Our First Garden

Let me just preface this post by saying that I do not have a green thumb. I love to cook and I love home grown vegetables, but they usually come from other's gardens. In the past, I have tried planting herbs in pots and due to lack of attention, they have died.  

But, I am on a mission this year.  One of my co-workers was kind enough to bring me a bunch of different organic plants that he and his partner planted from seedlings.  He brought me a variety of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant.  I decided since I was given these gorgeous plants, that I would do everything in my power to keep them alive!  So Matt and I built and planted a garden bed yesterday.

I will keep you posted on the process and hopefully feature some recipes that include the fruits of our labor.  

We went to the lumber yard and picked up some wood for the bed.  Our bed is 3'x 5'.  Lay out the boards so you can outline the plot you need to dig out.  Get a shovel, hoe and metal rake and begin removing the grass and loosening up the soil in the ground.  

This was the hardest part.  You need to make sure you remove all of the grass and then break up all of the dirt in the ground.  This provides better drainage   

Take the boards and form the bed in the ground.  Make sure all of the corners tightly fit together.  

Take 2" deck screws and secure the corners together.  We put about 4 screws in each side. 

Fill in the sides of the bed with the grass and dirt you removed.  To ensure the bed stays in place, we hammered eight 2 foot rebar poles into the ground; three on each long side and one on each short side.  

Fill the bed with potting soil.   We used a mixture of a few different kinds.  It ended up being about 8 large bags.  

Time to plant!  Tomato plants need to be planted pretty deep because the stems will develop roots and create a stronger support system.  I secured the pepper plants to small wooden skewers with floral wire.  On the bottom of the bed, I planted a row of each green onions and endive.  

Now give it a good drink of water and hope for the best!  My grandmother said the she puts old coffee granules and crushed egg shells in her garden and that helps it grow.  I think I might try that for some good luck!