Grow your own vegetables

Spring is in the air and winter is pretty much over.  The northeast is experiencing a significant cold front right now.  It has dropped 30 degrees in 6 hours.  But that spring sun will make all the difference. 

The year we moved into our house (from a condo), my friends asked "Are you going to have a garden and grow your own vegetables, now?  Yes!  And I have tried two years in a row.  The first year I did a container garden and the zucchini did incredibly well. I made so many loaves of zucchini bread I can't even count them all.  So yummy!  And the tomatoes did pretty well.  The rest....not so much.  

Last year, I worked really hard to get a garden bed going.  I tried to grow my own vegetables from seeds!  My seedlings sprouted beautifully, but I started them all at the same time and realized my mistake too late, so I just shoved them all in the ground at once.  Fail.  Kind of embarrassing, really.  

So I have done a lot of research this time.  I discovered Growveg.com to be a great resource for anyone who wants to grow their own vegetables.  It allows you to plan a garden visually - you enter the dimensions of your space and then choose the vegetables you want to grow.  Then the software tells you when to sow the seeds inside (if you are so inclined), when to plant them in the ground and when to harvest.  You enter your zip code and it adjusts to your growing season.  I have a nice garden planned and Growveg.com is telling me I have to start my lettuce, tomato and pepper seedlings now (April).  So that is on the list of things to do this weekend, with the kids.  

I strongly encourage anyone that has thought about growing your own vegetables, to give it a shot.  Failure is quite possible the first and maybe second try.  But it is fun and you'll probably get something.  Start with something easy like tomatoes and zucchini.   Gardening is a great way to get outside, you can get the kids involved and there is nothing better than eating your own homegrown vegetables.  When I close my eyes I can smell and taste a homegrown cherry tomato.  I can't wait....