Simple Organic has two really great posts right now. Gardening 101: 3 Options For Creating New Vegetable Gardens provides the basics on raised beds, traditional beds, and containers. There also a great post about Starting a Garden With Repurposed Materials. I’ll definitely be starting some seeds in egg containers soon!

And for those of you still thinking about what to grow, A Way To Garden has some Seed Catalog Shopping Rules that I’ve found very helpful. I really like parts 3 and 4 in particular as she considers how frequently she uses certain vegetables and what is available for a reasonable price. I think for those of us who participate in CSAs this is also an important point. For me, while I might like to grow chard because it’s beautiful and pretty easy, OHMYGOODNESS if the season is anything like last year I will be getting more than enough from our CSA and can therefore bop that one off my own growing list to make room for something I don’t get en masse.

That final part that talks about what is worth growing from seed yourself is very important. If you’ve been doing your research you are finding that there are two main ways to start growing - starting your own seeds or buying transplants (seedlings that someone else grew for you) - and this part of her post addresses how one might decide which option is better for certain veggies.

The Hudson Valley Seed Library blog is doing a series on seed starting - here’s a link to part one. I particularly like that table for seed starting dates.

Pioneer Woman did a great post on soil this week called A Dirty Post that includes photos of good and bad soil.

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I changed the little blurb under my name over there too, hoping to make more sense of everything. And later today I’ll change the color of the post titles, links, etc, to the colors in the new banner, and move those nav bar buttons over and stuff. But you get the idea, I think.

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“Couldn’t figure out why there were so many old ladies on the train this morning, until the conductor said ‘Market East! Flower Show!’ and they all got off.”

Yep, I imagine nothing can get the elderly on the trains as easily as the Philadelphia Flower Show, and you can bet I’ll be right there with them. It happens to be my birthday this week, so you can all probably guess what my birthday activity request was. I’m dragging the whole family . . . twice. Yes, we have plans to go twice. What can I say? I’ve never been. I’ve heard it’s huge and incredible. What I’m really interested in are these full-scale garden displays. I’m excited just reading about them. Can I go now? Oh, right - my kids are STILL SICK, and I have not yet turned 33 (yep, just revealed my age).

Anyway, if you’re in the area and want to drag your own family, you can get a discounted Family Fun Pack of tix here that includes a year-long membership to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Sounds like there’s also a Family Lounge with toys and crafts and stuff for kids, but my boys are legitimately excited about the flowers, at least that’s what they tell me.

Also in the area this week we have Sesame Street Live: “Elmo’s Green Thumb” at the Susquehanna Bank Center.  I know! More gardening stuff! Clearly Philadelphia knows all about the Winter Funk. The show is playing here on the following dates:

Thursday, March 4 at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Friday, March 5 at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 6 at 10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 7 at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

You can get yourself a discount on a four pack of tickets through Livenation.com using code ERNIE (other details below).

So here are my disclaimers: I got nothing for talking about the flower show. Bought my tickets through the very link I included in this post. I’m just really excited about going. I did get tickets for the Elmo Green Thumb show for promoting it. But I think it’s worth saying that I get a lot of ticket offers like this and don’t accept most of them. I specifically wanted to check this one out for obvious reasons having to do with the fact that it is a show about GARDENING for KIDS, which I am clearly going to support. Furthermore, you know that if we go and it’s lame, you’re gonna hear about it. Here are all the little details about that discount, should you choose to use the ERNIE code:

***$3 off the regular ticket price (excluding Sunny Seats and Gold Circle Seats). Discount is available by phone, online or at the box office only.  Patrons must use the promotional code ERNIE online or at the box office to receive the discount.  There is a 10 ticket per order limit.  Not valid on Opening Night or with any other discount.

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Sometimes I am just in awe of how beautiful this boy is. It knocks me down as I realize that I am looking at the person who is my son, my firstborn, my baby.

And then he took a picture of Robby’s foot…

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The boys are sick and have been for what feels like a very long time. One is now being treated for an ear infection, the other a sinus infection. Due to their hacking coughs and the weather, because we’ve just been hit by “the Flurricane,” we can’t really go out.

