The Beginnings of a Vegetable Garden
If you would have talked to me a month ago about making and keeping a garden this year, I probably would have laughed and said “yeah right.” The most “gardening” I have ever done is a basil plant that I kept alive for about 6 months. You see, I am from Miami. Where one city blends into the next. In fact, the first time I ever saw a farm was when I went to my (at the time) boyfriend’s (now hubby) house in Westminster, Maryland. This is a story he likes to retell many times because as we were driving past the many fields of corn, I said “what are those tall cylindrical buildings?” Really. He looked at me as if I were making a really funny joke. And then…”really?” Yup – that was my extent of farm knowledge. Fast forward to today: still no new knowledge about farming (except what I have been reading in Omnivore’s Dilemma).
As I mentioned in a previous post, we have a friend/couple that has inspired us to eat better and be more conscious about various sustainability issues, and they have passed the gardening bug onto us. We have been contemplating it for a couple of weeks now…I have been reading online and often getting overwhelmed by the different options and facets of gardening…and finally took the plunge this weekend.
We have decided to go with two raised beds, each one 3×11 feet, dedicated solely to vegetables and herbs. Part of the motivation and excitement for us to be able to raise our own food that we can then harvest and eat! Talk about green, organic and “natural” food!
Although we have a fair amount of land, there is not really much accessible, flat land that gets unobstructed sun. And unfortunately most of that obstruction comes from the neighbor’s trees…i.e. not ones that we could prune.Although we have a fair amount of land, there is not really much accessible, flat land that gets unobstructed sun. And unfortunately most of that obstruction comes from the neighbor’s trees…i.e. not ones that we could prune.
However we are keeping a positive attitude and hoping this will work! So these are our pictures from the weekend – these first ones are of us creating the raised beds. We bought untreated cedar and made a simple set up following the instructions from a Lowe’s video on YouTube.
Below you can see the first raised bed area where I started to remove the sod where the bed will sit. It is not easy work! I definitely have a new appreciation for the hard labor that goes into farming! I have a particularly weak core (i.e. my core muscles) and was SO FATIGUED after doing this work. I felt like I couldn’t hold myself up adequately. It was pretty pathetic.
Below you can see one bed finished and ready to plant. Luv (my husband) finished the second bed as well – so they are now both ready to plant! Yay!
I am especially excited about the fact that we were able to buy all of our soil and compost from Meadowbrook Farm, which is a farm literally at the end of our block! It makes me so happy to be able to support a small, local business/farm. Not to mention that it was extremely handy when at 4:45pm on saturday, 15 minutes before they closed, we were able to run over there when we realized we were 17 bags short of soil! And 15 minutes later we had the soil paid for and delivered at our house. It was AWESOME. I’ll write about Phase Two: Transplanting our Seedlings soon!
In the meanwhile, here is my garden plan:
Note: Most of the reading I did said that most lettuce and cabbage need about 10 inches between the plants. However I found a couple of sites that said this is the amount of space you need if you are going to let the plant reach full maturity and then harvest the entire thing. On the other hand, if you are planning on harvesting the outer leaves at regular intervals, it is ok to make them a little crowded since you are never really letting them get to full maturity.
Lastly, here are some pictures of our little helper!
Haath Se [By Hand] 
subha
Love what you are doing. I will have to copy you to have all that fun. But I need your helper
haha – thats funny! I’m sure she would LOVE to lend you a hand!
Hey Subha! I did the garden thing for a few years, but it sucks in Florida because the bugs have all year to fight you. It was a lot of fun before I started losing the insect war. Lettuce seeds are really easy and you don’t need to worry so much about spacing. I never let mine grow to maturity because I like the baby greens so you can pack them in. Get really high quality seeds (make sure any seed mixes you get don’t have any “broadleaf” lettuce. its pretty but tastes like crap) and just scatter. You can thin them out if they are crowded. Its even more fun than getting seedlings, if you ask me and Rhada can do it and watch them grow. Spinach is great, too. Do those now before it gets hot. I miss picking my own food, but if I move up to your part of the world (like I want to) I’ll try it again.
thanks for the advice Lauren! I actually went with seedlings this year…i was getting overwhelmed, and that made it seem more manageable. well i do have a second bed for the warm weather plants – maybe i’ll do seeds there. i’m definitely nervous about the insects and also DEER! we have to build a fence or some kind of netting around the beds, because we get alot of deer and it would be a shame if they ate all of it! i’ll let you know how it goes! (and if you move up to my area i would LOVE to get together and see you sooN! even if you are just here for a visit!)
