Growing up, I hated working in our garden. Every so often my dad would make me weed, or water the flower beds, or help him pick tomatoes. I hated being hot, dirty, sweaty, tired, and I especially didn’t like it because I hated eating vegetables. Why would I kill the slugs eating the tomatoes? The more they eat, the less I would have to. Luckily, over the years, my eating habits have (slightly) changed. Alongside my desire to eat healthier, I also desire to eat local foods, so what could be healthier and more local than my own little vegetable garden?
So one of my goals for this summer was to start a garden. My wife and I managed to grow a few tomatoes in the summer of 2008, but last year we were too busy getting married and moving to remember to spend much time working on our measly garden. I think last summer we managed to harvest about 3 little cherry tomatoes. This summer, we’ve got the time, energy, and money to invest in a garden, so that is exactly what we did.
We live in a rented basement suite, so we don’t have a large yard to work with. We do have a bit of a patio, so we have access to sunlight and growing space, but we are going to be limited to container gardening. That is fine by me, as it helps restrict the “mess” a little more. Also, it makes our garden a little more mobile. All we have to do is make sure that we buy container friendly vegetables to grow, like cherry tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, and peppers. We’re even trying some carrots.
In order to make it as financially appealing as possible, we have decided to use as many of the containers and tools that we already had available to us. I’ve even read about a number of people who have successfully grown vegetables in old yogurt containers. Thankfully, we can be yogurt free as we have a few pots from the last couple of years. Another way we are planning on saving some money is by starting our garden from seeds. Instead of buying a small plant from a local retailer for four or five dollars, we’re planning on planting seeds that cost just a fraction of a pre-grown plant. This not only gives us a larger variety of choice when it comes to the type of plants we are growing, but it also makes it much cheaper, meaning any harvest we manage to collect will be all the more lucrative.
So here’s what we’ve done so far. We first went seed shopping. We found a number of stores that have row upon row of seeds for sale. They averaged in price between one and four dollars for a packet of seeds, depending on the rarity of quantity of seed. We read the back of the packet, making sure that the variety would be good for container gardening, and that we would be able to start the seedling inside. Once we settled on a number of seeds, we got some soil (specifically, seedling starter soil – ask at your local gardening store), some small peat pot containers, and a tray with a clear plastic lid that goes on top.
We put the peat pots inside the tray, filled them with dirt, and soaked the dirt through. Then we read each packet of seeds to see how deep they needed to be planted, made a small indentation in the soil, and dropped 2-3 seeds in each little hole. After that we covered it back up with soil, put a little more water on top, and set it on a shelf by the window. Then we waited.
I’m happy to report that just over one week later, we have TONS of little seedlings growing in our window. We’ve made sure to keep them warm, wet, and happy, by watering them from the bottom (removed a peat pot section, added water to the bottom of the tray) so as not to disturb the seed, rotating the tray daily (so the seedlings grow strong growing towards the light), and making sure that the temperature is warm by keeping the plastic lid on.
The next few steps will be harder, but that will have to wait for another day. For now, I just want to encourage you to grow some of your own food as well. I highly recommend starting simply. Some friends of ours wanted to get into gardening, so we thought that they should simply grow some basil in their window. The purchases were very inexpensive, as it was simply a tiny bit of soil, a single pot, and a packet of basil seeds. They have reported that their little seed has started to grow, so by the time summer rolls around, they’re going to have a small pot of basil growing right next to their kitchen. It really is a lot easier than you might think, and the benefits are vast and numerous. If nothing else, you can rest easy knowing that a little piece of your meal was home grown without pesticides or preservatives, and that is a good feeling worth pursuing. Good luck!
Related Websites:
- Garden Journal 8/18/10: Tomato Season Has Arrived and the First Harvest is In!
- Investing In AeroGrow's Gourmet Herb Gardens
- Country Garden Landscaping for Your Personality
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Thank you, thank you! You absolutely made my day. I am planning on returning to my roots this year and planting a garden is on my agenda. I grew up in the country and fresh vegetables. You outlined all of the steps that I need to do to make it happen. Now is the time and this weekend will be perfect to get the ball rolling.
Lillie´s last blog ..Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!!
Oh I just love starting vegetable seedlings myself. I’ve spent so much time doing it over the years and my favorite part is when they get their first true leaves. I almost hate putting them outside. Like a little bird learning to fly!
Cindy´s last blog ..Gardening Advice For Beginners
While there is nothing wrong with the information in this article, it is so rudimentary that I am stunned that people would actually find this useful. Put-seeds-in-dirt, add water, etc. If people are so removed from basic food production that they need a tutorial on the concept of growing seeds (and that is all this article is), we are in much more serious trouble than I already suspected.