2012: Garden Journal – April Edition

The garden post has arrived! I gave you a sneak peek into our garden when sharing our spring break activities. Though I posted a few pictures of my children planting, I will share specifics and plan to post updates throughout the planting season. In this first edition, I will start from the ground up. 🙂

Planning our Garden

Having only had a container garden at our apartment, I needed details for preparing the soil, the box, and the plants or seeds. Knowing I wanted a square-foot-garden, I turned to my favorite search engine, Swagbucks.com.

In my research, I found this plant a compact vegetable garden article from boyslife.org. This post included all the supplies and the directions.

Gathering Garden Supplies

For our Friday date night in March, Paul and I went to dinner and then headed to Lowe’s Home Improvement store. We had the wood cut and purchased the supplies. For the garden soil, we chose 4 bags of mushroom compost and 4 bags of top soil.

We then chose some of our plants, and checked out redeeming $15 in Ace Hardware coupons (a competitor accepted by Lowe’s). We spent under $100 and had most of our garden supplies.

Building our Garden

On Saturday, Paul built the box. We then laid 4-5 sheets thick of newspaper inside the box covering the entire bottom and partway up the sides. The newspaper prevents weeds from rising into the box and will breakdown into the soil, eventually.

Paul then poured the 4 bags of mushroom compost on the newspaper in the frame. The children and I smoothed out the compost. Then Paul added the 4 bags of top soil on the mushroom compost. With our soil complete, we began planting.

Planting our Garden

Once the box was complete, Paul and I helped our children plant the herbs and vegetables. Most of them were plants, so we dug a hole, removed the container, placed the plant in the hole, and packed the soil around the plant. Our spinach and carrots were the only two varieties planted with seeds.

March 17, 2012

Completing our Garden

Early the next week, we made a family trip to another Lowe’s and purchased our remaining plants. After planting them, our herb and vegetable garden was complete. We now enjoy tending the plants, misting the leaves, and watching them grow.

March 21, 2012

Harvesting our Fruit

Within 9 days of planting, we harvested 3 strawberries. Three days later, we picked another 5 strawberries.

March 27, 2012          and          March 30, 2012

After surviving two hail storms, three of our strawberries fed the birds. When we went to pick these strawberries, we found them gone or half eaten.

April 4, 2012

My oldest daughter was very sad. But there are three more strawberries almost ready, and I hope the birds forget about them. 😉

In 18 days, our garden produced 11 strawberries and lots of growth. I look forward to sharing our garden journey with you throughout the planting season.

March 30, 2012       and         April 4, 2012

If you planted a garden, please share your tips and tricks. As a newbie gardener, I ask lots of questions, research, and listen. In using time wisely, I love to learn from those who know because it saves me money, energy, and time. Happy savings!