The Garden Goes In - Part 2

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul." ~ Alfred Austin

There is an art to gardening that I feel surpasses my understanding... When I go to a museum, I don't sit and stare at any one thing for hours basking in the nuances of color, texture, medium, canvas, or stroke.... I look at something, determine almost immediately whether I like it or not, and unless there is something immensely interesting about it, I tend to move on in about 15 minutes or so.  I am not artistic or creative, and I rarely have the time or patience for detailed work.  When it comes to gardening, the plants either get tough or die...

That being said, I know the basics... plants like to be planted at certain times of the year, and "x" number of inches apart, etc. Armed with my handy dandy planting schedule specific for my area, because I am not clever enough or determined enough to pour through endless info about "zones" for each plant, etc. (just did an internet search and a few came up, so try that if you don't have one for your own area) I dug through the many different kinds of seeds I had purchased over the years, or received from my mother in law who had a seed of the month club.

Now remember when I said that while I am trying to get my life to as natural a state as possible, I don't always have the money or time to go around hunting for and purchasing organic everything... The same can be said for my seeds... these are things I already had and I don't waste much, however if you are just starting out I highly recommend looking for non-GMO seeds, and heirloom/organic seeds whenever possible. I do believe that these will yield higher quality and better for your foods, even though anything you grow at home yourself is already heaps better than anything you will buy in the supermarket, labeled organic or not.

According to my planting schedule, the only plants that should be planted in our area at this exact time of year (2nd half of July) is head lettuce... I have two varieties of old seeds which will probably not sprout, and one variety from my MIL that is new and should produce fine.  I have about 2 more weeks before the next seeds should go in the ground, and about 2 weeks (10-14 days) for the lettuce to spout, so whatever doesn't come up by then will get replaces with new crops... I figure that worked itself out nicely and I didn't even plan it that way! :)

 

Angel and I then planted several other plants using old seed start containers and egg cartons... We have carrots, beets, chard, kale, one butternut squash, and broccoli.

In a couple of weeks I will post about how the lettuce did, and how our transplants are coming along... I will also have other seeds to put in the ground... radishes, turnips, potatos, onions, and more...

Resources

https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/wellness/_docs/planting_guide.pdf
http://ucanr.edu/sites/sacmg/files/117117.pdf
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_gardening.html#t9XjQ4XF0kBe5odi.99