Thanks for the detailed photos. Really helpful!
I am excited for you and your family to see the end result of this garden. It is great to see a family work on projects together. I cannot wait to see how it all turns out!
It looks like a great garden plan – if you’re after sustainability, tomatoes are great as it’s almost impossible to grow them without getting a glut (and they’re beginner friendly). You can also grow salad leaves really easily in windowboxes, using the ‘sprinkle seeds randomly’ method and cutting them as and when you fancy some salad – and peashoots are very yummy indeed, and easy to grow in the same way, if you want to free up space in your fab raised beds. If you’re worried about slugs, copper tape is brilliant – and windmills will scare off birds who may otherwise peck at your seedlings. Hope this helps, and good luck with your garden.
Good luck on gardening. There is something satisfying about being able to maintain a beautiful garden! I’m trying to do an herb garden in my New York apartment but the weather has been so inconsistent that my dill and parsley are wilting!
I Love, LOVE that you called them “cylindrical buildings.” Perhaps that is one of the reasons he fell in love with you…because that is one of the moments when it is just too funny, and too adorable..you can never forget.
Good luck on the garden! I have 2 plants near my door, poor things, starving for water all the time. Its been 9 years and I just replotted one of them. I got sick off picking up the dead leaves then thought maybe…just maybe its just too big for its house. I know. moron!
I am excited for you! Take it slow and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed … at first it can seem like a mountain to climb, but once you get the hang of it … you will be very proud of the results. There are many gardeners online and if ever you have a question, don’t hesitate to ask. If I can help…..I will!
Happy Gardening!
Debbie 🙂
Sounds like you have a great plan! Don’t get discouraged by any minor set-backs though, we all have them with our first garden. Might I suggest some lavender next year? It smells heavenly and is great to have fresh and handy.
Don’t forget to protect against birds, too. Place some poles around your garden and then tie string from pole-to-pole. Attach aluminum pans (or streamers) to the strings to deter the birds. Also, you can make a nice insect [repellant] by spraying with diluted, mild dish detergent. It helps to keep the plants clean too.
I love growing my own veg…hope your little one has fun 🙂
Thanks! I’m trying to make it fun for her – she only tolerated me planting about 9 transplants today (did the rest while she was asleep). But Im’ not very good at “redirecting” like many people are. I’m working on it. Hopefully if I take her out there every day she will start to have fun! I actually tried to start quizzing her on the plant names…ha ha!
Lovely. One of my goal’s in life is to have my own vegetable garden. Eating from my own backyard couldn’t get more local or sustainable than that! But, for now, we are taking full advantage of the abundant farmer’s markets in San Francisco. I will comeback to see your progress!
I wish I could live in SF! I’m sure you will be able to have your own garden sooner than you think. A little over a yar ago at this time I was living in South Philly in a row home with a cement backyard with no plans on moving. Now we live in an area that I had never even heard of and I’m gardening – something I had never even dreamed of!
We have been gardening for years. It takes work and commitment but the reward is what you get from it. Your own fresh food from your own work. Keep at it! Congrats on being FP!
WOW – thanks! I cant believe I ended up being FP – but I LOVE it! I guess it’s downhill from here =) Just kidding. Thanks for the positive energy!
Good luck with your gardening adventures! I live in an apartment in North Alabama (I just moved here from South Florida) and even though there’s no land I do have a little balcony so I’ve been thinking of trying to grow some carrots, peppers, and tomatoes in a little container garden. Hope your garden pays off. Good luck!
Great post. I grew up about half an hour from Westminster and now live in the south. I’ve had a garden for five years. It’s a pain sometimes, but very rewarding too. Good luck.
We love our big summer garden! The first year we went way overboard, but have found a good balance for a family of two. Still eating the fruits of our labor! Best wishes on your garden 🙂
Great post. I just bought so many packs of seeds yesterday at Home Depot and I’m hoping to plant them this weekend. Now you have me even more excited!
Nothing like growing your own garden and eating the vegetables that you grew. So far you have some great comments! Good post!
I like gardening too. Glad you got featured in Freshly Pressed. Please visit my blogs. Thanks.
Best of luck with your growing adventures, and to many years of fun outdoors with the family. Looks like you get a heap of leaves in your yard, so great opportunity to start making your own soil via compost!
Your garden plans look great- congratulations on such an ambitious beginning! Can’t wait to hear what happens. My husband is from LA, and had the same question about the silver silos. He loves fresh fruits and vegetables though.
