kyleike2

I remember days when I was younger when I would go to my Mamaw and Papaw’s houses. Both sides of the family, my mom’s parents and my dad’s parents both had fairly large gardens. Whenever we would visit, they would usually have us grandkids help with the garden somehow, whether it be picking or shelling peas, picking up potatoes after Papaw tilled them, or helping water, they always involved us in the process. As time passed, though, I drifted away from anything to do with gardening. I helped my dad mow the yard and edge, but we were never much for gardening in my house growing up. I started a search into my own family genealogy and found that my family pretty much consisted of farmers up to a generation ago. That inspired me to join back with my family and try it as a hobby. I am someone who loves to do DIY projects (I roast my own coffee, make my own photography lighting gear, etc…) and the idea of growing my own food really appealed to me.

Last year I started growing my own herbs and loved it. I also attempted half-heartedly to grow a bell pepper plant that I bought for transplanting. It lasted all of a week before some critter (probably a possum) dug up the poor little plant and ate it. This year, around February or so, I decide I wanted to grow more. As is usual with me, it started off with a small idea, and the more I read and learned, the more I decided to do.

If I were to do it over today, I would have decided to use a different border material, probably cedar or some other wood that is more aesthetically pleasing. As it is, I used concrete blocks to create my first Square Foot Garden bed. I’m not sure what I read that made me decide to use the SFG method, but I first checked the book out from the library and eventually purchased it. The method is simple. You create raised beds and fill them with your own special soil: a combination of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. The bed is raised so it is easier to get to, the soil is never compacted by being walked on, and should have relatively few weeds to deal with. I don’t do many things small, so my first bed is a 4′ x 8′ (twice the recommended size that “Mel”, the author of the book, suggested).

I decided to plant many number of things, including some from transplant and some from seed. I’m glad I found myfolia.com because it tends to help me keep things organized meticulously. I am a huge fan of technology and the idea of tracking everything is perfect to me.