Yesterday was one of those days where it was just impossible to catch up. The dishes, the laundry, the toys all over the house, the food that needed to be prepared, the fights between a four-year-old and his younger brother - oh, the fights! - I just couldn’t stay on top of all of it. All day we fluctuated between upset silences where everyone tried to breathe, cry and settle down, and the huge, yelling death-matches that had caused them.

And by the end of the day I just wondered where our peaceful, happy abode has gone; it seems like it hasn’t been here for an awful long time.

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It’s now time to think about what you want to grow and begin your research. I encourage you to consider, at least at first, anything that you think would be fun to grow. In an ideal world, what do you want to see in your garden? Maybe your family loves your tomato sauce and so good tomatoes are a priority. Or perhaps you think your kids would get a kick out of pulling carrots out of the ground and would therefore be better about eating their veggies. You might just be sick and tired of spending lots of money on organic greens and you know it would be a whole lot cheaper to grow them yourself (it would!). Whatever your reasons, think of a few possibilities and start prioritizing.

Simultaneously, you’re going to start gathering information about your type of garden and on these plants you are considering. And you’re going to do this in a few ways and in any order you want.

Find Your Local Garden Center

Check the web, talk to neighbors, do what you have to do to find your nearest local garden center. The thing is, I don’t mean the big chain home improvement stores that sell gardening stuff. I’m talking smaller, maybe family-owned, nursery type of places. This is my own, personal preference, but I really feel places like this are a great resource for the beginning gardener. I’m really fortunate to have one close by that even offers classes occasionally. More than once I have been there holding some item only to have an employee approach me and ask me what I’m working on, and then lead me to a much cheaper and more effective product to fit my needs.

My hypothesis (for those of you who have kids obsessed with Dinosaur Train) is that many people who genuinely love to grow plants work in these stores. And the great thing about (most) people who like to grow plants is that they generally feel that the more plants that are growing, the better. So it behooves them to help you grow plants too. They want you to be successful at it; they want to help you.

Anyway, locate a store near you, if you can. Next up in this series will be info on your first visit to said store, including how to read seed packets, etc. But before you head out to the garden center you need a bit more info, because I’m telling you, you can’t go to one of these places and not buy something. You need to know a bit more before you start dropping dimes.

Websites

There are lots of great gardening sites that include directories for vegetables. You can basically use these as an encyclopedia as you think of growing possibilities and they will help you determine pretty early on whether or not what you are considering is feasible for your situation. I really like this University of Illinois site, Watch Your Garden Grow. That link goes to their very extensive directory which will include basic planting methods for pretty much any veggie. And here’s the list from Organic Gardening magazine’s website, another great resource.

You don’t need to spend a ton of time on this just yet; you’re basically looking for potential snags in your plan. For example, last year I really, REALLY wanted to grow zucchini, but figured out from just a few clicks that in order to give those plants the kind of space they require I’d have to pretty much only grow zucchini. That was a deal breaker for me (although this year I am totally doing zucchini - I have a new plan!).

You can also start to browse around other gardening sites for ideas and inspiration. For plot layouts, here’s a fun one from Better Homes and Gardens that will certainly get your creative juices flowing. The BHG Gardening section in general is a great place to surf around. I love to click around the “featured articles” section on the You Grow Girl site, too - very good stuff for beginners.

Remember to bookmark the pages you like. In fact, go ahead and set up a folder in your bookmarks just for gardening sites; you’re gonna have a lot!

Books

It’s also time to head to the library or bookstore to find yourself at least one good gardening book. How do you do that? Hmmm, well, it’s tricky. There are TONS and TONS and TONS of books. But remember you have narrowed down what you are working with. There’s no point in picking up a book that includes nothing on container gardening if you have established that most of your growing will be done in containers, right? Let me also say that you do not need an entire book about basil. No, you don’t! That’s just going to bog you down with way to much information for what you are doing - put it back down on the shelf right now.

I have a few things I am looking for in a good gardening book. I want it to be beautiful to look at, either with great photos or useful illustrations, because in these cold, dreary days of winter I want my book to cheer me up and get me excited about what is to come. I don’t want it to feel like work just to read it, so a positive tone is important to me, as is good organization. I have actually read books where I was flipping back and forth trying to figure out what section I was in and why certain pages were placed where they were, and that’s just a waste of my time. I also don’t want the book to make it sound too hard to garden, but rather a pursuit that is fun, worthwhile, and manageable.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Grow Great Grub - This is the brand new book from the creator of the site I mentioned above, You Grow Girl. The tagline here is, “Organic Food from Small Spaces,” and it is perfect for that. It covers the basics and includes several features I haven’t seen in any other books, including a really great seed starting and planting chart in the back. The encyclopedia of plants section includes information on how to effectively grow varieties in containers. For some of you that info would be invaluable. It also has recipes to put your harvest to use and some fun projects like starting seeds in used toilet paper rolls. Awesome book. I was really fortunate to win a copy from a giveaway on her blog, but I’d honestly have bought one for myself.

