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Levenshire Chronicles

someone with too many hobbies

April 24, 2023

Garden plans and goals for a garden novice

It is that time of year when the summer garden is starting to come together. I have seeds starting under grow lights, soil in the garage, and tons of drawings of my garden and garden expansion. I have big goals for this year- between trying to  grow  new plants to expanding the garden- I am hoping for the best garden season yet. I feel like I am still a new gardener, with only three years experience, but I have big plans. Keep reading for my garden plans and goals for a garden novice.

Disclaimer: Links in this post are Amazon affiliate links, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

I have been gardening for three years now. From a small raised platform bed to four in ground garden beds, my gardening obsession quickly escalated from just trying it out to trying to build a food forest. My favorite YouTuber and fellow NJ gardener exposed me to the term “Food Forest” and although I am very far from away from having a food forest, I love the idea of it. (I do not actually know James Prigioni, but I watch his videos so often, I feel like I do!). If you have not checked out his channel, here is a link.

I have big plans and goals for my garden this year:

  • Grow more plants from seeds
  • Try to grow new plants
  • Garden expansion
  • Succession plan

Grow from Seed

I am using my Rise garden lights as grow lights (review of Rise garden coming soon). Although I love shopping at nurseries and I know I will be purchasing plants from the local nurseries I love, I really wanted to grow more plants from seeds. So I set out to do just this. I planted cauliflower, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, flowers, and melon. I had some luck, and well some fails. It is frustrating to see some seeds germinate and some not, or to have a seedling die with no warning. I tried different soils/seed mixes to experiment with what worked. Next year, I would like to make my own seed mix, but that is a big project for next year.

Here is my current grow light set up:

Try to Grow New Plants

I want to try to grow things I never thought I could grow- like melons. I have also never lucky with flowers or cauliflower or arugula. (I am now realizing how many failures I have had, but I am still trying) So, I am trying to do it all this year- learn from my mistakes and probably make a few new ones while trying to grow new plans.

Garden Expansion

I am also expanding the garden to include a new section which I hope will be used for blueberries. I recently purchased four (yes, four!) blueberry plants. I completely underestimated the amount of work this expansion will take, but I am working on it each day. First, I had to dig up the grass, I made holes for the plants and lined with mushroom mulch I had leftover from last year, then I placed down cardboard around the plants, added some soil and then some in-ground garden mix. I also added a rubber border. 

Work on succession planning

I did not do a great job on succession planning this last year and lost form valuable growing time. I want to continue to start seeds indoors to add to the garden throughout the summer, in addition to spacing out when I plant seeds outdoors. This is going to take some planning, but I am working on being more organized with my seeds and my garden journal to hopefully maximize my growing season.

Continue to invest in quality garden equipment

I am on the hunt for great tomato cages and plant supports. I have had too many cages that have rusted or that broke during the season. I invested in some good quality cages last year and I am so glad that I did. The upfront investment in quality supports is worth it.

I can’t find the exact cages I bought last year, unfortunately, but I found these very similar looking ones on Amazon. I am considering purchasing these to add to my collection:

I also bought last year a multi pack of gardening gloves, which was a great idea. Prior to purchasing these gloves, I had one pair of gloves and they always seemed to be dirty. But now I have so many that I just rotate which ones are being washed- and I always have a clean pair!

How cute are these gloves:

I never worry about losing a glove or not having a pair- these is a 6 pack for under $15.00.

What are your plans and goals for this garden season?

Disclaimer: Links in this post are Amazon affiliate links, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

If you liked this post, keep reading:

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Best Lessons From the Garden

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About Me
My name is Jessica and I confess to having too many hobbies. This blog started as a way of sharing my love of gardening. But the blog has evolved to showcase my ever growing list of hobbies and my journey from working mom to stay at home mom. Thank you for joining me!

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I don’t have a farm! But I grow a ton of food to I don’t have a farm! But I grow a ton of food to feed my family all summer and fall in NJ. I have four (4ft by 4ft) garden beds in my yard. Start with good quality plants from a great nursery or grow your own. Have patience and slow down- patience is not my strong point but you can’t force your plant to grow faster or the tomatoes to ripen right now. And follow gardener on instagram and read blogs to learn, learn, learn about gardening! All winter I read and learn as much as I can. Why aren’t you gardening? #nj #njgarden #garden #hobby #tomatoes #patience #patient #hobbygarden #gardenblog #blogger
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