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| The beginnings of a garden for 2014. |
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| My first garden in 2009. |
I love gardening. I love the feel and smell of fresh dirt, I love having dirty fingers from digging and I love watching things that I planted as seeds flourish into a flower, fruit or vegetable.
Growing up, I never wanted to garden. A green thumb does run in my family, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do until I was in my early 20s.
One day, I woke up and thought “I need to get my hands dirty and watch something grow.”
At that time, I was living in a townhouse in Conway. I didn’t have a backyard, but I did have space in the front for pots.
That first year was mostly trial and error. The front of my condo had full sun almost all day, so I learned quickly which plants needed some shade and which ones flourished. I planted strawberries, flowers, cucumbers, squash , herbs and peppers. Since then, every spring I have started a garden. I start the baby seeds in little peat pots and every day I put them out in the sun in the morning and bring them in at night. That lasts about a month until the dirt is warm enough and the plants are strong enough to be outside all the time.
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| Bush beans in 2012 |
When we finally moved to a house that had a yard, I started the seeds the same way, but this time I was able to plant them in the ground. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely fun.
I have learned a lot about gardening in my five full years of gardening including which plants flourish in the heat and which ones love the shade, how one single plant of basil will produce more leaves than we will ever need. I also learned that corn is probably the hardest thing to grow in small quantities. I have tried multiple times to no avail. Oh well, the farmers market always has delicious, fresh corn in the summer.
My favorite things to grow are cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, potatoes and basil. They seem to grow very well with the dirt I have and the amount of sun. There is absolutely nothing better than a fresh tomato, pea or potato straight from the garden.
This year, I have already planted two types of tomatoes, potatoes, two types of basil, Italian parsley, cilantro, jalapenos, cucumbers, squash, flowers, lettuce, mesclun and carrots. When the soil is warmer, I plan on planting watermelon, bush beans, peas, more flowers and more herbs.
If you have any questions about starting your own little garden, please leave a comment and I will help you the best I can.
Until then, Happy Plantings!
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