In the past I've grown a few herbs. One jalapeno plant in a large pot on my patio. Oh, and a cherry (aka: tommy toe - if you too reside in the South) tomato plant in a 5-gallon bucket that we rarely got to enjoy because Bronx would pick the bush clean behind our backs. With that being said - I am NO expert when it comes to gardening, but its something I want to do and I want to be good at it and I'm not going to give up easily.
Its really my Mother who has the green thumb. I swear, the woman has been known to bring plants back from the dead. She can transplant 'clippings' from anything and she wouldn't want me to tell you that even though it takes her nearly an hour to water her hoard of different plant life, she loves it.
I love that she loves it - its natural, the beauty of growing something and allowing it to thrive, knowing YOU did that. I've managed to keep a few house plants alive and recently I gave into my urge to begin a garden. I can only hope that I'll have half of the success my Mom has had.
After consulting my Grandma and Grandpa for a few words of wisdom, getting The Coach's approval to till up a patch of his precious lawn, and what seems like 395,585,545 pins later - I went for it.
I set off for the local hardware store, where the helpful young man directed me to these little beauties.
These 'cups' - if you will, are biodegradable and you can plant them directly into the soil versus a plastic version that has to be removed before planting - simple! I like simple.
I got a variety of sizes - for no particular reason really. At my local store they ranged from $0.05 to $0.14
I used the website -
www.sproutrobot.com to gauge when I needed to start my plants (certain plants will need to be started indoors several weeks before they are ready to plant into the ground. Starting the seeds indoors ensures that you'll be able to begin young plants closer to their 'season' because germination may take too long once the soil can be worked and the seeds are planted)
The Sprout Robot website also gives you dates that you can plant your seeds outdoors, based on your area. You go to the site and enter your zip code - it couldn't be easier.
I also bought a few of these little 'plastic frames' while I was at the hardware store. The hold the biodegradable cups so they keep their shape while you are watering and growing your seeds. The helpful young man said the cups should slide right out of the plastic frames and I can re-use them. Score!
I selected my seeds based on two things - how many large planters (pots) I have and how many rows I had room for in my tilled garden.
For instance - I read that its very easy to plant lettuce and carrots in planters, so I planned to begin my seeds directly in the planters since I could keep them indoors until the time came for them to go outside. The lettuce will sit on my front porch which gets mostly shade - this was how someone grew it in a feature article in some home/garden magazine I read, and they were able to grow it almost year round in a planter.
Below is a list of seeds I started indoors in my biodegradable cups -
- Romaine Lettuce (I decided to live dangerously & try it in the garden and in a planter, though I'm told by my grandpa that its probably too late and it wont make it - I did it anyway)
- Eggplant - I'll transplant these into the outdoor garden
- Green Bell Pepper -I'll also transplant these into the outdoor garden.
- Chives (I actually have these already planted outdoors in my raised herb garden, but I tend to do things for no reason, see paragraph above! Ha!)
- Parsley/Thyme/Cilantro/Rosemary/Basil - these I plan to transplant into my raised herb garden that The Coach built me last summer.
Based on the website I recently planted iceberg lettuce in my outdoor garden and in the next few weeks I'll also add the following;
Summer Squash - both yellow crook-neck squash and zucchini
Watermelon
Corn - I'm partial to sweet yellow corn
Cucumbers - pickling cucumbers for canning and standard southern burpless for fresh eating
Cantaloupe
Okra
Tomatoes
Jalapenos
I used Miracle-Gro Potting Mix when starting my seeds. This was probably my first mistake. Upon opening the bag I realized this was not the moist, rich, deep black soil I was searching for. Luckily, I had about half a bag left in our garage from last year, so I mixed the two and dredged on.
I planted my seeds as directed on the package and arranged my cups in some dollar store cake pans. I'd like to think this was genius on my part - for $1 each I was able to fit 6 cups easily and I don't have to worry about any drippage or spills from watering, spilled dirt or moving each cup on by one.
I used what I had on hand in a pinch (sticky notes, toothpicks, and a some tape) to make my labels, I watered each cup thoroughly, and took them inside to sit in front of a sunny window in our spare bedroom.
I plan to update on my journey through gardening. I can only hope that my experience is a good one, but I fully intend to see this project through. I wont let a few dead plants stop me and with a little perseverance I hope to eat lots of home grown veggies and herbs this summer and share my extras with my family and friends!
