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Lessons Learned from Gardening on the Front Stoop
This year, with much help from Krista, I started my first ever garden on the front stoop of my rental unit. Read the journey from beginning to now in my previous posts:Gardening While RentingTaking Over the Front Stoop I was excited to see what I would be able to produce in my very limited, small space, though my expectations were not very high. I was approaching the entire gardening adventure as an experiment to see what was possible. Where things went right Lettuce My lettuce plant grew amazingly well! I had a steady supply of little bunches of lettuce shortly after it was planted. The plant grew tall instead of…
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Reflections on Backyard Garden: Good, Bad, and What Happened?
Success this year Our usual peas were out of stock so we tried planting snap peas and they were so good that we’re going to plant them again next year! We’ve actually harvested a good number of apples that didn’t have worms which is a huge improvement over last year; We had a good harvest of garlic and have been putting it in almost everything!; The winter garden bed is planted and growing. Failures this year I was so excited to try growing luffa however both seed starting attempts this year failed. I’m guessing the soil wasn’t warm enough so we’re going to try them again next year with a…
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Taking Over the Front Stoop
Let the Gardening Begin! Once I started dreaming of having my miniature veggie garden on my front stoop, I immediately began searching what vegetables grow best in the shade. There are tons of lists out there such as this one, 26 Vegetables to Grow in the Shade, from Rural Sprout. If I’m honest, I was hoping to avoid too many salad greens, which happen to grow really well in the shade. Salad and I have a love-hate relationship because 17 years ago when I became vegan, salad was all anyone knew what to feed me…so back then I ate my full! But Krista convinced me that eating them pulled out…
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What We’re Planting
Our start to vegetable gardening was not a success: we had tried to grow a few things on a borrowed plot with friends some years before trying our own and spent about $100 on seeds and supplies… and ended up with enough vegetables for one pot of soup! Undaunted, we attempted our first garden at our own home in 2015 with the help of my husband’s parents and grandparents. We’re excited to share what we’ve learned with you since then! Key considerations when starting a garden Environment Soil: Potting soil is a great option for containers. If a plant has a specific requirement, such as sandy soil, then the seed…
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Gardening While Renting
I grew up with a backyard garden so understand the benefit–and the joy–of having your own fresh produce at your fingertips. My Mummo always let us go into her backyard to steal raspberries and to eat carrots right out of the ground. My dad grew award winning sunflowers and pumpkins that were ginormous. Obstacles Unfortunately, there are a couple of things standing in my way of continuing on the family gardening tradition. 1. I have never had a green thumb. I’ve always loved the idea of having plants around, but have successfully killed everything from bamboo to cacti. My skill level is at a negative. This past summer was the…
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Backyard Garden Journey
Garden Inspiration We’ve been on this journey for five years now and have learned so much! My husband and I both had family members who grew their own food and so had seen it done, though hadn’t ever tried growing vegetables ourselves. The idea of being able to grow our own food was appealing for a few reasons: the ability to save money on our food budget while having access to very fresh produce, knowing what each vegetable was (and was not) treated with, as well as sustainability and self-reliance. Fast forward five years and we’ve moved on from having to call grandparents for step-by-step help to knowing what works well…
