Skip to main content

Finding Your Garden Why

 

I created a new website! It has my blog and the herbal products that I'm creating from the home grown herbs and flowers that I grow. Please come on over and follow me at:

www.katiebirdsgarden.com 

    Recent events have encouraged—and maybe forced—many people to grow their own food. This isn’t new to humans, but since people started living in cities, residential lots became smaller, time has become sparse, not many people were growing their own food. Grocery stores are abundant in most places, home delivery enables us to order things and receive them almost instantly. But people seem to be feeling the need to come back to the “roots” of supporting themselves, at least a little bit.

    So, you feel the need to garden.  Before going out and buying all the seeds, you should think about why you actually want or need to do it. Some things that pop into mind could be, wanting to eat fresh (or maybe clean/more organic) food, reducing grocery costs, preserving for off seasons, increasing accessibility to food, lessening food insecurity, even mental health is a great reason!  If you’re like me though, when I’m getting into a new hobby or project, I tend to want to DO EVERYTHING! Finding your purpose can help streamline your plans and probably save some money in the long run.

    Here are a couple things to consider and questions to ask yourself when starting a garden for either food or flowers:

·       Space. Do you have a yard? A patio? A field? The size of your available space will tell you what and how much you can grow. If you’re limited on actual ground to dig in, raised beds are a great option. You can build on top of the ground or even make or purchase beds that are on legs, which can be quite beneficial for people who may be limited in their bending or squatting abilities.

Sun. How much sunlight will your spot receive? Most vegetables need to get a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight to produce decent foliage and produce fruit. Some plants like lettuces can do with less and prefer a slightly shady and cooler spot.

Water. We all need water to survive. When having a garden, having accessible water is a necessity. You may get lucky at some points in your season and not have to water, but that is very rare for most people. Small patio gardens can be taken care of with watering cans, but after refilling and lugging a full watering can more than a couple trips, it can be quite tiring and time consuming. An outside spigot with a hose works quite easy if you want to water by hand and your garden is close by. If your space is larger and farther away from your water source, drip systems (automatic or manually controlled) can take care of the job and are more beneficial in watering the ground, instead of hitting the plants. Overhead watering can cause mildew or blight and wastes water to evaporation.

Pests. Do you have rodents, insects or larger animals that may bother your plants? You may have to build fencing around your space to deter the larger animals. Many insects can be deterred by using a technique called companion planting, which entails planting specific plants amongst your garden that are known to deter the bad and attract the beneficial insects. If it’s a major problem, there are insecticides and even organic pest protection options available.

Time. Do you have time for what you’re planning? Gardens require more time in the spring and fall, so think about your personal habits and schedules. I know I must really think about seed planting with spring work trips and then later summer family vacations coinciding with heavy harvesting periods. My pet-sitter also is a garden-sitter, most of the time.  

Taste. Do you really like to eat what you’re growing? People tend to get caught up in the new varieties of vegetables and social media favorites. But please remember that somebody needs to eat what comes out of your garden! If you don’t really like squash, don’t grow it. It’s that simple.

    I hope this short list of ideas and things to consider will help you start your garden journey. Remember, growing anything is growing something.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pelmet Tutorial

Finally here it is!  These are super easy, quite quick and don't cost much at all.  Things you'll need: Foam board (use your Micheal's coupons!) Cotton batting-I bought the crib-size and still have leftovers Fabric Glue gun and glue sticks-I used 2 long ones Duct tape Picture hangers or small brackets of your choice Step 1: Measure your window width and cut or tape more than one piece of foam board together to fit the space if needed.  I made sure it was at least 1" beyond each side of the wood moulding.  Remember you'll add thickness and need to attach brackets.  Mine were 64" long, 9" tall and the sides were 2" wide, your proportions may be different depending on the window size and style.  Duck tape holds it all together nicely.  I did add wooden chopsticks to the middle where I taped two long pieces together so it didn't bend.  You won't have to do this if your window is smaller....

Doughnut Low

Being diabetic and having a low blood sugar isn't always a bad thing... Like today when I went for my daily soda there was a little custard-filled, chocolate-glazed, doughnut calling my name.  I bought it with the thought, "I feel like I may be low and I sorta hope I am!"  I was.  BG of 49.  Ha.  Good timing.   It was delicious.  The pudding is my favorite part.    I wonder sometimes if our psyches get the better of us type-1s because having a low = a treat sometimes.  Growing up without being able to eat whenever/whatever treats we wanted, maybe now, subconsciously, our bodies give a little "woo hoo, I'm low, eat something yummy!  Screw those icky glucose tabs!" 

My First 5k!

I have been teaching myself how to run this spring and as motivation, I signed up for the Fitger's 5k , in Duluth, MN this weekend (grew up in the area and still have family and am running with my sister and my Dad's wife).  I haven't been able to really run the full 3.1 miles, as my blood sugars tend to drop if I get my heart rate up too high for too long.  I have found that if I make a point of taking a 1-2 minute break after a mile and then again after each 1/2-3/4 mile and just walk, I don't get so low, as fast.  Inhaling some purple glucose tabs helps a little too. I've only lost 3 lbs.  BUT, I have shrunken down a bit and am not as bloaty-looking around the middle.  Guess that's progress.  I think that when I get back to the lower-heart rate cardio (my beloved elliptical machine) with some high-rate intervals and weights mixed in, the shrinkage will go much faster.  I am participating in our local mega-gym's team training program, which consist...