Gardening Prep: Supplies

What better way to eat healthier than to grow your own produce?

Yes, I know it's still winter and there is quite awhile before I will get any bounty from a Spring garden. However, it is time to start preparing and planning for it. I'll be planting a few cool-weather crops next month, and I am working on gathering supplies for the rest of the garden. For the past 2 years (I'm such a newbie gardener!), my vegetable garden has consisted of a large flat area with rows of individual plants, most of which began as seeds in the ground. There'd be 1 row of cucumber (which was WAY to many), 1 of zucchini, a couple of rows of corn, etc. Supplies: fertilizer and seeds. That's it. I was determined not to use pesticides or herbicides, but I also didn't know how to keep the bugs and weeds to a minimum. It was a lot of trial and error.

The first year, the garden was overrun with fire ants. NOTHING worked, but it was also the first year they did not come into my home during the warm weather. It was like "New playground with lots of food! Let's invite everyone we know and never leave!" Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) is a fine white powder that consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It basically scrapes the exoskeleton of the ants and other pests, leaving them defenseless and dead. It worked on quite a few of the ants, but it also remains in the ground for years and years. Now I have to live with an area that beneficial worms try to avoid. The second year, stink bugs raided the garden.

Weeds were a huge problem, too. I hate weeding with a passion. I had such a large area available for gardening, so I left plenty of space in between plants and rows. Sprawling plants like watermelon loved this, but as the weed-hater, this was not good. It left too much open space for weeds, and I didn't have the money to buy TONS of mulch in the middle of the growing season. And once weeds take hold among watermelons, good luck. The melon vines wrap around anything in it's path, so it's basically stuck to the grass and weeds.

Then there was the problem of deer. How do you stop them from eating the produce? We used electric wiring around some things but didn't have enough for the entire garden.

This year, my supplies list is more than just seeds and fertilizer/compost. First, I'm drooling over this concept of growing herbs, strawberries, or other small plants in a shoe rack. Now I just need a good spot to hang one...

I'm also going to grow up as much as possible. Well, I'M not growing up. I still want my silly moments, but I'm going to have the plants GROW UP, vertically. Space isn't an issue, but vertical sounds so much easier when it comes to weeds, pests, etc. There's less space to fuss over, especially with the melons. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I found a drawing in a book of growing melons on a ladder. The melons are tied to the ladder in slings, like this one (image from Great Stems):

I currently have 3 pool ladders to try growing cantaloupe on like this, but we'll see if monitoring the slings is more work than I bargained for. And yeah, you read that correctly...POOL LADDERS. The funny white and blue ones. They're going in my garden. But they were free, so why not?

Many people recommend using old tires as planters in the garden, but Mother Earth News tells why not to.

As for the pesty insects, I'm going to try companion planting this year, which Wikipedia describes best: Companion Planting is the planting of different crops in proximity, on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity.


Lastly, though it should come first, is seeds and plants. I found a woman on Freecycle who was giving away lots of planting pots, so I'll be starting some plants (tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.) indoors from seed. Other seeds will be planted directly in the ground. Your Small Kitchen Garden is giving away "sets" of seeds. One set includes three packets—enough to grow one hill of neck pumpkins, one hill of blue hubbard squash, and at least 20 paste tomato plants. The offer ends Sunday, February 13, so go request some free seeds if you will be growing veggies this year!

This is the paste tomato in the Your Small Kitchen Garden seed giveaway.

Are you preparing for a garden this year? Do you have plans already worked out, seeds bought, and supplies available? What will you be growing?