The Backyard Homestead - This book covers a whole lot more than just vegetable gardening, but those first few chapters on the topic are really great. It has some very helpful illustrations and directions for raised beds and staking systems, and in general it is just a very straightforward explanation of what you need to do to get started. For those of you who feel ready to do some transformation of your back yard, this is worth a look. It’s also just worth checking out for the sheer expanse of what it covers! If you see yourself ever raising chickens or keeping bees, this is a great reference, but until then it’s just awfully fun to read.

Anything Grows! by Sheryl London - Tagline: “Ingenious ways to grow more food in front yards, back yards, side yards, in the suburbs, in the city, on rooftops, even in parking lots.” I love the tone of this book. It’s really got that “anyone can garden” type of feel, which I appreciate. It’s another one that really covers all the bases when it comes to growing food in a limited space. This is an older book than the ones above (1984), old enough that I can’t even find a cover image for you, but I dunno, I kind of like it. And if your library has it there’s really no reason not to check it out for a few weeks.

The Family Kitchen Garden - I bought this book for myself last year and have referenced it numerous times since. The explanation of “The Basics” is really straightforward. It also has a month-by-month guide that most books don’t include, as well as a great A-Z of vegetables, herbs, fruit, and flowers. Additionally though, it includes activities and recipes to do with your kids. So if, like me, one of your goals in starting your garden was to include your children in the growing process then this is a great, GREAT resource.

So go forth and research. And please, if you find any great sites and books, do share!

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I know how you feel. Last year around this time I was determined to plant a vegetable garden, and I was very fortunate to have a dad who already knows everything about gardening, and who was more than willing to help me get started. But I know not everyone has that and it can all feel like there is just so much you don’t know. Let me try and help.

First, know that you are not late or behind. It is February. If you are just thinking about planting vegetables this year, then you are already doing exactly what you should be at this time of year. Now you can start thinking about it more seriously so that when the time comes (ie. when the weather and ground get warmer) you’ll be ready to go.

Work With What You Have

I think the biggest mistake people can make when they envision growing food is believing they can only do so with a huge plot in the back yard. They picture rows and rows in huge raised beds on a sunny acre. But most of us don’t have the capacity for that, nor do you need it in order to enjoy some veggie gardening. Can I just tell you I have no back yard? None. Zilch on the back yard. So when I decided to give gardening a go I had to figure out what I could do instead. The way to do that?

Find the Sun - Of all the components that are necessary to grow a plant, sun is the hardest to replicate, and most vegetables (not all, but most) need at least 6 hours of good sun. So start looking for it. Pay attention to where the sun hits as it rises over your property and how it hits your yard as it passes. What part of your yard gets the most light?

Maybe a small spot on the side of your house is the best option. Maybe you’re limited to the front yard. Perhaps your yard is shady but you have patio, deck, or balcony that gets great sun. Maybe you don’t have a yard at all but you have some really great windowsills that are always bright. It’s possible you really have no spot that gets 6+ hours, and that’s ok too. There are plenty of veggies and herbs that can do fine with less and that’s where you’ll put your emphasis. But you’ve got to get some light somewhere. I mean, unless you live in the deep woods or a cave, right? So just start paying attention to where it is as this is what will guide you to what kind of vegetable garden will work for you.

As you do this don’t disclude anything. Remember what I said about how you don’t need a big ol’ plot in the back? Containers are awesome and you can do so much more than you realize with them. Seriously. And don’t gloss over those areas where you already have plants. It’s really trendy this year to stick vegetables in with your annual flowers and perennials. In fact the March issue of Better Homes and Gardens just had a feature on this very thing, filled with lovely photos of lettuce planted along with pansies and tomatoes among marigolds. This is particularly important for those of you who are worried about what growing veggies will do to the look of your yard or “what the neighbors will think.” There so many lovely ways that food growing can be incorporated into your life, so don’t focus on your limitations right now, focus on the positive.

