As you can see, the pots are empty – Why? Because all of my tomato seedlings died – it was so sad. They all died within a week! I posted previously about “Gardening From Seeds” and wanted to let you know that despite how well the seedlings were looking, it was short lived. When posting “The Garden is Planted”, the tomato plants used were bought from a nursery. Unfortunately, those also, all died. We are now on our third set of plants and they seem to being doing fine.

After investigating online and with our grape consultant (who did post grad work with tomatoes), it seems I made a common mistake in not using sterile potting soil. It would have been so easy to cover my trays with plastic and set them in the sun. That would be all it took to sterilize the soil before planting the seeds! Since I did not, the moisture in the soil from watering the seeds allowed a virus which was already in the soil to thrive. It is also called “damping-off”.  But, I did not know – live and learn – right?

So, why did the second set of plants die? Perhaps, they had the virus too! The eggplants which I also bought from the same nursery died very quickly. Many times, plants bought from a nursery which are small or have a purple tint to their leaves and stem are infected. These are the most common signs and this may occur at a local feed store or a reputable nursery.

It was a hard lesson. Not only did I lose the money spent on the seeds, but also the anticipation of the fabulous varieties of tomatoes we planted. I will try again next year to start plants from seeds. Hopefully, we will have our greenhouse together and the plants will have more protection from the wind, as well as, airborne diseases. And, I will definitely sterilize my soil before planting!

As I mentioned earlier in Gardening Time Part 2, I am doing a combination of purchased plants and plants which I have started from seeds. I thought it might be helpful to show some pictures of how we start the seeds.

For our flats to start the seeds in, we (John, actually) cut the bottoms off 5 gallon buckets which I got from a bakery – their icing comes in them and when they use the icing up, they throw the buckets away! The top of the buckets are saved to use in the garden around the young plants to protect them from the stiff west Texas wind.

The flats are then filled with sterile potting soil. Using a knife, the soil is smoothed and rows.

The seeds are then sowed very close to each other in the rows and soil is sifted over them to cover the seeds. Sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy

The soil should be kept moist. The watering must be done carefully so as not to disturb the soil. We kept ours inside the warm house until the threat of freeze was past and the seeds were sprouting. At this point, the daytime temperature was warm enough in the sun to encourage rapid growth.

You can see from the picture, that they are still sprouting and growing. When the seedlings reach about 2 inches tall, we will carefully separate them with a spoon and transplant into 2 inch pots. The seedlings will be allowed to grow in the 2 inch pots until large enough to transplant into the garden.

I appreciate those of you have emailed me with questions – feel free to do so – I am not an expert by any means, but I will be glad to help if I can!

Further reading: Garden Time: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Gardening With Children.

Planning your garden takes time as we have discussed in Garden Time: Part 1 and  Part 2 but the reward are well worth it. Today there are a few miscellaneous items to think about.

Have you ever noticed the colorful maps on the back of seed packets? Those are not just for decoration. They give valuable information about that particular seeds hardiness in different areas of the country. The different colored areas indicate growing zones. Growing zones are based on temperatures, daylight hours and general climate. Favorable planting conditions vary from one zone to another so it is important to consider your location when planting seeds.  

If you have gardened before, are you switching your varieties to different locations than where they were in previous years? Crop rotation is usually thought of as important to the commercial farmer. But, it is also important to the backyard gardener. Certain plants are more prone to specific diseases and insects. Crop rotation discourages these from becoming concentrated in your soil. The squash bug is an example of this. Since crops use nutrients from the soil differently, crop rotation is an important step to help prevent soil depletion.

Lastly, I mentioned that when selecting your garden location, it must have water access. Vegetable plants as a rule need plenty of water, especially during germination. Sprinklers, soaker hoses , as well as, underground irrigation are several of the methods or watering your garden plants. Probably the least least efficient yet most commonly used and conveninient are sprinklers. They are inefficient because of water loss to evaporation. We used sprinklers while living in Alabama but did not water during the heat of the day because of the potential for evaoprative water loss. Here in west Texas with such a dry climate, we primarily used soaker hoses last year. This year, we have put in underground drip tape in the garden area.

I have attempted to cover at least the basics of planning your garden. Hopefully,  it will help and be thought provoking. While the points covered may seem overwhelming, the time spent planning now can make the difference in a mediocre garden and a prolific one!

For further reading: Gardening With Children, Gardening From Seeds.

With spring around the corner, it is time to begin thinking about your vagetable garden. Are you ready?

Until we moved to Texas, I had never been fond of gardening. Whether it was lack of need, lack of experience  or lack of success, I am not sure, maybe a combination. But, with our lifestyle change from the corporate world to farm life came a new love for gardening. The first year here in west Texas, our garden did well, yielding enough produce to eat, as well as, some to freeze. Last year, with greater forethought and planning, it was a huge success. The Lord blessed our garden produce so that we were able to fill three chest freezers!

Planning a garden takes a little more time, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting a series on planning your garden and hopefully give you ideas which will lead to a successful one.

One of the first considerations should be the location of the garden. The location should be easily accessible, have good soil and water access. Once the location is determined you will have a better idea of how large a space is available for planting. The size will determine what and how much of each vegetable will be planted. Thankfully, we had a large space available so we planted a large amount in a wide variety of vegetables. If you do not have the luxury of a large space, think about what your family enjoys eating.

Investigate the different types of gardens. The traditional gardening method is a grouping of like plants together in a specified area. Most of us choose this method for convenience and ease.  Container gardening makes use of containers or pots to grow plants in. This is especially good for city and apartment dwellers. Raised bed gardening has gained popularity in the past as an answer to minimal space availability and as a way to have total control over the soil. Raised beds are built and filled with a mix of soil including compost and manure. They drain well and are especially good for the elderly and disabled as they can sit comfortably while gardening. Hydroponic gardening is another technique used to grow a wide variety of plants. In hydroponic gardening the nutrients are in the water fed to the plants rather than primarily in the soil. There are several different watering systems  available for this type of gardening.

There is nothing like eating fresh vegetables from your own garden. If you are new to gardening there are many resources available to help you get started. In addition to books on the subject, do not overlook the people around  you. Ask questions, get advise and get started!

Further reading about garden planning: Garden Time! Part 2, Garden Time! Part 3, Gardening With Children

Photo credit: Bing Images