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Vegetable and Herb Gardening 101

April 4, 2016 By Jennifer @ PB and P Design 1 Comment

Hi Everyone,

It’s finally warm and beautiful out here in Northern, CA.  This weekend I started on my vegetable garden.  I am no expert when it comes to gardening, but I have to admit when it comes to vegetable gardens I tend to have a green thumb.  I thought today I would share with you some things I learned the past 10 years for vegetable gardening.  It’s so simple and rewarding and basically once you get through with the prep your pretty well set the rest of the Spring and Summer.  You just have to sit back and watch your garden grow.

Soil Prep:

This is the worse part for me because it is so much work, especially if you have a large plot.  This is what I do.

  1.  Pull the weeds.  Get down in the dirt and get all of the roots.  If you don’t pull the roots out the weeds will come back.  Trust me on that one.  That was a hard lesson learned.
  2. Discard any vegetables that re-seeded it’self from last year.  Chances are if it grows, the fruit or vegetables won’t have the same wonderful flavor as the year you planted.  My tomatoes came back again this year, I felt bad, but I had to pull them out.  I left them one year and I didn’t get many tomatoes and they just grew green and leggy. Not worth it!  (NOTE:  Don’t discard vegetables if they grown yearly, like asparagus, know what you’re growing and research it)
  3. If you have herbs growing, trim them back so they can grow bushy.  If you have parsley; they are bi-annual, they will grow a second season, grow flower bursts, then die, plus the parsley is more bitter in taste on the second growing season.  I recommend pulling them out and getting new ones.
  4. Check your soil.  Do you need to add amendments to the soil?  Since we all have different soil, I have sandy soil, you can checkout this article by Lowes, this will help tell you what to add to your soil and help you tell what kind of soil you have.
  5. Soil Recommendation:  You have a garden and you are just getting it ready to plant.  I recommend using Miracle-Gro Vegetable and Herb Garden Soil.  Mix it into the top 6″ of your soil.  I layer it on my garden and with a shovel, I flip it into my dirt.  Mixing the soil 50/50.   I’m telling you this stuff is like gold in the garden.  I didn’t fertilize last year using this soil and my garden just burst.  I love this soil.  It’s great for the lazy gardener.   US-Miracle-Gro-Garden-Soil-Vegetables-And-Herbs-73759430-Main-Lrg
  6. Rack your Garden.  Once I have my soil in and I am just about ready to plant, I smooth my garden with a rack to make sure that the soil is even.  I don’t want more dirt in one spot and not another or have it lumpy looking.

Plants


This is the fun part.  What to plant?  This is where you need to give it some thought.  Questions to ask yourself:

  • What vegetables do I want?
  • What will I use, that won’t go to waste?
  • What will grow in my area?
  • How many plants will fit in my garden?
  • How big will the plants get?
  • Is there enough sun or shade?
  • What plants are companions of each other?

Lots of questions.  For me, it’s easy, tomatoes, peppers and some herbs.  Of course I add other things like squash and corn.  A few key things are the following:

  1. Get enough plants for the garden, but be sure not to overcrowd the garden.  The plants need space to grow and air to circulate around them.
  2. Read the labels.  I say this with everything from grocery shopping to plants.  The key things to look for on the label, is how big do the plants get?  How much space to plant between other plants.
  3. Get plants that are companions to each other.  Most Italian herbs and vegetables can be planted together, however if you plant vegetables that are not friends, your garden will not flourish and you can cause disease to occur in the garden.  Here is a list of companion plants. Companion-Planting-FTFA
  4. Go shopping!  I buy most of my plants from big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes.  I normally by Bonnie Bell plants.  They do well in the garden and come in a peat moss pot that can be put right into the ground.
  5. Basil – This is just a piece of advice, but I buy the Basil Plants from Trader Joe’s.  They are pretty big and only $3.99 a plant.  I just pop it in the ground.  It grows massive once it’s planted and since it is so big the roots are well established.  The Trader Joe plants work so much better than the one’s at the nurseries.  I highly recommend if you’re getting basil, go to Trader Joe’s and buy your plant.  The plant lasts until the end of growing season.  Just be sure to pluck off the flowers when you see them appear.

Planting:

Now the fun part, getting your new plants into the ground.

  1.  Lay your plants out in the garden to where you want to plant them.  This will let you know if you have enough room and if you need to buy more.
  2. Group your plants together.  I like to plant all my peppers together.  I plant all my herbs together in the front of the garden for easy snipping.  I plant tomatoes in the middle to the back of the garden.  You want to make sure you don’t have big ones in the front and small in the back, otherwise they will not get enough sun. IMG_3651
  3. Again read your labels.  The label will tell you how deep to plant your plants and how far apart to plant them.
  4. Save your labels.  I put my labels right in the ground with my plants, so I know what kind of vegetable I am growing and picking.  Then I know for next year if I want to plant them again.  I bought about 7 different kind of peppers, so I want to know if I am picking mild or spicy for my dinners.  🙂
  5. Plant Food.   I do buy vegetable food for when I plant my garden.  I just take a little bit and mix it in the dirt when I am planting my vegetables.  This is the only time I feed my vegetables.  Between that and the Miracle-Gro Soil my plants are good to go for the season.
  6. Tomato Plants.  I recommend buying cages to go around your tomato plants.  That way they grow upright and not all over the place.  Last year I didn’t do that and one of my plants grew about 6′ wide and it was out of control. It took over the garden.  I had to cut back the plant.