Hurray for you!
I live in an apartment in a very dry hot outback town and have slowly been building my little balcony garden into my own little Eden. I am learning so much –
1. Tomatoes and capsicums take a REALLY long time to mature!
2. You need to plant a LOT to eat from it regularly but…
3. You need far less to satisfy you. Just one tiny tomato from my own lovingly nurtured and plant, grown until it is actually ready for picking has more taste than a whole bag from the supermarket.
I don’t really have enough in the ground (pots actually) to eat from it every day but am slowly building up and am enjoying watching it all grow and learning about actual real food. I know for sure that I will grow as much of my own food as possible from now on.
Like you, my food revolution started with a Michael Pollan book ‘In Defence of Food’. Once I saw the documentary ‘Food Inc’, I really started to think, after many many years of not really thinking about food – strange to realise now how unconsciously I was living for so long. But what really changed everything was Jonathan Safran Foer’s book ‘Eating Animals’.
I don’t think anyone could read this book and not be profoundly affected in some way.
So now I think about what I am eating and why; about where my food comes from; and about the effect on my body, other animals and the long term implications of consumption of everything in life. This book has had a far reaching effect! I highly recommend it to anyone but be warned- it will tear your heart out. I cried a lot and felt mightily ashamed.
Can’t wait to see all your lovely plants grow and to get tips on increasing my own little garden!
thank you so much for your incredibly thoughtful and informative comment! I have already significantly changed how I eat and think about food just from Food Inc and 150 pages of Omnivore’s Dilemma. I just can’t bring myself to eat “regular” meat from the supermarket any more, I RARELY order it when out (then again, when am I ever out?) and I no longer feel like i HAVE to eat meat every day let alone in every meal. But you are right, I feel very ashamed that I had no idea where my food was coming from and never really thought much about it. I tend to be an idealist and in general a naive person – and assumed that if our government was ok with it, I should be to. i know, I know, that sounds ridiculous at some level. But it is really the way I was brought up and in general is the way I have approached things. (No surprise I dumped the dream of being a Supreme Court Justice LONG ago!). Anyway – I will definitely check out the books you mentioned as well.
Anyways, not sure how much advice I’ll be able to offer for the gardening, but I will definitely share my experiences – some of which will definitely be mistakes – so I guess those will be things to learn from!
Thanks again!
I think I had the same naive optimism about the government and other people’s intentions re the food industry. Maybe willful ignorance!
But you’re right, once you know you just can’t un-know.
I don’t call myself a vegetarian, because on the odd occasion I do eat meat. But I am very careful about where it comes from and cannot actually EVER eat McDonalds / Hungry JAcks (Burger King), KFC -style fast food EVER again. I have found I actually feel so much better physically just for this change. As you say, I no longer feel the need to eat meat with every meal. I now have it maybe once or twice a month – just when I feel a particular need for it. Incredible what you discover about your body when you start actually listening to it!
Eggs are another big one for misinformation – I now eat a LOT of eggs (in phases) and either get them from friends’ REAL LIVE chickens (hurray for living in the country) or from ethical suppliers (you have to read the cartons very carefully!).
It all SOUNDS like a lot of work but is actually incredibly simple because if it isn’t fresh, you don’t buy / eat it! The challenge is in finding new sources of protein / nutrients and I have become far more creative in the kitchen.
In a red dirt mining town, finding good vegetables / fresh produce can be a little difficult (hence my balcony garden), but I’m having fun and finally feel more in control of my own world. That sounds like a big leap, but the food industry is a prime example of the the kind of helplessness you can feel when the machinations of big business come to light. I think a lot of people worldwide are taking back control of their own food supply as a way of protesting against the ethical void created by a profit-focussed culture.
I am new to all this, and waking up to more and more and making the decision to act upon it. So it is really lovely to see what you are doing, and very pleasurable to see you attack it with such gusto and forethought – OCD gardeners go!!
PS I love your photos! and your daughter is sooooo cute!
I think you are definitely right – I am amazed by all the passion I see from people about gardening. it is inspiring and encourages me to do more! I feel just like you – like I was helpless – especially when I would walk through the grocery store and see all boxes of processed food around me. But doing this makes me feel like I can at least bypass all that craziness for me and my family.
thanks for stopping by! and yes, gardening is more fun with my little helper!
