My Garden; Year 1

Spring 2025 (March Equinox) – Last Updated June 7

Start: Mar 20

Duration: 92 days

Recap so far:

• I decided to try to jump into vegetable gardening the beginning of this year, but I’m a hands on learner, and this required a bit of research, so the research happened haphazardly and I started planting a bunch of different seeds (that I knew could grow where I live!) in different containers (egg crates, metal food tins, etc).

• My seedings had some issues with taking, and I think it was because there wasn’t enough soil or nutrients or something. They were all really leggy.

• I started transplanting some seedlings to the outdoor garden bed that my rental home came with (it hasn’t been used in years and it was overgrown, and I think the nearby tree’s roots have taken over a lot of it). They were still baby seedlings but I thought “now or never!”.

  • Some of them survived!

• There ~was~ a caterpillar infestation. At first, I was like “a few bites are fine!” but then I realized that they took EVERYTHING. So I started to spray neem oil on it once a week and it has worked wonderfully, in addition to picking off the caterpillars each day.

June 1 update:

• Seedlings

  • I have some seedlings going, and I’ve finally also accepted that the seedlings also need more light, so for now I have this lamp out (but I think I’ll get plant lights soon)

  • Seedlings going:

    • Kale

    • Eva Purple Tomatoes

    • Peppers

    • Cabbage

    • Brussel Sprouts

    • Jalapeno Peppers

    • Artichoke

    • Cantalope

    • Winter Squash

    • Snowball Cauliflower

• Garden

  • Cauliflower (3)

  • Lettuce (3)

  • Broccoli (4) 1 is really big, but no crown?

  • Dinosaur Kale (5) 2 are older

  • Strawberry (1)

  • Lemon Balm (1)

  • Motherworth (1)

  • Carrots (?? at least 2)

  • Beansprouts (18)

  • Squash (3)

  • Cucumber (1)

  • Cantaloupe (2). I don’t think I gave these three (the squash, cucumber or cantaloupes enough space, so we’ll see what happens!)

    
    

June 7 update:

• Seedlings

  • Okay I got a real grow light and it works so much better. I think this is what I really needed to successfully grow from seed. I was in denial but no longer!

  • 

• Garden

  • About once a week, I spread the household’s used espresso grounds to hopefully keep the bunnies and other pests away.

    
    

    I also tied up the cauliflower (I didn’t realize that this was something I had to do until Austin pointed it out… and he only knew because I read about it out loud but did not process it LOL)

    
    

    However, we are still suffering the consequences of the great caterpillar infestation a couple of months ago, since they almost ate EVERYTHING.

  • 
    
  • 

    

Summer 2025 (June Solstice)

Start: June 20

Duration: 93 days

Fall 2025 (September Equinox)

Start: Sept 22

Duration: 89 days

Winter 2025-2026 (September Equinox)

Start: Dec 21

Duration: 88 days