It’s that time of year again when my daughter and I plan out our vegetable garden. It seems that each year we expand the garden a bit more, try to grow something different and plant something too early.
This year, we have decided to fill our vegetable garden with:
- cherry tomatoes
- ground cherries
- mini cucumbers
- watermelon
- corn
- radishes
- sugar snap peas
- carrots
- garlic
While we grow most things from seed, I think this year we are going to buy already started tomato plants from our local gardening centre because we cannot seem to keep up with or give away enough tomatoes and we want to make room for more of what we really love, such as the ground cherries and sugar snap peas.
I should also mention that we have a perennial strawberry plant that produces more and more sweet strawberries with each passing year and also have a herb garden with lavender, chives and basil (I can never get enough basil!)
We buy our seeds online through Cubit’s Organics. I think this will be my fifth year buying seeds from this great little organic farm located in southern Ontario. I especially love their Goldie Ground Cherry seeds – you can’t find these little gems at very many garden centres and they are so fun to eat and to pick. One packet of seeds will give you at least two months worth of daily ground cherry harvesting!
We start some of our seeds inside – including our ground cherries, watermelon and usually our tomato seeds. Of course, the faster growing vegetables, such as beans, peas and radishes should be sowed directly in your garden – so we have a few weeks to wait for those ones. The good news is the instruction on when, where and how to plant seeds are typically on the back of every seed packet (tip: keep your seed packets together in a bag or container and store them someplace for future reference i.e., so you will know when to harvest your carrots).
New for us this year is growing garlic, and starting some plants from the seeds we saved from last year’s garden! I thought I would try a few radishes and corn inside (just to see) and they are sprouting, so we will definitely be planting the remainder of the seeds in the garden. My daughter was thrilled that the seeds we grew and preserved are actually growing new plants (I was too)!
I love the educational experience that comes along with gardening. My daughter gets so excited when a seed sprouts. This year we planted a few of her very own seeds that she could take care of in her bedroom. Her sunflower seeds have grown quite tall already and she is very proud of them. In addition to sunflowers, we have also started Morning Glories and pansies (we are hoping the containers we planted these in will be just full enough in time for Mother’s Day gifts!).
You don’t have to have a green thumb to be a gardener. You just have to have the desire to do it. Having your own vegetable garden is a great way to teach kids where food comes from and also makes them appreciate the time it takes to grow the carrots they may be hesitating to eat at suppertime. It is also a great way to get them to eat healthy – my daughter helps herself to whatever is ripe for the eating in the garden all summer long!
Do you garden? What do you grow and do you start them from seed? Leave a comment and let me know! Happy gardening!
Nice choices! There is nothing like a warm, sweet tomato right from your own yard. I was thinking of trying garlic this year, too! I just need to find more room now….
We keep expanding out garden! We are at full capacity again!
I love morning glories! In university, I used to walk by a home every day that had a big garden of morning glories out front — beautiful!
Have fun growing — and eating — your vegetables!
Thanks. I am very much looking forward to the morning glories! So far, so good! They are already about 2 feet tall!
I love gardening and enjoyed having a vegetable garden and growing lots of produce – the potatoes always tasted exceptionally good. I’ve never heard of ground cherries so I’m going to check out what they are. Unfortunately we now have a north facing garden with very little sunshine 🙁
ah, Physalis. I tried to grow them too once but wasn’t too successful at all.
Elizabeth – very little sunshine can be tough, but even if they get half a day of sun, some veggies might do well! Good luck!
I love having a garden and am finally back to having one after living in an apartment with only room for a small pot of herbs. So far my tomatoes, radishes, and chives are growing but I just got a large planter ready to start the rest of the seeds! I cannot wait to reap what I sow 🙂
Eating fresh from the garden is the best part, isn’t it?! Hooray for summer 🙂
This is exactly what we want to do in our backyard!
Our Squash were just up a few days and the doves pulled them out and ate the swollen seed pod
That’s so exciting! Great job!
can you believe frost hit my tomatos in July
I love gardening and wish I was well enough to get back out there
I am excited hubby has made an area for planting and will start the greenhouse in the Spring.
I have a yard with space for a garden now. Until now, the only thing I’ve grown is tired of failing at gardening. But I’m hoping to give it a good go this year.
We don’t do flower gardens but we do a vegetable garden. My husband likes to do everything from seeds because he feels they grow better but we do get a lot of great vegetables each year