It is, without a doubt, impossible to express with out rising
excitement, high spirits, and boisterous enthusiasm, that I have finally
started my own garden!
This blog will be a record of my successes and failures in my endeavor to start growing as much aof my own food as possible. This is a goal which has always been very important to me, but which I have allowed myself to ignore and put of for far too long. No more. On to the wee garden and what is planted and growing.
I live in an apartment and most people think that means they can't grow their own food. I hope to show as many as I can, especially my neighbors, that this is entirely false. I have a small bed which was empty and which I was given permission to grow in by my apartment manager. When I say small, I mean it. This is an oblong pie shaped bed which is roughly 5'x4' along the wall which it sits next to. That's more than enough though. As I progress I'll get some planters started. There are also some small beds in front of my patio which I hope to get some bulb flowers in, but that will most likely be next year.
I roughly divided the bed that I'm working with into 12"x12" squares. I'm taking the approach of traditional compact gardening for this year, and next year might try building up the bed into levels to get even more growth out of this small space. This has given me 4 rows, from back to front. They are planted as follows, from left to right:
Row 1:
California Wonder Green Bell Pepper - Seeds
Roma Paste Tomato - Seedling
Roma Paste Tomato - Seedling
ARP Rosemary - Seedling
English Lavender - Seedling
Row 2:
California Wonder Green Bell Pepper - Seeds
Fernleaf Dill - Seedling
Officinalis Sage - Seedling
Golden Oregano - Seedling
Red Rosie Basil - Seedling
Row 3:
California Wonder Yellow Bell Pepper - Seedling
Walla Walla Sweet Onion - Seeds
Devil's Tongue Romaine Lettuce - Seeds
Row 4:
California Wonder Red Bell Pepper - Seedling
Purplette Scallion Onion - Seeds
A big thanks to +Bartholomew Brandner for giving me the seeds that I've planted. I bought the seedlings at Fred Meyers on sale.
The land: I was hoping to test the soil, but finances have prevented me so here's hoping that I don't give +Daniel Coombs and I lead poisoning! My mom and step dad came up with their mini electric rototiller, we tilled the earth and they bought 1 cu ft of mushroom compost to till into the soil. A squeeze test of the soil after tilling and mixing in compost showed that it held it shape but then fell apart when poked. This is supposed to be really good for soil to do, so I'm hoping that means that everything will grow without too much difficulty. Deeper down, the soil is more clay so next year I may dig deeper and mix in some sand to allow for more drainage. We'll see how it goes this year.
We have a lot of cats and dogs in the neighborhood. I want to avoid chemicals as much as possible for various reasons but for the time being have sprayed the perimeter of the garden with Four Paws Keep Off! Indoor and Outdoor Dog & Cat Repellent. I was very careful to not hit any of the soil or plants - just the perimeter. For the future I'll investigate more natural repellents. I'm also going to look into getting some ladybugs and praying mantis to work as a natural deterrent of unwanted bugs. If anyone reading has had any luck with them or advice on keeping pests and unwanted animals away please let me know.
This blog will be a record of my successes and failures in my endeavor to start growing as much aof my own food as possible. This is a goal which has always been very important to me, but which I have allowed myself to ignore and put of for far too long. No more. On to the wee garden and what is planted and growing.
I live in an apartment and most people think that means they can't grow their own food. I hope to show as many as I can, especially my neighbors, that this is entirely false. I have a small bed which was empty and which I was given permission to grow in by my apartment manager. When I say small, I mean it. This is an oblong pie shaped bed which is roughly 5'x4' along the wall which it sits next to. That's more than enough though. As I progress I'll get some planters started. There are also some small beds in front of my patio which I hope to get some bulb flowers in, but that will most likely be next year.
I roughly divided the bed that I'm working with into 12"x12" squares. I'm taking the approach of traditional compact gardening for this year, and next year might try building up the bed into levels to get even more growth out of this small space. This has given me 4 rows, from back to front. They are planted as follows, from left to right:
Row 1:
California Wonder Green Bell Pepper - Seeds
Roma Paste Tomato - Seedling
Roma Paste Tomato - Seedling
ARP Rosemary - Seedling
English Lavender - Seedling
Row 2:
California Wonder Green Bell Pepper - Seeds
Fernleaf Dill - Seedling
Officinalis Sage - Seedling
Golden Oregano - Seedling
Red Rosie Basil - Seedling
Row 3:
California Wonder Yellow Bell Pepper - Seedling
Walla Walla Sweet Onion - Seeds
Devil's Tongue Romaine Lettuce - Seeds
Row 4:
California Wonder Red Bell Pepper - Seedling
Purplette Scallion Onion - Seeds
A big thanks to +Bartholomew Brandner for giving me the seeds that I've planted. I bought the seedlings at Fred Meyers on sale.
The land: I was hoping to test the soil, but finances have prevented me so here's hoping that I don't give +Daniel Coombs and I lead poisoning! My mom and step dad came up with their mini electric rototiller, we tilled the earth and they bought 1 cu ft of mushroom compost to till into the soil. A squeeze test of the soil after tilling and mixing in compost showed that it held it shape but then fell apart when poked. This is supposed to be really good for soil to do, so I'm hoping that means that everything will grow without too much difficulty. Deeper down, the soil is more clay so next year I may dig deeper and mix in some sand to allow for more drainage. We'll see how it goes this year.
We have a lot of cats and dogs in the neighborhood. I want to avoid chemicals as much as possible for various reasons but for the time being have sprayed the perimeter of the garden with Four Paws Keep Off! Indoor and Outdoor Dog & Cat Repellent. I was very careful to not hit any of the soil or plants - just the perimeter. For the future I'll investigate more natural repellents. I'm also going to look into getting some ladybugs and praying mantis to work as a natural deterrent of unwanted bugs. If anyone reading has had any luck with them or advice on keeping pests and unwanted animals away please let me know.
