This will be my third year attempting to grow a garden in my backyard – and hopefully my first success story. The first year I tried to garden, I was reusing the small patch of dirt next to my garage, left by the previous residents when my husband and I moved into our new house. I planted a San Marzano tomato plant that a friend had started from seed. In August, I grew excited as the tomatoes started to mature, but growth was slow, and the weather turned to ice before the tomatoes ripened fully. Luckily, a few surprise cherry tomato plants popped up that I hadn’t planted; I see now why my grandma always called them “volunteers.” The cherry tomatoes grew significantly faster than the San Marzanos, so I had snacks all summer long, which almost softened the blow of the green tomatoes frozen on the vine.
Last year, I moved the garden to a sunnier patch of my yard, certain that the full sun would assist the tomatoes on their journey to ripeness. I decided that a raised garden bed would be best; it would be the easiest way to combat the Creeping Charlie (a common invasive weed with little purple flowers that can quickly take over a garden) growing underneath and would visually anchor the garden that was otherwise placed rather randomly in the middle of the yard. Unfortunately, everything I started from seed died within weeks of being transplanted. At first, I thought perhaps the location I chose because its full-sun exposure was too sunny. Then I thought maybe the bagged soil I used to fill the raised bed was not nutritious enough for the growing plants. Although I never did figure out exactly what the culprit was, I now have Egyptian Walking Onions growing happily there after a friend shared some excess she had in her own garden.
This year, I’m trying to find the Goldilocks of gardens. I’ve chosen a spot in full sun, and decided to get back in the dirt with a good ol’ fashioned in-ground garden. To prepare the space, I covered the area for a few weeks using old cardboard boxes. This killed most of the grass and weakened the weeds that had been growing.
While the cardboard worked its magic, I started seeds indoors. This is the second year in a row I have used empty egg cartons to start seeds, and the second year in a row I have disappointed myself with that tactic. Water leaks through the cartons very quickly, and, if left long enough, the roots will start to grow into the carton itself, making separating the seedlings very difficult. However, if you cut the carton into individual pods and saturate it with water, you can plant the whole pod right into the ground and the carton will compost. This method is good in theory, but inconvenient and frustrating in practice (I will probably use it again next year though because it is free.)
After a few weeks, I recycled the cardboard from my yard and dug up the dead grass that was left in its wake. You do have the option to leave your cardboard on the ground and add dirt on top. This will help with weeds and the cardboard will compost over time. However, it also requires A LOT of dirt to purchase and haul in.
When I went to plant my seedlings in the ground, I found that many of their roots had grown into the paper of the egg carton, making it impossible to space the seedlings properly in the ground without damaging their fragile root systems. So, my seedlings are planted in tiny bunches, extra far from one another, in hopes that the extra space between bunches will cancel out the crowding. Only time will tell how the seedlings react. This is not proper gardening technique! But as a newer gardener, that is okay! Each mistake is a lesson for next year. It’s not like our survival depends on this harvest. All of this is an experiment!
When the seedlings were put into the ground earlier this month, they experienced an initial shock and looked pretty droopy and sad. However, all of the seedlings have perked up and still seem to be growing steadily. Ironically, my lettuce plants, the most crowded of all, appear to be the happiest. They are still small, so we’ll see how they feel when they start to take up more space.
Another key change I’ve made this year is that I’ve converted from growing tomato seeds to buying a starter plant. Or at least, I plan to. I haven’t actually purchased any…yet. My thought is that perhaps a more established plant will ripen faster, saving me the disappointment of frozen green tomatoes. Next month, we’ll be checking back in on the difference between purchased starter plants and those grown from seeds, and discussing how to maintain a garden through the heat of the summer. Throughout my past two years of small garden attempts, I’ve learned a few things, perhaps the most important of which is that I still have a lot to learn. Here’s hoping that the third time really is the charm!
*This is the second part of a series The Workbench will be releasing regularly throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall of 2024 on our trials, successes and failures of an amateur urban garden.
