Gardening 101 on a Budget

We have the garden bug!  We bought $25 worth of wood and started a 4' x 6' planter!  We are using the square foot gardening method, so we are growing our squash, cucumbers, zuccini and watermelon up instead of out (on the North and East corners of the garden.  We used some of our myrtle twigs (free) and twine ($2) as our supports for the tomatoes, bell peppers, beans and squash.  We bought a couple plants from the "Fortbend county extension agency's" annual vegetable sale, and we planted a bunch of seeds.  Here is Greg building the planter bed on our driveway. 

Here is the garden after planting tomatoes (four types), lettuce (three types), peppers (three types), strawberries, and some herbs.  We also planted seeds of peas, beans, cucumbers (pickling and lettuce), beets (for the greens), a couple other types of lettuce, yellow squash, watermelon, and zucchini.  Everything has come up, we have even divided a couple of plants and given them away.  Someday we may build another bed, I really want to grow our own pumpkins this year, so we shall see if we get to another bed, or if we will have to find another area or just buy them (they are very expensive here).

Arial view, you can see several of the seeds popping up.

Silly as this may sound, this really is a dream come true, I have been so envious of other people's land for so long.  So far we have had several strawberries, tons of lettuce (six large lettuce's worth) and we are watching tomatoes ripen on all our vines and peppers on all our pepper plants!  Now we have our own little producing garden!  We did use the square foot gardening method, purchased vermiculite, sand, peat-moss and compost (a blend of all the "compost" at a garden center).  The soil is the expensive part!  Since I graduated with a soil science degree we are doing our own compost, but it wasn't ready in time for our first planting. One thing that I would do differently, is to plant everything at the same time, I tried to plant some seeds after others were established and they just didn't do as well as the plants that were well established.  

I recently came across these "Home Grown" episodes, some of my old professors are on these shows. They talk about when to plant, when to pick, square foot gardening, pests, etc.  I always recommend checking with your local extension agency on when to plant and which varieties do well in the region.  However, reputable  garden centers (not Lowes or Homedepot) should have the right varieties to grow.  I also recommend getting seeds at these locations, instead of the grocery store, etc.  At high-end garden centers you will get almost a 100% germination rate and the correct varieties in the correct seed envelope. Check with your local extension agency to see when the best times to plant may be, since this will be different in some cases even city to city.