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Ideas For Planning The Well-Producing, Sustainable Family Garden

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Have you started to get gardening and seed catalogs yet? Now during these more sedate months before spring bursts upon us is the right time to start planning your family garden.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, gardening has been a timeless way to exercise, get fresh air and sunshine, plus reap the benefits of growing your own healthy and fresh food.

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Still, to be realistic, it is hard work (weeding, composting, planting, harvesting, watering, and more). It takes planning and some knowledge of what to grow and how to do it. To gain the most rewards, plan to grow things you are familiar with and that you really enjoy eating.

When we were able to have children some things changed. Until they were older, we had a more streamlined garden designed just for things we really didn’t want to do without such as cabbage (real sauerkraut), tomatoes, herbs, pole beans (up and on a trellis for easier and cleaner picking), red and green peppers, cucumbers and squash (on trellis).

Radishes and sunflowers are things children can’t fail at. Children like gardening more when they like to eat the foods they raise. You never know ~ maybe you will have a budding gardener or two when they have a few successes of their own to bring to the table.

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Planning What to Grow:

Here are some of the basic vegetables you might consider:

Early spring crops (plant as early as you can work the soil) would include~

  • Lettuce – Butter crunch and Romaine- type lettuce
  • Cabbage
  • Radishes
  • Snow peas
  • Garlic bulbs
  • Greens – chard, beets, cilantro, spinach, mustard
  • Herbs – thyme, parsley, sage, and chives

Warm weather crops (after the frost free date in your area) would include ~

  • Tomatoes – Heirlooms and cherry
  • Peppers – sweet bell, roating varieties and hot peppers
  • Pole green beans
  • Bush beans
  • Squash – yellow, zucchini, and butternut
  • Onions – white, yellow and red
  • sweet corn
  • Watermelon
  • Cucumbers
  • Potatoes
  • Pumpkins
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Herbs – dill, rosemary and basil

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Planning Thoughts To Get A Great Start

Catalogs are so helpful to help us get organized. Get a hard copy to curl up on the couch or go online.

I always start planning using a list of my selections and then draw out just how they will be laid out in the garden on graph paper. For me, it is a must to have this visual aid. The catalogs will tell you how far apart to plant different varieties. You can also get a good idea of how much of each thing you can plant based on the space you have.

Beware

In 2005, Monsanto grabbed 40% of the U.S. seed market and 20% of the global seed market when it bought out Seminis, making them the largest seed company in the world—supplying the genetics for 55% of the lettuce on U.S. supermarket shelves, 75% of the tomatoes, and 85% of the peppers, with strong holdings in beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas!

The dirty little secret of the GMO industry is that most of the traits that they brag about trying to create (like drought tolerance, greater nutrition, etc.) are actually the product of traditional breeding.

And Monsanto (closely followed by Dow and Syngenta) have been buying up every seed company they can ever since. They even own the trademark for many of the names of popular non-GMO seeds varieties!

When buying seeds, make sure you Keep Monsanto Out Of Your Home Garden!

Here is a place to start for seed and nursery information:

An awesome list of heirloom seed companies NOT associated with Monsanto!

We need to support Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, and Clear Creek Heirloom Seeds and others that specialize in heirlooms and that are NOT owned by Monsanto or Seminis. The legacy of Seed Saver’s Exchange is to tell you how to collect and store seeds.

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Gardening has been one of the most enjoyable pastimes in the life of our family; it has helped us to teach our children good work ethic, a love for God’s creation, and supplied us with a healthy food supply reducing our cost for food. We are better prepared in the event of an lengthy emergency.

So curl up with a catalog or two (or go online) and dream about the spring garden….Ahh…fresh air and sunshine…

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~unknown

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.” ~ Psalm 90: 17

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Thanks for reading!

Jacqueline
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Comments

  1. Just stumbled in and what a lovely place. I was hooked when I saw your name AND that you spell it correctly! 🙂 Off to squeeze in a few Encourage links before the children are ready for me and praying you a lovely day.

  2. We just moved to a small rental this year and we were not planning on having a garden. After reading though I am remembering how much we love it and I may have to make an effort to build some boxes and grow this year too! Thanks for the inspiration.

