Over the course of my adult life I have developed into a more environmental conscious person. While I still consider myself a budding environmentalist, in comparison to many of my peers, I have been called a “tree-hugger”.
My path has transitioned from natural hair, to natural personal care, then to natural home products and now more organic and local eating and recycling. I am becoming a better-rounded “greenie”. It was only a matter of time for me to embrace growing my own vegetable garden. Actually, the concept of backyard gardening was not new to me as I was often my grandpa’s gardening assistant (aka he was retired and babysitting me) in the summers when I was growing up. So naturally, when the time came for me to start my own garden, I immediately sought him out for advice. Now the tides are turning and my good friend, Kela, Founder of Today’s Modern Family, has contacted me for the very same advice.
So here goes nothing a novices’ notes on starting a vegetable garden!
First things first, visit garden.org site to get a crash course on the growing season. Here in the Midwest, we have to be careful not to plant summer crops before the last frost. You may think you can only grow summer squash, tomatoes, and an occasional strawberry bush, but in reality you can grow quite a bit in an Indianapolis growing season. In late spring and summer you can plant “cool weather” crops such as lettuces, peas, and other greens. You can also grow a kitchen herb garden year-round.
Isn’t this one I found on http://www.myhomerocks.com cute?
Check out the full post here.
The next decision would be where the garden will be planted. I often thought that gardening was only for those with a sprawling yard in the ‘burbs’ or country but increasingly urban dwellers in cities, apartments and condos are getting in on the action. For those with limited outdoor space, I’d suggest a container garden stocked with your faves and paired with your kitchen herb garden. For those of you in cities, be on the lookout and do a search on community gardens, co-ops and urban farms in your area.
Check out my space year one!
The next decision I will make for you – grow organically! Among the many reasons to grow your own food is that it’s fresh – you know where it came from and hopefully that’s a garden free of toxic pesticides and artificial growing aids!
The final decision-making point…what are you going to grow? From personal experience, this is largely determined by taste buds of your household and the amount of space dedicated for planting your crops. Word to the wise…grow what you like and what your family likes. There is nothing like having a yard full of summer squash that both you and the kids will only want to eat twice during the summer! However, if you network with your neighbors and other local growers you could do veggie swaps and switch out your great squash for your neighbors tasty okra or peppers!
My first year I grew, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, radishes, and peppers. Last growing season, I had lettuce, collard greens, onions, summer squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, and okra ( I added a new bed). I have had mixed success (due to my own personal inconsistency) with my herb garden but this year I am trying again with cilantro and mint – two of my faves. Basil was easy to grow but I found I didn’t use it very often so it was a waste for me.
So clearly there is a lot to think about and I haven’t even mentioned how to grow or plant anything yet. So this blog post will need to be continued into the growing season, until then visit some of my favorite sites for growers in Indy:
• Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
• Indy Tilth (created by colleague of mine)
• Castaway Compost (because of course you’re going to compost!)
• Fall Creek Gardens aka Indy’s Urban Growers Resource Center
• And of course you can “google” and find others including your local extension service’s Master Gardener program – here it’s Purdue Extension!
Happy Gardening!
Simply Starla 
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