Spring Gardening

Hello, welcome to spring gardening!

CoVid-19 has spurred different interests in people and we started to find time to pursue our hobbies. Here is mine - Gardening. I had several people visit my garden and were amazed by the produce, asking for tips and suggestions, that made me think that I should share my experiences! Seeing my garden grow and yield is my stress buster. While working from home, I take a stroll through the garden often, to refresh and energize myself.

Everyone can start their own organic garden, it is not a magic. We can start putting together a plan in place as early as mid-February, have everything ready to start the garden in March and we can harvest until late summer to early fall.

I had a lot of day-to-day use veggies in my garden, about 20 of them and I would try my level best to explain how to grow each of them, starting from seeding process, transplantation, care, pruning methods, pests, pollination, fertilizing, crop maturity, etc etc. Every stage have their own challenges and pests make them worse! Here is the laundry list of my crops this year. Don't forget to click on the links to learn more about each of them!

Some regular crops like tomatoes, mint, pepper, bell pepper. Believe me they are much needed motivation boosters!
Onions
Potatoes
Bottle Gourd
Bitter melon
Okra/Lady's Finger
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Cucumber
Banana Pumpkin Squash
Beans - French & broad
Eggplants
Some unsuccessful/low yield ones - radish, carrot. I'll try to list out my mistakes.
And the most expensive curry leaf plant!!

What's needed?

A patch of ground with decent soil. Seriously! No fancy stuffs!
Seeds and/or store bought veggies/pantry items.
Seed starter tray and seed starting mix.
Some basic gardening tools - spade, pruning shears, scissors.
Stakes, twine and netting for support.
Miracle grow plant food - optional.
Some basic ingredients to make organic pesticides - vinegar, baking soda, oil, dish soap.
Of course, water, motivation, time and enthusiasm :)

This blog is from a novice gardener, listing out some tips, do's and dont's, with very less monetary investment. I live in the Bay Area, California and I'm writing this out of the experiences I had in Summer 2020. If it doesn't work for you, I'm sorry :( Remember, plants are also living beings; they need your time and love!

This is a work in progress - I would get all the details before the start of next growing season :)

Happy gardening!!!

Links for further reading

Click here to know more about my seed sources.

Seed Sources

There are different ways by which we could procure the seeds. Easy and simple source, order online! Second easiest, get it from a store. Third, a bit of work, take it from store bought vegetables or fruits. Below are my sources of seeds. Some of them were online/store-bought and a few were from the vegetables or fruits. P.S. - Not promoting any specific website or store. This is just my experience. Bottle gourd, bitter melon, okra, flat beans - https://www.seedsofindia.com/ Cucumbers, eggplant, onions, banana squash, french beans, radish, carrot - We can buy from any store/nursery. Tomatoes - Just collect the seeds off the chopping board and use them. As simple as that! Cilantro - Of course from dhania aka coriander seeds - Just sprinkle them on the ground and watch them grow! Watermelon, cantaloupe - Collect the seeds from the fruits and wash them thoroughly, removing any left over pulp. Soak them in water for an hour or so. The good seeds would settle down at the bottom. Collect...

Jack's Organic Garden

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