Monday, March 14, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I love living in The South for many reasons.  One being that you can start your garden early without fear of snow or frost.

The soil here in our area of southern Mississippi, I determined last fall, is rather poor.  Dead pansies and shrubbery told the sad tale. Gardening, though, is something I can't do without!

Everyone says that raised beds are the way to go.  Armed with a saw and drill, I went to work.


I am by no means an expert here, but I will tell you what I used--deck screws, 1x6 lumber, and yardsticks.  I didn't use any brackets or weather-treated wood, because we (probably) won't be living here next growing season, so I needed something less-than-permanent.

(You can tell I used scrap wood for these end pieces.)

Measure, saw, drill, and fill!

My inspiration for the square sections was Mel's Square Foot Gardening.  I didn't have the money for any of his fun products, but I liked his method of planting in squares.

(The dividers are cheap yardsticks from Home Depot.)


The fun part is watching the plants grow!

Strawberries


Onions


Green beans


Seeing the plants break the surface and raise their heads is so rewarding.

I also planted zuccini, basil, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, and lima beans.  And of course, some zinnias (my favorite!) and ranunculus.

What are you planting this year?




14 comments:

  1. Clever idea using those yardsticks to visually separate the areas! Here in SW Missouri I've sown some spinach seed, and am hoping to plant onions sets tonight or tomorrow, after work. But indoors I have new baby tomatoes popping up! They should be ready to go in the outdoor garden by early May. Next to eating them, seeing them germinate is my favorite part of the growing process. Glad you didn't use treated lumber - not sure what chemicals they are treated with, but I would be afraid to use those near anything I was growing for food.
    Happy gardening!
    Teresa@Much-A-Do

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  2. I am jealous, we are hoping to melt some of this snow that has been here since......FOREVER! Can't wait to get out and dig in dirt. This is a great little starting plot, good idea!

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  3. Wow! Sounds like you're going to be a busy girl with all that gardening. But what yummy rewards you'll have!

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  4. Excellent work! I just started some lettuce seeds for my garden last week.

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  5. Wow Kelly, you've inspired me to start my own raised garden! Good luck with yours I hope it does well!!! : )

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  6. Your garden is awesome! I have a few plants in several small pots that I'm waiting to bloom. I see a few sprouts and I'm ridiculously excited!

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  7. I am so jealous! It's too wet and cold where I live to start a garden now, so I am working on seed starts and it's not nearly as satisfying.

    I will concur that raised beds are the way to go. We had about 1/3 of an acre of garden space last year, half with raised beds and half without -- this year we're putting raised beds everywhere because it made things so much easier!

    Good luck with the garden!

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  8. Great job, you innovative lady.

    We have several plants started so far. We've got kale, lettuce, okra, peppers, tomatoes growing in little containers right now. We still have some other things to plant and are going to do a small herb garden as well. I love growing veggies and then preserving them for the winter. Good luck with yours.

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  9. how exciting! you did a great job.
    we want to plant some herbs & jalapenos, etc this year but we really have no good place to put them (harper would eat anything in our backyard) haha

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  10. I'm so impressed! These are so smart and beautiful!

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  11. I like your idea for the raised beds. My dirt here is pretty good, but I have to worry about the rabbits. You'll have to keep us updated on their progess.

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  12. here all is made of sand! we're too close to the sea! so i'm not able to grow a lot of things but i do have some strawberries!
    take care,
    Rosa

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  13. visiting you from the "Blog Party"! i host a garden party on thursdays & would love to have you link up sometime? or just come over to peek around! oxox, tracie

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  14. This is what I would like to do in my yard next year... what a nice job

    Pattie

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