It's been about 30 days since we decided to embark on our community garden journey and it's officially a jungle out there! But in a good way!
A month ago, our little plants were just that… little.
This past month, we've learned more and more about what makes a garden great and we'd love to share a few tidbits from our team:
- When you purchase plants, pay attention to the labels! They are telling you the God's honest truth about how much space a plant needs to grow. Don't be like some of us and say, "Oh, well, it'll be fine if I cheat a few inches or 10!" Trust me, read and abide by the instructions on your plant tags!
- Keep your tags in a small little book so you can refer to them later. This is super helpful when you forget the name of a plant or what kind of care it needs.
- You can literally plant the leftover core of a lettuce head and it will grow back! Warning: while the lettuce is growing back, you may see some milky white residue at the base but this is normal.
- Tomatoes almost need their own growing area. Remember what I said about the space thing? Well, this is exceptionally true for tomatoes. They need a lot of room and if you overcrowd them, you might put them at risk of tomato rot (and that's not cute).
- Squash and cucumber plants grow really fast! The key is to make sure bees find them so they can help pollenate the flowers where the cucumbers and squash grow. Beware that these plants are super sneaky! When your plant hits a growth spurt, make sure you get in there, check under leaves, and at the base of the plant where ripe produce might be hiding.
- Another tip for cucumbers is to build a trellis for them to climb on. It takes up less space in your garden and it gets the cukes off the ground where they’re easier to pick and less likely to rot! There are a ton of ideas on Pinterest for cucumber trellises.
- The soil and optimal sun/water conditions make a HUGE difference. Again, we have to give a shout out to Super Sod for such great soil and supplies to set up for success!
Being an arts and crafts company, you must know that some of our peeps took this opportunity to get creative with plant markers (cause if we don't mark it, we forget):
Karen came up with a great idea of enlarged garden tags! Simply scan them into your computer (make sure to flip the image), enlarge to desired size, and print. Follow the instructions on the
photo transfer bottle and when it's all dried, give it a quick spray with our
Mod Podge sealer and you're all set! Isn't this an awesome idea?!
Anna took a slightly different approach by using craft sticks, our
Folkart Outdoor paint, and
mini stencils to mark her garden. Dainty and simple
Within a month, we've already had our first harvest (mission accomplished)! And some of us are already canning and making the most of our amazing fresh produce! We can't wait to see what exciting new things we learn next month!
Till next time!
Sincerely,
The Plaid Gardening Team