Vegetable Gardening
It's that time of year again when I start thinking about having a vegetable garden. I know most of you are still living with this fluffy white stuff called snow, but we live in California, where we've had 70ยบ weather most of the past week. Although this next week will be in the 50's, it's still about the time when I like to start planning what to get and when to plant things.
We live in a townhouse. Although space is limited, we do have a larger backyard. In the past, I've done container square foot gardening (a raised 3×3 container), but I've found it takes up a bit too much room for the space we have. So, this year, I'm going to do something a bit different.
This past fall / winter, I cleared space along the perimeter of our yard. We have cobblestones and grass in our yard, but have 1-1 1/2 feet of space around all the edges. Last year, I planted some tomatoes along one edge and they did wonderfully. So much so, that the squirrels (or mice) ate them all!
This year, I plan on planting more along the perimeter or in smaller containers. We went to the nursery earlier this week and got butter lettuce and peas. The only vegetable that Liam will eat is peas (we do grind up spinach and sneak it into his fruit smoothies, but the kid will not eat vegetables!). I also got some seeds for broccoli, carrots and a different variety of lettuce.
Here's the plan, so far:
Container:
- Lettuce
- Cilantro
Perimeter:
- Cucumber
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini Summer & Winter
- Basil (maybe container, too)
- Green Beans
Although I've attempted to have a vegetable garden every year since we redid our backyard, oh 4 years ago, it hasn't always been successful. I've been able to grow tomatoes, lettuce, green beans and zucchini somewhat successfully. I'm hoping that actually putting things in the ground along the perimeter will help.
So far, the butter lettuce is planted in containers, the peas are planted in the ground, and the broccoli and carrot seeds are planted in the ground.
Some resources I've been using include, Gardener's Supply, which has a great vegetable encyclopedia and this zone planting calendar (You can follow the link back to find the calendar for your zone). The calendar has really helped me figure out what to plant when, given our climate. Now, to find the space for everything!