My grandpa (my mom’s dad) was a farm boy. He was born around the turn of the century (last century, obviously), lived in the middle of nowhere, and didn’t go to school until he was 8 or so because before that he was too little to ride the horse by himself all the way into town to get to the school. He eventually grew up and married my grandma and they lived in Salt Lake. My grandpa still liked to garden, though, so beside their house they had a great big garden. After my grandma died my grandpa came to live with my family. He had Alzheimer’s Disease and didn’t know who any of us were much of the time but wow, could that man still garden. For years after my family moved into the house they have now the yard on the side of our house was dirt. Eventually we laid sod down and turned it into a nice yard shady yard where we spend many summer evenings but for those years my grandpa lived with us we let him garden there. He grew corn, tomatoes, carrots, melons, pumpkins, and all sorts of good things. His disease progressed to the point where he had to go to a nursing home because we couldn’t take care of him anymore. We tried for a while to keep up the garden but it just didn’t really work out. My parents are both city people and gardening is not really something we do well.
I’ve tried my hand at growing plants before. A few years ago I attempted growing cilantro and lavender. Fail. The lavender never came up at all and the cilantro didn’t make it many more days past the photo I snapped for that post. Apparently the only thing I’m able to successfully grow and keep alive are human babies. Part of my problem may be my lack of patience. With a baby there’s nothing I can do to speed it along and I know that but with a plant it’s different. I want to plant the seeds one day and have little sprouts shooting up the next. From what I understand that doesn’t really happen even with the help of Miracle Grow.
After several years I’m willing to give it a try again. My in-laws have a large garden each year and at harvest time they are kind enough to share their veggies with us. I love fresh produce and have decided I’d like to try growing some of my own. I’d like to be able to can some of it so we can have good fruits and veggies all year long. Also, for the first time since I’ve been married, we have a yard all our own to plant what we’d like.
I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to plant for a while and picked up some seeds when they were on sale recently. I asked my MIL about how to get some things growing since she’s done it year after year for ages and she mentioned getting some of them started in the house before planting them in the yard. The back of most of my seed envelopes suggest the same thing.
Being Saturday, ODD had the day off and decided, since it was such a nice day, he’d spend the morning cleaning up the yard. He cleared away old dead plants and made way for the tulips and daffodils that are starting to spread their leaves. After playing outside with Peanut for a while he called for me to come outside and see my garden. I jumped right up and ran outside to see the work he’d done for me (yes, Peanut dressed herself in her sweater dress and Dora pajama bottoms).
He’d cleared some space on the side of our yard that gets some good sun and helped Peanut and me plan our garden. We planted some peas out there then I gathered some dirt in little cups so I could start the rest of my plants inside. I have a bunch of different kinds of tomatoes, some bell peppers, some jalapeño peppers, and some basil and chives. When it gets consistently warmer I’ll also plant some onions and beans outside.
It’s just a tiny patch of land and it’s entirely possible I’ll abandon the whole thing at some point during the spring and summer but I’m going to give it a good shot. I may even post more about it as I go along. I’m such a novice at gardening I was glad ODD was home to show me I needed to make rows for the peas and remind me that I need to mark them. I still find it hard to believe some of those tiny little seeds I put in dirt today will grow into a big(ger) plant with parts that I can eat. I’m excited to see if it will actually work for me.
ETA: ODD just looked into my little starter cups and informed me I overwatered some of them. *sigh* That’s not a great way to begin. Apparently I’m going to need some serious supervision so I don’t kill my plants before they’ve even started to grow.
It just takes practice, don’t give up! Eventually you’ll keep something alive long enough to catch the bug, then you’ll start wanting to do research and ask people questions about their plants and gardens, and suddenly you’ll be a bonafide gardener!
“Over watered”.
Look, I think I see a piece of dirt in that cup of water…
Starting inside is so much better because when you put it in the ground already grown it is instant gratification! Learning from last year, make sure your cups have a hole in the bottom so the water can drain or the seeds get mushy and don’t sprout. It also makes it easier not to over water
We usually use “starts” because I hate waiting for seeds to grow! They’re more $, but I get more satisfaction. LoL
You go girl! Then come up here and teach me how to do it!
Good for you! I know you can do it! I’m working on growing citrus trees in the backyard. It’s a slooooow process but I hope to make my own OJ and key lime pie one day!!!!
Good luck! Fun stuff!