#011 Plant the seed!

This year I started my first garden.   After reading many books on the subject and listening to many podcasts.  I decided to plant an organic garden.  Making an attempt to eat more salads and starting to make healthy smoothies, I planted Kale, Spinach, Romaine and snap peas.  The result has been a steady supply of lettuce for the past few months.  We have not needed to buy lettuce when we are shopping.  This is the beginning of reducing the carbon footprint of at least some of the food that we eat, adds to the plants being grown in the yard and is close to the healthiest food that we would be able to get.

The small starter garden includes a 10 foot by 30 inch bed and a 5 foot by 30 inch bed.  The 10 feet and 5 feet dimensions fit into an available space nicely and the 30 inch is a good reach zone that I read about in the Market Farmer by by Jean-Martin Fortier.  Refer to the link http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/

We learned that we could start the process of removing existing grass and building up the soil by planting the first season in bags of organic soil.  We placed the bags within the space of our beds directly onto of the grass. This acts to limit the ability of the grass to grow so that more invasive removal is not required.  Then we opened the top of the bags so that we could plant directly inside.  The opening should not be so large that the soil falls out the side.  We poked several holes in the bottoms of the bags for drainage.

I planted a small row at a time based on how often we could consume what was grown.  Then, repeated the seedings to have a steady supply.

Very pleased to see the garden grow and have great tasting fresh produce!