How I Decide What To Grow In My Garden

 

   Let's talk about planning your garden for the growing season...

If you're like me, you like to plan ahead. I like to keep a record of everything I grow in my garden every year. I keep an up-to-date list of everything I grew or tried to grow for the year and the outcome. This helps me not only identify what grew in the garden and what didn't grow so well, but also gives me a "shopping list" per se of what I need or would like to grow in my garden for the next year. 

The three things I think about,

There are three things I like to think about first when it comes to planning my garden. I have them listed below. 

1. What did I grow the previous year- This is my list of every single thing I planted, whether it produced or not. This is a simple list to help me remember and keep track.
2. What produced well - By this I mean, what produced a lot in the garden? What did we eat regularly, and what was I able to preserve easily. Sometimes I get so caught up in planting and seeing what I can grow that I don't necessarily grow things that my family eats. I, myself am a lover of vegetables, and my family, not so much. That leaves me trying to find the best way to preserve what was harvested.
3. What did I buy at the grocery store- I like to think about what I have purchased at the grocery store. Is this something I can grow myself in the garden? Last year I added a raised garden bed and planted a variety of lettuce and spinach in it. Throughout the year my family eats a lot of salads, and I thought it would be better for us to try to grow everything we needed to create our salads at home. It flourished; we had an ample amount of salad growing right there in the backyard and harvested correctly the lettuce lasted for a good amount of time.

Once I've gone through this, I have a pretty good list of what I NEED to grow and now I focus on what I WANT to grow. Every year I come across a few items that I want to attempt to grow in my garden, something new that I want to try.  A few years back I planted lemon cucumbers, round yellow cucumbers with a mild sweet flavor. I loved them, but they grew like crazy, soon they took over a good portion of my garden and there was an abundance of fruit that no one but me and my sister enjoyed eating. I ended up taking a lot of them in to work to share, from that I knew that this was not something I would grow again. 

This year I want to try a few new things, two items are for crafting purposes 1.) Bushel Gourd are a large ornamental gourd that can be dried out and used for making bowels. 2.) Luffa Gourd, as a young fruit you can eat the luffa once it matures you can dry it out, remove the skin and seeds, and use the remainder of the dried-out luffa as a sponge for either your dishes or as an exfoliator in the shower. Garlic, onions a variety of potatoes are a few others I hope to try out this year. 

A few things for you to consider if you're new to gardening: 

When deciding what to plant in your garden, there are a few things to consider. 

• Think about the climate you're in, the amount of sunlight the area receives, the soil type, and the amount of space you have. 

• Also consider the maintenance required for different plants, as well as the amount of time and energy you are willing to devote to gardening. 

• Research plants that grow in your climate, the local nurseries, and ask friends and family for advice. 

With careful planning, you can create a beautiful and productive garden that you can enjoy for many years to come.
It's exciting getting things ready, laying out your plan, going through the different seeds and things. How do you decide what you grow in your garden every year? I would love to hear your thoughts and tips. 

 

Gardening With Kids, Tips and Tricks to help include your kids..

 

Hi there!

 If you are reading this, it must be because you're interested in finding a way to be in your garden and bring your kids along. Hopefully, within this article, you will find some tips to help you with that. I am going into my second year of gardening with two-year-old twins. They are a handful! Last year I brought them into the garden a few times to see what they would do, and it was a lot of grabbing, picking, and pulling on things that Mommy didn't really want them to. 

Photo by Greta Hoffman

I did notice that they really enjoyed being out there, copying what I was doing which was heartwarming to see. The gears in my head started to spin, and I bought each kid their own pair of gloves, a bucket/ basket, and a set of gardening tools (spade, rake, etc.). They love having their own tools, tools that look like Mommy's.

                                                    Photo By Kampus Production

When it's time to go out to the garden we gather our tools, and supplies and walk out to the garden together. I give them a little pep talk on our plan (although I know they don't particularly care) and once we get out there, we get to work.

I like to assign little tasks. "Pick up all the yellow flowers" or " Grab all the sticks and put them in this bucket." It gives them something to do, something to focus on and it gives me an extra set of hands.

Below are 5 Tips on things you can do to not only include your kids but also educate and build on their interest in gardening. 

5 Tips on gardening with Kids

1. Get your kids involved by having them help in the garden. Give them tasks that are age-appropriate, such as planting seeds, watering plants, and weeding.
2. Make gardening fun by coming up with creative games or activities to do with your kids. Planting a scavenger hunt with items from the garden or having a race to see who can water the most plants are great ideas.
3. Educate your kids about gardening with age-appropriate books, videos, and websites. Show them how plants grow from seeds, where food comes from, and how to care for plants.
4. Let your kids pick out their own plants to grow. Visit a local nursery or grow plants from seed to give them choices.
5. Give your kids a space of their own in the garden. Let them design and decorate their own garden plot and help them learn to care for their own plants.

Hopefully, this helps let me know of any tips or tricks you have used when gardening with your kids.

-Casey R