When I started researching a year ago to prepare for our garden, I was shocked to overwhelmingly read how planting vegetables is not as simple as dirt, rain, and sunshine. Honestly, I'm pretty annoyed with the fact that proper gardening is not a life skill taught in public elementary schools. Our school had a garden area with raised beds and sadly they were so ignored by like 98% of the school. Each teacher had a garden bed assigned to their classroom. The year these were built, my teacher got us outside one time to work in the garden. I learned nothing. I'm not blaming the teachers....curriculum and expectations of a public school education is above the heads and out of control of the teachers. But, it is so sad that more was not done with these. What a great opportunity for outdoor learning. So, I am pretty upset I didn't learn more about this at a younger age. In fact, while I loved my career in surgery, I rather wish I had studied horticulture as I knew I planned to stay home as a wife and mother one day.
So here is where we are currently:
Ellie and I are taking this on as our project together. We both are having to learn as we go. Which is really cool and special. We went to Home Depot a few weeks ago and purchased organic pepper, onion, broccoli, carrot, and beet seeds. We bought organic soil and we went home excited to start planting our seeds.
Note: When ALL the things tell you to only plant 2-3 seeds per soil pod...LISTEN! Hahaha! I made the poor executive decision that some of our seeds were just so teensy tiny that maybe we could use like 6 a pod! Sure Em, you've only been gardening like a second-by all means you are ready to fly solo and ditch the expert advice! Ha!
Also further note: One packet of seeds is like way more than enough for your 4 garden beds....we are not feeding an army! haha! I think I planted like...gah, I can't even count or recall how many seeds per each species I planted. I just couldn't picture how much or how little I needed until they were growing. I know. I'm ridiculous and I give you full permission to tease. But, this is seriously new to me....my green thumb is a little too green! Haha! Definitely a learning process to be sure.
So we planted our seeds and they took off growing. In two weeks we saw the seedlings sprout and form their cotyledon. The trays of seedlings took up my kitchen table.
6. Plant Parts by: Leslie Nash....no link for this one...maybe try a search?
Ellie has her own gardening bag complete with gloves, rake, trowel, watering can, and fork. She loves using them and digging in the dirt. Highly recommend getting your little one a gardening kit.
As part of learning about growing a garden, we are not only growing from seed but also from cuttings. My mom gave us the base of a head of lettuce. it was completely bald and in 2 days we saw a large amount of growth. All we did was place the base in water and set the bowl in the window to drink up sunshine. We have done the same with cut carrot tops. This is so cool!
Ellie observes the growth every day.
The next thing we did was separate or "split" our seedlings to place one seedling in a pot of soil by itself. Here was when I really realized I planted way too many seeds and had a good laugh at myself. But not all is lost. Whatever I may have in excess, I can give to my other best friend, Laurel, who is starting her garden soon too. And I love sharing with my dear friends and helping if I can! Now, not only my kitchen table is full, the chairs, and dresser behind the table are full of pots. It is the sunniest spot in the house that is not one of our bedrooms. This has shown me I need a fluorescent plant light or a greenhouse. With time I'll resolve this issue and for now I will laugh at my kitchen situation. Separating seedlings also really helped me to separate the weak from the strong. Since having separated, I can further see who is going to make it and who is just too weak to go on. The tomatoes are awesome. I have two strong peppers, a handful of strong broccoli, and a couple strong carrots, and the onions currently look mostly all strong. The beets may be a small handful as well. This phase is the one that makes me most on edge as I wait patiently (Romans 8:25) to see what I will be able to transplant. Transplanting will be our next step.
Building the beds:
Eric and I spent one Saturday outside for 9 hours building our 4 garden beds to create the idea I had in my head. Eric is like so awesome. I showed him a photo of my idea for the garden structure. And that man took it and made it happen. I love being married to that guy. He makes all my dreams come true. We worked together with the cedar wood we ordered. We measured, cut....ok....he did the measuring and the cutting...and we put them together framing my young emporer japanese maple tree. We got the beds built and placed over weed tarp; then we filled them with dirt. Then, we filled the garden area with pea stone. We still plan to border the exterior with stone. I then want to buy some planters to place in the garden near the beds to plant a myriad of pollination flowers. Flowers for the bees!! I've got a plan for this too-just need to implement that. That will be a big Ellie project! She will be filling the planters with soil and planting her flower seeds.
(I spray painted yard to get an idea of size and outline. Still to add: stone around exterior border and wildflower planters.)
As for the recently individualized seedlings, several are starting to grow their first "true leaves" just 2 weeks after planting the seeds. Not all, but some are at this stage.
So that is where we are and what we are doing, thus far! I have so so so much to learn but I am thankful to be learning such an essential part of life. That old saying "you are what you eat"...yes. I am so excited to grow our own healthy vegetables. To provide for my family through patience and hard work as well as to teach my daughter an important life skill of knowing how to produce her own food and save money by doing so.
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