BackYard Produce

This time of year I get so excited knowing I am planning my garden. Each year I try improving upon the previous year. Keeping a journal is helpful especially if the memory is not as sharp as it used to be. By keeping a journal I can eliminate what didn't work and expand what did work. Having a plan for gardening will reap many rewards. It helps you get your gardening chores in order. Here are a few questions to ask when you start to put together a plan.

1. What size is the garden space? Measure each side in feet. IE: 2x4 feet

2. Is the space in full sun, partial sun, shade or partial shade? If it is full sun you can grow veggies, herbs and edible flowers.

3. What is the height to the space? Is there room for tall plants like tomatoes and peppers?

4. How much time do you have to maintain the space? Consider this on a weekly basis.

5. Do you have the tools to garden? A hand trowel, shovel, gloves, hand tiller, rake and weeding utensil are a good start. I have found some good garden tools at yard sales so keep on the lookout.

    

Small spaces including containers can be challenging to fill with small plants. Putting an oversize plant in a small space reduces the quantity of plants you will be able to put in the ground. Here are some tips on finding those smaller plants and maximizing space.

1. Any variety with patio, pixie, tiny, baby or dwarf in their name. Many times the description will also give indications that it is good for compact areas.

2. You may have to purchase seed and start them yourself if plant selection is not great.

3. Vining crops that can be trained up on supports. Cucumbers, zucchini, beans and summer squash are all good for growing on fences, trellis or poles.

4. Inter cropping- Planting late crops along side of early crops is a good example of inter cropping.  Radishes can be planted with peppers or broccoli. By the time the peppers or broccoli are getting big the radish is already harvested. Many radish are 28-30 days to harvest

5. Companion planting- Some plants do really well with each other like carrots and tomatoes or basil and tomatoes.

6. Succession planting is a good way to get more from the space. Beans, lettuce, zucchini and summer squash are good for succession planting, every two weeks thru out the summer. Lettuce, radish, snow pea and spinach are also good candidates for succession planting. This will bring a steady supply without the huge overflow.

There is a more to know about gardening so I compiled a list of websites that are useful and provide free tools.

My square foot gardening has a great newsletter that is color coded to the climate the garden is in. Every week you will get an email with a To Do list that need to be done that week. South Bend's colors are yellow and brown. Goshen is yellow and maroon. This is a useful site, check it out.http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/color/

Better Homes and Gardens has a good website and offers a couple of gardening layouts at no charge. A quick registration is all it takes to print out useful charts and information.  http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/vegetable/small-space-vegetable-garden-plan/

Garden Guides has useful videos on how to do many gardening chores. A great visual aid.  http://www.gardenguides.com/

Square foot gardening has a free Guide to successful and beautiful garden. http://www.squarefootgardeningtips.com/

Adventures in organic gardening is a blog however the pictures on the site are good for getting the ideas percolating. http://mysquarefootgarden.blogspot.com/

For beginner gardeners the most important thing is that you choose a garden you can handle. It is better to keep up each week instead of catching up once a month with gardening chores. A lot can happen even in a week and staying on a weekly schedule of maintaining the garden will yield great results.

If you like to prepare meals at home and are not planning on a garden this year you can still have fresh picked produce for meal planning. We have a large garden and our produce subscription is a great value for the family budget. 17 weeks of fresh picked vegetables and some fruit with 5 convenient pickup locations. Enjoy 6-10 items per week depending on season. We use season extension techniques which allow us to harvest produce from mid May to the end of December.