How Does Your Garden Grow?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

As I write this, we are a little over 2 weeks into Spring and I love it! The sun is shining, I hear birds outside, my daffodils are blooming, my fruit trees are loaded with flowers & honey bees and something in the air just feels hopeful. I need this. I’m so very, very ready for Spring. Sure, I’ve got the runny eyes and nose that comes with spring allergies too, but I’m ready to make that trade if it means longer days, warmer weather and walking outside barefoot again!

One of the things I love the most about Spring is that sense of re-birth. I absolutely know that sounds corny, but it’s the truth. The world re-awakens and it feels like things are coming back to life. For us, there’s also a lot of work that starts happening in the Springtime. In addition to the muddy mess the melting snow leaves behind & the cleanup that comes with that, there’s also gardening.

Do you garden? I grew up gardening. My Paternal Grandma & my Maternal Grandpa were, hands down, world-class gardeners. I had a Great Aunt & Uncle that grew a massive garden too. As far back as I can remember, I remember snapping beans or shucking corn or pulling carrots & radishes. It was often a huge family gathering. “Beans are on – everyone come over” kind of thing. No exaggeration. As I got older, I got more involved in the picking, but as a real little kid I remember sitting in the lawn with cousins and giant bowls of beans snapping the ends off. (Sometimes that involved chucking the ends at each other too!) It was a simpler time, a good time. I saw something online not long ago that said “Part of the problem with the world today is no one snaps bean with Grandma anymore.” Any of us that grew up doing it, know there’s truth in that sentiment!

I’m blessed to not only be able to garden with my husband and kids, but to have parents that grow a beautiful garden and extended family & friends that have gorgeous gardens as well. Gardening is a lot of work, but it’s a lot of reward too. Not just for our own family, but because we get to bless others with our bounty.

There are about 700 zillion sources online to teach you the "right" way to garden, but here's the truth: you figure out the basics and the rest comes by trial, error and experience. I'm not an expert and would never claim to be. I can make most things grow and some years certain crops do better than others. My husband has a much greener thumb (and much more patience with gardening & weeding) than I do and I'm grateful for that. Some people seem to be naturals at it, others have to work really hard but the work is well worth the reward. This could easily turn into a multi chapter tutorial on how to garden, but it's not going to be. There are so many variables in gardening and I want to this to be more of a "why" than a "how".

What does it take to garden? Briefly...once you have the desire to garden, the first thing you need to do is plan. As I've gotten older, I've really come to love raised garden beds. I spent many years crawling around on the ground in a traditional garden and I don't miss it. Raised beds, containers, rain gutters on the fence or porch for strawberries, hanging baskets, table top herb planters...so many options!

Next ask yourself what you're going to plant. And when you're planning, do your research on how much produce each of those plants could produce. And never, ever, ever, underestimate how many zucchini you're going to get off 1 plant - no matter how much you may love it, you do not need 5 or 6 plants. I promise.

Are you doing seeds or plants? If you have the place to start your seeds inside, that's the most economical way to do it. You'll want to thoroughly research how long it takes for the plants to reach the size they need to transplant though. For instance, it's too late to start your early tomatoes & pepper plants already in most places. Different regions have different growing seasons so plan accordingly.

What stage are we in? I'd love to say we have the garden prepped, the plan laid out and the early crops (spinach, peas, radishes) in the ground but we don't. There's still a lot of prep work we have to do and it'll get done, but it's been really tough to do the early leg work because the weather is Spring one day and Winter the next. I think we've still got a week or two before we can do much besides plan.

There's nothing better than a BLT with tomatoes fresh from the garden, but why else do we garden? I do a lot of canning and freezing of produce as it comes on. Not just from the garden, but we have several fruit trees and berry bushes too. I love that I have the ability and the knowledge to be able to preserve food so that it's there to use year-round. Have you eaten peaches from the store in January or tried to make a cherry pie with store-bought cherry pie filling? Yuck. Not everyone has the ability to go grab a jar off a shelf in the garage or a bag out of the freezer, but I'm grateful I do.

That's a huge motivator to garden and so is the ability to share your bounty with those in your lives, but there's a practical side too. Remember the year we don't talk about? We learned a lot of things about supplies and people's inclination to hoard everything in 2020, but guess what? Having a food storage definitely put us at an advantage. People complaining about not being able to find a can of corn in the store? I had frozen fresh from the cob corn in my freezer still. Little things like that. If you can eliminate your need to worry about something and focus on the things that really matter, why wouldn't you?

For myself and many people I know, one of the big takeaways from 2020 is a reminder of how we need to become more self-reliant again. We need to remember and, in some cases, learn how to better provide for our families. A garden is a great way to start. Even a single plant in a planter makes a difference and is a start. There's no right or wrong way to grow your own food. Find what works for you & your family and go for it. In the process though, do yourself and your kids a favor - teach them to work alongside you. This is one of those skills - arts - that's becoming lost and we're doing a huge disservice to the next generation by not teaching them. If we don't, who will?

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