Gardening 101 ? Down-Home South Jersey

Or: ?How two people who don?t know much about gardening manage to plan, plant, weed (occasionally), mostly ignore, and still reap the benefits of their family garden!

Last year at the end of the growing season, I wrote a post on 7 lessons learned from the garden. Wow, that was a pretty good post! Sure wish I had re-read it before planting this year ?I think we planted too many zucchini plants. ?Again. ?Anyway?

This year?s garden is in the ground and growing like crazy. ?It needs to be weeded (already), but you can see from the photo that we increased its size from 10 by 10 feet to 13 by 13 feet to accomodate our love of tomatoes. ?Plus, I want to have extras for the food swap this summer.

If you?ve never planted a family garden before, I heartily encourage you to do so. ?This garden was planted for under $30 ? the cost of plants, that fancy trellis my husband wanted to try for the cucumbers, and the tomato cages. ?I estimate that we will easily harvest $150 or more in produce! ?That?s huge savings at the grocery store (and more money to buy ice cream).

Zucchini is planted at the edge of the garden to allow for spreading.

And as you can see, a garden doesn?t have to be pretty or fancy to get the job done.

So where do you start? ?As with many things in life, having a plan is a good idea. My husband usually sketches something out on a piece of scrap paper, with circles where the plants will be. ?We decide what we want to grow, how many plants we need, and where they should be planted. ?Vegetables like zucchini and cucumbers tend to spread, so we put them on the edges of the plot.

Next comes preparing the soil. ?This job belongs to my husband. ?He takes new soil from our composter and works it into the garden with the rototiller attachment on his weed wacker. ?If you don?t have a rototiller, a hoe and a little effort works just fine. ?As for the composter, it?s a worthwhile investment. ?We got ours for $25 several years ago, and now we are getting beautiful soil from the grass clippings, weeds, and coffee grounds that we put in it!

Our composter takes up very little space, yet provides lovely organic soil for our garden.

After the soil is prepared, my husband uses markers to lay out where he will plant our veggies.? This year he got a little silly.? Here is the result:

Yes, he used beer bottles to plan our garden.? It sure takes the concept of a beer garden to a whole new level!? You could easily use stones, old pots, or whatever you have on hand.

The last step is actually planting your garden.? Get the kids involved and make an afternoon of it.? They will love getting dirty, and you?ll be happy for the help!

After your garden is planted, that?s when the fun really begins.? Don?t forget about weeding (a few times per week) and watering (as needed).? I know weeding is a pain, but it?s good exercise.? Keep reminding yourself, ?I?m burning calories, I?m getting in shape.?

Before you know it, you will have delicious vegetables for your summer table plus lots more to share.? You?ll feel good about saving money, and you will enjoy the healthy benefits of eating organic veggies!

My raised-bed herb garden.

Then when you are feeling brave, you can tackle a little herb garden.? But we?ll save that for another post!

Do you have a garden this year?? What are you growing?? Please share links to your garden photos below.

Further reading:? 7 Lessons Learned from the Garden

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