Hi friends! It’s officially time to plant the garden and I couldn’t be more excited.
If the forecast is accurate (is it ever?) we should have a sunny weekend in Chicago. Perfect weather for planting the vegetable garden. We usually buy adult vegetable plants, but we decided that growing vegetables from seeds would be a better option this year. Below lists some of our gardening tips.
I have a confession – I completely suck at gardening. I wish I could say that I have a green thumb, but in reality I’m awful at keeping plants alive. Gardening thankfully comes naturally to hubby, so he’ll be taking the lead this year.
Here’s the thing – I desperately want to be good at this whole gardening thing, but I don’t exactly have the best track record. We planted a ton of flowers last year and I killed probably 75% of them. Needless to say, Ben will be doing most of the planting. I clearly need to refine my gardening skills, so maybe I’ll have Ben supervise me during the planting process. We’re banking on this veggie garden growing a TON of produce, so I’d be pretty bummed if I killed everything.
Based on my gardening track record, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing a post on growing vegetables and gardening tips. Don’t worry – Ben proof-read everything so the gardening tips are legit.
Why grow your own produce?
When Ben and I decided to create our own backyard farm, our main motivation was growing our own food. Most of our grocery budget goes towards produce each week. I try to buy organic options as often as possible, but I don’t always have the time (or energy) to go to multiple grocery stores to make sure that everything is organic. It’s hard to find a balance. While we want to make sure that our diets are as clean as possible, we also don’t want to drive ourselves crazy in the process. Plus, even organic produce is sprayed with something. Our solution? Plant our own veggie garden and grow our own food
Seeds versus Plants
In the past, we’ve always purchased adult vegetable plants from a local hardware store. It’s super convenient and a great way to cut down on growing time. Depending on the size of your garden, adult plants are really expensive. Our garden will be about 600 sq. ft. this year, so we would be spending a small fortune purchasing all adult plants. Here’s an estimated cost breakdown:
- Full grown tomato plant (depending on size): $5-$10
- Packet of 30 organic tomato seeds: $4
If you hope to have 20 tomato plants at $5 a piece (which is on the low range for cost), then you’ll be spending $100 instead of only $4 if you were to plant your own tomatoes.
With that being said, if you spend a significant amount of money on organic produce each week, then you’re going to save money regardless of whichever route you decide to take.
Planting and growing vegetables from seeds obviously takes far more time and requires some additional equipment. Not sure where to start? Here’s all the info you need to get started.
Growing Vegetables from Seeds
First, you’ll need to purchase the items below. We purchased our items from a local hardware store, but the items linked are basically the same thing. Fill your seedling trays with organic seed starter and follow the directions listed on the vegetable seed packets.
We decided to purchase an artificial light and a heat mat to increase soil temperature to help with germination.
Our little plants quickly started to grow in the basement…
Next step? Transplanting our vegetable plants outside in the raised beds this weekend. Wish me luck that I don’t kill anything!
On a side note, this picture makes me so happy. I got home late from work this week and found Ben outside working on the raised beds while our toddler was playing in the dirt. She yelled “mommy!” when she saw me and then said “mommy, happy?” I’ve been trying to soak up all of these cuddles before baby # 2 arrives. Yes little one, you make mommy very happy.
Gardening Tips: Question of the Day
What are your tried and true gardening tips? Any preference for seeds versus adults plants? Have a great weekend!
I started reading about gardening in the Organic Magizine back in 1975 when we got married, to learn about garding and bought books to help me. I have tried different ways to grow food. At present I am trying The Square Foot raised bed method. besides growing in the ground and using soaker hoses to water. I have a Small GH 12×14 PVS sch 80, 6 mil cover. Just built it last spring and experimented growing squash, tomatos, swiss chard, beets in grown except the tomatos I grew in 2 earth boxes and pots. they done pretty well, but got them a little to late.to have tomatos mature enough. I all so have 2 new raised bed to do the Mittleider Method, ( GrowFood.com ) If you are Interested. He all so grew just in ground. Grew all my veggies from seed this season still planting them out now and next two weeks. Enjoyed you gradeninf info, I am still learning even though I am 71 years young, love gardening, growing own food. Raise goats for milk/meat, rabbits, chickens, pigeons, ducks, 2 sheep we bottle feed, raised 5 pigs last yr, have raised a steer.Wife raises Max cats and Parakeets, o and 1 pair of Love Birds, We do this on 1.07 Acre lot, To bad about your puppies, hope it works out changing their diet. You have a great Family started. We had 7 children, 5 b and 2 g. Family is the most importent thing in life!