Congratulations on having your own vegetable garden. It is like having your own personal supermarket veggie aisle in your backyard. May your vegetable patch flourish with abundance this coming summer. 🙂
thank you so much! i hope i serve it well. i am a little concerned because I noticed today that there is alot of shade from near by trees…I am going to have to look into trimming them – however we don’t have any extra funds to spare! anyway, thanks again for the well wishes =)
Choosing plants according to sunlight required will certainly help you to succeed. For those plants that require a great deal of sun, try container gardening… a large pot placed accordingly will help ‘fill out’ your vegetable list. As mentioned in a previous post, tomatoes grow very well in south Florida – as do bell pepper (and most other peppers). Good luck to you – I applaud your efforts and enthusiasm!
Congrats on taking the gardening plunge. No matter what your eventual harvest is, you will learn and grow yourself.
My kids, at 4 and 6, are finally more help in the garden than liability.
haha! THat means I have a ways to go before my little one is a helper! i was working really hard to get her to stay with me for planting just 9 plants today. Hopefully this will get better! Thanks!
What a sweet little helper!
People here got excited because we had a few good days of extremely warm weather and started planting already. The weather has taken a sudden bad turn back to “Ha, ha…fooled you! It’s still cold weather season!” Now those eager beavers are going to have to cover their plants tonight because it’s going to get down to close to freezing. I’m eager, too, but have lived here long enough to learn to be patient. …but I can hardly wait! Good luck with your garden. Your ambition and hard work will pay off soon. 🙂
Great info… thanks! We’ve been talking about doing exactly what you did all year… now if we can just get our butts out there!
Congrats on being on FP!
I love your garden plan! I wish you the best in your gardening this year.
Melissa
Good on you Subha and co.
Gardening really is like a bug. Once you get it it’s hard to let it go.
I wish you all the best with your lil’ patch. Drop me a line if you have any questions. Maybe I can help.
Take care,
I love your idea! We decided to get rid of our lawn – for a couple of years now we have had tastiest tomatoes, freshest herbs, potatoes, flowers and even fruits – best ever! You are right, you can grow a garden without a lot of effort and knowledge.
Heirloom rock!
Michael Pollan is a genius!
Go garden!!! 🙂
Great post thanks for sharing. I really enjoy reading your blog very much
Good on you for making your own vegetable patch! It would be fun when harvest time comes 🙂
Absolutely love your project, I have always wanted to start my own vegetable patch, but unfortunately I live in an apartment building, I do have some herns growing in a pot on the window ledge though….lol…. much success with your own vegetable garden!!
thanks krista! hey, a pot is better than nothing! thanks again!
super like… i wish i can make it to…
Love that you’re doing this! Unfortunately I live in an apartment, so no gardening can be done there. Oh well. Haha, nice post! Congratz on being FP!
thanks! definitely was a surprise to be FP’d – its amazing what it does to traffic! I would have never gotten all this amazing advice! Hope you have a chance to grow some stuff soon…maybe in a couple pots??
Your little helper is certainly adorable! Gardening is such a great thing to do — it gives back so much to the gardener. I think you will enjoy the fruits of your efforts, so to speak, and your little daughter will be getting a good example at a young age. Plus, nothing tastes better than home grown tomatos and basil, which you have not included in your garden plan! Why not? Fresh basil loses a certain taste about 1/2 hour after picking, so if you haven’t grown your own, you are missing out on a flavor you can only get from fresh-picked basil. Store bought or even farmer’s market tomatoes are simply not to be compared to home-grown tomatoes. Try at least one kind of tomato! Little cherry tomatoes are fabulous eaten right off the plant and I’d guess your daughter would have fun eating them (off the plant) once they ripen.
One word about cilantro: once it gets hot, the plant will bolt and you won’t have cilantro any more. It actually does better with a little shade. Where is your garden? In Miami? The lettuces are also cool weather crops and won’t last into the heat of summer, so you’ll want to plant other stuff there once the lettuces are gone.
Most herbs can take a lot of heat (rosemary, sage, basil, thyme). And tomatoes love heat, of course.
Thanks for the advice Jule! We are definitely planning on doing some tomatoes and peppers (see my post from today!). this is just my first raised bed…for my “cool weather” plants. we built a second one as well for the warm weather plants. i’m really excited for the basil!! i hadn’t thought about cherry tomatoes – that is a good idea! thanks again!
Hello
Love your post and heres wishing you a plentifull harvest 🙂
We are in our 2nd year of growing our own vegetables, so still very much a novice.
Assure you theres nothing nicer than going to your vegetable and picking or unearthing some veg for your tea 🙂
thanks for the well wishes kimmy – right back at you!
