Early Start to your 2012 Veggie Garden.

Now is the perfect moment to start planning your vegetable garden! You might think I am nuts being its cold all over right now. . Until mid-February, seed catalogs and Internet companies are running huge discounts that typically aren’t available in the spring. Local stores will also often sell out of popular vegetable seeds as soon as the ground thaws enough to start planting.

If you’re a gardening novice or haven’t yet considered growing your own produce, ponder this:

• Green Beans: A few years ago, Scott and I had a huge veggie garden. ( I didn't blog then! )  I fed my family freshly-picked green beans from July through Labor Day. I had more than 40 quarts steamed and frozen in Ziploc bags in my freezer. We gave away bags full to friends and family, then finally let the remaining beans dry on the plants and now have 3 quart jars full of dried beans. That $3 spent on seeds turned into well over $100 of fresh produce!

• Lettuce: This is another option with the most bang for your buck. Averaging $2.49, a packet of 1000 seeds includes a blend of Romaine, Simpson, and a variety of other red and green-leaf lettuces. Like green beans, lettuce will keep growing the more it is harvested and will keep your family full. This was by far one of my most favorite things to grow. I grew it in the spring and in the fall. Its not easy to grow lettuce in the hot days of summer because they are so delicate.

• Swiss Chard: Considered by some foodies to be a gourmet green, this is probably the easiest plant to grow. At $3.99 or less for 100 seeds, it’s a new gardener’s best friend. Chard is not very delectable raw but when steamed, tastes like a mild spinach. It is often tossed with butter or bacon drippings or is chopped and used as a spinach substitute in cooking recipes. Like beans and lettuce, it will continue to produce the more it is harvested, but unlike lettuce or spinach, it will continue to thrive in steamy hot temperatures.

• Zucchini: I once read in a gardening magazine that the best thing to do with zucchini was to plant one seed, then burn the rest of the packet to prevent it taking over your entire yard. Just a few zucchini plants will more than supply a large family with plenty of the tasty veggie, and there are thousands of recipes to use up the leftovers. We had so much zucchini that we were giving it away to friends and family.

• Tomatoes How many times have you paid big bucks for a ripe fresh tomato. I think this is the most used veggie in our garden. We love them. My kids pick and eat them right from the garden. Getting these seeds on sale is another great way to save money when working on your garden.

Now that I have you convinced that gardening is a money-saving venture, where should you begin?

Check out seed websites like Gurneys.com and HenryFields.com. Both companies guarantee their products to grow and have refunded me my cost when I’ve had seeds or plants fail to sprout.

What to Plant

First, find out your hardiness zone. This is based on your location, and all types of vegetation are rated to grow in specific zones. For example, if you live in northern Maine (zone 3), you cannot expect to grow pineapples (zone 10). Furthermore, you should plant only what you and your family like to eat.

Scott and I planed everything.. and our garden was about 15x30 ( husby's guess ) and while it was a lot of work.. it was the good kind of work. Out in the sun, digging in the dirt while the kids helped, and harvest time even better.

Our garden included:

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Peas

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Onions

Potatoes

Carrots

Squash & Pumpkins

Various Herbs

- I am sure there is more that I am forgetting -

And this garden fed our family really well.

As many of you know, I am not doing a huge garden in the yard this year. Our yard is just not really in the shape to put a garden. So this year, I am doing A LOT of of  - Container Gardening - on the back deck. Most of my gardens even with my ex husband has been raised bed gardens because they are so much easier to care for. But that takes a lot of work and its a little more expensive too. But this year I am doing something different. My deck on the back of the house is maybe about 12x12.. maybe a little bigger but not huge. When we add a table and chairs out there we will even have less room. But I will be strategically placing my veggie around around in that area and also on the front porch. I think the front porch will hold most of the herbs. Another thing about having a container garden on the back deck is that it will be easier for house sitters to water if we are away. When gardening you have to be able to make arrangements when you won't be home. If super hot outside.. and you don't water.. your plants will suffer and could even die. So you have to plan ahead if you are going to be away from home. You can also find a ton of automatic water systems but for a container garden that won't really be a good solution.

I will be doing many many more post on creating and maintaining a container garden. You are more than welcome to follow the steps along with me if you want to try this too. I KNOW it will work.. I have a green thumb and even if you don't think you do.. YOU CAN DO IT. Really, what it takes is - follow through-. You have to be consistent in doing it and you will have success too.

Also if you want, you can buy some plants that are already started for you but it will cost a bit more than starting from seeds. But some, such as carrots.. need to be started from seeds. I do some times cheat and buy plants that are already started. Its just easier. But if you really want to save money doing this.. you should start as much of it as you can with seeds. I tend to use Harris Seeds a lot because I think they have unique seeds and great gardening tools at reasonable prices.

I am going to be doing a ton of post. I am not sure if I should make it a new series.. or just even maybe give it its own page. A big reason for me gardening is we spend a lot of money on fresh produce every year. I love growing it myself and having it available any time I want. - I can't tell you how many times I have picked a green tomato to fry up at 1am for a late night snack! - We saved so much money the years we had gardens. Our garden wasn't huge either. We just really planned it well.. I even drew diagrams of where things would be planted for the most possible space. We used long tree branches that we placed in the ground for a trellis for the peas to grow up in. It was actually beautiful how they vined all over the natural trellis. We had so much food because of that garden. We froze a lot of it and had fresh veggies well into the winter.

So its time to start thinking about it. First off,

- Decide on if you want a garden in your yard, or a container garden -

Container garden for the Jaggers family for 2012

- Make a list of what you think you would like to grow. -

If you are new at gardening, take it slow.. 4 or 5 things will be plenty .

- Start browsing the seed sites above and see if you can find the seeds on sale -

Find what you can and place your order.

I will be back in a couple weeks to start discussing starting your seeds and also what kind of containers I will be using and what kind of potting medium I will be using. So much to talk about with gardening. But if you want to follow along ↑ those few steps ↑ should get you started. Right now I am in the middle of looking for seeds myself. We are at the very beginning stages so jump in and follow along if you like!

If you have any questions you are more than welcome to email me at mrskishajaggers@gmail.com and if you have any tips about container gardening I would love to hear any and all suggestions!

I am sure getting excited about spring!

K Jaggers

♥