I love spring for so many reasons. The weather is starting to warm up, Yay! No more snow, another Big Yay. Grass is starting to grow, leaves start coming back, my flower beds start filling out again. My flower beds are a huge thing for me since I finally got them just about where I want them a couple years back and very little tweaking needs to be done to them each spring. Just the basic clean up and weeding and I can sit back and just watch all the hard work I put into them come back again and again. I love that.
But one of my favorite parts of spring is planting my garden (my vegetable garden). Every year I try and every year something goes wrong. Something will grow but only one year did everything I put in the ground actually grow and yield fruit or veggies. But this year I have a feeling things are going to be different. I haven't done anything massively different, it's just a feeling.
I started most of my seeds indoors in greenhouse flats, this is nothing new I've tried this before and failed miserably. But this year I waited until the middle of April and things began sprouting almost over night. I now have over half of 2 flats filled with starter plants that will be ready to go into the ground by next week as long as all chances of frost are gone. That shouldn't be a problem, but this is Michigan and it's not unheard of to get frost in the last week of April but I think by next weekend we should be safe.
I'm super excited about having fresh veggies all summer from my own garden. Last summer we had tomatoes,cucumbers, and peppers and just having those 3 things fresh on a regular basis was amazing. Not to mention money saving since we eat a lot of salads around here. I also love teaching my kids about providing for themselves, as well as others since any excess we have that we won't be able to use or can in time we will donate to local shelters or food banks. The kids will help with everything from planting, to weeding, harvesting, and if all goes well canning and preserving for winter. They will also go with me to donate any extras.
Until then I will be dreaming of all the fresh yumminess that will hopefully be coming from my own backyard in the next few months. How about you, do any of you have plans for backyard gardens? If so what will you be planting?
But one of my favorite parts of spring is planting my garden (my vegetable garden). Every year I try and every year something goes wrong. Something will grow but only one year did everything I put in the ground actually grow and yield fruit or veggies. But this year I have a feeling things are going to be different. I haven't done anything massively different, it's just a feeling.
I started most of my seeds indoors in greenhouse flats, this is nothing new I've tried this before and failed miserably. But this year I waited until the middle of April and things began sprouting almost over night. I now have over half of 2 flats filled with starter plants that will be ready to go into the ground by next week as long as all chances of frost are gone. That shouldn't be a problem, but this is Michigan and it's not unheard of to get frost in the last week of April but I think by next weekend we should be safe.
I'm super excited about having fresh veggies all summer from my own garden. Last summer we had tomatoes,cucumbers, and peppers and just having those 3 things fresh on a regular basis was amazing. Not to mention money saving since we eat a lot of salads around here. I also love teaching my kids about providing for themselves, as well as others since any excess we have that we won't be able to use or can in time we will donate to local shelters or food banks. The kids will help with everything from planting, to weeding, harvesting, and if all goes well canning and preserving for winter. They will also go with me to donate any extras.
Until then I will be dreaming of all the fresh yumminess that will hopefully be coming from my own backyard in the next few months. How about you, do any of you have plans for backyard gardens? If so what will you be planting?