Subha You are an inspiration
Congrats on the new garden! We started one last year and love it. We found it better to have it not in direct sunlight all day – mainly because it gets so hot here in Texas. We had a lot of luck with our tomato and pepper plants, plus our herbs. We harvested and froze all our peppers (jalapeno and habanero) and are still eating off last years crop. We planted strawberries last year which did nothing but are doing great this year. Apparently that’s normal for strawberries. We have a lot of green ones out there and I can’t wait until they are ripe. We plan on trying some zucchini squash soon. It’s fun and all so tasty!
sounds like you are already a pro! we are philly – so not as much sun or heat… but I’m hoping can get enough produce to last well past the summer. we’ll see! i hadnt thought of strawberries…i may have to find a different place with more space for those…but that sounds like a good plan for late summer planting so they can get ready for next year? i’ll have to do some research… thanks again!
I’m not sure when the best time to plant strawberries is. I just recently learned that they do better in the following years. I hope the birds/bugs stay away. Last we actually had one strawberry and something ate it. Grrrrr. I’ve heard rubber snakes can help scare off birds so I might have to give that a try.
yay for fresh produce.. and your little girl seems to be enjoying it too!
slowly but surely, i’m hoping she will learn to love gardening!
LOVE IT!!!!! Keep us posted on your progress! 🙂
thanks christine! it’s coming along slowly but surely – check out my post from today =)
thanks for stopping by!
This is really ambitious of you, Shubha. My mother-in-law raised everything from vegetables to geese in our backyard. Since she died in 1992, the whole place has dried up and nothing refuses to grow. My husband was planning to replace the soil and try again but from your experiment, I am beginning to think that maybe I can simply use these beds to build from the top. Thank you so much for the insight.
Thanks jiji. I’m so sorry about your mother – it must be especially sad to see the land so empty without her. I’m sure there is something to say about the connection between humans and the land they live on and work on. The raised beds are definitely a great idea. From what I read, you really only need about 6 inches – which is easy to make. If you want to do some rot vegetables, you could take a bottomless container and sit it in your bed and grow them in there, so that you have a separate section that is deep enough, and dont have to make the entire bed that deep (that would be a lot of expensive soil!). Making the beds was pretty straight forward – took us about 2 hours (probably less, actually). We bought 1×6 inch planks of cedar from Lowes, and had them cut them to size: for each bed, we needed 2 boards 3 feet long and 2 boards 11 feet long. We also bought a 4×4 cedar post for the corners – that we had to cut on our own. So we cut that into 8 inch sections – 4 for each bed. Then we basically attached the long planks to 1 4×4 post on each end – we drilled out a hole first, then put in the screws. in fact- the drilling is not completely necessary, and on the next step we often skipped it. But it did cause less cracking/splitting of the boards. Once the long planks were attached, we then stood them on their side, and abutted a short side up to them, and then attached them in the same way to the 4×4 post. And that was it!
As far as soil goes – we used 3/4 top soil and 1/4 cow manure compost. We also added some “garden-tone” organic fertilizer to the mix.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the photos. Really helpful!
thanks romanya -glad to help!
Marigolds planted around the perimeter are also a good insect deterrent… and helps brighten the area! I am across the state from you and I’ve had good luck with green beans, too. They don’t take up much space – place them at the end of the planter with a “trellis” (can be a piece of fencing) to climb. Be sure you can reach through the trellis openings for those ‘hard to reach’ beans. Three plants produces plenty of beans!
Joyce stole my marigold suggestion. We also do zinnias for bug control. My husband planted sweet peas at the beginning of March and they will be done by June so he puts in his herbs and peppers. There is nothing like fresh spinach on your pizza.
ooooo nice sharing …………………. and nice pic
thanks!
Good luck with the gardening, I grew my own vegetables for the first time last year, and they were the best I’ve ever tasted! I live in England though so I’m limited to what I can grow with our poor weather!
thanks zara! I am definitely hoping that will be the case. I am a little bit nervous about the shade from some pine trees (which i found out would cost WAY too much to trim). but hopefully we will get some produce that we can enjoy eating! thanks for stopping by!
Awesome! I’ve always wanted to try gardening, but as a renter I’m a little too afraid I’ll end up having to move and all that work will go to waste. 😦 Also, I have managed to kill cacti before, and that just doesn’t seem like a good omen. 😀
Sounds like you have a great plan! Don’t get discouraged by any minor set-backs though, we all have them with our first garden. Might I suggest some lavender next year? It smells heavenly and is great to have fresh and handy.