Garden Update 2020 + How You Can Grow Your Own Food
It’s been almost ten years since I started to garden with my own little family. Growing up, my Daddy always planted a garden at his farm and I would walk through the rows and help him tend to things but it wasn’t until I started doing this with my own family that it made me truly cherish planting a yearly garden. You can see by clicking this post, that my garden has changed quite a bit even in the last year. I think that gardening comes with a learning curve that changes as your needs do and your knowledge of gardening evolves.
When I first started gardening, my idea of a garden was a lot different than what it has evolved into. The first year that I planted at my house, we did it in a field that was plowed by a local farmer. Shew, that was a lot of work and and a lot of weeds. I bailed ship half way through the summer and wasn’t very proud of myself. The next year and since that year I planted in raised beds that Derrek built from wood from Lowes. The beds that we made were nothing fancy and we used nails instead of screws. They worked for several years until we moved to our new house and rebuilt them. This time, Derrek used cedar wood, braces and of course SCREWS and not nails. He also made these easy trellises for vegetable climbing.
I try to only plant things that we will eat but most of the time, we have an abundance of vegetables so I end up gifting it to our friends and family. I am actually talking with a friend now about learning to can and starting to can with a small group of girls at the end of the season so we can eat more later. Another reason that I planted a garden and suggest that you do the same is so that you can be more self sufficient. With everything going on in the world and the shortage of some of our normal conveniences, why not? Being able to depend more on yourself and your homestead should always be your ultimate goal. I’m not saying to become an extremest but ask yourself WHY NOT.
If you do not have a large space for growing, check into pots. I have found a lot of budget friendly options at Walmart, Lowes and Target. Pretty much anything can grow in pots, look into hanging pot options with ceiling hooks for vegetables that have vines. Lettuce is also super easy to grow and you can take a pair of scissors to cut across the top when you are ready to harvest. By doing this, you will be able to harvest multiple times from the same plant. I do want to share more about the harvest I was able to get multiple times last season, click here to see all of my garden goods.
This year, I am looking to expand by having weekly meet ups with friends and trading foods that we have grown in abundance. I want to bless as many people as possible with the food we are able to grow (if you’re local to Florence, let me know and I would be more than happy to share!) and I also want to waste LESS so I’ve decided to also learn how to can so I can store more and eat them throughout the winter. Stay tuned for a canning blog post where I teach you what I learn! If you grow your own garden, please share what your favorite things are to plant. If you are wanting to start your garden, leave questions below so I can help if that be from my experience or asking others.
