ladykatza

Try and try again.

That seems to be my motto when it comes to vegetable gardening. I’ve had two attempts at veggies since I have lived in this house. The first attempt was a commando style where I planted a few things here and there in the few bright sunny spots. Logistically, this was not the greatest of ideas. All the things I planted in pots on the back porch did great. Anything in the yard was overtaken by weeds or pests. In some cases I just plain forgot where I put stuff.

So, I skipped a year. LAST year I tried a traditional row type bed in an area that I thought might actually get enough sun. I was off by a good bit, because I wanted it closer to the house and not further away. This one tried to do well, but again, I got overwhelmed by how labor intensive it was and everyone else in the house is like plant kryptonite. Second try, fail.

Nuts.

Well, when were were in the apartments in Kennesaw, I did a pretty successful container garden. I did some lettuce, tomatoes, and bell peppers with pretty good success. Recently, I found out about a method called square foot gardening. Some guy came out with a book in the early eighties, I think. You can read most of the book here. Well, this actually may be just what I was looking for. I have a very small area on the side of my house next to the driveway that gets about 7 hours of direct sunlight a day. The ground itself there is not conducive to tilling and planting because of drainage. BUT a raised bed like you use in a square foot garden would work just fine. And it is higher off the ground so I won’t strain my back as much. And I can build my first 4 foot by four foot planter, add dirt and plants, for less than 100 bucks. That’s 16 squares to plant in. And it will be right next to the front door and the driveway, where I walk by ALL THE TIME.

I’m a bit excited about this, can you tell? The other great thing is I don’t have to worry about watering restrictions because food gardens are exempt. And because I live in Georgia, our growing season is phenomenally long. Not as awesome as California or Florida, but close. I am also trying to curb my obsessive nature and keep it simple. I will only do one planter box. IF it works out well, I will add a second one later. Two would be the max. After that I run out of full sun space options and have to look at cutting down trees.

I’m going down to visit Mom and Dad this Saturday and I plan on hijacking Dad’s workshop to make the planter. With his help of course.

So here’s hoping the third time will be the charm.