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Written By Lara Wadsworth |
This year was only my third year having a garden to myself. Growing up, I gardened alongside my mother and grandmother, but after leaving home, I lived in apartments for many years without much space for a garden. I finally got a ‘real’ garden when we bought our house in Southwest Michigan in the fall of 2022. However, my first garden to myself was in college when I took a home gardening class in 2019 and got to manage a garden plot near campus. That was so much fun, and despite the time constraints of the semester, I had a great time. I produced an impressive crop of carrots, potatoes, and radishes.
When we first got our home, we were focused on renovations rather than a garden, as it was a major fixer-upper. Finally, in the spring of 2023, I was able to plant a garden…. Until the pregnancy symptoms hit me HARD. Between extreme nausea and learning that our backyard was in full shade, I did not get much growth that year. This year, I was so excited to finally have the time, space, and energy to plant and tend to my garden. But as you will read below, I still have a lot to learn!
Throughout January and February, it was mostly planning. I took what little I learned from last year and meshed that with my ambitious plans for a thriving garden and made a shopping list. I went to True Leaf Market and purchased most of the supplies I needed. I got many seeds, the nasturtium bloom master kit, seed starting trays, minute coconut coir soil, and more! Keep in mind, at this point, I had a 4-5 month old baby. So, I wasn’t doing much extra. Also, I live in a relatively cold climate, so until the snow leaves, you can’t do too much outside.
Spring is one of the busiest seasons for a gardener. I spent my spring starting seeds indoors, composting, direct sowing outdoors, and preparing my growing spaces.
This is where things got ramped up. Throughout March and April, I planted my seeds indoors using grow lights, heating pads, and my seed starting trays. I used the coconut coir soil mix for this, and it was great. I’ll definitely be using that every year from now on. It had just the right amount of water absorbency and drainage for the seeds. Also, when it was dry, it would turn a lighter brown color. So, it was very easy to tell when I needed to water them. I highly recommend it!
I started the following plants from seed indoors: Celebrity Plus Hybrid Tomato, Sugar Pie Pumpkin, Queen Acorn Squash, America Spinach, Straight Eight Cucumber, and Hawaii Marigolds.
I also directly sowed some deer-resistant wildflower seeds in early April. I tried them out in 4 different locations with varying levels of sun exposure. I simply scattered the seeds randomly in the areas I had designated. Surprise, they were a hit! But more on that later! This mix is brand new and formulated to provide a few annual blooms in the first year, with more perennials setting blooms in the coming years.
Starting about 2-3 weeks before Mother’s Day, I brought my seedlings outside each day. I started with just an hour or two in a well-protected location. By the time planting day rolled around, they had spent the night outside twice and were fully accustomed to the outdoors. I highly recommend doing this as it greatly reduces transplant shock once they get planted outside permanently.
Finally, once the soil started to thaw, I was able to prepare my garden bed. Last year, I used a raised bed in our backyard that had been left by the previous owner of the house. Well, it was a total flop due to the lack of sun. So, I set out to make a new garden bed in my front yard with much more sunlight. I started by removing a good chunk of the turf to fill in some patches in my backyard. Then, I used my handy dandy mini rototiller, a Mantis, to turn up the soil and kill the remaining grass. I made an L-shaped garden to maximize the available sunlight while maintaining easy access from all angles. I chose to make the bed about 3 feet wide, so I can easily reach across while weeding. Now that I have been using this garden for a year, I can confidently say I would create this size again! It was perfect for my yard, and it was easy to weed.
The last frost date for my area is typically Mother’s Day, and I try to stick to that. So, I set out to plant my garden the day after Mother's Day! Along with my seedlings, I also planted Dwarf Fernleaf Dill, Jade Bush Beans, Blue Scotch Kale, Tendersweet Carrots, and Butterhead Lettuce seeds directly into the garden.
One of my biggest mistakes was the layout. I had a rough plan in my head but hadn’t written anything down. So, when it came down to it, I was just chucking things in the garden—rookie mistake. The major downside to this was spacing. Later on, I will discuss how this bit me in the butt. However, I did get everything planted quickly. Don’t do this! Take the time to measure things out and make a solid plan. I always think that in the spring, when all I have to plant is seeds and tiny little seedlings, I have more space than I do. I think I can squeeze in more plants because they’re so small, you know? Wrong! Please follow spacing recommendations on seed packets!!! They are there for a reason.
Of course I was weeding this summer. Pool party? Nah. One of my major early summer mistakes was using hay as a mulch. I had some hay left over from a different project in my backyard. So, I used it to cover up the bare soil in my garden. I don’t know if other people sell hay without seeds, but mine definitely had seeds in it. It greatly increased the amount of weeding I needed to do because hay was sprouting up all over the place. I do not recommend it! Mulch is supposed to suppress weeds! If you want to use mulch, go with bark, leaves, or something with NO seeds in it.
