I’m so happy to share the joy of new pursuits. It’s what makes blogging so wonderful. Congratulations on your first “baby” too! 😉

6. Pingback: 20 something allergies and counting...down – How To Be The Worst Gardener Ever and Still Grow Food {Veggie Garden Update}