Saturday, April 6, 2013

getting ready to get the garden ready.


You've got to start somewhere!

Chris and I bought this little mini greenhouse at the end of summer last year. I'd been wanting one for quite some time so I was so excited when it went on sale!

It's been in the box all winter but the other day Ian got it all set up for me. Isn't it cute!? I love it. And I can't wait to fill it up with seedlings.

So. I have the mini-greenhouse. Now I need some containers. I don't want to spend money on seed starting trays so I'm going to get creative. I have a couple nursery flats and lots of little plastic pots that I've saved. I may even have some of those peat pots that expand in moisture...somewhere. I will also use egg shells since we have plenty of those. In the meantime I will save toilet paper and paper towel rolls, newspaper, yogurt cups and whatever else might work to hold a baby seedling or two.

I took some time yesterday to walk around the very messy garden to get an idea of the work that needs to be done before we can plant. It's amazing how the weeds take over, isn't it? Man, they came from out of nowhere!

After a quick survey this is where we're at...weeds need to be pulled stat, compost needs to be tilled in, simple planter boxes need to be built (think raised bed, only not totally raised...are you picking up what I'm laying down? I'll explain more another time...it's sort of an experiment at this point) and plants that survived the winter (parsley and thyme) need to be tidied up so room can be made to plant lettuce in that same planter.

Then I just need to settle on a layout of what to plant where and commit. Isn't that always the most difficult part? What to plant where? Maybe it's just the quandary of a small-space gardener...wanting to make sure I get the highest yield in the space available. Every year is a learning experience, though, isn't it? The garden is always evolving.


Oh and thank goodness for Pinterest! I pinned some great gardening inspiration.

I would love to do this. (And we have brick piled up just waiting to be turned into something lovely.)
Ian said he'd make me one of these...we need all the pollinators we can get.
And I think we'll see if we can't just make our own ladybug feeder...looks easy enough, doesn't it?


I also came across some more helpful information...

Don't know your last frost date? Dave does!

Not sure what to plant when? Here's a helpful planting chart.

Well...what are you waiting for? Get out there and get your hands dirty!


2 comments:

Denise said...

nice - the plans are in place :)
and, i saw that same little green house at a store yesterday and totally thought of you!!

teekaroo said...

I've wanted one of those greenhouses for a while, but I haven't bought one yet. I spent our spring break shoveling and piling and smoothing for my garden. It seems like no matter how I try to plan it out on paper, it turns into something different when I actually get out in the garden.