Green Ambitions

When I tell people I have a garden I say “I have green ambitions, not sure if I have a green thumb yet”. Even with my lack of experience, I knew I wanted to try this year and not wait. When we moved into this house we had sizable piece of land in the back that gets full sun, but didn’t get much use. That paired with being inspired by shows like The Lost Kitchen and From the Source, I really wanted to start a journey of growing my own food. Which with full transparency, yes, I will have spent significant money this year to grow things that do not cost a lot of money. But that really wasn’t the point.

I want to break this down for anyone else who may be starting their green ambitions journey. Are there things I could have done differently 1000%, were there cheaper options, probably, but here is how I did it. I will break it down into prep, cost, labor, other.

PREP

First thing was finding where to plant. For us I knew I wanted to utilize the back portion of our yard 1) because it gets full sun and 2) it is basically unused otherwise. The challenges of this spot were that there is not a water spigot near by and the ground was not good quality soil (too sandy and clay). This meant either I had to dig it all up and add new dirt or plant in raised beds or containers. Someone recommended to me, since I was just starting, to plant in containers, its less of an investment and that way I see if I like this whole gardening thing before dropping serious money. In terms of cost, things that surprised me the most were the cost of dirt and the cost of plants. Here is the breakdown:

Item	Cost
2 Aluminum Raised Bed Planters (6″ x 3″ x 1″)	$94
Dirt- 13 bags	$8/bag = $104
Plants	~$100
Seeds	~$20
Other garden things (tools, trellis, watering can etc)	~$50
Composter	$12
Total	= $380

Is it likely I will grow $400 worth of produce this year, no, probably not. THAT BEING SAID. This is a hobby, and several items were investment items that next year wont be a cost we have to factor in.

There are likely a few things I missed cost wise here, but I also missed a few things that saved on cost.

PLAN

So what exactly am I even growing?

Here is the line up:

From Plant	From Seed
6 Tomato Plants (3 Cherry, 3 Yellow, 1 Plum)	Okra
8 Escarole Heads	Snap Peas
6 Basil (2 Sweet, 4 Thai)	Bell Pepper
4 Collard Green	Zucchini
1 Blueberry Bush	Basil
1 Cucumber – died in frost	Lettuce
1 Chamomile
1 Mint
1 Lemon grass
1 Eggplant
4 Beets

I did a lot of research on what grows well together, but ultimately my green ambitions didn’t let me totally grow companions plants exclusively together. This is something that time will tell how effective it was. One of my beds was more better planned than the other and this had companion planting in mind. It is with the tomatoes, basil, marigolds, all benefit companion plants.

At the time of writing this, I will admit I am having a war with a groundhog who is KEEN on eating my escarole, so we will see if that survives. But otherwise everything is growing!

PERSEVERE

The thing I enjoy and dislike is about gardening is the time required. I find being in the garden to be meditative, and I get a high type of excitement when I see things growing or blooming. But it is something you have to be meticulous about keeping on top of, watering, weeding, etc. You may be able to skip one day, but much more than that and it can make or break your garden.

With the joy there is also a bit of heart ache, whether its a ground hog who keeps eating all your veggies. Bugs that tear through your leaves. Or plants that just wont grow and you aren’t sure why. These things will happen, but you must persevere! Because this is part of the process!

TO SUM IT UP

1. Prep what you need to make a garden happen and where it can go
2. Plan what your are going to plant and how your going to maintain it
3. Persevere, it’s not the kind of thing you can set and forget, it needs constant care

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR GREEN AMBITIONS!!