Got Garden?

Haven't we all heard it - "If 2020 taught us anything, it is to know how to grow your own food!"

Ok. What if you've been planning about your future garden for a decade?

Indeed! This girl here has, for the longest time, dreamt of growing a vegetable garden. And 2021 is the year!

My first gardening experience was when my family decided to grow tomatoes on our balcony one summer. My mother bought seeds and small, itty bitty pots that we planted the seeds in. They grew in the sunlight that shined into our little living room, and soon enough we transplanted the seedlings to larger pots - and later, yet still larger pots. My sibling was three at the time, and s/he named each of the plants - some sort of toddler gibberish that we couldn't resist chuckling at as we "spelled them out" on the pots. And the beefsteak tomato seeds - did they produce as intended?

Not nearly.

But the cherry-sized tomatoes that sprung forth from those thin limbs were extremely tasty. And our balcony still looked like a jungle! We'd sit out on a beach blanket, surrounded by huge pots and pretend to be on the look out for wild beasts. Oh, the imagination of childhood!

Over a decade later, I am still extremely fond of my first gardening memories and I intend to offer our family a valuable gardening experience, whether we succeed at eating one cucumber or not!

I'm in the thick of planning for this year. We now have some land of our own (read, backyard) after moving from our condo, and I've bought so many seeds I'm beyond overwhelmed and just exhilarated at the prospect of maintaining a garden this summer. Of course, here in Michigan one cannot begin traditional, outdoor gardening until well into spring because, as I have learned from my home state, it can still snow well into April. Therefore, seeds are started indoors and later transplanted to the outside garden site.

There is also the question of what sort of garden bed I want. I'm not too keen on the soil that came with our backyard, so I shall invest in raised garden beds. More questions - what material to use? what kind of wood? how large? where do we place the beds so it doesn't offend the neighbors (which are dears, to be sure, but I don't want to bother anyone)? what soil composition is best? or is it silt? who am I again?

Confusion is abundant in my life, and we strive forward with God!

I won't leave you hanging and say that I'll be blogging about my 2021 gardening experience quite often, I should think.

What is your gardening experience?