Garden Blog – START

I’ve needed to create a plant/garden journal ever since I started planting this Spring. Like many folks this year, the COVID-19 “lockdown” put me into a homesteading mood, and I “plowed in” to my backyard/container vegetable garden.

Red Russian Kale in a “window box” container. Probably about 6 weeks old.

My intent with this blog is mostly for my own journaling/learning. First I thought I’d find a phone app to do the job, but I can’t seem to find one I like, and an online blog provides pretty much all the features I want – searchable for text and categories plus sub-categories, and of course pictures. And who knows, maybe I’ll post something that becomes useful to someone somehow, someday.

I’ve already had many seedlings sitting in pots and me wondering “WHEN did I put these in, and should they be up by now? Should I bail on them now – ‘cut bait’ and try something else with this real estate?” Without knowing exactly when something went in, it’s awfully hard to know whether the progress (whether germination, growth, flowering, fruiting) is as expected or needs some remedial steps. Not to mention it’s just FUN and exciting to see how much things have actually grown over time, by looking back.

My wife calls my plants my “babies” and she has a point. Just like children – it’s super fun to look back at their history through photographs and old notes on their progress and growth. The difference here is that a vegetable garden is largely renewed or even rebuilt on a yearly basis, and learnings from previous years and growing seasons can be honed and applied again and again. Unlike kids – you get a second chance! And a third! And a fourth! And…