I was wrong.
Although not all our plants are dead, it's been a rough season on the garden front. Here's a few things I've learned so far this summer.
1. Container gardening is for the birds. It has been the main reason for the troubles we've encountered thus far. Skip the pots. Dig a hole in the ground, add some soil conditioner, and call it a day.
2. If you have to container garden, use good potting soil. That's all. You don't need to mix a million different types of soil and soil amendments. Dirt is dirt (kinda). We've burnt up plants, over/under fertilized, added too much of this, too little of that; it's all bogus. We would've saved a lot of time, money, and nail biting if we had just bit the bullet and purchased good potting soil.
3. Don't get overexcited like me and buy your plants too early. Yeah. Someone please remind me of this next March when I'm itching to go buy a bazillion transplants from Home Depot. Todd had to throw out about 5 pepper plants. The weirdly cold snap we had stunted them and made them all shades of UGLY.
4. Plant lots of beans. Seriously. Lots and lots of them.
5. Growing from seed isn't as hard as some may lead you to believe. I don't know that you get tomatoes any sooner, but my basils, cucumbers, purple tomatillos, and and beans were/are doing great! I think it makes you a more seasoned gardener, and it saves on costs!
6. This is my own personal opinion, but FORGET ORGANIC!! Everything we've touched with anything labeled "organic" has gone to poo-poo. The most recent mini-crisis was using organic fertilizer pellets, only to realize that flies are really into that kind of stuff, and pushing back mulch to reveal tons of MAGGOTS! Super Yuck. Fungicide. Pesticide. It'll be okay. It's still better (if you do so appropriately) than the hormones they pump into the cow's milk you drink. :) At least I have some sort of idea what's on them, how long it's been since Todd's doused them, and how much.
That's all I've got for now.
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