Our Garden

This year has been the first year we have been able to start a garden.  Our 600 square foot apartment in Los Angeles didn't come with a yard, nor with any land we could grow on.  I think community gardens are great, and if I ever lack space for a garden (which is pretty up there on my priority list of necessities for future moves) I will definitely find a place to plant.  I wasn't sure how big I wanted my garden; I was a little intimidated never having planted before, so we stuck with three raised garden beds made out of sandboxes. If I could do it again, I would have had Jordan build me some bigger raised beds, but you live and learn-our first garden was a trial experience, and a success.

One of the important things I learned was to observe before digging!  It took me a few days to determine the best place for my garden.  I had a friend who didn't have much success growing carrots because her yard was too shady.  It's important to observe the space you're about to use.  How big or small is it?  Which spots are sunny the longest, and which parts get hit with more shade.  We have a big tree in the yard, so I was out there checking the shade pattern of the tree before we started planting to maximize sunlight, and avoid shade.  I ended up moving some of the boxes around before putting in the soil because as the sun made its way around the garden, the tree shaded one of the boxes too much.

It was really helpful to read the seed packets, because they help determine when the best time to grow would be.  I also had friends and books help point me the right direction.  I found my Guru in a gardening Facebook group for my local area-shout out to Karinna Fig.

She was so helpful when it came time to figure out what would grow good in our spastic climate and when is the right time to plant was.  I planted a lot, in fact I was veggie HaPpY.  Here's what we grew, and what was a success vs. what wasn't:

We started our planting in little sprouting seedling pods that were dehydrated.  We started the sprouting process inside because it was late March, and it was still cold out.  Once we added water the dirt fluffed up, and they were placed in biodegradable cups that went straight into the ground.  We made sure to give them enough sunlight every day, to help them grow.

When it came time to put the sprouts into the ground I had to do some research to figure out the most favorable environment for the little veggies.  I had to make sure how far apart to plant things (again the Guru helped, and so did this book).    We used some normal cheap dirt, mixed in with potting dirt, it worked perfectly fine, and I made sure to fertilize every once in awhile.  After the frosted nights were over, it was time to introduce plants to the soil.  There were a few times that I had to put tupperware over the plants at night, a mini greenhouse affect to keep the cold weather from freezing them.

Time to let things grow, and I really learned about the need for space.  I think I was a bit ignorant to give things space, my bad. When they say zucchini and squash need to be planted a foot apart, they are serious, I had zucchini all over the place, and squash stalks competing for space!  

-Peas and Zucchini-

 -Carrots, Radish, Onion & Bok Choy-

Loving the little carrots

Baby green beans

Hey Zucchini 

Our Cantaloupe; sadly this is as far as it got, it didn't get warm enough

And then...all of the sudden it happened, the garden EXPLODED with growth.  The soil must have been great, and the weather in Germany was wonderful.  We watered every night, and kept the soil nice and moist.

 Check out the squash on the far right!

Good story we came back from a 4-day traveling weekend, and our Squash went berserk.  I didn't realize that the instructions for planting only 2 seeds in a planter this size was the truth; maybe I didn't trust my skills yet, but I put four seeds in originally, and they exploded.  Jordan would have put the right amount of seeds in...my fault.  The squash grew almost as tall as him!

 And definitely bigger than our hands:

The flowering meant we were doing something right, and them came the Bee's...and if you have read our Slovenia blogpost, you know I love bees.

I got up close to the bees-no fear here, they're all good.

Before we knew it, we were staring at edible vegetables; so sweet and delicious!

 Yellow Squash

 Zucchini: I didn't know that they are hairy, and have little spikes on them...

 Petite Strawberries

 Breakfast radish ready to eat

And now we start picking!

A great snack with Ranch dip

Bok choy for a salad!

 We ate lots of Zucchini, when you cut them off, they should be the size that they are in the photo for taste.  When you cut them off the plant it stimulates more growth.

 Multiple loads of carrots, we planted consecutively a few weeks apart so we had an abundant supply to pick!

 I love radishes in my salad!

 Lots of squash

We loved going outside after dinner to pick veggies to grill over the next few days.  We had so many I gave my neighbor some for looking over my garden while we traveled. 

Our garden was a success, I loved eating what we grew, everything was so flavorful and made me feel good to eat.  As winter is approaching, it is time to let the garden rest for the season, but don't worry it will be back!