My Gardening Journal-- Stage #1: Learning and Planning

We had a two hour delay today and my future garden site looks like this

but none the less, I think it's a great day for learning about gardening and planning my garden!

Last week I hosted a Relief Society Gardening Class and since then my thoughts have been along those lines, I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING!!!!

My experience so far, is growing two tomatoe plants last year that did great until a massive hail storm.  Well I grew up helping in a very big garden, but I just did what I was told to do and didn't really learn anything about when, how, how much, etc. etc.   But Scott and I, depsite the short growing season, high altitude, and lack of oxygen, are going to attempt a full garden.

 A sister left this book at my house after the class (I'm so glad she did!) ...

It is a really a great resource and I learned a ton!  The only difference is he does it in the ground and were going to build containers but use the same method.  It's also the way my mother-in-law does her garden (but in containers) and she loves it and recommends it also.  The Provident living is also a great resource here and for locals, this is a great website I found that helps with the "when to do things" part with our local weather  http://www.ppugardens.org/gardentips_planting_timeline  and also has a lot of great info.   (even though I would rather just have a coach that told me exactly what to do and when to do it, I guess have to learn for myself and with trial and error!)

So I researched and learned, then Scott and I with a little heated debate, figured out that the dimensions that would work best for our containers are 4' x 12'.  Narrow enough to be able to reach the middle, but wide enough to maximize the sq. footage by minimizing the amount of isles needed and will work well with having a drip line circuit on each bed.  (I admit, it was Scott's plan, and I agreed it was the best once my thick skull understood it.)  We are plan on using 2x12s-we have priced them at Lowe's but need to check prices at Home Depot before we buy. 

Then we picked out the vegies we wanted to grow (yes, there are 8 packets of peppers including habeneros- can you guess who picked out all those, oh and the strange red corn):

Even though every thing I read said starting tomotoes and peppers from seed indoors and transplating to the garden was for experts, we are still going to try it, if all fails, we'll buy some plants from the nursery, but seeds are cheap and it'll be fun right?!

There is also pink marker marking on each packet with my notes about what I learnend (for easy reference), like whether to start indoors first or not, when to plant or transplant out side, and how to space it in the square foot.

and here's the whole plan, we're starting with 4 beds (about 192 sq feet)

And even if all fails... it will create chores for the girls (got to teach the value of hard work) and we'll know what not to do next year!  And if we succeed, my Salsa Budget will cease!