Garden 2010

We have high hopes for a great veggie garden this year after our 2009 "newbie" experience. Last year was our first year growing a larger variety of veggies and it wasn't a flop but just not a great success. We prepared well but the spring weather in Denver was too cold for too long which made everything get off to a late start. Plus, I'm sure our inexperience with vegetable gardening affected our success a bit.

Charlie made 2 great raised beds:


We sowed some seeds--the "Heritage Farms Favorite Collection" along with some squash and heirloom tomato varieties from Seeds Savers Exchange. We also planted bell peppers, basil, oregano, cilantro, chives, bush beans, peas, onions:

And our harvest was a bit sparse but it was a good learning experience, all in all.

The 2010 veggie garden is sure to benefit from last year's experience.

•We will continue to use the Square Foot Garden plan but will not plant in a scattered layout. Instead, we will plant the same crop or similar crops within the same row. This will help when it comes to harvesting mature fruit and will make it easier to see the needs of each crop. Plus, when a certain crop is done producing fruit or is just not thriving, then we'll have more space for planting new crops.
•We will not plant as many vegetables that we aren't accustomed to cooking with or eating and will plant more of the veggies we love. This includes staggering the planting times so that we don't run out of one crop all at once.
•We'll try harder to understand the best time to plant different types of crops, e.g., kale in cooler weather, bush beans closer to the last frost date, sowing cilantro seeds throughout the growing season.
•We will use walls of water for the tomatoes for the first few weeks after they are planted.
•I'm sure there's more that I don't remember now but I'm sure I'll remember as we get going with the 2010 growing season.

What makes your garden grow grand?