Now is the perfect time to start your garden! Whether your thumbs have been green for years or you’re planning to play in the dirt for the first time, you’ll dig this guide.
#1. Focus on the trinity of gardening: soil, water, sunlight. Some quick research into what your planned plantings love makes a world of difference when it’s harvest time. Make yourself a cheat sheet for each of your future foods and be diligent!
#2. Start before the beginning. Get your hands dirty. The best soil will be soft and crumbly, not sandy, not wet and sticky. If your soil is leaning to one side of that scale, add sand or compost to balance it out. Fertilizer is your friend.
#3. Put on your garden planning hat. Once you know which of your plants will be on similar water schedules, group them together for shared sipping. Know where your light is coming from. Let the taller sun-loving residents like kale or cilantro throw some friendly shade for their shorter fair-complexioned neighbors.
#4. Grow what your belly wants. If you’re eagerly anticipating the yield of your efforts, you’re far more likely to nurture your garden. Arugula, spinach, kale, mizuna, bok choi, and mustard greens make for fabulous salads and savory side dishes. Peas are fast-growing, early season crops. Think of your favorites and find out if they grow well in our climate!
Everything tastes better when you’ve grown it yourself. That might not just be satisfaction either. There are certain vitamins and minerals (magnesium, for example) that don’t get replenished in soil. So that fresh dirt in your yard will sprout healthier produce than what you’re buying at the store from regularly farmed fields.
I’d be honored to sample any of your home-grown fruits and vegetables, but don’t feel like you need to wait to harvest season to give me a call. I’m always available to help you with any of your home and real estate needs!
