I suck at farming...

So I'm not technically a farmer.  And I really don't even have a garden.  But I do have a few veggie plants! Not that it freaking matters because my tomatoes have rot!  I'm sure there is a technical word for it, but I don't even care at this point.  I am sooo mad.  AND I only have myself to blame.   I knew when I planted my lone tomato plant this year in the SAME bucket with the SAME soil as last year (I added a bit of new soil and mixed) that I was taking a chance, but I was in a hurry and just did it.

At first the plant looked awesome.  It grew tall and strong and before long there were tons of blooms.  Then the blooms started falling off.  So I kind of wrote it off as a good plant, but then I started seeing tomatoes!  I went out this afternoon to water things and this is what I saw:

SERIOUSLY?   And it's not just that one.  See the little one to the left of it?  Don't worry, it'll get the black funk too.  ALL of the bigger tomatoes have it.  This ticks me off.  I can't imagine how farmers feel when they have issues in an entire crop.  This is my one little measly plant and I am super disappointed.

So after that I decided I needed something to make me happy.  I looked around and saw my dill.  I love dill.  It's one of those herbs that I can eat on pretty much anything!  It's supposedly time to snip the flowers off if I want it to continue producing the herb, but look how pretty they are!  I'm not sure I can do that.  Perhaps I'll let it grow a little longer and try to harvest the seeds for next time!

 

I enjoy gardening, but the past two summers have not been good for us.  Last summer, although our garden looked great, I found out in June I was pregnant and was then sick for 16 weeks and couldn't bear the thought of eating, much less working outside in the heat tending to my veggies!   And this year I didn't prepare very well since I was having a baby around the time I should have been starting my seeds indoors!  

I still have cucumbers to come and bell peppers.  I planted peas and green beans and although they are producing right now, I just didn't plant enough for it to be worth it  you know?  I need to figure out what is best to plant in a small garden for high yield.  If a bell pepper produces enough, that will surely be worth it because I can freeze those.  Have you seen the price for any bell pepper other than the green ones?  Crazy high!  So that would definitely be one to grow.  

Well...I guess it's just one plant that has the funk.  At least I don't have 100 tomato plants that have it.

Free vegetable seeds

I'm going to plant a garden.

I'm very excited.

I'm especially excited now that I received these seeds in the mail today....for FREE!

I received them after writing to the Dinner Garden people about 2 weeks ago. I'd honestly forgotten all about it until I received my wonderful package today! The Dinner Garden is a fantastic organization that has an awesome mission:

The Dinner Garden provides seeds, gardening supplies, and gardening advice free of charge to all people in the United States of America. We assist those in need in establishing food security for their families. Our goal is for people to plant home, neighborhood, and container gardens so they can use the vegetables they grow for food and income.

They only began this program in 2009 and have already provided seeds for more than 40,000 families and 100 community gardens! How awesome is that?

This is what I received:

• Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard
• Arugula
• Blue Curled Scotch Kale
• Fenugreek
• Mustard Greens
• Onions
• Snowball Cauliflower
• Harris Early Model Parsnips
• Wando Peas
• Organic Bloomdale Spinach
• Red Cabbage
• Daikon Radish

How exciting are those names? I love them. I love the little packages and the little labels. I love that I got the variety that I did. I would have never been so courageous in a store to pick these out! I'm especially excited about the arugula. Giada always uses arugula and when I try to make her recipes I can never find good, fresh arugula. The fenugreek is a complete surprise. I know when I was concerned with my supply when I was exclusively nursing my son, fenugreek was an herb that came up again and again as a supplement to encourage breastmilk production. Not sure what I'll do with it now, but I'm going to grow it anyway!

So, where am I growing all of this? Those of you who have been to our house in Savannah know that we have a tiny yard. Our entire lot is only .13 of an acre. Yep, not even a quarter acre!

Well, I plan on trying a variety of things.

Things such as vertical gardening. This link has several gardens we'll try. The first picture is so beautiful that I must try it at least! What a great way to fill blank fence space! The gutter system is also a must for me. I'll probably do this to grow herbs.

We'll also do container gardening. I found this blog and tutorial on making your own self-watering container. I know we can get the 5-gallon buckets for free, so the cost should be pretty similar to the ones the guy builds in the video.

Another thing I'm super excited about is the possibility of having a plot in a community garden in downtown Savannah! I've heard about community gardens in other cities and decided to search for one in Savannah and found one! We've applied for a plot and hope to be lucky enough to be granted one!

Hopefully between my container gardening in our yard and our small plot (hopefully!) in the community garden, we'll be able to provide fresh, organic produce for our family to eat all summer and fall! We will also donate some of our excess to the local food bank as thanks to the Dinner Garden for supplying us with our starter set of seeds!