There are lots of reasons to think you can't grow vegetables yourself...maybe you kill all the plants you've ever tried to nurture, maybe you don't have the space you need, or maybe you just don't know where to start! Don't worry...we've been there and we're going to get you through this! Our gardening "expert" Alli takes over from here.
The first, and best place to start, is a good book. Any good bookstore (yes, bookstores still exist!) will have a pretty decent sized garden section worth checking out. I have found that the number of books about home vegetable gardens seems to be growing bigger by the second so make sure to give yourself time to browse all the titles. The last time I did my book browsing, I left the store with a great addition to my library called "The Backyard Homestead". What really sold me was the small print under the title..."Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!". Done and done.
After reading through the entire book (yes, the ENTIRE book) I knew I was ready to take on a small, tester garden. Before spending oodles of money and turning my entire backyard into veggie heaven, I figured one raised bed was a good place to start. I headed down to Home Depot and grabbed up some cheap lumber. I discovered that the cheaper options are better for gardening because more expensive, pressure treated wood will leak chemicals into your soil which means NO GOOD for edible plants. My trusty home handyman whipped up a good sized bed for me and I got busy filling it up with soil.
Depending on where you live, you might have to buy top soil from a garden store. It's not too expensive and worth the investment because it pretty much guarantees growth. I was lucky enough to have a good amount of soil to choose from in the front yard so I spent a day digging and delivering to my garden.
Once you have enough soil in your raised bed, it's time to decide what you want to plant (if you haven't already). I wanted some fast growing, hearty vegetables because I wanted to see some results before I begin work at Straight Wharf in May so I chose spinach, lettuce, carrots, & sugar snap peas.
I began seeing sprouts from the lettuce and spinach within a week. The very warm weather we had last week must have helped, but I also kept the soil nice and moist by watering everyday (with a mist rather than direct spray). Because I used soil from the yard I began to see grass taking root so every morning I would go outside to weed what I could in order to let my veggies spread their wings. As cold weather began to approach, I invested in some burlap and covered the entire bed with burlap and a tarp during the night to keep the soil warm.
I checked the garden this morning, and voila, seedlings are everywhere!
I am bragging about my garden not only because I'm very proud (I was someone who always killed plants I was responsible for), but because my veggies are proof... if I can do it then YOU can do it, I promise! There are no excuses...small space - grow in a container (ever seen what you can do with a pallet?!). No green thumb - read a book and follow directions. Hate vegetables - well, you're just plain crazy.
A vegetable & fruit garden is absolutely postively worth the effort and here are some reasons why...
- Offering Bloody Mary's at your wedding brunch made with your very own garden tomatoes will blow people's minds.
- Contributing cucumbers or lettuce to your first course salad will make it unbelievably delicious.
- Making your signature cocktail something like "Home Grown Strawberry Mojito" it nothing to scoff at.
- Carrot Cake makes a great wedding cake...even more so when you know where those carrots came from.
- How about growing corn, popping it up, coating it in yummy spices, and serving it in paper cones at your reception?! What whaaaaat!
Take this information and go forth, using your beautiful minds to create the ultimate garden-filled wedding. Sharing your wedding day with friends and family is glorious, but sharing your hard work is unbelievably fantastic to the max!
For more great gardening ideas, visit our "Grown on Your Own" and "Food Glorious Food" boards on that wonderful website we like to call, Pinterest. :)
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