Experiments in Gardening

This summer I finally decided to plant a garden. My husband created a raised garden for me a couple of years ago and I decided it was finally time to put it to use. I am not a gardener. The last time I planted a garden was when I was 13 and my mom did most of the work. I should have probably done more research before getting started, but due to lack of time I decided to wing it. Of course I did get some good advice from family and friends along the way.

Raised garden bed

We created a chicken wire roof for the garden to decrease the amount of hail damage as summer storms in Colorado can be devastating. Before planting anything we tilled the garden and added organic compost. When I was ready to start planting I made rows similar to farmers make in crop fields.

I started planting seeds and in order to distinguish where the seeds were planted I used orange flags. I decided to buy some of the plants instead of using only seeds. The peppers, beets, tomatoes, squash, strawberries, and cabbage were all planted. The seeds included beans, arugula, carrots, cucumbers, and pumpkins.

Waiting for the seeds to start growing was a little frustrating. Distinguishing between weeds and plants was sometimes difficult, even with the flags. Weeding and watering the garden would sometimes become a challenge. This is especially true when work and life commitments got in the way.

I made several mistakes with the garden. The first mistake was planting the seeds too deep. After several weeks of waiting for the seeds to sprout and start growing I became more and more frustrated. Finally the carrots started growing as well as the beans and the arugula did really well. Unfortunately, the pumpkins and the cucumbers really never had a chance. The second mistake was planting the tomatoes in pots. The tomatoes would have done better if planted in the garden with the other plants.

In all we had plenty of vegetables with the green beans, squash, cabbage, peppers, and a few good tomatoes. The carrots and beets were very successful. In fact the carrots were huge! The best part about the garden was having fresh vegetables and not having to do as much shopping in the produce section.

Next year I am going to make sure I don’t plant the seeds too deep. I may even start some of the plants inside before I put them in the garden. Since the strawberries are perennials I wont have to worry about planting strawberries next year. I am excited for next years garden adventures and maybe I can finally call myself a gardener.