Hello all!
Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week! It’s starting to feel more and more like fall. The leaves are starting to change, it’s getting cooler and it’s almost time to start pulling out legging and long sleeve t-shirts.
Today’s post is a bit of a different spin on the weather. One of my summer goals was to grow a garden. I have always wanted to get my hands dirty and see if I had a green thumb. I love vegetables and planned to challenge myself to see if I could grow my own. My first summer of being a gardener is in the books, so I wanted to share what I learned and a bit about my experience. I am by no means an expert gardener. This was my first year giving it a try and I’m happy with the results, even if it did have some ups and downs. I learned a lot and I will be taking what I learned this year and using it when I garden in the future.
I started the process back in May, with the help of my boyfriend, who has helped grow his fair share of vegetable. I did some research on what plants vegetables to try and grow. Since this was my first year, I decided to not go overboard and start small by planting seeds for tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, carrots and peppers. I got the seeds at our local nursery and went home to plant them.
I found a section of the garden, dug the holes, planted the seeds and covered them with fresh planting soil and gave them some water.
I like to be creative whenever I can, so I made signs for each plant so I could keep track of what I planted and where it was located.
Then the tending began. I checked on my garden every day and watered them frequently. It was exciting to see the progress of my vegetables grow through the summer, what started out as seeds, turned into stems, blossoms, leaves and eventually fully grown vegetables.
The biggest thing I learned through the process of growing a garden this summer was the power of patience and accepting trial and error. It takes a while for things to grow sometimes things don’t always grow according to plan or grow at all.
For example, I started out with a lot of peas, but they quickly died, after researching I think it was due to being overwatered. I also got blossoms on my pepper plants, and they grew a lot too.
While it was frustrating and disappointing, I still had other plants to care for.
Other vegetables did fairly well. I got a handful of tomatoes, while small, they were tasty, and I was very proud of them.
I used them to make a Peach Caprese Salad.
I also got a handful of cucumbers, I really enjoyed seeing them grow from week to week and lastly, I got carrots!
I started the summer with the hopes to grow five different vegetables and ended up with three, for my first time growing a garden, I’m pretty proud of successfully growing different vegetables and being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
I will definitely be growing a garden again and I want to try my hand at some new vegetables too. I really enjoyed the process of growing vegetables, and my favorite part was having something to show for a hard summer’s work. Next summer, I may change where I grow my plants and may change my watering habits. I have a much better appreciation for fruits and vegetables especially when I see how long it takes to grow the individual vegetables.
There’s no better feeling than accomplishing your goals and it feels pretty good when they are a success and taste good too.
If you have grown a garden, I want to hear about your experience! What did you learn and what have you grown?
Let me know in the comments below!
Happy Planting!