Easily, the biggest bane of my garden this year was powdery mildew. I knew it was a risk due to the humid climate of Michigan, but I was not prepared in the least for the havoc that was about to tear through my garden. Powdery mildew claimed all of my pumpkins, all of my acorn squash, and all but one of my cucumber plants. Can you believe that? Part of the problem was that I didn’t get out there enough to spray them. At the first sign of mildew, I used an organic spray to see if it would help. It did help, but I needed to spray them at least twice a week all season long for it to work effectively. I did not do that and suffered the consequences. In hindsight, I will be better about treating pests and diseases at the first sign. I also plan on researching and finding more powdery mildew-resistant varieties. I have not done this yet, so if you know of any powdery-mildew-resistant cucurbits, please comment your favorites below!
I tried out the Hawaii Marigolds for the first time this year and was pleasantly surprised. They germinated well indoors and out for blooms that lasted from June into November. I also feel like dispersing them throughout my garden helped prevent pests from overtaking my plants. Throughout the season, I did find pests here and there, but none seemed out of hand or even took down an entire plant (I’m talking about aphids or beetles, not diseases like powdery mildew). My one complaint is that they got huge. Like, way too big. Most of the ones I had started indoors were 3-4 FEET tall. I mistakenly thought they would only be about 6-8 inches! In hindsight, I wish that I had checked their expected height. I also recommend pinching them.
If you have grown annual flowers before, you might be familiar with the practice of pinching. It is essentially just removing the top bit of the plant to encourage it to bush out and stay more compact but very full. I plan on growing a smaller variety and pinching next year. You might wonder why it’s a bad thing that they got too big. Well, they got so big that they started shading out my other plants! Because of the marigold's size and not spacing out my plants well enough, my directly sown dill, carrots, and nasturtiums were totally shaded out. I believe they are also the culprits of my pepper and bean plants being too shaded as well. I only harvested two small peppers and a handful of beans all season because of the shade.
I started Celebrity Hybrid tomatoes from seed and planted 3 of those seedlings out in the garden, but I also got three other varieties from a local garden center to try, including Amish paste, yellow boy, and early girl. I loved them all. They were all delicious! The ones I pre-started began to bare fruit much sooner, but the hybrids produced for longer. I was able to make 4 big batches of my instant pot tomato sauce for the freezer! My tomato plants were easily my biggest producers this year.
My leafy greens were the worst victims of my poor planning and careless planting. I regretfully admit that I attempted to broadcast sow my leafy greens. I just scattered the lettuce, kale, and spinach seeds amongst each other and hoped for the best. I do NOT recommend this. While chaos gardens might be on trend, this trend won’t be sticking around my garden. This resulted in way too many seeds germinating all at once and too close together. None of them reached full maturity as they grew into each other. I managed to harvest quite a bit of the lettuce, which we mostly ate in fresh BLTs. I also harvested some kale and spinach, but they were tiny leaves that only reached a fraction of their potential. I froze these for smoothies.
The deer-resistant wildflowers were a huge hit! The two locations where I planted them in full sun flourished! I got so many compliments, and many people asked where I got the mix. They are still blooming as I write this in early November. And the deer have not touched them. A miracle!
I loved growing nasturtiums in the bloom master kit! It performed extremely well and put out blooms into November. My two learning experiences from growing nasturtiums with this kit are to start more nasturtium seeds than you think you will need. I didn’t have quite enough seedlings to fill the basket and had to purchase a few extras. These baskets can hold so many blooms! The second lesson is to water slowly. Because of how the soil hydrates and how the side holes are situated, I learned a bit too late that I needed to water them much slower than I had. The water wasn’t penetrating all the way to the bottom as it quickly soaked the upper layer, letting one think it had permeated through the basket with excess draining from the sides. As a result, some of the lower plants died in my first go around. I also recommend fertilizing it 3-4 times throughout the season. I plan on trying again next year, and hopefully, I will have a more full basket to start with.
Now that fall is truly upon us, I have already been planning for next year. I am using the spent plants from my garden and the leaves from my tree to expand my plot. I plan on turning our L-shaped garden into an E-shape by adding two more wings. Hopefully, this will give me enough space to spread out and plant more intentionally. I also plan on using Bolero marigolds… a dwarf variety.
This fall, I gathered a harvest of anything that was left, mostly tomatoes but also a few carrots. I did manage to harvest about 5 or 6 cucumbers despite the powdery mildew. However, they weren’t very good. This was likely because the plants were under such stress. They had very large seeds and thick skin. Either way, I plan on trying a different variety next year.
This year, I planted a fall cover crop for the first time. I chose to try out triticale. After I tore out my garden at the end of September, I scattered the seeds. They are about 5 inches tall now, so I expect they will grow a bit more before the snow hits. Hopefully the added organic matter will improve my soil for next year. Considering I only watered it twice to help it get established, I’m thrilled with the results! We will see if it is worth the money when spring rolls around.
As the year ends, I have to admit I have learned a lot! Although my harvest wasn’t nearly as large as I had hoped in the spring, it was still very satisfying. I hope you can also learn from my experience and improve your garden one year at a time.
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