A blog about a first-time house owner learning to maintain his backyard, and thoughts about nature, science, history, and life.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Planting Vegetables - My First True Garden Experience


Until this spring, my experience in the garden consisted of clearing out the weedy overgrowth that I inherited from the previous owner.  But now that it's been cleared out, there's room for me to plant some things and hope they grow.  And considering my lack of gardening experience, that's about the extent of my gardening skill.


I was hoping to give my green beans, carrots, and sunflowers a good start, and so I bought a seed starter kit.  When my parents were in town for a weekend to help out around the yard, I let my mom plant the seeds and cover them with plastic, which, I had read, helps to give them a good start.  I kept them upstairs in the loft, on a table by the window where they got plenty of light.  Within a couple of weeks or so, the plants had sprouted up.


Then it became a matter of deciding when to move them outside.  The first step was to weed the planter boxes in the garden to make room for them.  Once they were clear, as above, it was a matter of following the weather.  By the time I had finished clearing the planter boxes, there was a forecast of a very cold night, with potential for frost.  I held off on planting the starter plants.  It was a good thing, too, because there wound up being a frost.  But then I was busy with work and other obligations.  I didn't have time to mow the lawn, much less plant anything in the garden.  I had time over Memorial Day weekend, but another cold night was in the forecast on Sunday night.  I held off, and it's probably a good thing, because my weather station recorded a low of 31 degrees early in the morning.  So finally, on Memorial Day, I moved the plants outside.

First, I dug a hole:


I filled the hole with some water:


I removed the bottom of the seed starter containers, then I placed the container with seeds in the hole:


Finally, I secured the container in place by filling the hole and covering it with topsoil.  Now, it's up to me to keep the plants watered and weeded so that they'll grow!


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