Vegetable Garden 2013

Over the weekend, Brian and his Dad were able to get a lot of yard work done, and even helped to till the vegetable garden and add a few bags of mushroom compost to the beds. This was a wonderful help as then all the kids and I had to do was plant the seeds.

On Friday, I mentioned that we were going to plant a great deal less this year to help avoid crowding. So, with the help of the kids, we planted broccoli, carrots, lettuce, peas, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and watermelon.

I know most people start with small plants, or they start their seeds indoors, and then plant outdoors. Last summer, I started from seeds outdoors, and everything grew very well.

The plants that do not grow as high I kept close to each other to help avoid any chance of bigger plants blocking out any sun. Here is what everything looks like now. Hopefully, in about a week, we will start seeing some sprouts.

Now that the veggies are planted, it is time to get some herbs and flowers going!

If you would like to week to week progress on the vegetable garden, follow me on Facebook here!

Garden Planning 2013

This weekend at our house is known as planting weekend! Last year, when we were first planning our vegetable garden I did a TON of research and talked to a lot of seasoned gardeners about when the best time to plant would be. The consensus for our area is the weekend after Mother's Day. Our garden last year (you can check out posts here and here), was pretty successful, so I am sticking with that plan.

There were a few mistakes with last year's garden, that hopefully I will not make this year to ensure we get a bigger crop of veggies.

The biggest mistake last year was overcrowding. This year, I am really limiting what we are planting to what we will really use a lot of. For example, last year the peas and lettuce were the biggest hit, and we wish we would have had more off those, and less of the radishes. 

Here is what we have planned for this year:

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me this weekend.

It won't be long though before I will be enjoying some zucchini bread, a caprese salad or sandwich, or a veggie frittata right from our garden.

What do you have planned for this weekend?