Start Your Summer Garden
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When the weather is nice, I love being outside. Gardening can be a fun, relaxing and rewarding way to spend time outdoors. Use these tips to start now and in a short time (sometimes weeks) you can start harvesting your own veggies!
First, decide what you want to plant and whether or not you are in a good growing location for that item.
You can easily find out what gardening “Zone” you are in by doing a quick internet search based on your zip code. We live in Florida, which is Zone 9, but we previously lived in Pennsylvania, Zone 6. What grows well will vary by Zone- if you don’t pay attention to this you are setting yourself up for failure. Good news! Plants can still grow great in many different zones. I have found that peppers, tomatoes, basil and mint (just to name a few) have all grown very well for us in both PA & FL.
Second, decide where and how you want to garden.
Make sure the area gets a lot of natural sunlight. Decide whether you are going to garden in planter pots, beds or directly sow seeds or plants into the ground. I love gardening in raised beds for so many reasons! You can control the soil, better control pests, and move the plants. At our home in FL, we don’t really have soil- our yard is mainly sand- so raised beds are a must to provide a good soil base for our plants.
Third, plant with purpose.
Aside from harvesting, I think planting is the most fun part of gardening, but there are a few things you should consider before planting. How big will the plant get? How much space does it need in the ground? Does it grow well with other plants?
For my first raised bed garden in PA, I did a ton of research about what grows well together (peppers, tomatoes, cucumber- Yes! But tomatoes with corn or broccoli? No!). What I did not think enough about, however, was the spacing. In a very short amount of time, my garden was overgrown, and I had to quickly remove and re-plant things before they completely took over the rest of my garden (see pic to the right for reference!).
Here are a few specific tips for summer plants-
1. Cucumbers and tomatoes both grow great in the summer, but they are [usually] vining and will need a cage or trellis to provide support and keep the veggies off the ground.
2. Zucchini also grows great in the summer but can be a very large plant. For cucumber, tomatoes or zucchini, give them 2-3 feet from any other plant in the ground or a raised bed, or plant them in their own very large planter.
3. Mint is so easy to grow and great to have on hand for recipes (i.e. fresh mojitos or this mint pea salad) – BUT it will take over your planter, garden or yard. I planted mint behind our house in PA after learning that it is a natural remedy to keep mice away (very important when you live on a farm!)
In the shortest amount of time, this went from 1 small plant to an entire stretch of mint bushes. This may not be what you want, but I was crushed to leave these beauties.
Here are a few of my favorite Amazon products for gardening-
Now, go buy some seeds or starter plants and get to work! Let me know how your garden turns out!