I grew up in a quiet village, on a dead-end street surrounded by fields and farmland. My parents always had a large garden, in addition to raspberry and blackberry bushes. So I always planned to have a garden of my own. I started with a small garden in a planter while living in a condo, but that planter didn’t meet my expectations in terms of size.
Two years ago, we moved into our house, and I finally had the space I needed to create the garden I’d always dreamed of. The first summer was devoted to construction and landscaping the yard, so I had to wait until this summer to get my project off the ground. I’ve decided to share my first gardening experience with you.
It was this past spring—in a world upended by the pandemic—that I began my preparations. I started by making a list of what I wanted to plant and the desired area for each. I even decided to take a chance on watermelon and asparagus! I then looked up the indoor and outdoor sowing dates for each of the vegetables and fruits I wanted.
Once I started sowing, I mapped out which plants get along well together and which don’t. That’s right—even plants don’t get along with everyone. Onions, for example, get along well with cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes. However, they don’t like fava beans, green beans, or peas. So I went through this process for each of my vegetables and fruits to avoid any “neighborhood squabbles.”
Finally, in early May, we prepared the soil and mixed it with goat manure to ensure it was rich right from the first year. I decided to plant my garden directly in the ground and work with spaced-out raised rows so I could move easily between them. In mid-May, I sowed what was left outdoors: cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and lettuce. On June 1, I transplanted the seedlings I’d started indoors to the garden. Unfortunately, my attempt at growing asparagus wasn’t successful, and I’ll have to try again next year, since nothing grew. My basil plants also fell victim to aphids during the first week, but spraying them with a mixture of water and vinegar kept the pests at bay!
All that’s left to do is harvest the beautiful vegetables and take advantage of Saturday or Sunday mornings to spend a little time tending to my little garden in peace and quiet...