My Second Garden Begins

Last week, I officially planted the first seeds of my 2010 garden. This is my second year as a gardener, and, I'm hoping, a better year than last. Last summer was much colder than normal, and I ended up with only a handful of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, and they weren't all that impressive in size or appearance. The weather in conjunction with my lack of experience led to a less than fruitful harvest. Besides the spinach and lettuce, these tomatoes and cucumbers are some of the only successful items.

This year, though, will be different. I can just feel it in my bones! I decided to focus more on cool-weather plants, in hopes that I will have more success. I'm following the Square Foot Gardening method. Here's my garden plan:

This is where the plants will actually grow (I can't wait for these empty boxes to be full of food!)

I'm also planning to grow these herbs: garlic chives, cilantro, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, thyme, dill, sorrel, and oregano.

I selected my varieties this year based on the University of Minnesota Extension website's recommendations on the best varieties to grow in Minnesota, so hopefully, this will also improve the yield of my garden this season.

Yesterday, I woke up to the first seedlings of the year. This is what they looked like today.

I start my seeds with fluorescent lights indoors, with a shelving unit set up in my dining room.

I've been growing some basil plants this winter for use in cooking and couple of lettuce plants for fresh salads, as you can see, so I suppose my new seedlings aren't technically my first this year, but you get the point.

I am planning to use this blog in part to keep a journal of my garden. I want to determine how much food I am getting from the garden, what works, what doesn't, successes, failures, etc. My goal is to produce data that will make my garden successes easier to track and compare in the future.

Here's to a big harvest!