    • Yes, Dana, it is the one we designed and put in almost 3 years ago. right outside the back door. It has been such a blessing to us, providing us with fresh organic produce. How is your dear family? I trust you are all doing well in the Lord 🙂

  4. Oh, now I want to come visit and learn how you created such beauty in raised beds!! I’m a gardening wanna-be, but somehow I just never manage to get it to look pretty in the process! You’ve inspired me…again!

  5. I have enjoyed reading your gearden posts, I live in NW FL (zone 8b) so we have many things in the ground. Do you mind if I ask what growing zone you are in?

    • No, Lela, I don’t mind. We are in zone 5, but like this year, we seem to be more like living in a zone 6. It has been so very warm. I have thought about putting in peas.

  8. Your garden is so lovely. I see your arbors in the distance but cannot tell what they are connected to at the base. I had talked to a lady at the local tractor supply about using that fencing for an arbor but she said it would get too hot and burn the beans and squash. Any advice?

    • Hi, there, Rosevine Cottage Girls! The trellis’ are very helpful and don’t burn anything. We grow squashes, cukes, and green pole beans on them. They are cattle panels…here’s the link: https://deeprootsathome.com/?p=1787 Oh, I do wish you well!! Thanks 🙂

  9. Yes! I’m so ready to bust out the door and hit the dirt (I wish!) as my seed order arrived on Monday. Love this gardening post, Jacqueline, and your raised beds look just immaculate. I like that your garden is right outside your door, too, which is a huge help. Our raised beds are close like yours, but our main garden is below the backyard which makes for bulging muscles (lol) during harvest time.
    Hope you are doing well and getting plenty of rest. Have a great Wednesday!
    Blessings to you,
    Toni

  10. Thank you for sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays. Seeing that was a gentle nudge for me to think about what to plant for this year.

    My problem is going to be finding enough sunny space for what I want to grow. We rent, and though the front yard is sunny, Dad doesn’t want to tear it up. The back is full of trees, though.

    • Hi, Leah! Maybe you are one, like myself, who loves to get out into the soil and ‘create’ a bit of beauty and your own food free of chemicals. The fresh air is so invigorating! I hope you find your sunny spot, friend 🙂

  11. Jacqueline, I hope you will delve into the salt saga further. I just wasn’t inclined to go any further into it right now. (Tapping maple trees on the homestead today, among other things.) Looking forward to your article on the subject. 🙂

  12. I am getting excited about the garden – thank you for the tips and suggestions! Another source for seeds (heirloom) I’ve discovered is rareseeds.com (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds). They have such beautiful selections and good prices.

    • Yes! Baker Creek is a wonderful company, totally GMO/Monsanto-free. Didn’t I list them?

  13. I am getting excited about the garden – thank you for the tips and suggestions! Another source for seeds (heirloom) I’ve discovered is rareseeds.com (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds). They have such beautiful selections and good prices..

  14. I loved this article of gardening! My girls and I were blessed with an acre and great soil in our sub urban neighborhood and plan on continuing our third annual garden. This time I think I will give the oldest a little plot of dirt and responsibility to tend and harvest. She really has a green thumb at three almost 4 yrs old. Thank you for this, it really kicked in my spring fever today!

    • Kristi,
      It’s awesome that your 4 year old loves gardening so young! You really have a big influence on this budding enjoyment! Go, Mama!
      I can’t wait for spring, too! I’m thinking cukes, tomatoes, and for some strange reason, beets! 🙂
      God bless you, your family, and your garden!
      Jacqueline

  15. Jacqueline ,
    Yes, I love that she is so interested. It has developed some great eating habits for them too. My husband is a chef so we really get some good food going when all the fresh produce becomes readily available! The tomatoes are such a hit! My girls will just eat them right off the vine everytime we go out there(a perk to organic gardening!).She loves the sunflowers so I’m going to dedicate a portion of my large garden space to just her and her (3yr old) sister to plant their flower gardens. I need to downsize anyways this year with the newborn and all. Thanks for the garden post and all the others. I hope to see more gardening posts.

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