Last spring, I decided to plant a starter garden and test out just how green my thumbs are. I should’ve but didn’t plant one in 2011 because we had just planted sod in the backyard. I didn’t plant a garden this year because we’re moving. Once we get to Augusta, it’ll be too late to plant most vegetables. And since we have no idea where we’re going after that, I can’t really say if my garden experiments will continue. At the moment, I have a boon crop of dandelions.
But I did learn some good information from my first jardin:
Educate yourself about your local growing season, the soil, and the best crops to plant. I knew jack shit about gardening in North Carolina, and most of my information came from a Martha Stewart article about general gardening. I still don’t know anything about gardening, but I managed to not kill everything I planted.
Decide where your garden will go and what you want to plant. Why are you planting: to cut down the grocery bill? To eat a healthier diet? This will give you an idea as to what crops you should select. Look at those tags on the plants to arrange your plot. True story: we wound up buying four different tomato plants.
Gardening by neglect isn’t a thing. I forgot to water the garden for a week or two after planting. Somehow, those poor suckers managed to not die. Take time and water your plants, yo.
The Texas climate is a big learning curve for us when growing a garden. We are still working out the kinks.
That is awesome you want to start a garden! Even though you’ll be in GA way after the planting season is over, you can definitely plant things in pots and keep them on your patio/balcony of your APT and then move them inside when I gets super cold! I guess that would work moreso for plants rather than vegetables. Right now, I have some tomatoes in pots and hopefully I can run by my local farmers market for some herbs!
Herbs are great inside too- try just keeping green onions/scallions in a cup of water (just use the greens and leave the bulbs in water) and they will regenerate all the time! Also, you can totally plant garlic in pots and the greens that grow will be so tasty in food and salads without being too intense garlic flavor!
OK so this is a long comment and I’m not quite sure if it makes sense but I hope it does:) Sad we never got our raleigh trip in before your move 🙁
My mom planted a garden for me the first year we moved into our house. The tomatoes and the peppers didn’t quite make it, but the herbs thankfully did. At least until fire ants decided to make their home in the midst of the thyme and oregano. Although the rosemary she planted is still making it. I didn’t plant a garden this year, but hopefully I can get it together next spring!