Logical Gardening for Your Family

Logical Gardening for your family;

When I first began gardening I just grew anything I felt like growing and often ended up with a ton of extra and nothing that actually made sense when cooking, mint and a handful of cherry tomatoes?  Over the years I have come to realize, with a little bit of thought and planning, I could have a better run garden.

First, look at what you use most often in your cooking, not just what is easy to grow. For example, ZUCCHINNI! I love it in bread and muffins, but when I grow three plants that come in the pack it often overtakes my garden space and leaves me with so much I don't know what to do with it. Sure you can give it away, but it's not always easy to repeatedly give your neighbors veggies that they can't possibly use up either! So, I have found with items like this that produce a quantity, I have reduced my initial plants down to only one plant. Sometimes it's hard to find a single pack of certain vegetables, I understand, but I have even given away the other plants in the pack, or just tossed them out. Here in New Jersey garden space is limited and I just can't rationalize using it all up for a few plants that produce way to much for me and my family. So sit down for a few minutes and look at, in the summer months, what your family "really" eats.

On the same note when it comes to herbs don't be suckered into buying what the garden center has available when you go. Think about the veggies you'll be planting and plan to grow the herbs that will go along with them. For example, we love a good cucumber salad, and homemade pickles but I hate to have to go to the store to buy dill to put in it. So, even though it's sometimes a hunt to find a dill plant it's well worth it if it's something you are really going to utilize over and over. besides what do you really do with 5 different varietes of mint? (which I have been duped into growing one year??) The garden centers will get different herbs in stock at different times during the growing season so check back frequently if your looking to grow a well stocked herb garden.

Lastly, for now, think about what recipes you can make with your own fresh veggies that are too expensive to buy in the store. I like to eat organically (which is very costly) so I make sure that I grow the veggies I would otherwise have to buy all summer just to complete meals. A few corn seeds can go a long way, as well as green beans and peas and they can all be grown vertically to minimize space. I've also done some hunting for canning recipes in my family, for favorites from days gone, and made a point to grow all the plants needed in one season to produce a large batch of one (or two at the max) of them. i.e. my grams green tomato relish, it takes red and green tomatoes, red and green peppers and onions (which I forgot to plant so I had to buy). Overall I was able to grow 95% of the plants and make the relish, canned it, gave it away as gifts, and still have a few jars leftover in the pantry, and I made it in 2009.

Sometimes a garden can be overwhelming, but if you have a plan for where all those prized plants will go you can even reap the benefits for years to come. God luck and happy gardening.

peace & love to all,

dinelle.