Anupama's journey

Post date: May 11, 2020 2:30:11 AM

I've started gardening in Atlanta in 2016 with 2 4×4 beds.I was in a rush as it was already May and gathered seeds from friends and stores and plamts.Planted with adding cow manure and waited.Except gongura,tomatoes, okra and bush beans everything was a disaster. By the end of the year I started searching where I have gone wrong even with years of experience in gardening but was new to this climate gardening. Then I read about the importance of 2 things planning and journal keeping.

I take a list of veggies my family likes to eat,a list of varieties I want to try and any new veggie I want to introduce to my picky eater. I start planning by number of beds I have ,veggies,.Then I go thru seed catalogs in November and online catalogs to see any new varieties of tomatoes I want to try to get that naatu flavor.Generally all my seeds are op and heirloom so if I like a particular variety I can save seeds.Then I order seeds.In December I'll have my seed order,then check last year's journal which variety I've planted less but family craved for that.Then make beds on the paper and try to place each variety on that keeping in mind about crop rotation. I brainstorm with my husband during holidays if he wants any veggie extra and some veggies less.Then I change my plan of placing veggies 3 or 4 times to be perfect and according to the height .

Then I plan how many total transplantsI need for each bed and add atleast 10 to it and make a list of varieties and number of plants that need to be on hand while transplanting. Then final plan is ready.I start my seeds indoors on Sankranti as a tribute to the farmers all over the world who put food on our plates.Thats my way of saying thank you and start seeds .From then I start writing my journal on which date I have started seeds,which fertilizer I used for transplants,how I mixed soil for transplants and how many died due to shock and the date I've transplanted in the garden and how many survived after 3 days.Then start writing while transplanting what I used as a fertilizer and castings.The date I've sown seeds,germinated date,flowering stage,fertilizer, any soil correction needs to be done in future in any particular bed,pests and precautions taken for that and when the harvests started and how much from each variety...phew...sorry for tha long posts garddners.This helped me from 2017 and I'm getting slammed with produce now.

With Uma encouragement started fall gardening so now need to plan for that too.

I use square foot gardening method for all except greens. I use Indian style for greens as my parents and others used to do.

This way I know what works and what doesn't work in my garden.I also experiment a lot with planting dates and protecting plants without pesticides. I've successfully saved my eggplants from flea beetles since last year and used the same idea this year to save amaranth from pigweed beetles without any neem oil or anything.

Most of the fellow gardeners here know about my experiments.

Oh I forgot to mention one more thing. In 2018 I joined this group and met my fellow crazy gardeners. Since then I'm expanding my horizon from soil health to flowers.Thanks to you all🙏

Preserving garden produce for winters too.

This group gives you the motivation to do and everyone is a very experienced gardener who is ready to share experiences as all the new gardeners might have noticed already.

Some pics from my journal from planning to harvest.