Here is my garden when I just planted it last year. April 2015

Vegetable Garden April 2015

Here is what the garden looked like one month later; May 2015.

Vegetable Garden May 2015

Watering Plants:

I’ll admit I hate watering the plants.  Year after year I hand watered them.  Finally last year my Husband put in a drip system.  It worked beautifully. The only advice I can give is the following.

  1. Water at the base of the plant.  Try not to get the leaves wet.  If you do, the sun can burn the leaves.
  2. Water in the morning so the plants have all day to dry out.  If you water at night, you risk getting a fungus or mold because the plants don’t have time to dry out.
  3. If you have to water at night, then do it.  I have on occasion and if it is super hot out and the plants are getting to dry, then yes give them some water in the evening.
  4. Get a drip system or soaker hose if you can.  This is wonderful because you won’t have to water.  On late mornings or long days this is the most convenience.  I don’t want to sit at work and worry because I forgot to water my plants.

Pests in the Garden:

This is the worse!  You spend so much time planting the garden and then your plants start to die off because of insects.  Here are a few natural remedies that I found work.

  1.  Buy Marigolds.  These plants attract the aphids and other pests from your garden.  Plus the smell repels cats.  Just plant them around your vegetables.
  2. Snails – Add broken egg shells around your plants.  They do not like to climb on the shells because it doesn’t feel good.  Plus the eggs add calcium in the garden.  Also beer works too!  Take a tuna or other shallow can, clean it out and place it in the ground in your garden.  Make it flushed to ground level.  Pour beer in it.  The snails and slugs will drown in it.
  3. Ants – This is a huge problem for me.  Ants are attracted to the water, at least where I live.  Add baking soda around the garden.  They will take the baking soda, drink water and explode.
  4. Aphids – I taking a little dish soap and add it to a spray bottle with water and spray my plants with it.
  5. If your garden is doing well, it will attract natural good insects like lady bugs that will eat the bad insects.

So how did my garden grow?

Your probably thinking, yeah, yeah but where is the proof?  How did your garden grow?  Here are some pictures I took last year through the growing season.  My first harvest was in June and my last big harvest was in October.  Pretty cool that it lasted so long.  My pepper garden grew until January 2016.  At that point I had to take the plants out.

Vegetables though the season

I hope I encouraged you to get out there and plant your own garden.  If you don’t have enough land to plant a vegetable garden, then do it in pots.  Make a herb pot or put a tomato in a pot and place it on your deck or in front of your doorway.  Nothing beats fresh vegetables that you grew and picked yourself.

Well it’s Sunday right now and my dirt is prepped and now I must get the plants into the ground.  It’s stinky because it’s kind of windy out.

Have a wonderful week!

Toodles,

Jennifer

 

Filed Under: Garden, Plants & Flowers, Vegetarian and Side Dishes Tagged With: 101, gardening, herbs, how to, vegetables

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Andy says

    August 6, 2016 at 10:02 PM

    Hi Jennifer! Great post on how to grow your own vegetable garden. 🙂 I’ve never really grown anything on my own. The last plant I owned just died and I have no idea why. I’m not a brown thumb, but I just have no experience with plants at all. I’d someday like to have my own vegetable garden as well, but in my part of the world, growing tomatoes, eggplants, and local lemon and chili varieties are great for beginners, so I’m guessing I will start with those.

