Update on Garden Plans!

I just found out that the septic system is on the other side of the house and that its safe to plant in the ground! It was going to be almost impossible for hubby to have time to make planter boxes for me, so I am sooo glad I can go ahead and start working the land to get it ready! We live on an acre and a half, so the septic is a good distance away from where our garden will be :)

Now, to figure out where to put this little precious thing while I do that work?

Any ideas? LOL

First Project for the Month of July

This month I plan to work on several projects, and planting a garden is the first on my list. Last year around this time things were much to hectic to get a garden growing (I was just getting over having morning sickness and hubs was trying to hold down the housework for me) but this year we are looking forward to getting something planted!

We actually have waited till now because there has been some apprehension in planting in our ground again. We have a septic system and were not sure of how that works with contamination as far as the leach lines, so we've just been searching into alternative methods instead of taking the chance of having our food be contaminated. We've planted on the land before, so not completely concerned, but thought we'd just use a different method this year while I still look into it.

Thanks to Kristi at Let This Mind Be in You, I learned yesterday that its not too late to plant a garden and now know WHAT we can plant and WHEN! I am hoping to get something in the ground this weekend and then again in Aug for cool weather veggies. Thanks for that info Kristi!

So the goal is to plant these things in July(and I am using SEED not plants, so we'll see if they produce in time!):

   ~Tomatoes (3 kinds- Roma, Beefsteak, and endless summer (cherry).

  ~ Eggplant

   ~Zucchini

   ~Peas

   ~Lima Beans  (my hubs fav- yuck!)

   ~Watermelon (this surprised me, I thought it was way too late..but I guess not!)
 Now whether I use an above ground square foot garden or pots is still undecided. I may just throw the seeds in the air and let them land and plant at will! LOL! THAT would be a real experiment!

Our Fall garden will be much larger (and better planned) and the kids and I will be starting some of the seeds indoors now as an experiment for fun : )

I am hoping we'll have some success, but if not, it won't be too much of a loss since I have some great info now to get us started for many gardens to come :)

Spring Garden Planning

Pic from our garden last summer

We have been freezing here in So Cal this last week, but I have gardening on the brain and I wanted to post some helpful things I found to get my planning underway. I already own "The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening",and let me tell you, that book has my brain on information overload! LOL. It's really good for finding specific types and varieties of veggies and such , but doesn't have much in terms of helping me to plan (at least from what I have gathered from it so far). I am also pretty visual and charts work well for me.

I found this little printable garden planner here , and thought I would share it. I have yet to print it out (waiting on much needed ink!) but it looks like something that would really help me in the beginning stages of my planting this year. Last year, we sort of had to wing it. We just planted seed and prayed that we would have something to harvest....And boy did we! This year we hope to have an even bigger garden and can a lot of it. Anyways, back to the planning ;) This site has a planting guide and a chart that tells you when your last/first frost will be.

I am hoping to get a good start on the planning so if you have any tips, sites, or anything else to share, please do!