Find Your Zone - If you are new to gardening of any kind then you have little reason to know what zone you live in. Let’s change that. Your USDA Hardiness Zone refers to the average minimum temperature that your area sees in winter. This is important for a few reasons when growing plants: it tells you what you can grow in your area and when is a safe time to put your plants outside (this is what people mean when they talk about a “frost free date” - each zone has a different date of the last average frost. See, you don’t want to plant a bunch of vegetables outside and then have the temp drop so low at night that there is a frost because that will kill most of what you just planted. So when growing veggies you wait until after your “frost free date” has passed in order to be safe.)

So if you don’t know your zone, go find it now on the zone map at arborday.org. There are tons of sites you can use to do this, but I like this one because you can just type in your zip code rather than trying to stare at the map boundaries and guess. Go ahead and do it . . . yep, I’m still zone 6. The higher your zone the warmer your area is, and the earlier your frost free date will be. So, for example, all a ya’ll who live in Texas will be able to put your plants out earlier than those of us up here in the NE who are still buried in snow.

Ok, now go forth and figure out what you are working with. Spend some time observing where you have some decent sun and look up your area’s USDA zone. Get to the point where you can say to yourself “I’m in zone 5 and I’ve got a thin strip along the back of the house with great afternoon light,” or “That spot in front where I usually put the petunias in the summer could be good, especially in my wonderfully warm zone 7 climate” or “I have some space on the front porch that would be great for containers in my zone 4 abode,” or “Damn, I don’t have a yard at all at my zone 8 apartment, but I’ve noticed that window in the dining room is always so freaking bright it blinds us when we’re trying to eat!”

This will be our starting point when we come back to this little series of mine:) Next up, Field Trips and Day Dreams - this is where it will start to get fun.

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Remember him?

I wondered where he was. How his parents were doing. If they were all . . . somewhere. Pessimistically, I figured they probably weren’t, and I was briefly, illogically sad about that.

This morning I finally got around to going out and refilling the bird feeder, which has been empty for days. It didn’t take long before news had spread among the bird community, and we had visitors dropping by with each passing moment. The boys and I sat and watched for a while.

Before long I saw something a bit larger swoop down right by the window. I asked the kids if they had seen it go by, but they hadn’t (they really didn’t know why we were still watching the birds anyway, as it was clearly time to play trucks). I watched it head up to a nearby tree and land, and I thought, “It couldn’t be . . .”

Could it?

And then it came down to its favorite spot, our crowded, crazy patio, jammed with toys and places to hide.

And strutted around like he owned the place. He’s been here before.

And then, look who else showed up.

Amazing.

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Minutes later he was at the kitchen sink washing his hands and noticing one of our kitchen scrubbers, the one we used over the summer to wash the dirt off of our carrots from the garden, when he declared he wanted to “pick cawots from outside!” Seriously, I don’t think a gardening mom could be happier when there are morning quotes like this.

Once breakfast was over and it was time to get dressed though, the conversation took a bit of a turn. Sam was thrilled to get to wear his Flash shirt, and he then stated that he would really like an Iron Man shirt for his birthday. Robby said he would like a Batman shirt, and the two of them went on to debate the various strengths and weaknesses of the two. Iron Man can shoot lasers, after all, but we can’t overlook the fact that Batman is a detective, earning him points in the minds of both boys. Indeed, I think if Hubby had been home he would have also beamed with pride this morning over the deep conversation, perhaps reveling in the switch from flower talk to super heroes.

But just yesterday my husband “forbid” me to get anymore gardening books from the library unless I was first ready to return some. According to him these books and seed catalogs were “all over the house,” forcing him to go through and stack them up for me, which might have looked a bit like this (except that he left them haphazardly stacked at the bottom of the stairs!):

(And there’s my lovely valentine’s day bouquet.) Ok, now to be fair, that might be a lot of books. And I may, or may not, have another three on hold waiting for me at the library - I have no comment on that topic.

But can I just take us down the stairs and into the Man Cave of our house for a peek and ask: Does that mean that no more comic books can be brought into the house until you are done with some of these?

Hmmmm? Well all righty then. I may, or may not, be off to the library.

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