Trying to find my green thumb: Part 1

Early last summer, my husband and I tried planting a backyard garden in tubs and water jugs.

(Cucumber plant in an old water jug.)

(Potatoes growing in tubs.)

We ended up with a couple of banana peppers, a few tomatoes (that had been pecked by birds) and a couple of tiny potatoes.

(Banana peppers growing in an old water jug.)

(A mangled mess of tomatoes with tomato cages and bird netting on top.)

This spring, we tried to plant early season crops—such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, rhubarb and onions—in the ground.

(Hard to see the garden due to all of the weeds!)

The weeds took over and nearly nothing grew.

I write gardening articles for Virginia Farm Bureau’s member magazines, so I really should have known about weeds. Oddly enough, around the time when the garden in our yard was dying, I covered a gardening demonstration on the importance of weeding and irrigating your garden.

It’s all making sense now.

So this summer, we’re trying to grow vegetables again. But we’re going a different route.

Enter the raised bed/box garden.

 (Our latest gardening adventure--the raised bed/box garden.)

Most raised garden beds aren’t up on cinder blocks in the yard, but my father-in-law has had continued success with this method. He offered to build us a box, and we took him up on his offer.

The box is 1 foot deep and about 12 feet long. It’s made out of old scrap wood, and he drilled holes in the bottom.

Last weekend we planted two pickling cucumber plants, two varieties of jalapeno peppers, one green bell pepper plant and one banana pepper and four varieties of tomatoes. They’re in a mix of composted manure and Miracle Grow potting mix for vegetables.

I’m really excited to see how this garden grows! So far, my husband has remembered to water it in the mornings before he goes to work. That’s usually one of our biggest problems—forgetting to water!

Andy Hankins, an alternative crop specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension and host of the From the Ground Up segment on Farm Bureau’s television show Real Virginia and in Cultivate magazine, recommends watering in the mornings.

I’ll post an update on my garden adventure every three weeks this summer. Stay tuned!