    Reply

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It’s time for my annual pumpkin bath picture. I It’s time for my annual pumpkin bath picture. I don’t know what it is, but I love to give pumpkins a bath. Don’t they look cute bathing in the sunlight with bubbles around them? lol
🎃
There are two methods that I have used  in the past; the chlorine bath and the dish soap bath. This is what I have learned.
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My favorite and only way I wash pumpkins now is using dish soap.  It gets rid of the sap and makes them clean. I soak my pumpkins for about 20 minutes. The pumpkins will last until December. Plus if you keep your pumpkins after the holidays it will decay and grow pumpkins the following year. Plus it’s safe for animals that may nibble on your pumpkin.
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The chlorine bath method will make your pumpkins last possibly up to a year. They take very long to break down and I never got my pumpkins to seed themselves. Plus it is not safe for animals in my opinion. Though Clorox Bleach says it’s safe, they just taste salty.
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The key to washing pumpkins is to make sure that you get the area around the stem dry. You don’t want water around the stem. This could make your pumpkin rot sooner. So after the bath, dry your pumpkins off very good. 
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Did you get your pumpkins yet?
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PS if you are in the Bay Area, I highly recommend going to @threenunnsfarm to get your pumpkins. They have a wide variety and the pumpkins and are .75 a pound. I bought all these pumpkins for $42.
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🦇
To add Fall or Halloween you don’t need to add a lot, just a few touches here and there. I will give a full tour in stories and tag a few items. Majority of the decor came from @krumpetshomedecor and the towels and bat banner from @theblessedpeach 
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Have the best day!
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#halloweendecor #krumpetshomedecor #halloweenkitchen #batdecor #cutehalloween #kitchendecoration #kitchenstyling #theblessedpeach #blackandwhitekitchen #halloweendecorideas #spookydecor
Hello Tuesday! Hope you are doing well. It’s sta Hello Tuesday! Hope you are doing well. It’s starting to feel like Fall here in Northern California. The mornings and evenings are feeling crisp. I can’t get over that we are in the middle of September. Where did the Summer go?
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I’m sharing with you the corner of my living room where I store my pumpkins that I grew before I can take them outside. It’s been too warm for them and I want them to last through October. They have been doing well, as they have been here since the middle of August. 
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Happy Monday! I want to thank those who have reach Happy Monday! I want to thank those who have reached out to me asking if I am okay. I am doing just fine. I’ve taken a little break from posting here because I have been busy on the dogs Instagram page. It’s hard to keep up on both. The dog page is so busy with birthdays, events and engagement. They have a busier social life than me. 
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I am sharing with you the last view of my kitchen before it is filled with Halloween. I spent 6 hours yesterday cleaning all the cabinets, appliances, sink and floor. I even did the windows. It sure tired me out. I’m not as young as I used to be. But it is so sparkly clean. I did put up my Halloween and I can’t wait to share with you. The dining room is the next room to conquer.
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Have a wonderful day!!
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The vinyl floor runner - @vmathome 
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#flooranddecor #cleankitchen #whitecabinets #kitchenstyle #kitchenremodel #kitcheninspo #kitchenappliances #whirlpoolappliances #vmat #whitekitchen #subwaytile
Hi, it’s me Samuel!! I am taking over mamas page Hi, it’s me Samuel!! I am taking over mamas page today because I got the best gift in the whole world and it even came in the mail on my birthday. How did @downlitebedding know? They are so good!
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Downlite Bedding sent me the EnviroLoft® Down Alternative PrimaCool™ Cooling Comforter. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s so soft, cozy, hypoallergenic and it makes me so happy. 
🐾
The comforter is 400 thread count, it has moisture wicking and cooling technology to help regulate body temperature, which is perfect since I get warm in the summer with all my hair and I like to be cool when I’m sleeping. A big plus is the comforter is white, I hide very well in it. It’s hard to see me. So mama can’t catch me on her bed. 
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The EnviroLoft® Down Alternative PrimaCool™ Cooling Comforter also has a Scotchguard stain release fabric and machine wash and dry. It’s truly an amazing comforter.
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Mama let me do this takeover today because she knows that I love @downlitebedding as much as she does. She said she has never seen me get so excited as I do when we get Downlite Bedding and pillows in the mail. How can I not get excited? It’s like sleeping on a cloud!
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Downlite Bedding was kind enough to give us a 20% discount:  DYGEN20 
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Have a great day and happy napping!
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❤️Samuel
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Happy Thursday! Here is a view of my garden that I Happy Thursday! Here is a view of my garden that I took a couple weeks ago. My garden really overgrew this season. I need to do some major work in it, but with the heat, it’s just unbearable to be out there too long.
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I am sharing the “All White Collection” from @bzaar_wholesale. Each piece to the collection is so elegant and can be used all year round and would be gorgeous around the holidays.

The tray is made of marble with beautiful gold handles. The cheese knives are gold with solid marble handles and compliments the tray perfectly.

I used the marble flower shaped bowl for putting chocolates, but would be so stunning to use on your coffee table, side table and more.

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@bzaar_wholesale has amazing products for your home, great pricing and global shipping. The link is in my bio.

Do you like making charcuterie boards? What do you add to yours?
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Hello, hello! It may be 100 degrees outside, but I Hello, hello! It may be 100 degrees outside, but I can’t resist putting out some Fall. Especially when you get new decor from @12timbers.  You would laugh if you came into my living-room. Half my room is Fall, the other half is still coastal blues. lol I’ll eventually change it all out.
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The Fall blocks are the Krumpets Home Decor deal of the week. Plus you get an additional 10% off with code: PBANDP. Link in my bio.
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What is your favorite season to decorate for?
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#krumpetshomedecor #fallvignette #falldecorating #vignettestyling #falldecor #traystyling #traydecor #pumpkinseason #homegrownpumpkins #falltrends 
#summ3rsd4y
Hello Tuesday! One of my favorite summer drinks is Hello Tuesday! One of my favorite summer drinks is a nice cold glass of lemonade. I like it a tad sour over sweet. It gives you the zippys in your mouth. I do love a good homemade lemonade, but once in awhile I like to cheat and just get my favorite store brand and add some freshly cut lemons and a few sprigs of mint. It then looks homemade when it’s not.
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This is my outdoor dining area. I put the tablecloth over the table and have kept it like that all summer. I love my table, but being black, it’s extremely hot when you touch it. Plus it has water spots from last year which is annoying. Not sure how to get rid of them? 
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What is your favorite summer drink? Have a wonderful day!
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