From Sewing to Sowing

It is time for us to begin planting our backyard garden. In the past three years we have planted directly into the ground and had some success with  herbs, tomatoes, and squash. The soil we have is clay filled soil with poor drainage. After doing some research, I decided this year to establish cinder block raised beds. Hubby took the cultivator out and tilled the foundation soil in the area we will lay the beds.

I searched Craigslist and found someone selling cinder blocks and sent Hubby on his mission. He purchased a bunch and we hauled them to the back. Actually, I enlisted the help of neighborhood kids to help for a small fee. It was well worth the money to have them cart them with us.

In preparation for planting, I found this dandy little greenhouse on sale at Big Lots and started some seeds and cuttings when we were still in the frost time-frame.

I have seen on Pinterest, that celery can be grown from kitchen scraps. Apparently, they grow new roots and keep giving you celery. So, I figure if celery will regrow, why not other veggies. We have had much success with green onions in the past. We took a trip to Chinatown and I grabbed anything with roots and decided to give it a go.

Bok Choy, Romaine Lettuce, and spinach from the store

Romaine Lettuce after 4 days!

Boston Lettuce from the grocery store.

Basil Seedlings

Bok Choy is struggling after two weeks

Supermarket Spinach after two weeks

Using the ideas of square foot gardening, and planning from a free trial on www.growveg.com I have planned 4 plots of herbs and veggies and got to planting.  Each square foot of planting space holds one type of plant or herb. The number of plants in each is determined by appropriate seed spacing. I tried to adhere to companion planting guidelines when choosing what to plant as well as choosing what we will eat. My layout can be seen here.

I used twine and twigs as dividers in the plots.

The white napkins are my diy seed mats that space my carrots.

At the top of the frame are my English cottage flower mats. I hope they grow into a dream.

I plan to fill the block holes with marigolds, chives, green onions and whatever else will grow and deter bugs.
Let's see how it grows!

This a pineapple plant from a fruit we bought back in October. It is growing really well, but no sign of new fruit yet. I really hope it develops one. They look great growing.

Last year, I fell in love with the gardenia bush blooming on my neighbors side yard. It was huge and full of fragrant flowers. I have killed at least three plants since moving here and was a bit envious of how well theirs was doing. With permission, I took cuttings and hoped to propagate a plant that way. I killed those cuttings and did more research. I found this technique on ground layering and successfully got two plants! They
 are now in pots and will be transplanted when stronger.

I am pretty optimistic about this garden. Let's see what happens!

Happy Sowing!