Starting a Garden

The moment I’ve been waiting for – I am starting a garden! There are more details about our crazy backyard in this post, but today we’re gonna chat about a topic I find much more fun – gardening!

I did a teeny bit of gardening as a kid with my dad and have dreamed of a garden of my own ever since. I remember one spring (probably around middle school) visiting my cousin in Kansas. She was a new mom and she and her husband were turning an old schoolhouse into their home (it was ADORABLE). She was walking me through her veggie garden and telling me about canning salsa and I remember thinking “I have to do this someday”.

I don’t know much about gardening at ALL. I know how to grow a zucchini plant, and I know I enjoyed it, but beyond that I’ve been in the dark. The thing about me is I’m a project hopper. I love to learn and try new things and so I’ve been diving in head first. I made researching this topic my end of winter project and it really was what got me through the final stretch of cold weather. Now that spring seems to have made it’s official appearance I’m ready to DIG IN (pun intended).

Resources that have been helpful

Finding good beginner resources has been surprisingly challenging. Most websites/blogs jump right in with specific terminology that has me lost two paragraphs in. Here are some people that I’ve found to be the most helpful

Michelle Cannon Smith (Iron & Twine) – Literally, she is all you need. Start here and watch all of the saved story highlights on her Instagram! Not only is she ADORABLE and her whole yard magical – she is the first person who starts at the very beginning and explains things simply! She also grows the same types of things I would want to grow, and her content is great for the visual learner! My mom sent me her profile one morning and by the afternoon I felt I had more insight than I had with 3 months of prior research.

Cut Flower Garden | Floret Farms – This book isn’t just pretty, it’s FULL of helpful information. I want to grow things that will be pretty in a vase inside, so this has been a really helpful starting point! She has so many varieties of flowers that it was fun to look through, pick a few I liked, and then research from there. Their website also has great info!

Friends that garden – if you know someone who has a garden, shoot them a text! I am learning a lot just from asking questions!

My Plan

Everyone says to start small…which is exactly the opposite of what I’m doing. 🙃 Starting small isn’t really in my nature 😉. My *current* plan looks something like this, it will probably morph once it comes time to get things in the ground.

Veggies: Zucchini, Summer Squash, Tomatoes (these 3 I’ve done before), beans, snap peas, carrots, acorn squash, and a couple varieties of peppers. I also plan on picking up a few strawberry plants once local nurseries are open.

Flowers: Cosmos, Zinnea, Aster, Scabiosa, Poppy

I figured I would just throw some seeds in the ground once we’ve rototiller, until I watched Michelle’s saved highlights and was convinced to start from seed! Now I have 4 happy little plant trays sitting in my office window nearly doubling in size by the day. Once the frost clears, these babies will go in the ground and a few in pots. The biggest thing I’m struggling with is the layout. I’ve done quite a bit of reading on companion plants (what should/shouldn’t be planted near each other) but the spacing/math is throwing me off, haha. I’ll work on it. I’ve also already had a few *oops* moments with seed starting but hey, I’m learning!

Can you tell I’m a little excited? Dan and my mom are probably sick of hearing me talk about it, which is why I’m now directing my thoughts into a blog post. 😉 If you have been wanting to start a garden, make this the year! We’ll grow some things, probably kill some things, and learn together along the way!