I live in Ohio, in a smallish city with plenty of rural areas available to me in a short drive. The closest farmers market to me is about a half hour drive by car. It seems silly to drive that far for some fresh produce, when I can grow it in my back yard instead. The “Think Globally, Eat Locally” philosophy is challenging for my family in regards to meat products, but we’re certainly trying to do our part by keeping the produce side locally. Like everything else that we’ve gone green on, we start slow, so perhaps within the next few years, we’ll be able to be fully eating locally.
This is our second year having a garden. The first year, we learned a lot. Like, start your plants early inside, because non stop rain can prevent you from planting anything in early spring. And planting tomatoes from seed in June, well, you don’t actually get to enjoy them until the end of summer/beginning of fall.
My husband wanted to use plastic to keep the weeds to a minimum and fertilizer. I let him use the plastic but told him to keep the fertilizer for the flowers. I’m hoping to set up a compost bin soon, so that next year, we’ll have that to use in both our garden and our flowers. I hate to admit it (and won’t to him!), but having that plastic down has really saved me weeding time this year. I suppose this winter, I can research some ways to cut down on weeds without the plastic, but for now, it was helpful since it’s hard to find time with an 11 month old who wants to “help”.
Our tomatoes seem to be doing really well. We have tons and tons of tomatoes on the vines now. They range from teeny tiny to bigger than my fist. I predict that we’ll be eating them within a few weeks – they just need to turn red. And there are plenty of little yellow buds, so there’s tons more waiting to bloom. And the onions? Flourishing!
Our carrots and celery seem to be doing well. They were the only thing that we didn’t plant ahead of time. We had good luck with carrots last year in this way. This is the first shot at celery for us.
We decided not to do green beans and lettuce this year since we had a bit of trouble with them last year. Trouble as in - something else ate them.
Our watermelon, canteloupe, squash and pumpkin plants all transferred nicely. Hopefully, soon we’ll get to see some growth and progress with them.
We didn’t plant any corn – my husband is of the opinion that it takes up way too much space. Instead, we’ll hit the farmer’s stands when we want some corn.
I’m happy with our garden, there’s a great sense of pride in being able to bring forth a harvest.
-jennylou
***I suppose this winter, I can research some ways to cut down on weeds without the plastic***
A few layers of newspaper (on newsprint, none of the shiney flyers!) and a thick layer of straw over the top. It all breaks down over the winter and is good for your soil!