Spring!

Garlic

Since the weather has been so amazingly beautiful lately, I decided to give my sprouting garlic heads a good home.  If you check out my other blog, you will find a nice post about garlic; called "Spring is in the air!"  It tells you all the health benefits of garlic (and how I accidentally let a couple heads of garlic get a little too mature...).

The good news is that I did not just throw the sprouting cloves out, oh no, I decided to plant them. Heck, if they don't grow, it better that I tried and failed than not try at all.  So here is the little row along the side of the house.  It really only gets morning sun, so I am curious as to how the garlic will grow, but it's good research and will be fun to learn!

This is one of the little guys, close up! 

 I also planted one clove in a pot that I usually use for basil (I painted that!).  It seems to be doing very well and is in the sun for at least 8 hours of the day!  I also make sure to water them every day, usually in the late morning or early evening.  I heard from my neighbor, once, that it is better to water your garden when the sun is low in the sky so that it does not take all the water through evaporation.

Happy Planting!

First things first

The first thing I have decided to do for my garden is to pick out what I want to grow, so here is the list that Andrew and I have come up with:

• Cauliflower- a fan favorite for the both of us
• Carrots- I heard these are tough to grow, but I have never had them fresh out of the ground and there are so many tasty ways to eat them!
• Zucchini- amazing on the grill in the summer, in bread for the winter, in pancakes for breakfast...heck, these guys are awesome!
• Tomato- who doesn't grow tomatoes?!  Ours will be cherry; great for snacking, and I love the "pop" they make when you bite into them.
• Spinach- this is one of my favorites, not just because it is a nutritional power house (loaded with vitamin C, iron, phytochemicals, etc.), but because it is a great meal for our little tortoise Gus!
• Pole bean- another great snack to munch on and awesome for picnics and BBQs.
• Sunflower- dry out the seeds and they are great fro protein and healthy fats; a favorite of Andrew's
• Basil, Rosemary, Mint, Sage, Oregano, and Stevia

I have most of the seeds already (thank you Dollar Store!), but the next thing on my list is to buy the rest of my herbs; most of which can not be found in stores.  

Heirloom Seeds is the website I will more than likely be using because all of their seeds are heirloom, meaning that they have not been genetically altered and are naturally occurring somewhere in the world.

The third step that I have done is to plan out the garden.  I have yet to pick a spot in the yard, but I do know what I want it to look like thanks to this site.  Here, you can choose the size of your garden (any size, no matter how large or small!) and virtually place what you want to grow where.  The only problem was that it does not have all of the plants I want to seed, but I just made up some plots and I'll fill it in with what I really want when I am planting.

Happy planting!

First Garden

Hey everyone!  I am now creating blog 2.0 for my first garden!  Here, I will be sharing all of my trials and tribulations of starting a garden from seed to enjoying all of the delicious herbs and vegetables that prosper.  I will be looking forward to helpful tips from fellow gardeners and am willing to answer any questions for those who are thinking about beginning their own garden.

"It's not about the harvest you reap, but the seeds you plant"