Garden Diary 2020
Ooooh! This year's garden is going to be fun!
Last year, I had some construction done on my house that opened up a whole new sunny garden space. It became a perfect lab to experiment with growing vegetables and herbs organically. I was a little intimidated, but the end result was so successful that it emboldened me to take it to the next level this year. I had planted tomatoes and hot chili peppers for the first time, and they turned out great! The homemade tomato sauce that came from my homegrown Roma tomatoes was so fresh and delicious, that it was like nothing I'd ever tasted before.
Even the basil, which I had struggled to grow for many years, turned out well. I made yummy, fresh pesto sauce all summer long with just a trip outside my front door, and definitely saved money by growing it myself. My hubby, the hot chili pepper fan, loved the cayenne pepper plant so much that we dug it up and brought it inside for the winter. And it's still alive! (Barely...)
Another construction surprise last year was finding that our basement walls were not insulated. To correct that, we had to thicken our walls and ended up with 10-inch wide windowsills. The part of our basement that is above ground gets a lot of natural light, and the wider windowsills provided a perfect spot for growing indoor plants.
With that, I decided to try starting seeds indoors. I really intended to start simple, but I ended up going way beyond my initial plan. Once I saw the proliferation of hot chili pepper sprouts come up in just one week, I was a goner! I had all this new windowsill space. Why not?
Trying to Keep it Simple...and Failing
In the weeks that followed, I added trays of herbs, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers. Then, to distract my four kitties from the veggies and herbs, I planted catnip and cat grass to keep them happy. Well… that turned out to be NOT my best idea. More on that later.
Though I knew enough to get started, I quickly figured out that there was so much more to learn, and SPEND! I didn't want to invest too much money up front without knowing if it was worth it or if I'd even enjoy it, so keeping the budget limited was a big factor.
As I sifted through the vast amount of information online, sometimes contradictory, I realized that the only way to find out what worked for me and my growing conditions was to jump in and start.
It's impossible to anticipate all the questions you'll have until you actually do it.
Going Organic from Small Scale to Large
My plan is to go organic with my kitchen garden. Since we're not depending on our harvest to feed the family, we have the luxury of experimenting to see what works and what doesn't. Then someday, we can take what we learned in our small, home garden and apply it on a larger scale, should we ever acquire more property nearby.
My Plant Hardiness Zone
Follow my 2020 garden journey
Follow along with me this growing season as I share my successes and failures, and kitty mishaps! This is going to be a learn-and-share-as-I-go exercise. But I hope that I can inspire you to try food gardening for yourself. You and your family won't regret it!
As the season progresses, I'll add the links to my blog posts here:
