Garden fever has struck at Chow Bella and we are jumping on the grow-your-own-food bandwagon.
Starting this week, I will be documenting the trials and tribulations of turning my rundown backyard into a little farm, right in the middle of the city.
This is my first ever attempt at a garden and to be honest I don't have the greenest thumb. My specialty has always been killing cactus, not growing vegetables. Yet the thought of a food-producing garden was extremely attractive and thus the little farm was born.
See what's growing after the jump...
Almost everything in the garden was started by seed. Red, Jalapeno, Habanero, and Manzano peppers were all started from seeds taken straight out of the vegetable. Also started from seed: summer squash, zucchini, okra, radish, four different types of lettuce, and cucumber. Here are some early pictures of the seedlings. I started them all with standard potting soil in red plastic cups.
That will never happen again. If you are starting a garden, don't be cheap about it. Spend the money on a seed starting kit. At $5 a pop, it's worth every penny.
I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit to start the cucumbers and some of the peppers. The seedlings were up after only 4 days and the plants seem to be doing a 100 times better then everything else..
Check back next week for when we really get gardening with a 20 x 20 plot of sweet corn!
