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.
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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.
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