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This summer 2017 I will be continuing to learn to garden through the use of a 800 sqft community garden plot. I will post throughout the summer my progress, yields, and setbacks.
Last summer (2016), my first year, was a great success but I learned many lessons. I feel it is always important to review last year's garden before planning this year's.
10 Lessons Learned from Last Year's Garden (2016):
- Corn is really difficult to grow in this spot and no one in the history of this community garden has been successful.
- Broccoli takes up a lot of space (proportionally more space than we enjoy eating broccoli)
- Squash bugs are devil spawn and planting squash early helps to make the plants healthy before the killer rise from hell.
- Marigolds work great at keeping aphids away from tomatoes. Learn other solutions for pest management here ----- Common Indoor Gardening Pests -----.
- Deep watering tomatoes and zucchini works great! I planted plastic containers in the ground next to the plant and filled those to water the roots directly.
- Mulch really cuts down on water use and weeds.
- Sweet Peas are nature's candy and I should plant so much more of them. They also work well with support.
- Don't plan garden beds to be deeper than you can reach in to weed (or harvest) without entering. For me the 4" wide rows were good if I could access them from both sides.
- Lavender and sunflowers should not be directly sown on the soil. I am pretty sure the birds ate all my seeds, even the planted sunflowers. Either way, not a single sprout.
- Don't plan to take vacation during mid-late August when your garden is ready to harvest. It was also really hot and didn't get as much water as it needed despite me asking friends to stop by and water.
Conclusion
There you have it folks, 10 lessons I learned from last year's garden in 2016. I plan to think on these while I plan this year's garden. The layout is already in the works and seedling have been started.
What didn't work in your garden last year? What did you try that worked better than expected? Thanks for stopping by!
Follow along my journey and watch for more community garden posts, like this one:
My Community Garden Layout for Summer Success
10 Lessons Learned from Last Year's Garden 2017
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