Suburban Garden- Growing our own food in our suburban Home

I’m going to keep it simple. I’m going to keep it simple. Just keeping it simple.

I keep reminding myself of my garden mantra this year as  I attempt to sneak yet another plant into the garden. “Don’t worry, we definitely needed these ferns… there is a spot in the garden for these… this poor plant needs a home and water..” I repeat as Mr. Lovelee unloads another couple of bags of dirt and extra plants from the car. 

Our small garden is such a place of wonder for me. Each year, we learn so much about harvesting, gardening, growing something to fruition and what works in our space. Our little outdoor space is small; but that doesn’t mean we are not able to produce a wide variety of fruits and veggies for our family. 

The honest truth is that this year we grew a lot of things from seed and not everything did that great. We also had an unexpected and devastating heat wave- so uncharacteristic for our area, with temps rising into uncharted and record breaking numbers. But these setbacks did make the fruits of our labour that much sweeter, and has given us some really good learning points for next year. 

Things we grew:

• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Sweet Peas
• Blue Beans
• Lettuce
• Garlic
• Zucchini
• Pumpkins
• Kale
• Basil
• Mint
• Oregano
• Parsely
• Rosemary
• Chives
• Tomatoes
• Wildflowers
• Sunflowers

Plants that thrived:

• Raspberries
• Garlic
• All herbs
• Wildflowers
• tomatoes

Plants that survived:

• Blue beans
• Zuccini
• strawberries

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Plants that perished:

• Sweet Peas: I transplanted right before the heat wave and they were not happy. Produced one or two, but did not revive. 
• Lettuce: too delicate for the sunfire heat wave.
• Kale: currently being enjoyed by a family of grubs- normally kale is a tried and true- super hearty and 

Lovelee Lessons:

• Ask for starters or babies from other peoples gardens. I asked my MIL for some raspberry babies from her garden last year. We planted, and sure enough, they did not produce last year, but this year they came in hot, with their own babies and produced! We were able to get at least a handful a day during their peak! They mostly did not make it to the kitchen, just into tiny hands and tiny mouths, but they were delicious!
• Check your gardening zone, and learn what plants will thrive in this climate. 
• If you are starting from seed, learn when to transplant in the ground. I transplanted mine too early this year and we had a really late frost, and quite a few didn’t survive. 
• Seed Packs: love/hate. Seeds are a really frugal way to start in the garden (it can work out to cents per plant), but I found not all of them were able to thrive in our back garden. Also, some were variety packs so I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of plant was growing. 
• Learn about what you are planting and what conditions they thrive in (sun exposure, watering, buddy plants…)

• Most of us have heard of little libraries, but now there are little seeds stands too! Leave  plant/seed, take a plant seed. Such a great way to share your starter bounty and get a variety of plants. 
• Check out Farm stands! We have a farm stand two minutes away from us, that is part of a homeschool program. All plants are $2, they are locally grown, and support a great cause.
• Trade! Or give extras! Or ask for extras! We ended up having so many tomato plants growing from seed- I gave some to my mum, put a few in the little plant stand, and gave some to our neighbours. 
• Check out programs like Cheerios, save the bees campaign- they will send you a free pack of wildflower seeds to help save the bees! Not only are they gorgeous, its such a cool thing to see and hear the little bees around the flowers. 
• Save pots from plants you buy, or look at local used sites for free pots. 
• If you are handy with a nail and hammer, look for free pallets. We were able to get two more beds, a ladder shelf and add a privacy screen to our windblocker with wood from pallets! Lots of large chains and stores have them behind in their receiving section- just make sure they are free before taking them!
• Check local resources for gardening resources. In our city, Get growing Victoria! Is a local program encouraging families to grow their own food!
• Use newspaper for planter starters.