Gardening Bloopers and Tips

I have been gardening or watching my mom garden my entire life.  Most times the gardening goes according to plan, but sometimes things go awry.

Blooper 1: I once planted a row of sunflowers, than beans, and than two rows of tomatoes. The beans had no sunlight, but surprisingly still gave beans.

Blooper 2: I tend not to label everything and just do the basics so I can figure out what is what.  One year my mom phoned me all excited.  There were white things growing in the pumpkin row in our small 0.3 acre garden.  I come over and take a look and there were spaghetti squash growing among the pumpkins.  We use our small garden for educational purposes so it was an oops.

Blooper 3:  I planted 120 feet of zucchini.  If you have a good market you might be able to get rid of all the zucchini, but I had an overload of zucchini that year.  If you plant zucchini just for your family, two or three plants is enough.

Lorissa transplanting tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Shirley picking peas in our small 0.3 acre garden.  

 

 

 

 

 

Tip one:  Have a garden plan and practice crop rotation.  Crop rotation is important to prevent diseases, nutrient balance, and other benefits. One thing we do is plant a row of peas, than cucumbers, peas, cucumbers, etc.  We do this because peas come out at the middle of July and this allows the cucumbers to vine where the peas where.

A truckload of Indian Corn and squash.

  

Tip two:  If you're new to gardening make sure you read up on gardening on the Internet, in seed catalogues, in books, etc..  Gardening does require a certain amount of knowledge in order to get a bumper crop of vegetables.  You can't seed tomatoes, peppers, and sweet Spanish onions in the garden because they will never get ready before the first frost. Once you have some understanding of gardening it is fun and rewarding.  Even if you are a seasoned gardener you can always learn something new while browsing the Internet and books.

Tip three:  If gardening isn't your thing Penner Pumpkins sells fresh vegetables off their home yard and at Pineridge Farmers' Market..  Check our facebook page for what vegetables are in season and our hours.

Lorissa